Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s External Church Relations Department, predicts that there could be an “inspired church schism” in Belarus, similar to the one ROC believes happened in Ukraine.
That’s according to credo.press.
At the same time, Alfeev is convinced that the idea of autocephaly of the Belarusian Exarchate from the ROC finds no support with the church people – the hierarchy and the clergy.
“But, of course, the forces that are interested in rocking the political situation, seeing what’s happened in Ukraine and realizing that the church factor can play an important role to this end, will be interested in promoting the idea of Belarusian autocephaly,” Hilarion said on the air of the “Church and World” panel show on Russia 24 TV.
Earlier, during a meeting with the clergy of the BOC MP in Zhirovichi Monastery, Alexander Lukashenko claimed the “opponents of the Belarusian state” (or rather say his regime – ed.) were seeking to declare the autocephaly of the Belarusian Church. He also said that he had instructed the speaker of the upper house of the Belarusian parliament, Natalia Kochanova, to establish a dialogue between the country’s leadership and the patriarchal exarch of all Belarus, Metropolitan Veniamin (Tupeko) of Minsk and Zaslavl of the BOC MP “to monitor the issue.”
