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Monument to late Patriarch Alexy II unveiled in Vitsyebsk

A monument to Patriarch Alexy II (1929-2008), who headed the Russian Orthodox Church from 1990 until his death on December 5, 2008, was unveiled in Vitsyebsk on April 7.

The five-meter high monument consisting of a bronze statue and a granite pedestal was put up in the square in front of the Holy Assumption Cathedral near the six-pointed metal Cross of Euphrosyne of Polatsk, which was erected there in 1988 on the occasion of the millenary of the Christianization of Russia.

Hundreds of Vitsyebsk residents and about 100 guests from other parts of Belarus and from Russia participated in the unveiling ceremony, including, among others, Patriarchal Exarch Filaret, the highest-ranking cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus; Istra Archbishop Arseny; Smolensk and Vyazma Isodor; Russian politician Aleksandr Baburin; and Anastasiya Ositis, a Russian businesswoman who sponsored the project.

In his speech, Patriarchal Exarch Filaret described Patriarch Alexy II as a man of deep faith and unfailing love and a symbol of the revival of the "Church of Christ in our Fatherland."

Alyaksandr Kosinets, head of the Vitsyebsk Regional Executive Committee, noted that the monument had been erected at the request of believers, on the initiative of the public and the Orthodox Church in Belarus and with the support of Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Mr. Kosinets expressed his gratitude to Ms. Ositis, who was born near Haradok, Vitsyebsk region, for providing financial support for the project, and heaped praise on Patriarch Alexy II. "The most holy patriarch was called by God to accomplish his historic mission at a very difficult point in history," he said. "The orchestrated breakup of the Soviet Union was under way then, and it was necessary to ensure the unity of the Orthodox Church in the name of the unity of the Slavic nations."

This will be the second monument to a church leader in Vitsyebsk. The first one, which commemorates John Paul II, was put up in 2008 in the courtyard of one of the city's Catholic churches on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla's election to the papacy.

A monument to Patriarch Alexy II was put up near the All Saints Church in Minsk in 2012.

Vitsyebsk authorities note that the patriarch frequently visited Vitsyebsk. In 1998, he led a time capsule-laying ceremony at the site of the Holy Assumption Cathedral, which had been destroyed by the Soviets in the 1930s.

Many Vitsyebsk residents disapprove of the location of the monument and criticize the authorities for failing to discuss their plans to unveil it with the public. It is widely known in Vitsyebsk that prominent Uniate priest Yazafat Kuntsevich was brutally murdered at the site in 1623 by an Orthodox mob. //BelaPAN