"Returning the Stolen Latin Souls": The Policy of Polonization of Orthodoxy in the Interwar Poland

Abstract

The policy of the Polish government towards the Eastern Orthodoxy in the northeastern regions was turning tougher on the eve of the Second World War. Polish officials feared that the USSR would meddle in Polish domestic affairs using the Orthodox Church, and therefore they tightened control over the Church and the flock. The government wanted to tie the Orthodox community closer to the Polish nation. Religious practice and education were supposed to be Polonized; a number of Orthodox churches and parishes were closed; some disloyal priests were replaced by those loyal to Poland. The government also tried to strengthen the influence of the Catholic Church in Poland’s eastern regions.