BELARUSAN AUTOCEPHALOUS ORTHODOX CHURCH or BAOC is a branch of Orthodox Christianity.
The first word of its name indicates that it came into being in Belarus and it is native to that nation Church. Its membership is open to any and all Orthodox Christians who follow its teaching and obey its statute and discipline.
The indigenous to Belarus character of the BAOC is represented in its liturgical language which in principle is Belarusan and some local ritual traditions together with veneration of the local saints and holy sites.
The most visible sign of the local traditions is the six-armed cross of St. Euphrosynia that the BAOC adapted as its symbol .
Moreover, due to the fact that the prevalent majority of the Belarusan believers are of the Orthodox Faith, the BAOC is the national Church of the Belarusan people. As such it cherishes their God given traits and emphasizes with the preservation and development of these traits into cultural values, which are compatible with Christian teachings.
The exact observance of the Christian teachings and support of the national aspirations including state independence of the Belarusan people differentiates the BAOC from the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church which, pursuing Great-Russian imperial goals, at present time unlawfully occupies Belarus and serves as a tool of russification and cultural genocide.
In its assimilative practices the Moscow Patriarchate of the ROC is totally supported by the present dictatorial regime of the Republic of Belarus, which has forbidden the reestablishment of the BAOC in its homeland.
As the result of this ban the Belarusan Autocephalous Orthodox Church now functions openly only in the Belarusan diaspora abroad but maintains spiritual ties and physical communications with multitudes of its followers in Belarus whose allegiance assures its future reestablishment in an independent and democratic Belarusan state.
"Autocephalous means that it is self-governing or in other words independent of the administrative rule of any foreign ecclesiastical authority although it recognizes the spiritual leadership of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (now Istanbul).
"Autocephalous means that it is self-governing or in other words independent of the administrative rule of any foreign ecclesiastical authority although it recognizes the spiritual leadership of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (now Istanbul).
"Orthodox" gives testimony to the fact that it strictly adheres to the tenets of the Orthodox Christian Faith as they are laid out in the Holy Scriptures, teachings of the Holy Apostles and Holy Fathers, and decisions of the seven Ecumenical Councils.
"Church" of course is the Body of Christ, the divinely ordained community of the faithful in Christ, which holds to one Faith, believes in the same teachings, has the same wonder and purity, partakes of the same holy sacraments, and follows properly ordained priests and bishops, the successors to the Apostles.