Miroslava Efimov
Archivist of the Catholic Parish of the Most Holy Mother of God

Translated by Janusz Zaleski

The crucifix today, back home in cathedral.

The Catholic Cathedral of the Most Holy Mother of God stands on a steep hill overlooking the Golden Horn Bay and its port with many ships. Here the Russian sailors landed in 1860 and set up a military post called Vladivostok.

The story of the cathedral is as dramatic as the fate of the people who took part in establishing and building the church in this end of the world. The majority of these people were Poles who found themselves, against their will, in this remote province of the Russian Empire.

At first, Catholics did not have their own place of worship and were celebrating Holy Mass at the home of a Protestant pastor. In 1900 the Polish Catholics built a wooden church with a small bell tower on a piece of land allotted to them by the city council. The church could not accommodate all the parishioners because there were more than three thousand faithful. The Polish parish had 1500 infantry soldiers from a local military fortress, recruited forcibly in Poland; 500 marines; and 1500 craftsmen and civilians.

In 1902, the small church burned down, and the parish established a special architectural committee with the Reverend Pastor Piotr Bulwicz as chairman. Engineer architect Alexander Gwozdziowski, provincial secretary Konstanty Rochalski and collegiate secretary Felicjan Wilczynski were the prominent members of the committee representing the Polish settlement in Vladivostok.

The committee immediately started working on the project, gathering funds to erect a solid stone church.

Exterior of original wooden church, which burned in 1902.

Interior of temporary wooden church as it appeared in 1913. Temporary church was built after original wooden church burned and stone church was undergoing construction (1908-1922). Note marble crucifix to right of altar.

The first project designed by the architect Aleksander Gwozdziowski was rejected as too costly. The committee announced an open competition for the design. On June 22, 1908, the project by the architect Wlodzimierz De Planson was selected and approved. Jan Mancewicz, a local harbor administrator, donated an appropriate lot, and on June 12, 1909, Archbishop Jan Cieplak blessed the corner-stone during the ground-breaking ceremony. Following a very enthusiastic early initiative, the construction encountered continuous difficulties due to lack of finances and due to the extremely unstable political situation. The building process took thirteen years to complete. Finally, on October 2, 1921, the Vladivostok dean, Reverend Karol Sliwowski, consecrated the cathedral.

Interior of stone church.

According to the design, the new stone church had three naves. The frontal elevation and the sides of the church were decorated with tall windows, ornamental buttresses and sharp arches. The central portal arch was designed to have two bell-towers, but due to the lack of funds, the two bells were placed in a small belfry near the church. The interior of the cathedral was beautiful and could accommodate a thousand people. There were sufficient light and air and excellent acoustics. Snow-white columns with rich stucco-works separated the naves. Mosaic panels decorated the walls with biblical themes along with pictures of Christ the Redeemer, Our Lady of Czestochowa and Our Lady of Ostra Brama. There were arched stained glass windows. The cathedral was furnished with chandeliers, pews, candle holders, a censer, ciboriums, chalices, and other liturgical utensils.

The most precious of all was a marble crucifix made by an unknown sculptor. The local historians attributed the work to the famous Russian sculptor Peter Klodt. There is no definite date as to when this crucifix became the property of the parish. In a financial statement of the parish dated 1912, there is a note that Mrs. Zulewicz used her personal funds to build a strong base for the marble crucifix in the church. The stone church was at that time still in the building process; therefore, the crucifix was placed in a temporary house of worship. In the archives of the parish, there is an old photo donated by parishioner Zofia Brzezinska. This photo shows a group of children, after their First Holy Communion, sitting with two priests in front of the large marble crucifix. Zofia Brzezinska is one of the children.

Photo donated by Zofia Brzezinska. Bishop Sliwowsky is seated to right of unknown priest. Zofia is girl standing directly behind bishop.

On February 2, 1923, the Vatican administration created Vladivostok Diocese, elevating the Reverend Karol Sliwowski to the position of bishop. This way the stone parish church became a cathedral. It was the last peaceful and pleasant moment in the life of the Catholic community in Vladivostok.

In the Primorye Province as well as in all of Russia, the Soviets initiated an antireligious campaign. The small Catholic seminary in Vladivostok was closed, and all parish buildings became national property. The priests were arrested, and most churches in Russia were closed, confiscated or utterly demolished.

The old and sick bishop Karol Sliwowski lived in the small dwelling in the Vladivostok suburb under house arrest. Sister Casimira Piotrowska was caring for the sick bishop. The Holy Masses were celebrated in the cathedral by the young Reverend George Jurkiewicz.

The number of parishioners was diminishing rapidly. Many Poles returned to their homeland; many others emigrated to different countries. Afraid of repressions, the remaining ones started frequenting the cathedral only sporadically. In 1931, Reverend George Jurkiewicz was arrested, and afterwards, activity in the cathedral ceased entirely. In 1935, the Soviet authorities confiscated the cathedral and assigned the building to the Bureau of Archives. This assignment probably saved the cathedral and the marble crucifix. The church was not very suitable to accommodate the archives.

A professor of architecture at the Technical University, Mikolaj Riabow, was summoned to redesign the interior of the cathedral. He recalled that during the visit to the archives, he noticed in the director's office a unique marble crucifix and was amazed at the excellence of the workmanship.

During the reconstruction, the altar was separated by a vertical wall, and four stories of shelves were built inside the church. The destination and fate of all the cathedral furniture and artifacts were unknown.

Nevertheless, the large and very heavy marble crucifix was too difficult to move and remained in the archives office for a long time. According to the version of some old archives employees, the crucifix traveled for dozens of years between several storehouses and finally landed in the Academy of Arts in Vladivostok.

In 1991, the administration of the School of Arts refused to acknowledge that the marble crucifix was once property of the Roman Catholic parish. Director Timofejew claimed that it was dug out at a cemetery and from there brought to the School of Arts.

Fortunately the parishioners found in the archives a document stating that the Committee of the Academy of the Arts had no objection to bringing the Roman Catholic marble crucifix to the school as an object of a "methodical collection.” On the reverse of the document was the signature of the school director and confirmation of the receipt.

The return of the crucifix became a special holiday for all the faithful and took place on November 4, 1996. The marble crucifix was taken out of the School of Arts and placed on the grass lawn. Numerous parishioners surrounded the crucifix. Some of them remembered it from the time when, as little girls, they prayed in front of it in the cathedral.

In the meantime, the administrators of the School of Arts were still looking for arguments which would prevent the return of the crucifix.

Finally they agreed to issue a temporary permit which would allow the crucifix to be placed in the Roman Catholic parish for three years but still remain the property of the school's museum. The custodian of the museum, in front of all the people, affixed to the crucifix an inventory marker number, "MPK 15769,” and subsequently issued the document of transfer dated November 1, 1996. This meant that the representatives of the School of Arts were able to reclaim the crucifix within three years and take it back to the museum. [Note: As of 2003, the crucifix is still in the church.]

For sixty years, the crucifix was gathering dust in different storage places, ignored by the custodians of the museum. Then suddenly it became an important exhibit. Nevertheless, overcoming all difficulties and formalities, the crucifix returned to its original home amid a heartwarming celebration.

Since that day, there are always pretty flowers under the crucifix. The parishioners are piously genuflecting in front of the crucified Christ. They are looking with compassion at the crown of thorns and at his hands nailed to the cross. Although made of marble, it seems that the crucifix suffered considerably during the years of terror and repressions.

During the summer of 2001, a couple of old photos (below) were found in the archives of the Ursuline nuns in Krakow, Poland. The pictures showed the old wooden church in Vladivostok and the new stone church/cathedral with the beloved crucifix.

Sources

1. Vladivostok Chronicle, Volume I, pages 54-55.

2. Newspaper Far East, June 10, 1909.