The Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia asked the Government and all the competent bodies of the Republic of Moldova to intervene and investigate the religious conflict witnessed in Dereneu village of Calarasi district.
In a news conference at IPN, secretary of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia Ion Cosoi said the request was made after the Church “Assumption of the Mother of God” in Dereneu (which last August decided to join the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia) on March 5 was abusively occupied by a group of locals and persons brought in an organized way, who are coordinated by priest Vadim Corostinschi, secretary of the eparchy created by the Russian Church for the Ungheni-Nisporeni region.
According to priest Ion Cosoi, these broke the door of the church, changed the locks and barricaded themselves inside where they sleep, eat and drink wine, and also smoke in front of the church. The attack was staged before the eyes of representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, who didn’t become involved and didn’t take legal action against the wrongdoers. “All the official approaches made by the local bishop, by the religious community and by the Dereneu mayor’s office were deliberately left without an answer. The prosecution bodies also neglected the written complaint about the threatening with death of mayor of Dereneu Elena Oaserele,” stated Ioan Cosoi.
Florin Marin, bishop in Dereneu village, said the religious community in Dereneu took the decision to switch over to the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia because this is the only canonic metropolitan church between the Prut and the Nistru Rivers that serves the nation, the truth, the faith, the morality and kindness. Large taxes are monthly collected at the Metropolitan Church of Chisinau and all Moldova. “Each bishopric pays depending on the size of the population. There is nothing like this at the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia. No tax on church services is charged within the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia,” said the priest.
The bishop also said that a General Assembly of the village was held on March 18, where the participants decided by a majority of votes that the Dereneu bishopric should remain under the canonic management of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia. The decision was communicated to the police sent from Chisinau, which in a suspect way hampered the access of parishioners and local officials to the church.
The Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia officially informed the Ministry of Justice, the General Police Inspectorate, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Embassy of Romania, the U.S. Embassy, the EU Delegation to Moldova and other organizations about this case, asking them to monitor it as it represents a flagrant violation of the legislation and of the basic human rights and freedoms.
