Exodus: The Impact of Migration from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine after 2020 on Christian Communities in Poland

• In Event: Belarus IV: Dispossession and Disruption: Belarusian Professional, Religious, and Vulnerable Communities in Exile

Abstract

The paper discusses the local and global impacts of migrants from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine on religious communities in Poland after the year of 2020. Warsaw has become home to one of the biggest groups of Belarusian migrants after the protests of 2020 in Belarus, as well as a sizable Ukrainian diaspora and a visible Russian community which relocated after the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine in 2022.
On the local level, the paper discusses the adjustments made by local Christian communities such as Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, and various Protestant communities (Evangelicals, Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses) to accommodate new members from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine and meet their needs. For example, in 2021, pastoral ministry for Catholics from Belarus residing in Warsaw began: liturgy in the Belarusian language is served twice a week in St. Alexander’s Church on Three Crosses Square. Most of the attendees are political refugees from Belarus, including their pastor, who previously served in Belarus, and had to leave the country due to persecution for political reasons.
On the global level, the paper reflects on the changes in the religious landscape caused by migration. One change is the diversification of the religious landscape through establishing new religious communities by relocatees. An interesting case is the Reformed Baptist church established by two pastors and political refugees from Belarus in 2022. About 100 people attended the first service of this newly-established church in Warsaw. While most members of the new church are from Belarus, the pastors say that the church is for all nations. It is Russian-speaking and is attended by people from Ukraine and Russia as well.
While research on migrants tend to focus on the needs of migrants themselves, the current paper aims at understanding first of all the way local communities reacted to the challenge of a huge inflow of new members with diverse background, many of whom share the same language but are politically divided.

Author

• Ksenia Medvedeva, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, PAS (Poland)