„Nowy Apostoł naszych czasów” – św. Otton z Bambergu na Pomorzu i… w meandrach pamięci (nie tylko XII w.)
“A new Apostle of our time” – St Otto of Bamberg in Pomerania and… in the meanders of memory (not only the 12th century)

Summary/Abstract: St. Otto of Bamberg (d. 1139) already enjoyed the title of Apostle to the Pomeranians before his canonization in 1189, as the work of Ebon of Michelsberg (from around 1152) proves. This author, depicting the missionary accomplishments of the Bamberg bishop on the Baltic Sea in the 1120s of the 12th century, placed him on a par with St. Peter, St. Paul or St. Thomas, but at the same time also significantly referred to him as “the new apostle of our time”. This emphasis on the contemporary Ebonian temporal context of Otto’s apostleship resonates well with the dissimilarity – in comparison with the aforementioned Apostles from the early days of Christianity – of his evangelization methods and the ecclesiastical and state background of his mission, as well as the socio-political environment of the formation of the new ecclesial community on the Baltic Sea. These reflections take a closer look at these issues, and then address the creation of a memory of St. Otto’s missionary successes by the first generations of his worshippers especially in Germany (until his canonization). Then attention was paid to the relation of the memory of St. Otto as the Apostle of Pomerania to the state of knowledge of the Christianization of these Baltic lands in the 10th–12th centuries and the contribution to this process of the Polish rulers (especially Boleslaw the Wrymouth), and other currents of memory of the introduction of Christianity there developed as early as the 12th century and revived in the 20th were highlighted. In this case, the leading figure turned out to be St. Adalbert, but there was also no lack of space for Kolobrzeg (Kołobrzeg) Reinbern, established in the year 1000. It is crucial today to be able to harmoniously shape the memory of the activities of all the aforementioned missionaries in one socio-cultural space of memory and liturgical life both in Poland and Germany.

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