Christianity In Belarus: A Country's Religious Identity

Belarus is a predominantly Christian country, with a strong Eastern Orthodox majority and a significant Roman Catholic minority. There are also smaller numbers of Jews, Muslims, Greek Catholics, Old Believers, Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Apostolic Christians, Presbyterians, Armenian Apostolics, Latin Catholics, members of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, Baha'is, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Buddhists.

The country has a long history of religious diversity, with an Orthodox-Catholic contest over which faith would play a dominant role in Belarusian lands. This contest ultimately promoted the national causes of Russia and Poland, respectively, rather than offering a niche for Belarus as a separate entity. As a result, Belarus has long been a cultural borderland, with frequent changes in the religious affiliation of its population.

The current religious landscape of Belarus is characterised by a moderately religious population, with a growing majority of Orthodox Christians and Catholics firmly in favour of Belarusian statehood.

The country's religious demographics

Belarus is a country with a diverse range of religious beliefs, with 25 religious confessions and over 3,400 religious communities. The country's religious demographics are varied, with a mix of different faiths and denominations.

The principal religion of Belarus is Orthodox Christianity, with the Belarusian Orthodox Church uniting over three-quarters of all believers in the country. There are over 1,000 Orthodox churches in Belarus, and the number is growing. The Orthodox Church has strong historical roots in the country, dating back to the 10th century when the first church was built in Polotsk.

Roman Catholics are the second-largest religious group in Belarus, with approximately 499 churches and communities. They make up around 9-14.5% of the population and are particularly active in the northwest of the country, especially in Grodno Oblast.

The third-largest religious group in Belarus is the Protestant community, accounting for up to 4% of the population. The dominant varieties of Protestantism in the country are Baptist and Pentecostal.

Other religious groups in Belarus include Jews, Muslims, Greek Catholics, Old Believers, Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Apostolic Christians, Presbyterians, Armenian Apostolics, Latin Catholics, members of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, Baha'is, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Buddhists.

While the constitution of Belarus provides for freedom of religion, the government has been known to restrict this right in practice. There have been reports of government surveillance of minority and unregistered religious groups, as well as difficulties for these groups to obtain registration. The government has also been accused of harassing and fining members of certain religious groups.

Despite these challenges, Belarus is a country where people of different faiths generally coexist peacefully, and there is a continued effort to protect the various religious groups and guard against the influence of religious sects.

The history of Christianity in Belarus

In the 16th century, a crisis began in Christianity: the Protestant Reformation began in Catholicism, and a period of heresy started in an Orthodox area. From the mid-16th century, Protestant ideas began spreading in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first Protestant Church in Belarus was created in Brest by Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł. However, Protestantism did not survive due to the Counter-Reformation in Poland.

In the 17th century, a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church led to the emergence of Old Believers (or Old Ritualists) in Belarus. They did not accept the reforms and innovations introduced by the Orthodox Patriarch Nikon and distanced themselves from the church. Their main concern was to preserve the faith of their ancestors. The small town of Vietka, in the southeast of Belarus, became their centre, and they retained their cultural traditions despite living in different ethnic and cultural surroundings.

In the 18th century, the United (Roman Catholic) Church was formed, merging the Roman Catholic Church with the Orthodox bishops of Poland-Lithuania, who were under the control of the Constantinople Patriarchate. The aim was to safeguard Orthodoxy against the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate. This church played an important role in the history of the country and, at the height of its expansion in the 17th and 18th centuries, it covered all of Belarus and parts of Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine.

In the 20th century, the Soviet era brought state atheism, and a proportion of Belarusians, especially in the east of the country, became non-religious. However, the revival of religion in post-communist times brought about a revival of the historical conflict between Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Today, Eastern Orthodoxy is the largest denomination in Belarus, with 73% of the population belonging to the Belarusian Orthodox Church. There are over 1000 Orthodox churches in the country, and the religion continues to play an important role in the lives of Belarusians.

The Belarusian Orthodox Church

The BOC was founded in 1989, under the auspices of the Moscow Patriarchate, and has been led by Metropolitan Paul since 2013. There are 10 dioceses in the exarchate of the BOC, and a total of 1,159 Orthodox churches in Belarus, with over 180 more currently under construction. The BOC also has five seminaries under its authority.

The BOC strongly opposes the minor and largely emigration-based Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BAOC), which separated from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1922 in an attempt to revive a national church in Belarus. The BAOC is based in Brooklyn, New York City, and has ten parishes worldwide, including one in Belarus.

In 2020, Bishop Veniamin (Vital Tupieka) became the Patriarchal Exarch of the BOC. The BOC has been criticized for failing to condemn violence in Belarus following the 2020-2021 protests and for interfering in the affairs of other Christian churches.

The treatment of minority religious groups

The Belarusian constitution grants the freedom to profess and practice any religious belief but prohibits religious activities directed against the sovereignty of the state, its constitutional system, and "civic harmony". However, the government restricts this right in practice. While the constitution stipulates that all faiths are equal before the law, a concordat grants the Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC) rights and privileges not granted to other religious groups, and the law recognises the "determining role of the BOC". The BOC is an exarchate (affiliate) of the Russian Orthodox Church and is the only officially recognised Orthodox denomination. The law also recognises the historical importance of the "traditional faiths" of Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, and evangelical Lutheranism.

The law prohibits all religious activity by unregistered groups and requires all registered religious groups to obtain permits to proselytise or hold events outside of their premises, as well as prior approval from the authorities to import and distribute religious literature. The registration process is complex and difficult to fulfil, and authorities have broad discretion in evaluating registration requests. This has restricted the activities of minority religious groups, suppressed freedom of religion, and enabled administrative penalties against individuals for their religious beliefs.

Authorities have used laws regulating "mass events" to target members of the clergy and religious groups engaged in the pro-democracy movement that emerged following the 2020 fraudulent presidential election, as well as those protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Authorities have detained numerous religious leaders in connection with these protests, including a religious education teacher at the Roman Catholic cathedral in Minsk. The teacher remained in pretrial detention at the end of 2023 on criminal charges of inciting religious and social hatred. The regime has also detained religious leaders for posting materials deemed extremist on social media, such as democratic opposition symbols, and for leading prayers in support of volunteer fighters defending Ukraine.

Human rights organisations have reported that authorities have restricted clergy access to prisons and denied pastoral visits to some political prisoners. Authorities have also continued surveillance of registered and unregistered religious groups, including through monitoring of social media.

In June 2023, Minsk city authorities bulldozed a building formerly owned by the evangelical Christian New Life Church following a long-standing dispute with tax authorities. In October, a Minsk court shut down the church and revoked its registration after government accusations that information on the church's social media accounts regarding the political and social situation in the country was extremist. The Supreme Court upheld this decision in December.

In December 2023, the Plenipotentiary Representative for Religious and Nationality Affairs, Alyaksandr Rumak, and the head of the Ideology Department of the Minsk city executive committee, Volha Chamadanava, warned the BOC Diocese of Minsk clergy against engaging in political activity, demonstrating opposition or extremist symbols in churches, and praying for the victory of Ukraine, threatening them with criminal prosecution.

In the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict, there were numerous antisemitic comments circulating on social media. Following the arrival of an evacuation flight from Israel in November, hundreds of commentators urged the government against welcoming the evacuees and questioned the loyalty and patriotism of those evacuated. Other social media commentary included derogatory references to the Jewish identity of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Minority religious groups in Belarus include Jews (approximately 30,000), Muslims (approximately 20,000), Greek Catholics, Old Believers, members of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and other Orthodox Christian groups, Lutherans (approximately 1,500), Jehovah's Witnesses, Apostolic Christians, Presbyterians and members of other Protestant groups, Armenian Apostolics, Latin Catholics, members of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, Baha'is, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Buddhists.

The role of religion in the 2020 protests

Belarus is a predominantly Christian country, with a strong Eastern Orthodox majority and a significant Roman Catholic minority. The country also has a notable presence of Protestant groups, with Baptists and Pentecostals being the dominant varieties of Protestantism.

The 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which was widely criticized as fraudulent, triggered a wave of mass protests across the country. The movement brought together people from various backgrounds, including religious groups, who played a significant role in the demonstrations. Some religious leaders and clergy openly criticized the government's harsh response to the protests and expressed solidarity with the demonstrators.

The Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC), which is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, initially congratulated President Lukashenko on his election victory. However, amid a wave of public outrage, the head of the BOC, Metropolitan Pavel, later apologized for his premature congratulations. Subsequently, Pavel was replaced as the head of the BOC, and the new leader, Veniamin, is an ethnic Belarusian, unlike his predecessors, who were ethnic Russians.

The Roman Catholic Church in Belarus also played an active and consistent role in opposing the government's repression during the 2020 protests. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusevicz, the head of the Catholic Church in Belarus, called for negotiations and peaceful resolution to the crisis. Catholic priests in some cities even joined the protesters on the streets. Kondrusevicz himself was denied re-entry into Belarus after spending several days in Poland and was only allowed to return following interventions by the Pope and high-level diplomatic negotiations.

Protestant groups, including Baptists and Pentecostals, also participated in the protests. Zmitser Dashkevich, a dedicated Baptist and one of the most defiant opposition activists, installed massive wooden crosses in the Kuropaty forest, a site of mass executions by Stalinist secret police in the late 1930s. These crosses were later removed by the authorities, sparking criticism from both Catholic and Orthodox leaders.

Overall, the 2020 protests in Belarus saw an unusual level of unity and cooperation among the country's religious groups, with Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant leaders and believers joining forces to oppose the government's harsh response to the demonstrations and call for peaceful resolution. This inter-religious solidarity was particularly notable given the historically tense relations between the Orthodox and Catholic churches in the country, which often aligned with Russian and Polish national causes, respectively.

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