Adapting Ortodox churches for the Catholic cult in inter-war Lublin

Abstract

Due to the insufficient number of Catholic churches in Lublin in the inter-war period Catholics adapted Orthodox churches abandoned since the beginning of the First World War for the purposes of their cult. The earliest such case was the Orthodox cathedral on the main square of Lublin; it was used by the Polish Army until 1923 and then demolished, since it had been commonly regarded as a symbol of Russian rule and triumphalism. In 1921 the Catholics also took over the former regimental Orthodox church located in the so-called Western Camp. After a reconstruction aimed at erasing features of Orthodox architecture, the church began to serve the Lublin garrison and the inhabitants of the western quarters of the city. In 1923 the Catholic Church became the owner of the premises at Zielona Street, formerly owned by the Orthodox Church. The temple located there had been built at the end of the 18th c. by Greek merchants, disuniates recognizing the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople; in the 19th c. it was taken over by the Russian Orthodox Church and thoroughly restructured. In 1924–1934 this church and the adjacent buildings were used by the Missionary Institute, a seminary preparing missionaries to work in Russia. Later the buildings at Zielona St were used for different purposes but the church, dedicated to St Josaphat OSBM, continued to serve as a place of worship. Of the former cathedral, only fragments of foundations survive under the surface of Litewski Square. The present garrison church does not reveal traces of its Orthodox origins apart from barely accessible remains of polychrome paintings in the attic. In St Josaphat’s church features of Orthodox architecture are barely visible and very little has survived from its original furnishings.