https://en.sputniknews.africa/20250418/moldovas-ban-for-orthodox-church-to-get-holy-fire-mirrors-colonial-religious-suppression-tactics-1072048496.html
Moldova's Ban for Orthodox Church to Get Holy Fire Mirrors Colonial Religious Suppression Tactics
Moldova's Ban for Orthodox Church to Get Holy Fire Mirrors Colonial Religious Suppression Tactics
Sputnik Africa
On Thursday, Moldovan media reported that Archbishop Markell of Balti and Falesti, who heads one of the dioceses of the Orthodox Church in the country, was... 18.04.2025, Sputnik Africa
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Moldova's move to block the local Orthodox Church from receiving the Holy Fire from Jerusalem echoes of colonial-era strategies, Prof. Fredrick Onyango Ogola, a governance and economic expert from Kenya, told Sputnik Africa.The professor argued that Moldova's actions reflect a broader geopolitical attempt to weaken the influence of the Orthodox Church and replace it with Western religious concepts — just as is happening in Ukraine.
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Moldova's Ban for Orthodox Church to Receive Holy Fire Mirrors Colonial Tactics of Religious Suppression
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Moldova's Ban for Orthodox Church to Receive Holy Fire Mirrors Colonial Tactics of Religious Suppression
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Moldova's Ban for Orthodox Church to Get Holy Fire Mirrors Colonial Religious Suppression Tactics
16:17 18.04.2025 (Updated: 18:25 18.04.2025) Christina Glazkova
Writer / Editor
On Thursday, Moldovan media reported that Archbishop Markell of Balti and Falesti, who heads one of the dioceses of the Orthodox Church in the country, was detained at the Chisinau airport. Following a thorough check, he did not manage to board his plane to Israel.
Moldova's move to block the local Orthodox Church from receiving the Holy Fire from Jerusalem echoes of colonial-era strategies, Prof. Fredrick Onyango Ogola, a governance and economic expert from Kenya, told Sputnik Africa.
“When they were doing the partition of Africa and the colonization of Africa, some people came as missionaries, but actually, they were political, let's say, overshowers who came to further their political interests using religion,” he said.
The professor argued that Moldova's actions reflect a broader geopolitical attempt to weaken the influence of the Orthodox Church and replace it with Western religious concepts — just as is happening in Ukraine.
“And also, between Ukraine and Russia ... they both confess this Orthodox Church. It is very predominant in both of them. And because of that very instance, the West may want to inculcate the Western religion. So, if they can suppress the Orthodox Church, for example, in Ukraine, it becomes very easy to transplant, or if not outrightly plant, the Western religion among them,” he explained.
