Belarusian Orthodox Church
Belarusian Orthodox Church (Russian: Белорусская Православная Церковь, Belarusian: Беларуская праваслаўная царква) is the official name of the Belarusian Exarchate (Russian: Белорусский экзархат) of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus. It represents the union of Russian orthodox eparchies on the territory of Belarus and is the largest religious organization in the country, uniting the predominant majority of its Eastern Orthodox Christians.
The leader of the Belarusian Orthodox Church is Metropolitan Paul.
The church enjoys a much smaller degree of autonomy compared to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is a semi-autonomous entity associated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Belarusian Orthodox Church strongly opposes the minor and largely emigration-based Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Structure
The structure of the Belarusian Orthodox Church consists of 11 eparchies:
- Eparchy of Babruysk and Bykhau
- Eparchy of Brest and Kobryn
- Eparchy of Vitsebsk and Orsha
- Eparchy of Homel and Zhlobin
- Eparchy of Hrodna and Vaukavysk
- Eparchy of Mahiliou and Mstsislau
- Eparchy of Minsk and Slutsk
- Eparchy of Navahrudak and Lida
- Eparchy of Pinsk and Luninets
- Eparchy of Polatsk and Hlybokaye
- Eparchy of Turau and Mazyr