An exhibition dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Cathedral of Belarusian Saints was opened at the Minsk Theological Academy

On June 11, 2024, the Minsk Theological Academy hosted the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Council of Belarusian Saints. The exhibition presents biographies of 12 saints who were included in the Council and in whose honor churches were consecrated in various cities of the Republic of Belarus.

The exhibition is a joint project of the brotherhood in honor of the Vilna Martyrs of Minsk.

The exhibition is a joint project of the brotherhood in honor of the Vilna Martyrs of Minsk, Grodna Diocese, Grodno State University named after Yanka Kupala and is organized with the support of the Minsk Theological Academy.

The authors of the exhibition: Alexander Gorny, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of History of Belarus, Archaeology and Special Historical Disciplines of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, and Lidia Kulazhenko, Candidate of Historical Sciences, member of the Brotherhood in honor of the Vilna Martyrs (parish of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Minsk).

The exhibition is organized by the Minsk Theological Academy.

The exhibition was opened by the chairman of the Synodal Commission on the canonization of saints of the Belarusian Orthodox Church Bishop of Borisov and Maryinogorsk Amvrosy. Then the rector of the Minsk Theological Academy, candidate of theology Archimandrite Athanasius, addressed the audience. (Sokolov), chairman of the Synodal Department of the Belarusian Orthodox Church for Culture and Church Art, director of the Minsk Theological School Archpriest Ioann Zadorozhin, first vice-rector of the Institute of Theology of BSU, Archpriest Sergiy Movsesyan, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Belarusian History, Archaeology and Special Historical Disciplines of Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno Alexander Gorny and Chairman of the Brotherhood in honor of the Vilna Martyrs Konstantin Antonovich.

The opening of the exhibition was broadcast on the YouTube channels of the Belarusian Orthodox Church and the Minsk Theological Academy.

***

The Cathedral of Belarusian Saints is celebrated annually on the third Sunday after Pentecost — this year on July 14. On this day solemn services will be held, processions will be held, pilgrimages to the places of life and exploits of the saints will be organized.

The establishment of the celebration of the Cathedral of Belarusian Saints, which took place at the request and through the work of the first Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Metropolitan Filaret (Vakhromeev), has become one of the most important events of modern church history in the country. Originally, the Cathedral of Belarusian Saints, approved by Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Russia on April 3, 1984, included 14 people, whose memory lived and was honored in the people and the Church. In anticipation of this event, the first icon of the Council of Belarusian Saints was written, solemn hymns were created in their honor, and a church was consecrated in Minsk diocese. Today there are 58 people in the Council, 37 of them are new martyrs who suffered for the faith of Christ in the twentieth century.