INDEPENDENT VERSION
Byelorussian
Orthodox Church (of Russian Orthodox Church)
After
Soviet occupation of Western Byelorussia on September 1, 1939
there followed more changes for
the Orthodox Church there.
Vilno was handed over to the Lithuanian
republic, and Moscow appointed Metropolitan Sergiy Voskresenski -with the
title of Metropolitan of Vilno and Lithuania, the Exarch for the Baltic
area.
Metropolitan Sergiy Stragorodski
appointed Metropolitan Nikolai Yaroshevich to head the Volyn eparchy, with
the title of the Exarch for Western Ukraine and Byelorussia.
The newly formed Grodno-Vileika
eparchy was headed by Archbishop Panteleimon Rozhnovski, who, since 1941,
had Venedict Bobkovski as his Suffragan Bishop of Brest. Archimandrite
Veniamin Novitski from Pochayevskaya monastery was appointed as Bishop
for Polessye in Pinsk in early June 1941.
The German Fascist troops, that
occupied Byelosussia, witnessed an almost total annihilation of the Orthodox
Church.
There were no clergymen or monks,
churches were either destroyed or closed. Only one, St Alexander Nevski
church, situated at the old Military graveyard, was functioning in the
capital Minsk, out of nine remaining churches. But the number of believers
was so great, that the occupation authorities did not hinder the rebirth
of clerical life, because they wanted to gain the loyalty of the population.
The authorities agreed to allow
Metropolitan Panteleimon and Bishop Venedict to arrange clerical life in
Byelorussia with the following conditions:
1) The Orthodox Church in Byelorussia
is guided by its holy canons and German authorities do not interfere with
its internal life;
2) The Orthodox Church in Byelorussia
should be named «Byelorussian Autocefalous Orthodox National Church»;
3) sermons, teaching the God’s
Law and church documents should be in Byelorussian;
4) appointment of bishops, rural
deans and priests should not be made without German authorities’ knowledge;
5) The Statute of «the Byelorussian
Autocefalous Orthodox National Church» should be submitted;
6) church service should be in
Church Slavonic.
A special meeting of the clergy,
organised by Metropolitan Panteleimon, approved the following resolution:
1) to accept and to abide by the
conditions formulated in the letter by the General Commissaries of Byelorussia;
2) to move the Metropolitan Seat
from Jirovichi monastery to the capital of Byelorussia - Minsk;
3) to open a theological college;
4) to confer the title «Metropolian
of Minsk and for all Byelorussia» on Metropolitan Panteleimon.
However, Byelorussian political
figures secured his resignation soon -- for his strict pro-Russian and
monastic convictions. They continued interfering with clerical problems,
and soon there was a deadlock. Metropolitan Panteleimon convened the assembly
of bishops in order to solve the most important problems. The assembly
decreed that six new eparchies should be opened: in Vitebsk, Grodno, Minsk,
Mogilev, Novogrudok and Smolensk, and to appoint the corresponding bishops.
The Synod was elected, including
two bishops and the Metropolitan as chairman. Byelorussian political figures
continued their interference with the administrative matters of the church.
Having some support from the occupation
authorities, they initiated German orders on displacement of the bishops
they disliked, and on changing the decisions already adopted. Their conflict
with Metropolitan Panteleimon who was the ruling archbishop, resulted in
his dismissal and exile to Vileika, where he lived under observation.
The Metropolitan was replaced by
Bishop Philophei, but he also was not obsequious enough for the Byelorussian
politicians, e.g. he did not declare autocefaly they required. As a result
of their threats (on behalf of the occupation authorities) and of their
rudeness, the general Church Assembly was summoned on August 29, 1942.
But the German authorities ignored both the opinion of the church, and
the opinions of Byelorussian politicians. They demonstrated their own programme
of attitude towards the Orthodox Church, and towards the people they planned
to annihilate totally, in perspective. It became clear at the Assembly,
that a declaration of autocefaly in strict accordance with the canon law
was impossible, that is why the statute of «the Byelorussian Autocefalous
Orthodox National Church» was considered without a formal declaration
of autocefaly.
There followed a temporary calm,
but half a year later Byelorussian politicians started a new disturbance.
It continued till the time when the Soviet Army forced its way through
the front line between Vitebsk and Orsha.
The result was a hasty evacuation
of Byelorussian Orthodox hyerarchs from Grodno to Germany, together with
the same Byelorussian politicians whose ambitions had put to death many
thousands of Orthodox believers. The priests, that stayed in their parishes,
shared the destinies of their parishioners later on.
All the decisions and labour of
the bishops aimed at creating Byelorussian Orthodox Church ended in nowhere,
and remained in the chronicles only. The few surviving churches were gradually
closed and demolished, especially in the 1960ies. The number of parishes
radically dropped to the total of 369. The theological college, and the
monasteries in Polostk and Grodno were closed.
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