Belarus President visits church to celebrate Christmas in Orthodox Christian tradition

On Christmas Day, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko visited the Church of St. John the Baptist in the town of Shershuny, Minsk District.

By tradition, the Head of State lit a Christmas candle in the temple, talked to the clergy and parishioners.

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that in 2020, when he attended the opening of this church, local parishioners invited him to visit this temple once again. "I promised, that's why I came to visit you today. I have come to congratulate all of you and all our Belarusians, our guests, all those who will hear me, on behalf of myself from this bright and kind temple with the kindest holiday - Christmas," the President said.

He noted that the country has important secular holidays, such as Victory Day, Independence Day, as well as spiritual ones, such as Christmas or Easter. "They have passed through the years, they are in our minds, our hearts. And, as time has shown, it is impossible to etch them out of us. That's why they are great," emphasized the Belarusian leader.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that another year has passed, and all the years of the current five-year plan, starting from 2020, were not easy. "But the Lord has probably kept us and kept us safe. We managed to pass these years peacefully. And then, when you and I opened this temple, you asked for only one thing, as if anticipating that these would be difficult years: that there would be peace in our land. We are able to create everything else with our own minds and hands in our country. And so it has happened. For now. God willing, it will continue to be so," the head of state said. - We are moving from the Year of Peace and Creation (there can be no creation without peace) to the Year of Quality. We need to fill this peaceful, quiet Belarusian life on this small island where we live today with high quality. We need to make people happy. Waking up in the morning and going to bed, putting their little ones to bed, to make people happy, to make them proud of their lives."

"It's trite to say, but you'll agree with me: everything depends only on us. Only on us! From me, of course, but without you, a quality life is impossible. Therefore, we need to add quality to this peaceful, calm, creative life. And then everything will be fine," the President believes.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he often sets only one main task before the government: "Give me the economy, the rest is up to me. The same applies to development at the regional level.

"Therefore, we need to make every effort so that we could not just produce goods (and the economy is to produce and sell), but do it qualitatively. So that our goods would be bought even better than they are today," the head of state summarized.

The head of state noted that it is necessary to live worthily in the coming year and show that the Belarusian people are the masters of their land.

"We are standing on the threshold of the change of generations, when everything that has been done, bad or good (maybe it is not for us to judge), we will have to pass it on to the younger generation - our children," the President said. - This year will be very difficult. They will train on us. And we have to stand firm. They will train us for future presidential elections.
And we need to pay special attention to young people who have not seen difficult times in the Soviet period and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They have not experienced what the middle and older generations have experienced. They need to be told about it, they need to be shown to appreciate what was gained by our labor."

"We need to do everything so that we live this year with dignity and, approaching the main event, show ourselves with dignity. We, the Belarusian people, who have suffered and suffered in their history, have the right to live by our own laws," emphasized the Belarusian leader.