's grave in
Leuven, Belgium with the sheet music of
Mahutny Boža engraved In 1947 composer
Mikola Ravienski wrote music for the poem "Prayer" written by
Natallia Arsiennieva four years earlier. Soon it became widely used by Belarusian communities in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. Since the late 1980s, the hymn has gained popularity in post-Soviet
Belarus. In 1993 the
Catholic Church in Belarus initiated a festival of ecclesiastical music in
Mahilioŭ which was named after the hymn. In 1995 the hymn was proposed as one of the candidates for the
national anthem of Belarus. However, the government of
Alexander Lukashenka instead adopted the old anthem of Soviet Belarus with some variation to the lyrics. In 2005
Mahutny Boža was translated into English by
Vera Rich. During the
2020-21 Belarusian protests the hymn became one of the protest songs and its performance was banned within the Belarusian parishes of the
Russian Orthodox Church. In spring 2021, the hymn was recognised as "one of the most popular Belarusian music pieces". == Lyrics ==