COPIES OF THE PATRIARCHAL AND SYNODAL-CANONICAL TOMOS 1924 IN THE POLISH ARCHIVES

Abstract

The article attempts to find out in the Polish archives copies of the Patriarchal and Synodal-Canonical Tomos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate dated November 13, 1924. The peculiarities of the perception of the status of this document by Polish officials (de facto – as an international agreement) are analyzed. It is determined that the term «authentic Tomos» was used both for the official public copy in Greek and for a copy of the French translation certified by the Chancellery of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The dates of receipt of copies of the document in Poland, as well as their transfer to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education and Warsaw Metropolitan Dionizy (Valedynskiy) of have been set. The information about the place of preservation of the authentic copy in French has been checked and clarified.
Evidence is given in favor of the version that the Greek copy of Tomos was kept in the Polish state archives during 1926-1939, and not in the archives of the Warsaw Orthodox Metropolis. The validity of assumptions about the fate of this copy after 1939 was assessed, in particular, the possibility of finding it in archives outside Poland. A verification of the widespread notion that a key copy of the 1924 Tomos was sent to Moscow in 1948 has been verified.
The author concluded that the uncertainty as to whether the authentic copy of the Tomos 1924 has been preserved «reflects» both the vicissitudes of the struggle for autocephaly of the Polish Orthodox Church and the specifics of state-church relations in different periods.