Sawa Palmowski

Sawa (secular surname Palmowski; died 1797) was an Orthodox cleric of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a hegumen, and the superior of the in Bielsk Podlaski. He served as chairman of the Supreme Consistory of the Orthodox Church in the Commonwealth from 1791 to 1793. Sawa was the primary author of an unrealised reform project for the internal structure of the Orthodox Church, which aimed to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. The plan was thwarted due to the Partitions of Poland.

Biography Early life and career Sawa was the son of Tichon Palmowski, an Orthodox priest from Slutsk. According to Bishop , Sawa had three brothers who were also Orthodox clerics. One of them, Eustachy, like Sawa, graduated from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and later became the superior of the Brotherhood Monastery. After completing his studies, he was appointed superior of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Pochep, attaining the rank of hegumen before its closure in 1786. Following the monastery's dissolution, he joined the Monastery of the Epiphany in Kyiv, led by his brother. With his brother's support, Sawa sought a nomination from church authorities to lead another monastery with a vacant superior position. Nevertheless, on 21 April 1789, Marshal Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha declared in the Sejm that Orthodox priests were instigating pro-Russian and anti-state peasant revolts. Eight days later, Bishop Viktor was arrested and detained in Nyasvizh. The clergy under his authority were required to swear an oath of loyalty to the Commonwealth. Most priests refused to take the oath.

A special Sejm commission investigated Bishop Viktor's case. On 29 March 1790, despite lacking conclusive evidence, it formally charged the hierarch with treason. The commission also proposed broader measures regarding the legal and canonical status of Orthodox residents in the Commonwealth. On 9 October 1790, Sejm marshals Stanisław Małachowski and Kazimierz Sapieha instructed the Orthodox community to elect representatives to a commission that would prepare for the council, set to convene in Warsaw from December 1790. The likely reason for this special treatment was the belief among Polish political elites in Sawa's loyalty to the Commonwealth. Sawa may have demonstrated this loyalty during a visit to Warsaw in June 1789, when he was denied access to the imprisoned Bishop Viktor but likely met with state officials. Based on the commission's findings, the Sejm passed a constitution on 5 March concerning the "Greek-Oriental religion", recognising the need to reorganise the clerical hierarchy and establish a permanent governing body for the Orthodox Church in the Commonwealth. On 2 July, a temporary body to manage the Orthodox Church in Poland, the Supreme Consistory, was established. It was tasked with overseeing the church until the hierarchy could be restored, with plans to create four dioceses and consecrate four bishops. Hegumen Sawa was appointed chairman of the Supreme Consistory. denying the Russian Orthodox Church any authority over Orthodox structures in the Commonwealth.

Chairman of the Supreme Consistory On 8 July 1791, the Supreme Consistory, led by Hegumen Sawa, informed Orthodox clergy and laity that it had assumed control over church structures. The following day, it required priests to pledge loyalty to the Commonwealth and instructed them to discontinue using Russian catechisms. During interrogations by the Sejm commission, he accused the hegumen of both canonical violations and common crimes. Kościuszko personally approved the establishment of an Orthodox chapel in Warsaw, a cause Sawa championed. Sawa secured 4,700 PLN from the Insurrection's Treasury Department to organise the chapel.

Following the uprising's defeat, when Orthodox structures in Polish lands were fully subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Supreme Consistory was dissolved. The fate of its chairman remains unclear. He was likely sent to a Russian monastery and isolated, preventing further activity. Some sources suggest Sawa returned to the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Bielsk and died there after 1797.