Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, visited the Belarusian National Technical University on April 17. The large-scale event brought together the university's management, teachers, students, clergy and distinguished guests. Anatoly Nichkasov, Chairman of the Republican Union of Builders, also took part in the event.
The program of the visit began with a festive prayer service. His Eminence addressed the audience with a welcoming speech and said a prayer, blessing the leadership, teachers and students of the university for their good deeds. During the visit, an exhibition of the Faculty of Architecture "Easter Joy" and a performance by the folk choir chapel were organized for the participants.
The central event of the day was a conference at the BNTU Hall of Fame. The event opened with a welcoming speech by the rector of the University Sergey Kharitonchik:
– Today I have a great joy, and I want to share it. I want to talk a little bit about our eternal values, pressing thoughts, and the challenges our society faces today. I am sincerely grateful to Vladyka Veniamin for taking the time to visit our university on these holy Easter days. This is a tradition that has been going on for decades. And you and I are all looking forward to this meeting, because we are so happy and have such an opportunity to talk about such important, sacred and spiritual topics here. Of course, when we talk about eternal values, we, as engineers, usually see some part of our utilitarian side, and maybe even society joins in this. Everyone wants to have a new smartphone, car, girls love beautiful new dresses. But it takes a year, two, three, and you're already watching: Other new cars have appeared, and the smartphone is already outdated, and the fashion has changed. And what remained eternal? But parents, country, homeland, and spiritual values remained eternal. More than two thousand years have passed since the resurrection of Christ, but it still remains an eternal value. We come back to this every year and rejoice at this event. And this is especially important for us engineers. I remember the moment when the head of our state said that it is necessary to educate a true patriot, and if you do not give him an important upbringing, spiritual values, he will become an evil genius. Without spirituality, an engineer cannot create something great and important.
The meeting was continued by a lecture by the Metropolitan on the Spiritual Meanings of Easter:
– Dear Sergey Vasilyevich, dear faculty, our students, brothers and sisters, I am glad to welcome you on these holy Easter days of the Resurrection of Christ and thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts and reflections. On the one hand, I repeat, from a spiritual point of view, to reveal, as far as possible, to a person, to reveal the mystery of Sunday. A mystery that even the angelic powers are in awe of. On the other hand, I will partly try to draw some parallels with the subjects that are studied here at our country's leading technical university in order to see that the mystery of the resurrection of Christ, the gospel of Christ, is not divorced from the lives of modern people and, on the contrary, complements one another. The Easter Greeting itself, which has been heard all over the world for more than two thousand years, as Sergey Vasilyevich said, is not just a tradition. This is the very core of the Christian faith. In these words lies the greatest victory that has changed the course of all human history and continues to transform every single life.
An important historical stage of the conference was the signing of the plan of cooperation between the BNTU and the Belarusian Orthodox Church for 2026-2030. The strategic document was signed by Sergey Kharitonchik and Metropolitan Veniamin.
As Irina Gud, head of the Center for Ideological Work and Youth Affairs at BNTU, noted in her report, the university and the BOC have been linked for more than 25 years of fruitful cooperation. Charity events are regularly held at the university, clergymen meet with students in dormitories, and volunteer groups help with the improvement of churches. Irina Good summarized her speech with a quote from the President of the Republic of Belarus: "We have never separated ourselves from the Church, because the state and the church solve the same problem. We have always relied on the ideas of the Church, developed over thousands of years, in fact, we chose her as the main ideologue of Belarusian statehood, and we were not mistaken in this."
Special attention at the conference was paid to the practical and patriotic work of the students. The acting head of the Department of Drawing, Watercolor and Sculpture, Associate Professor Ksenia Polyakova, presented a report on the development of science-oriented practices using the example of the ARTslava volunteer group, numbering more than 100 people. The detachment is engaged in the restoration of monuments of the Great Patriotic War (in particular, the memorial to the partisans in the village of Yanushkovichi). In their work, students use both authentic restoration methods and new technologies, including laser scanning and 3D printing.
Natalia Shulyakovskaya, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, shared the results of the students' extensive work on the draft design of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in China. In the shortest possible time, 69 students, under the guidance of 20 teachers, developed building concepts, master plans and landscaping options. The jury selected 27 best projects from a variety of ideas. Anatoly Nichkasov, Chairman of the Republican Union of Builders, provided significant assistance in the preparation, who personally advised future architects on the specifics of designing diplomatic facilities.
The logical continuation of the topic was the summing up of the results of the Construction Olympus 2025 competition. A delegation of the Union of Builders headed by Anatoly Nichkasov arrived at BNTU to honor the winners: Margarita Borshchevskaya, head of the secretariat, Tatiana Savich, press secretary, Nina Klokova, a leading specialist in external relations and information, and Pavel Matusevich, a photojournalist for the Republican Construction Newspaper.
– I am glad to welcome everyone present. The event, which brings together the university's leadership, faculty and students, is of great importance. The profession of architect today shapes the personality and spiritual qualities of our society. The positive attitude of the environment and the creation of socially important facilities depend on the creative work of the builders," Anatoly Ivanovich noted.
For conscientious work and active participation in the scientific and methodological support of the educational process, the training of highly qualified personnel for the construction industry of the Republic of Belarus, the staff of the BNTU faculty was awarded the Diploma of the Republican Union of Builders. The Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Yuri Chanturia, and the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Natalia Shulyakovskaya, were also awarded certificates of honor.
The project teams were awarded high awards and honorary diplomas of the winners of the Construction Olympus 2025 competition:
Another solemn note was the awarding of the head of the Department of Economics and Law of BNTU, Doctor of Economics, Professor Sergey Solodovnikov. For many years of fruitful scientific and pedagogical activity, high professionalism, significant personal contribution to the training of highly qualified specialists in the fields of the economy of the Republic, Sergey Yurievich was awarded the badge of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus "Excellent Student of Education".
The program of the visit ended with a warm exchange of gifts. The Rector of BNTU, Sergey Kharitonchik, presented Vladyka with a painting depicting the All-Holy Church, created by talented students of the Faculty of Architecture. In turn, Metropolitan Veniamin donated the Gospel to the university.
We thank Vladyka for his visit, his wise words of guidance, his invaluable contribution to the spiritual enlightenment of our youth, and the continued support of our university!
