Metropolitan Sawa, the Church’s head, said the canonizations will cover Orthodox clergy and lay believers “whose names we know and do not know,” including those who died in Soviet gulags, concentration camps, the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and during displacements and deportations.
The bishops’ synod decided in March to proceed with the canonization of the “Katyn Martyrs,” noting the Church “has been and is tested and persecuted,” and strengthened by the martyrdom of believers.
Named among those to be recognized are Fr. Col. Szymon Fedorońko, the Polish Army’s chief Orthodox chaplain, murdered by the NKVD soviet secret police at Katyn in 1940, and two other Orthodox priests killed there: Fr. Lt. Col. Wiktor Romanowski and Fr. Maj. Włodzimierz Ochab.
The September 16 rite will precede centennial commemorations of the official decree granting autocephaly to the Polish Orthodox Church, delivered in Warsaw on September 17, 1925.
The feast and day of prayerful remembrance for the new saints is set for September 17, with the vigil on September 16 serving as the day of proclamation.
Sawa invited clergy and faithful to attend, urging families and parishes nationwide to organize pilgrimages for what he called an important and historic event.
(jh)
Source: PAP