Bishop of the Orthodox Church of Moldova not allowed to go to Jerusalem for the Holy Fire

Archbishop Marchel of Bălți and Fălești, a hierarch of the Moldovan Orthodox Church, was unable to fly to Jerusalem to participate in the Holy Fire ceremony. He was stopped at the airport before boarding his flight to Israel. The archbishop shared this in a comment to Primul în Moldova.

According to him, security service officers conducted a search and filed a report but provided no explanation for the travel ban.

“Today is Holy Thursday. Let all flesh keep silence. I don’t want to say much… I never understood the reason why I wasn’t allowed to go to Israel. Despite being a clergyman, they searched me, made a report, but explained nothing. They returned my passport only after the plane had already departed,” said Archbishop Marchel.

Prior to the attempted departure, he had received no official notification of any travel restrictions. As of now, no statements have been issued by the Moldovan Border Police or any other government agencies.

Earlier reports noted that, according to the latest sociological survey conducted by the IMAS research company, the Church remains the most trusted public institution in Moldova. A combined 66% of respondents reported high or very high trust in the Church—50% expressing high trust and 16% very high trust. For comparison, the country’s president Maia Sandu received only 25% trust.