Many Polish patriots have for centuries misunderstood and inactive do not realize the basic dependencies that form the past of Poland. Their knowing in the past was highly hard – fewer people could drop a corset of imposed ideologies and concepts, considering their criticism.
Others simply did not have the strength or courage to say a fewer words of truth. It is undoubtedly easier for us now; fresh fields of discipline have widened our horizons and we have fresh tools. Among them, geopolitics and social cybernetics are peculiarly useful for knowing the fundamental problems facing Polish society for centuries.
Central institution
Undoubtedly, the institution of the Catholic Church has been a central component of Polish affairs for centuries. For many Poles it constitutes a standing and oracle, a origin of truths revealed and a guardian of morality. Shocked by spiritual delight, they seldom reflect on the Church as an institution – they do not survey whether it truly serves their lives here, between Oder and Bug, nor whether they have a real influence on the choice of the parish priest or bishop. fewer are curious in whether the chosen hierarchy truly represents their values and morality, and whether it is ready to stand by the faithful in crisis situations. Poles besides do not care whether the teachings preached by priests are consistent with Christ's teaching, or are an effort to influence abroad states and institutions.
This must be said explicitly: The Catholic Church – with its strict hierarchical structure – is controlled from the outside, besides in Poland, where it depends on Vatican and centres influencing papal policy. In the past, specified centres have been Roman emperors, German emperors, French kings, and in fresh years the United States' peculiar services have exerted a strong influence on him. The Pope, sometimes pursuing the political interests of secular sovereigns, remains beyond the influence of the average Kowalski from the Vistula or Odra. Similarly, the positions of parishes and bishops are filled; the hierarchy and narrations it proclaims are usually imposed from outside. Higher positions in the Church frequently occupy people more curious in following orders from superiors than in serving local communities.
The Catholic Church in Poland was not only a builder of morality and culture, as the authoritative narratives suggest. Having a hierarchical and anti-autonomic structure, controlled from the outside, he frequently stood across the fundamental interests of the Polish state, fulfilling the objectives of abroad powers. External influences have repeatedly caused Poland immense disasters and even contributed to the failure of statehood. We should not be afraid to talk about it; criticism of the institutions of the Catholic Church is not an offence or a sin – it should service the public good.
Supporting Slavery
The very beginning of our national past was seriously falsified by church historians (there were no others at the time). According to their narrative, the Polish state abruptly appears in 966 erstwhile Town is baptized in Latin and assumes missionary bishopricry in Gniezno. Latin chroniclers, however, overlook the earlier past of these lands, especially the fact that the full east Slavic region – from the Elbe to the east – from the 6th to 11th centuries was a immense reserve of slaves sold to rich arabian markets. White slaves there reached prices more than twice as advanced as slaves of another race. It was precisely about acquiring these slaves that competition was underway, and on this economical basis various political organisms were formed, specified as the states of the Awars, the Chazars, the Hungarians, the large Moravians and the German principalities. The goal was not to spread Christianity, but to rise issues stricte economical – catching and selling as many slaves as possible.
The competition for "living gold" was besides attended by the Normans, who are considered creators of many countries in Slavic times. In addition to the Russian principalities, they besides had an crucial part in the creation of the Polan state, whose main export goods were white slaves. The Polan State later competed for slaves with Germany and the Czech Republic in the areas of Połębia, Silesia and Pomerania. The expeditions did not aim to “return” the local population – it was primarily about gaining slaves.
The slave trade, however, required the consent of the “defendant of faith”, so Christianity became essential in order to be able to carry out this intrusive course without hindrance. The transactions were mediated by judaic merchants, who were the main organisers of the slave trade, besides dealing with their castration and land transport to Spain, where they were sold worldwide. The organization Church supported slavery – Archbishopship in Magdeburg was 1 of the key centres of slave trade. judaic intermediaries competed in this business with Venice and another Italian cities.
The Polan State caught not only the alleged Gentiles, but besides Christians of the east rite, who had been present on Polish lands since the mediate of the 9th century, converted by Cyril and Method. However, the Latin chroniclers are silent about this, and the attempts to liberate the local Christian population from the rapes of power are described as “a pagan reaction”.
The Slavic slavery scale was so immense that in many Western languages the word “Slovenian” became synonymous with the slave. Depopulated areas of the east Slavic region had to be repopulated since the 12th century as a consequence of Western settlement action.
Lost Power Chance
As a consequence of the union of Poland and Lithuania in Crea in 1382, Poland became a European power. However, this happened not thanks, as most Poles believe, to Latin influences and values, but against them. Poland, which barely retained its subjectivity towards the Germanic force in the 12th–IVth century, now gained powerful support from the East and a fresh geopolitical perspective, represented by the large Jagiellonian dynasty.
Thanks to the union, Poland ceased to be ethnically uniform – many Russian communities, mainly Orthodox, have entered its structures, which began to prevail demographicly and religiously. The economical and human strength of Rusins enabled Poland to defeat the Teutonic Order at Grunwald, as well as, during the 30 Years' War, regaining Gdańsk Pomerania with Gdańsk and joining Mazovia. What Poland was incapable to achieve, the Jagiellonian Republic gained thanks to support and resources from the East. However, the multiethnicity and multi-religiousity of the Republic, which is the consequence of the union, imposed an work on the rulers to respect cultural and spiritual diversity, including the rights of the Orthodox people, which constituted a very crucial number of inhabitants.
This pluralism was not an insurmountable barrier; after all, the large powers - both in the past and in the present - are multiethnic and multicultural, basing their strength on common state and economical interests alternatively than nationalism. spiritual and cultural consent was besides a condition of the Republic of Poland.
Unfortunately, these foundations of the Republic were systematically undermined by the Catholic Church, frequently controlled by abroad centres – German, Spanish or Italian courts. The institution of the Church, alternatively of supporting the geopolitical interests of Poles, diverted their attention from key issues specified as the elimination of the Teutonic State, the recovery of Silesia or Szczecin Pomerania, directing it to distant and insignificant matters, specified as expeditions to Moscow, Moldova or even Bulgaria. Successor Władysław Jagiello, Władysław Warneńczyk, under the influence of abroad courts and the Pope, he went on an expedition to the Balkans, which ended in his death and did not bring any benefits to Poland.
Such actions caused a waste of human and economical resources of the Republic. At the same time, the structures of the Catholic Church undermined the foundations of spiritual peace, which was the basis of the multicultural stableness of the Republic. Orthodox people were pushed into the function of second-class citizens, they were called rejects and schismatists, they were stripped of their rights and privileges. Protesters encountered persecution, including physical persecution. The Catholic Church openly challenged the spiritual will of the last Jagiellonian, or act of the Warsaw Confederation of 1573. This paper guaranteed eternal peace between believers of different religions, ensuring equality of the dissident nobility and the care of the state, which was in the interests of the Republic. However, Catholic hierarchs refused to sign this act.
The Catholic counter-reformation yet sealed the collapse of spiritual peace in Poland and consequently the collapse of the foundations of the power of the Republic. The fresh orders, headed by Jesuits, took control of education and shaped the young nobility as fanatic fighters of the counterreformation. alternatively of the enlightened citizens of the Republic, people were raised with a closed and intolerant mentality. It was proclaimed from the pulpit that the real Pole is only a Catholic, and Poland – the foreground of Christianity – should fight the “refugees”.
Such a shaped mentality of the elite had to yet encounter resistance, especially in Russian lands, where Orthodox, regularly humiliated, began to search support in Moscow. Many magnates besides opposed the counter-reformation dictatorship, and in the times of the “demonship” many of them declared obedience to the Republic.
Bank Union
The nail to the coffin of the Republic was the alleged Brzeska Union, which is an effort to subjugate Polish Orthodoxy by Catholicism. The Polish Orthodoxy under the Patriarchate of Constantinopolitan at the time was weakened and in the defensive, and the spiritual capital itself was under Turkish rule. There were problems with the quality of clergy education and obedience. However, it was undoubtedly the oldest canonical church in Poland, separated straight from Christ, and erstwhile full autonomous from external influences, dependent exclusively on its own councils and king.
Some Orthodox bishops saw an chance in the Brzeń Union to strengthen church structures through access to educational and administrative resources of the Catholic Church and privileges given to Catholic hierarchs. Under the force of the king and the promise to strengthen church structures, the union was adopted, which meant the incorporation of the Orthodox Church into the Catholic Church, while maintaining any separate liturgical traditions.
However, this decision was powerfully opposed by a large part of the clergy and the faithful, who saw the Brzeska Union as a betrayal and profanation of Orthodox traditions. Many Orthodox citizens of the Republic began to search support in Moscow, considered a centre of authentic Orthodoxy. The increasing hostility towards Catholic power in Poland led to the outbreak of Cossack uprising under the leadership in 1648 Bohdan Chmielnicki, which has made it 1 of the main conditions for ending the battles, the abolition of the Brest Union. King Jan Kazimierz He agreed to this in the Zborowska settlement, but yet no permanent liquidation of the union took place.
The Brzeska Union besides ignited social conflicts in the Borderlands. The persecution of Orthodox people by Jesuits and representatives of the Catholic Church and the ignoring of their rights caused an ongoing division between the Catholic nobility and the Orthodox people. common aversion led to subsequent uprisings, the basis of which were both spiritual and class differences.
Since the Perejassan settlement in 1654, more and more Orthodox began to treat the Tsar of Moscow as a defender of his religion and spiritual reference. erstwhile in 1686 the Republic agreed to subject the Orthodox Church in Ukraine to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, it actually gave the Orthodox community to regulation Russia, strengthening its influence in the region.
The Unity Church, promoted by Catholic elites, enjoyed no designation among either Catholics or Orthodoxs, and for subsequent centuries remained part of spiritual divisions. The Brzeska Union, alternatively of strengthening unity, has become a origin of conflict for the Republic of Poland, which weakened the state and led to Russia's lasting influence on spiritual and political affairs in the Kresach.
Anarchy and cuttings
These are not abroad manors, but a fresh fanatical mentality of nobility and nobles, formed in the late 17th century, blocked any reforms in Poland and led to anarchization of the state. The inertial mass of nobility, worked by the Jesuit Confession School, was susceptible to superstition and demagoguery, and under the signaled “threats for Catholic religion” torpedoed any reforms. The symbol of the besieged fortress coined in sacristy caused that the Western intellectual progress, science, trade and the emerging primaries of manufacture were viewed with contempt. The tremendous military and political disasters of the Republic were explained by the wrath of God and the game of the Innovators. Thus, penance and expulsion of innovites and schizmatists were called upon, which was very frequently done physically. The outwardly imposed emotional rite occupied noble minds and built their blind attachment to the Catholic hierarchy. The display of worship, pilgrimages, coronations, processions led to formatting a kind of mentality, which was later referred to as a Pole-Catholic. The complete mastery of education and many provisions led the Catholic Church in Poland to exceptional riches and possessions different in Europe, taking in about 20% of the land area. This contrasted with the disastrous state of the state and the army, which in the era of the top increase of sacral construction in Poland actually fell apart – rather the other than in neighbouring countries. We gotta ask ourselves whether the state of anarchy in Poland was just a coincidence and a derivative of expanding spiritual feelings, or through such, not another control was there external sabotage through church institutions?
An example is the activity of the bishop Kajetana Solitka, which opposed the rational reforms of the Czartoryski, aiming to equality of citizens of the Republic independently of religion. Sołtyk and his allies are credited with simmering spiritual sentiments that led to the Bar Confederation (1768–1772), which is the direct origin of the First Partition of Poland. The Confederates, in the name of the Catholic Republic's defence, fought against attempts at systemic reforms aimed at limiting the freedom of nobility, improving power and political stableness of the country. As a result, these “Catholic partitions” deepened interior divisions and opened the Republic to interventions by neighbouring states – Prussia, Austria and Russia – which sought to prosecute their own political interests in the region under the pretext of protecting the Innovators.
When there was a cassate of the Jesuit order in Poland in 1773 – later than in another European countries, where they were previously accused of subversive activities and political influences – the country had not yet developed a fresh generation of elites that could defender the modernization and independency of the Republic. Dominated by the ignorance and superstition of the nobility, she did not full realize that her rejection of reforms and the leaning on spiritual dogma weakened the Republic. Thus the mentality formed by Catholicism contributed to the partitions, during which divided and weakened Poland yet lost its sovereignty.
Acquisitions
Paradoxically the partitions introduced crucial improvement impulses into Polish social life, which began to change the nation towards modernity, alienating Poles from conventional structures of the erstwhile Republic, powerfully linked to Catholicism and conservative church hierarchy. Poles were forced to operate as part of foreign, well-organized administration, where modern legal systems, efficient administration, developed military and education were in force, which forced them to adapt to fresh realities. In this situation the influence of the Catholic Church has weakened somewhat, beginning space to progressive currents and rationality, which gradually reached younger generations of Polish intelligence.
The emerging reflection on the function of the Church and the discrimination of national interests from the Vatican's political objectives contributed to developing a more secular approach to patriotism. However, the Church inactive identified Polishness with Catholicism, which led to the exclusion of another spiritual groups, especially Orthodox ones, which were an crucial part of the border society of the erstwhile Republic. This approach, already vaccinated during the counter-reformation, has profoundly established itself in the mentality of society and had consequences in the following decades, leading to divisions and weakening of possible unity in the conflict for national affairs.
An example of this approach was the function of the Catholic Church in the January Uprising (1863–1864). Catholic Church, despite the Pope's opposition Pius IX, actively supported insurgent initiatives, inspiring patriotic manifestations and calling for a fight for independence, which nevertheless had no rational political basis. Many insurgent troops were made up of clergy and Archbishop Zygmunt Feliński he explicitly supported the uprising, even though Russia had previously offered Poles many linguistic, administrative and educational privileges. The global situation was at the time unfavourable and geopolitical calculation suggested that autonomy would be more attainable through further negotiations and cooperation with Russia.
Despite patriotic intentions, the uprising resulted in a defeat which cost Poles the failure of their last privileges and the liquidation of the Kingdom of Poland and its transformation into a state - Nadwiślański Kraj – without any forms of autonomy. Poland was withdrawn by decades, losing not only state structures, but besides the hope of free national improvement under the Russian court. The Count's Words Alexander Wielopolskithat “For Poles something can be done, with Poles never”, reflect the bitterness of national action that has not always been considered from the position of long-term national policy.
Instead of focusing on the defence of Polish national interests, the Church has frequently been liable for extending the influence of Catholicism, especially to east lands and among Orthodox, seen as “schismatists.” This attitude was aimed at fighting for believers and influence in the spiritual sphere, which, paradoxically, could weaken common national goals.
Before planet War I
Before the First planet War, the modern independency movement developed, which gradually departed from the spiritual background, which has been dominant in Polish public life. The leaders of this movement were mainly activists with secular or critical attitudes towards the Catholic Church. It's this fresh generation of thinkers and activists, like Roman Dmowski, Józef Piłsudski is Ignacy Mościcki, played a key function in the revival of Polish independence, treating national affairs in a pragmatic spirit and independent of the interests of the Church and external influences, including Vatican.
These activists, who came from the mainstream of positivism, realized that regaining independency requires first and foremost strengthening the basic social and economical structures. They developed the thought of organic work, recognising that only economically strong and well-educated society could make a solid foundation for the future state. Efforts to improve the surviving conditions of the Polish population, to make education and to form national identity have helped to increase social and cultural awareness. alternatively of the armed struggle, lessons were drawn from the defeat of the January Uprising, seeking to build national institutions and waiting for a favourable political climate.
The repressions of the Czaric authorities directed towards the Catholic Church, including the cassate of spiritual property and the subjection of education to the state, importantly reduced the political and economical influence of the Church on Polish lands. The removal of church structures from direct participation in politics enabled secular leaders of Polish society to organize political movements of a national and social character, not necessarily referring to religion. Polish parties, alternatively of religion, were based on social, economical and national programmes, which contributed to the integration and increase of civic awareness.
The Church, alienated from direct influences on politics and the economy, has gradually become a moral authority, which paradoxically favoured the interior integration of society. Thus, at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, a modern Polish nation was formed, capable of uniting itself in the fight for independence.
II Republic
After regaining independency in 1918, the Catholic Church gained exceptional position and large privileges in the Second Republic, especially after signing a concordat with the Vatican in 1925. This legal paper gave the Church broad autonomy, taxation exemptions and almost full administrative and legal independence. For the Polish State, this meant limiting the anticipation of control over the activities of the Church, which gained almost unlimited freedom to communicate with the Holy See and to form the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which in practice created a situation in which the interests of the Church and Vatican were not always consistent with national interests.
The privilege of Catholicism led to many social conflicts, especially in multiethnic east regions, where Catholicism faced Orthodoxy and Judaism. Religions another than Catholicism, although they included large groups of citizens, gained secondary status, leading to tensions between spiritual communities and economical and legal discrimination. In the interwar period, hundreds of churches and crucial areas of the earth were taken over, frequently illegally passing them on to Catholics. In 1938 there was even a spectacular "breakdown action of the church" which echoed in Europe and deepened divisions between communities.
While neighbouring states – Germany and the USSR – developed economically and industrially, the II Republic remained comparatively backward economically, with large areas of poorness in the Kresach. The deficiency of economical support and visible spiritual and social discrimination caused national minorities – especially Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews – not to identify with the Polish state, and nationalist and communist ideas gained expanding support there.
In addition, the situation complicated the feudal nature of the socio-economic system, which supported the Catholic Church, sustaining structures based on land estates and manors. specified a model intensified social dissection, and many cultural and spiritual groups saw the Polish state as incapable to establish a just social order. The deficiency of mechanisms integrating various national, spiritual and social groups was 1 of the top challenges that the Second Republic had to take up, but not always.
Folk Church
After planet War II, the authorities of the Polish People's Republic, guided by the principles of secularism and socialism, importantly reduced the influence of the Catholic Church in Poland. The resignation of the concordat, the oath of allegiance made by the clergy to the state and the repression of the resisting hierarchs were part of a policy aimed at weakening its political function and relaxing ties with the Vatican. Cardinal Stefan Wyszynskibeing aware of the fresh situation, he accepted the function of the Church as the spiritual guide of the nation, avoiding direct conflict with the state. As a consequence of this pragmatic attitude, the Catholic Church strengthened its moral position and had almost indivisible spiritual power, especially in a ethnically homogeneous post-war state without large spiritual minorities.
Despite declared hostility towards the Church, the authorities of the Polish People's Republic saw a stabilising social component in it, allowing for a circumstantial modus vivendi. The Church received in exchange for cooperation the return of wealth, privileges related to sacral and monastic construction, education and publishing activities, which favoured its improvement against the background of the socialist system.
The collapse of this silent cooperation brought about the 1970s and the global situation. The weakening of the socialist bloc attempted to usage the West to break up a unchangeable east Europe and the Balkans so far. The CIA planned to usage dissidents from 1968 and their families to build political opposition in Poland, and as transmission belts for its activities it was intended to usage the Catholic Church and trade unions. specified structures were to be opposed by parties and the state to trigger anarchy.
It must be said that the old hierarchs, with the primacy of Wyszynski at the head, opposed attempts to usage the Church in political combat and to legitimize people, specified as Adam Michnik, Jacek Kuron and Karol Modzelewski. People were forbidden to “Solidarity” affect parish structures in sabotage and diversion activities. The Episcopate, with Wyszynski at the head, was aware of the agential function of many union leaders, cut off from them, and later even called for the end of destructive strikes.
Unfortunately, since 1978, over the voice of the aged primate - patriots had more power Karol Wojtyła – the later Pope – no uncertainty elected by the conclave under large CIA pressure. Wojtyła, with full awareness, became an instrument of the US to break up the then socialist Polish state. His authority prevailed, and the Church became obedient in the work of legitimizing the alleged dissidents, additionally engaging in supporting strikes and anarchy of the state. Case George Popieluszko and his lewd beatification are a crowning example. In the 1980s, there was talk of the tandem Reagan–Wartyla in a work of breaking up the socialist bloc, which declared the Evil Empire. The church, re-attached to the function of the 5th wheel of the car – controlled from abroad – acting against the subjectivity of the state, became a immense obstacle to the establishment of social order in the country, especially in hard times, erstwhile for more than 7 years Poland was subject to US sanctions and deliveries from abroad, even milk for infants, were blocked. In no way did Wojtyła usage his perfect relations with America to improve the economy of the country and thus average Poles. He stood on the another side, the mute, at the same time ready for any motion from the large Brother. Only the concessions of the weakening power, and then its full surrender, manifested, among others, in the introduction of chaplains into uniform environments, schools, colonies and all state institutions – hospitals, prisoners changed the negative attitude of the Church to the state. But all these “contributions” were in sharp contrast to the fundamental rule of the secularity of the state and became a origin of conflicts and divisions in Poland, which have been taking place so far.
III Republic
The fall of the Polish People's Republic and the Church's entry into the fresh reality of the 3rd Republic of Poland restored its political and social position, which, however, caused large tensions about the state's laity and further influence of the Church on public life in Poland. This has become a origin of conflicts visible to this day.
Years of systemic transformation in Poland after 1989 brought crucial changes to the Catholic Church's social and political role. During this period, the Church actively supported the pro-Western direction, while at the same time becoming a kind of guardian of the fresh power derived from “Solidarity”. These changes coincided with a dynamic economical and social transformation, in which the Church, dominated by anti-communist attitudes, did not critically address the economical consequences of capitalism. Universal privatization, the elimination of many industrial plants and advanced economical emigration were the effects of painful economical reforms, which the clergy viewed alternatively with a distance, focusing on their needs and restitution of ecclesiastical property.
Fall in the 21st century
The death of Wojtyla in 2002 is the most crucial caesura for the Polish Catholic Church. erstwhile his peculiar fetish stopped working, the filth discreetly hidden in the sacristy came to light. The moral collapse of the clergy, cases of pedophilia and homosexual seminars are just the tip of the iceberg.
It was worse to usage the Church in political combat. The Hierarchs and the Church repeatedly expressed their commitment to the political dispute. They were frequently utilized by political hoochsztaplers for alleged "bajeredom" electorate. For example, it was adequate that the PiS - kind abortions brought millions of voices to the Catholics. A fewer million zlotys for my father. Tadeusz Rydzyk, that from a group of old bachelors, old virgins and divorcees in the public opinion make arch Catholics, who constitute the foreground of Christianity in Poland – called the Law and Justice. How much they professed the values of the alleged "national" came out during the alleged pandemic, erstwhile these "arcy-Catholics" closed cemeteries, beaches and boulevards, and besides destroyed Polish entrepreneurs under the pretext of false rumors about a deadly pandemic. He told them the Catholic Church, which blocked the faithful access to the churches and refused the Holy Communion “to the mouth,” claiming that there were deadly viruses in the churches, and thus Christ – there is barely any. Faithfuls have repeatedly experienced that the Church has left them, choosing the interests of abroad pharmaceutical companies and 3rd countries. The same was done by their government, the “Catholic” denominations, erstwhile they signed the liquidation of all Polish coal mines and power plants by 2049 and the alleged “Green Deal” which liquidated de facto Polish agriculture. The Church and the rulers then stood together against the fundamental national interests of Poland and Poles. Thanks to the church umbrella, the foundations of the Polish energy were eliminated efficiently and without major problems. After all, the “their” God-fearing “nationals” did so, so it was considered to be blessed and good.
In the face of geopolitical changes, especially after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, the Church and the authorities one more time stood on 1 side. This action was met with criticism of any of the environments that noted that close cooperation between Poland and the West, without dialog with neighbours from the East, could lead to an exacerbated geopolitical situation in the region. The increase in engagement on the part of Ukraine and at the same time the cooling of relations with Russia have brought tragic direct economical effects, which are felt, among others, in the Polish chemical or energy industry. Although the conflict in Ukraine threatens to spill to another countries, not erstwhile did the Polish authorities and the Catholic Church in Poland initiate any effort at a peace agreement between the fighting parties. They always repeated like a mantra the false paradigm of Ukraine's victory, which caused de facto the decline of the prestige of the Polish state and the Catholic Church in the region.
The Catholic Church in Poland, closely connected with statehood for over a 1000 years, had a affirmative and negative impact on the destiny of the country. In the mediate Ages, he played a key function in education, culture and science. However, we cannot neglect to see the black pages of the Church in the life of the state. The hierarchical structures controlled from the outside were very frequently against the Polish state's point of view, implementing a abroad policy against the vital interests of the state. And let's not be afraid to compose about it. In the 21st century, the question arises whether the Catholic Church in Poland is able to play the function of independent moral authority, free of geopolitical dependence, external control influences and interior economical interests. The Church is presently struggling with the request to regain the trust of society, especially younger generations, which are increasingly little and little identified with its teachings. Will he succeed?
Peter Panasiuk
