Archbishop Artemiy (Kishchenko) spoke of the reasons for his removal from the top post at the Belarus diocese, as well as his attitude to the setup of the Belarusian Autocephalous Church.
“I will not say that we have become a center of dissent, we have never even discussed this. The emphasis is on changing what is there, not inventing what isn’t. In the future, life will show. Of course, every nation has the right to an independent church, otherwise it would be exploited by political forces on one side or another. But now, at the level of the diocese, such an issue doesn’t arise,” the archbishop told Radio Liberty.
Now the Belarusian Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate must correspond to its level, but instead it has become a church of stagnation, persecution, and captivity.
“We are already surpassing Khrushchev’s times, when the commissioner would convey his will on how parishes must live and what to say. So far, the issues of local affiliation and autocephaly have not been discussed. It would be unfair to talk now about likes or dislikes. Let them respond to human rights restrictions. There’s a new wave now: whatever [order] comes from above, everything is sacred,” the hierarch of the Belarusian Church added.
The cleric added, he tried not to offer political assessments and never raised the issue of autocephaly: “We are trying to change the situation from within, using Christianity and the Gospel. We didn’t even talk about any autocephalous church like there is in Ukraine. This is an unreal thing as such – all our temples belong to the Belarusian Exarchate, so no parish would be able to have a church of another jurisdiction. This issue is not even ripe for discussion. This is speculation and false accusations. There is no division in our flock. On the contrary, we call for solidarity and unity.”
