On December 19 at 11 a.m., Commissioner for Religion and Nationalities

Alexander Rumak

, representatives of the Minsk City Executive Committee, CUP "Minskaya Spadchyna", a representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and from the side of the Church - Papal Nuncio

Ante Jozic

, Metropolitan Yusof

Stanevsky

, Father

Yury Sanko

, Parish Priest Wladyslav

Zavalnyuk

and some others priests entered the church to inspect its current state.

At the same time, the representatives of the Church Committee were not allowed to participate in the inspection, despite the letter from the CUP "Minskaya Spadchyna", which contains a specific order on the permission to enter the church, reports Shyrvony.by.

From the testimonies of the priests and those who managed to enter the sanctuary, the following was revealed:

  • There are no traces of fire, smoke or soot in the worship hall - the church is clean and beautiful, suitable for services.

  • The church is warm, the batteries are hot (at the same time, in all the letters we received from government agencies, we were informed that there is no heating in the church).

  • In the sacristy, the altarpiece and the Cross above it, which are just opposite the broken stained glass window, were damaged by fire.

    A hole (about 40×40 cm) is punched in the ceiling above the Cross.

  • There is no smell of smoke at all in the whole church, gallery and cellars, everywhere is clean and warm with many living flower pots.

According to eyewitnesses, only the sacristy needs repairs, which can be done in a short time.

And the parish is ready to make it with its own funds (donations of believers).

However, the publication notes that the CUP "Minskaya Spadchyna" demands to close the church for repairs, the duration of which has not even been determined.

  • The Red Church was closed by the authorities to believers and priests after the fire incident on September 26.

    Not long after, the authorities decided to take the building from the parish, citing the need for repairs.

  • Already by October 12, the parish had to take its property from the building.

    But believers and the priest are not allowed into the church building.

  • On October 11, master priest Vladyslav Zavalnyuk was praying on the porch near the closed doors of the Red Church, when uniformed policemen approached him and tried to forcefully pull him away with the demand: "Come through!".

    The priest asked them not to touch him, and the policemen stopped touching him.

    Security forces prevented the prayer and other people who gathered near the shrine.

  • On October 11, the Catholic community sent an open letter to Lukashenka with a request to allow authorized representatives of the parish to inspect the fire-damaged buildings of the Red Church in Minsk.

    A copy of the letter is posted on the parish website.

  • Parishioners also stated that the fire in the church was not accidental, and sent a request to the Investigative Committee to provide information based on the results of the investigation.

  • On October 13, Edward Vainilovich, the founder of the church, turned 175 years old.

    Vainilovich, economic and political figure, memoirist, was born in 1847.

    In 1905–1910, Vainilovich's money was used to build the Red Church in Minsk in memory of his children, Simon and Alena Vainilovich, who died prematurely.

  • In early November, the Minsk City Executive Committee responded negatively to the parishioners' appeal, forbidding them to pray closer than 200 meters from the church.