In a pastoral letter read out in churches Aug. 30, the archbishop said he feared the country might be heading for civil war.
Catholics are the second-largest religious community in Belarus after Orthodox Christians. The U.S. government estimates that 53% of Belarusians are Orthodox, 6% Catholic and 8% atheist.
Lukashenko has served as president of Belarus since the office was established in 1994, three years after the country declared independence from the Soviet Union.
According to the state-owned Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA), Lukashenko addressed the incident involving Kondrusiewicz Sept. 1, saying that he did not possess full information about the event. He suggested that the archbishop might be a citizen of more than one country.
"We are looking into the matter. I do not claim it. We want to study the issue. If everything is according to the law, we will act accordingly. It does not matter whether he is the main Catholic, the main Orthodox, or the main Muslim. He has to live by the law. If you mix church and politics and call for believers, Catholics, who are wonderful people, there is double responsibility for that," BelTA quoted him as saying.
In a Sept. 1 interview with Catholic.by, Bishop Yuri Kasabutsky, an auxilary bishop of Minsk-Mogilev archdiocese, said that Kondrusiewicz's citizenship status was clear.
"Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz has only one citizenship -- Belarusian, and according to the law, his right to enter cannot be restricted in any way," he said.
In his message to his flock in Belarus, Kondrusiewicz said that he had appealed to the State Border Committee to allow him to return to the country. He added that he hoped it was simply a "misunderstanding" that would be swiftly corrected.
"To you, dear brothers in the episcopal and priestly ministry, consecrated persons, believers and people of good will, I appeal for prayer for my speedy return to my homeland and a peaceful solution to the acute socio-political crisis in our Motherland," he said.
This report has been updated to include Bishop Kasabutsky's comment.