Belarus Church Records

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Belarus

Church Records

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

Online Records

• 1649-1915 Belarus, Grodno Church Books, 1649-1915 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1700-1965 Belarus, Minsk Church Books, 1700-1965 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

• Raduraksti: Evangelical Lutheran Parishes outside the Latvian territory (Includes some places in Belarus. Requires free registration in order to view images)

• Polish State Archives Includes records from Polish regions now in Belarus, click here for instructions on how to use the site.
• Geneteka Indexed records from Polish regions now in Belarus, click here for instructions on how to use the site.
• ePaveldas Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Collection, contains records for a few select places now located in modern-day Belarus, click here for instructions on how to use the site.

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, index and images ($)

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages,, index and images ($)

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images ($)

Introduction

Metrical Books (Church Records)

The Church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism, marriage, and burial. Peter the Great mandated the keeping of Orthodox books in 1722 and the format was standardized in 1724. Printed forms were first introduced in 1806, and in 1838 a format was established that prevailed until 1920 when civil registration began. The priest made a transcript for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction. Jewish transcripts were filed with the local town council (gorodskaia duma). 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.

Record Coverage

Metrical book population coverage is about 70% coverage for early periods, 90% from about 1830 through the introduction of civil registration and the fall of churches in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, with about 50% among minority religions and dissident groups such as Old Believers and Baptists.s.

Years of record coverage vary depending upon religion and location. See below for some general guidelines:

• Russian Orthodox records began in 1722
• Roman Catholic records began as early as 1613, with transcripts beginning in 1826
• Jewish records were required to be kept beginning in 1835. Prior to this point, you may find them recorded in the church books of other religious denominations.
• Evangelical Lutheran/Protestant records began as early as 1641, with transcripts beginning in 1833
• Greek Catholic/Greek Orthodox records began in 1796
• Old Believers records began in 1874

Location of Records

Belarusian metrical book records may be stored in a variety of places – most commonly in the Central State Archives of Belarus (there are two branches – one in Minsk and one in Grodno), but may also be stored in the archives of neighboring countries such as the Lithuanian State Historical Archives and the Polish State Archives. Some of these records are available online as digital images or indexed records. Others may only be accessible via an archive. This Wiki page will teach you about locating church records.

Confession Lists

Confession lists are a register of Orthodox parishioners taken at Easter confession. Attendance at confession and communion was required of family members over the age of seven. Sometimes they are interfiled with the metrical books or in their own record group or collection. They begin as early as 1723 and as late as 1930, though record coverage and availability/survival depends on the parish.

Record Coverage

Confession list population coverage is only about 10%. Although these records were taken, not many have been survived. 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 percentages of parishes.

Location of Records

Confession list records may be stored in a variety of different places, but most commonly in the Central State Archives of Belarus. There are two branches - one in Minsk and one in Grodno. Some of these records are available online as digital images (through FamilySearch - check the Catalog at the parish level), while other may only be accessible via an archive.

Religions

According to the census of as of November 2011, 58.9% of all Belarusians adhere to some kind of religion; out of those, Eastern Orthodoxy (Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church) makes up about 82%. Roman Catholicism is practiced mostly in the western regions, and there are also different denominations of Protestantism. Minorities also practice Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and Neopaganism. Overall, 48.3% of the population is Orthodox Christian, 41.1% is not religious, 7.1% is Catholic and 3.3% follows other religions. The modern religious make-up closely follows the historic religious make-up.

Russian Orthodox: Belarusian Exarchate

Belarus Orthodox Eparchies

The first Belarusian diocese was founded in Polotsk in 992; Turavsk was established as Belarus's second diocese in 1005, both part of the main church headquartered in Kyiv. During the 1300s, both dioceses were moved under the Orthodox Church headquartered in Moscow. These dioceses both ceased to exist in 1596; in 1632, an Orthodox church diocese was reestablished in Mogilev in 1632. As the Russian empire acquired sovereignty over the territory of Belarus, the diocese of Minsk was created; the 1800s saw the establishment of three additional dioceses. At the beginning of World War I (1914), there were 3,552 churches within the 5 Orthodox dioceses in Belarus.

Roman Catholic

Catholic dioceses of Belarus

The first Roman Catholic diocese located in Belarus was established in Turov between 1008 and 1013. Catholics was the dominant religion of the Belarusian nobility and much of western Belarus. During the Russian Empire time period, there was tension between the minority Catholics and the majority Russian Orthodox Church. As of today, there are four Catholic dioceses in Belarus: Minsk-Mohilyov, Pinsk, Hrodna, and Vitebsk. Belarus's Catholic minority is concentrated in the western part of the country, especially around Hrodna, and is made up of a mixture of Belarusians and the country's Polish and Lithuanian minorities. In a statement to the media regarding Belarusian-Vatican ties, President Lukashenko stated that Orthodox and Catholic believers are the "two main confessions in our country".

Locating the Parish

Metrical records (also commonly referred to as church records) were kept in the local parish of the church. To use metrical records, you must know both your ancestor's religion and the town where he or she lived. You must also determine in which parish the town was located. Parishes are local congregations that may have included many neighboring villages in their boundaries. Locating the parish your ancestor belonged to is important as this is the location in which metrical books, or church records of vital events such as birth, marriage, or death, were kept. Because not every town had a parish, you’ll want to use a gazetteer to help you locate the nearest parish. The following gazetteers may help you locate the parish. For additional, detailed instructions on how to use these resources, see Belarus Gazetteers.

• Radzima - Place name database for Belarus, and some locations now in Poland and Lithuania. The database is free to use, but additional information (including the location of the closest parish and helpful links or information to locate records) is available to premium plan subscribers.
• Familio - Place name database for locations in the former Russian Empire. The website is in Russian, but can be navigated using Google Translate).
• Skorowidz - Gazetteer of the early Republic of Poland from 1918-1939. Some areas in western Belarus were a part of Poland during the interwar period. If this is the area your ancestors lived, this is a helpful gazetteer. Note that this gazetteer uses Polish spellings of place names.

There are also additional gazetteers and resources available on the Belarus Gazetteers page.

Locating Records

Digital Copies of Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

Watch for digitized copies of church records to be added to the collection of the FamilySearch Library. Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a FamilySearch Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations. To find records:

a. Click on the records of Belarus.

b. Click on Places within Belarus and a list of states will appear. Clicking on a state will bring up a list of counties. Clicking on a county will bring up a list of towns.

Or Directly enter the name of the town here.

c. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.

d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.

e. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. . The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records

Geneteka

Geneteka is a volunteer-based Polish indexing project. The site primarily includes indexes of records from Poland, but also has indexes for locations in Belarus (primarily western Belarus) as well as Lithuania and Ukraine. The project is ongoing, and names are added constantly. Geneteka primarily indexes Roman Catholic records, but does have indexes for other religions. To learn how to use this resource, see:

• Geneteka: Indexed Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key
• Geneteka: Accessing Records - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Polish State Archives

The Polish State Archives contain some records for locations in Belarus (primarily western Belarus), as some portions of modern-day Belarus belonged to Poland during the interwar period. To learn how to use the Polish State Archives website, see:

• Polish State Archives Online - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Raduraksti

There are some Lutheran records from areas now in Belarus available through the Latvian State Archives digital reading room, Raduraksti.

ePaveldas

There are Roman Catholic records from areas now in Belarus available through the Lithuanian website, ePaveldas.

The are available for the following select locations (names are provided in Belarusian, Lithuanian and Polish):

• Браслаў/Breslauja/Braslaw
• Жалудок/Žaludkas/Żołudek

ePaveldas holds documents other than metrical books pertaining to areas in Belarus. Use the main catalog search page to see what might be available. For help using ePaveldas, see:

• Online Catholic Church Records: ePaveldas - Instruction, Activity, Answer Key

Records in National Archives

National Historical Archive of Belarus in Minsk provides Research Services for Fees.

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.
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.

• List of Metric books (church registers) of Orthodox and Uniate (Greek Catholic) churches National Historical Archive of Belarus in Minsk
• List of Metric books (church registers) of Catholic churches National Historical Archive of Belarus in Minsk

Writing to a for Local Church for Records

You may need to write to or email a local parish priest to find records. See Russian Letter Writing Guide for help with composing letters. This might come up initially translated into English. Then you will need to return it to its original form.

• Maps.me Church Listings for Belarus
• Catholic Directory for Belarus
• Google Maps search results for Orthodox churches in Belarus Be sure to scroll through all the pages. There will be several pages with 20 entries each.
• Google Maps search results for Catholic churches in Belarus Be sure to scroll through all the pages. There will be several pages with 20 entries each.

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.

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