Orthodox priest joins sermon in Roman Catholic church in solidarity

In Hrodna, the rector of the Orthodox Holy Protection Cathedral, Archpriest Heorhi Roy, came to serve in the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral. At that time, people were praying there for the speedy return of Catholic Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz to Belarus and a favorable resolution of the current difficult situation in Belarus.

Representatives of different confessions rarely visit each other's churches, especially during services. The propaganda Telegram channels even managed to call this event a “political performance”. They wrote that “priests continue to lose touch with the real world,” despite an explicit instruction from above not to get involved in politics.

Euroradio managed to interview Archpriest Heorhi and find out the reason for his visit to the church.

"The service in the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral was about the fact that Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz cannot enter Belarus, cannot be with his congregation. We see that the representatives of the Catholic community are very worried because of this, pray and consider the decision not to let Metropolitan Kondrusiewicz inn unfair,” says Father Heorhi. "I agree with this, that it is unfair. It should not happen. As a sign of solidarity, we came to the church to say that we support the Catholic community, that we share their concern about this situation and that we hope that such an unfair decision will be canceled soon".

The priest is not afraid to express his position, including the violence that has filled the streets of Belarusian cities.

"Of course, I am very worried about the facts of such unjustified violence, the use of non-lethal weapons against the demonstrators. It pains me to see the lies that can often be found in the media when they try to set off against each other different groups of people, create a conflict. This is all very bad. I believe that justice must be restored. Violation of justice provokes acute social conflicts. I hope that our entire society, all the poles of confrontation will eventually think and will work to ensure that every citizen feels that the laws of justice operate in our society".

The Church, according to Father Heorhi, should unite people and should not close its eyes to what is happening around.

"Now we are all praying together. I am a priest in the Cathedral, we have a very large community that brings together people of very different views, different political positions. We all pray for peace, we pray for our country. I believe the church should not interfere in politics. We cannot compare the political programs of any parties or candidates. But at the same time, as people of the church, we cannot put up with violence, lies, and attempts to divide people. And this is what we as Christians should talk about".

Can believers go to peaceful rallies? And how should caring parishioners behave in such a difficult situation? According to Heorhi Roy, this is a matter of everyone's conscience.

"I believe that now we live in a time when the conscience of every person should tell them what they should do. Because conscience is the voice of God in the soul of a person. You need to listen to your conscience and act accordingly with your conscience. I don't know what political means can be used to achieve peace, what exactly needs to be done here. But I am saying that it should not be this way, and I pray for it".