The Diocese of Minsk (; ) is an

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

Belarusian Orthodox Church The Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC; , ) is the official name of the exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus. It represents the union of Eparchies and Metropolitanates of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox eparchies in the ...

, which is an

exarchate An exarchate is any territorial jurisdiction, either secular or ecclesiastical, whose ruler is called an exarch. Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Con ...

of 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 ...

History

The diocese was established by the Supreme decree of 13 April 1793. It was established for the regions, which became part of the Russian Empire at the

second partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

, instead of Turov diocese, remained until 1798 in the conduct of the Kiev Metropolitanate, and also the bishoprics in Slutsk, formerly frontiers of the Kingdom of Poland. Initially, the Department was located in Slutsk, was moved to Minsk by decree on 12 April 1795, but according to Stepan Runkevich, in fact, it moved to Minsk only on 3 September 1799. Soon the Minsk diocese also included the

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 ...

n regions that were regions that were included in Russia during the third partition of Poland. Thus it became extremely large, and the reunion with the Orthodox Church of one and a half million Western Russian Uniates made it even larger. Already in 1795, it was found necessary to separate the independent of Bratslav diocese and Zhytomyr vicar see from the Minsk diocese, with the latter becoming independent on 16 October 1799. In 1832, the territory of the

Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered an area of and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governo ...

moved from Diocese of Minsk to the newly established Diocese of Polotsk, and in 1840, after the second unification of the Uniates with the

Synod of Polotsk The Synod of Polotsk was a local synod held on February 12, 1839, by the clergy of the Ruthenian Uniate Church, Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the city of Polotsk for Union of Brest, reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church. Polotsk was ...

, the Minsk diocese entered the borders of the

Minsk Governorate Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...

. Since 1922, the Minsk diocese has been a Metropolitan see. In the second half of the Soviet period, it occupied the territory of the entire

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

. On 6 July 1989, the Mogilev, Pinsk and Polotsk dioceses were separated from the Minsk diocese, after which the Minsk and Grodno regions remained under the jurisdiction of the Minsk see. On 18 February 1992, the Grodno and Novogrudok dioceses were also separated, after which the borders of the Minsk diocese coincided with the borders of the Minsk Region. On 23 October 2014, the independent Barysaw, Maladzyechna and Slutsk dioceses were separated from the Minsk diocese, which left the city of Minsk and the

Minsk District Minsk district (; ) is a districts of Belarus, district (raion) of Belarus in Minsk region. The administrative center is the capital Minsk, which is administratively separated from the district and region. As of 2024, it has a population of 27 ...

under the jurisdiction of the Minsk diocese. At the same time, the Minsk diocese became part of the newly-formed Minsk metropolis.

Historical names

* Minsk, Izyaslav and Bratslav (13 April 1793 - 12 April 1795) * Minsk and Volhynia (12 April 1795 - 4 August 1799) * Minsk and Lithuania (1799 - 30 April 1830) * Minsk and Grodno (30 April 1830 or 1833 - 4 February 1839) * Minsk and Bobruisk (4 February 1839 or 1843 - 6 April 1878) * Minsk and Turov (6 April 1878-1928) * Minsk (1928-1930) * Minsk and Belarus (1930 - 16 October 1989) * Minsk and Grodno (16 October 1989 - 18 February 1992) * Minsk and Slutsk (18 February 1992 - 23 October 2014) * Minsk and Zaslawye (since 23 October 2014)

Literature

* '' Рункевич С. Г.'' История Минской архиепископии (1793—1832 гг.) — Санкт-Петербург: Типография А. Катанского и К°, 1893 * ''Иерей Евгений Свидерский, Г. Шейкин'
Минская епархия Белорусского Экзархата: история и современность
// Журнал Московской Патриархии. 2008. — № 7. — C. 44—73. * {{coord, 53.9000, N, 27.5500, E, source:wikidata, display=title Eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church 1793 establishments in the Russian Empire