The Russian Orthodox Church has condemned the actions of the Moldovan authorities, which have prevented the Moldovan Orthodox Church from receiving the Holy Fire from Jerusalem, the church's spokesman Vladimir Legoyda said on Friday.
"A completely egregious decision by the Moldovan authorities, a deliberate mockery of the faithful of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, the religious community of the majority of Moldovans. To deprive people of the opportunity to touch the holy shrine delivered from the ancient city of Jerusalem on Holy Saturday! The advisers of the Moldovan authorities, obviously far from Christianity, think that they will solve some political objective with this. Do you think that you will separate people from Christ, prevent them from rejoicing at the Easter holiday?" Legoyda said on Telegram.
This year, delegations from Moldovan and Bessarabian Orthodox Churches were to travel to Israel from Moldova to receive the Holy Fire.
The Orthodox Church of Moldova is a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church, which unites 70% of the residents of Moldova and its breakaway region of Transnistria. Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova Vladimir (Nicolae Cantarean) has repeatedly expressed regret that the current authorities of the country avoid dialogue with the church.
Hours-long checks under the supervision of armed police officers have recently occurred at the Chisinau airport, especially targeting representatives of the opposition Pobeda (Victory) bloc and Moldovan public figures who arrived from Russia after participating in various international forums. The opposition believes that those who disagree with the actions of the Moldovan authorities are subjected to such checks.
On March 25, Yevgenia Gutsul, the head of Moldova's autonomous region of Gagauzia, was detained at the Chisinau airport. A Chisinau court arrested her for 20 days on charges of violating rules for campaign financing and document forgery. On April 9, the court placed Gutsul under home arrest for 30 days.