Christian Vision (Belarus)

Christian Vision (Belarusian: Хрысціянская візія) is a non-governmental organisation for formulating and supporting Christians’ collaborative work for overcoming the political crisis in Belarus and securing reconciliation. Its members are clergy, theologians, and laity of the Orthodox, Greek-Catholic, Roman-Catholic and Protestant Churches in Belarus and in the diaspora.

Status and membership

The Christian Vision group was established on 9 September 2020 as a working group of the Coordination Council and informal interdenominational association open to the Council members to join.^[1] The statement announcing the group's establishment was initially signed by 24 lay and ordained persons from the main Christian denominations of Belarus.^[2]

The organisation is registered as a public institution in Lithuania under the name Christian Vision for Belarus.^[3]

Natallia Vasilevich is the group's moderator.

Activities

Christian Vision monitors and publicises the facts of persecution of the people of faith based on their beliefs or political views,^[4][5] and of violence^[6] and infringement of their rights in the place of detention.^[7] The reports form the basis of the ongoing Monitoring of the Persecution on Religious Grounds During the Political Crisis in Belarus^[7] in Russian and English. The reports have been used by the national and international media outlets for their own reporting.^[8][9]

The group mobilised and reported on the words and works of the laity and clergy in support of nonviolence, restoring the rule of law and releasing political prisoners.^[10][11]

The group encouraged theologians,^[12] ordained ministers^[13] and others in Belarus and abroad to develop a theological reflective perspective on the protests and persecutions in Belarus. An unprecedented for Belarus example of such a reflection was Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's letter to the Pope Francis in response to his Encyclical.^[14]

It organised and supported - in Belarus and abroad - campaigns for political prisoners, persecuted believers and religious communities in Belarus.^[15]

In March 2022, the group began researching anti-war initiatives in Russia, monitoring the persecution of Christians for their anti-war views and publicising it as the Shalt Not Kill (Russia) resource.

Persecution

In August and September 2023, two courts in Belarus designated the group's Telegram channel as an 'extremist material'.^[16]

In October 2023, the group's Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts were recognized as extremist materials by a decision of the Kastryčnicki District Court of Vitebsk.

In 2025, The Christian Vision group was designated as an 'extremist group' by the Belarusian authorities.^[17]

External links

• The Christian Vision's website, Church and the Political Crisis in Belarus