Three Greek Catholic parishes can no longer continue operating legally in autocratically ruled Belarus after their mandatory applications for “re-registration” were rejected by a regional court, well-informed Christians told Worthy News.
A Belarusian preacher, Syarhey Melyanets, has still not been released from jail in Belarus after being sentenced to 13 days’ imprisonment on unspecified charges, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reports.
A pastor in Belarus was sentenced to 15 days in prison earlier this month after praying that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would end, Christian Daily (CD) reports.
Hundreds of priests in autocratically-ruled Belarus have been warned that state agencies are monitoring them and hundreds of religious communities.
Authorities have now ordered the congregation at the New Life Church in Minsk, Belarus, to stop even the outdoor parking lot meetings they were reduced to after city officials sealed their church building last year, Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) reports. Ideologically close and loyal to Russia’s President Putin, Belarus’ authoritarian regime has criminalized unregistered Christian activity.
Belarus has detained a Christian missionary as part of a massive crackdown on those deemed dangerous to the government, Christians told Worthy News.
Police raided a group of Christians gathered inside a private home in Gorki, Belarus on Dec. 22.
A private homeless shelter run by a Christian in Belarus has been legally stripped of its license to operate, according to Barnabas Aid.
Belarus continues to keep its religious communities confined within an invisible ghetto of regulations, according to Forum 18.
One of the largest evangelical congregations in Belarus confirmed that authorities at the last moment decided not to evict them from their building, following years of judicial wrangling.
Evangelical Christians in Belarus and Kazakhstan faced increased pressure Friday, October 21, to halt unauthorized worship services after pastors were fined and churches raided in the former Soviet republics.
A pastor in Belarus was fined for alleged unsanitary conditions at his church’s summer Bible school while another church in Minsk must exist without a legal bank account.