{"id":134975,"date":"2025-04-20T13:50:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T10:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/134975\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"lukasenka-speaks-of-christian-values-amid-reprisals","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/134975\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka speaks of Christian values amid reprisals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 20, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Belarus has preserved its commitment to Christian values, including peace and stability, says Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s Easter message to all Belarusian Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The congratulatory message mentioned Metropolitan Veniamin, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus, as well as Archbishop Iosif Stanie\u016dski, who heads the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus, since both the Orthodox and Catholic believers celebrate Easter on the same day this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka also praised Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Russian Orthodox leader, who approves the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine, for \u201ctireless efforts aimed at preserving Christian values, strengthening interreligious and interethnic peace.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite claims of commitment to Christian values and unity, \u0141uka\u0161enka and his officials continue to persecute priests and believers they consider disloyal. Just ahead of Easter, the interior ministry declared the followers of exiled Roman Catholic priest Via\u010das\u0142a\u016d Barok an \u201cextremist group.\u201d Barok fled Belarus in 2021 because of reprisals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state-run propaganda keeps portraying \u0141uka\u0161enka as a guarantor of peace and stability yet the crackdown on the opposition continues unabated since 2020 along with his open support of Russia’s war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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