Andrzej Siciński

Andrzej Siciński (born 1962 in Łódź) is a Polish pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, lawyer, editor-in-chief of the monthly , and lecturer at the in Podkowa Leśna. During the 1980s, he was an anti-communist opposition activist. He is the author of numerous articles, some of which were published under the pseudonym Olgierd Danielewicz.

Biography Andrzej Siciński was born in 1962 in Łódź, into a Roman Catholic family. In 1981, prior to completing his high school education, he was one of the founders of the Independent Association of Secondary School Students in Łódź. That same year, he began studying law at the University of Łódź. As a student, he was active in the Independent Students' Association, distributed underground literature and press,

In 1983, he married Małgorzata. They have two children, Olga and Daniel. Between 1998 and 2003, he was a member of the Church Board, holding the position of secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Poland. Since 2003, he has been the editor-in-chief of the church's and oversees two periodicals: the monthly Znaki Czasu and the bi-monthly Głos Adwentu.

As a lecturer in religious law at the , he is a member of the , which brings together representatives from nearly all academic centers in Poland specializing in religious law. He has also collaborated with the television channel Religia.tv.

Ecumenical endeavors

Andrzej Siciński participated in the ecumenical translation of the New Testament, serving as a consultant for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He raised approximately 150 objections to the translation, over 50 of which were taken into account. However, since most of his objections were not incorporated, shortly after the publication of the ecumenical translation, he published a critique in Znaki Czasu, accusing the translation of Catholic confessionalization. The examples he provided typically highlighted discrepancies between Adventist doctrine and the teachings of other churches. He noted that the declaration helped many Adventists and their families, who had faced discrimination as "sectarians" in their communities. It also facilitated the opening of cultural centers in small towns that had previously refused to rent their spaces to Adventists. The declaration demonstrated the Adventist Church's openness to dialogue, even with ideologically distant interlocutors. He mentioned that he became involved in this dialogue in 1998 after assuming the role of secretary of the church. He believes that if the declaration had been signed after the Vatican's Dominus Iesus document in 2000, it would not have been possible. Notably, the Catholic Church officially denied in the Declaration that Adventists were sectarian.

Stance on lustration

After the publication of the Wildstein list, there was a discussion within the Polish Seventh-day Adventist Church regarding the need for lustration. Andrzej Siciński pointed out that lustration based on files would not be fair, as the files of the "sharks of denunciation" had long been destroyed, leaving only those of the "small fish". He also questioned the reliability of these files. Siciński assessed that those conducting the lustration were closer to Old Testament ethics than to Christ's command to love one's enemies.

In the context of the dispute over the cross placed in front of the Presidential Palace after the Smolensk air disaster, he addressed the widespread practice of Catholics placing crosses in public spaces and hanging them in schools and government buildings, including in the parliament. He also criticized President Komorowski's minister, Prof. Krzysztof Szczerski, for his proposal to turn Poland into a confessional republic.

In 2016, in the context of the influx of refugees from Muslim countries to Europe, he questioned what the outcome would be for European standards of religious freedom if their respect for the religious rights of refugees leads to many newcomers refusing to adhere to European laws and standards in this area.

He criticized Jarosław Kaczyński for his statement that outside of the church there is only nihilism, for identifying Polishness exclusively with Catholicism, and treating non-Catholics as second-class citizens. He also criticized Zbigniew Ziobro for his efforts to remove the Reformed Catholic Church from the Register of Churches and Religious Associations.

Awards In 2005, he was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit for his charitable work.

On 14 June 2019, he received the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity for his anti-communist activities in the first half of the 1980s. The award was presented on behalf of President Andrzej Duda by the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Jarosław Szarek.