www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News BYZANTINE CATHOLICS FIGHT LEGAL RESTRICTIONS IN BELARUS

Dear Friends,

Yes, Lukashenko is a repressive fellow - an "Orthodox atheist" as he himself described himself.

In addition, there is the tragedy of the promotion of the Orthodox cult of St Gabriel of Slutsk there - some say with the backing of the government itself - that spreads anti-semitism.

If any Orthodox Christian hear knows anything about it, please inform the rest of us about this veneration.

Is it the Orthodox Church's contention that St Gabriel was in fact ritually killed by Jews and that therefore the Jews are to blame for his death?

The West has expunged the "martyrs" of the blood ritual.

Will Orthodoxy?

Or else what is the Orthodox "take" on this cult of this child-saint today?

Alex

Dear Neil,

Excellent article on your website!

I would only add that the Union of Brest-Litovsk created only one Eastern Catholic Church called "Ruthenian" which, at that time, included BOTH Ukrainians and Belarusyans.

For a period of about four hundreds years, according to one study I've come across, the very term "Belarusyan" referred to Ukrainians as well.

It was one united ecclesiastical province with its Metropolitan in Kyiv.

Alex