On December 2, 2025, the presentation of the encyclopedic reference book "New Martyrs and Confessors of the Belarusian Land" took place at the National Library of the Republic of Belarus in Minsk. The event was held as part of the seminar "Spiritual Enlightenment through library activities" at the XI Belarusian Christmas Educational Readings.
According to the rector of the Minsk Theological Academy, Archimandrite Athanasius (Sokolov), the new encyclopedic reference book has no analogues in the Republic of Belarus. It was created by a team of compilers for four years. An attempt to collect in one book the names of all the canonized new martyrs of our Church, including those who lived and served in the territory of modern Belarus, has been made more than once by various authors, but this handbook reflects this information most fully and reliably.
The compilers have done a lot of work to collect and systematize materials on the topic of the New Martyrs of Belarus. The biographical articles of the saints are arranged in two sections: 1) Biographies of the new martyrs and confessors of the Belarusian land (with an icon, troparia and prayers, a date of remembrance according to the new style); 2) Biographies of the new martyrs and confessors associated with life and ministry in Belarus.
In addition to direct reference information about the new martyrs, the publication contains information about the veneration of the new martyrs and confessors of the Belarusian land: churches, monuments, commemorative plaques and museums in honor of the holy new martyrs are listed; traditions of honoring the holy new martyrs and confessors in various regions of the Republic of Belarus. The program of the walking thematic tour "New Martyrs of Minsk" is also provided.
The publication also contains prayers of the troparion and kontakion, as well as information about the available liturgical texts.
In his speech, A.N. Yemelyanov, Director of the Mogilev publishing house "AmeliaPrint", spoke about the difficulties in selecting illustrative material, which is rich in the reference book, and about finding the most interesting approaches in preparing the layout of the publication.
Secretary of the Publishing Council of the Belarusian Orthodox Church T.A. Samoylyuk presented the bibliographic index "New Martyrs and Confessors of the Belarusian Land" compiled by her, placed in the fourth section of the handbook, and also spoke about the methodology for compiling and using nominal and geographical indexes to the first two sections of the handbook, which facilitate the rapid search for names and geographical objects mentioned in hagiographic materials. about the saints. On behalf of the compilers, sincere gratitude was expressed to the Chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, Bishop Ambrose of Borisov and Maryinogorsk, and the secretary of the commission, Archpriest Alexander Lopushansky, for their advisory assistance in the process of working on the handbook.
The reference book was published with the stamp of the Publishing Council "With the blessing of Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus." The publication opens with an introductory speech by Metropolitan Veniamin. The compilers dedicated their work to the memory of Metropolitan Filaret (Vakhromeev; 1935-2021), the first Patriarchal exarch of all Belarus, and the researcher of the feat of the New Martyrs and confessors, Archpriest Theodor Krivonos (+2021).