Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland

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Reformed Church in Warsaw

The Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland (Polish Kościół Ewangelicko-Reformowany w RP ) is a small Protestant church in Poland .

structure

Reformed Churches in Poland

In 2016 there were 3461 members in 10 parishes with 8 pastors. The general superintendent is Marek Izdebski, Ewa Jóźwiak is President of the Synod and Witód Brodzińsk President of the Consistory .

The Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland belongs to the World Community of Reformed Churches , the Conference of European Churches and the Polish Ecumenical Council . She has pulpit and communion fellowship with the Evangelical Augsburg Church in Poland and the Evangelical Methodist Church in Poland.

  • Consistory in Warsaw.

theology

The church follows the Reformed theology, which is based primarily on the ideas of Ulrich Zwingli and Johannes Calvin . This differs from Lutheran theology in some aspects, including the doctrine of the Lord's Supper.

history

Johannes Lask, reformed theologian from Poland
Brest Bible , translated by Reformed theologians in 1563

From about 1550 the teachings of John Calvin spread in Lesser Poland (and Lithuania). This was promoted by the Chancellor Mikołaj Radziwiłł "the black" and personal correspondence with Calvin reformed nobles and theologians in Poland and even letters to the Polish King Sigismund II August . In 1563 the first Protestant Bible was published in Polish ( Brest Bible ) by a reformed translator collective. In 1570 there was a joint agreement with the Lutherans and Bohemian Brethren in Poland-Lithuania ( consensus from Sandomir ). Since 1573 there has been official religious freedom in Poland ( Tolerance Edict of Warsaw ).

From around 1580 repression began against all Protestants in Poland, which lasted until 1768/75. After 1802, descendants of the Bohemian Brothers from Silesia , who later belonged to the Evangelical Reformed Church, settled around Łódź . Many of today's parishes have Czech roots: Pstrążna , Strzelin , Zelów , Kleszczów , Bełchatów . A reformed consistory could only be formed in 1845.

After 1945 the number of Reformed Christians in Poland fell sharply after the resettlement of the Germans and due to the new ideological conditions. Today they are only a small minority in Poland.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mały statystyczny rocznik Polski 2017 (Small Statistical Yearbook of Poland) , p. 115
  2. ↑ On the history of Calvinism in Poland and Lithuania in the 16th century, see Kęstutis Daugirdas: Reception of Calvin's Theology in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the Kingdom of Poland . In: Irene Dingel, Hermann J. Selderhuis (ed.): Calvin and Calvinism. European perspectives. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011. pp. 155-171 .

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