wfn.org | WCC FEATURE Belarus: a society rediscovers its soul

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

World Council of Churches - Feature
For immediate release: 21 July 2004

IN BELARUS, A SOCIETY IS QUIETLY REDISCOVERING ITS SOUL

     By Alexander Belopopsky (*)
     Free high resolution photo available - see below.

The corridor of the new Orthodox church charity centre on the outskirts of 
Minsk is lined with dozens of portraits of bearded young men with fine 
features and searching eyes. The portraits have two things in common: all 
were priests, and a notice indicates that all died in the 1930s. A closer 
look reveals that these men were shot during the Stalinist terror that 
sought to annihilate all forms of religious life in the Soviet Union. They 
are some of the uncounted thousands of Christians of all churches who 
suffered persecution, and whose names and fates have only recently become 
known. In Belarus, as elsewhere in former communist Eastern Europe, 
churches are struggling to come to terms with their past and, in the 
process, are helping society to rediscover its soul.

For much of its recent history, the people of Belarus were denied their own 
history, and the very concept of religion was outlawed. During the Soviet 
period, attacks on organized religion culminated in the unprecedented 
martyrdom of the 1930s. Following the ravages of the Second World War, 
during which Belarus was one of the main battlegrounds and millions 
perished, the churches were again confronted with repression as Belarus was 
designated to be the first atheist republic by the Soviet leadership. 
Dozens of churches were dynamited and clergy interned. By the 1980s, the 
capital Minsk had only one functioning church for a population of over two 
million people.

A land-locked country of ten million inhabitants, Belarus has always been a 
zone of cultural and political encounter and confrontation. It is located 
on one of the religious "fault-lines" of Europe, historically pulled 
between Catholic Poland and Orthodox Russia. Small Protestant communities 
have been present in the region since Tsarist times, as has as an ethnic 
Tatar Islamic community. The substantial Jewish community, whose art and 
culture have so marked the history of the region, all but disappeared 
during the Holocaust. Over the centuries, the main Christian churches 
alternated between periods of co-existence and mutual domination, with 
church buildings forcibly changing ownership and believers obliged to 
change allegiance. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Belarus was the cradle 
of "uniatism": Orthodox Christians were forcibly "united" to Rome and an 
eastern-rite "Greek Catholicism" was created. Under the Soviets, the 
"uniates" were driven underground, only to re-emerge in the 1990s. Today, 
the largest church is Orthodox, while Catholics of both rites form a 
significant minority.

Over a decade after independence, Belarus is still facing seemingly 
insurmountable challenges. The upheavals of transition have left many in 
extreme poverty, and in the countryside, people have returned to 
subsistence farming. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in neighbouring Ukraine 
eighteen years ago impacted this country more than any other. In some 
places, children continue to be born with birth defects, and swathes of 
agricultural land will remain contaminated for decades.

Politically, transition has proved difficult. Belarus is one of the only 
former Soviet republics where the communist red stars and statues of Lenin 
remain untouched. According to the Council of Europe, there are serious 
concerns about human rights and political freedoms, and the country remains 
isolated on the international scene. Belarus has one of the highest rates 
of imprisonment in the world, and is the only country in Europe which still 
carries out executions. While churches benefit from freedoms unknown in the 
Soviet era, close scrutiny of religious activity continues, and all 
churches tread a careful line between loyalty and renewal.

But signs of hope abound. The changes which followed the disintegration of 
the Soviet Union liberated church life, and the revival has been 
ecumenical.. People have turned to the churches as the only link with their 
own past, and flocked to be baptized. Confiscated churches and monasteries 
have been re-opened, and "believers" have formed associations that set 
about rebuilding places of worship and healing memories.

Fr George, a priest in Minsk's restored Saints Peter and Paul church, 
recollects how, in the early 1990s, a group of Belarusian writers, artists 
and theologians requested the return of the church building from the 
government. Despite resistance from the authorities, their efforts met with 
success. For the members of the "brotherhood" (the traditional name for a 
Christian association), the church offered a radically different 
perspective on life, and a new value system. "It was our duty to restore 
this building, not only for its architectural value, but because this was 
an act of spiritual and cultural healing," he explains. He proudly shows 
how the restoration work has uncovered centuries-old frescoes hidden 
beneath whitewash and accumulated dirt from the years the church served as 
an archive.

Elena works with the Belarus Round Table, a World Council of Churches (WCC) 
programme involving Orthodox and Protestant churches in charitable and 
humanitarian work. "We are emerging from a difficult context, but we need 
to work together for the good of church and society," she says. The 
programme allows churches to link resources and reach out to the most 
vulnerable in society - prisoners, the elderly, the victims of Chernobyl.

Other spaces of ecumenical collaboration are also preparing the future. In 
the independent theological faculty of Minsk's European Humanities 
University, a professor admits that creative approaches are needed in a 
complex post-communist society. "The church needs to experiment with new 
forms of service and witness. Christians cannot return to the past, but we 
can act as 'salt' in society, we can be present in all parts of social 
life, to help our country to be restored, to recover," he suggests 
hopefully. In the faculty, researchers are working on new forms of cultural 
and religious dialogue appropriate for a post-communist society.

A new hamburger restaurant in central Minsk encourages an illusion of 
western affluence. Nearby, troops displaying communist insignia rehearse 
for a military parade to mark the "liberation" of Belarus by the Red Army 
sixty years ago. In the distance, the sun glints on the domes of the 
newly-restored Orthodox Cathedral, in contrast to the neglected 
communist-era buildings. Belarus is standing with uncertainty at a 
crossroads. But quietly, society is rediscovering its own history and soul, 
and in doing so, is glimpsing the way to the future.

Alexander Belopopsky is the coordinator of the WCC's Public Information 
Team. A lay member of the Orthodox Church (Ecumenical Patriarchate), he was 
previously responsible for the WCC's Europe Desk. He has written and edited 
several articles and publications, mainly related to the Orthodox churches, 
Eastern Europe and diakonia. Belopopsky wrote this feature after attending 
a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Special Commission on Orthodox 
Participation in the WCC that took place in Minsk, Belarus, from 16-19 June 
2004.

For a free high resolution photo to accompany the feature:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/200407belaruspix.html

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC 
policy.  This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given 
to the author.

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches is the world's most inclusive ecumenical 
organization, whose purpose is to promote Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service to the world.  A fellowship of churches inaugurated in 1948, 
today the WCC brings together over 340 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and 
other churches in over 100 countries, representing more than 550 million 
Christians.  Although not a member church, the Roman Catholic Church works 
cooperatively with the WCC.  The WCC's highest governing body is the 
assembly, which will meet in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 14-23 February 2006, 
under the theme "God, in your grace, transform the world".  The WCC general 
secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya.
Headquarters: 150 Route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
http://www.wcc-coe.org - http://www.wcc-assembly.info