Department for External Church Relations
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Patriarchal Exarch for All Belarus conducts the Office for Laying the Foundation of an Old-Rite church
On August 2, 2021, the commemoration day of God’s Prophet Elias, Patriarchal Exarch for All Belarus, Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavsk, conducted in Minsk the Office for Laying the Foundation for an Old-Rite community of God’s Prophet Elias.
Metropolitan Veniamin’s concelebrants were Archpriest Igor Korostelev, dean of the Second District of Minsk, rector of the Parish of Our Lady the Joy to All the Afflicted in Minsk, chairman of the Byelorussian Orthodox Church department for relations with the Cossacks and for church art, architecture and restoration; Hegumen Peter (Vaslilyev), rector of the Old-Rite church of St. Nicholas-at-Studentsy in Moscow; and Rev. Dionisiy Kovalev, a cleric of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Minsk.
The hymns were sung by the choir conducted by Vasily Sorokin, precentor of the choir of the church of St. Nicholas-in-Studentsy.
After the blessing of the foundation stone, His Eminence Veniamin delivered a homily. Then the Patriarchal Exarch familiarized himself with the church project and had a talk with parishioners.
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Since 1998, the Community of the Holy Prophet Elias in Minsk was part of the Old Orthodox Pomorian Church; in 2005 the assembly of the community decided to restore priesthood and join the Byelorussian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 2006, by the resolution of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the community was accepted in her jurisdiction.
With reference to the information of the Official Portal
of the Byelorussian Orthodox Church