Ks. Tadeusz KrahelThe political borders established after World War II divided the Archdiocese
of Vilnius. Only a small part of it remained within Polish borders, and archbishop
Romuald Jałbrzykowski of Vilnius, forced by the Soviet authorities to
leave Vilnius, came to oversee it. He settled down in Białystok and organized
the chancery and the archbishop’s tribunal here. It was also in Białystok that
the Seminary and the Theological Faculty of the University of Stefan Batory,
evicted from Vilnius, resumed their operations. This was the beginning of the
church administrative center in Białystok, which came to be known as the
Archdiocese of Białystok. On June 5 1991, during his visit to Białystok, John
Paul II announced the decision to create the Archdiocese of Białystok, which
was consequently raised to the status of the Archbishopric the following year
with the bull Totus Tuus Poloniae Populus – as part of an overall effort to reorganize
Church structures in Poland. It was also at that time that the metropoly
of Białystok was created, comprising the Archdiocese of Białystok, the Diocese
of Drohiczyn and the Diocese of Łomża. The first head of the metropoly was
archbishop Edward Kisiel.Archidiecezjalne Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne w Białymstok
