Basil Doroszkiewicz

Metropolitan Basil (Polish: Metropolita Bazyli; secular name: Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz, Russian: Владимир Алексеевич Дорошкевич; b. 15 March 1914, Cisy, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire - d. 11 February 1998, Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland) was a Polish Orthodox Bishop, the fifth Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland, head of the Polish Orthodox Church from 1970 to his death in 1998. In 1938, he was ordained a presbyter. Until 1960, he conducted pastoral work in various parishes in the Białystok Region and the Grodno region. In December 1959, he made his perpetual vows, taking the name Bazyli. The following year he was ordained Bishop of Bielsko, vicar of the Warsaw-Bielsk diocese, where he remained for a year. Then, from 1962 to 1970, he was the bishop of Wrocław and Szczecin. As the Ordinary of that diocese, he contributed to the organization of several dozen new parishes created to meet the needs of those displaced by Operation "Wisła". In 1970, he assumed the office of Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland. During his term as head of Polish Orthodox Church, there was a significant revival of contacts with other local Orthodox Churches, as well as the opening of four monasteries and the establishment of two new dioceses and the Orthodox Ordinariate of the Polish People's Army.