Belarus Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Belarus, go to the Religious Records page.

Church Records General Information
The Church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism and burial. Peter the Great mandated the keeping of Orthodox books in 1722. The format was standardized in 1724. Printed forms were introduced in 1806. In 1838 a format was introduced that prevailed until 1920 when civil registration began. The priest made a transcript for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction. Old Believer and Baptist transcripts were sent to the provincial administration (gubernskoe upravlenie). The distinction between the original and the transcript is often ignored by Belarusian record keepers.

Time period: Orthodox, 1722; Greek Catholic, 1796; Roman Catholic, 1613 (transcripts begin in 1826); Evangelical/other Protestant, 1641 (transcripts begin in 1833); Old Believers, 1874; Baptists, 1879–all to about 1930.

Population coverage: 70% coverage for early periods, 90% from about 1830 through the destruction of most churches in the 1930s, 50% among minority religions and dissident groups such as Old Believers and Baptists.

Records in National Archives
From the "Genealogy" page of the National Archives of Belarus: "The Belarusian archives store a large number of documents that can be used in genealogical research, are of interest for the restoration of pedigrees (metric books, revision tales, accounting documents of various departments, classes, nationalities, etc.). Mostly these documents are in the National Historical Archive of Belarus in Minsk (on the territory of the former Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk and partially Grodno provinces of the Russian Empire) and in the National Historical Archive of Belarus in Grodno (mainly on the territory of the Grodno and partially Vilna provinces ) Genealogy materials are also available in the archives of civil registration authorities (civil registry offices) Information on genealogy requests can be found on the website of the National Historical Archive of Belarus in Minsk on the Services page and in the National Historical Archive of Belarus in Grodno, whose contact information is available on our website. Currently, the site provides information regarding metric books (church registers), revision tales, documents on the genealogy of the nobility, documents of the genealogical nature of state regional archives.

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 online) translator*

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 (painstakingly) translated using an on line translator -copying and pasting word by word worked best.

Roman Catholic Diocese and Deaconate Information from Radzima.net

Roman Catholic Chruch Deaconate Information

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, FHL microfilms, and addresses to write to

Greek Orthodox Eparchies (Diocese) Information from Radzima.net

Greek Catholic Church Information

Lutheran Church
Poland's Lutheran Dioceses

Janenowak

Confession Lists
Research use: Identify family groups and ages. They are easier to use than the revision lists because they include all classes of society. They are also a metrical book substitute.

Record type: Register of orthodox parishioners taken at Easter confession.

General: Attendance at confession and communion was required of the family members over the age of seven. Sometimes they are interfiled with metrical books in a record group or collection.

Time period: 1723-about 1930.

Contents: Lists head of household, names of family members (including children not attending confession) with their ages and relationship to head of household, residence (number of house or other identification), and whether or not they attended confession.

Location: Central state historical archives in Minsk and Grodno. Population coverage: 10% (see preservation note).

Preservation of records/vulnerability: Because this is a voluminous record type, many have been discarded. The standard rule was to retain only 2% but in some cases more were preserved. Consequently, these exist for only a small percentage of parishes. The records are well preserved in good facilities. The records were little used during twentieth century.