June 7, Pozirk. Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has expressed gratitude to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople for opening a Belarusian Orthodox parish in Vilnius.
The letter of gratitude was handed to the patriarch by Dzianis Kučynski, the Belarusian opposition leader’s diplomatic aide, during a mass in Vilnius.
Kučynski also presented the patriarch with a Słuck belt, one of the most famous national symbols of Belarus.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople founded a Belarusian parish in Vilnius in April 2023.
Orthodox Christian Priest Hieorhy Roj, one of its founders, said that Belarusian Orthodoxy had a future outside Moscow’s church and the “Russian world” and expressed hope that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople would support priests who stand for the Belarusian Orthodox Church “outside the Russian context.”
Belarus has opened criminal cases against Roj and his associate priest Alaksandar Kuchta.
