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Independence is most sacred thing that people can have, Lukashenka says

Independence is the dearest and most sacred thing that people can have, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said when attending an Easter service at the Holy Spirit church in Minsk on April 4.

“To ensure that representatives of various faiths can calmly determine their fate on their own, we need our own land and state,” the Belarusian leader’s press office quoted him as saying at the Orthodox church. “We should defend this land.”

The Belarusian leader pledged that he would “always” defend the interests of the Belarusian people and the church, as well as the independence of the country.

He said that “churchgoers look a bit different today compared with previous years.” “There is a light of hope in your eyes, which is even not just hope but rather confidence that things will be better tomorrow,” he said. “I am sure that they will be. I will be doing everything to ensure that your life becomes better and easier.”

Mr. Lukashenka thanked Metropolitan Filaret, head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus, for his contribution to the maintenance of “inter-faith peace” in the country.

He said that he had never had differences with Patriarchal Exarch Filaret. “His Grace has always been delicate and careful in both words and actions,” he said. “I wish God could send us only such clergymen.”

He greeted the country`s top Orthodox cleric on his 70th birthday and thanked him “for all kind things done for the Belarusian people.”

Mr. Lukashenka presented Exarch Filaret with a 50-centimeter-tall Easter egg made by Belarusian artist Vladimir Tsakunow, the press office said.// BelaPAN.