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Patriarchal Exarch Filaret leads religious service near scene of bomb attack

Patriarchal Exarch Filaret led a religious service near an entrance to the Kastrychnitskaya subway station in Minsk on April 13 to remember the victims of Monday's bomb attack, which killed at least 12 people and wounded nearly 200.

After the service the Russian Orthodox Church’s top cleric in Belarus descended into the subway station, the scene of the bombing, to pay tribute to the victims and say that the Church would be praying for the people hospitalized after the incident. "Pray God they survive their ailments," he said.

Earlier, the subway station entrance was visited by a number of foreign diplomats, including representatives of the embassies of China, France, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan and Lithuania, as well as members of the Iranian ethnic community.

The station entrance became a spontaneous memorial, with hundreds of mourners turning out to honor the memory of the victims, lighting candles and laying flowers.

Minsk was holding a day of mourning on April 13 for the victims of the explosion. //BelaPAN