The lands of Belarus during the Middle Ages became part of Kievan Rus' and were split between different regional principalities, including Polotsk, Turov, Vitebsk, and others. Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, these lands were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which later was merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century.
Grodno region, also known as Grodno oblast or Hrodna voblasts, is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center, Grodno, is the largest city in the region. As of 2024, it has a population of 992,556.
Ashmyany or Oshmyany is a city in Grodno Region, Belarus. It is located 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Vilnius in Lithuania, and serves as the administrative center of Ashmyany District. The river Ashmyanka passes through the city. As of 2024, it has a population of 16,787.
Polonization or Polonisation is the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular the Polish language. This happened in some historic periods among non-Polish populations in territories controlled by or substantially under the influence of Poland.
Western Belorussia or Western Belarus is a historical region of modern-day Belarus which belonged to the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period. For twenty years before the 1939 invasion of Poland, it was the northern part of the Polish Kresy macroregion. Following the end of World War II in Europe, most of Western Belorussia was ceded to the Soviet Union by the Allies, while some of it, including Białystok, was given to the Polish People's Republic. Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Western Belorussia formed the western part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). Today, it constitutes the west of modern Belarus.
The Belarusian Greek Catholic Church, or the Belarusian Byzantine Catholic Church, is one of the 23 Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular churches that are in full communion with the Holy See. It is the heir within Belarus to the Union of Brest and the Ruthenian Uniate Church.
Hlybokaye or Glubokoye is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Hlybokaye District. As of 2024, it has a population of 17,746.
The Order of Saint Basil the Great, also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is a Greek Catholic monastic order of pontifical right that works actively among Ukrainian Catholics and other Greek-Catholic churches in central and Eastern Europe. The order received approbation on August 20, 1631, and is based at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Vilnius.
Naliboki Forest ) is a large forest complex in northwestern Belarus, on the right bank of the Neman River, on the Belarusian Ridge. Much of the area is occupied by pine forests and swamps, and some parts of the Naliboki are rather hilly. Rich fauna include deer, wild boars, elks, beavers, bears, bison, wood grouses, heath cocks, snipes etc. The forest is named after a small town of Naliboki situated in the middle of it, although the title of "informal capital of the forest" belongs rather to the town of Ivyanets.
Smarhon District or Smarhoń District is a district (raion) of Grodno Region in Belarus. The administrative center is Smarhon. As of 2024, it has a population of 48,464.
Adam Stankievič was a Belarusian Roman Catholic priest, politician and writer. Stankievič was one of ideologists of the Belarusian Christian democratic movement in the early 20th century.
Druja is an agrotown in Braslaw District, Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is located on the left bank of the Western Dvina, at the mouth of the Druyka River, opposite the Latvian parish of Piedruja. It is situated about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northeast of Braslaw. The population is about 1,500 (2006).
Jakob Gapp was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Marianists. Gapp first served as a soldier on the Italian front during World War I at a point in his life where his religious convictions were not of high importance, though his return home from a prisoner of war camp saw him develop socialist views that soon bought him into contact with the Marianists whom he later joined. After studies and ordination he was assigned in Austria as a teacher, where he became noted for his vehement opposition to the Nazi regime; he deemed Nazism as being some warped political tool to create division which was also incompatible with the faith.
Belarusian Gothic, also known as Ruthenian Gothic, is the architectural style of ecclesiastical buildings and fortified structures of the 15th and 16th centuries in modern Belarus, Lithuania, eastern Poland and western Ukraine.
Operation Winterzauber was an anti-partisan operation from 15 February to 30 March 1943 aimed at creating a depopulated zone of 30–40 km (19–25 mi) along the Belarusian–Latvian border. It was mainly conducted by Latvian collaborators under German command in northern Belarus and in Sebezhsky District in Russia. In the Soviet Union, the operation became known as the Osveya Tragedy. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation has described Operation Winterzauber as a crime against humanity.
Antoni Leszczewicz was a Polish-Belarusian Marian Father and Roman Catholic priest. He was a missionary in China for two decades in the interwar period.
Jazep Hiermanovich was a Belarusian Greek Catholic priest, poet and Gulag survivor.
Archmandrite Andrei Tsikota MIC was a Belarusian Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic priest, Superior General of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, Ordinary of the Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Harbin, member of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic.
Joseph Semashko was an Eastern Catholic priest and bishop who played a central role in the highly controversial conversion of the Ruthenian Uniate Church of the western provinces of the Russian Empire to Russian Orthodoxy in 1837–1839. Subsequently, he became an archbishop in the Russian Orthodox hierarchy, elevated to the Metropolitan bishop of Vilnius and Lithuania in 1852.
