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Head of Russian Orthodox Church visits Belarus

 

Patriarch Kirill (Cyril I) of the Russian Orthodox Church visited Minsk on October 14.

Patriarch Kirill arrived in Belarus hours behind schedule after his flight was delayed due to fog. As a result, he missed a service at the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin in Minsk, which was built at the place of the miraculous appearance of the Icon of the Mother of God.

Speaking during the unveiling of a monument to his late predecessor, Patriarch Alexy II, on the eastern outskirts of the Belarusian capital, the top Russian Orthodox cleric expressed hope that Belarus, Russia and Ukraine would become a single state in the future.

He bemoaned the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. “The centrifugal forces were so much strong that they could destroy not only the unity of the peoples but also the unity of the church. However, both our peoples and our churches preserved unity and Alexy II played a big role in that,” Patriarch Kirill said.

The monument is a sign of the Belarusian people’s gratitude to Alexy II for the restoration of the Orthodox Church, the construction of churches and church schools, something that was impossible “in the previous decades,” he stressed.

The cleric was expected to meet with Alyaksandr Lukashenka before heading back to Moscow on Sunday. // BelaPAN