Byelorussian Orthodox Church (of Russian Orthodox Church)

More than 1500 orthodox Christian parishes found themselves under the jurisdiction of the autocefalous Orthodox Church of Poland.

By 1919 the Soviet power was established in the regions of Mogilev, Smolensk, Vitebsk and in the major part of Minsk region, after a series of well-known historic disasters and calamities.

During the period up to 1941, their struggle against religion in general, and against the Orthodox Church in particular, was not ceasing even for a moment, varying only in intensity.

The November 7/20, 1920, Resolution No 362 by Patriarch Tikhon, and by the Holy Synod on granting greater power to Diocesan Archbishops, and more rights in arranging the clerical life within their eparchies, was a prerequisite for establishing the Byelorussian Orthodox Metropolitan See on June 23, 1922. It was headed by Melchisedek, the Bishop of Minsk, elected the Metropolitan of Minsk and Byelorussia.

But the repressions perpetrated by the Soviets made it impossible to establish normal clerical life. After numerous arrests and being in exile, Metropolitan Melchisedek died suddenly when serving the Holy Liturgy in Moscow in late twenties.

Following him, almost all Orthodox priests and bishops of Soviet Byelorussia died in prisons and concentration camps. They were replaced, for some time, by ‘Renovationists’, but they also perished.

Clerical and religious life stopped in this part of Byelorussia ... By the beginning of World War II there remained only two churches in the Eastern territories of Byelorussia, with services arranged only occasionally.

TEAM ll GENERAL ll SEARCH EAST BLOCK ll SEARCH RUSSIA ll HOME ll CHURCH ll SPONSORS ll INVESTMENT PROPOSITION ll BUSINESS&ECONOMICS ll GALLERY ll INDEX

Click Here to Return Back

Webmasters, contact Belarus.net support
Click Here to visit Belarus.net