Greek Catholic Church Blesses Belarusians Fighting for Kurapaty

• 5.04.2019, 10:42

The press-center of the apostolic visitator published an official statement.

Apostolic Visitator for Greek-Catholics in Belarus Archimandrite Siarhei (Hayek) blessed the believers who, through a strict fast on Friday, April 5, 2019, through prayer and through careful worship of the Cross of Christ in the coming days, including Sunday April 7, 2019, see their duty in asking forgiveness from God for this blasphemous act of demolition of crosses in Kurapaty.

This statement was made public by the press-center of the apostolic visitator.

"A cross for Christians is a sacred symbol of sufferings and saving death of our Lord Jesus Christ. For all the people of the Christian civilization space, a cross is a symbol of the memory of the dead, especially those who have died from unjust violence.

Kurapaty is the place of memory of victims of people of all nationalities and religions, a place of pain for many Belarusian citizens whose ancestors suffered from the terrible and unjust Stalinist repression in the first half of the twentieth century. The importance of this memorial site was noted by the Belarusian government, which included it in the list of historical and cultural values under the category 1, giving the monument international importance.

In connection with the demolition of crosses installed in Kurapaty by the people, we fully agree with the statement by the Chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus, Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who among other things wrote:

"I call on those responsible for the demolition of crosses urgently to stop these actions and, through the dialogue among the various political and social forces, with the participation of representatives of different religions begin the process of settlement of the situation", says the statement of the Belarusian Greek-Catholics.