Poland

A COUNTRY of well-watered plains and rapidly growing cities. A country bordered by the Commonwealth of Independent States on the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the south, Germany on the west, and the Baltic Sea on the northwest. Home to over 38 million people. This is Poland.

But in the case of music lovers, Poland brings other things to mind. It is associated with composers such as Frédéric Chopin as well as pianists such as Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Arthur Rubinstein. To scientists, Poland is the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus, who developed the theory that the earth moves around the sun and that, at the same time, it turns on its axis once a day. Madame Curie (Maria Skłodowska-Curie), a discoverer of radium, was also born in Poland, in Warsaw.

On the other hand, heartache has been part of the history of Poland. Though it once was an empire that extended across Europe from the Baltic down toward the Black Sea, for a hundred years it virtually disappeared from the map. After a brief existence as a republic following World War I, it was again dismembered and came under foreign domination during World War II. The Polish people were just clearing away the rubble of that war when, like other Central and Eastern European lands, Poland was cut off from the rest of the world by an “Iron Curtain.” However, in recent years that barrier has crumbled.

How the Bible Found Its Way to Poland

Poland has been considered a “Christian” country ever since 966 C.E., when Prince Mieszko I was baptized according to rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Mass baptisms of his subjects also took place​—not meaning, of course, that they suddenly became good Christians. Actually, people continued observing pagan Slavic traditions and superstitions for hundreds of years. Some still do.

For centuries after the country became Catholic, the Bible was not available to the Polish people, not even to the clergy. The Psałterz floriański (Florianski Psalter) of the 14th century and the Biblia królowej Zofii (Queen Zofia Bible) of the late 15th century are the oldest preserved Polish translations. But only one manuscript of each of these Bibles was made, and just a chosen few had access to them. In the 16th century, however, in many European countries, including Poland, religious views underwent drastic changes. Catholic dogma was challenged. The Holy Scriptures were increasingly viewed as the sole criterion. As a result, translators more frequently made the Bible available in vernacular languages so that the public could read it.

A Polish “New Testament” that appeared in 1574 used the Creator’s name, Jehowa (Jehovah), in several passages. It was published by Szymon Budny, who belonged to a small group of people desirous of adhering to God’s Word and who called themselves simply Christians or brethren. Later they adopted the name Polish Brethren. As a result of what they learned, they rejected the Trinity dogma.

In 1658, however, the Polish Sejm, or parliament, decreed that the Polish Brethren, under penalty of death, be given three years’ time​—and later a year was shaved off that period—​either to become Catholics or to leave the country. How did this come about?

A marked change had come over the land. For years, Poland had been a land known for its religious toleration. Victims of religious persecution in other lands had sought refuge in Poland. The oath administered to Polish kings from 1573 onward had included such guarantees as this: “I . . . promise and solemnly swear by Almighty God that . . . I will preserve and maintain peace and quiet among those that differ with regard to religion, and will not in any way . . . suffer anyone to be influenced or oppressed by reason of his religion.” Indeed, John II Casimir Vasa, during whose reign the Polish Brethren were banished, had taken that oath. But there can be no doubt that his training for the Jesuit priesthood, prior to his becoming king, influenced his attitude regarding religious freedom.

The Jesuits had begun operations in Poland in 1564, some 84 years before John Casimir came to the throne. They had shrewdly directed their influence toward the royal court. At the same time, they sought to gain control of the schools and thereby mold the thinking of the populace. The guarantee of religious freedom was gradually eroded. Those trained in the Jesuit-controlled schools were imbued with a spirit of religious intolerance, manifest in violent attacks on those who adhered to other faiths as well as on their homes and on their places of worship. The Bible came to be viewed as a forbidden book. During this period, Poland lost much of its territory. Surrounding nations seized one portion of the country and then another, until, in 1795, Poland as an independent nation disappeared from the map of Europe.

Once again, however, religious freedom has been established by law in Poland. No longer does the law forbid Roman Catholics to change to another religion, as it did under the Polish Constitution of 1791. As of 1993, the Constitution declares: “The Republic of Poland shall guarantee freedom of conscience and religion to its citizens.” More of the Polish people are availing themselves of that freedom and are turning to the Bible for direction. The Roman Catholic Church has been forced to abandon the policy of keeping God’s written Word away from the people. Since the end of World War II, several good Polish Bible translations have been published, and Jehovah’s Witnesses make good use of them. When the Witnesses share with others the good news of God’s Kingdom, many, like those noble-minded people referred to in the Bible at Acts 17:11, are eager to examine ‘whether these things are so.’