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The Romanian Orthodox Church wants to take over parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the pro-Kremlin publication Politnavigator writes. According to the media outlet, the first step in this respect in Ukraine would be for Romania to capture Bukovina, whereas in the Republic of Moldova the Moldovan authorities will abolish the Metropolitanate of Moldova, which is subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church. The article contains a number of false narratives designed to promote several disinformation theses, for instance Romania allegedly having an expansionist policy and Ukraine being an artificial state.
NEWS: “Patriarch Daniel visited Chișinău where he called for the retrocession of the building of the former Theological Seminary in Chișinău and other buildings to the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Romanian patriarch also demanded a building be awarded to the Orthodox Church in compensation to the former headquarters of the Bessarabian Metropolitanate, which was used as the current headquarters of the Government of the Republic of Moldova (the source does not specify if the former building was destroyed in the Soviet era – e.n.).
[…] “According to the leader of PACE Party, Gheroghe Cavcaliuc, by order of president Maia Sandu, security forces launched a campaign to have priests followed, releasing compromising materials against them.
“As expected, pressure on the Moldovan Metropolitanate is piling up again. If the metropolitan believes he will get any peace of mind, he is mistaken”, deputy Bogdan Țîrdea commented”.
NARRATIVES: 1. The Romanian Orthodox Church wants to absorb parishes in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate. 2. The takeover of Ukrainian parishes is the first step towards Bucharest capturing Ukrainian territories home to Romanian ethnics. 3. With the help of Romania, the Government in Chișinău will abolish the Metropolitanate of Moldova, subordinated to Moscow. 4. Romania is an expansionist state. 5. Ukraine is an artificial state.
BACKGROUND: Several Orthodox Churches operate inside Ukraine, the largest of which is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate. After the large-scale illegal annexation of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced it would break ties with the Moscow Patriarchate due to the unequivocal support the latter and Patriarch Kirill (a former KGB agent) have provided to Putin’s war in Ukraine. Despite the rift, the government in Kyiv maintained its reservations regarding the true intentions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its relations to Moscow, and started a series of investigations against it. Searches were also conducted in a number of churches, which led to the Church making accusations of being persecuted.
Against this backdrop, further tension broke out about the churches addressing the Romanian community in Northern Bukovina, which are subordinated to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Longin of the Chernivtsi and Bukovina Diocese was appointed by Kirill himself, and stood out through opinions clearly favoring Moscow and vehement attacks against the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Worth noting is that the article on politnavigator.ro references an article published by a website funded by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, spzh.news, which publishes countless articles critical of Kyiv.
The Orthodox Church in the Republic of Moldova is divided between the Metropolitanate of Moldova, subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church, which also owns the largest number of churches and the has the largest share of the population in terms of parishioners, and the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, which is part of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The Metropolitanate of Moldova was founded after the incorporation of Bessarabia into the Russian Empire. On the other hand, the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia describes itself as the rightful successor of the same entity set up after the unification of Bessarabia with Romania in 1918. Disbanded during the Soviet era, the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia reemerged in 1992, although it was officially recognized by Chișinău authorities as late as 2002, after the Church sought justice at the ECHR.
The Metropolitanate of Moldova is considered part of the Moscow Patriarchate, and its priests and leading clergy have overtly or covertly supported certain pro-Russian parties or politicians, usually leftist. The most notorious public scandal is linked to the involvement of several church representatives in the election campaign for the 2016 presidential election against Maia Sandu. At the time, the Constitutional Court demanded Parliament ban the interference of the Church in election campaigns.
Relations between the two Metropolitanates were bitter over the years, the two accusing each other of creating tension and attracting priests and churches from one side to another.
Most surveys show that the Church remains the institution enjoying the highest confidence at society level.
Politnavigator quotes Antena 3 and România TV, the latter being also referenced by spzh.news. Both TV stations have been criticized in the past for spreading fake news and disinformation (for instance, during the protests in Romania against Government Decree no. 13, or during the Covid pandemic). Antena3, a television that even added CNN to its name in order to boost its credibility, managed to embarrass itself by presenting excerpts from a video games as genuine combat footage from Ukraine.
PURPOSE: To discredit Ukraine as a state that persecutes religion and Romania as an expansionist state. To promote the idea that Ukraine is an artificial state. To spread panic in Moldovan society, warning that the government will shut down churches or reassign them to the Romanian Orthodox Church. To fuel narratives about the “danger” of the Republic of Moldova uniting with Romania.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Romania recognizes Ukraine and its current borders and has lodged no territorial claims on its neighbor state, even though a number of territories that were once part of Romania are currently an integral part of Ukraine, after they were seized by the USSR under the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact signed with Nazi Germany. Additionally, Romania has no territorial claims concerning the Republic of Moldova. It was in fact the first country to recognize Moldova’s independence and has been its constant supporter since, including in terms of Moldova’s European integration aspirations.
On the other hand, Romania is a secular state where the Church and the state stay separate, which is why the Church’s affairs are kept separate from the Romanian state. At any rate, the Romanian Orthodox Church does not have any expansionist goals, and even if it did, it cannot take over parishes of other Orthodox Churches by force, as this would be illegal.
The very title of the article published on Politnavigator, “The Sandu administration will abolish the Metropolitanate of Moldova and will reassign its churches to Romanians”, is misleading, as it does not reference any information in the text. The article merely presents statements from a meeting Patriarch Daniel had with the Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Igor Grosu, which do not back the claim. The two discussed the possibility of the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia possibly being the target of discrimination. “The Romanian Patriarch called for equal treatment for the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, so as to allow its clerics to provide religious assistance to the army, to penitentiaries and hospitals, and to be invited to official events attended by clergymen of the other Church authority in the Republic of Moldova”, the Romanian Orthodox Church press release reads.
Under the Moldovan Constitution, “religious denominations are free and can organize themselves according to their own statutes, as per the provisions of the law”. The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova however also stipulates the following: “religious denominations are autonomous, separate from state affairs and enjoy the latter’s support, including by facilitating religious assistance to the army, hospitals, penitentiaries, asylums and foster homes”. More specifically, the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church called for support from the Moldovan authorities to help ensure the rights of the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia enshrined in the Constitution.
The statement that Patriarch Daniel came to Chișinău to demand retrocession of Romanian Church properties is false. Patriarch Daniel has never visited the Republic of Moldova, at least not as Patriarch of the Romanian Orhtodox Church. Admittedly, Patriarch Daniel had talks last week with the Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Igor Grosu, during the latter’s visit to Romania.
There is no evidence attesting to pressure, surveillance operations or investigations targeting priests. The person making these claims, Gheorghe Cavcaliuc, is a former police colonel, the leader of an opposition party, who fled to the United Kingdom in 2021 and is targeted by several criminal investigations.
GRAIN OF TRUTH: According to the press release, Patriarch Daniel referred to the discrimination of the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia and demanded the retrocession of several buildings, although he did not refer to church specifically.
Check sources:
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