$Unique_ID{COW02953} $Pretitle{362} $Title{Poland Non-Roman Catholic Churches and Religious Denominations} $Subtitle{} $Author{Lech Kurpiewski} $Affiliation{Polish Embassy, Washington DC} $Subject{church polish poland muslim religious churches council world mosque catholic} $Date{1990} $Log{} Country: Poland Book: Update on Poland Author: Lech Kurpiewski Affiliation: Polish Embassy, Washington DC Date: 1990 Non-Roman Catholic Churches and Religious Denominations There are 40 non-Roman Catholic churches and religious denominations in Poland. Most of them were oficially recognized only after World War II when the state implemented the constitutional principles of freedom of conscience and worship, the separation of religion from the state and its institutions, and the equality of all faiths and world outlooks. The largest of these churches has several hundred thousand followers. Most of the remaining ones have from several thousand to several score thousand faithful, and some have less than a hundred adherents. The activity of these denominations proves in practice that the state does not set the limits of citizens' freedom of belief according to the size of the religious group they belong to. It also shows that despite the numerical predominance of Catholics, Polish society is pluralistic from the point of view of both religion and world outlook. Apart from non-believers, living in Poland are representatives of all main religions of the contemporary world. Christian denominations Among non-Roman Catholic churches and religious associations in Poland, the most numerous are Christian denominations. There are 31 of them. An important element of their activities is their participation in the Polish Ecumenical Council, which is the national counterpart of the World Council of Churches. Established in 1945, its traditions date back to the famous Sandomierz Agreement, which was the first ecumenical initiative on Polish soil. At present, the following churches belong to the Polish Ecumenical Council: - the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church - the Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession - the Reformed Lutheran Church - the Methodist Church - the Polish Catholic Church - the Old-Catholic Church of the Mariavites - the Polish Christian Baptist Church - the United Evangelical Church The Polish Ecumenical Council, whose main objective is promoting friendly relations between all Christians, also engages in public, historic, cultural and patriotic undertakings, as well as in work for the cause of peace and international cooperation. It is an example of how mutual tolerance can bring about joint efforts for common goals, irrespective of differences in doctrines. The present Chairman of the Polish Ecumenical Council is superintendent general the Rev. Adam Kuczma, head of the Methodist Church. He was chosen for this post by the General Assembly of the Council in December 1986. The Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw maintains close ties with the Polish Ecumenical Council. The Academy is a state institution of higher education which provides instruction to non-Roman Catholic clergy in Poland. In the academic year 1986/87, it had 158 students - with 105 in the evangelical section, 18 - in the Old-Catholic and 35 in the Orthodox sections. The Christian Theological Academy employs 29 academic staff, including 3 professors and 5 assistant professors. The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church As to the number of faithful, the largest non-Roman Catholic religious denomination in Poland is the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The Orthodox faith has been present in Poland since 1371, when the Halicz Metropolis was formed. During the partitions, when Polish territory fell under Prussian, Russian and Austrian rule, the Polish Orthodox Church became subordinate to the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1922 Poles of Orthodox persuasion undertook efforts to regain autonomy, which in 1948 led the Russian Orthodox Church to grant them an autocephaly. In the period between the two World Wars there were four million Orthodox faithful in Poland. As a result of the territorial changes and migrations brought about by World War II, this number fell and is now - according to Church statistics - a little over 850 thousand. The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church is divided into five dioceses: Warsaw-Bielsko Biala, Bialystok-Gdansk, Lodz-Poznan, Wroclaw-Szczecin and Przemysl-Nowy Sacz; it has 21 deaneries, 242 parishes and affiliates, 311 churches and chapels and 252 catechetic centers. The Church has one archbishop, four bishops, 234 priests, nine monks and fifteen nuns. It also runs its own ecclesiastical seminary with 50 students. The Church publishes the quarterly Wiadomosci Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kosciola Prawoslawnego (Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church News) and the monthly Cerkownyj Wiestnik. The head of the Church is the Metropolitan, Archbishop Bazyli (Doroszkiewicz). Chief authority is vested in the hands of the National Council and the Bishops' Council. There is a whole family of Protestant sects in Poland: the Lutherans, Calvins, Baptists, Methodists, Adventists, Christian Scientists, Pentecostalists. The Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession In this group, the Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession has the largest number of followers. It represents a faith which in Poland dates back to the 16th century Reformation. Polish Evangelists greatly contributed to the development of our national culture. In this context one can name Samuel Bogumil Linde - author of the Dictionary of the Polish Language; Herman Gizewiusz - writer, defender of the Polish tradition and language among the Mazurian people; Oskar Kolberg - an authority on Polish folklore; general Julian Konstanty Ordon - defender of the last bastion of resistance during the 1830 November Uprising; generals Juliusz Rommel and Wiktor Thommee - defenders of Modlin and Warsaw in 1939. The Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession was vehemently repressed for its defence of the Polish language and culture during the Nazi occupation; the then head of the Church consistory, Bishop Juliusz Bursche, was killed in a Nazi concentration camp. Today, the Church has some 75 thousand faithful. It is divided into 6 dioceses: of Cieszyn, Katowice, the Mazurian district, the Pomerania and Great Poland region, Warsaw and Wroclaw. Its 121 parishes and 169 preachers' stations with 181 churches, 148 chapels and 193 catechetic centers are served by 90 clergymen and 223 lay employees. The Church publishes a biweekly entitled Zwiastun (Herald). The highest authority is the Synod, composed of an executive body and delegates of the clergy and laymen. Executive power is vested in the hands of the Consistory, presently headed by Bishop Janusz Narzynski. The Evangelical Reformed Church The traditional forms of Protestantism as established by John Calvin and Urlich Zwingli, are continued by the Evangelical Reformed Church, whose history dates back to the 16th century. Among its adherents were such famous Poles as Mikolaj Rej, Jan Laski and Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski. Today the Church's main centers are Warsaw, Lodz and the Great Poland region. It has 10 parishes, governed by parish assemblies and elected colleges. The places of worship include 6 churches, 7 chapels and 6 catechetic centers with 5 clergymen and 34 lay workers. The Church publishes the Jednota (One-ness) monthly. The highest governing body of the Evangelical Reformed Church is the Synod, composed of clergy and lay delegates, who elect the executive authorities: the consistory and bishop superintendent - at present Bishop Zdzislaw Trenda. The Methodist Church Methodism, started in 1784 by John Wesley as a reform movement within the Anglican Church, is represented in Poland by the Methodist Church. The first Methodists appeared in our country at the end of the 19th century in Gdansk, Grudziadz and Chodziez. Between the two World Wars they began missionary and charity work, establishing the Oswiata i Kultura (Education and Culture) society, which to this day runs the well-known and highly esteemed English language school. Only in People's Poland did the Methodist Church acquire legal recognition and the possibility of expanding. It is now divided into 3 circuits (Pomerania; Great Poland and Mazovia; Silesia and Little Poland) with 60 congregations, 55 churches and chapels, and 32 catechetic centers. Its ministry includes 38 clergymen and 39 laymen. The Church publishes the monthly Pielgrzym Polski (Polish Pilgrim). The highest authority is the General Conference of clergy and lay delegates, who elect the Church Council and chief superintendent (this post is now held by the Rev. Adam Kuczma). The Polish Christian Baptist Church The Baptist movement was formed in 17th century England and came to Poland in the second half of the 19th century. It gained recognition and legal status in People's Poland with the establishment of the Polish Christian Baptist Church. The denomination has 9 organizational districts and 128 congregations with 63 churches, chapels and houses of prayer, and 33 catechetic centers ministered by 61 clergymen. It publishes a monthly entitled Slowo Prawdy (Word of Truth). The governing body of the Church is the Synod, which appoints the executive Main Council and Chairman - now presbyter Piotr Dajludzionek. The United Evangelical Church The United Evangelical Church was established in the late 1950s through the integration of the following denominations: the Evangelical Christians, Free Christians, Resolute Christians, the Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith and the Church of Christ. The United Evangelical Church forms 121 congregations and 130 clerical centers, with 122 churches, chapels and houses of prayer; its followers are ministered to by 129 clergy and 57 laymen. The Church publishes the monthly Chrzescijanin (The Christian). The highest Church authority is the Synod, which elects the Church Council. The executive body is the Council Presidium, headed by a chairman - now presbyter Edward Czajko. The United Evangelical Church - which is, in fact, a loose federation of denominations - is presently engaged in a debate over a new model of organizational arrangement. The Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Church of Saturday Christians The Adventist awakening movement, founded in the United States of America in 1831, is represented in Poland by two churches. One of them is the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which in 1893 established its first center in Lodz. The legal recognition of this Church came about in People's Poland in 1946. Its present organizational structure includes 3 assemblies and 121 parishes. Followers of the faith have 121 places of worship and 64 catechetic centers, and are served by 84 clergymen and 70 laymen. The Church runs its own ecclesiastical seminary in Podkowa Lesna, providing instruction to 50 students, and publishes two monthlies: Znaki Czasu (Signs of the Time) and Sluga Zboru (Servant of the Congregation). The Church's main authority is the Congress, which elects the General Council. Executive power belongs to the Central Board and its chairman - at present the Rev. Stanislaw Dabrowski. Another church which stems from the Adventist movement is the Church of Saturday Christians, legally recognized in 1961. It carries out its activities within 10 congregations and 41 ecclesiastical centers, and publishes the quarterly Glos Kaznodziejski (Preaching Voice). Other Protestant denominations Protestantism is also represented in Poland by other religious organizations: - the Association of Free Bible Students - operates in 93 congregations and publishes the bimonthly Na Strazy (On Guard); - the Church of Free Christians - 34 congregations, 51 ecclesiastical centers; the monthly Laska i Pokoj (Grace and Peace); - the Church of Christ - 20 congregations; - the Society of Bible Students - 27 autonomous congregations; bimonthly Swit Krolestwa Bozego i Wtornej Obecnosci Jezusa Chrystusa (Dawn of the Holy Kingdom and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ); - the Apostolic See in Jesus Christ; - the Protestant Community of the Bieszczady Region; - the "Epiphany" Lay Missionary Movement; - the New-Apostolic Church of Poland; - the Association of Christian Congregations in the Polish People's Republic; - the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), as well as by other denominations of a local character. The Polish Catholic Church Catholic churches which broke away from the Roman Catholic persuasion are also active in Poland. The largest of these is the Polish Catholic Church which began its activities in the USA. In 1897, protesting against the discrimination of Polish immigrants, by the German and Irish clergy, a group of Poles centered around the Rev. Franciszek Hodura established their own religious association, totally independent from the Pope. They introduced Polish liturgy and adopted the doctrine and cult principles characteristic of the Old-Catholic tradition. This denomination became visible in Poland in 1919, but its official recognition came about in 1946. In 1951 the Church authorities decided to renounce the authority of the Polish National Church in the USA. At present, the Polish Catholic Church ministers to some 48 thousand faithful. It is organized into 3 dioceses: of Warsaw, Wroclaw and Cracow; it has 97 churches and chapels, 110 catechetic centers, and 114 clergy and 7 lay employees. The Church's publishing house Odrodzenie prints books, the weekly Rodzina (Family), and the quarterly Poslannictwo (Mission). The supreme authority of the Church is the All-Polish Synod, with its Council as the executive body. The head of the Church is the bishop ordinary - at present Bishop Tadeusz Majewski. The Old-Catholic Church of the Mariavites The Old-Catholic faith is also represented by the Old-Catholic Church of the Mariavites, which started developing on Polish territory from within the Roman Catholic church at the end of the 19th century. It was granted legal standing only in 1947. Today the Church is divided into 3 dioceses: Warsaw-Plock, Lodz- Silesia, Podlasie-Lublin and forms 42 parishes. It has 30 clergymen, 56 churches and chapels, and 45 catechetic centers. Its publication is the monthly Mariawita (The Mariavite). The Synod is the highest authority in the Church; it is a representation of lay delegates and clergy. Between Synods, its role is taken up by the General Chapter, composed of all the Church clergy. The executive office is the Church Council, headed by the bishop general - presently Bishop Stanislaw Kowalski. The Catholic Mariavite Church Following a division within the Mariavite movement, 1935 saw the emergence of the Catholic Mariavite Church - which permits women in the priesthood. This Church was officially recognized in 1947. It is divided into 2 dioceses (called custodies): of Warsaw and Lodz. The faithful assemble in 23 parishes and 9 parish affiliates with 2 churches, 20 chapels, and 26 catechetic centers. Pastoral care is provided by 29 clergy, including 23 women. The head of the Church is Archbishop Jozef M. Rafael Wojciechowski. Non-Christian denominations There are also non-Christian communities in Poland. One of them is the community of followers of the Mosaic creed - greatly diminished in number as a result of World War II - represented by the Religious Union of the Mosaic Creed, with 2 thousand faithful. The Union is composed of 16 congregations and has 23 houses of prayer (including 10 synagogues). The Chairman of the Main Council is Moses Finkelstein. The Moslem Religious Union unites 2 thousand Polish followers of Islam - mainly descendants of the Tatars who at the end of the 16th century arrived at the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It consists of 6 communities: Bialystok, Bohoniki, Kruszyniany, Gdansk, Warsaw and Gorzow Wielkopolski, and has 2 mosques, 2 catechetic centers and 5 imams. A new mosque in Gdansk is presently being erected, while preparations are underway for the construction of mosques in Bialystok and Warsaw. The Chairman of the Highest Moslem Collegium in Poland is Stefan Mucharski. The Karaite Religious Union also has its followers in the communities of Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Opole. Recent years witnessed the emergence and legal recognition of religious communities dedicated to Buddhism and Hinduism. There are 4 Buddhist communites, the last of which was registered in 1987: - the "Zen-Czogie" Buddhist Association - the Union of "Zen Sangha" Buddhists - the "Karma Kagya" Buddhist Association - the "Kandzeon" Buddhist Association Followers of Hinduism are members of 2 religious groups. A denomination whose legal standing has not yet been regulated are the Jehovah's Witnesses (50 thousand followers). Efforts aimed at the legalization of this group have not been successful. However, the state authorities - adhering to the Constitutional principle of freedom of conscience and worship - try to create conditions for the realization of the community's religious needs (e.g. by permitting them to hold mass religious assemblies and to publish religious literature), and are seeking to regulate the Jehovah's Witnesses' legal position. Relations between the state and non-Roman Catholic churches and religious denominations have a good tradition. The leadership and faithful of these bodies have repeatedly emphasized that conditions for the legal activity of their communities were created only after the post-war changes in Poland; the same changes determined that today there is no need to chose between loyalty to the state and commitment to the faith. Maintaining full ideological autonomy and identity, these Churches are at the same time actively engaged in resolving the problems encountered by Polish society. THE MOSQUES OF LECHISTAN (On the Muslim Community in Poland) In Poland, once known as Lechistan among Muslim people, there are three mosques. The most recent one, in Gdansk-Oliwa, was opened in June 1990. The two others are nearly three hundred years old and both are in the Bialystok voivodship, in Kruszyniany and Bohoniki. Nearly half of the Polish Muslims, which number about three thousand at the moment, inhabit this north-eastern region of Poland. They are organized in six parishes, under the Muslim Religious Union in Poland, which have their seats in Bohoniki, Kruszyniany, Bialystok, Warsaw, Gdansk and Gorzow Wielkopolski. The fact that there have been Muslim parishes in Poland continuously for six hundred years is a historical phenomenon. These parishes are the oldest religious organizations of Muslims from among those which have operated with no interruption in a Christian country that has never been ruled by Muslims. The chairman of the Highest Council of the Muslim Religious Union in Poland, Stefan Mucharski, says: "We have endured thanks to the strength of our faith and the tolerance of the Polish society we form a part of." Islam entered Poland together with Tartar settlements starting in Poland and Lithuania in the 14th century. The Tartars (this term naming one of the Mongol tribes was expanded to embrace other tribes that assimilated with Turkish Kipchaks and were settled in the East of Europe) assisted the Polish-Lithuanian State in its fights against the Teutonic Order, the Duchy of Moscow and later against Sweden. Many of these Tartars came to the East of Poland as a result of dynastic conflicts in the Golden Horde and the Crimean Khanate. In the following centuries the Muslim Tartars sought protection on Polish territory from religious persecution by Russian Tsars. Some of the Tartar settlers were prisoners of war. The southeast of Poland bordering on territories under the rule of the Golden Horde and later Turkey witnessed many battles and resounded with the clanging of weapons. Not only Tartar and Turkish invasions were causing trouble to Poland, however, in the second half of the 17th century some of the Tartar companies serving in the Polish army renounced allegiance, mostly for economic reasons. The conflict was settled by the Polish King John III Sobieski which won him gratitude of the Polish Tartars. He granted the Tartar companies crown lands situated in the present Bialystok and Biala Podlaska voivodships (combined area of more than 17 x 526 hectares) as a reward for the overdue soldier's pay in 1679. Colonel Murza Krzeczkowski, participated later in the Relief of Vienna under Sobieski's command, was given Kruszyniany, Luzany, Bialogorce and other villages, captain of horse Romanowski received Studzianka and captain of horse Olejewski-Bohoniki. In the 17th century there were about a hundred thousand Tartars living in Poland. The last group of the followers of Islam came to Poland after World War I from the Crimea, the Caucasus and the lower Volga region, as political emigrants escaping the persecution by Soviet authorities. The Tartars were quickly becoming Polonized so that they lost their unique national character, including the knowledge of the mother tongue, already in the middle of the 16th century. This process was accelerated by the fact that the Tartar population enjoyed privileges protecting its freedom of belief and personal security from the very beginning of its settlement. Finally the Tartar gentry received equal rights with the Polish and Lithuanian one. The Tartars, remaining faithful to Islam, were also devoted to the cause of their new homeland and protected its borders. In 1972, when the independence of Poland was threatened by neighbouring powers, the soldiers from Tartar regiments took an oath on the Koran in front of their imams to defend the Polish king, the country and the Polish Constitution. During the time Poland was partitioned (1795 - World War I), the Tartars participated in all the Polish national uprisings; they also displayed courageous behaviour in the defensive war against the Nazis in 1939. The last of Tartar cavalry regiments in the Polish army, the Tartar Squadron of the 13th Regiment of the Vilnius Uhlans, fought in this war. Stefan Mucharski says today: "Polish Muslims are no less Poles than Slav Poles. The only difference is our Tartar origin." The Polish Tartars profess the Sunnite sect of Islam. They followed their own religious laws based on the Koran from the very beginning of their settlements in Poland. These laws were naturally recognized only among the Muslim parishes, which formed the main body organizing the religious life of Tartars with the mosque in the centre and the religious leader (imam mullah) in charge. It was the imam mullah's duty to conduct prayers, perform wedding ceremonies and take care of the mosque. Moreover, he acted as the registrar of marriages and deaths. The oldest of the registers date back to year 1556. The Muslim Religious Union, after it was formed in 1925, proclaimed the independence of the Muslim belief in Poland. The highest religious authority of the Polish Muslims, the mufti, was appointed the same year. The first one to become mufti was Jakub Szynkewicz, doctor of Oriental studies. In the period between the two world wars 19 parishes and 17 mosques in Poland came under the Union. The Polish Muslim population of that time numbered about 6-7 thousand. The independence of Poland after World War I enabled the Tartars to extend their relations with the Muslim East on an unprecedented scale. The mufti Jakub Szynkiewicz travelled to the East three times, including journeys to Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Turkey. He was raising funds for a mosque to be built in Warsaw. The outbreak of World War II interrupted these efforts, however. After the war over there remained only two mosques and a few Tartar centres, i.e. Kruszyniany, Bohoniki, Sokolka, Krynki, Bialystok within the Polish reduced borders. During postwar repatriation migrations caused by the redefining of the boundaries, part of the Muslims from what had former been the Polish East moved to the west and north of Poland to settle there. The revived Muslim Religious Union has appointed no mufti so that major organizational and religious matters, confirming the imams chosen by their parishes, for instance, are decided by the Supreme Muslim Council appointed by the All-Polish Muslim Congress. Polish Muslims had no chance to establish close religious relations with the Muslim East for many years after World War II. In 1984, however, the great mufti of Liban, Hasan Chalid, first visited Poland to return several times later. In 1986 representatives of the Muslim World League from Saudi Arabia under the presidency of its assistant general secretary, Sheikh Muhammad Ben Naser al-Abbudi, came to Poland to visit Muslim parishes in Bialystok, Kruszyniany, Bohoniki and Gdansk. After a common prayer in the timbered mosque in Kruszyniany, which is a national monument, just like the Bohoniki mosque, Sheikh al-Abbudi said: "This House of God is no different from ours. We are proud and glad that you cherish it so strongly and care for everything." The representatives also visited old mizars (i.e. Muslim cemeteries) nearby the mosques on the inscriptions carved in tombstones in Arabic and Polish, which often read to form a several century old chronicle of Tartar family lines from Poland. The local imams were presented with beautifully edited Koran books and with a taped version of al-Koran in Arabic. This gift is all the more precious to the Polish Muslim priests, since, although the prayers are conducted in Arabic, neither do the priests know Arabic to a sufficient extent, nor does their flock know it at all. Incidentally, the first translation of the Koran into Polish by the Polish Tartar Jan Murza Tarak Buczacki appeared in 1858. The most recent translation by Professor Jozef Bielawski was published a few years ago. The visit of the League representatives had great importance for the Polish Muslims, since it was the first direct and official contact with Mecca. It produced the opportunity to talk about a needed aid by the Islam world for the building of mosques in Poland, for the educating of imams and organizing pilgrimages to Mecca. And, what is most important, it set the path for further meetings. In August 1988, at the invitation of the Muslim Religious Union, Sheikh Dr. Abdullah Omar Nasseef, the Secretary General of the Muslim World League paid a visit to Warsaw. The migration from the country to town that has been so typical for Poland in the recent decades, has also reached the Muslim centres. Only a dozen or so Tartar families inhabit Kruszyniany and Bohoniki nowadays. But still, Tartars from all over the country come here to pray in the mosque together, visit the graveyard and meet friends. An opportunity for such reunions confirming their attachment to tradition and religion are the Muslim holidays, such as the most important Id al-Filtr (ending the fast during which meals are to be taken only after sunset), the Id al-Adha (with an offering, of a lamb usually, after a mosque service), the Id al-mawlid an-Nobi, i.e. the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad Feast and the Ashura Day (the Fasting Day), on which the believers go to the cemetery and pray for the deceased. The mosque service is held every first Friday of the month. The language of the service is still Arabic, although sometimes the imam gives comments in Polish, too. The Polish Tartars have developed very specific ceremonies of naming children, weddings and funerals that are the result of a fused Islam, Tartar and some Polish tradition. The latest mosque in Poland has been chosen to be built in Gdansk for several reasons. First of all the Muslim Believer Parish in this town is comparatively numerous and numbers about three hundred people. Moreover Gdansk, being a port town, is visited by many Muslim sailors and it educates a lot of students from Islamic countries. The initiative to raise funds for the mosque was taken by these very foreign Muslim students. A large amount of money was granted by the Arab merchant ship Ali Abd Turki. The Gdansk mosque, designed by M.Sc. Marian Wszelaki and Ali Muchla, will not only be used as a sacred place. Next to prayer room it has two lecture rooms for courses of Arabic, lectures on the history, culture and art of Muslim countries and also lectures on the Polish culture for Muslim visitors to Poland. The Muslim Religious Union is also planning to build mosques in Warsaw and Bialystok. The planned Warsaw mosque will be situated on the right bank of the town. In the Saska Kepa district. Apart from being a place for religious service, it will also function as Centre of Muslim Culture with a club, a traditional communal room, a library and a reading room, exhibition hall, classrooms plus a multifunctional room. The general design of the Mosque was drafted by the former Polish fencer and Olympic Wojciech Zablocki. It shows the influence of Islamic architecture and will serve representative functions as well, thanks to its planned size and the technical and artistic treatment. The prayer hall will hold 550, the women gallery - 200, the porch - 150 and court - 140 worshippers. Its cubicage of 25,120 metres and the minaret's height - 51 metres. As for now funds are being raised; and the Polish Muslims hope to get some aid from Islamic countries. Work on the Muslim Cultural and Educational Centre in Bialystok will start already this year. The building, designed by Mrs. Krystyna Kakarenko, who worked for many years in Algeria, will comprise a mosque, a Koranic school and a hotel for visitors serving as a home for old, as well. The building is designed on a large scale, as numbers prove: its usable area will be over 5 thousand sq. metres and its cubicage of 40 thousand metres. Two 50-metre-high minaretes will tower over the mosque of 30 metres. The Koranic school will include not only classrooms but also a room for audiovisual equipment, an exhibition hall, and a library with a reading room. As to the mosque in Gdansk, it should be mentioned that it is situated in the Anthony Abraham Street close to a Roman-Catholic church dedicated to St. Stanislaw Kostka. This neighborhood of a Muslim and a Catholic House of God is full of symbolic meaning... History bears witness that such neighbourhood, of the Cross has been a typical and not an extraordinary feature in Poland, a country of many nations and beliefs. Just as the tolling of the church bells blended peacefully with the muezzin's call:, i.e. "Allah akbar", i.e. "God is great". What's more, it seems that these two sounds have supported each other.