It’s been almost 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but KGB officers in Belarus aren’t over it yet.

Belarus discourages the commemoration of Orthodox Christians killed for their faith by the Soviet Union, Forum 18 News Service has found. Today's KGB secret police have sought to have icons of the New Martyrs, as they are known by the Orthodox Church, removed from Grodno Cathedral. Russian Orthodox Deacon Andrei Kurayev told Forum 18 that "Some comrades from the local KGB asked local clergy why they were inciting the people in such a way." While there was no official order to remove the icons – "it was on the level of a chat" - Kurayev reported that Bishop Artemi (Kishchenko) of Grodno and Volkovysk refused to take them down. "He told the KGB that he couldn't rewrite history."

Of 90,000 Orthodox believed to have been killed for their faith by the Soviet regime, the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) formally canonised 1000 as New Martyrs in August 2000.

And, no, in Belarus, the KGB never been changed its name.  In fact, the agency is proud of its Soviet roots. 

Previous related posts: