PREMISLIA dei RUTENI. - With the united titles of Sanok and Sambor (in Ukrainian Peremysl-Sanok i Sambor; in Polish Przemysl-Sanok-Sambor), a Ruthenian diocese of the Byzantine-Slavonic rite in eastern Poland, i.e., Ruthenia. Today the city of P. with its surroundings is
The first record of the Eastern bishopric in P. dates back to 1218, when the Metropolitan of Kiev sent Bishop Anthony (Dobrinia Jadrenkovič) to this city. The Diocese of Sambor was united with P. in 1422, and since Sanok was the residence of the bishops of P. from 1668 to 1575 [sic: 1668-75], that name was also included in their title.
Along with the entire Metropolis of Kiev, the bishopric of P. also fell into schism. Only many years after the Union of Brest-Litovsk (1595) did the Bishop of P., Innocent Vinnickyi, adhere to the union, first privately in 1681 and then publicly in 1692. From that time onwards, the succession of Catholic bishops has been uninterrupted, until the recent destruction of the diocese after the Second World War.
In 1807, when the Diocese of Lemberg was elevated to a metropolitan see, P. became its suffragan. In 1934, 9 deaneries were detached from P. to form a new apostolic administration of Lemkivščina. After the Second World War, the border between Poland and Russia cut the diocese in two. On the Polish side, the Eastern Catholics, being Ukrainians, were "repatriated" and deported to Russia. On June 25, 1946, Bishop Msgr. Josaphat Kocylovskyj was also deported, and he died in Kiev during the journey to the East. Thus, in today's Poland Eastern Catholics practically no longer exist, and the bishopric of P. is practically destroyed.
Statistics (before the destruction): Eastern Catholics 1,159,380, churches 1,268, parishes 640, diocesan priests 659. An eminent bishop was Julian Peleš, theologian and writer, who died in 1896. Important churches in P. include the cathedral of St. John the Baptist from the 17th century; in Sambor, the Greek church from the 18th century.