Doctors and other medical personnel in Belarus may soon be forbidden
to display icons in their offices or wear religious symbols such as
crosses.
In a letter to the nation’s health minister, Metropolitan Paul of
Minsk and Slutsk criticized a proposed revision in medical ethics
standards that would lead to the ban.
Describing the proposal as “abusive,” the head of the Belarusian
Orthodox Church cited the nation’s constitution, which guarantees
religious freedom, and said that “the wearing of the cross and prayer to
God before icons constitute a normal and essential part of the life and
existence of the Belarusian people.”
The Eastern European nation of 9.6 million is 48% Orthodox and 7% Catholic, with 41% professing no faith.