Around the question of national identity of Podlasian Uniates

Abstract

Podlasie has long been the place where cultures and politics met: Latin-Polish and Byzantine-Russian. The result of co-existence of Catholicism and Orthodox Church in this area was inter alia the Church Union. In the 19th century, tsarist Russia, with its political expansion, sought to arouse the Great-Russian national spirit. In contrast, the centuries-old strong traditions of the influence of Polish and Latin culture were conducive to the development of Polish national consciousness. The clash between Polish and Russian influences hindered or marginalized the initiatives for the development of Belarusian or Ukrainian national consciousness both in northern and southern Podlasie.