Protestantism in Galicia

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The Protestantism in Galicia consisted of small Lutheran , Reformed and Unitarian congregations in Galicia in the time of the Reformation in the Kingdom of Poland , Austria and in the Second Polish Republic .

Religions in Galicia

Voivodeship Ruthenia in the Kingdom of Poland (red) and the Crown Land of Galicia in Austria (blue line)

In the 18th century, Galicia ( Ruthenian Voivodeship , excluding a part of Lesser Poland , which later also became part of Austrian Galicia) was inhabited by Ruthenians , who were mostly Greek Catholics . In addition, there was a Polish Roman Catholic population, especially in the cities , which consisted mainly of city citizens of Polish and German origin, as well as Polonized Ruthenians, who were mostly nobles or civil servants. The rural, Roman Catholic rural population was concentrated on the western edge (see also Forest Germans ), in some islands in the Archdiocese of Lemberg (especially around Lemberg) and the Diocese of Przemyśl .

Many new Jewish communities emerged in the 16th century . The Jewish population grew rapidly in the 19th century, so that it soon became the largest group in many cities.

In the late 18th century, more than 14,400 German settlers came to Galicia as part of the Josephine colonization , most of whom were Lutheran (47%) or Reformed (13%). The next wave of Galician Germans , on the other hand, was mostly Roman Catholic.

History of Protestantism in Galicia

Kingdom of Poland

Protestant parishes in the southern diocese of Krakow around 1600 within what would later become Galicia

The Polish-speaking, Roman Catholic population was more open to the reformist currents. Around the year 1600 there were 80 to 90 Protestant parishes in the diocese of Krakow south of the Vistula, 27 of them in the district of Silesia . This number increased in the first half of the 17th century, although with a growing proportion of the Polish Brethren who separated from the Calvinists. The strongest Lutheran relations were in the area around the German Bielitz-Biala language island : the later town of Biala was dominated by Lutherans for a long time. In the second half of the 16th century, however, the Przemyśl diocese in the western part of the former Principality of Halyśl lost up to 30 churches (out of about 150) as a result of the Reformation. In some localities Protestantism survived until the 18th century. B. Kobylany , Jodłówka and Szczepanowice .

The first German settlers came to Zaleszczyky around 1750 . In 1759 they founded a German Evangelical Lutheran congregation. The church had to be built on the other bank of the Dniester River in the Principality of Moldova , as this was not possible for Protestants in Poland at that time. Access to the church has not been possible since 1766.

Austria

In 1772 Galicia came to Austria.

Since 1774, an imperial patent allowed Protestant settlers in Galicia to practice their religion freely. Congregations arose in Lemberg (under the direction of Johann Friedrich Preschel), Jaroslau , Zamość and Brody as well as others after the tolerance patent in 1781. They were subordinated to the Evangelical Superintendent of Moravia, Silesia and Galicia . Only in 1778 was it possible to get a German pastor for the parishes ( Ephraim Gottlob Hoffmann ).

More evangelical communities of German settlers emerged. In 1804 a separate superintendent for Galicia was formed. Since the end of the 19th century, many Galician Germans emigrated; the communities became smaller. In western Galicia, but also in eastern Galicia, many descendants of the Josephine settlers were Polonized.

Mennonites

Mennonite prayer house in Lemberg

The radical Reformation Mennonites in Galicia were initially settled in three settlements: Einsiedel (18 families), Falkenstein (7 families) and Rosenberg (3 families). They were officially treated as Lutherans because for a long time they could not exceed the threshold of 100 families provided for in the Josephine church reforms to found their own congregation. Later the settlements were established: Neuhof alias Weissmanówka (1830), Kiernica (1848), Horożanna (1850), Mostki (1854), Wiszenka (1862), Ehrenfeld-Błyszczywody (1864), Trościaniec (1870), Dobrowlany (1871), Lipowce (1872), Podusilna (1872). In the years 1880–1883, 73 Mennonite families emigrated to North America. It was only in 1909, the Mennonite community was Kiernica -Lemberg established that some hundreds of Mennonites from the settlements in Falkenstein, Zimna Woda , Neuhof, Kiernica, Podusilna and Rohatyn included

Second Polish Republic

In 1919 the Galician territories became part of the new Polish state.

The German parishes formed their own Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions in Lesser Poland . Hermann Fritsche became the first church president . The Polish Protestants organized themselves in the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland .

In 1923 Theodor Zöckler was elected new church president of the Evangelical Church A. and H. B. in Lesser Poland. With his support, the Ukrainian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession was founded in 1925 as the first Evangelical Church for Ukrainians.

In the 1930s the pressure of the Polish authorities on the German population increased.

In 1939, after the Red Army marched in, most of the Germans were resettled in the German Reich (“ Heim ins Reich ”), and the Protestant churches were dissolved.

Structures

literature

  • Ludwig Schneider: Brief description of the circumstances and conditions in the Protestant colonies of Galicia up to 1816. Posen 1931 ( online ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ K. Völker: The beginnings of the Protestant community in Zaleszczyki in Galicia . In: Yearbook of the Society for the History of Protestantism in Austria . Vienna 1909. pp. 157-174.
  2. ↑ Isabel Röskau-Rydel : Culture on the periphery of the Habsburg Empire. The history of education and cultural institutions in Lviv from 1772 to 1848 . Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1993, ISBN 3-447-03423-8 , p. 127.
  3. ↑ Małgorzata Kośka, Dorota Lewandowska: Księgi metrykalne gmin ewangelicko-augsburskiego i helweckiego wyznania 1764-1939. Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie, accessed on October 16, 2013 (Polish).
  4. ↑ Księgi metrykalne i akta parafii i gmin różnych wyznań i obrządków (Ormianie, Autokefaliczna Cerkiew Prawosławna, Baptyści, Mennonici, Ewangeliczni Chrześcijanie) z terenów tzw. zabużańskich Inwentarz zespołu PL, 1 456 ( pl ) agad.gov.pl.