Protestantism in Poland is the third largest faith in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, after the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(32,440,722) and the

Polish Orthodox Church The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church (), commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, or Orthodox Church of Poland, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches in full communion. The church was established in 1924, to accommodate O ...

(503,996). As of 2018 there were 103 registered Protestant denominations in Poland, and in 2023 there were 130,000 Protestants in the country (0.35% of the population).

History

King

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus (, ; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and t ...

came to power during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. His words “I am not the ruler of human consciences" gave the country a tolerance for the new faith. During this time, several members of the nobility decided to follow

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

. In 1565, the Polish Brethren came into existence as a

Nontrinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ( ...

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

of Calvinism. In 1573, a year after the King's death, the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

approved the

Warsaw Confederation The Warsaw Confederation, also called the Compact of Warsaw, was a political-legal act signed in Warsaw on 28 January 1573 by the first Convocation Sejm (''Sejm konwokacyjny'') held in the Polish Commonwealth. Convened and deliberating as a co ...

, ensuring freedom of religion to all religious communities in Poland and Lithuania. This was created to ensure peace and internal stability of the state. However, there was opposition to the new churches and the Polish Brethren were banned and some of its leaders executed. By the first half of the 18th century, Protestants were barred from most civil offices, including being elected to the Sejm. Eventually King

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

forced the Habsburg

Emperor Joseph I Joseph I (Joseph Jacob Ignaz Johann Anton Eustachius; 26 July 1678 – 17 April 1711) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor from his thi ...

to allow Protestants to practice unencumbered. The Treaty of Altranstaedt in 1707 allowed new churches to be built and the return of more than 100 churches confiscated during the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

. The Protestant community began to grow again, especially in

Cieszyn Cieszyn ( , ; ; ) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitants ( and lies opposite Český Těšín in the Czech Repu ...

21st century

Most Protestants (mainly Lutherans) in the country live in historically Protestant regions such as

Cieszyn Silesia Cieszyn Silesia, Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia ( ; or ; or ) is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered on the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided betwe ...

and Warmia-Masuria and in major urban areas. The only town in the country with a majority Protestant population is

Wisła Wisła (; ; ) is a town in Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, with a population of about 11,132 (2019), near the border with the Czech Republic. It is situated in the Silesian Beskids mountain range in the historical region of ...

. Major denominations (with at least two thousand followers) classified as Protestant by Poland's Central Statistical Office (as of 2020) include: *

Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Republic of Poland () is a Lutheran denomination and the largest Protestant body in Poland with about 61,000 members and 133 parishes. History The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Co ...

: 60,900 members *

Pentecostal Church in Poland The Pentecostal Church in Poland () is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in Poland. It is the largest Pentecostal denomination in Poland and a part of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, and the second largest Protestant denomination in Po ...

: 24,840 adherents * Seventh-day Adventist Church in Poland: 9,838 adherents * Fellowship of Christian Churches in Poland (''Kościół Chrystusowy w RP''): 6,645 adherents * Baptist Union of Poland: 5,470 baptized members *

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Ger ...

in Poland: 5,257 adherents * Church of God in Christ (Pentecostal): 5,023 adherents *

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

in Poland: 4,443 adherents * Evangelical-Reformed Church in Poland: 3,200 adherents * Church of Free Christians in the Republic of Poland: 3,045 adherents (data for 2019) * Church of God in Poland (Pentecostal): 2,826 adherents * Church of Evangelical Christians in the Republic of Poland: 2,357 adherents

References

{{Polish religions

History

21st century

See also

References