Formation of the Orthodox Church Network throughout History within the Borders of the Present Podlaskie Voivodship

Abstract

Eastern Christianity has been present in the territory of the present Podlaskie Voivodeship since the Middle Ages. The changing course of political history of the Podlasie region affected the creation of an Eastern Orthodox Christian church network in the following centuries. Based on the scattered source materials (from archives and libraries) it is possible to recreate the process of formation of this network. From mid-15th to late 16th century at least 67 Orthodox churches have been established in the territories of the contemporary Podlaskie Voivodeship. Following the Union of Brest (1596), the majority of temples has been transferred to the Greek Catholic Church, and new ones were also built, so that by the time of the Third Partition of Poland (1795) there were 109 Orthodox buildings in the region. Under the rule of the Russian Empire (until 1915), the Greek Catholic Church has been abolished, and its temples were handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church. About one hundred new sacral buildings were erected during that time. The dramatic events of both world wars and the derussification of the eastern territories of Poland during the interwar period resulted in a drop in the overall density of the Eastern Orthodox church network in Podlasie: in 1945, there were only 149 churches there. A slight increase occurred during the communist rule (1944–1989) with their number reaching 169. Only after the fall of communism did that number noticeably increase (205 in 2015, a few more being under construction). The majority of these buildings are unique examples of sacral architecture (mainly wooden).