GERALDINE FAGAN

Christian activists in the Belarusian pro-democracy movement routinely name Pavel Seviarynets as their leading light. A writer and co-chair of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party as well as a practicing Orthodox Christian, Seviarynets (b. 1976) has repeatedly been imprisoned for his political activity, as no independent opposition is tolerated in Belarus. This includes two terms of correctional labor in 2005-07 and 2011-13, as well as his current penal colony term of seven years on charges of “organizing mass unrest” after the disputed 9 August 2020 presidential election. This is while he has been held in detention since 7 June 2020—two months before election day and the subsequent opposition protests. 

Seviarynets’ latest book is the second volume of his Belarusalem [Belarusian: Belarusalim] trilogy. The novel’s semifantastical plotline centers on the use of a remote control system programmed by a company called Eternal Light, whose logo is a black square. With the assistance of the state authorities, it is able to manipulate an emerging movement of spiritual renewal in Belarus. 

While the novel was completed in January 2020, readers in Belarus have been struck by uncanny similarities between its narrative and developments after the August 2020 presidential election. These include: a summer of demonstrations across the country with hundreds of thousands of participants carrying red and white Belarusian flags and wearing white, leading to Belarus becoming topical across Europe; a violent crackdown by the regime, including the torture and death of jailed protesters; criticism and then removal of the leading Orthodox bishop; and the exile of many prominent pro-democracy activists. There is also the resonance of the volume’s title, Heart of Light [Belarusian: Sertsa Sviatla], with the name of the unexpectedly key figure in the election: exiled presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaia. Protesters in Minsk, summer 2020 (Z. DASHKEVICH) 

“Everything that we went through in August 2020 is contained in a book published in June 2020,” fellow Christian activist Aliaksei Shein noted. Shein also reports receiving a letter from Seviarynets in prison stating that his narrative had not been a “calculated prognosis,” but that he himself had been stunned by the many coincidences.1 

Seviarynets experienced the post-election events behind bars in Akrestsina—a pre-trial detention center in Minsk—and was able to hear the cries and moans of detainees being beaten in neighboring cells on the night of 9-10 August. According to his wife Volha, “He prayed long and fervently for the people who were being beaten. When he began to pray for those who were carrying out the beating, everything went quiet.”2 

As Seviarynets’ latest case was heard in court during May 2021, he chose to remain silent on principle, except to say, “I have already said everything in my books.”3 Only on the final day, when his seven-year sentence was pronounced and a few relatives and journalists were admitted to the courtroom, did he insist that, “Belarus will be free” before leading a common chant of the pro-democracy opposition: “We believe! We can do it! We will win!” [Belarusian: Verym! Mozham! Peramozham!]4 Shortly afterwards, he conveyed a statement illustrating the core tenet of his latest writing: Belarusalem: Heart of Light, Pavel Seviarynets’ Belarusian-language novel published in June 2020.

 “We can do it!” and “We will win!” are impossible without “belief.” People who have been granted the ability to believe should therefore speak louder than others, defend good and resist evil. The voice of the faithful, who currently stand still and are restrained, should be the loudest of voices.”5

Given the prescience of Belarusalem, what of the future in Belarus now that the democratic opposition has been forced underground? Seviarynets remains undeterred:

You see, we are following God’s path, there must be mockery and scourges, an unjust trial and the cross. There is no path forward without it if we are Christians. But then the Resurrection will come, of course… I think this is a matter not of “chances” but of destiny. God has already prevailed. He has already left for Belarus. That means He is coming, and nobody can stop Him. The hearts of Belarusians are changing, and that is the main thing. The Lord does not come by the road of Conqueror, but through human hearts.6

Seviarynets is not without controversy in some quarters. A conservative Christian, he has commented on LGBT behavior that, “The Bible says that this is not the norm… Everyone has the right to behave as one sees fit. But this cannot be imposed as a social norm.”7 In late 2020 his name was removed from a nomination for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought due to his views on LGBT issues. The 2020 Prize was nevertheless awarded to the democratic opposition in Belarus as a whole, represented by its leading Coordination Council. This includes Seviarynets’ fellow Belarusian Christian Democracy co-chair Volha Kavalkova, currently in exile after 10 days’ detention in 2020.8

Notes:

1. [In Belarusian] “Belarusalim. Sertsa Sviatla,” Pavel Seviarynets’ personal website, http://ps.knihi.tilda.ws/belarusalimserca.
2. [In Belarusian] Volha Seviarynets [Pavel’s wife], public social media post, 3 June 2021.
3.  “Belarusalim. Sertsa Sviatla,” ibid.
4.  This episode may be viewed at: “Pavel Severinets posle oglasheniia prigovora sude,” Reform.by/YouTube, 26 May 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIgnSXAitX8.
5.  [In Belarusian] Hanna Seviarynets [Pavel’s sister], public social media post, 28 May 2021. 
6.  [In Belarusian] Letter from Pavel Seviarynets conveyed in 10 February 2021 public social media post by Volha Seviarynets.
7. [In Belarusian] Aliaksandra Dyn’ko, “Paval Seviarynets: Vel’mi shkada liudzei, iakiia khvareiuts’ na homaseksualizm, zaimaiutstsa feminizmam,” Radyio Svaboda, 6 June 2016, https://www.svaboda.org/a/paval-sieviaryniec/27782779.html.
8. [In Russian and Belarusian] “Sestra Pavla Severintsa o ego iskliuchenii iz spiska laureatov na premiiu Sakharova: ‘My pra hetuiu situatsyiu vedali dauno’,” Brestskaia Gazeta, 24 October 2020, https://www.b-g.by/news/sestra-pavla-severinca-o-egoisklyuchenii-iz-spiska-laureatov-na-premiyu-saharova-myi-pragetuyu-s-tuacyiyu-vedal-da-no/.

Geraldine Fagan is editor of the East-West Church Report