In Moldova, a OCM priest barricaded himself in a church in protest against the transfer of the building to the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia

The rector of the church in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Dereneu (Moldova), the priest of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, Alexandru Popa, barricaded himself and his family inside the church. This desperate move was a response to the authorities’ attempts to take away the church and hand it over to the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

According to RIA Novosti, the incident took place on February 3. Father Alexander Popa told the parishioners that his actions were aimed at «protecting the Church of Christ from all iniquities and from all those who are trying to seize and destroy it.» Police officers arrived in the village and, according to parishioners, have been preventing them and the ruling bishop from attending services for several days.

Parishioners interviewed by local media claim that the idea of the church’s transfer to the jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Church’s Metropolitanate of Bessarabia is not supported by the majority of the village’s residents. This conflict has a long history, starting back in 2017, when part of the parish and former priest Florin Marin expressed their desire to transfer to the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia. In 2018, local residents, in favor of remaining subordinate to the Orthodox Church of Moldova, took decisive action: they changed the locks on the church and effectively removed the pro-Romanian priest Florin Marin, after which the Orthodox Church of Moldova appointed a new rector, Alexandru Popu.

Over the following years, the parties engaged in legal disputes over the right to use the church, and street protests regularly erupted in the village. At the end of January this year, the situation escalated again, which eventually led to the current barricading incident.

We would like to remind you that on December 30, 2025, a bishops’ meeting of the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church of Moldova was held at the Metropolitan Residence in Chisinau . The event, chaired by Metropolitan Vladimir of Chisinau and All Moldova, was honored by the presence of Moldovan President Maia Sandu.