Arya News - The Moldovan government is persecuting Archbishop Markell of Balti and Falesti because he advocates for the Orthodox Christian faith and Moldovan statehood, Moldovan political scientist and historian Boris Shapovalov has told Sputnik.
Moldovan media reported that Markell was stopped at the Chisinau airport on Thursday for a lengthy security check and missed his flight to Israel where he planned to attend the traditional Holy Fire ceremony. Markell told reporters that he would make another attempt to fly to Jerusalem on Friday evening. However, a Sputnik correspondent reported that the archbishop was once again prevented from boarding. "This is the highest degree of cynicism, absolute disrespect of the Moldovan authorities for their people, for people of faith... I"ve long known esteemed Archbishop Markel as a very intelligent, very sensible person, a patriot, a Moldovan citizen who stands not only for the preservation of the Orthodox faith, but also for Moldovan statehood... It is clear that Archbishop Markell, being one of the brightest representatives of the Moldovan Orthodox Church of the Russian Patriarchate, was deliberately subjected to these repressions," Shapovalov said. The Moldovan authorities have been actively supporting and promoting the Romanian Orthodox Church"s Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, Shapovalov said. The Orthodox Church of Moldova is a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church that unites 70% of the residents of Moldova and its breakaway region of Transnistria. Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova Vladimir (Nicolae Cantarean) has repeatedly expressed regret that the current authorities of the country avoid dialogue with the church. Yevgenia Gutsul, head of the Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia, was detained at the same airport on March 25. A Chisinau court arrested her for 20 days on charges of violating rules for campaign financing and document forgery. On April 9, the court placed Gutsul under home arrest for 30 days, which her supporters slammed as political pressure. Several protests have since taken place in Gagauzia.