Civil peace and accord, rejection of any forms of hostility on religious and ethnic grounds have become the main components of Belarus's state policy. This fact was highlighted by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, during his speech at the solemn event "Prayer for Belarus," as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
Civil peace and accord, rejection of any forms of hostility on religious and ethnic grounds have become the main components of Belarus's state policy. This fact was highlighted by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, during his speech at the solemn event "Prayer for Belarus," as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
"The residents of Belarus assess interethnic relations in the country as peaceful. We have no discrimination based on religious or national grounds. I don't know if there is another country on the planet where leaders of various religious and public associations not only are friends with each other but also actively help one another," said the Head of State.
The President noted that under the sky of Belarus, representatives of over 140 nations and ethnic groups live in harmony, marry, and raise children together. "For centuries, the paths of various ethnic groups and cultures have crossed in our land. We have not only created our own spiritual values but have also been enriched by the creative heritage of people who, for one reason or another, left their historical homeland," said the President.
Aleksandr Lukashenko considers the solemn ceremony "Prayer for Belarus" to be deeply symbolic. "Prayer is not only an appeal of believers to God but also an expression of sincere and deep feelings of each of us and the entire Belarusian people towards our Motherland – our common home, whose well-being we care for daily," he noted.
The Head of State emphasized that in Belarus, people respect each other, "an Orthodox person perceives a Muslim, and a Muslim perceives an Orthodox person not just as one of their own, but as themselves." "This is a guarantee that we will always live in peace," believes the President.
"Since time immemorial, the highest manifestation of the human spirit has been the worship of one's sacred places. For us, Belarusians, there is no greater sacred place than the selfless feat of people who, sparing no lives, defended their native land from invaders and enslavers. While praying for Belarus, we first and foremost bow our heads before the fallen heroes who inscribed golden pages in the glorious chronicle of the Fatherland," the President said. "Today, we are participants in a unique project to perpetuate the memory of our countrymen who died outside their homeland." According to him, placing capsules with soil brought from World War II burial sites in seven European countries into the crypt of the temple is a tribute of respect to the glorious sons and daughters of the Fatherland who gave their lives for peace and tranquility on the planet.
Alexander Lukashenko noted that when a person dies, their death is especially hard to bear for their loved ones who continue to live. "To die in a foreign land, on alien soil, is probably an order of magnitude harder. Our compatriots died on that land and ended up in that land not of their own free will; they were fulfilling a sacred mission – liberating humanity from the brown plague. And thank God that in our country there are people who remember, understand, and know the value of spirituality, who understand that every person should find their rest on their own land. And even after decades, even after many years, we have brought this soil, in which our people, thousands upon thousands of Soviet people, are buried, and placed it here, in this holy place, in this temple. This is a tribute of respect, this is our memory to our people who died fulfilling the sacred mission of liberating humanity," said the head of state.