Visit to Holy Dormition Stavropegic Monastery in Zhirovichi

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko visited Holy Dormition Stavropegic Monastery in Zhirovichi on 25 June.

The Holy Assumption Cathedral of the monastery holds one of the most revered Christian shrines of Belarus – the Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God. Last year, ahead of the 550th anniversary of the appearance of the Icon of the Mother of God and the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Holy Dormition Stavropegic Monastery, the complex in Zhirovichi was brought back to its proper status.

At the entrance to the cathedral the head of state was greeted by Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl Veniamian, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus. In the temple, Aleksandr Lukashenko lit a candle at the Icon of the Mother of God and attended a brief prayer service.

Aleksandr Lukashenko and the leadership of the Belarusian Orthodox Church and the head of the monastery discussed the improvement of the monastery and its grounds.

The head of state said that the monastery and Zhirovichi should be turned into a gem of order and beauty. “Zhirovichi is an agro-town. The monastery and the church are part of the agro-town. During the year I want you to submit me a plan to overhaul the agro-town  - from the center to the outskirts, following the suit of Kopys,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “What I saw was not good. We need to spruce up the place, to turn it into a gem. I promise you that we will allocate the money for all the needs. But the money should be spent rationally."

A project to build a new building for clergymen on the grounds of the monastery was discussed during the visit of the president. The project is still in the works.

"An idea is floating among clergymen and beyond about the concentration of all our creative forces (teachers, students, listeners) here," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to Metropolitan Veniamin, the plans to move the Minsk Ecclesiastical Academy to Zhirovichi are indeed being discussed. But its location in Minsk has a number of advantages. "This is an opportunity to interact with secular universities and libraries. It's easier for teachers to get to classes there. But the seminary will be based here,” Metropolitan Veniamin said. "We are now focusing on raising the education to a new level."

The burial place of Metropolitan Filaret is located behind the Holy Cross Church of the monastery. Aleksandr Lukashenko honored the memory of the first head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church in the history of independent Belarus and left a basket of white roses on his grave. These were the favorite flowers of the late metropolitan, and the president would always give him these flowers during his lifetime.

The president had a meeting with the clergy in the monastery. He emphasized the important role Metropolitan Filaret played for the Belarusian society and the state. Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed to the metropolitan’s devoted service to his country and his wise spiritual leadership. “We were on very good terms, we were addressing the same problem. I think that today he looks at us from above and probably approves of what we do,” the Belarusian leader said.

Metropolitan Filaret was in charge of the Belarusian Orthodox Church for over two decades. Under him, all historical dioceses were revived in Belarus, monasteries and convents were re-opened, brotherhoods and sisterhoods resumed their work. Through the efforts of His Eminence, the Minsk Spiritual Seminary was reopened, the Minsk Spiritual Academy, the spiritual school and the school of catechists were established, hundreds of churches were built.

The work of Metropolitan Filaret was widely acknowledged both domestically and internationally, but the Belarusians appreciated him most of all for his big heart.

“Zhirovichi is a shrine of the Orthodox world, for Belarusian and other believers. It has been visited and will always be visited by people from all over the world,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with the clergy at Holy Dormition Stavropegic Monastery in Zhirovichi.

According to the president, the monastery and the agrotown of Zhirovichi will be turned into a true gem within three years.

"We have done a lot together: we have built many churches, revive parishes, open weekend schools, restore Belarusian shrines. A lot has been done here, but we must finish our job to adorn this gem. This is a wonderful place,” the president said. He instructed to announce a tender for the renovation and modernization of the monastery and churches and to launch the project of the tender winner by the end of the year.

The head of state also deemed it necessary to create comfortable conditions for students of the seminary which is located on the territory of the monastery. “We need to think what else we can do for seminarians. Future priests are not only the foundation of the Orthodox church but also an important stone in the foundation of Belarusian statehood. They need decent conditions for life and studies here,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

At the meeting with the priests the president spoke about the attempts to break Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Belarus.

“Unfortunately, we are going through turbulent times. I will not go into details. Let me just remind you that against the background of this pandemic, as it was called, they tried to rock the boat here and, as you can see today, to break us. And not even subjugate. A possibility of disappearing as a state and a nation was looming,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“First, the blitzkrieg that failed, then making overtures to people (flowers and other idolatry). Unfortunately, churches were also part of it. There was an attempt to get almost all Catholic churches involved, and many succumbed to these calls. There was certain hemming and hawing in the Orthodox Church, however the Metropolitan and the Orthodox Church have coped with it by now. It was worth it, you should not lower your guard,” the president said.

After these failed attempts to break the country, external forces turned to a powerful smear campaign and economic strangulation, the head of state said. “The last stage remains, which is intervention,” he said.

“In this global confrontation there are certain things that determine the existence of the Belarusian nation. One of them (we have been observing it recently, and we have discussed this topic with our patriarch) is an attempt to break Eastern Orthodoxy in Belarus,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The opponents of the Belarusian state are following the tried-and-true path, wishing to declare the autocephaly of the Belarusian Orthodox Church. “Letters were sent to Constantinople, to our patriarch (he told me about this), and even here we already see this. I instructed Natalya Ivanovna [Kochanova] to coordinate communication between the state, the country’s leadership and the metropolitan, so that we, God forbid, I will put it in simple terms, we will not miss this moment. We must do everything to preserve our main asset – inter-faith peace in Belarus,” the president stressed.

The Belarusian leader paid special attention to the attempts from the outside to rock the boat in interreligious and interethnic relations. “They target interethnic relations opposing Poles to Belarusians, Belarusians to Russians, etc.,” he remarked.

Representatives of various religious denominations have been living in Belarus for many years. There are representatives of over 100 ethnicities on the territory of the country. And they have always been living in peace and accord, the head of state stressed. “And if (I don’t even believe it) ethnic discord does flare up - I spoke about it in the near-border region of our country [during the visit to Svisloch District] – if ethnic discord does flare up, we will not manage to hold the country,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “This will never happen, I am telling you. But we must be prepared for anything. We cannot let our shrines and our faith be ruined in our peaceful and calm country where major religious denominations coexist peacefully.”

“Together with the Eastern Orthodox Church and other participants of the interreligious dialogue, unfortunately, we have to save our traditional centuries-old traditions. We should not ruin them. We know what the consequences can be,” the head of state said. “In Belarus, where people have been praying for unity and freedom of civil discord since the times of Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk and Saint Kirill of Turov, following the precepts of these saints we must do our best to prevent it.”

The president mentioned a special role of the Belarusian Orthodox Church in the preservation of interreligious peace. “Of, foundation of it is the biggest and the strongest Orthodox church. If the Orthodox church persists, the state will exist; if the church is crumbled, it will be difficult,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“It is good that our Orthodox church shares our concerns and is ready to work for the unity of our nation,” the president added. He invited the priests to discuss what else could be done by all sides to strengthen peace and accord on the Belarusian soil.