Christianity in Belarus - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The majority of the population of Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

is Eastern Orthodox. The majority of Orthodox Christians in Belarus belong to the Belarusian Orthodox Church

Belarusian Orthodox Church

Belarusian Orthodox Church is the official name of the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus. It represents the union of Russian orthodox eparchies on the territory of Belarus and is the largest religious organization in the country, uniting the predominant majority of...

, which remains a unit of the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

. There is a Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

The Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which has sometimes abbreviated its name as the "B.A.O. Church" or the "BAOC," aspires to be the self-governing national church of an independent Belarus, but it has operated mostly in exile since its formation, and even some publications of the church...

which is not officially registered.

There are about 1.7 million Catholics in the country (around 17% of the total population). The Roman Catholic archdiocese is the archdiocese Minsk and Mahiliou. The other dioceses are Hrodna, Pinsk and Vitsebsk.

Home worship is prohibited in Belarus.

Several Greek Catholic

Belarusian Greek Catholic Church

The Belarusian Greek Catholic Church , sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the Belarusian Byzantine Catholic Church, is the heir within Belarus of the Union of Brest...

as well as several Protestant churches have been prohibited to register with official authority. There are more than 500,000 Protestants in Belarus (5 % of the population).

Baptists affiliated to the Baptist World Alliance

Baptist World Alliance

The Baptist World Alliance is a worldwide alliance of Baptist churches and organizations, formed in 1905 at Exeter Hall in London during the first Baptist World Congress.-History:...

number more than 11000 in 1998. There were 170 Pentecostal congregations in 1993. Lutherans belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States. There was a hungerstrike as a reaction to limitation of Christian religious liberty.

There is a women's Christian-Democratic Movement of Belarus and the political party Belarusian Christian Democracy

Belarusian Christian Democracy

The Belarusian Christian Democracy is a political movement in Belarus that was created at the beginning of the 20th century and is now being revived by several politicians.- Before World War II :...

, which continues the traditions of Belarusian christian democrats of the early 20th century but is being refused a registration by the authorities.

Sources

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.