Abstract

This year is celebrated by the church and state the 1050 anniversary of the baptism of Polish. Especially loudly celebrating the anniversary of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the question arises whether the beginning of the Christianization in the Latin rite is the same as at the beginning of the evangelization of Polish lands? Christianity on the Polish territory is in fact a much richer tradition than only one of its current - Latin. The proximity of the Polish lands and the Great Moravia and later with the Chris¬tianised Rus and Bohemia state must have had great impact on the shape of their faith. The Christianisation of the Polish lands commenced during the reign of the Moravi¬an prince Svatopluk. In Polish historiography this issue was broadly presented. The entire literature focusing on this subject matter can be divided into the adherents and opponents of the notion regarding the presence of Methodian mission in Poland. The newest publications, taking into account the archaeological discoveries acknowledge the presence of the Slavonic rite in the Polish lands before and after 966. Owing to the fact that the literature up to date devoted to the Slavonic rite scrupulously raised numerous controversial aspects, in my dissertations I shall not come back to them but rather focus on discussing the history of the Methodian mission in Poland. Knowing¬ly, I shall neglect the presentation of the over a century-old discussion of historians regarding the functioning of the Slavonic rite in Poland. I am aware of the fact that the presented reconstruction of the history of Methodian liturgy is purely hypothetical in numerous instances; however, the lack of sources does not allow for a thorough clar¬ification of the problem matter. It should be noted that the arguments raised against the presence of the Slavonic rite are based on the same source base as the one used by the adherents of the notion that the evangelisation process of Lesser Poland and Silesia was started when Methodius was still alive. Despite numerous doubts as far as the interpretation of sources and historical facts I am convinced that the Slavic lit¬urgy functioned at the Polish lands before the official Christianisation of the country.