The Orthodox Church of Moldova is planning to be deprived of the rights to manage churches that can be transferred to the Romanian church. As the ex-Minister of Justice of the republic, Fadey Nagachevsky, told TASS, a court decision on this issue is expected on March 19.
"The decision to transfer the rights of use of churches and temples on the territory of the Republic of Moldova to the Archdiocese of Moldova is being challenged. If the Supreme Judicial Chamber supports this ruling, the Archdiocese of Moldova will lose the rights to use more than 600 churches and more than 20 monasteries. After that, the Ministry of Culture must decide how the rights to these churches will be distributed between the Archdiocese of Moldova and the Archdiocese of Bessarabia," Nagachevsky said.
The Archdiocese of Moldova is a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was founded in 1813. In 1992, the Bessarabian Metropolia, subordinate to the Romanian Patriarchate, appeared on the territory of Moldova, and for a long time the Metropolia of Moldova and the government of the country, fearing a church split, did not agree to register it. However, in 2001, the European Court of Human Rights granted the claim of supporters of the Archdiocese of Bessarabia, the authorities were forced to register it. The conflict between the two metropolitans has escalated in connection with the events in Ukraine.
The ex-minister expressed concern about the clashes that took place in February between parishioners of the Moldovan village of Dereneu and the police, who tried to transfer the village church to representatives of the Metropolitan of Bessarabia. "I believe that this was a test of society's reaction to such decisions, because they can lead to a big scandal," Nagachevsky said. Earlier, the rector of the church in Dereneu announced his accession to the Archdiocese of Bessarabia, which claimed the church of the village. Representatives of the Archdiocese of Moldova spoke out against it, noting that the majority of residents also do not support this decision.
Commenting on this and other similar incidents, Archbishop Markell of the Balti and Falesti Orthodox Church of Moldova accused President Maia Sandu and the ruling Action and Solidarity Party of promoting church schism and persecution. He stressed that the split is funded by the Romanian government.