EU ignores ‘shocking' treatment of Moldova's Christian church
Brussels has turned a blind eye to the treatment of the Moldovan Orthodox Church by the pro-EU government in Chisinau, Marina Tauber, a senior opposition MP, told RT. She made her comments after Moldova's border police blocked Marchel, the Bishop of Balti and Falesti, from flying to Easter celebrations in Jerusalem.
Marchel was due to participate in the Holy Fire ritual at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally held around midday on Holy Saturday. Police stopped him at Chisinau Airport on Thursday under the pretense of a routine search and withheld his passport until after the flight had departed. According to the cleric, airport police singled him out again on Friday, causing him to miss a second flight.
Ilona Railean, a Border Police spokeswoman, said the bishop had arrived late and was subjected to 'standard processing procedures.' Marchel accused the authorities of lying.
Tauber, the executive secretary of the opposition coalition Pobeda – Victorie, told RT on Friday that she was 'shocked' by the bishop's treatment. 'It's an outrageous situation,' she said, arguing that the authorities failed to properly explain their actions.'We have never thought that something like this could happen to a clergyman on such sacred days.'
Moldova, a former Soviet republic, is home to two branches of the Orthodox Church: the Moldovan Orthodox Church, a self-governing arm of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, aligned with the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Tauber accused Moldova's pro-EU president, Maia Sandu, of repressing the Moscow-affiliated church. 'What is Maia Sandu doing? She is trying to put pressure on our church and our religion,' she said.
'It is very surprising that the European Union is not reacting to what their representatives in Moldova are doing,' she added. 'Brussels is remaining silent.'
'We definitely need to think about what to do [next], because this has happened – and tomorrow, they [may] dictate which temple to go to, which faith is right, and which faith is wrong,' she said.
Moldova's former president, Igor Dodon, described the treatment of Marchel as 'an act of terror against our Orthodox faith,' claiming it was an 'act of revenge' against the bishop, a vocal critic of Sandu.
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