Romanian-Russian Religious War

Romanian-Russian Religious War

“We are very concerned and, of course, the actions of the Romanian Patriarchy will have consequences”, Metropolitan Kiril of Smolensk and Kalingrad said when he referred to the decision of the Romanian Orthodox Church of reactivating three Metropolitan Churches in the Moldavian Republic. The situation makes us doubt the meeting between Patriarchs Daniel and Alexei II programmed on the 19th of November.

The Holly Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church decided the reactivation of the Metropolitan Church of Balti, of the Metropolitan Church of Southern Basarabia and of the Orthodox Metropolitan Church of Dubasari and Transnistria. The Chisinau Moldavian Metropolitan Church asked the Romanian Patriarchy to give up on this decision, but the answer that came from Bucharest said the problem of the three Metropolitan Churches would be discussed on the 19th of November in Moscow.

ADDICTEDNESS

In order to present the situation as it is we have to say that there are two ecclesiastic units in the Moldavian Republic: Moldova’s Metropolitan Church, who depends on the Patriarchy in Moscow and the Basarabia’s Metropolitan Church, which depends on the Romanian Patriarchy. The Moldavian Metropolitan Church has 5 bishoprics, and the Basrabian one has 4 bishoprics, including the three recently activated ones, which means as many as it had until 1944. However, the decision of the Romanian Patriarchy is seen as not canonic.

REACTIONS

“The things happening now represent a serious breaking of the canonic rules, and this step will destroy the unity of the Holly Orthodoxy”, the President of the Department for External Relations of Moscow’s Patriarchy, Metropolitan Kiril of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, said. In the same context, Bishop Egorievski Mark, the vice-president of the same department, said this “is a nationalist action and a direct act that targets the separation of the Orthodox world”.

In the same time, Bishop Iustinian of Tiraspol and Dubasari didn’t agree with the decision of the Romanian Church.

The Romanian answer is based on historical arguments: “This reactivation was the natural consequence of the 2004 final decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Moldavian Republic that says this is the spiritual, canonic and historical successor of the Basarabian Metropolitan Church that existed until 1944. All its eparchies have been reactivated by the autonomous Metropolitan Church of Basarabia and officially registered by the Government of the Moldavian Republic”. The spokesperson of the Romanian Patriarchy, Father Costel Stoica said: “The Holly Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church didn’t do anything more than taking into account the juridical decision regarding the respective eparchies of the Basarabian Metropolitan Church. The decision of the Holly Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church regarding the new ecclesiastic configuration in the Moldavian Republic is not meant to create conflicts since it is only a consequence of a Court Order.”

The Basarabian Metropolitan Church

The Basarabian Metropolitan Church has been created after the Great Unification in 1918 by transforming the Archbishopric of Chisinau into Metropolitan Church. The actual organization was made with the help of the law for the organization of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1925 and Gurie Grosu, followed by Efrem Enachescu, were the first metropolitans. The Metropolitan Church jurisdiction covered Chisinau and the other three dioceses that the Romanian church reactivated recently. It didn’t exist during the Soviet occupation in 1940-1941 or during the communist regime between 1944 and 1992. It has been replaced with the Chisinau Eparchy, which has been under the authority of the Patriarchy in Moscow. In 1992, the Romanian Synod decided in favor of the reactivation of the Basarabian Metropolitan Church. This reactivated the historical eparchies of the Metropolitan Church and the Moldavian authorities recognized them in 2004 and 2006.

The Romanian Patriarch’s visit in Moscow

The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church is to make a visit to the Moscow Patriarchy on the 19th of November. The problem of the bishoprics in Basarabia is a problem on the agenda of the Patriarch. However, Moldavian Metropolitan Kiril said he couldn’t know for sure whether the meeting will take place or not. “We said this meeting couldn’t take place in Moscow because it wouldn’t be understood as it should in Moldova and could be misunderstood in Romania and here as well”, the external relations representative of the Russian Patriarchy said. The Romanian Patriarchy said it wouldn’t be right for the dialogue programmed in November to be postponed. However it would be an occasion to discuss the situation of the jurisdictions in the Moldavian Republic.

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