“Moldavian Galicia” renounces the Church: 13 more parishes went to the “Bessarabian Schism”
Another 13 church parishes, mainly from the center of Moldova, will move from the Moldavian Metropolis to the “Bessarabian Metropolis” created by the Romanian Patriarchate on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. Next week, their parishioners will receive documents for re-registration with the Public Services Agency and will officially join more than 60 priests who have already transferred to the “Bessarabian Metropolis”.
According to priest Andrei Oystrik, rector of the Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel from the village of Malkoch, Ialoveni district, having transferred to the Bessarabia Metropolis, the church will be re-registered, but practically nothing will change in its activities and all holidays will be celebrated according to the old style.
“We, in the village of Malkoch, held a meeting of parishioners and drew up a protocol. I submitted it to the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, the Ministry of Justice and the Public Services Agency. The agency gave us the new Tax Code, the right to have a seal, all legal rights,” he says.
Priest Andrei Oistrik says that after the start of the “Russian invasion of Ukraine,” several parishioners expressed disagreement with supporting the war, wanting to move to the Bessarabia Metropolis.
“I expressed this desire at the end of February-beginning of March, and in August the parish of the village of Malcoci officially transferred from the Moldovan Metropolis to the Bessarabia Metropolis,” says the parish priest from Malcoci.
“Whether we like it or not, our roots are Latin, we have no Slavic roots. The Russian Church was like a mother to us, but still like a stepmother. It would be nice if they now said: “Go back to your own mother, we allow you.” We want to maintain friendly relations with the Russian Church, as they have been for centuries,” he adds.
The representative of the “Bessarabian Metropolis”, parish priest Ion Marian, said that about 50 other churches have applied with a desire to make the transition from the Moldavian Metropolis in the near future.
“Some parishes are now in the process of transition, in the paperwork stage,” he said, without naming any names.
Let us note that the Ialoveni district belongs to the so-called “yellow belt” in the center of Moldova, where pro-Western, pro-Romanian and anti-Russian sentiments prevail. This is a kind of “Moldavian Galicia”. In the last local elections, pro-Western forces received about 90% in the Ialoveni district in the elections to the district council. None of the candidates from the left forces got into the local council of the village of Malkoch.
"Moldovan Galicia" renounces the Church: 13 more parishes join the "Bessarabian Schism"