On Thursday evening, Moldovan authorities prevented Bishop Marchel of Bălți and Făleşti from leaving the country. The member of the Moldovan Orthodox Church was supposed to go to Israel to bring back the Holy Fire for Easter. This is reported by several media outlets, including the Moldovan television station Canal 5. In a report on the channel, it states:
“At Chișinău Airport, the holy father was subjected to a thorough inspection for unknown reasons.”
In a comment to the channel Primul în Moldova, Marchel explains that he was not informed of the reasons for the delay:
“I still do not understand why I was not allowed to go to Israel. Although I am a clergyman, they searched me, made a protocol, but did not explain anything.”
Marchel did not receive the official notification required in cases of an existing ban on departure. The border guards only returned his passport after his flight to Tel Aviv had taken off. According to Primul în Moldova, official statements from the border police or other authorities are still pending.
This year, two delegations from Moldova, including representatives of the Moldovan Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia, were supposed to go to Israel to bring back the Holy Fire.
The Moldovan Orthodox Church is the largest Christian confession in the country. According to various sources, it has 70 to 80 percent of the believers in Moldova and Transnistria. It is an autonomous church that falls under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Additionally, the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia has been active in Moldova since 1992 and it is subordinate to the Bucharest Patriarchate. It has 10 to 20 percent of the believers. The Moldovan Orthodox Metropolis Vladimir of Chișinău has previously criticized representatives of the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia for avoiding dialogue.
Vladimir Legoida, head of the Synodal Department for Public Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, describes Marchel’s arrest as an “egregious decision” and a “willful mockery” of the believers of the Moldovan Orthodox Church. The oppositional Socialist Party of Moldova sees Marchel’s arrest as an “unprecedented act of spiritual terror by the Maia Sandu regime.