Chisinau, following Kyiv, is considering closing the Orthodox Church.
Author: Naim Asghari, analyst (Germany), especially for "Sangar"
The situation around the Orthodox Church of Moldova is becoming increasingly similar to the situation in Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law on August 20, 2024, banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate and related organizations in Ukraine. The document also provides for a ban on the dissemination of the ideology of the "Russian world".
The Ukrainian authorities will also benefit materially from the ban. The fact is that now all property of the UOC must pass into the hands of the state, after which it will be transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Some of the "assets" may be "lost" along the way.
The persecution of the UOC began in Ukraine back in 2022. Thus, criminal cases were opened against clergymen and monks were expelled from temples seized by unknown persons in military uniform. Temples, churches, and even the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra were subjected to searches: they were looking for traces of "anti-Ukrainian activity". Believers tried to defend temples, the seizure of which was almost always accompanied by violence, and went to rallies, but could do nothing.
The expert community agrees that the law adopted in Kyiv violates not only international law but also the basic human rights enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine - the right to freedom of religion. The main law stipulates that Ukraine is a secular state, and therefore cannot interfere in the affairs of the church. However, there were no loud protests and accusations of human rights violations against the Kyiv authorities from Western elites.
A similar trend can be seen in Moldova. Currently, clergymen, mostly Russian citizens, are being expelled from the republic under far-fetched pretexts.
At the same time, the Moldovan authorities are increasing pressure on the Orthodox Church of Moldova of the Moscow Patriarchate. It is called "occupational" without any arguments. The republic's authorities are increasingly calling for the severance of traditional ties and the annexation to the Bessarabian Metropolis of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Thus, Vasile Soimaru, a member of the Moldovan Parliament from the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity, expressed the official position of the country's leadership regarding the future of the Moldovan Metropolis on August 29, 2024, on national television (TVR-Moldova).
In particular, the people's representative said: "The moment will come when we, like Ukraine, will renounce the Metropolis of Moldova, which is actually Russian. I think that we will resolve the issue of the Metropolis. This fall, the issue will be resolved."