The day of May 14, 2023, will be written in golden letters on the pages of the history of the Orthodox Church of Poland.
After more than ten years of efforts to obtain a permit for the construction of an Orthodox church in Warsaw and less than eight years after the laying of the foundation stone, “the consecration of the church of Hagia Sophia in Warsaw is a fact, thanks to the loving help of the Creator as well as to the titanic efforts of Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw”, it is characteristically mentioned in an announcement of the Church of Warsaw.
As he informs, this is the first construction of an Orthodox church in Warsaw in more than 100 years. A church, which is a copy of the world-famous Byzantine miracle, Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
In the announcement posted on the website of the Church of Poland, it is further emphasized that the church was created as a memorial and tribute to the victims of the deportations to Siberia, the camps, Katyn, Dachau (and others), “so that the walls of this temple to bear witness forever to our ancestors, who shed their blood for their faith in Orthodoxy and their love for their country”.
The celebrations inside the walls of the church of Agia Sophia, which was packed with hundreds of believers, were started by Metropolitan Savva, who in his greeting emphasized that “we must be grateful to God for this day”.
He recalled that the foundation stone for this church was laid by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, on December 5, 2015, while he emphasized that “the doors of this Church are open to all who will cross its threshold with faith, hope, and love, seeking the support and consolation of God, as they daily carry the Cross of life”.
