The Archeparchy of Polotsk-Vitebsk was an archeparchy of the

Ruthenian Uniate Church The Ruthenian Uniate Church (; ; ; ) was a Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular church of the Catholic Church in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was created in 1595/1596 by those clergy of the Ea ...

that was situated in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. From 1596 to 1839, it was a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

eparchy Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an Ecclesiology, ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administra ...

of the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia. The

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

church of the archeparchy was Cathedral of Saint Sophia in the city of

Polotsk Polotsk () or Polatsk () is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the Dvina River and serves as the administrative center of Polotsk District. Polotsk is served by Polotsk Airport and Borovitsy air base. As of 2025, it has a pop ...

History

Administrative divisions of the Greek Catholic Church in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772

Previously an Eastern Orthodox eparchy founded in 992 and headed by a suffragan bishop of the Kiev Metropolitan in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, in 1596 the eparchy of

, entered in

full communion Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations or Christian individuals that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constit ...

with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

Greek Catholic Church Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...

through the

Union of Brest The Union of Brest took place in 1595–1596 and represented an agreement by Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Ruthenian portions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to accept the Pope's authority while maintaining Eastern Orthodox liturgical ...

. The eparchy was among the first that joined the union in 1596 along with eparchies of Kiev, Pinsk, Lutsk, Volodymyr and Kholm. Due to the Union of

Brest, Belarus Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk and Brest-on-the-Bug, is a city in south-western Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the Polish town of Terespol, where the Bug (river), Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a border town. It serves as ...

, the former Orthodox Church became known as the

. To the archeparchy of Polotsk were later added the territories of the eparchy of Mstislav (also of 13th-century origin) and the 10th-century eparchies of

Orsha Orsha (; , ; ) is a city in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the fork of the Dnieper, Dnieper River and Arshytsa River, and it serves as the administrative center of Orsha District. As of 2025, it has a population of 101,662. History ...

and

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

. Due to its proximity to

, the eparchy played a key role in the church life and many of its bishops later became the Metropolitan bishops of Kiev, a hierarch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church. Those include Havryil Kolenda, Kyprian Zochovskyj,

Lev Zalenskyj Lev Shlubych Zalenskyj (, , ) (c. 1648–1708) was the " Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia" in the Ruthenian Uniate Church — a ''sui juris'' Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. He reigned from 1694 until hi ...

and many others. In the 1800s, the archeparchy was classified by the Catholic Church as a Ruthenian jurisdiction. The Russian imperial government (re)united the archeparchy on 25 March 1839 to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

after the Council of Polotsk. It has no Catholic successor (even if a new

Belarusian Greek Catholic Church The Belarusian Greek Catholic Church, or the Belarusian Byzantine Catholic Church, is one of the 23 Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular churches that are in full communion with the Holy See. It is the heir within Belarus to the Union of ...

was founded, the current

Apostolic administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

is Sergiusz Gajek).

Episcopal ordinaries

(

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...

) ;''Non-metropolitan Ruthenian Catholic Archeparchs of Polotsk(-Vitebsk) :Kazimierz Dola, "Katalog arcybiskupów i biskupów rezydencjalnych eparchii polskich obrządku grecko-unickiego od Unii Brzeskiej (1596) do roku 1945" in ''Historia Kościoła w Polsce'' t. II 1764-1945, cz. 2 1918-1945, Poznań-Warszawa 1979, p. 308 Belarus-Polatsk-Cathedral of Sophia-12

* Herman Zahorskyj (1596 - death 1600/1601) * Gedeon Brolnitskyj (26 May 1601 - death 1618) * Saint

Josaphat Kuntsevych Josaphat Kuntsevych, OSBM ( – 12 November 1623) was a Basilian hieromonk and archeparch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church who served as Archbishop of Polotsk from 1618 to 1623. On 12 November 1623, he was beaten to death with an axe ...

Order of Saint Basil the Great The Order of Saint Basil the Great (; , abbreviated OSBM), also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is a Greek Catholic monastic order of pontifical right that works actively among Ukrainian Catholics and other Greek-Catholic churc ...

(O.S.B.M.) (born

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) (1618 - death 12 November 1623); previously Founder of

Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat The Order of Saint Basil the Great (; , abbreviated OSBM), also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is a Greek Catholic Church, Greek Catholic monastic order of pontifical right that works actively among Ukrainian Greek Catholic Chu ...

(1607),

Coadjutor Archbishop The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

of Polatsk–Vitebsk of the Ruthenians (1617 – succession 1618.03) *

Antin Sielava Anton Anastas Sielava (, , ) (1583 – 5 October 1655) was the " Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia" in the Ruthenian Uniate Church — a ''sui juris'' Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. He reigned from 1 ...

(1624 - death 1655) * Havryil Kolenda (1655 - death 21 May 1674), succeeding as former

of Polatsk–Vitebsk of the Ruthenians (– 1655) * Kyprian Zochovskyj (21 May 1674 - death 1693) *

* Markian Bilozor (1697 - death 18 June 1707); previously

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Pinsk–Turaŭ of the Ruthenians (Belarus) (? – 1665), succeeding as Eparch (Bishop) of Pinsk–Turaŭ of the Ruthenians (1665 – 1697) * Sylvester Peshkevych (9 November 1710 - death 8 September 1714) * Florian Hrebnitskyj (1715 - death 18 July 1762) * Jason Smogorevskyj (18 July 1762 - 25 June 1781), succeeding as former Coadjutor Archbishop of Polatsk–Vitebsk of the Ruthenians (? – 1762.07.18); later Metropolitan Archbishop of Kyiv–Halyč of the Ukrainians (Ukraine) (1781.06.25 – death 1788) * Heraclius Lisovsky (1783 - death 30 August 1809) * Jan Krasovskyj (22 September 1809 - 1826); next transferred

Archbishop-Bishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

of Lutsk–Ostroh of the Ukrainians (Ukraine) (1826 – death 1827.08.23) * Jakub Martusevych (1826 - death 26 January 1833), previously Eparch (Bishop) of Lutsk–Ostroh of the Ukrainians (Ukraine) (1817 – 1826) * Josaphat Bulhak (14 April 1833 - death 9 March 1838); previously Bishop of Pinsk–Turaŭ of the Ruthenians (Belarus) (1787.04.24 – 1798.10.12), Eparch (Bishop) of Volodymyr–Brėst of the Ukrainians (Ukraine) (1798.10.12 – 1818.09.22),

Apostolic Administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of Vilnius of the Ukrainians (

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

) (1814 – 1818), Apostolic Administrator of Kyiv–Halyč of the Ukrainians (Ukraine) (1817.01.27 – 1818.09.22), Eparch (Bishop) of Vilnius of the Ukrainians (Lithuania) (1818 – 1833.04.14), Metropolitan Archeparch (Archbishop) of Kyiv–Halyč of the Ukrainians (Ukraine) (1818.09.22 – 1838.03.09), Eparch (Bishop) of Žyrovyci of the Ukrainians (Lithuania) (1828 – 1833.04.14).

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic, with Google satellite photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polotsk-Vitebsk, Ruthenian Catholic Archeparchy Eastern Catholic dioceses in Europe Eastern Catholicism in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Eastern Catholicism in Belarus

Eparchies of the Ruthenian Uniate Church Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia (Ruthenian Uniate Church)

History

Episcopal ordinaries

See also

References

Sources and external links