soul searching continued Tuesday, October 14, after a fire at a psychiatric clinic, killed 30 people most of them patients.
An Orthodox church near the controversial institution in the town of Randilovshchina, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) west of the capital Minsk reportedly held a memorial service for the victims of the most serious fire in the former Soviet republic in half a century.
Yet Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has refused to send condolences or declare a national day of mourning, his spokeswoman told the French News Agency AFP.
"How would you react if the country officially mourns 30 psychologically sick people?, asked Natalya Petkevich.
SPIRITUAL HEALTH
The incident in the apparently ill managed psychiatric clinic, underscored church concerns about the spiritual health of the post Communist nation where weaker people have been discriminated during decades of Soviet domination .
However recently adopted legislation permits churches only to preach to whoever enter their buildings, "so that the church becomes a passive organization," a Roman Catholic source who preferred not to be named told the Forum 18 News Service (F18News).
"People might argue that the churches are open, but what freedom is that? It is a silhouette," the well informed source said. Especially Evangelical groups and congregations have tried to spread what they see as the Hope of Jesus Christ to the country.
TROUBLED NATION
Speaking to pastors in Minsk last month, American evangelist David Wilkerson urged church leaders to continue to pray for a revival in the troubled nation.
"In Minsk…there was a prophetic word from my father that there was a statue of (former Soviet Union leader) Lenin on what was known as Independence Square," his son Gary Wilkerson told BosNewsLife.
"The president of that nation changed it back to Lenin Square. My father got up and said: "this is a word from the Lord that in the near future a crane will come and take that statue out."
REGIME "FALLS"
"The regime will fall down, and there will be complete freedom for Belarus, hundreds of churches will be starting (revival) and there will be a great move of God."
Gary Wilkerson recalled how "up to that moment it was very quit in the building, because they are kind of reserved people. But after (my father) said that people shouted and thanked the Lord. It was like a breakthrough and a powerful moment."
While churches wait for revival, controversial laws and an active secret police force them to have most of their activities in defined areas such as a single village, town or region.
Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal and Catholic leaders are among those to have expressed their concern that this "makes it difficult to organize new churches." Those violating restrictions have been subjected to beatings, threats, prison terms and fines, Forum 18 and other human rights organizations have reported.
