The majority of priests and faithful from the Chisinau protoparish, sector II, have signed an address to His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova, asking for the initiation of the process of accession of the Metropolitanate of Moldova to the Romanian Patriarchate, in the context of “the extraordinary realities in which the Orthodox Church of Moldova finds itself and in the context of the unjust and perfidious war that Russia is waging in Ukraine”. The letter was published on Monday 13 November on the Facebook page of St. Dumitru Church.

“(… ) Your Eminence, we, the priests signatories of this address, are more and more puzzled and dissatisfied with the obedience we have to make to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has lost the quality of spiritual father of the Church he pastors, becoming a political employee who openly and unjustly calls against all the teachings of the Orthodox Church to bloodshed between brothers of blood and faith in Christ (… ),” the letter says.

At the beginning of September 2023, the Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova, His Eminence Vladimir, addressed a letter to Patriarch Kiril of Russia in which he listed a number of concerns and grievances that have arisen among clerics over the past year and a half. Metropolitan Vladimir claimed that the religious institution, subordinated to Moscow, was “in a situation of bankruptcy” and that priests were being tempted by the Romanian state, “which offers them a guaranteed monthly salary of 800-900 euros, medical insurance, pensions and exemption of parishes from quarterly contributions”.

The letter of 5 September 2023, published on the blog of former MP Vlad Cubreacov, former vice-chairman of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (PPCD), says that the Metropolitanate of Chisinau and the whole of Moldova “is perceived in Moldovan society as an outpost of the Kremlin and a supporter of Russian intervention in Ukraine”. Thus, “for the Orthodox Church of Moldova this link is equivalent to our disappearance from the religious and social scene of the country”. Bishop Ioan Mosneguțu, the spokesman of the Moldovan Metropolitanate, confirmed for Ziarul de Gardă the veracity of that letter.

In recent months, dozens of priests have left the Metropolitanate of Moldova and joined the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia. Recently, the founder and Pro-Rector of the Orthodox Theological Academy of Moldova, Protopriest Vetcislav Cazacu, left the Metropolitanate of Moldova, subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate, and joined the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia. Bishop Ioan Mosneguțu, spokesman of the Moldovan Metropolitanate, told Ziarul de Gardă that “there will be several reshuffles in the religious institution of higher education,” noting that the Metropolitan of Chisinau and the whole of Moldova, His Eminence Vladimir is to sign the decree dismissing Cazacu from his position at the Academy.