Lukashenka wants more Belarusian citizens to serve in country’s churches


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Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Metropolitan Philaret (C), Metropolitan Pavel (R)

The country’s religious denominations should follow the example of the Belarusian Orthodox Church and train Belarusians as priests, president Alyaksandr Lukashenka said at the meeting with its Synod on Thursday.

“Belarusians should serve here although foreigners are infinitely devoted to our nation and state. I have been promoting this idea, especially, in relation to Catholics, since the very first days of my presidency. And there has been big progress: many Belarusians have become Catholic priests,” news agency BelTA quotes Lukashenka as saying.

The Belarusian leader also wants the church to be more actively involved in social processes and education of the younger generation.

In December 2013, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church took a decision to dismiss Metropolitan Philaret (Vakhromeev) of Minsk as Metropolitan of Minsk and Patriarchal Exarch of Belarus. Metropolitan Pavel (Ponomarev) of Ryazan, a citizen of Russia, who had never had any connection to Belarus before, was appointed on this position. His saying that Russian people have weapons of mass destruction and atomic bomb, and can ‘open Chernobyl tap’ in their struggle against Western enemies shocked Belarusian media-space.

Read also: ‘Jesus was humbler’: Orthodox Metropolitan on carpet of real flowers in Homiel

belsat.eu, photo president.gov.by

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