Belarusian Orthodox Church official. History and structure of the Belarusian Orthodox Church
The Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, dedicated to the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate and held on October 9-11, 1989, adopted a resolution on the formation of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate, approving the decision of the Holy Synod on the formation of the Mogilev, Pinsk and Polotsk dioceses.
On October 16, 1989, at the next meeting, members of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, in fulfillment of the definitions of the Council of Bishops, decided: the exarch of Belarus will henceforth have the title Metropolitan of Minsk and Grodno, Patriarchal Exarch of Belarus; His Eminence Philaret, Metropolitan of Minsk and Belarus, is to be appointed Exarch of Belarus.
The Synod also instructed His Eminence Kirill, Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman (currently His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'), to make a report on the exarchates of the Moscow Patriarchate at the upcoming Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on January 30-31, 1990 and to present the draft “Regulations about the exarchates of the Moscow Patriarchate."
The Council of Bishops, at its meetings on January 30-31, 1990, heard the report of His Grace Archbishop Kirill and determined to adopt the “Regulations on the Exarchates”, to include it in the current Charter on the governance of the Russian Orthodox Church in the form of Section VII, making appropriate amendments to Sections I, V and XII, with subsequent approval at the Local Council.
The decisions of this Council of Bishops were approved by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, held on June 7-8, 1990.
The chair of the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus is located in the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Minsk. The second department is Slutsk, where the St. Michael's Cathedral is located.
By the Resolution of the Synod of the Belarusian Exarchate of February 6, 1992 (Journal No. 15), approved by the Resolution of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of February 18-19, 1992 (Journal No. 13), adopted at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Minsk Diocese was reorganized and territorially limited to the Minsk region.
The title of the ruling bishop is Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavsky, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus.
magazine No. 16) the Spiritual and Administrative Center was formed - the Minsk Exarchate of the Belarusian Exarchate, which included:
- Administration of the Minsk Exarchate;
- Administrative Secretariat of the Minsk Exarchate;
- Office Management Service of the Minsk Exarchy;
- Synodal departments of the Belarusian Exarchate;
- Press service of the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus;
- Secretariat of the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus;
- Publishing Council of the Belarusian Exarchate;
- Legal Service of the Minsk Exarchy;
- Financial and economic service (accounting);
- Spiritual and educational center.
Currently, the following Synodal departments and commissions operate within the structure of the Belarusian Exarchate:
- Management of the affairs of the Minsk Exarchy (with the rights of a Synodal institution);
- Synodal Department for Relations between Church and Society;
- Synodal Information Department;
- Synodal Department for Youth Affairs;
- Synodal Department of Religious Education and Catechesis;
- Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service;
- Synodal Missionary Department;
- Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints;
- Synodal Audit Commission;
- Church Court of the Belarusian Exarchate;
- Synodal Pilgrimage Department;
- Synodal Department for Interaction with the Cossacks;
- Award Commission of the Belarusian Exarchate (with the rights of a Synodal institution);
- Synodal Department for interaction with the Armed Forces and other military formations of the Republic of Belarus;
- Synodal Department for church art, architecture and restoration;
- Synodal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood.
By the decision of the Synod of the Belarusian Exarchate of December 1, 2015 (magazine No. 63), the “Religious Mission “BLAGOG” of the Belarusian Orthodox Church” was established, which is entrusted with the responsibilities of centrally providing the canonical divisions of the Belarusian Orthodox Church with religious objects and religious literature.
By the decision of the Synod of the Belarusian Exarchate of March 24, 2016 (journal No. 12), the Synodal Center for Sect Studies named after St. Joseph of Volotsk of the Belarusian Orthodox Church was formed.
By the decision of the Synod of the Belarusian Exarchate of December 13, 2016 (magazine No. 56), the Council on Family Values under the Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church was transformed into the Synodal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood.
The Belarusian Exarchate (as of January 2012) included: 1,555 parishes, 34 monasteries, 1,485 priests and 166 deacons, 46 Orthodox media bodies. Including:
- — 392 parishes, 7 monasteries, 401 priests and 56 deacons, 167 Sunday schools, 17 Orthodox media organs;
- — 45 parishes, 2 monasteries, 38 priests and 3 deacons, 17 Sunday schools, 1 Orthodox media organ;
- — 194 parishes, 4 monasteries, 190 priests and 14 deacons, 120 Sunday schools, 2 Orthodox media organs;
- — 168 parishes, 5 monasteries, 130 priests and 33 deacons, 50 Sunday schools, 14 Orthodox media organs;
- — 135 parishes, 4 monasteries, 166 priests and 24 deacons, 54 Sunday schools, 2 Orthodox media organs;
- — 94 parishes, 104 priests and 8 deacons, 67 Sunday schools, 1 Orthodox media organ;
- - 75 parishes, 2 monasteries, 69 priests and 6 deacons, 27 Sunday schools;
- — 96 parishes, 3 monasteries, 105 priests and 7 deacons, 69 Sunday schools, 5 Orthodox media organs;
- — 176 parishes, a monastery, 166 priests and 8 deacons, 42 Sunday schools, 2 Orthodox media organs;
- — 100 parishes, 4 monasteries, 57 priests and 4 deacons, 16 Sunday schools, 1 Orthodox media organ;
- - 80 parishes, 2 monasteries, 59 priests and 3 deacons, 25 Sunday schools, 1 Orthodox media organ.
By the decision of the BOC Synod of February 26, 2014 (magazine No. 7 Patriarchal Exarch:
Belarusian Orthodox Church(BOC) or the Church of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate, is the canonical part of the Russian Orthodox Church within the territory of the Republic of Belarus. The structure is an independent administrative unit with an organized management system and internal church structure.
The association includes numerous dioceses with regionally subordinate church districts (deaneries), laurels, monastic communities and bursas. It is headed by the Patriarchal Bishop, bearing the title Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavsky. Leadership is carried out from the Minsk diocese, a stronghold of the BOC.
History of formation
The Belarusian Exarchate was founded in 1989 as a result of the synodal decision adopted at the local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on the creation of an independent vicarious district of Belarus in church unity and subordination to the Russian Orthodox Church. In the same conciliar resolution, the status of the three previously approved dioceses of Mogilev, Pinsk and Polotsk was finally fixed.
Since October of the same year, the Holy Collegiate Body of the Russian Orthodox Church ratified a new patriarchal rank for the head of the Belarusian Church, elevating the bishop to the rank of Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavsky. Today, the Exarch of Belarus is the Patriarchal Bishop and vicar of His Grace Kirill. The entire local episcopate and metropolitans are subordinate to the Patriarch of the BOC.
The autonomy of the Belarusian Exarchate is officially recognized by the churches of Ecumenical Orthodoxy, which indicates that the BOC has an independent right to carry out administrative and territorial regulation in accordance with Orthodox canonical rules. The administrative center of the church district is the Minsk region, including the capital of the Republic of Minsk.
Under the leadership of the Minsk diocese, the Holy Bishop and the Synod of the BOC there are the main church departments and structural units - the Control and Canonical Council, the Secretariat of the Administration of the Orthodox Exarchate, the department of the patriarchal press service and office work, the legal and financial-economic service and other church-administrative elements.
The main metropolitan department is located within the walls of the Holy Spiritual Cathedral in the city of Minsk, and the second most important department is in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the city of Zaslavl. The Minsk diocese was finally reorganized in February (magazine No. 13,15) 1992 by the synodal decision of the Belarusian Orthodox Church. According to this document, the territory of the exarchate was clearly limited to the Minsk region.
By the time the exarchate was formed, the BOC included 4 diocesan lands - Minsk, Polotsk, Mogilev and Pinsk. Later, 6 more Orthodox districts were revived - Brest, Gomel, Novogrudok, Grodno, Turov and Vitebsk. And since 2007, a new district has been created - Bobruisk. Today the Belarusian Exarchate includes 15 separate dioceses, 1612 parishes, 35 monasteries, specialized educational institutions and other organizational elements of the BOC.
BOC value for modern society in conditions of global demoralization and moral decline, it is difficult to overestimate. It is no coincidence that in 2008, during his stay in the Minsk Holy Spirit Cathedral, the President of Belarus called the BOC the main ideologist of the country.
Structure and administration of the diocese
The Orthodox Church of Belarus is administratively independent and is under the control of the Holy Synod. The board is composed of representatives of the highest spiritual ranks - the ruling bishops of the exarchate and the Patriarch himself. The BOC and its legal status are regulated by the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church (Chapter 9) and the internal statute of the church.
The Synod operates within the framework of the competence granted to it by the Holy Assembly of the Russian Orthodox Church and is fully accountable to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill. But even despite this, the Belarusian Exarchate has enough powers. Thus, the highest church collegial body has the right, by its own decision:
- select and submit for consideration to the highest church body (the Holy Synod) candidates for vicar and acting hierarchs of the BOC, bishops as temporary participants in the Holy Government Body of the Russian Orthodox Church;
- approve the positions of leaders (abbots) of monasteries;
- resolve regional church and religious disputes;
- supervise the activities of Orthodox theological seminaries and schools;
- coordinate the social mission and train the clergy reserve.
The structure of the exarchate of Belarus is extensive and includes a branched system. As for the main districts of the BOC, there are six of them. Each region includes parishes, deaneries, metochions, monasteries, diocesan institutions, missions and other canonical parts of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Brest region
- Brest diocese
The beginning of official activities and establishment is 1990. Includes regional and district churches of the Brest district. The leading cathedrals are the temples of Simeon the Stylite and Alexander Nevsky.
Temple of Simeon the Stylite:
Temple of Alexander Nevsky:
- Pinsk diocese
Represents the Orthodox Church of the eastern part of Belarus, with a length of 19 thousand km². The capital of the district is the city of Pinsk. The main altars are St. Barbara's Cathedral and the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. One of the oldest dioceses, founded in the 14th century.
Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross:
Vitebsk region
- Vitebsk diocese
The period of creation of the modern department dates back to 1992, but the first thrones were erected during the times of Kievan Rus. Today the region includes 11 large administrative districts with the diocesan center in the city of Vitebsk. Cathedral- Holy Intercession Church:
- Polotsk diocese
Cathedral Orthodox churches - the Church of the Epiphany in Polotsk and the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Glubokoe. The church region has up to 100 parishes.
Church of the Epiphany in Polotsk:
Gomel region
- Gomel diocese
Unites Belarusian deaneries and monasteries of the eastern Gomel region. About 150 parishes are supported.
- Turov diocese
It has ancient history and wide geography. Located in the western lands of the Gomel region. There are 58 parishes in the district. The year of foundation is considered to be 1005. The capital of the diocese is the city of Mozyr. The church of the Archangel Michael and Saints Cyril and Lawrence took on the cathedral role:
The Grodno region
- Grodno diocese
Western part of the Grodno district. There are up to 97 Orthodox districts. The main churches are the Intercession and St. Nicholas Cathedrals. It was originally established from the Lithuanian and Vilna dioceses, but since 1900 it has been listed as Brest and Grodno.
Intercession Cathedral:
St. Nicholas Cathedral:
- Novogrudok diocese
Founded in the 15th century on the territory of the Dyatlovo, Korelichi, Novogrudok and Slonim districts of the Grodno district. Has up to 100 parishes. The cathedral Orthodox churches are St. Nicholas and Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya.
- Lida diocese
Consists of the districts Ivyevsky, Lida, Oshmyany, Ostrovetsky and Smorgonsky. The diocese was formed by separation from Novogrudok in 2014 by a resolution of the Holy College of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Minsk Region
- Minsk diocese
Main district of the Belarusian Exarchate. The date of establishment was accepted as 1793. Since 2014, the territory of the Orthodox diocese is limited and includes only the districts of Minsk and the Minsk region.
- Borisov diocese
It was allocated by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church from part of the Minsk district into independent regions.
- Molodechno diocese
It is located within the Minsk district (metropolis). The maximum boundaries of the district extend to Vileika, Dzerzhinsky, Volozhinsky, Myadelsky, Uzdensky, Molodenchesky and Stolbtsovsky districts.
- Slutsk diocese
The region was finally approved as an administrative unit independent of the Minsk metropolis in 2014 by the Synodal Decree of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Mogilev region
- Mogilev diocese
The district from the Polotsk metropolis is allocated. Founded in the 17th century. Since 2004 it has been an independent diocese.
- Bobruisk diocese
Covers Glussky, Klichevsky, Bykhovsky, Kirovsky, Bobruisk and Osipovichi districts. Approved by the Patriarchal College in 2004.
Educational institutions, stauropegia
The Belarusian Exarchate has extensive capabilities for training a new generation of clergy. For this purpose, a special department of catechesis and religious education has been created, which is in charge of specialized training in church hymn, reading and icon painting for dioceses and deaneries.
The BOC is also able to provide decent secondary religious education. Now there are over a hundred socialist church institutions and about 654 Sunday schools. The most famous educational institutions are:
- Minsk Theological Academy;
- Vitebsk and Minsk theological seminaries;
- Solomino, Minsk and Vitebsk religious schools.
Departments offered by educational institutions: theological and pedagogical; psalm regents; missionary; preparatory for admission to theological universities. Training can also be carried out via correspondence.
Belarusian Orthodox stauropegians - Holy Dormition Zhirovichi Monastery, Holy Nativity of the Theotokos convent(city of Grodno), Holy Vvedensky Monastery (village of Bogushi), Spaso-Efrosinievsky Convent (city of Polotsk).
Current State of the Church
Today it has 11 diocesan territories under its control, in which up to 1582 parishes, about 1600 churches, 10 educational institutions of theological profile, 20 women's and 14 monasteries, 2 theological departments, 113 Orthodox sisterhoods and 54 brotherhoods. Since 2016, the Higher Center for Sect Studies named after Joseph Volotsky of the BOC, created on the initiative of the Synod of the BOC, has been operating.
(8 votes: 4.5 out of 5)Exarchate- (from the Greek Έξαρχος (exarchos) - head, leader) - a large church region lying outside the country in which the main residence is located.
An exarchate may include several dioceses, the bishops and archbishops of which are subordinate to the exarch.
The Exarch is subordinate to the Patriarch and the Synod, although at the same time he enjoys a certain independence.
The Russian Orthodox Church currently has a Belarusian Exarchate, located on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. “Belarusian Orthodox” is another official name of the Belarusian Exarchate.
Exarchates
In 1989, foreign Exarchates were abolished within the Moscow Patriarchate and the Belarusian Exarchate was formed. The “Charter on the Governance of the Russian Orthodox Church” at the Council of Bishops, held in January 1990, was supplemented by Chapter VII (“Exarchates”). In 1990, the status of the Ukrainian Church changed on the basis of the Patriarchal Tomos. And since then, the provisions of this chapter concerned only the Belarusian Exarchate. In the “Charter” of 2000, Chapter IX is devoted to the status of the Exarchates.
It states that the basis for the unification of the dioceses of the Russian Church into Exarchates is the national-religious principle. Decisions on the creation and name of Exarchates, on their territorial boundaries, as well as on their dissolution are made by the Council of Bishops. “The decisions of the Local and Bishops' Councils and the Holy Synod are binding on the Exarchates. The General Church Court and the Court of the Council of Bishops are for the Exarchate church courts the highest authority" (IX. 3).
The highest legislative, executive and judicial power in the Exarchate belongs to its Synod, headed by the Exarch. The Synod of the Exarchate is accountable to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Synod adopts a Charter regulating the management of the Exarchate, which is subject to the approval of the Holy Synod and approval by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. “The journals of the Synod of the Exarchate are presented to the Holy Synod and approved by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'” (IX. 8).
The Exarch is elected by the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate and appointed by Decree of the Patriarch. His name is exalted in the churches of the Exarchate after the name of the Patriarch. The ruling and suffragan bishops of the Exarchate are elected and appointed by the Holy Synod on the proposal of the Synod of the Exarchate. “Decisions on the formation or abolition of dioceses included in the Exarchate and on the determination of their territorial boundaries are made by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and the Holy Synod on the proposal of the Synod of the Exarchate. The Exarchate receives the Holy Chrism from the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'" (IX. 13)."
Moscow Patriarchate, formed in October. 1989 in accordance with the decision of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church 9 October 11. 1989 B.E. canonically constitute dioceses with their deaneries, parishes, monasteries, religious educational institutions, which are located in ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia
- (from the Greek ἔξαρχος external power) in Byzantium at the end of the 6th–7th centuries, an administrative territorial unit, a viceroyalty outside the metropolis, similar to a colonial possession or an “overseas state.” In modern Orthodoxy and... ... Wikipedia
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BELARUS- [Republic of Belarus, Belarus], state in the East. Europe. Territory: 207.6 thousand square meters. km. Capital: Minsk. Geography. Bordered by northwest with Lithuania, in the north with Latvia, in the northeast and east with Russia, in the south with Ukraine, in the west with... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia
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Belarusian Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate (also Belarusian Orthodox Church) exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church covering the territory of Belarus; “canonical division of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian Orthodox... ... Wikipedia
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