Belarus

Belarus: new concordat gives Orthodox enhanced status

By Geraldine Fagan - Forum 18 News Service, 28 June 2003

The 12 June concordat between the Orthodox Church and the state has given the Orthodox extensive influence in state bodies. The concordat means the state now accepts the Orthodox designation of Belarus as its “canonical territory“, and commits the state and the Church to work together in “the common fight against pseudo-religious structures“.

Forum 18 News Service (F18News, Oslo, Norway) is a Christian initiative which is independent of any one church or religious group. Its independence is safeguarded by a board whose members are Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic Christians. F18News is objective, presenting news in a deliberately calm and balanced fashion, and presenting all sides of a situation. The overriding editorial objective of F18News is to as accurately as possible present the truth of a situation, both implicitly and explicitly.

Website: http://www.forum18.org/index.php

Belarus: non-Moscow Orthodox “banned” from registering

By Felix Corley - Forum 18 News Service, 3 April 2003

Not only parishes of the True Orthodox Church, but those of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church have been denied the right to register, while Belarus’ president has vowed to use all state forces to protect the unity of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Exarchate in the country.

Website: http://www.forum18.org/index.php

Belarus: True Orthodox battle on for legal worship

By Felix Corley - Forum 18 News Service, 3 April 2003

Fr Leonid Plyats, priest of the True Orthodox parish of St John of Kronstadt near Minsk, told Forum 18 News Service that his community will fight on to be able to worship openly and legally despite the rejection on 27 March of his parish’s suit to overturn the denial of registration. Denis Yelizarev of the government’s Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs insisted that the Committee’s assessment against the parish had been correct. “They slandered other faiths, that’s why they were banned.”

Website: http://www.forum18.org/index.php

Belarus: minority faiths fear rise of Orthodoxy

By Natalia Mukha - IWPR, 17 January 2003

President Alexander Lukashenko’s speech to mark Orthodox Christmas last week suggested he is considering a wholesale union of church and state. Minority faiths fear they will become the first victims.

Natalia Mukha is a journalism student at the Belarusian State University in Minsk.

This article was originally published by the IWPR (Institute for War Peace Reporting), London, in the first issue of its Belarus Reporting Service (BRS, 17 January 2003). The Institute for War & Peace Reporting strengthens local journalism in areas of conflict. Religioscope has been allowed by the IWPR to repost its articles.
Website: http://www.iwpr.net/

Belarus: uncertain future for True Orthodox parishes

By Felix Corley, 19 October 2002

A True Orthodox parish in the Belarusian capital Minsk has lodged a complaint to the Council of Ministers over the failure by officials to respond to its registration application within the prescribed three-month period. Keston News Service – 11 October 2002 – “We applied for registration back in June,” a member of the St Tikhon Patriarch […]

Belarus: church destruction sparks outrage

By Kathleen Knox, 8 August 2002

A newly built church in western Belarus was to have been consecrated last week. Instead, it and a parish house were bulldozed on orders from local authorities who cited a violation of planning regulations. The church’s supporters claim its destruction amounts to religious persecution. RFE/RL – 7 August 2002 – The first weekend in August was meant […]

This report was originally published by RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty). Posted on Religioscope with permission.

Belarus: independent Orthodox church bulldozed

By Felix Corley, 2 August 2002

2 August 2002 was to have been the day the Autocephalous Orthodox church in the village of Pahranichny close to Belarus’ western border with Poland was consecrated. Instead, at 8 pm on 1 August, the village was surrounded by troops in camouflage uniforms, all roads were blocked off and the church was destroyed, Keston News […]

Belarus: new concordat gives Orthodox enhanced status

Belarus: non-Moscow Orthodox “banned” from registering

Belarus: True Orthodox battle on for legal worship

Belarus: minority faiths fear rise of Orthodoxy

Belarus: uncertain future for True Orthodox parishes

Belarus: church destruction sparks outrage

Belarus: independent Orthodox church bulldozed

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