Timothy Szretter

He completed high school in Ostroh.{{Cite journal |last=Troc-Sosna |first=A. |title=Ihumenia Barbara (Grosser) – przełożona monasteru na Św. Górze Grabarce |journal=Wiadomości Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego |volume=219 |issue=2 |page=9 |issn=0239-4499}} From 1925 to 1930, he studied at the {{Interlanguage link|Orthodox Theological Seminary, Warsaw|lt=Orthodox Theological Seminary|pl|Studium Teologii Prawosławnej}} of the University of Warsaw. On 11 August 1930, he was ordained to the priesthood at the Pochaiv Lavra and was assigned to the parish in Łanowiec.{{Harvard citation text|Dudra|2010|p=80}}{{Cite web |last=Prawosławna Diecezja Lubelsko - Chełmska |title=Metropolita warszawski i całej Polski Tymoteusz (Szretter) |url=http://www.lublin.cerkiew.pl/events.php?id=1&id_n=37 |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=www.lublin.cerkiew.pl}}

In December 1933, he was transferred from the pospolite ruszenie to the reserve of military clergy, simultaneously appointed as a reserve chaplain with seniority from 1 January 1934, and ranked 6th among Orthodox military clergy.{{Cite book |title=Dziennik Personalny Ministerstwa Spraw Wojskowych |date=1934-01-26 |volume=2}} Subsequently, as a reserve chaplain, he was called to active duty and appointed as the acting dean of the Orthodox district of {{Interlanguage link|Corps District No. II (Poland)|lt=Corps District No. II|pl|Okręg Korpusu Nr II}} in Lublin.{{Cite book |title=Dziennik Personalny Ministerstwa Spraw Wojskowych |date=1934-06-07 |volume=11}}

In 1938, after the death of his wife Lidia, he took religious vows.{{Harvard citation text|Gerent|2007|p=155}}

On 27 November 1938, at the Pochaiv Lavra, he received episcopal consecration from the hands of Dionysius Waledyński, Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland. He was appointed as the vicar of the {{Interlanguage link|Diocese of Warsaw and Chełm|pl|Diecezja warszawsko-chełmska}} with the title of Bishop of Lublin.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=122}} According to {{Interlanguage link|Antoni Mironowicz|pl|Antoni Mironowicz}}, his consecration took place under pressure from the Polish state authorities, who aimed to Polonize the Polish Orthodox Church, while the majority of the hierarchy and clergy in the church's structures were Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. However, Jerzy Szretter was positively inclined towards the plans for Polonization of the Orthodox structures in Poland.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|pp=122, 99}} He undertook activities in this direction within the Diocese of Warsaw and Chełm after his consecration as bishop. Alongside Bishop {{Interlanguage link|Matthew Siemaszko|pl|Mateusz (Siemaszko)}} and Bishop {{Interlanguage link|Sawa Sovietov|pl|Sawa (Sowietow)}}, he was one of the greatest proponents of Polonization within the clergy of the Polish Orthodox Church.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=174}}

File:Jableczna-042.jpg. Bishop Timothy resided there for almost the entire duration of World War II.]]

After the outbreak of World War II, he arrived from the St. Onuphrius Monastery in Jabłeczna, where he had resided, to Warsaw. However, the ruling hierarch of the Diocese of Warsaw and Chełm since November 1939, Metropolitan Seraphim Lade of Berlin and Germany, sent him back to the monastery due to his pro-Polish views.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|pp=200–201}} Bishop Timothy returned to active church activities on 30 September 1940, as a member of the council of bishops of the {{Interlanguage link|General Government Orthodox Church|pl|Autokefaliczny Kościół Prawosławny w Generalnej Guberni}} (the establishment of such a structure was announced by Metropolitan Dionysius at the end of September of the same year). On the same day, he was granted the title of auxiliary bishop of the {{Interlanguage link|Diocese of Chełm and Podlachia|pl|Diecezja chełmsko-podlaska}}.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=203}} After the formation of the Church Synod, Bishop Timothy did not join its ranks due to his pre-war pro-Polish stance, which was inconsistent with the policy of Ukrainization of the Polish Orthodox Church.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|pp=203–204}} On 10 August 1944, the chairman of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, Edward Osóbka-Morawski, agreed to his temporary administration of the Diocese of Chełm and Podlachia.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=236}} During his supervision of the aforementioned administration, the deportation of Ukrainians to the USSR took place, leading to the closure of over 160 pastoral facilities due to lack of parishioners. Timothy (Szretter) did not protest against this; in a formal letter at the turn of 1944 and 1945, he stated that leaving the parishes in Lublin, Chełm, Biała Podlaska, Hrubieszów, and Włodawa in his area of responsibility would be sufficient. He also requested not to liquidate the monastery in Jabłeczna.{{Harvard citation text|Urban|1996|p=158}}

In October of the same year, Bishop Timothy also took over the administration of Orthodox parishes in the Białystok region. As a temporary head of the Orthodox Church structures in this region, contrary to the wishes of the local parish clergy, he opposed their transfer to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|pp=236–237}}

File:Tymoteusz (Szretter).JPG

File:Metropolita Tymoteusz na pogrzebie metropolity Makarego.jpg

In 1946, the Department of Denominations of the Ministry of Public Administration began to suggest to Dionysius, Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland, to resign from his office (ultimately, the clergyman was forced to do so). Bishop Timothy was considered as his possible successor. On 14 October 1945, he became one of the vice-presidents of the Polish Ecumenical Council.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=239}}

From 1946, as an archbishop, he led the Białystok-Bielsko diocese,{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=243}} renamed on 7 September 1951, to the {{Interlanguage link|Diocese of Białystok and Gdańsk|pl|Diecezja białostocko-gdańska}}.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=252}} In 1947, he became the vice-chairman of the Orthodox Metropolitan Committee for Aid to Resettlers in the Recovered Territories, where he engaged in organizing pastoral care and material support for Orthodox Christians who were resettled in these regions of Poland. In the same year, he founded the first female monastery within the post-war borders of Poland – the monastery on Grabarka Holy Mount.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=310}} In 1948, together with Metropolitan Dionysius, he developed a project for reforming the church's administrative division, which never came into force.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=247}}

In 1948, the communist authorities finally decided to remove Metropolitan Dionysius from office. Until a new primate of the Polish Orthodox Church was elected, the church was to be governed by a body not provided for by Orthodox canonical law – the Temporary Governing Collegium of the Polish Orthodox Church, consisting of Archbishop Timothy (Szretter) as chairman, Bishop George Korenistov, priest {{Interlanguage link|Jan Kowalenko|pl|Jan Kowalenko}}, priest Eugeniusz Naumow, priest Wsiewołod Łopuchowicz, priest {{Interlanguage link|Michael Kiedrov|pl|Michał (Kiedrow)}}, and Mikołaj Sieriebriannikow. On November 12, Archbishop Timothy officially served as the locum tenens of the Warsaw metropolitans.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=248}} Earlier, in April of the same year, he initiated talks with Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow to clarify the controversies surrounding the canonical status of the Polish Orthodox Church,{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=249}} and on 21 May 1948, he became the temporary administrator of the Recovered Territories diocese,{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=250}} a position he held until September of the same year.{{Harvard citation text|Gerent|2007|p=145}} In June 1948, he was one of the delegates of the Polish Orthodox Church to the Moscow Patriarchate. The delegation renounced the autocephaly granted by the Patriarchate of Constantinople and applied for its re-issuance by the Russian Orthodox Church, after which they accepted the relevant tomos from the patriarch.{{Harvard citation text|Urban|1996|pp=75–76}}

At the request of Archbishop Timothy on 30 June 1948, the Polish authorities prohibited Metropolitan Dionysius from continuing to reside in the metropolitan house in Warsaw and began preparations to designate another permanent place of residence for him.{{Harvard citation text|Dudra|2010|p=108}}

Archbishop Timothy, like the other bishops of the Polish Orthodox Church, maintained a loyal relationship with the state authorities. In 1949, he publicly asserted that there was no room for any form of religious oppression in Poland.{{Harvard citation text|Urban|1996|p=335}} However, the existing plan from 1946 for him to assume the office of metropolitan was abandoned. According to the state authorities, the hierarch's authority among the clergy of the Polish Orthodox Church was insufficient. Archbishop Timothy was also accused of lacking organizational talents and necessary experience.{{Harvard citation text|Urban|1996|p=77}} Ultimately, Timothy (Szretter) remained the locum tenens of the Warsaw metropolitans until the arrival of Archbishop Macarius Oksiyuk from the USSR, delegated to the Polish Orthodox Church by the Patriarch of Moscow and elected as the head of the Orthodox Church in Poland on 7 July 1951.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=251}} Earlier, in 1950, he facilitated the opening of the Orthodox Theological School in Warsaw, later transformed by Metropolitan Macarius into a seminary.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=319}}

After 1956, Archbishop Timothy effectively began to manage the entire church again due to Metropolitan Macarius' advanced age and poor health.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=255}} In 1957, the Office for Religious Affairs considered the idea of removing Metropolitan Macarius and reinstating Archbishop Timothy as the locum tenens.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=260}} Timothy was described as an intelligent, tactful individual who understood the situation and was ready to carry out the authorities' orders even when they were not favorable to him (such as in the matter of filling the office of metropolitan). During the same period, Timothy was registered by the Department IV of the XI Public Security Committee as a "confidential contact" under the pseudonym Beard Man ({{Langx|pl|Brodacz}}), although due to the destruction of documentation, it is not possible to determine the nature of his collaboration with the services.{{Cite book |last=Michalak |first=R. |title=Polityka wyznaniowa państwa polskiego wobec mniejszości religijnych w latach 1945–1989 |publisher=Oficyna Wydawnicza Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego |year=2014 |isbn=83-7431-046-4 |location=Zielona Góra |page=122}}

File:Metropolita tymoteusz grób cmentarz na woli.JPG

After Macarius' departure to the USSR and his death in Odesa in 1961, the state authorities brought about the election of Timothy as metropolitan (since December 1957, he had been again the locum tenens).{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=266}} Delegations from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Romanian Orthodox Church participated in the metropolitan's enthronement.{{Harvard citation text|Mironowicz|2001|p=279}} His election was also positively received by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.{{Harvard citation text|Urban|1996|p=97}}

Metropolitan Timothy was elected by the Council of Bishops of the Polish Orthodox Church, not by the Electoral Council as stipulated in the church's statute, leading to protests from the clergy and the faithful. The newly elected metropolitan was accused of assuming the office against canonical law. Allegations of moral nature were also raised against him. Petitions and complaints regarding the circumstances of Timothy's assumption of office, as well as his person and conduct, were sent to the State Council of the Polish People's Republic, the Council of Ministers, the Sejm, the Office for Religious Affairs, and the Patriarch of Moscow. One member of the Council of Bishops of the Polish Orthodox Church, Bishop Bazyli Doroszkiewicz, also protested against the electoral process. He claimed that the appointment to the office had been decided by employees of the Office for Religious Affairs, {{Interlanguage link|Serafin Kiryłowicz|pl|Serafin Kiryłowicz}} and Adam Wołowicz, who treated the Polish Orthodox Church as a mere object.

As the Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland, the hierarch represented the church during the preparations for the pan-Orthodox council. Together with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, he engaged in the peace movement.{{Harvard citation text|Urban|1996|p=383}} In 1961, he founded a Polish-speaking parish in Warsaw, with Father Jerzy Klinger as its parish priest, but it ceased its activities due to the lack of faithful interested in services in Polish.{{Harvard citation text|Urban|1996|p=329}}

Controversies surrounding Metropolitan Timothy persisted throughout his tenure until his death on 20 May 1962. Metropolitan Timothy (Szretter) was buried in the Orthodox Cemetery in Warsaw.

• {{Cite book |last=Mironowicz |first=Antoni |title=Kościół prawosławny na ziemiach polskich w XIX i XX wieku |publisher=Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku |year=2001 |isbn=83-7431-046-4 |location=Białystok}}
• {{Cite book |last=Gerent |first=Piotr |title=Prawosławie na Dolnym Śląsku w latach 1945–1989. |publisher=Adam Marszałek |year=2007 |isbn=978-83-7441-468-5 |location=Toruń}}
• {{Cite book |last=Urban |first=Kazimierz |title=Kościół prawosławny w Polsce 1945–1970 |publisher=Nomos |year=1996 |isbn=83-85527-35-4 |location=Kraków}}
• {{Cite book |last=Dudra |first=Stefan |title=Metropolita Dionizy (Waledyński) 1876–1960 |publisher=Warszawska Metropolia Prawosławna |year=2010 |isbn=978-83-603-11-34-9 |location=Warsaw}}

{{Primates of the Polish Orthodox Church}}

Category:1901 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:Bishops of the Polish Orthodox Church