Meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia

People in Belarus try to follow the commandments of the Lord, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on 6 June.

“I appreciate that you have found time to visit Belarus, which is one of many places in the vast domain of the Russian Orthodox Church. I believe that Belarus is truly in your heart. I am sure that you give credit to our country for maintaining peace and quiet. Although, as you see, now and before, even within our memory, not everything has been calm around Belarus. Someone is always up to something. But we in Belarus try to observe the commandments of the Lord. Therefore, we manage to bring to fruition these [undertakings and aspirations] and live more or less calmly,” the head of state said.

“You have succeeded in it,” remarked Patriarch Kirill.

“I won't say that we are very rich. Everyone earns the best they can with the help of the Lord. If you work, the Lord helps you, we remember this commandment too,” added Aleksandr Lukashenko.

“That's right,” agreed the Patriarch. 

The head of state assured that this is how Belarusians try to live their lives: “You can be absolutely calm about Belarus.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that he had recently come up with an initiative to create centers of various faiths in Belarus. “We have Orthodoxy, Catholicism. These are our main faiths. Of course, Orthodox believers dominate the religious landscape [in terms of numbers]. There are also Catholics. In the Soviet Union, we had the second largest Catholic population after Lithuania,” the President said. 

As for the Eastern Orthodox Church, such a religious center has already been created in Zhirovichi. “We have done a lot there. I was there and we decided with Metropolitan Veniamin that we would set up an Orthodox pilgrimage center there. A lot has already been done on this front,” the head of state noted.

“It is a gem,” the Metropolitan confirmed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that not only the Zhirovichi monastery, but also the entire community saw remarkable transformations: “The community, too. Not just the monastery, the church, but all the lands around it. We gave them to the Metropolitan to cultivate with the people of the monastery.” 

Patriarch Kirill remarked that the Lord also placed Adam in the Garden of Eden “to cultivate and keep it”.

Returning to the topic of religious centers, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that representatives of other faiths will also get such a center: “We have such centers, but they need to be put in order. We will do it in a way that will make everyone happy – everyone is free to choose the path to their temple on their own. Therefore, we are implementing these initiatives. I do not see any hard feelings from Muslims, Catholics, Jews. I do not see any problems. They took it well.”

“That's how it should be. These are traditional religions and, in fact, they have never caused any trouble, unlike various sects that are aimed at dividing nations. The philosophy and the purpose of a sect are to divide. This is dangerous for the religious life of society and for the state. Traditional religions do not have such goals,” the patriarch said.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia awarded Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko with the Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow 1st Class.

The head of state was honored for his attention to the development of church-state relations.

The Order was established in 1988 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. The decree on conferring this award on the Belarusian President was signed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on 30 August 2024.

Patriarch Kirill thanked the Belarusian head of state for the situation in Belarus: “Huge changes in the life of the country, and not only economic ones, not only in the welfare of the people, but also in the general atmosphere,” he said. When was a metropolitan in Smolensk, I often traveled through Belarus, so I can see the huge changes that has taken place during that time. This all has been achieved under your leadership. Many things were the result of your creative imagination of what the country and the people should be. All this is implemented for the benefit of Belarus.”