The Diocese of Minsk, its Origin, Extent and Hierarchy

Those who wish to study the history of Christianity in Belarus should certainly pursue the history of the Orthodox and Catholic churches, and to a lesser extent, that of various groups of Protestants. One must bear in mind that the Catholic Church in Belarus followed and still follows two Rites: theLatin and the Oriental-Byzantine. It is acceptable to call the later by the name Uniate. In Belarus it dates back to the Synod of Brest-Litousk in the year1596. But here we propose to deal exclusively with the Catholic Church of the Latin Rite, and will further limit ourselves to a small section of its history,namely the foundation of the diocese in Minsk...