One of the most urgent needs of the Uniate Church in the 18th century was the education of candidates for the priesthood. This problem was the subject of discussion at the Zamość Synod, which adopted a list of requirements that should be met by students preparing for ordination. However, the insufficient number of theological seminaries (they were run only by a few Uniate dioceses) meant that good pastoral preparation in the academic environment was beyond the reach of many candidates for priestly ordination. The Archdiocese of Kiev did not have a diocesan seminary. The few seminarians from this vast archdiocese were educated in papal institutions in Poland and abroad, mostly in Rome. In 1743, a private theological seminary was opened in Świerżń under the patronage of the Radziwiłł family, educating priests of the Latin and Uniate rites, primarily for parishes in which the Radziwiłł family, owners of huge estates in the eastern borderlands, served as collectors. In practice, the number of Świerzhny graduates could only cover a small part of the needs of the Kiev archdiocese itself. Moreover, due to poor funding, the seminary was never able to operate on a large scale. In an attempt to address the chronic shortage of clergy in the region, Fr. M. Prymowicz founded a theological seminary in Żytomierz in 1776. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Bishop of Przemyśl, J. Winnicki, took the initiative to open a theological seminary in his diocese. However, for various reasons, neither he nor any of his successors were able to implement it. When in 1783 Bishop M. Ryllo was finally ready to give consent, at the last moment a decree signed in Vienna by Emperor Joseph II prevented the implementation. The document ordered the dissolution of all diocesan seminaries and similar institutions run by religious orders. In their place, a general seminary for the entire Galicia was to be established in Lviv. Although the government project ended the hopes of establishing a diocesan seminary in Przemyśl, it opened the prospect of providing all candidates for the priesthood with thorough philosophical and theological knowledge.