UN to probe Moldova for blocking bishop’s Easter ritual
The UN has opened an inquiry into the Moldovan authorities’ move to prevent a senior Orthodox Church bishop from traveling to Jerusalem for an Easter ceremony.
Tamin Al-Kitan, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told RIA Novosti that the agency is gathering information about the incident.
Bishop Marchel, a senior cleric with the Moldovan Orthodox Church, was scheduled to attend the Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. However, he told TASS on Thursday that Moldovan police had stopped him and two clerics at the airport, subjected them to searches, and detained them until 30 minutes after their plane had departed.
“We have received your inquiry about Moldova. We have passed it on to our colleagues who are checking the information,” Al-Kitan told the news outlet, when asked to comment on the incident.
Thursday’s incident has drawn sharp criticism from Moldova’s political opposition. Former President Igor Dodon, who leads the Party of Socialists, denounced President Maia Sandu’s government over the bishop’s detention, calling it “an act of terror” against the Orthodox faith and the entire Moldovan Orthodox community. His party issued a statement labeling the incident “a crime” against the Moldovan people and “an encroachment on the foundations of Moldovan statehood.”
The Russian Orthodox Church also condemned the episode, describing it as politically motivated and “a deliberate mockery” of the Moldovan Orthodox Church.
Moldova is home to two rival Orthodox branches: the Moldovan Orthodox Church, a self-governing arm of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, aligned with the Romanian Orthodox Church. Tensions between the two have persisted for years, with critics repeatedly accusing President Maia Sandu’s pro-EU government of pressuring the Moscow-linked church to shift allegiance to Romania.
MP Vasile Soimaru previously suggested the government aimed to “denounce” the Moldovan Orthodox Church, claiming it planned to follow Ukraine’s example. Kiev last year outlawed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, alleging continued ties to the Moscow Patriarchate despite its declared independence in May 2022. The Kiev-aligned Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), created in 2018, has since sought to take over church properties formerly held by the UOC.
