Abstract
The religious divide in Belarus between the Catholic and Orthodox churches was an important issue for many Belarusian national activists at the beginning of the 20th century. One of them was a Roman Catholic priest and writer Kazimir Svoyak (Konstantin Stepovich) who paid close attention to this topic in his writings. This article presents the concept of church union in Belarus by K. Svoyak as a part of Belarusian national idea. In his vision there is one Christian faith with one creed under the authority of the Pope of Rome but with different rituals and traditions: The Western (Roman) Christian Tradition and The Eastern (Greek) Christian Tradition. The author tries to prove that the historical mission of Belarusians is to bring Catholics and Orthodox back to unity, which will contribute to restoring national independence and bringing peaceful coexistence with the neighbouring countries. Similarities of the Belarusian unionism to the nineteenth-century ideas of messianism provide a foundation for further comparative research.
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