Kyiv diocese in the 17th century
The 17th century - the time of the Cossack and Moscow wars - was a particularly difficult time for the Diocese of Kiev. The Treaty of Grzymułtowski, concluded in 1686, finally granted Kiev to the Russians, together with the lands of Smolensk, Chernihiv, Sverda and left-bank Ukraine. The diocese of Kiev was narrowed down to the areas on the right side of the Dnieper. Deprived of their cathedral, and still forced by Khmelnytsky's army to leave Kiev, the Catholic bishops resided in Lublin. In a letter addressed to the Pope, Bishop Andrzej Chryzostom Załuski (1680-1691) complained that only a twentieth of the diocese remained under his rule. However, he would endeavour to save what was left - raising funds with the authorities of the Commonwealth, bringing in religious orders and beginning efforts, unfortunately unsuccessful, to build a cathedral in Biała Cerkiew.

Zhytomyr as the capital of the diocese
The need for a new cathedral was obvious, but the favourable time did not come until after 1711, when, under the Treaty of Prussia, Russia relinquished its claim to the right bank of the Ukraine. The former inhabitants began to return to the depopulated and devastated area, and settlers from Mazovia and Lesser Poland were also brought in. The renewal of the Kyiv diocese (the historical name remained, although Kyiv was in the hands of Moscow), and from 1724 the Kyiv-Chernichovsk diocese, was brought about by Bishop Jan Samuel de Ossa Ożga (1723-1756), who chose Zhytomyr as its capital.

In Zhytomyr, a wooden cathedral was built in 1724-1725 on the site of the church of the Virgin Mary, destroyed by the Tartars in the 15th century, and consecrated in 1726. The new cathedral was not successful - the building had structural defects. Around 1732, Bishop Ożga started, at his own expense, the construction of a new brick church, which was consecrated in 1746. Soon after, in 1762, the seminary also began its work.

Zhytomyr was a city on the border of clashing cultures and nationalities. Numerous invasions from the east and south almost razed the city to the ground on several occasions. The predominance of wooden buildings made the city vulnerable to fires. One of the most dangerous, in which the new cathedral was severely damaged, took place in 1768, when, following the declaration of the Bar Confederation, the Moscow army occupied the city, burning it to the ground. Very quickly, however, the cathedral was rebuilt.

The Second Partition of Poland in 1793 separated Zhytomyr from Poland forever. The Kyiv diocese was then headed by Bishop Kacper Cieciszowski (1784-1797). The history of the Kyiv diocese closes with the date of the Third Partition. The last part of the Kyiv diocese, the Zhytomyr and Ovruki districts, were merged with the Luck diocese to form the Diocese of Luck and Zhytomyr. The remainder of the former Kyiv diocese was placed under the administration of the Archbishop of Mogilev.

19th century
The first bishop of Luck and Zhytomyr was the aforementioned Kacper Tzinisovsky ( in 1798-1831), who, admittedly, moved to Lutsk, but it was during his reign, in 1801, that the cathedral in Zhytomyr was rebuilt and consecrated on 30 August 1805

. Around the middle of the 19th century, a bishop's palace was built near the cathedral, and Cieciszowski's successor, Bishop Michał Piwnicki (in 1831-1845), moved the consistory and seminary to Zhytomyr, which was housed in the buildings of the Bernardine monastery that had been cancelled in 1842. Today, the former bishop's palace houses the Zhytomyr Landmark Museum, with a collection of works of art mostly from the former estates of the surrounding nobility.

Soviet power in the Zhytomyr region
In 1917, Bishop Ignatius Dub-Dubovsky became head of the Luck and Zhytomyr diocese. The beginning of Soviet rule in Zhytomyrshchyna was a time of great anarchy and terror, looting and requisitions, repressions directed also against the Church. In June 1919, Bishop Dubovsky was expelled from the bishop's palace. Not without difficulty, as Soviet agents try to capture him, he manages to reach Lutsk. He arrives again in Zhytomyr during the Polish army's offensive on Kiev. However, when the front is broken by Budionny's army in June 1920, he will leave the city forever. When, as a result of the Treaty of Riga, the entire diocese of Zhytomyr found itself on the Soviet side, Pope Pius XI finally dissolved its union with the Diocese of Luck in 1925. Soon also all Roman and Greek Catholic dioceses were abolished by the authorities of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

State of the cathedral. Conservation work
Zhytomyr Cathedral survives in the architectural shape finally given to it at the turn of the 20th century. The then minor expansion of the church in the spirit of Neo-Baroque, by the esteemed architect Władysław Dąmbrowski, did not significantly affect the external appearance of the church, which has been preserved to this day. Nor did the 19th-century bishop's palace suffer, despite an attempt to set it on fire in 1919. The cathedral initially stood closed, but was later turned into a museum. However, as a result of Soviet rule and the German occupation, elements of the interior decoration, paintings, sculptures and liturgical objects were seized or destroyed. Fortunately, many memorial plaques dedicated to clerics and laymen have survived, including the epitaph of the composer and pianist Juliusz Zarębski, funded by his family and made by the renowned sculptor Andrzej Pruszyński. Particularly valuable is the already mentioned plaque with a foundation inscription from 1746, commemorating Bishop Ożga.

On 16 January 1991, Pope John Paul II renewed the Roman Catholic dioceses in Ukraine, appointing bishops in Lviv, Kamieniec Podolski and Zhytomyr.

In 2013, work was completed at St Sophia Cathedral to protect the church from damp. At the request of the Polish Community Association, subsidies were provided from the Programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage 'Protection of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad. The project was carried out under the direction of Dr Ryszard Jurkiewicz.