Grodno diocese: Orthodox and Catholic

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Today there is an Orthodox and Catholic diocese of Grodno. They are located in the city of Grodno in Belarus. Each of them has its own history of formation and development. Today, Catholics and Orthodox get along quite peacefully with each other, but there were other times. You can learn about all this from the material below.

Establishment of a Catholic diocese

The modern Grodno Catholic diocese has its roots in the distant past, in the time of the Lithuanian prince Jagiello. It is with him that the spread of Catholicism in Belarus begins. The Union of Brest in 1596 contributed to an increase in the number of believers. Of course, everything did not go so easily and smoothly, but by 1791 the number of Catholics had increased. This was also facilitated by the schools founded by the Jesuits, which provided a fairly good education for those times.

Whatever it was, but in 1773 the first Catholic diocese was created in Belarus. During hisexistence, it was quite often renamed, divided. So it was until the time when the Soviet Union appeared. During this period, as is known from historical reports, any religion was banned, it was fought in all sorts of ways.

Only in 1991, the diocese of Grodno took the form we know now. She was singled out from the Minsk-Mogilev diocese.

Diocese today

Today, the deans and parishes of the Grodno diocese are quite numerous. It is believed that in terms of the number of parishioners it is the largest among Catholics in Belarus. The diocese has the following deaneries:

• Oshmyansky;
• Ostrovetsky;
• Berestovitsky;
• Volkovysk;
• Western and Eastern Grodno;
• Dyatlovsky;
• Lida;
• Ivyevsky;
• Mostovsky;
• Radunsky;
• Novogrudok;
• Sopotkinsky;
• Slonimsky;
• Smorgonsky;
• Schuchinsky.

Also, the Grodno diocese in its board has a Catechism Institute in the city of Grodno and a seminary, which is located there. Each of the above deans has at least six to eight parishes.

Establishment of an Orthodox diocese

In addition to the Catholic diocese, there is also an Orthodox one in the city of Grodno. It was formed on January 23, 1900. The Grodno Orthodox diocese was separated from Vilna and Lithuania. It was under their command that she was until1900.

If we talk about the history of the emergence of Orthodoxy in this place, the chronicles tell us that already in the twelfth century stone churches appeared here. The oldest that have survived to this day are the Upper and Lower Churches.

Initially, this place belonged to the Kyiv Metropolis, and in the fourteenth century came under the rule of the Lithuanian-Novogrudok Metropolis. Its center was in Novogrudok. The Union of Brest redrawn some Orthodox allotments, and after its adoption, this metropolitan see became Uniate. This continued until the eighteenth century, when the Commonwe alth went through several sections. Orthodoxy began to gradually return to these places.

The first bells were the request of the Orthodox to restore the church and re-consecrate it into St. Sophia Cathedral. This happened in 1804. Then, in 1843, a convent was built in Grodno. During this period, the diocese had churches, monasteries, church schools in its board.

Already in 1923, some part of this diocese went to the Polish Orthodox Church. This was the beginning of the loss of controlled churches. Some of them were given to the Catholics, and some were simply closed. This period was marked by the Polishization of Orthodoxy: the service was read in Polish.

The history of the diocese before 1992 is rather chaotic. She passed from one subordination to another several times, only in the early nineties of the last century she began to recover.

Diocese today

Today it is the Volkovysk and Grodno diocese of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. In terms of its territory, it is quite extensive and includes the entire western part of the Grodno region. These are the following areas:

• Grodno;
• Berestovitsky;
• Volkovysk;
• Zelvensky;
• Mostovsky;
• Svislochsky;
• Schuchinsky;
• Voronovsky (part).

The diocese also includes a nunnery, which was built in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Malomozheykovskaya Church (consecrated in the same honor).

Conclusion

So, a brief material is presented about when and how the Grodno diocese, which we see today, was formed. A long history filled with various events and changes is quite interesting to study. Both the Catholic part of the population and the Orthodox today have their own deep roots, which should be revered. Today, every believer must respect and know the history of the formation and development of their religion, and also not repeat the mistakes of the past and treat with dignity the decision of another to follow a different confession.