Andrzej Gil. Minsk Archimandrite Atanazy Pakosta. Аn example of activities of Uniate community in GDL in the beginning of the XVIIth с.

The article reveals character and activities of Atanazy Pakosta, Minsk Archimandrite, later the bishop of Chelm, who was one of the important figures of Uniate Church in finding its proper place in Polish-Lithuanian State in the beginning of the XVIIth century. Apart from the capital city of Vilnia the uniates developed their vast activities in Minsk as well, wishing to declare their existence at the background of dominant role of Orthodox clergy. The activities of Pakosta, Minsk hegumen from 1615 (then Archimandrite) in the domain of protection of property rights, propaganda of Catholicity and attraction of new followers, enabled him to take steady positions among of the Uniate elite of that time. He worked in close contacts with Metropolitan Joseph Wela-min Rutski and Polack Archbishop Josaphat. After several years of very fruitful activity, in 1619 Pakosta was designed for the office of Bishop of Chelm. He was a representative of the second generation of the Uniate who grew up in the atmosphere of the Grand Duchy and wanted to extend the idea of religious unity to the whole metropolitan of Kyiv.