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VLADIMIR MISIJUK, FORMER SYNDESMOS BIALYSTOK, POLAND - Father Vladimir, his wife Tanya, and his family were joined at his ordination by many of his friends from abroad, who travelled to Poland for the joyous occasion. Many young people, and current and former members of the Fellowship of Orthodox Youth of Poland, attended both ordinations. For many years, he had been an active member in the Fellowship. Father Vladimir was named Secretary General of SYNDESMOS at the General Assembly held at the Kykko Monastery, Cyprus in July 1995. During his tenure as Secretary General, the General Secretariat was moved from Paris, France to Bialystok, Poland, from where he and his staff organized SYNDESMOS' numerous annual programs. As Secretary General, he welcomed His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to the SYNDESMOS Office during his official visit to the Orthodox Church in Poland. Patriarch Bartholomew, together with His Beatitude, Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland, blessed the SYNDESMOS General Secretariat and greeted the numerous youth who were present for the joyous occasion. It was during his tenure as Secretary General that the annual SYNDESMOS Summer Institute for Orthodox Young People, held at the Monastery of the Annunciation in Suprasl, Poland, had become one of SYNDESMOS' most popular and well attended annual gatherings. He was also responsible for initiating the translation of SYNDESMOS News into Russian and Arabic, among his many other achievements and accomplishments for the growth of the international Fellowship. Since his retirement from the General Secretariat, Father Vladimir has devoted himself to translating contemporary Orthodox writings from English into Polish. Many of his translations have appeared in print during the past three years and enjoy widespread popularity, especially among Orthodox young people. As a priest, Father Vladimir is now serving in a parish in Bialystok, where he continues working with Orthodox young people. He hopes that in the future he will be given the opportunity to work more closely with Orthodox youth on a wider scale. For many years he has served on the faculty of the Warsaw Theological Seminary. Shortly after his ordination, Father Vladimir was invited to visit the United States as the honored guest on the occasion of the celebration of the Feast of Saint Gabriel of Bialystok at Saint Joseph's Orthodox Church in Wheaton, Illinois, USA, where Father John Matusiak, who served as one of three SYNDESMOS Vice-Presidents and editor of SYNDESMOS News during Father Vladimir's tenure as Secretary General, is Rector. The second altar table at Saint Joseph's Church is dedicated to Saint Gabriel in recognition of the presence of many recent immigrants from the Bialystok region who belong to the parish. The church also possesses relics of Saint Gabriel, the only relics of this saint enshrined in North America. During his visit to the USA, Father Vladimir met with a number of Orthodox American young people who had attended SYNDESMOS events in past years and spoke to the faithful from his homeland about the growth of the Orthodox Church in Poland and throughout the world. He also visited Saint Vladimir's Seminary, Crestwood, New York, USA, from which he had graduated in the early 1990s. Father Vladimir is the son of Father and Matushka Grzegorz Misijuk,
who is Rector of the recently established Church of Saint George in
Bialystok. One of his brothers, Father Adam, also serves as a priest
in Warsaw. May God grant Father Vladimir and Tanya Misijuk many, many years
of fruitful ministry in the vineyard of Our Lord, Jesus Christ!
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