Russian Orthodox in Belarus as Divided about Lukashenka as are Roman Catholics, ‘Christian Vision’ Expert Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 8 – It is widely believed that the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus consists of clergy and laity who support Alyaksandr Lukashenka while the Roman Catholic Church in that country is full of opponents of the dictators, but that is simply not the case, Natallya Vasilevich, head of the Belarusian Christian Vision organization. 

            In fact, she says, in the two churches today “are an approximately equal number of those who are trying to find a middle path and not attract attention because they understand that for the time being there is no window of opportunity and that the task is to preserve oneself and one’s community” (dekoder.org/ru/article/by-repressii-protiv-verujuschih/).

She says that there are radicals in both groups, radicals whose activities her organization does not always report lest it get those involved in greater difficulty and, along with other experts, suggest that in a freer Belarus in the future, an Orthodox church could emerge and seek autocephaly and pursue a very different line than Moscow wants.

For background on the Orthodox Church in Belarus and the aspirations of some of its members for autocephaly, aspirations that Moscow fears and has done what it could to block, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/07/moscow-patriarchate-losing-ground-in.html and the sources cited therein.