Part of a series of articles, this time related to the Minsk 'diocese'. The text briefly introduces the history of the area, and then mentions the main localities, including Dubrovske, Zaslavl and Stolovichi. Each village has at least one paragraph devoted to it, summarising the history of the place and its relationship to Poland (Source: "Ziemia. Tygodnik Krajoznawczy Ilustrowany', Warsaw 1913, no. 27, pp. 6-9, after: Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa).

A modernised reading of the text.

Diocese of Minsk.

Badly destroyed by the Tartars at the end of the 16th century, Bobruisk soon recovered from its decline and was particularly famous under Wladyslaw IV, to which the Jesuits did much by founding schools (e.g. an academic sub-faculty) and spreading education in general. However, during the reign of Jan Kazimierz, Bobruisk again went through hard times: captured and pillaged by wild Cossack hordes, it could not be recaptured for a long time, even though our troops besieged it under the command of the valiant commanders Gąsiewski and Wołłowicz. It was not until Janusz Radziwiłł, after capturing Mozyrz, advanced towards Bobruisk and forced the Cossacks to surrender. Of the dozen or so parishes by 1815, the huge Bobruisk deanery now has only 4: in Bobruisk, Klusk, Chromce and Svishloch. The church in Hluusk was painfully affected by Sęczykowski's rule as Bobruisk dean. This ancient town, on the Ptycza River, belonged to the Novogrudok voivodeship during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the 15th century, the Hluusk estate belonged to the Holshanskis, then to the Połubińskis, the Chodkiewiczes, and finally, in the 17th century, half belonged to the Połubińskis and the other half to the Czartoryskis. Hluusk has a nice temple, founded by its former owners, very richly furnished in the past and containing costly church utensils, brushed with gold and set with precious stones. In the post-Uprising era, it was decided to close the Hluj church, which was supposedly greatly encouraged by its contents. "Canon" Sęcz., probably unaware of the administration's intention to annex the House of God, robbed it: he took away all the most valuable items and sold them to Jews. Perhaps never has the well-known proverb proved so bluntly: "There is no such thing as what would not turn out for the best (sometimes)" - as in this case. The "canon" not only freed the believers from his persona by his action, as he was locked up in the Franciscan monastery in Grodno for two years, and then expelled from our country to Tashkent as a military chaplain, but also saved the Haluski church from extinction: since it was robbed by S., it no longer disturbed the administration; its annexation was abandoned, the ancient temple survived and exists to this day. Strangely enough... To conclude my loose remarks on the diocese of Minsk, I would like to give my readers some more information about those villages whose inhabitants were incorporated into the official confession after the January Uprising, as mentioned above, as well as about the oldest parish in the diocese, in Hujna. Dubrovske, also called and Dabrovske, an ancient settlement in the Minsk district, on the border of the Viley district, about a mile from Radoszkowice. Near Dubrovske lies the traditional Dziewicza Mountain, or Virgin Hill. There is a folk tale about it that a lovely maiden used to live on this hill, for whose hand two young men competed at the same time. The maiden decided to give her hand to the one who would outrun his rival in the race. The results of the race were lamentable: both fell dead from exhaustion. As the story goes, the local people buried the white-headed woman alive as a punishment; both young men were buried in a common grave. A weeping birch grew over her grave, and two oak trees were placed on their grave. These trees have been preserved and old people point to them as evidence of the above story, and derive the name Dubrov from the two oaks. There is another story about the mountain near Dubrovy: there used to be a magnificent church on it, which collapsed into the ground during mass, with all its contents, bells, even the priest and organist. The bells can still be heard underground. Dubrová is the birthplace of Bened. Dybowski, a Polish naturalist. In the 16th century Dubrovy belonged to the Radziwiłłs, in the 17th century to the Hlebowiczs and Sapieha, the Vilnius Voivode, and in the 18th century to Adam Chmara, the Voivode of Minsk, who also built a parish church there, which was taken away after the 1863 uprising to become an Orthodox church. He also built a parish church there, which was taken over for an Orthodox church after the 1863 uprising. Dubrová used to be part of Zaslavl County. In the 19th century Dubrova belonged to the Proszynski family, then to the Libanskis. When the Dubrova church was annexed in 1806 and the local Catholic population was counted as Orthodox Christians, the few remaining Catholics who did not give in to the religious and political masquerade were incorporated into the neighbouring parish of Rakov. Zaslavl. The Lithuanian city of Zaslavl, now called "Zaslavl", should not be equated with the Volyn city of Zaslavl, today a district town, formerly the capital of the Zaslavl principality. Lithuanian Zaslavl, in the Minsk district, 2 miles from Minsk Litvsk, lies on the Svislocha River. It used to belong to the Hlebowicz family, then to the Sapieha and Przezdzieckis, and finally to the Proszynskis. Confiscated during the uprising, it came into the possession of Mr Chomientovsky, from whom it was recently allowed to be purchased by the heirs of its former owners, the Proszynskis. Until 1852 Zaslavl had a Dominican monastery and church attached to it, in addition to a second parish church. The monastery was cancelled in 1832 during the general disestablishment of Lithuanian monasteries, and the Dominican church was turned into an Orthodox church. In 1886 the same fate befell the parish church. This reduced the number of houses of worship in Zaslavl from 2 to 0. Three years ago, a chapel was built in Zaslavl. Volma. As many as three Volmas are in the former Minsk province, two of them in the Minsk district, the third in the Ihumen district. The best known is Volma, a town and estate in the Minsk district, near Kajdanovo. Until 1866, Volma had an ancient parish church, built in 1474-6 by the Domaszewicz family. In 1866, the church was converted into an Orthodox church, and the parish was divided into two parts and incorporated partly into the parish of Rakov, and partly into the parish of Kamień. Rubieżewicze, also in the Minsk district, formerly owned by the Radziwiłłs, then by the Wittgensteins (through Princess Stephanie Radziwiłłówna). At the end of the 19th century, it was sold to a Russian by Princess Hohenlohe, Wittgenstein's sister, by order of the authorities: Princess H. is a Prussian subject. The Rubiezewicze parish church, together with most of its parishioners, was converted to Orthodoxy in 1866. Stołowicze, or Stołowicze, located in the Novogrudok district, on the Štara River, between Slonim and Novogrudok. In the middle of the 15th century, Casimir Jagiellon granted Stołowicze to Niemir Romanowicz, a stolnik. In the 16th century, Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill, known as the Orphan, together with Rotnice, a nearby estate, granted Stołowicze to the Order of the Knights of Malta, stipulating that in this new commandery the Radziwill family should have priority, and that the Polish nobility from Lithuania should have greater privileges than the Crown nobility. The first commander was the Sierotka's son, Zygmunt. Educated in Italy, he had a lot of artistic taste and contributed to the architectural beautification of Stołowicz, which was quite effectively and radically destroyed and spoilt in the 19th century. After Sigismund Radziwill, the commanders of Stołowicz were in turn: the two Judycki brothers, Michał Pac, Michał Dąbrowski, Count Maurycy de Saxe, a collateral son of Augustus II and Urszula Bohuszówna, a Lithuanian courtesan. Under Augustus III, the commandery of lrr. de Saxe and was given to Bartł. Steccki, after whom it was taken by Mikołaj Radziwiłł, Ordynat Kiecki. Finally his son, Ludwik, who was the last commander of Steccki. After the second partition of the Republic, the Order of the Knights of Malta was dissolved, the estate and the town of Lyakhovichi were incorporated into the Klecka entail, and the town itself was elevated to the dignity of the chief town of the Stolovichi estate, just as Novogrudok was the chief town of the Novogrudok estate and Slonim of the Slonim estate. However, this was short-lived. After the third partition of Poland and the establishment of the Slonim province by Catherine in 1795, the Slonim land was cancelled. By 1865, Slonim's decanate consisted of eleven parishes, of which eight were cancelled after the January Uprising. In 1888, the Slonim decanate was abolished and incorporated into Novogrudok, and the church was converted into an Orthodox church, while the beautiful statue of Our Lady of Loretto, carved in Rome, was taken away. Zadvenie, also in the Novogrudok district, had a former church until 1866, but it was turned into an Orthodox church and the worshippers were herded into another fold. Lyakhovichi, formerly in Novogrudok province, now in Slutsk district, has one of the few Tartar mosques in the country. In the 17th century Lyakhovichi belonged to the Chodkiewicz family. Our famous hetman, Karol Chodkiewicz, built a castle in Lyakhovichi, which was his favourite place to stay. Lyakhovichi later became the property of the Sapieha family, and during the partition Ignacy Massalski, the bishop of Vilnius. As Lyakhovichi was a fortress at that time, the Sejm resolved that the state should rule the fortress. Bishop Massalsky was given three starosties in Samogitia in return. As a fortress, Lyakhovichi played a role in our history, namely in the 17th and 18th centuries. For example, in 1661, Judycki, a Rzepeckis soldier, stubbornly defended this fortress, valiantly repulsing Muscovite attacks led by Khovansky, and held it until Stefan Czarniecki and hetman Paweł Sapieha arrived with their army. The attacking enemy was completely defeated by the Polish army, which captured the camp along with great valuables. A description of this famous battle was given by Pasek in his "Memoirs" on p. 90. As a reward, Jan Kazimierz freed the Judycki estate from all taxes for 30 years and paid him 21 400 zlotys as compensation for the damage done to the estate. In the first half of the 18th century, Lachowicze, in which Mazepa, a supporter of Stanisław Leszczyński, had lodged, was conquered by the army of Peter the Great with great difficulty and at the cost of huge sacrifices. The Lyakhovichi church itself, built by Karol Chodkiewicz when it burned to the ground, was restored by Michal Massalski, Grand Hetman of Lithuania. In the vaults of this church, which was taken over for an Orthodox church in 1806, lies the remains of Tadeusz Rejtan, which few of us remember and even fewer know! At the end of the 18th century, the county of Lachowice was created by Szymon Kossakowski. Today, Lyakhovichi also belongs to the Kossakovsky family. Hajna, on the river of the same name, once the property of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. I mentioned above that one of the seven oldest churches in Lithuania was founded in Hajnówka during the reign of Jogaila. The year of its establishment cannot be precisely determined: Dlugosz, Kromer, Stryjkowski and Marcin Bielski differ somewhat in this respect. The original wooden church was rebuilt by Radziwiłł and Cydzik in 1788, after 400 years of existence. In 1885, the temple was taken over as an Orthodox church, and the parishioners were attached to the parish of Lohiysk, after the extensive church property granted by its founders had been annexed to the treasury or to the Orthodox clergy. Sigismund I the Old celebrated in Hajnówka the victory of our army under Konstantin Ostrogski over Moscow. In the middle of the 17th century, the starost of Hajnówka was Mikolaj Sapieha, famous for his belief in witchcraft and his battles with sorcerers, with whom he sued and won death decrees in the tribunal court in Novogrudok.