The government in Chișinău launched an attack on the Metropolitanate of Moldova, the first target being the pro-Russian bishop Marchel, politnavigator writes, referring to the fact Marchel was not allowed to fly to Tel Aviv.
NEWS: “Moldovan authorities have twice banned Marchel, the Archbishop of Bălți and Fălești, from flying to Israel to bring home the Holy Fire [Holy Light]. The incident can only be interpreted as a deliberate and demonstrative act of humiliation. No explanation, no official accusation — just a silent refusal, behind which one can suspect a political and ideological will.
Archbishop Marchel has long been known for his firm positions regarding civic, ideological and political issues. For years, he has been expressing his disagreement with the pro-Western course of Moldovan authorities, constantly supporting an alliance of Moldova with Russia. He opposes LGBT propaganda and supports the banning of this organization, as was done in the Russian Federation. For this reason, he has long been the target of attacks from politicians and media funded by USAID and the Soros Foundation.
The illegitimate president Maia Sandu, whose re-election was not recognized by the parliamentary opposition, cannot forgive her statements during the 2016 election campaign, when Bishop Marchel criticized the fact that Sandu doesn’t have a family of her own and predicted that she would promote an anti-national and anti-church policy, favoring Western “partners”.
The current context points to an increasingly acute conflict between state structures and the Orthodox clergy, which remains the last independent bastion and enjoys massive support from the population of Moldova. The current administration led by Sandu, acts indirectly through administrative abuses, bureaucratic rhetoric and pressure mechanisms behind the scenes. But the problem essentially remains the same: there is a systematic and deliberate activity to remove the Church from the public and symbolic space of the country”.
[...] It is obvious that the attack on Archbishop Marchel is not just a blow to a clergyman, but also a political signal to all those who remain faithful to the Russian Orthodox Church and oppose the Euro-globalist drive.
NARRATIVE: The Metropolitanate of Moldova and its priests are persecuted by the authorities in Chișinău.
PURPOSE: To spread panic in society regarding the possible risk of destroying the Metropolitanate of Moldova, affiliated to the Russian Patriarchate.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The Republic of Moldova is a secular state, and religious denominations have the freedom to self-organize. There is no indication that the authorities in Chișinău have launched a campaign against the Metropolitanate of Moldova, its priests or parishioners. Around the Easter holidays, president Maia Sandu met with both Metropolitans, emphasizing “the importance of unity and good understanding in society”.
Last week, Marchel was turned away from the airport twice. According to the authorities, he was late for a flight to Israel on the eve of Orthodox Easter. Marchel claimed that he was deliberately delayed so he would miss his flight, and Russian propaganda widely promoted this story. It is also worth noting that Marchel was not even part of the delegation of the Metropolitanate of Moldova designated to bring the holy light to Chișinău.
Veridica has previously debunked false narratives suggesting that the church affiliated to the Russian Patriarchate in the Republic of Moldova was allegedly in danger. In fact, in a letter addressed to Russian Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Vladimir himself mentioned that the association of the Metropolitanate with the Russian Patriarchate “is pushing it at an alarming pace towards the periphery of Moldovan society”. In the document, Vladimir criticized the attitude of the Russian Patriarchate towards the Metropolitanate of Moldova and the Moldovans and showed that the Patriarchate of Moscow is seen as an outpost of the Kremlin in the context of the war in Ukraine.
BACKGROUND: The Orthodox Church in the Republic of Moldova is split into the Metropolitanate of Moldova, subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church and which has the most places of worship and the largest share in society, and the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, subordinated to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The Metropolitanate of Moldova was created after the annexation of Bessarabia by the Tsarist Empire. On the other hand, the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia describes itself as the successor to the entity with the same name created after the unification of Bessarabia with Romania, in 1918. Eliminated during the former USSR, it was reestablished in 1992, but was officially recognized by the authorities in Chișinău only in 2002, after it challenged the Republic of Moldova at the ECHR.
The Metropolitanate of Moldova is considered a church affiliated to Moscow, and its priests and leaders have openly or indirectly supported certain pro-Russian political parties or politicians, usually left-wing. The most scandalous was the involvement of several church representatives against Maia Sandu in the election campaign for the 2016 presidential election. At that time, the Constitutional Court asked Parliament to prohibit the Church from getting involved in election campaigns.
Marchel is probably the most controversial hierarch of the Metropolitanate of Moldova. A Kremlin sympathizer and an avowed follower of Soviet theories of Moldovenism, Marchel has been involved in politics over the years, assuming anti-Romanian and anti-European positions. In 2014, for instance, jointly with the then governor of Găgăuzia, Mihail Formuzal, and the leader of the Moldovan Patriots Party, Mihail Garbuz, Marchel founded the People’s Movement of Greater Moldova, with an anti-unionist and statist agenda. Two years later, Marchel brutally intervened in the presidential election campaign by telling voters not to vote for Maia Sandu because she was “barren”. The election was won by the socialist Igor Dodon, also a pro-Kremlin Moldovan politician, who rewarded Marchel for his efforts by awarding him the “Bogdan the Founder” Order.
GRAIN OF TRUTH: Bishop Marchel missed his flight to Tel Aviv twice.
