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Belarus: A Christian Call for Justice and Peace in the Midst of Political Crisis
An Era of Crisis as Impulse for Justice and Peace There is a political crisis in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election in 2020. As in any crisis, the issues of justice and peace are, on the one hand, especially vital. On the other hand, within an authoritarian regime resisting democratic transition, action seeking […]
Forum 18. BELARUS: Fined for river baptisms, fined for private garden baptisms
5 August 2022Felix Corley, Forum 18 Without facilities at Gomel’s Living Faith Church, Pastor Dmitry Podlobko held river baptisms in late 2021 without state permission. He was fined two days’ average wage and his Church was warned. So he held baptisms in July 2022 in his garden. Police summoned him and a court fined him […]
Forum 18. BELARUS: «A Christian cannot say that what’s going on in Ukraine is good»
Police warned Orthodox priest Fr Andrei Nozdrin and his church transferred him to a remote parish after he publicly opposed Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine, and Belarus’ role in this. He insisted that «a Christian cannot say that what’s going on in Ukraine is good, and should understand that killing is a sin». He told […]
Natallia Vasilevich. Where is your brother? What have you done?
This is the newsletter of the Permanent Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches. Natallia Vasilevich, May 2022 Almost a decade passed since the previous WCC assembly in Busan. The Orthodox Church, instead of triumph, finds itself in deep crisis. Awaited for centuries, actively prepared for decades, the Holy and Great Council of the […]
BELARUS: First-ever Old Believer Church in Minsk
10 May 2022Olga Glace, Forum 18 After struggling since 1998 for a church, Minsk’s Pomore Old Believers were in March 2022 denied building permission. Minsk District Executive Committee Head Vladimir Yurgevich claimed it was «inexpedient», and that completed building plans were not lodged by an August 2021 deadline. The community insists no such deadline was […]
Forum18. BELARUS: Christian leaders opposing regime violence and war on Ukraine targeted
Felix Corley, Forum 18, and Olga Glace, Forum 18 Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Protestant religious leaders have been targeted for opposing regime violence after the 2020 election fraud, or opposing Belarus’ role in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The homes of several Catholic priests were raided in late March 2022. One was given a 10-day jail term, while […]
Statement of the Christian Vision Group Regarding Political Prisoner Pavel Kuchynski’s Deprivation of Vital Medical Care
Catholic faithful from Maladziečna, Pavel Kuchynski, was detained on 26 January 2022 for publishing critical comments online and placed in custody. On 11 April 2022, he was charged under the following articles of the Criminal Code: 369 (Insulting a representative of authority), 389 (Threat against a judge); 368 (Insulting the President of Belarus); 391 (Insulting […]
Forum 18. BELARUS: Soldiers’ mothers detained for prayers for end to war on Ukraine
9 March 2022Felix Corley, Forum 18 Police in Minsk refused to say why they and OMON riot police were present in and around the city’s main Orthodox cathedral on 3 March when about 100 soldiers’ mothers attended regular evening prayers to pray for peace in neighbouring Ukraine. Officers checked the identity and photographed some of […]
Appeal of the Clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church for Reconciliation and Ending the War
We, priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church, each on his own behalf, appeal to all on whom the end of the fratricidal war in Ukraine depends: we call for reconciliation and an immediate ceasefire. We make this appeal following Sunday of the Last Judgment and shortly before Forgiveness Sunday. The Last Judgment awaits […]
