|
Holy Spirit Tales Belarus Michelle Moran, a member of the Sion Community for Evangelisation and newly elected to the ICCRS Council, last November visited Belarus to speak at a symposium for Church leaders in the capital Minsk. Here she found despite the poverty and persecutions, people hungry to learn about the work of the Holy Spirit. Below she shares some of her memories of the visit
|
Although we don't hear much about it in the news,
the situation in Belarus, which is bordered by Latvia, Lithuania and
Poland, is very difficult. The country is poor, and like many of the
former soviet states inflation is very high - approximately 60% - which
makes life very hard for the people. On top of this the ruler of the
country, President Alexander Lukashenko, has been described as "Europe's
last dictator". A week before my visit he passed a law effectively
banning all foreign religious organisations or individuals from entering
the country.
Thus on my papers it said I was coming to give some historical lectures rather than stating the true nature of my visit. This all made me rather nervous, and as soon as we landed I started to pray in tongues that the Lord would help me and protect me. Apparently foreign people, especially from Western Europe, are often needlessly detained by customs on arrival. But I was so busy prayer walking that I didn't even think to pause in the customs hall, and simply walked through - and none of the officials seemed to notice! My hosts in Belarus couldn't believe this and likened it to the parting the Red Sea. The religious situation in Belarus is quite complicated. Ecumenism is very difficult as the Orthodox Church, which is recognised by the state, is not very open to Catholics and in fact are tacitly behind the State's persecution of the Catholic Church, which is seen as a foreign church, despite its long history there. This symposium for Church leaders was the first event of its kind to have ever been held in Minsk. The venue was in one of the most prestigious churches known locally as "the red church", because of its dominant position in Red Square. The church leaders who were present basically came from two groups. The first were members of the Precious Pearl Community. This was a charismatic group founded by a polish priest, Fr Irenaeus, who is based in Germany, but who has been working in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine for many years. They were a very varied group in age, experience and background. The other group was made up of Greek Catholics, who are in communion with Rome, but use the Byzantine rite for their liturgy. They were mainly seminarians, priests and university graduates or students. Although they were very open to the Holy Spirit and extremely spiritual they had little contact with Charismatic Renewal, which made it difficult to know how to present the material in a way that was acceptable to all. Generally the presentations at the conference were very formal, as is the style in Eastern Europe, so I was all the more amazed that when it came to the ministry time, that the power of the Lord was manifested so strongly. The Greek Catholics had never experienced anything like this before, but not only were people set free and healed but several of the Greek Catholic priests spontaneously began to speak in tongues, without even realising what it was. The whole experience was a reminder to me, how powerfully the Holy Spirit can act, when people are open, overcoming all problems of language and culture and experience. As I was leaving one of the priests thanked me and remarked "we will never be the same again." Indeed, I knew this was true for me as well… Our God is a God of surprises.
|
