In our quiet time upstairs, he
shared about remarkable changes taking place at this church. Since
the collapse of the Soviet Union, the church in Belarus has seen
a renaissance.
One Sunday at Saints Peter and Paul, as the early service began
(6:30 a.m.), one of the deacons looked up and saw that there was
no choir. The worship service in the Orthodox Church is liturgical
and responsive. It is a sung liturgy normally carried out by the
priest, a deacon, and the choir, each with their specific parts.
When the deacon saw no choir, he hurried to the priest to tell
him. It was a serious situation. The priest looked at the deacon
and asked, “Is there a congregation?” The deacon said,
“Yes, the congregation is here.” At that moment, said
Valeri, the Holy Spirit spoke through the priest. The priest told
the deacon to have the congregation sing the choir’s part.
In that service, the congregation lifted up a joyful voice and
experienced something new and exciting. Valeri says that you can
see the effect on the congregation in their faces. Many other
churches have visited this church to see what is happening, and
they have gone to the Metropolitan to say that they want this
kind of liturgy too. Originally, this special liturgy was only
at the early morning service, but so many people have come that
now that they have two services with such congregational participation.
There is has been a lot of stereotyping on both sides of the
divide, which has risen most sharply in the last 15 years, between
Orthodox and Protestant communions. As Valeri talked, I heard
the voice of reconciliation. “We are so glad that you have
come, that you want to understand us.” Valeri invited us
to worship with his congregation. He invited us as brothers and
sisters in Christ, and he asked us to share our experiences with
you, our fellow Presbyterians, so that you might pray for them
as brothers and sisters—one body, one family. He knows that
Westerners were praying for them during the difficult times\,
and he sees the proof of this in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
They were not alone in that time. Their brothers and sister abroad
cared for them and prayed for them. It hurts that now Western
Christians criticize rather than encourage, and that they judge
without understanding.
As our week in Belarus unfolded, we listened to a country that
is reclaiming its faith and its history. During Soviet times,
her churches were closed and her history was lost. The area that
is Belarus was to be the model of Soviet community. That model
had little room for any of the many faith traditions that were
part of Belarusian history and no room for any national identity.
The only history taught in schools was Soviet history. The brotherhood
has worked to reclaim and document that lost history. They work
to reclaim their language too. They have published the Orthodox
liturgy in Belarusian and are working on a translation of the
Gospels. They have gathered information about the lives of Belarusian
martyrs and saints, the architectural history of the country,
and the faith history, which includes a Reformed presence.
In our week in Minsk, we gained a deeper understanding of Orthodoxy
and of Belarus. We explored the rich and ancient traditions of
this church and witnessed their efforts to be a church in the
21st century. We hope that this will be the first of many such
seminars and that the sharing back and forth will deepen. There
are certainly theological differences between Orthodox and Presbyterians,
but what we have in common is greater. We have Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior. May we seek and celebrate the bonds that unite
us as one family in Christ.
May the peace and blessings of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with
each of you.
With love in Christ,
Ellen & Al
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
187
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