According to the decree of the Council of Bishops in 1990, the Brest Diocese was established, consisting of 9 deaneries - administrative-church formations, including parishes located close to each other. These included: Brest city and district deanery, as well as Drogichinskoe, Berezovskoye, Kamenetskoye, Pruzhanskoye, Maloritskoye, Kobrinskoye and Zhabinkovskoye. The initiator of this decision was the Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
Chronicles of bygone ages
It is known that the history of Christianity in the Brest land originates in the XI century. According to the Berestey Chronicle, the territory of the current Berezovsky District (the central part of the Brest Region) was then part of the Principality of Turov, which already had an Orthodox diocese. This is also mentioned in the famous "Tale of Bygone Years." A little later, from about the second half of the XII century, the inhabitants of the region began to be fed by the Vladimir-Volyn bishops, whose residence was in the city of Berestye - now Brest (Belarus). There, in the period 1590-1596. held the cathedrals of the Western Russian bishops.
In 1596, the Brest Union, or, as it was written then, the Union of Berestey was concluded. According to this document, signed by the bishops of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and the Kiev metropolis, a significant number of deaneries located on the territory of the current Brest diocese were subordinated to the pope, but maintaining the previously established order of worship. Since that time, the parishes located in their territories became part of the newly formed Lithuanian-Novgorod Uniate Metropolis, a large administrative and church unit led by the Metropolitan.
Events of subsequent centuries
In later times, those few Orthodox parishes that did not want to become subordinate to the Latins were nurtured by the bishops of the Mogilev, Minsk, Lutsk and Kiev dioceses. In addition, 6 monasteries remained under the control of the Belarusian Orthodox Church until the end of the 18th century. In the next century, their number increased. Among them were such large spiritual centers as the monastery of St. Simeon the Stolpnik and the Brest Monastery.
An important historical event, which in many respects predetermined the creation of the future Brest diocese, was the return of a significant number of parishes located in territories controlled by the Lithuanian Uniate Church to the fold of Orthodoxy. This happened at the end of January 1840 and served as an impetus for the formation of the Brest Vicariate (church administrative territorial unit as part of the diocese) as part of the Lithuanian Orthodox Church. This, in turn, made it possible to establish an independent diocese of Grodno in 1900, with the assignment of the title of bishop of Grodno and Brest to the ruling bishop.
In the years of godlessness and atheism
After the October 1917 armed coup, which marked the beginning of a long period of state anti-religious policy, 8 deaneries, located in the immediate vicinity of Brest (Belarus) and part of the Polessye Diocese, were forced to announce their break with the Russian Orthodox Church and joining the Polish Autocephalous (independent) church . Nevertheless, a significant number of their parishes were abolished as part of numerous campaigns against religious ideology, and their churches were converted for household needs or simply demolished. Especially great damage was done to the Orthodox communities of the Berezovsky district.
Some relaxation of the national anti-religious policy occurred during the years of World War II. It is known that Stalin saw this as one of the ways for the people to unite to fight the enemy. According to the directive issued by him, in the territories liberated from the Germans, many of the churches that opened during the occupation continued to operate, and the work of those that had been taken from the church and transferred for the needs of the national economy was resumed.
Establishment of the Brest Vicar Department
All this made it possible to carry out a number of important church-administrative transformations. In particular, in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Autocephalous Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, a vicar Brest department was established, the first leader of which was Bishop Paisiy (Obraztsov). A feature of this church structure is its subordination to diocesan leadership. The department lasted until 1952 and was abolished by the decision of the Ideological Department of the CPSU Central Committee. From this time until 1989, all parishes located on its territory were transferred to the leadership of the Minsk diocese.
The breeze of gracious change
Perestroika, which began in the second half of the 1980s, gave impetus to processes that fundamentally changed the attitude of the state leadership and the broadest masses of the population towards the church. In many, previously closed religious communities opened and new ones were created. All this happened against the background of the return of the Church of material values illegally taken from her and the restoration of the abolished administrative structures. In these conditions, all the necessary prerequisites were created for the restoration of the vicar department closed shortly before the death of Stalin and the creation of the Brest Diocese on its basis.
In an atmosphere of spiritual recovery
This event, one of the initiators of which was His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, occurred in 1990 and marked the beginning of a new stage in the religious life of the entire Belarusian people. For a short time, several large spiritual centers appeared on the territory of the republic, one of which was a man’s monastery founded in the village of Arcadia, on the spot where the prominent church figure of that time, Rev. Martyr Athanasius, igumen male, died at the hands of the Bolsheviks Bryansk monastery. Subsequently, on the Hospital Island of the Brest Fortress, the first building of the women's Orthodox monastery was laid in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In 2001, the Resurrection Cathedral was built on the territory of the Brest Orthodox Diocese. It was a memorial to all those who died during the Great Patriotic War. It is symbolic that the initiator of its construction and the main head of the work was the oldest priest of the Brest Diocese, Archpriest Eugene, who had fought a long way from Minsk to Berlin. He worked closely with the clergy of Nicholas Church, located on the territory of the Brest Hero Fortress, which in itself is a monument to the heroism of the defenders of the Fatherland.
The current state of the diocese
Currently, the clergy of the nine deanery districts that are part of the Brest Orthodox Diocese, along with the nourishment of parishioners and the organization of their religious life, are making every effort to improve their missionary work, social ministry and work carried out with children and youth. To implement the plans in the framework of the diocese, departments were created, each of which is engaged in a specific range of tasks assigned to it.
One of the first to establish a pilgrimage department of the Brest Diocese, whose staff was entrusted with the obligation to create the conditions for believers to visit holy places both on the territory of Belarus itself and abroad. Under the leadership of its director, Igumen Ignatius (Lukovich), trips to Optina Deserts, Valaam and Solovetsky Monasteries, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, as well as Mount Athos and Jerusalem are regularly organized. In addition, many other pilgrimage travel routes have been developed. The Brest Diocese unites 205 parishes today, so there are always enough people wishing to use the services of this department. In addition, residents of other regions often take part in trips.
Afterword
Those who wish to learn more about the history and modern life of the Brest Diocese, we recommend contacting its main department, which is located at the following address: Belarus, Brest, ul. Soviet border guards, 35.
Or gather information of interest on her official website.