MINSK, 21 June (BelTA) – This memory is sacred and will always be sacred for Belarusians. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has expressed confidence in it many times. He did in 2001 in the year of the 60th anniversary since the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began. Back then it seemed that there is simply no other way for things to happen. Unique footage of commemorative events involving the Belarus president and Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, who came to Brest specifically, are presented by BelTA’s YouTube project “How it was: DOC”.
It has been slightly more than 20 years since that day. And the countries that have made an invaluable contribution to the common Victory have perverted the memory and turned it inside out. They destroyed monuments and branded Soviet soldiers as occupiers. But the memory is still sacred in Belarus. We honor and preserve all the sites of significance for humanity. Including the Brest Fortress that stands as a symbol of courage, tenacity, and spiritual strength.
It was in Brest that Holy Resurrection Cathedral opened in June 2001. It was built under the patronage of the head of state. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II consecrated the new temple and performed the first divine service in it.
“We are gathered to honor the memory of the heroic border guards, who gave their lives to defend borders of the Fatherland in the first few days of the war,” the Belarusian leader said in June 2001. “Those were the most tragic days out of one thousand and a half of the war days that our nations had to live through. They remain in our memory as an open and bleeding wound and embody the pain of losses, death of millions of people – warriors and civilians, the elderly and innocent children.”
It is the huge price that Belarus has paid in the name of freedom and independence of the Fatherland, the president reminded. “We should never forget it. We have no right to forget it. No task is more important than conveying the immortal heroic deed of fathers and grandfathers to descendants. They gave their lives to save the world from the brown plague. They gifted a bright future to people on the planet and this free and pure land to us,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
The head of state and the patriarch of Moscow and all Russia laid wreaths at a monument of the new memorial complex in honor of the border defenders. They visited St. Nicholas Garrison Church in the Brest Fortress. Watch this archive footage in our YouTube project “How it was: DOC”.
