Moldovan govt accused of ‘spiritual terror' after bishop's Easter trip blocked
Moldova's largest opposition party has accused the country's government of 'an unprecedented act of spiritual terror,' after a senior Moldovan Orthodox Church bishop was prevented from traveling to Jerusalem for an Easter ritual.
Bishop Marchel was set to attend the Holy Fire ceremony, a major religious event ahead of Orthodox Easter on April 20. Orthodox Christians believe the flame miraculously appears each year on Holy Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, marking the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Pilgrims traditionally light candles from the flame to bring home.
However, Bishop Marchel told TASS on Thursday that Moldovan police had stopped him and two clerics at the airport, conducted searches, and delayed them until 30 minutes after their flight had departed.
The Party of Socialists accused the government of 'publicly humiliating' the senior cleric and demanded an apology.
'We consider the actions of [President] Maia Sandu's regime a deliberate act of spiritual terror against the Moldovan Orthodox Church and hundreds of thousands of its parishioners,' the party said in a Telegram statement on Friday. 'Any pressure on the Church is a crime against the people and an encroachment on the foundations of Moldovan statehood.'
The party described the incident's timing during the Holy Week as especially egregious.
'The authorities publicly humiliated the archpastor… during the Holy Week, on the eve of Easter. It is a moral downfall of the regime, for which there can be no justifications,' the statement read. It claimed that the incident amounted to 'a declaration of war against the Orthodox majority' by an 'anti-national regime.'
Moldova, where more than 90% of the population identify as Orthodox Christians, is home to two major branches of the Church: the Moldovan Orthodox Church, under the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, under the Romanian Orthodox Church. Tensions between the two, while multifaceted, have deepened in recent years amid President Sandu's pro-EU stance and criticism of Moscow. While Sandu earlier claimed her government 'has relationships' with both metropolises, critics have accused Chisinau of pressuring the Moscow-affiliated church.
The Russian Orthodox Church has also condemned the incident.
'The advisers to the Moldovan authorities, who are clearly far from Christianity, believe they are achieving some kind of a political goal,' said the Moscow Patriarchate spokesman Vladimir Legoyda. 'This is a completely outrageous decision by the Moldovan authorities, a deliberate mockery of the faithful of the Orthodox Church of Moldova,' he wrote on Telegram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
26-05-2025
- Russia Today
Top Russian MP advises Telegram's Durov to leave France
Telegram founder Pavel Durov should leave France as soon as possible following his claims that the country's foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE, pressured him to censor conservative voices on his platform, Russian MP Aleksey Zhuravlev has said. Earlier in May, Durov accused the DGSE of attempting to interfere in Romania's elections by pushing for censorship on Telegram, which he allegedly refused. The spy agency denied the allegations, but the tech entrepreneur doubled down, accusing Paris of abusing 'terror' and 'child porn' investigations as a pretext to pursue a political agenda. 'I would advise him to leave France at the first opportunity – the risk of ending up behind bars again is too high, especially if he continues to resist the demands of the French intelligence services,' said Aleksey Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, in an interview with RIA Novosti on Saturday. Durov, whose company is based in Dubai, was arrested in France in August 2024 on charges of complicity in crimes allegedly committed by Telegram users, including extremism and child abuse. He was later released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail. Although he was allowed to travel to the UAE in March, his recent request to visit the US was denied, and he remains under restricted supervision. '[Durov] himself said that the DGSE, France's external intelligence agency, demanded that Telegram organize a campaign against right-wing politicians in Romania,' Zhuravlev said, questioning the conditions of Durov's release and noting that the tech entrepreneur is still restricted from international travel. 'It is more useful to always keep such an influential person in the field of new media within arm's reach,' he added. Zhuravlev argued that Durov has likely come to fully grasp the nature of 'Western democracy,' where, he claimed, the law can be bent to suit political aims. However, he suggested that Durov remains unable to extricate himself from the situation, possibly due to compromising material being held against Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also weighed in, accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of using 'barbaric' methods to advance his foreign policy agenda. 'It turns out that [President Emmanuel] Macron had Durov arrested not even to address internal issues with the messenger, but to influence the elections in Romania – realizing that the candidate from the liberal dictatorship wouldn't be able to win under any legal circumstances,' Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Saturday.
Russia Today
24-05-2025
- Russia Today
Paris arrested Telegram founder to meddle in Romanian election — Moscow
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of detaining Telegram founder Pavel Durov for the purpose of interfering with the electoral processes in Romania. The accusation comes shortly after Durov claimed that French authorities had enquired with him regarding the issue. 'It turns out that Macron had Durov arrested not even to address internal issues with the messenger using such barbaric methods, but to influence the elections in Romania, realizing that the candidate from the liberal dictatorship wouldn't be able to win under any legal circumstances,' Zakharova wrote on Telegram. On Saturday, Durov said, citing Romanian journalist Marius Tuca, that Nicolas Lerner, the head of France's foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE, had visited the country just two days before the vote. Earlier this month, Durov revealed that Lerner had asked him to censor conservative voices on the social media platform during the election campaign in Romania. The agency has publicly denied the allegation. Durov in turn accused French authorities of deflecting criticism by linking him to unrelated criminal investigations involving users of his platform. Durov was arrested in France last August and charged with complicity in crimes allegedly carried out by Telegram users. The Russian-born entrepreneur, whose company is headquartered in Dubai, was ultimately released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail and allowed to leave the country in mid-March. Romania's Constitutional Court promptly annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election carried out in November 2024, alleging that independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu had secured an unexpected lead with the help of Russian interference. Georgescu was disqualified from the re-run. Last Sunday, the conservative EU critic George Simion lost a run-off vote against pro-Brussels Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan by a single-digit margin. Simion challenged the results on Tuesday, alleging 'external interferences by state and non-state actors,' but the nation's Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the petition. Following Simion's petition, Durov offered to testify before the Romanian authorities about the interactions with French officials, saying he would do so 'if it helps Romanian democracy.' Ahead of the second round of voting, Romania's Foreign Ministry alleged that Moscow was attempting to influence the outcome. The Kremlin ridiculed the allegations, comparing the process with a mess and stating that it shouldn't even count as a proper vote.
Russia Today
23-05-2025
- Russia Today
Moldovan Orthodox bishop blocked from religious trip again
Chisinau is conducting a systematic crackdown on the Moldovan Orthodox Church, a senior cleric claimed on Friday after being detained and prevented from traveling abroad. Bishop Marchel previously made headlines in April when he was barred from boarding a flight to Jerusalem for the Orthodox Easter 'Holy Fire' ceremony – a move by the nation's pro-Western government that drew international criticism. The Orthodox bishop said he was stopped at Chisinau International Airport and subjected to a search, causing him to miss his flight ahead of a planned pilgrimage to a religious site in Türkiye. Speaking to Sputnik Moldova, Bishop Marchel described the search as 'humiliating' and said that he had repeatedly requested the presence of his lawyer, whom he had hired in advance in anticipation of possible trouble. However, border police proceeded without his legal representation, the cleric said, and he was only released after his flight had already departed. Bishop Marchel said the incident was part of a broader campaign by the country's government targeting the Moldovan Orthodox Church. 'I classify this as mass persecution, mass oppression of the Moldovan Orthodox clergy. Hundreds of clergymen and simple believers who made pilgrimages to holy places in Russia have been fined,' he said in a comment to RT. 'This is simply because we are an integral part of Russian Orthodoxy,' the cleric said. In April, Chisinau's apparent move to prevent Bishop Marchel's pilgrimage to Jerusalem drew international criticism and condemnation by Moldova's political opposition, as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church. The UN Human Rights council has opened an inquiry into the incident. In recent years, Moldova has seen religious tensions involving two major Orthodox factions: the Moldovan Orthodox Church, affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia. The latter is under the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is being backed by the pro-EU authorities in Chisinau. Critics have repeatedly accused President Maia Sandu's government of pressuring the Moscow-linked church to shift allegiance to Romania. Moldova, a former Soviet republic, has sought EU and NATO membership since 2020, when Sandu – an outspoken critic of Russia – came to power. Her pro-Western policies have faced growing criticism domestically, particularly over the country's economic trajectory and handling of dissent. Sandu has defended her actions as part of a broader effort to counter alleged pro-Russian influence, launching crackdowns on opposition parties and media outlets that she describes as criminal entities.
