Religija u Belorusiji
Religion In Belarus

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the pre-soviet history of Belarus as a background for the analysis of the current religious situation in this post-soviet country. The author shows that the population of the lands that currently represent Republic of Belarus was an ethnic mixture: ancestors of contemporary Belarusians, Russians, Lithuanians, Tatars, Jews, Poles and some other nations have been living here for centuries. They tolerated each other and the religious beliefs of each ethnicity. Therefore, there were Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant Christians, Muslims, and Jews living side by side here. Тhe Soviet power made Belarus a part of the atheistic country, Soviet Union. Religion was separated from the state, but it did not disappear. That is why after the Soviet collapse there was a religious revival here, with some specific features that can be considered as a proof of differences between the Eastern and Western religiosity. The first part of the paper describes the major contemporary features of religi- osity in Belarus, focusing on its mosaic character and domination of Orthodox religion that is viewed both as a religious and a cultural identity of the population. The second part of the paper analyses the relationship between the church and the state in Belarus.

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