In Armenian circles, Monika is called not only the spiritus movens, but also the workhorse of meaningful action. In recent years, she has become so engrossed in Armenian affairs – mainly archives, old documents, maps, estate and metric records, court papers – that she has almost immersed herself in this non-existent world. And she has written two very interesting books (we printed excerpts from one of them in our pages a few weeks ago),, although the ongoing tasks were endless. First and foremost, to ensure that the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians (FKiDOP) had somewhere to go and somewhere to show its treasures.

Expatriation over the Vistula

Armenians have been in Poland for centuries. They received their first privilege in Lwów from King Casimir the Great in 1367, and it was confirmed by Władysław Jagiełło in 1388 in Łuck. But it was not until the post-war loss of the Borderlands – with its mythical Pokucie, Lwów cathedral and apricot orchards on the Čeremosh River – that Polish Armenians flocked to the Vistula and Odra. En masse. They refer to that exodus as “expatriation”, in order to dissociate themselves once and for all from the ghastly communist “repatriation”, because no one was returning to their homeland, but being deprived of it.

Borderlanders – including Polish Armenians – were leaving, some on the last possible transport, with their holy paintings, parish books, great-grandparents’ travelling trunks and other trinkets, which in the new place of settlement no longer fulfilled their role. And slowly they became just mementos of history that could not be shown for years anyway.

– Father Kazimierz Filipiak, the last pastor of the Armenian-Catholic parish in Stanisławów, wandered around Poland for several years with parish suitcases and boxes – says Monika Agopsowicz, whom this legendary priest baptised in Gdańsk, because it was there that he finally settled in 1958. He took over the church of St Peter and St Paul, ruined by Soviet soldiers and then devastated for years, which slowly became a landmark for the dispersed Armenian community.

Monika Agopsowicz writes about this in her book “Kresowe Pokucie. Rzeczpospolita Ormiańska” [Pokucie in Eastern Borderlands. The Armenian Republic], quoting the priest: “In the last weeks before the deportation I was very often summoned to the NKVD, sometimes even twice a day, and I had their visits at my rectory every hour. They were concerned above all with the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Grace, which I was not allowed to take with me. So I had to take the Miraculous Picture out of the altar secretly – thanks to the kindness and helpfulness of two poor old people who agreed to take the Miraculous Picture, it travelled to the West.”

It is incomprehensible how Father Filipiak managed to transport a large amount of parish belongings, including the archive and library, votive offerings and paintings. Even the provision of the most valuable currency – spirits – did not provide any guarantee for the safe transportation of such an amount of possessions.

If he could, he would have taken the walls of the church too. Those walls that remembered the sweltering May day of the coronation of the miraculous image. “As I bid farewell to our beautiful church in Stanisławów, my heart almost broke with grief that I had to leave such a magnificent Sanctuary, where the Blessed Mother had chosen her throne.”

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  Father Filipiak kept the painting in his hometown of Tymbark, and in 1959 he brought it to Gdańsk and arranged a modest sanctuary for it in the sacristy, quietly, so that the communist authorities would not notice. Because the painting was not just any painting, not to mention the Father’s connections!

On 30 May 1937 its coronation took place, with great aplomb, attended by the whole Polish Episcopate. Immeasurable crowds of the faithful of the three Catholic rites descended on Stanisławów.

This was backed by Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz, the Armenian-Catholic Ordinary of Lviv. He was a prominent figure in pre-war social and political life, for he was also a senator, a great speaker, an advocate of independence, a member of the Legislative Sejm – and the author of a magnificent sermon at the opening of its proceedings, on 10 February 1919, when he called for the abandonment of personal interests in favour of a reborn Poland. He was also an excellent steward of Lviv Cathedral, which he renovated and commissioned paintings by great artists such as Jan Henryk Rosen and Józef Mehoffer.

The communist authorities could not agree to such a model, but the painting remained in Gdańsk, its fame grew, the number of believers increased – and in 1987, during the great papal mass in Gdańsk Zaspa, a delegation of Polish Armenians presented a copy of the painting to John Paul II. Father Filipiak had already been vicar general for the Armenian rite in our country for two years by decision of Primate Józef Glemp.

Today, visitors from Ukraine also come to the Church of St Peter and St Paul, and cannot understand why Our Lady of Stanisławów – which is, after all, Ivano-Frankivsk – is here. And they photograph a mini-exhibition of that great coronation, because they have never seen such photographs of their own city.

It’s time to look around and count ourselves

The history of the miraculous painting and, above all, the history of Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz can be seen at the exhibition “Treasure of Polish Armenians” at the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians. Also on display are photographs, letters, notes and amusing drawings by Archbishop Teodorowicz, as well as other important exhibits such as reliquaries of the famous Armenian saints Ripsime and Gregory the Enlightener, and a travelling trunk with unusual souvenirs.

That this is a moving – and interactive – exhibition is evidenced by the temporary absence of the reliquaries: they were taken to Mass. On Sunday, 5 February, it was celebrated in the Armenian-Catholic rite by Professor Józef Naumowicz, who gave the New Year’s blessing with these very relics of the great saints.

Father Naumowicz, a well-known author of widely read books on the origins of Christianity, is a bi-ritualist, which means that he has the knowledge and right to celebrate both the Roman and Armenian liturgies. And he makes a great contribution to the education of the faithful of “his” Armenian parish, the development of which may not be part of the exhibition, but – if only through reliquaries – is apparent nonetheless.

The collections, saved thanks to passion, patience, perseverance, solidarity, hope at last, can also be considered truly miraculous. Once this had materialised, after 1989, it was finally possible to look around and count.

– The eldest were slowly passing away, we did not have time to ask them about everything, and in addition, we had to gather their “treasures”, i.e. archive resources, such as photographs, primary school books, catechisms, family albums, identity cards, calendars, letters and postcards – says Hanna Kopczyńska-Kłos, together with Maria Ohanowicz-Tarasiuk, president of FDiKOP, curator of the exhibition, and an archivist and genealogy specialist by profession.

The efforts that had been underway for years were finally beginning to bear fruit, although – to continue the metaphor – they had to be painstakingly collected, as they were scattered all over the country. Even if the eldest did not die childless, there was no guarantee that no one would throw papers and old “rags” into the rubbish heap. Kilims, Slutsk sashes, napkins, handbags or chasubles, which – after careful restoration – delight in their beauty at the exhibition.

In the otherwise small premises, every space has been utilised – there is even a multimedia kiosk – the arrangement is well thought out in every detail, thanks to Barbara Kawecka-Zygadło.

Armenian Benedictine nuns gaze sternly, though kindly, from the walls: there are eleven of them, because each priestess (superior) from the Lviv monastery of this congregation always had her portrait painted. Only the last one, Mother Elekta Orłowska, did not have the time to pose and her portrait is missing – there is only a photograph.

Kuty in Oborniki Śląskie

For she was busy with other things at the time: in 1945, in a hurry, the sisters had to pack up “for the West”, so they rolled up the portraits and took them with them, first to Lubin, and from 1958 to Wołów in Lower Silesia.

– And there were many more of us Armenians around – says Roma Obrocka, whose parents lived in Kuty, that famous Kuty in Pokucie, before the war, and when they had to leave it, they chose Oborniki Śląskie. Their daughter was already born to them here, but her dad always said that “we from the Armenians”, so she knew her roots “all along”. For years, Roma has been committed to preserving the traditions and culture of the Polish Armenians – but also the traditions and culture of the inhabitants of Oborniki Śląskie, including the former German inhabitants of this land.

– If we refer to a place, it is German history, if to people, it is Polish history – she specifies, showing “The Great Book of Oborniki Ślaskie MY OBORNICZANIE”, “Zeszyty Obornickie” and other publications of the local community. – And each promotion was accompanied by a performance or concert, so that old Armenian songs from Pokucie and new recordings of liturgical music were also featured.

– Kuty have moved to Oborniki – she adds both with pride and nostalgia.

Roma Obrocka is known in the community not only for her important activities and publications, but also for her churut, which already appeared in the first sentence of this article – and which we will also see at the exhibition. The “production” of churut, for which Kuty was famous and which is a secret condiment for broth, Roma has turned into a real holiday when everyone – as in Armenian tradition – meets at her garden, talks, eats and drinks in a joyful atmosphere, and then everyone gets bunches of freshly picked parsley and – gets to work! They tear off the leaves, pluck and nibble, listen to the jokes and stories – and there are already pots of fresh huślanka (ha! and what’s that!?) waiting on the table for the greens! The parsnips will boil in this sour milk for hours until they thicken enough to make – by hand – little green cones, which then dry and dry in the sun until they dry to stone – and then they can serve in the kitchen all winter.

The recent “parsley meeting” was attended not only by well-known specialists in Armenian culture and literature, not only by Monika Agopsowicz and her husband (of inestimable merit for the Armenian tradition, Władysław Deńca), not only by Maria Ohanowicz-Tarasiuk (president) and professors “from Galicia and the Armenians”, but also by the Prioress of Wołów, Sister Maria Danuta Trybała, admittedly not of Armenian origin, but highly engaged with the Armenian world.

Four portraits

It was in 2013 that Roma Obrocka first visited the sisters in Wołów and got permission to photograph four portraits: Marianna Ksawery Nersesowiczówna, priestess from 1701 to 1710, Ludwika Krzysztofowiczówna (1839-1843), Rozalia Kajetana Popowiczówna Sarkisiewiczówna (1845-1893) and Joanna Alojzy Janowiczówna (1895-1927). Three of them were soon shown in the Armenian calendar and caused a great sensation in the world of art historians – and probably not only, as Church historians were also aware of their existence.

And in 2017, the Benedictine nuns decided to hand over all the dusty portraits of their former priestesses into the good hands of the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians. In turn, the foundation applied for and professionally carried out the conservation at the Jagiellonian University, and then displayed the portraits as they shone with new brilliance and came back to life. Before they found their place in the exhibition, they were displayed in the Museum of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, together with a pastoral (on display in the exhibition, it hangs opposite the entrance; do not miss it!), which belonged to a Benedictine prioress.

The Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians is backed by a decree of Cardinal Józef Glemp, Primate of Poland, who was Ordinary of the Armenian Rite Catholic Church in Poland. Currently, this function – and the role of the founder – is held by Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw, and it was he who opened the exhibition “Treasure of Polish Armenians”.

– Some of the items entrusted to us were once possessions of Armenian-Catholic parishes, so the connection to the Church was obvious to us – explains Monika Agopsowicz, one of the six people on the Foundation's Council, half of whom are clergy.

For not only have the Armenians been in Poland for centuries and have always been in full loyalty to the state in which they settled, earned their living and created its culture – but they are overwhelmingly Catholic and socially active. – The thing that most enabled them to transfer and preserve their identity was religion – concludes Hanna Kopczyńska-Kłos.

Hence the exhibition of chasubles, reliquaries, chalices and… a beautiful hand-made facsimile of the fantastically illustrated Gospel Book from Skwera (the original is deposited in the National Library). This is the most valuable monument of Armenian scripture in the Polish collection, having been written in Cilicia in 1198 or 1199!

New Armenians and new khachkars

The Foundation preserves, popularises, publishes, presents, preserves, digitalises, indexes – and makes it accessible. – No full-time staff, no fixed budget, and yet we already have a place on earth and we have a permanent exhibition – Roma Obrocka points out. – Because it is all out of passion – she adds.

The Foundation was established in 2006, and in 2009 the magazine “Awedis”, a bilingual quarterly in newspaper format, began to be published. Awedis means messenger – and indeed, the newspaper reaches out with news to the most diverse communities, telling, reporting and educating – and the news service shows that there are Armenian schools in Poland, there are certified Armenian translators and – of course – parish communities.

The first issue already taught what khachkars are – stone, vertically placed stele (slabs) with the motif of a cross in a characteristic shape, with arms widening at the ends, symbolising Jesus Christ as the new tree of life – placed as a sign of gratitude on roads and by buildings. There are already more than a dozen of them in Poland, including by the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw.

The question of the “new Armenians”, who are increasing in Poland, is solved for me by Olga Mkrtczjan, a 20-year-old born in Masuria, for whom Armenian was even her first language.

On a frosty February afternoon, when the curator of the exhibition and I are looking at Armenian treasures, an unannounced visitor comes to Świętojerska 12. It is Olga, who has a free hour and wants to learn, because in order to sign up for exhibition duty, she needs to know what to tell her guests about when they come to visit, attracted by the colourful windows and the “stumbling block” displayed on the pavement. Olga decided to deepen her Armenian identity – she recounts excitedly – and searched for so long on the Internet until she found what she needed: foundations, books, an exhibition, contacts and friends. And she has been coming regularly ever since.

For over a year now, Sylwia Uryga has been the editor-in-chief of Awedis. Although she has no Armenian roots, she is passionate and curious, and has an excellent education, having studied ethnology and journalism. And delighted with everything she sees and edits. – It’s surprisingly non-western, such a long-standing identity and preserved bond – says Sylwia. – Respect for the past, cherishing family roots. There is so much going on in this quasi-small community that sixteen pages of “Awedis” are not enough! Their joy at meeting each time, the celebration of that meeting, their work together – it is simply remarkable.

– Barbara Sułek-Kowalska

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and journalists

– Translated by jz

The exhibition “Treasure of the Polish Armenians” is open every Saturday from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. at the premises of the Polish Armenian Culture and Heritage Foundation, Warsaw, 12 Świętojerska Street