Priests Ordered to Leave Belarus
Two Catholic priests from Poland were ordered to leave Belarus by the end of December after officials refused to renew their religious visas. The priests, who had spent more than a decade in the country, were given no reasons for their removal. One of the priests serving in the Minsk-Mogilev diocese has chosen to not fight the deportation. He did so in order to assist in better relations with the Belarusian authorities, since a new priest was recently allowed to enter the country. According to a December 22 report from Forum18, the other priest, Fr Robert Krzywicki, attributes his expulsion to his work with young people in the town and his involvement with other Christian Churches in ecumenical and humanitarian events. The parishioners in the town of Borisov where Krzywicki has been serving have begun a petition calling for the authorities to overturn their decision.
Belarus is the most religiously restrictive nation in Europe. Pray that religious freedom will improve in this country. Pray for the salvation of those in government leadership. Pray that young people will be allowed to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and be brought into a personal relationship with Him.
For more information on the persecution of Christians in Belarus, click here. A video news report filmed in Belarus is also available on the multimedia website, www.vomcanada.com.
For several months, the difficulties facing the New Life Church on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus have been closely followed. According to a December 7 report from Forum 18, the Economic Court of the City of Minsk has rejected the appeal of the city's plans to confiscate the property. The church's website also reports that proceedings have begun to confiscate all the property of the church's administrator, Vasilij Yurevich, in order to pay fines levied against him. Authorities told the news to Yurevich's family while he was at work and forced the family with four children to leave their home with nothing. Yurevich has been told that he must pay the fines totaling 8,000,000 rubles ($4300 CDN) within three weeks or his property will be sold. The fines amount to more than 25 years' wages at the minimum wage in Belarus. More information on Belarus is available through a video news report on 
In recent months, The Voice of the Martyrs has been following the ordeal facing the New Life Church in Minsk, Belarus. On September 23, the church administrator, Vasily Yurevich, was fined 4,080,000 rubles ($2250 CDN), for not stopping religious services as ordered. This is the second fine in less than a year. This fine is the equivalent of over 13 years' pay at the Belarusian minimum wage. On September 26, the New Life Church also announced that it will be filing a lawsuit against the Minsk City Executive Council over the decision to confiscate the church's land.