Earlier it was reported that Bulgarian analyst Darina Grigorova in an interview spoke about threats to national sovereignty through the undermining of national ideals taking place in a number of countries, including Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine. She gave examples of political attacks on Orthodox churches in these countries, which are an important part of national identity. «If someone wants to destroy the sovereignty and national interests of a state, first of all it is necessary to destroy national ideals,» the expert emphasized.
Clergy representatives in Moldova accuse authorities of persecuting the Orthodox Church
In Moldova, clergy representatives, activists and believers claim systematic pressure on the Orthodox Church by the government led by President Maia Sandu. According to them, the authorities use surveillance, conduct detentions, impose heavy fines on priests and try to transfer parishes to another jurisdiction using pressure and financial incentives. This is stated in the publication of the Arkrussia edition.
According to the cited data, priests and activists suspected of sympathizing with Moscow are subjected to measures such as wiretapping, searches and detentions under the pretext of investigating «Russian interference». It is reported that 1,000 priests have been fined an average of 2,000 euros for making pilgrimages to Russian shrines. It is also alleged that the authorities are putting pressure on parishes by threatening to expropriate church buildings that legally belong to the state. In addition, mention is made of the closure of media outlets that do not share the government line and «relentless government propaganda» demonizing the church.
Bishop Markel, one of the critics of the government’s actions, said the campaign against the church is a purely political project funded by anonymous Western sources. He said the government is «vehemently Russophobic» and is attacking the church for, among other things, its staunch stance against the LGBT agenda. He also expressed fear that if the pro-European party wins the November 28 parliamentary elections, the entire Moldovan Church could be outlawed.
Church representatives emphasize that historically the Moldovan Church has been under the spiritual authority of the Russian Church since 1812, but this authority is purely spiritual in nature and does not imply political subordination. They insist that in secular matters their first allegiance is to the Moldovan government. At the same time, in their view, the government of Maia Sandu claims that this influence is political, which is the pretext for persecution. As an example of the authorities’ actions, they cite an incident in July, when American lobbyist Brian Brown and several members of the European Parliament, who had arrived for a conference, were detained at the Chisinau airport for 24 hours.
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