The Politics of Orthodoxy in Old Bessarabia

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Romanian-and-Moldovan-Orthodox-Christians-in-conflict-64314.html

I have previously reported on the contest within Eastern Orthodoxy over the question of Moldova - an episode that somewhat parallels events in Ukraine.

Basically the historically contested region of Moldova (which some outlets like the BBC attempt to whitewash), is divided between ethnic Romanians and Russians, along with some other minority groups that fall outside Eastern Orthodoxy. The Russian-majority group (based in Chişinău) is tied to the Moscow Patriarchate while the ethnic Romanians look to the Metropolitan of Bessarabia, an office connected to the Romanian Patriarchate in Bucharest. There's also the whole question of Transnistria. The disputed area is firmly under Russian political control while the ecclesiastical divide mirrors what is taking place on the Western side of the Dniester.

The tensions over Russian politics, the war in Ukraine, and the alliance between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Putin regime has rekindled historical debates. The Moldovan Church is not really an autocephalous entity but part of the Moscow Patriarchate and thus from the standpoint of the pro-EU government (led by Maia Sandu) as well as the leadership in Bucharest - the Moldovan Church is illegitimate.

This has bled over into Romanian politics and the disputed 2024 presidential election (which was thrown out by the courts) and the 2025 election wherein the pro-Russian and far-right George Simion was finally defeated.

In November 2025, eleven priests defected from the Moldovan Church (said to be oriented to Moscow) to the Archdiocese of Bessarabia (affiliated with Bucharest). The Moldovan Metropolitan Vladimir excommunicated them as a result leading to a series of accusations. From the standpoint of Vladimir their defections were without warrant or standing. The Bessarabian Metropolitan Petru has defended their actions on the basis of congregational support.

As the article rightly points out the confusion is only exacerbated by the fact that historic Southern Bessarabia is actually in today's Ukraine - northern Bessarabia is Moldova. The entire region is like this - a series of shifting borders and overlapping ethnic groups with rival historical claims. This is why it has long been so difficult to govern and for those outside the region to understand.

As I take in the limited coverage offered by Western media, I usually find it to be tainted by omissions, half-truths, outright errors, and of course the ever present assumptions of liberalism and democracy as being the only viable and ethical options.

And as always the religious element to these conflicts is always obscured as Western secularists seem incapable of understanding such motivations apart from political and economic concerns.

See also:

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2024/06/orthodox-intrigues-in-moldova.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-bbc-and-manipulation-of-moldovan.html