Romanian Authorities Accused of Seizing Moldovan Churches

CHISINAU — Archbishop Marchell of Bălți and Fălești accused the Romanian government and the Romanian Patriarchate of orchestrating takeovers of churches belonging to the Moldovan Orthodox Church.

The bishop’s statement was prompted by events in the village of Grinăuți in the Rîșcani District, where, according to him, there was an attempted seizure of a local church by representatives of the Metropolis of Bessarabia — a structure under the Romanian Patriarchate.

“Like thieves in the middle of the night, like robbers, this is how the Metropolis of Bessarabia and all of Romanian policy behave toward us Moldovans,” said Archbishop Marchell.

He emphasized that such incidents could be repeated, as the Romanian government and ecclesiastical bodies, in his words, “spare no expense to buy up Moldovan parishes.”

According to local media, the incident in Grinăuți lasted several hours and involved confrontations between faithful from the two jurisdictions. The event heightened tensions in the local community.

The archbishop also noted his belief that part of the funds Romania receives from the European Union are being used to “destroy Russian Orthodoxy” in Moldova.

The Moldovan Orthodox Church is a self-governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church. Established in 1813, it currently includes six dioceses and over 1,200 parishes. Its conflict with the parallel jurisdiction — the Metropolis of Bessarabia, which is under the Romanian Patriarchate — escalated after 2001, when the European Court of Human Rights forced Moldovan authorities to officially register the Metropolis’ activity within the country.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Romanian hierarchs, all of Moldova belongs to the Romanian Patriarchate. It should be noted that the Moldovan church predates the formation and autocephaly of the Romanian Church by 50-80 years depending on whether one counts the formation as the date of proclaimed or recognized autocephaly of the Romanian Church from Constantinople.

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