The delegation of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District visited the Minsk memorial church in the name of All Saints

August 8, 2024. Minsk. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, together with the accompanying pilgrimage delegation of the Metropolitan District, visited one of the most famous cathedrals of the Belarusian Exarchate - the memorial church in the name of All Saints and in memory of the victims who served to save the Fatherland.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Archbishop Amphilochius of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk and the pilgrims were met by Archpriest Feodor Povny, Chairman of the Synodal Department of the Belarusian Orthodox Church for Cooperation with Secular Educational Institutions, Chairman of the Parish Council and the key keeper of the church in honor of All Saints.

Archpriest Feodor gave the guests a detailed tour of the memorial church, in the crypt of which is located a tomb and a museum of the history of Belarus. As the key keeper of the temple explained, the niches contain the remains of soldiers from three Patriotic Wars that have undergone archaeological and anthropological examination: in the center - the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, on the left - the First World War of 1914-1917, on the right - the Patriotic War of 1812. The walls of the central room on the northern and southern sides have a mirrored architectural and decorative solution, memorial niches are built into them for storing in crystal vessels the earth from the sites of historical battles and burials of Belarusians who served the Fatherland, from all over the world.

Metropolitan Alexander lit a candle from an inextinguishable lamp made of natural marble and bronze, in which the fire taken from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem smolders.

In front of the main icon of the crypt - the image of the Resurrection of Christ, painted by masters from Palekh - the pilgrims performed a funeral litany and sang Easter hymns.

The archpastors and pilgrims got acquainted with the museum's exhibits, which are based on exhibits and documents testifying to human losses during wars from the 11th to the 20th centuries, on the territory of Belarus and beyond, with the participation of natives of the country. Several stands present information about Belarusian priests - participants in military events on the fronts of World War II. A separate complex using a model in 3-D modeling technique shows the theme "Those who died in the death camp in the village of Maly Trostenets". The installation "Victims of concentration camps in Europe and Belarus, 1941-1944" presents unique items of prisoners of the Trostenets camp from the Blagovshchina tract near Minsk, found in the 2000s. One of the artistic dominants of the hall is the installation "Wall of Memory", which has three semantic zones: "Parental home" with a mannequin of a woman - the prototype of all Belarusian wives and mothers who lost their husbands and sons on the fronts of wars. This part of the installation presents 20 original testimonies of the death of soldiers called up from the territory of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. The multimedia location presents a video chronicle of 1945, the liberation of European countries by Soviet troops.

After getting acquainted with the museum and worshiping the shrines of the temple, Metropolitan Alexander thanked Archpriest Feodor Povny for a detailed story about the creation of the memorial temple and a meaningful excursion and handed over books published in the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District to the parish library.