finds itself in Poland, while almost the entire territory of the diocese lies within the Soviet Republic of Ukraine.
The first notice of the eastern bishopric at P. dates to 1218, when the metropolitan of Kiev sent to this city Bishop Anthony (Dobrinka Jadrenković). The diocese of Sambor was united with P. in 1422, and since Sanok was the residence of the bishops of P. from 1668 to 1675, that name was also included in their title.
Together with the entire metropolis of Kiev, the bishopric of P. fell into schism. Only many years after the Union of Brest-Litovsk (1595) did the Bishop of P., Innocent Vinickyi, adhere to the union, first privately in 1681 and then publicly in 1692. From that time onward, an uninterrupted series of Catholic bishops has existed, until the recent destruction of the diocese following the Second World War.
In 1807, when the diocese of Lviv was elevated to a metropolitan see, P. became its suffragan. In 1934, nine deaneries were detached from P. to form a new apostolic administration of Lemkivščina. After the Second World War, the border between Poland and Russia divided the diocese in two. On the Polish side, the Eastern Catholics, being Ukrainian, were "repatriated" and deported to Russia. On 25 June 1946, Bishop Josaphat Kocylovskyj was also deported; he died en route to the East in Kiev. Thus, in today’s Poland, Eastern Catholics scarcely exist any longer, and the bishopric of P. is practically destroyed.
Statistics (prior to destruction): Eastern Catholics 1,159,380; churches 1,268; parishes 640; diocesan priests 659. A notable bishop was Julian Peleš, theologian and writer, who died in 1896. Important churches at P. include the cathedral of St John the Baptist (18th century); at Sambor, the Greek church (18th century).