The Diocese of Cieszyn is the smallest diocese of the six which constitute the Polish Lutheran Church. The Bishop's See is Cieszyn, but the diocese is headquartered in Bielsko-Biaà Âa.
The Diocese of Cieszyn comprises Bielsko County and Cieszyn County in Silesian Voivodship, mostly encompassing the Polish part of the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia (only the parish in Biaà Âa lies without historical Cieszyn Silesia).
Cieszyn Silesia was historically inhabited by a large Lutheran minority since the 16th century. A structure of parishes within Austrian Lutheran Church was established after issuing the Patent of Toleration in 1781. After World War I, the fall of Austria-Hungary, the PolishâÂÂCzechoslovak War, and the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, the parishes that became a part of the Second Polish Republic joined the Polish Lutheran Church, first as a seniority, then in 1936 formally constituted as a diocese.
22 parishes belong to the Diocese of Cieszyn: