Minsk, August 21, 2020
president.gov.by
President Alexander Lukashenko rejects calls for the creation of an autocephalous Belarusian Orthodox Church, as this would seriously damage the inter-religious peace in the nation.
At a meeting with members of the country’s Security Council on August 18, Lukashenko noted that he fears the creation of such a church would plunge the country into an inter-confessional war, reports the press service of the President of Belarus.
Meanwhile, there exists the possibility that a schism is already being prepared in Belarus, with the help of outside interference.
Commenting on a package of reforms developed by the Belarusian opposition, the president especially noted in regards to the call for an autocephalous church: “We have always been proud that we have interconfessional peace, that no one interferes with anyone—neither Orthodox, nor Catholic. Muslims and Jews live contentedly here, and so on.”
At the beginning of this year, seven political organizations, including the Belarusian People’s Front, the Belarusian Green Party, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, the Belarusian Christian Democracy, and others, developed its “Reanimation Package of Reforms for Belarus,” that includes the need to “restore” the autocephalous Belarusian Orthodox Church by 2030 as part of national security reform.
However, calls to create an autocephalous Church that would be separate from the canonical Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church would only disgrace and overturn this peaceful existence, President Lukashenko believes.
“We are now plunging into a war, an inter-religious struggle, both on this ground and on an inter-ethnic one. And it will turn out that what we have always been proud of will be rejected and disgraced,” he explained.
The head of state also added that “the government will prepare materials on all points of the reform program proposed by the opposition, and then we will report to the people the consequences of each step.”
There are also fears from within the Belarusian Orthodox Church that a schism could be on the horizon, with the help of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, as occurred in Ukraine.
In a recent interview with Third Rome, Archimandrite Savva of the St. Nicholas Monastery in Gomel said that he believes Constantinople is now preparing a schism in Belarus.
According to him, the Belarusian nationalism card will be played, resulting in “major and sad consequences” for the canonical Belarusian Exarchate.
Fr. Savva recalled that the Patriarchate of Constantinople has declared the territory of Belarus a zone of influence, “and certain canonical preparations are already underway to establish either autocephaly or a Belarusian exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In any case, we are expecting a Church schism.”
In the summer of 2018, in the lead-up to the final creation of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” the Patriarchate of Constantinople suddenly declared the 1686 act that transferred the Kiev Metropolis to the Russian Orthodox Church null and void, claiming the territory had always been under the jurisdiction of Constantinople. The historical territory of the Kiev Metropolis includes parts of Belarus today.
In Fr. Savva’s estimation, about one-third of the clergy would go into schism in the Western dioceses, “and in some, half would gladly accept this new ‘church.’”
“It’s sad, but it’s true,” he concluded.
As OrthoChristian previously reported, schismatics in Ukraine and Belarus are already using the current politician unrest there to agitate for a schism in the Church.
