According to the official representative of the Metropolitan of Moldova, Bishop Ioan Mosnegutsu, there will be no discussions about the accession of the Moldovan Orthodox Church to the Romanian Patriarchate.
This means that the Moldovan Church confirms its status as a self-governing part of the ROC, according to the results of the meeting of Metropolitan Vladimir with the abbots of churches and monasteries. Recall that some Moldovan priests have joined the Romanian Church.
"Today we refute this erroneous position that has spread in the media. At the meeting, a decision was made according to which the Moldovan Orthodox Church retains its current status. <...> The clergy and people remain loyal to the Moldovan Orthodox Church and Metropolitan Vladimir. Discussions on the accession of the Moldovan Orthodox Church to the Romanian Patriarchate will not be raised," Moshnegutsu said.
In September, the Bessarabian Metropolia of the Romanian Patriarchate, located on the territory of Moldova, called for joining the ranks of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The call was followed in October by six priests, who were later stripped of their church dignity by the Moldavian Metropolia. In November, the heads of five parishes joined the Romanian Church. They were also deprived of their posts.
The Orthodox Church of Moldova was founded in 1813. Today it has more than 1.2 thousand parishes, it consists of six dioceses.
According to TASS, in 1992, a representative office of the self-governing Romanian Orthodox Church appeared in Moldova. It was not registered for a long time: representatives of the authorities and the Moldovan metropolia feared a split. However, in 2001, the European Court of Human Rights granted the claim of supporters of the Bessarabian Metropolis, the authorities were forced to register it.