Patriarch Cyril completed a pastoral visit to Belarus
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill completed on Monday a four-day pastoral visit to Belarus. Patriarch Cyril arrived in Moscow from Vitebsk, where he met with more than seven thousand Belarusian students, seminary students and religious schools.
Meetings with young people have become a traditional part of the pastoral visit of the Patriarch of the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. As in other places, he spoke to young people with a half-hour treatment and responded to questions. A day earlier, the patriarch Cyril visited the most important places of Vitebsk, associated with the memory of victims of Nazism, laid wreaths at the monument in the town square of Victory, made prayers in the temples of the city.
Patriarch said that Belarus is located between Russia and the Western world, as part of the Orthodox civilization. “Belarus - is not a bridge or gateway. This is an Orthodox country, where people of other faiths lives too. This country is carring the western part seal of Holy Russia”, - said the Primate of the ROC. According to him, in spite of external criticism, “the country has a public consensus, there is no sectarian tensions.”
Patriarch Cyril began his visit to Belarus with Minsk, where he had meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko, visited several churches, including those which were under construction, the memorial temple of a monument in honor of All Saints. The importance of strengthening the Union State of the patriarch Cyril spoke at the Palace of the Republic met with the public, and the need to develop a higher theological education - a meeting with students of the Institute of Theology at the Belarusian State University.
