Orthodox Priest and Believers Persecuted in Ruzhany

27.01.2005.

According to RFE/RL

The authorities of Brest-Kobryn Orthodox eparchy don’t allow to believers of Ruzhany settlement to establish one more religious parish. The believers and the priest whom they invited are pressurized by the law machinery.

More than 100 Orthodox believers of Ruzhany don’t visit the local St.-Peter and Paul church. They explain it with the fact that they don’t trust to the present priest Aliaksandr Sen. During the recent years several valuable icons disappeared from the temple.

For a certain period of time the believers held divine services in a usual flat, but this year they decided to declare establishment of one more Orthodox parish in Ruzhany. However, the authorities of Brest-Kobryn eparchy didn’t recognize this decision. Soon after it the believers and the priest Iaan Hrudnitski whom they invited faced with persecution from the side of the law machinery. The priest thinks it is made on the proposal of the present authorities of the eparchy.

On 26 January Pruzhany District Court was to have considered the first administrative case against the citizens of Ruzhany, who were charged with organization of unauthorized service. However, the trial didn’t start because the judge stated that the protocols that were filed by the police didn’t meet the norms and the case couldn’t be considered at court at all.