In 1796 the Russian Empire occupied the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and a new era of un-freedom began. Whereas the Catholics had held the privileged position previously, the state now began to propagate Orthodoxy in every possible way. In 1839 the Eastern-rite Catholics, who by this time accounted for more than 50 per cent of the Belarusian population, were forcefully incorporated into the Russian Orthodox Church.
General-Governor Muravyov of Vilnius, nicknamed 'hangman' during his bloody suppression of the January Uprising of 1863, declared: "the Russian Church, the Russian bureaucrat and the Russian school will do what the Russian bayonet cannot." Soon, identical Orthodox churches began to be built throughout the country and Catholic churches were turned over to the Orthodox Church. Today's Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Minsk, for example, is a former Bernardine Cistercian Catholic church. One law stated that "the prevailing Orthodox Church alone has the right to win over followers from other Christian confessions and faiths to accept its
teachings on faith." "Seducing" people from Orthodoxy to another faith, on the other hand, was punishable by up to three years in prison.
After the fall of the Russian Empire, freedom of conscience could only be realised outside the Soviet Union - including western Belarus, which was then part of Poland. Within the Soviet Union, militant atheism led to the destruction of almost every church on the territory of eastern Belarus by 1939. The difference between the two halves of our country, in separate states for just 20 years, can still be felt to this day. The Holocaust devastated the historic Jewish population of our country, and aspects of their religious freedom are limited by the current state authorities.
Despite being formally guaranteed by the Soviet Constitution, there could be no talk of freedom of conscience under communism. Similar guarantees in the 1994 Constitution are ignored today - but the present government is proving as unsuccessful as the Communist Party was in removing freedom of conscience from the hearts of Belarusians.
The current policy of the Belarusian Government, sadly, is to create a kind of mixture of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire. In this the authorities give the appearance but not the reality of granting privileges to the Orthodox Church, while restricting religious freedom for all - including Orthodox Christians. These efforts are being met with opposition, however, particularly from Protestant churches.
The most repressive religious law in Europe continues to be in force in our nation. However, inspired by our long history of freedom of conscience, attempts to get the Law overturned carry on. Belarusians continue to work and hope for the day that our country will reclaim its heritage as a land of religious freedom.
Antoni Bokun contributed this commentary to Forum 18 News Service
www.forum18.org . Printed with permission.
