Działalność Kościołów Ewangelickich na Mazurach po 1945 roku

Abstract

The year 1945 brought fundamental changes in state, national, political, religious, economic and social relations in Masuria. The Prussian Union of Churches was disintegrated, many churches and sacred buildings were destroyed. As a result of warfare, around 80 000 people from the Masurian population, including approximately 75 000 Protestants and about 5 000 Catholics, remained within the borders of the Polish state. The war and the widespread evacuation, which caused many tragedies and widespread chaos, led to the almost complete disintegration of the Protestant Union of Churches and of a number of religious associations in Masuria. This fact caused the establishment of a specific institutional religious vacuum in Masuria. In these new conditions religious activity was gradually undertaken by twelve Protestant churches and religious associations.The change of the socio-political system after 1989 contributed to the stabilization of evangelical churches in Masuria. The situation of Protestantism in Masuria has, however, been characterized by many contradictions and collapses in the last seventy years. Significant influence on the activities of the Protestant churches has led to disputes over succession in the former Church of the Union. Yet, the dominant factor influencing the image of Masurian Protestantism was the subsequent mass waves of emigration of the native population, which destabilized the ecclesial and social life in Masuria. This state of affairs caused a significant change in the religious map in this region of the country. With the declining number of Protestants, who in the postwar period numbered about 75 000, the role of the Roman Catholic Church, which dominated religious relations in Masuria, grew. The process was accompanied by fierce religious conflicts. The activity of Protestant churches was not able to successfully defy the dissolution of local communities of Masurian evangelicals. Among the members of Protestant churches and denominations, still the Masurian native population dominates with about 6 000 people, together with evangelicals from Cieszyn Silesia, the Bug River region and other regions of the country. Protestants in Masuria are a small group living in a deep diaspora, they are much dispersed and they no longer form a dense local community.