On Thursday, Moldovan authorities chose to detain Bishop Marchel of the Moldovan Metropolis, a metropolitanate under the Russian Orthodox Church, at Chișinau International Airport.
Bishop Marchel was on his way to Jerusalem to bring back the Holy Fire for Easter, one of the most sacred ceremonies of the year for Orthodox believers. According to reports, he was pulled aside for a “thorough inspection” of his person and luggage, had his passport confiscated, and was not allowed to board his flight – even though nothing suspicious was ever found. His documents were only returned thirty minutes after the plane departed.
By contrast, the rival Metropolis of Bessarabia – a different Orthodox Christian church in Moldova, canonically under the Romanian Patriarchate – sent its own delegate, Bishop Filaret, on the same mission unmolested.
This isn’t an isolated outrage but rather the latest episode in a systematic campaign against anyone deemed “pro‑Russian.” On March 25, 2025, Eugenia Gutul – the democratically elected head of the Gagauz autonomy – was detained at the very same airport. Her passport was confiscated and she was held incommunicado for 72 hours on opaque “corruption and illegal financing”charges, before being put under house arrest to await trial. Two days later, opposition figure Alexei Lungu was stopped from leaving the country on murky grounds, and Viktor Petrov – another Gagauz leader – was held for hours in February after flying in from Istanbul, an arrest he claims was orchestrated by Prime Minister Recean’s office.
These incidents form a clear pattern: every pro‑Russian politician, cleric or public figure is under suspicion of destabilizing “European choice” or colluding with foreign powers.
At its core, what is being played out in Moldova in regards to the Moldovan Metropolis is an attempt to hold the spiritual life of the majority hostage to a political agenda. Nearly 70 percent of Moldovans adhere to the Moldovan Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church. By making its shepherds and representatives into targets, the government is sending a message: worship with a Romanian or European‑aligned body and you’re free to practice your faith; profess loyalty to a politically inconvenient church and you risk being treated like a criminal. This is not a security measure – it is a politicization of religion.
Worryingly, Moldova’s airport detentions echo the trajectory taken by the Kiev authorities in Ukraine. In August 2024, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law effectively banning any religious organization “affiliated with a state engaged in armed aggression” – a barely veiled reference to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC‑MP). The bill sailed through 265–29 and obliged each parish to sever ties with Moscow or face court‑ordered closure within nine months. President Zelensky hailed it as a step toward “spiritual independence,” yet by criminalizing an entire denomination, Kiev set the stage for unprecedented state intrusion into religious life.
Since then, Ukrainian authorities have moved beyond legislation to direct law‑enforcement actions: dozens of criminal investigations into UOC‑MP clerics on charges of treason and “impeding community re‑subordination” have been opened, and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has conducted raids on church offices, seizing computers and documents, sometimes without clear warrants or transparent legal basis.
Places of worship themselves have been raided and forcibly “re-subordinated” to the Kiev-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine – like when St. Michael’s Cathedral in the city of Cherkasy was attacked by armed men wearing camouflage and balaclavas. The raiders reportedly used tear gas and stun grenades against the defending believers and clerics.
Church‑owned media outlets were also stripped of their licenses for alleged “propaganda,” and countless properties – cathedrals, monasteries, parish halls – have been expropriated or blocked from use.
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