Ruch neounijny w Polsce w latach 1923-1939

Abstract

From 1923 to 1939 along the eastern borderland of Poland had place an action of converting the greek-orthodox population from Orthodoxy to Catholicism. Nevertheless, the converts have not joined the old greek-catholic rite of the Union of Brest. By force of a decree of the Holy See they were constituted in quite a new rite called byzantine. The difference was that the greek-catholic rite had many roman-catholic customs introduced into it along its history, while the byzantine rite remained pure greek-orthodox, except some dogmatic corrections. Of course, both the rites retained the Slavonic language in their liturgy. The Neounion was promoted chiefly by the Jesuit Fathers, but also the Redemptorists, Capuchins and Oblates were interested in it. Their religious working among the orthodox population joined the byzantine rite. The headquarter of the Neounion was the Jesuit Monastery of the byzantine rite at Albertyn, in the diocese of Wilno. In 1928 the Papal Eastern Seminary was opened for them at Dubno in the diocese of Łuck. In 1931 the Holy See has nominated a Redemptorist of the byzantine rite, Nicholas Czarnecki, as an apostolic bishop-visitator of the Neounion. In 1937 the Neounion counted 41 parishes, 6 monasteries and above 25.000 faihful. All these were annihilated during the II World War.