Sviatoslav Login, First Hierarch of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church,
Archbishop of Navahrudak and North America
Orthodox Archbishop excommunicated Lukashenka
Anathematized Lukashenko from the Church
Abstract
The head of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Login, today, during a service in the Cathedral of St. Cyril of Turau in Toronto, imposed an anathema on Alexander Lukashenko and excommunicated him from the Church.
During the service in the cathedral in the presence of the faithful, Archbishop Sviatoslav Login read “Archpastoral message to declare anathema to former President Alexander Lukashenko – dictator, murderer, and torturer of the pious Belarusian people.”
The text of the excommunication is called “ANATHEMA of former President Alexander Lukashenko, who commits lawlessness, persecutes and kills Orthodox and other peaceful Christians for the truth in Belarus”.
At the beginning of the excommunication, it is stated that:
“The pious Belarusian people are now in a difficult time, when on the orders of the imposter, former President Lukashenko, obsessed with the devil, our children are killed and mocked by our brothers and sisters. This executioner and his allies commit bloody massacres of civilians in the streets and prisons in the capital, Minsk, and in various cities of long-suffering Belarus, glorifying and continuing the God-fearing policy of the Bolsheviks, openly violating God’s Commandments, destroying memorials …
Next, Archbishop Login states:
The Church is a spiritual and non-political institution, teaching the flock to fight for the truth. It cannot simply observe the genocide of Belarusians, but must, according to the Holy Teachings of Christ, be the conscience of its people, forcing us to proclaim the following:
By the power given to us by God, we separate from the Holy Orthodox Church and declare anathema to the former President Alexander Lukashenko, who, although he bears a Christian name and belongs to the Orthodox Church only by birth, forbids him to enter the Mysteries of Christ, commemorate him in the Orthodox his full repentance before the Church and the Belarusian people. We call on those who still serve his satanic power not to obey criminal orders because otherwise, the curse of your descendants in earthly life and hell in heavenly life await you … ”
The appeal also says that the archbishop and priests of the BAOC pray “for the health of the wounded and prisoners and for the peace of the killed peaceful protesters–defenders of Belarus, whose sufferings and sacrifices are not in vain. Our Motherland “.
In an interview with Radio Svoboda, Archbishop Sviatoslav Login stressed that in the folk tradition, excommunication from the church has long been equated with a curse.
Sources:
https://charter97.org/en/news/2020/11/23/401581/
https://en.newizv.ru/news/2020-11-23/autocephalous-orthodox-archbishop-excommunicated-lukashenko-381577
https://www.rferl.org/a/minor-belarusian-emigrant-church-declares-lukashenka-anathema-/30963469.html
https://spzh.news/en/news/76036-v-belorusskoj-pravoslavnoj-cerkvi-prokommentirovali-anafemu-lukashenko
Reviewed Oct. 2023
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