Metropolitan Filaret May Refuse to Participate in the All-Belarus Assembly
15/11/2010
Fourth All-Belarus People’s Assembly may pass without the representatives of the Orthodox Church. Nomination of priests as delegates to this event was not sanctioned by the leadership of the Church. Metropolitan Filaret hasn’t been nominated as a delegate as well, the commissioner of the Belarusian Exarchate of Media Relations father Eugene (Swiderski) said.
According to the Exarchate representative, the issue of participation of the Orthodox Church(BOC) representatives in Belarus People’s Assembly is now being resolved. This is, as noted by father Eugene, due to the fact that participation in this event can be regarded as involvement in politics, the “Narodnaya Volia” reported.
According to “Narodnaya Volia”, some meetings of Commissioners decided that the delegates should be exactly the representatives of the BOC. A complete list of delegates to the fourth Assembly has not yet been published, but the following people are known to attend the meeting: the bishop of Babruisk and Bykhau Seraphim (Belonozhko), Minsk district father superior of the Church of Blessed Virgin Mary Nativity, Archpriest Sergei (Kuzmenkov). It’s still unknown if they will come to Minsk or not.
Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Filaret used to participate in Belarus Assembly and be an honorary member of the presidium, speaking at the Congress.
Representatives of the Catholic Church have never been involved in the events.
