Before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War all Orthodox churches and monasteries in the eastern regions of Belarus were closed. There were several underground communities - in the Gomel and Mogilev regions. The priests were in an illegal situation.
In the western regions of Belarus church life was preserved. The churches were open here, monasteries and theological schools were functioning. The dioceses of Pinsk, Grodno and Polesie worked. This was due to the fact that until 1939 the territory was under Polish occupation.
The authorities of the Second Rzech Pospolita pursued a harsh and repressive policy towards the Orthodox Church. The Polish government labeled Belarusian culture, literature and traditions, which were studied in the educational centers and social institutions operating at Orthodox parishes, as hostile. They realized a strategy of religious and national genocide.
They pursued a policy of polonization of church life, claimed that the churches formerly belonged to the Catholic Church, - said the candidate of theology Protodeacon Pavel Bubnov. In 1938 alone, he said, more than 800 Orthodox churches were burned in Poland by unknown perpetrators. This was a planned action with complete inaction on the part of the Polish police.
