Belarus Church Records

Europe Belarus  Belarus Church Records

Aside from the records already available through FamilySearch.org, there are also Belarus church and synagogue records listed in several archives.

Jewish Shtetl Information:

Shtetls in Belarus

Orthodox and Uniate (Greek Catholic) Parish Records:

The National Historical Archives of Belarus currently has two branches. One branch is located in Minsk and the other branch is located in Grodno. When trying to locate church records, it is important to note which branch of the National Historic Archive of Belarus holds the records you are looking for:

Orthodox (Greek Catholic) Parish Registers branch location of records is noted

Catholic Parish Registers branch location of records is noted

Minsk-National Historical Archives of Belarus

Grodno-National Historical Archives of Belarus holdings in spreadsheet format: Unified index to Catholic parish registers held at the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno(Excel spreadsheet in Russian)*

Unified index to Orthodox (Greek Catholic) parish registers held at the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno (Excel spreadsheet in Russian)*

Grodno-National Historical Archives of Belarus

Translate using Google(or other on line) translator*

FamilySearch.org
I found that the best way to look for records on FamilySearch is to search using the 'place' name (name of town where parish church is/was located is a good place to start).

On the FamilySearch web site go to Search&gt;Catalog&gt;Place. Here you can also try searching by subject or key word.

The Metrical books for the 'parish town' is where you want to start looking. Check carefully for the correct location and years. -There years where the records are missing or have not been microfilmed.

See genealogy tips -Belarus and links below for ideas on finding diocese and deanery names.

Roman Catholic Church
Not every town had a church so, villagers would travel to their nearest parish church for services. To find church records for your ancestor, you must find the name of the town and name of the parish church where your ancestor attended church. The name of the diocese and deanery are needed. -The church diocese and deanery may not match the voivodeships or gubernia that you found for civil records.

Belarusian Catholic Dioceses
Polish Genealogical Society of America information may not be up to date

Schematic of the Roman Catholic Church in the Republic of Polish 1925 (sic) Schematyzm Kościoła Rzymsko-Katolickiego w Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej 1925

''Includes a complete list of Diocese and Deaneries/Deaconates of the Roman Catholic Church in 1925. Map on the last page showns dioceses and deaneries. There is also an index of towns and a list of names at the end of the booklet. At the beginning, there is a list of abbreviations that are used.''This booklet is written in Polish. It can be downloaded as a pdf document. Once downloaded, the text is searchable. The text can be (pain stakeingly) translated using an on line translator -copying and pasting word by word worked best.

Roman Catholic Diocese and Deaconate Information from Radzima.net

Greek Orthodox Church
See National Archives links above

Vital and Marriage Records From Greek Catholic and Orthodox Parishes in Former Austrian Galicia,Former Malo Rus, Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus (former Byelorussia) -- information about the church records available in these regions; covers parish names, LDS microfilms, and addresses to write to

Greek Orthodox Eparchies (Diocese) Information from Radzima.net

Lutheran Church
Poland's Lutheran Dioceses