View source for Sawa (Hrycuniak) of Warsaw

[[Image:J. E. metropolita Sawa.JPG|right|thumb|His Beatitude Sawa, Archbishop of Warsaw and Metropolitan of All Poland.]]
His Beatitude '''Sawa (Hrycuniak)''', [[Archbishop]] of Warsaw and [[Metropolitan]] of All Poland, is the current head of the [[autocephalous]] [[Church of Poland]]. He is the eighth [[hierarch]] to head the Polish [[church]] since it was granted autocephaly by the [[Patriarch of Constantinople]] in 1924. As Archbishop of Warsaw and Metropolitan of All Poland, his [[see]] is in Warsaw at the [[Cathedral]] of [[Cathedral of Mary Magdalen Equal to the Apostles (Warsaw)|Mary Magdalen Equal to the Apostles]].

==Biography==
Born on [[April 15]], 1938, in Sniatycze (near Zamosc), Michael Hrycuniak completed a spiritual [[seminary]] and then enrolled in a Master of Arts in Theological Studies in 1957, graduating in 1961.

Michal began lecturing at the Orthodox Spiritual Seminary in Warsaw in 1961, and since 1962 he lectured at the Christian Theological Academy (ChAT), something he has continued to do to this day.  In 1964, Michal was [[ordination|ordained]] to the [[diaconate]].  In 1966, Dcn Michal received his Ph.D. in Theology from the Orthodox Theologic Faculty of the University of Belgrade, after which he was [[tonsure]]d with the name ''Sawa''.  In the same year, [[hierodeacon|Hdcn]] Sawa was ordained to the [[priest]]hood and was made director of the office of the Metropolitan of Warsaw.  Fr Sawa was elevated to [[archimandrite]] in 1970, and was named prior of St Onufry [[Monastery]], Jableczna.

On the basis of his qualifying thesis, Archim. Sawa became a reader of Orthodox dogmatic theology, and received a Ph.D. in Orthodox dogmatic theology.  He was also appointed to the Chair of Dogmatic and Moral Theology at the Christian Theological Academy.  In 1979, Archim. Sawa stopped lecturing at the Orthodox Spiritual Seminary in Warsaw.  In the same year, Archim. Sawa was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] to the episcopacy as head of the Lodz-Poznan [[diocese]].  In 1981, he was transferred to the Bialystok-Gdansk diocese.  In 1987, Bp Sawa was elevated to [[Archbishop]].

In 1990, the president of the Republic of Poland nominated Abp Sawa to be a professor of theology; since March of that year, he has held the Orthodox Theology Chair at the University of Bialystok.  In 1994, having formed the Orthodox Ordinariate of the Polish Army, under the blessing of the Holy Synod, he was nominated by the Minister of National Defence as the Elder of Orthodox Ordinariate of the Polish Army, entitled a Field Bishop.  In 1996, he was made a brigadier-general.

In 1998, he ceased his role in the Polish army.  In January, due to an illness suffered by Metropolian [[Basil (Doroszkiewicz) of Poland|Bazyli]], the [[Holy Synod]] made Archbishop Sawa the [[Locum Tenens]] of the Metropolitan throne.  On [[May 12]], 1998, the Holy Synod unanimously elected Archbishop Sawa as Archbishop of Warsaw, Metropolitan of All Poland.  The [[enthronement]] took place on [[May 31]], 1998.

{{start box}}
{{succession|
before=?|
title=Bishop of Lodz-Poznan|
years=1979-1981|
after=[[Simon (Romańczuk) of Łódź and Poznań | Simon (Romańczuk)]] }}
{{succession|
before=?|
title=Archbishop of Bialystok-Gdansk |
years=1981-1998|
after=[[Jakub (Kostiuczuk) of Bialystok and Gdansk | Jakub (Kostiuczuk)]] }}
{{succession|
before=?|
title= Elder of Orthodox Ordinariate <br>(Field Bishop) of the Polish Army|
years=1994-1998|
after= [[Miron (Chodakowski) of Hajnówka| Miron (Chodakowski)]]}}
{{succession|
before=[[Basil (Doroszkiewicz) of Poland|Basil (Doroszkiewicz)]]|
title= Archbishop of Warsaw<br>[[List of Metropolitans of Poland|Metropolitan of All Poland]]|
years=1998-present|
after=&mdash;}}
{{end box}} 

==External links==
*[http://www.bialystok.telbank.pl/Orthodox/en/sawa.htm Biography] at the [http://www.bialystok.telbank.pl/Orthodox/en/info.htm Orthodoxy in Poland] website
*[http://orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/resources/hierarchs/poland/current.htm#sawa_metr_poland Listing] at the Orthodox Research Institute

[[Category:Bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops of Lodz-Poznan]]
[[Category:Bishops of Bialystok-Gdansk]]
[[Category:Bishops of Warsaw]]
[[Category:Metropolitans of Poland]]
[[Category:20th-21st-century bishops]]
[[Category:Orthodoxy in Poland]]

[[pt:Savas (Hrycuniak) de Varsóvia]]