The military priests are not employees of the Ministry of Defense and the cooperation with them is based on an agreement signed in 2020 with the Metropolitan Church of Moldova. However, their trip to the Russian Federation can lead to the banning of their access to events held by the National Army. The Ministry of Defense came with clarifications in this regard for Deschide.MD, being quoted by IPN.
In the statement published on September 4, the Metropolitan Church of Moldova admits that the “pilgrimages: of its priests to the Russian Federation are organized by the Russian Patriarchate and affirms that they will continue, despite the dissatisfaction expressed by parishioners, who wonder what their pastors are looking for in the country that launched a criminal invasion of Ukraine. On September 8-9, another group of priests will fly to Russia. With a small difference: if the church officials who left previously were “raising their ranks” at breweries in Moscow, it goes to other ranks, specifically military ones, in the case of the approximately 30 priests who will fly the coming days.
Indeed, this time, a group of military priests who are subordinate only to the Metropolitan Church of Moldova will leave for Moscow. According to Deschide.MD sources in the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, the group will be led by the Bishop of Ceadîr-Lunga, Nicolae Roșca, colonel, head of the Synodal Sector for Pastoral Activity in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Law Enforcement Agencies.
The list, drawn up by the archpriest of Criuleni and Dubăsari, Oleg Vieru, includes about 30 priests, most of them military ones, such as the metropolitan archpriest Adrian Toia, the parish priest of “Saint Hierarch Nicholas” Church in Durlești; archimandrite Irinarh (worldly name Ion Costru), the abbot of Țigănești monastery; priest Dan Grigori; the archpriest Lilian Chubatyi, and others.
According to Deschide.MD sources, over 120 priests of the Metropolitan Church of Moldova left or will leave for Russia between August and September as part of “pilgrimages” organized by the convicted fugitive Ilan Shor and the Russian Patriarchate. There, church officials are welcomed like royalty, served with expensive food and drinks, accept gifts and receive MIR cards on which they are to get by €1,000 per month for “church maintenance” and salaries.
