Belarusian Greek Catholics descend from the Union of Brest (1596), by which the Ruthenian metropolitanate of Kyiv entered into full communion with Rome. In 1839 the union was suppressed within the Russian Empire and the faithful were absorbed into the Orthodox Church; small groups persisted and the tradition was deliberately revived in the twentieth century, chiefly among Belarusians in exile, before returning openly to Belarus after 1991.

The Church has no eparchy of its own: its parishes and communities are cared for by an apostolic visitor appointed by the Holy See. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the Byzantine tradition in Church Slavonic and Belarusian.

A small Byzantine-rite Church sui iuris in Belarus, heir to the Union of Brest, served today by an apostolic visitor.

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Belarus and the Belarusian diaspora

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A few thousand faithful