The president of the Republic of Moldova has carefully intervened in the conflict between two rival Orthodox churches in the former Soviet state, which are feuding over Russian influence, saying that the churches should contribute to the country’s main goal of European integration.

Moldova, located between Ukraine and Romania, has been a pawn in disputes between Moscow and Bucharest for more than 150 years, being part of either the Russian Empire or Greater Romania, Reuters writes.

And this is the essence of the dispute between the churches.

About 92% of Moldova’s 2.5 million inhabitants are Orthodox Christians. But none of the churches is autocephalous or independent: one is subordinate to Moscow, the other to Bucharest.

And a shocking letter from the head of the largest Orthodox church in the Republic of Moldova to the Russian mother church, released last week, claimed that its connection with Moscow and the invasion of Ukraine made it unpopular with parishioners.

• Read also The revelation behind the scenes of the letter – the shock that the Metropolitan of Moldova sent to Patriarch Kirill: “It is absolutely obvious that the ROC is disintegrating”

Maya Sandu intervenes in the dispute between the churches

“The Church must act in accordance with the interests of the state and its citizens,” pro-European President Maia Sandu said on Vocea Bessarabiei TV channel.

“The state cannot interfere in the affairs of the church. I believe that everyone should work for the main goal of the country. And this means peace and European integration today,” she added.

In his letter last week to the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Volodymyr wrote: “The Metropolitanate of Moldova is on the periphery of Moldovan society because of its ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.”

Volodymyr, using his church’s official name, said it was becoming increasingly unpopular because of the “regional context,” an apparent allusion to the Russian church’s full support for the war in Ukraine.

And Russia did not understand, he said, that the unification of Moldova with Romania is “inevitable”, he added.

Last week, Volodymyr also excommunicated six priests who left his church to join the rival Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, which controls 25 percent of the country’s dioceses.

The latter condemned this decision as “absurd and ridiculous” and accused her opponent of supporting the idea of ​​a “Russian world” about the sphere of Russian influence beyond its borders.

The Orthodox Church of the Republic of Moldova wants to become autocephalous

The former head of the Constitutional Court of Moldova said that the charges against Moscow are part of an attempt by the Russian-linked church to achieve autocephaly.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church followed this path in the post-Soviet period, but the achievement of autocephaly took more than 25 years.

“The Moldovan Orthodox Church understands that as long as it is part of the Russian Orthodox Church, it will lose influence and risk remaining on the periphery,” he told Voice of Bessarabia last week.

“The Russian Church is not really a church, but a propaganda and ideological organ of the Kremlin,” he added.