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Good Friday is most strict day of Great Lent Good Friday is celebrated today among the Orthodox Christians. The most mournful day of the pre-Easter week is dedicated to the biblical memory of the death of Christ, his removal from the cross and burial. The most important church events of Great Friday are Matins with the reading of the 12 Gospels and the Vespers with the shroud carrying out. Late in the evening, the second service will also take place, during which, a symbolic cloth will be laid...

Festive Octave kicks off among Catholics, Holy Week among Orthodox believers The Catholics of Belarus together with the whole Western Christian world celebrate Easter. Today the festive Octave began. This is a particularly festive eight-day period, when all the services in the churches are conducted by the priesthood in white robes. For the Orthodox believers, the upcoming Holy Week is the time of remembrance of the last days of Jesus' life and his crucifixion. A week before the Resurrection of...

Participants from seven countries participate in the International Orthodox festival Joy in Minsk International Orthodox festival Joy is held in Minsk in anticipation of the Easter celebration. It features more than a hundred participants – monasteries, temples and parishes from Italy, Serbia, Montenegro and Georgia brought sacred shrines, icons, literature and church utensils to the Belarusian capital. The program of the forum includes children's creative playground and solo performances for adults...

The Lent to last from February 19 to April 7 Today, Orthodox Christians enter the Lent, the time of prayers, services, spiritual and bodily feats, which ends with the triumph of the Resurrection of Christ, the Easter. The Lent is the strictest of fasts and lasts seven weeks. This year it will end on the seventh of April. Speaking about the Lent, Orthodox theologians emphasize that austerity should be expressed not so much in the right diet, as many people mistakenly believe, as in the spiritual...

Pancakes among holiday's main attributes Today, Maslenitsa begins. This week is also called Cheesefare week. There are traditions for every day of the week. Monday is the meeting day. It was customary to visit the co-in-laws on this day. Among the main attributes of the holiday are the pancakes as a symbol of the sun and the coming spring. They are baked throughout the week. Cheesefare week festivities will unfold in the upcoming weekend in museums of folk architecture and life, in the capital...

By tradition, people bathe in ice-holes Today Orthodox believers celebrate one of the 12 major holidays – the Epiphany. Festive divine services are held in all the churches. The clergy are dressed in white robes. Believers collect the consecrated water, which is believed to have healing properties these days. By tradition, people bathe in ice-holes to cleanse the body and spirit. Among the first to take part in baptismal bathing were the Belarusian rescuers. This became a tradition for employees...

President of Belarus attended divine service in Holy Spirit Cathedral Orthodox believers around the world celebrate Christmas. The celebrations will last 12 days until the Epiphany. By tradition, the joy of this bright day, along with the believers, was shared by the Head of State. Alexander Lukashenko visited the divine service in the Holy Spirit Cathedral the day before. The President was congratulated by the students of the Sunday school, and the Belarusian leader presented the children Christmas...

Cathedral of Nativity of Our Lord opened in Soligorsk After 23 years of construction, the Cathedral of Nativity of Our Lord has been opened in the Belarusian town of Soligorsk. Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl Pavel held the ceremonial consecration. More than two thousand believers attended the first divine service and worshiped the shrines. The Cathedral of Nativity of Our Lord is one of the biggest in Belarus. The spiritual complex will include a temple, a hospice, a Sunday school, a charitable...

Temple features 8 bells made in famous workshop of Ilya Drozdikhin The new church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Zakhody, Shklov district, is a sample of wooden architecture and one of the highest in the Mogilev region. Its construction lasted for three years. Parishioners and patrons of art from Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and Moldova took part in the house raising. The temple features 8 bells made in the famous workshop of Ilya Drozdikhin and new icons painted in Greece on the...

List of ancient wonder-working icon of Mother of God to be delivered to regional center Grodno Today, the list of the ancient wonder-working icon of the Mother of God will be delivered from the Zhirovichi monastery to regional center Grodno. The list was found by children in the late 15-th century. The shrine is brought to mark the 25-th jubilee of the convent to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. The convent was reopened in 1992 and refurbished by the nuns and local worshipers.