B.P.Ts.
SYNOD URGES
BELORUSSIANS TO END CONFRONTATION
Interfax-Religiia,
17
August 2020
The
Synod of the
Belorussian Orthodox Church [Belorusskaia Pravoslavnaia
Tserkov—BPTs] addressed
the people of the republic with a call for ending the national
confrontation.
"The
past week
became for us a time of national convulsion. Confusion and
division came to our
common home and brother rose up against brother. News about
street clashes,
arrests, and beatings testifies to the sufferings of an enormous
number of
innocent people involved in the confrontation and forces
children, women, and
elderly parents to shudder," the appeal on the website of the
BPTs says.
"Already
two
deaths are known and numerous wounded in confrontations,
including personnel of
law enforcement agencies doing their duty, and others beaten and
maimed in
temporary holding cells," the Synod notes.
"If we
all
together do not stop the confrontation today, then we will bring
the country to
irreversible destructive consequences," the hierarchy thinks.
"We
categorically
condemn violence, torture, humiliation, baseless arrests, and
extremism,
falsehood, and treachery in all forms and manifestations, and we
urge everybody
for whom our fatherland, children, relatives, and neighbors are
dear to stop
and put an end to confrontation," the Synod addressed fellow
countrymen
with such words.
The
Synod also hopes
that "the leadership of the country, which by law is called to
respect and
preserve its people, will halt violence and listen to the voices
of people aggrieved
and innocently injured during the confrontation and bring to
justice and
condemnation those who manifested atrocity and cruelty."
"We call
everybody to forgive the offense of one another and to unite in
love for God
and neighbor in order to preserve our native Belarus and deliver
it to
subsequent generations peaceful, independent, and prosperous. We
have no other
path," the BPTs declared.
They
added: "We
urge provocateurs and instigators to come to their senses and
halt provocations
directed at destabilizing our country and dividing our people."
(tr. by
PDS, posted 17 August 2020)
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