Minsk, December 22, 2017
Photo: hramlavrenty-svetoch.narod.ru The meeting was chaired by Met. Pavel, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, and attended by diocesan authorities and clergy, abbots and abbesses, and the faculty, staff, and students of diocesan theological institutions, as well as the heads of local brotherhoods and sisterhoods.
Met. Pavel noted with satisfaction that the Russian Council of Bishops, which met in Moscow in late November-early December, had approved two great Belarusian ascetics for Church-wide veneration—St. George (Konissky), the Archbishop of Mogilev (†1795), and Righteous John of Korma (Archpriest John Ivanovich Gashkevich, †1917). The Belarusian Church also celebrated the 300th anniversary of the birth of St. George this year.
Speaking of another greatly-loved Belarusian saint, Met. Pavel also noted that the Council of Bishops of the Minsk Metropolitanate and the Diocesan Council of the Minsk Diocese, on the basis of numerous appeals from the faithful, has advanced the initiative of uncovering the honorable relics of Blessed Valentina of Minsk, whom the Belarusian Church canonized in 2006.
Her tomb in Krysovo village, near Minsk, has been a place of pilgrimage since her repose in 1966.
The participants in the general meeting supported the desire of the faithful to uncover the relics of the holy ascetic, and resolved to begin collecting signatures in support of this action, which would be important for both the churched part of society, as well as for the Belarusian people as a whole.
As previously reported, an initiative to collect funds to help the suffering Antiochian Orthodox Church was also announced at the general meeting.
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The grave of St. Valentina of Minsk For more than fifty years, numerous pilgrims have been traveling to the tomb of St. Valentina of Minsk.
Mother Valentina, in the world Valentina Fyodorovna Sulkovskaya, was born in 1888 in the village of Koski in the Dzerzhinsky district near Minsk, into the family of a priest. The girl was very pious from childhood; she would raise her head to Heaven and speak with God and the saints. The first miracle performed by St. Valentina occurred when she was with her father in Kronstadt. The ship on which they were sailing into the city was on a collision course with another ship. Suddenly, before her appeared St. Panteleimon the Healer, ordering her to pray unceasingly, which St. Valentina did. The ships miraculously missed one another.
Before the First World War, Valentina married Fedor Sulkowski, who also came from a priest family. Even during her life, St. Valentina had the gift to heal people. Despite the fact that she was seriously ill and could not get out of bed, she did not refuse to help anyone. St. Valentina died in 1966, and in 2006 she was glorified by the Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church as St. Valentina of Minsk.
Blessed Valentina is remembered as a very kind, compassionate and pious person. She said that if you come to speak to her at her grave, as to one living, she will help the suffering. Now, from all parts of Belarus, and from countries near and far, numerous pilgrims come to ask for help at the grave of St. Valentina. She especially helps to heal heart diseases and infertility.
