He is a Belarusian Orthodox priest of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Georhii Roy left Belarus a year ago because of repressions. In August 2020 father Georgii publicly opposed against violence in Belarus. In July 2021 he was eliminated from his position as an abbot of the Holy Intercession Cathedral in Grodno. In 2023 he joined the Ecumenical Patriarchate – then the Belarusian Orthodox Church prohibited him from services. After the full-scaled invasion Russia in Ukraine father Georgii has been publishing anti-war posts on social media. He was the first who signed the public letter from Belarusian Christians against violence. Now father Georgii is setting up and developing the Belarusian Orthodox parish in Ukraine. Also, he administers services for Ukrainians in their native language.
Father Georgii Roy – one of the beneficiaries of our charitable organization ‘Peace Unto All’. We contacted him and asked to comment the information that he is wanted in his homeland:
News that I am included in the wanted list in the Russian Federation wasn’t a surprise to me. I knew several months ago that a criminal case against me initiated in Belarus. I have no idea what I’m being charged with. But, I think, there are a lot of schemes that could be used for persecution based on the modern law enforcement in Belarus. I never hid my views, I publicly criticized the violence against citizens in Belarus, I opposed the Russian war against Ukraine. I did and I do a lot of interviews when I speak my mind and criticize abuses that I observe in my homeland. Last days more and more names of my compatriots appear in this wanted database. This occurs due to Belarusian security forces requests. So, my criminal case and search were just a matter of time. But the interesting fact is the way how they phrased the description about the wanted – ‘clergyman’. So, my priesthood turned into my distinguishing characteristic as a criminal in search. There is some kind of paradoxical truth in this.
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