August 20, 2014
President Komorowski joined around 5,000 Orthodox Christians from Poland and abroad at the Holy Mount of Grabarka near Siemiatycze, eastern Poland, for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
President Komorowski and First Lady Anna plant Oak of Freedom in Grabarka: photo - PAP/Artur Reszko
The morning liturgy, Tuesday, officiated by Metropolitan Sawa, leader of the Orthodox Church in Poland, was followed by the traditional blessing of fruit brought by the faithful.
The Transfiguration, celebrated in Poland on 16 August, is numbered among the twelve Great Feasts in the Orthodox Christian calender.
Metropolitan Sawa thanked Bronislaw Komorowski and First Lady Anna for their participation, describing it as proof that the head of state is “a president of all citizens of our homeland, irrespective of their creed or nationality”.
The leader of Polish Orthodox Christians also spoke of an ever-creeping secularization as contributing to what he termed as “making a negative use of freedom”
‘This is a source of our concern and this is why we constantly remind of the great importance of Christian values which serve a revival or spirituality and Christian hope,” he said.
President Komorowski, who had taken part in the ceremony the Holy Mount of Grabarka - which houses the most important Orthodox sanctuary in Poland, three years ago - said that it is a place “where one finds it easier not only to pray but also to act for the cause of unity”.
In his speech, he stressed the role of strong communities – at family, parish and state level – in national life.
After the service President Komorowski and Metropolitan Sawa planted an Oak of Freedom to mark the 25th anniversary of the parliamentary elections which began the country’s transition to democracy in 1989.
One of the focal points of this year’s celebration at Grabarka is the presence of the relic of St. Mary Magdalene – the saint’s hand which has arrived from is the most sacred treasure of Simonopetra Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, where it is kept as the most sacred treasure.
The relic was first displayed last Saturday at the St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Cathedral in Warsaw.
From Grabarka it will be taken to several Polish Orthodox Christian centres.
According to the Orthodox Church, there are up to half a million Orthodox Christians in Poland: in the latest national census in Poland, however, only 156,000 people declared themselves members of that faith.
