Church unites kind hearts

On National Unity Day, the Chairman of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee, Aleksandr Turchin, and Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavl visited the construction site of a parish, in Borisov 

Construction of a 700sq.m four-storey object on the basis of the Church of the Nativity of Christ is being built for over five years already. Finishing works are in full swing now. The Kind Hearts diocesan social centre is planned to occupy the ground floor – equipped with a canteen, rooms for cooking and clothes distribution, an office for receiving citizens, and utility premises. The first floor will house an assembly hall for 80 – to host meetings and festive events, while the second floor will be designed for music and visual arts, children's Sunday school, and a library. On the third floor, young people will gather for educational meetings and trainings. There are also plans to equip a sports gym, changing and utility rooms. Funds for the construction have been allocated by various organisations of the Minsk Region, sponsors, parishioners of the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavl, the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, stressed, “This building will welcome those who need not only spiritual support and kind words but also social assistance. Here, vulnerable categories of citizens will be able to get food and clothing. Disabled and single people, as well as those released from prison will be assisted in employment, restoring documents, search of relatives and medical consultations. Centres of the kind open on the basis of churches all over the Minsk Region but this one will probably become the largest.”

In turn, the Chairman of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee, Aleksandr Turchin, thanked the Belarusian Orthodox Church for the support it provides to vulnerable categories of citizens, “In recent times, we’ve been implementing many projects in the Minsk Region jointly with the Belarusian Orthodox Church. This object has an important social function: it helps those who, for a variety of reasons, find themselves in a difficult life situation. Since the facility has been under construction for a long period of five years, we should complete the work next year – so that the centre to start welcoming people in need.”