Jan Purwiński

Bishop Jan Purwinski or Yan Purvinskyi (; ; ; 19 November 1934 – 6 April 2021) was a Latvian-born Ukrainian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Diocesan Bishop of Kyiv–Zhytomyr since 16 January 1991 until 15 June 2011 (until 25 November 1998 as the Diocesan Bishop of Zhytomyr).

Early life Bishop Purwinski was born into a peasant Roman Catholic family of Polish ethnicity in Latgale. After graduation from school he joined the Major Theological Seminary in Riga in 1956, and was ordained as priest on 13 April 1961, for his native Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Riga.

Career From 1961 until 1977, Fr. Purwinski began to serve as an assistant priest in Daugavpils and after, as a parish priest and vice-dean in Krāslava, Baltinava and Indra. In 1977 he was transferred to Ukraine and began to learn the Ukrainian language and work as assistant priest in St. Sophia's Cathedral, Zhytomyr (from 1984 he was a dean of the Cathedral).