Belorussian Catholic Church

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Article History

Belorussian Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church of the Byzantine rite, in communion with the Roman Catholic Church since the Union of Brest-Litovsk in 1596.

There were several million Belorussians in the 17th–18th century belonging to the Kievan metropolitanate. After the annexation of their territory to Russia, the union was persecuted and finally abolished in 1839. After 1918 several thousand former Eastern Catholics in Belorussia, which was then under Poland, returned to the Catholic Church, and an apostolic visitor was appointed for them. After 1945 this group was dispersed. A few, however, emigrated to the West, and in 1960 they were given a bishop residing in London.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Matt Stefon.