Rare Historic Bible Collection Reaches South Pacific Division
11 September 2024|
Polish pastor Henryk Patryarcha, an avid collector of rare, historic Bibles, is bringing his impressive collection from Europe to Australia in a special exhibition.
His collection of nearly 200 Bibles, as well as stamps and scrolls, was curated over 50 years, with some dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries. His searches began in his native Poland, but quickly Patryarcha began to find little gems in antique bookshops, attics, and other hidden locations across the rest of Europe.
As his collection grew, he realized that sharing these rare editions with the public could have a positive impact, prompting his first exhibition held in 1982 in Podkowa Les’na, at the Polish Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. Patryarcha was expecting minimal traffic, mainly from theological students who had a passing interest. What occurred was a surge of interest and enthusiasm from the public. Local priests brought a group of young people to the exhibition to see the historical items and engage the broader community. It was at that point that the pastor realized the exhibition was bigger than a rare collection or even Seventh-day Adventist interest but could be a powerful tool for ministry.
Since then his collection has toured across Europe, reaching secular and sacred audiences alike as an engaging prompt to deeper religious conversation, drawing the public in like “a magnet.” Seeing the physical Bibles from centuries past has been a tangible example of the humanity and history of Christianity. Moving from intellectual understanding to physical proof has been a testament to the lasting nature of the faith and how individuals from centuries past with stories similar to ours were reading the scriptures and growing their faith.
The collection is now moving to a new frontier, a new continent, and a new division. 2019 saw a portion of the collection be featured in Australia with an evangelistic series conducted by John Bradshaw and Eric Flickinger in Victoria. Local leaders Roman Chalupka and Louis Bermudez then invited Patryarcha to train for Bible exhibitions and went on to lead over 100 across Victoria and New South Wales.
The collection has reached Australia in its entirety and is currently being processed by the Adventist Heritage Center in Cooranbong. The South Pacific Division hopes to exhibit the Bibles, stamps, and scrolls in a “purpose-built museum.” David Jones, Adventist Heritage director, told Adventist Record, “It is our hope in the future that we will have a permanent home for these Bibles so that people from our Church and the general public can come and see this extraordinary collection, It can be a testament to how God’s Word has lasted through the centuries.”
