The Synod of Polotsk was a local synod held on February 12, 1839, by the clergy of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the city of Polotsk for reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church. Polotsk was the center of the Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Polotsk-Vitebsk, the metropolitan seat of all Greek Catholics after the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Former Uniate Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk where the Synod was held.
Bishop Joseph (Semashko)
The Ruthenian Uniate Church was a particular church of the Catholic Church in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was created in 1595/1596 by those clergy of the Eastern Orthodox Church who subscribed to the Union of Brest. In the process, they switched their allegiances and jurisdiction from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Holy See.
The archbishop Josaphat Kuntsevych encourages inhabitants at Vitebsk, Vitebsk Voivodeship, to join the union.
Martyrdom of Vitebsk archbishop Josaphat in 1623 by Polish painter Simmler, 1861.