The Belarusian Council of Orthodox Churches in North America under the Leadership of Protopresbyter Svyatoslav Kous in 1976-1986
The article is devoted to one of the least studied pages of the church history of the newest period, connected with the organization of the life of Belarusian parishes in North America in the second half of the twentieth century. Since 1950, the Belarusian Central Council, which has positioned itself as a Belarusian government in exile, has embarked on facilitating the opening of Belarusian parishes to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. A direct consequence of the implementation of this initiative was the formation in 1970 of the Belarusian Council of Orthodox Churches in North America, which received the status of an autonomous structure within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (American Archdiocese of the Constantinople Patriarchate). During the leadership of Belarusian Council by the Protopresbyter Svyatoslav Kous (1976-1986), active attempts were made to raise the church unit to the level of the Belarusian diocese in the diaspora. However, due to the absence of candidates for ordination, recognized by all members of the Belarusian Council, the planned development of the Belarusian church structure did not take place. In 1982-1985 there was a sharp undermining of the authority of the Belarusian Council of Orthodox Churches in North America, associated with the publication of a series of exposing materials accusing the Protopresbyter Svyatoslav of complicity with the Nazis during the German occupation of Belarus. Despite numerous denials, the campaign to discredit certain members of the Belarusian diaspora lasted a long time. The current situation provoked the development of a serious disease in Protopresbyter Svyatoslav, which caused his departure from the management of the Belarusian Council of Orthodox Churches in North America.