Minsk, May. 12, 2008 (Forum 18/CWNews.com) - The government of Belarus is discouraging the commemoration of Orthodox Christians who died for their faith under persecution by the Soviet Union, the Forum 18 news service has found. KGB secret police have sought to have icons of the New Martyrs, as they are known by the Orthodox Church, removed from Grodno cathedral. Russian Orthodox Deacon Andrei Kurayev told Forum 18 that "Some comrades from the local KGB asked local clergy why they were inciting the people in such a way."
While there was no official order to remove the icons-- "it was on the level of a chat" - Kurayev reported that Bishop Artemi (Kishchenko) of Grodno and Volkovysk refused to take them down. "He told the KGB that he couldn't rewrite history."
KGB officers also often monitor visitors to Kuropaty, where New Martyrs are probably among mass graves of Stalinist repression victims, a local Orthodox source told Forum 18. The act of going there, even to light candles, is "fraught with tension" with the current Belarusian regime, according to the source. Анкеты проституток. Тюмень Лучшие проститутки города у нас! An Orthodox chapel planned for the site has never been built.
[For a more detailed report see the Forum 18 web site.]