The spiritual tragedies occurred within the past weeks in Orthodox churches of Ungheni, Calarasi, Floresti, Orhei and other localities bring back into attention the complicated times for Orthodoxy in Moldova in the 50's.
The Orthodox churches have been already closed this way once: with battles, bodyguards, violence. In February 1959, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued a decision to close all the churches and monasteries in Moldova. A special decision of the Council of Ministers followed, after which the grim Calvary of monks, priests and believers began. At the same time, dozens of CSS (Committee for State Security) agents, having taken up positions of monastery abbots, destroyed them from the inside.

The historian Ludmila Tihonov recently has published a book called "The Soviet State policy on confessions in the Moldovan SSR". The book contains information and figures about the number of public prayer places destroyed by the exponents of the Soviet power. According to this work, over 600 churches were closed at the end of 1963, 88 of which in Floresti district, 68 in Rezina, and 65 in Edinet. In this book, as well as in the book of Valeriu Pasat, former director of the Information and Security Service, the non-devotional relationship between clerics and CSS is revealed by archive documents that have become available for the public only now.

Here is the content of the "Classified" letter of 15 May 1961 addressed to comrade Gribanov O.M., Chief of the Department No. 2 of CSS of the USSR, on behalf of the Chairman of the Security Committee beside the Council of Ministers of MSSR, I. Savcenko.

"Special notification about the closing of Hirbovat Monastery"

"An important role in the planning of preparatory measures for closing Hirbovat Monastery was played by Secret Services and trustworthy persons with leading positions within the eparchy directorate, monasteries or nearby villages.

On our assignment, the Secret Services and the trustworthy persons from amongst monks and parishioners disseminated rumours about the closing of the monastery. This action has been supported by our agent "Scurtu", who is the monastery abbot. As a result, a group of monks was formed, which requested to divide the property of the monastery. Taking advantage of the created situation, agents "Nikitin", "Belii", "Scurtu" convinced 52 out of 94 monks to leave the monastery. Afterwards the agent "Florea", the abbot of the Chitcani Monastery, following our instructions, left for Hirbovat and organized transportation of other monks to Chitcani. Then the agent "Scurtu" made an official request to the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to take under protection the property of the monastery. Agent "Kazantev", who occupied a leading position within the eparchy, actively contributed to the closing of the monastery. By his order, the persons who could have negatively influence the preparations of the monastery closing were evacuated from the monastery in the first place. On May 10, 1961, all the monks were evacuated, and the left belongings were transmitted into the possession of the state."

The Moldovan Metropoly is still under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchy, and the matter of de-CSS-ing the Moldovan Orthodox Church has never been discussed. At the same time, 40-year-old scenarios seem to recur.

The things that have kept happening since 1991 up to the present day raise question marks about the relationships between the Russian Secret Services and the Pro-Russian Church of Moldova. This is not the first time when Moscow Patriarchy takes decisions that are opposite to the wish of the parishioners from Moldovan religious communities and any attempt of people to protest is stifled by force.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, also ratified by Moldova, states that "Any person has the right to freedom of religion; this right includes the freedom to change his/her religion or belief, as well as the freedom to manifest his/her religion or belief, independently or in association with other people, in public and in private." This right seems to be frequently violated when a religious community decides to withdraw its membership from the structure of the Pro-Russian Church.

It is well known that public prayer places of the Bessarabian Metropoly seized by the Soviet Government after 1940 have never been re-ceded. At the same time, there are already some cases when religious communities of the Bessarabian Metropoly have been dispossessed of their prayer places even after 1991. For example, the well-known case of the Saint Nicolae Church of Chisinau seized by the Moldovan Metropoly after the decease of the parson Vasile.

There have been no opposite cases, because the relationship between the authorities of the Republic of Moldova and the Moscow Patriarchy seem to be very tight. Last spring, the President Voronin was officially visited by his Eminence Alexii II and awarded the latter the highest state decoration, "The Order of the Republic". The President Voronin has also received high decorations from Moscow. Now he is wearing on his chest the "Alexander Nevsky" order. Nevertheless, the President has not taken any measures to calm down the disturbances around the "Alexander Nevsky" church of Ungheni. Although, according to the legal standards, all confessions are equal before the law, the President Voronin has repeatedly expressed his unwillingness to recognize the Orthodoxy within the Bessarabian Metropoly, declaring during the very visit to Chisinau of the Russian Patriarch that "The Bessarabian Metropoly does not exist".

But besides the phobia of another Orthodox church, the communist leader seems to have another phobia of any Christian initiative not yet approved by Moscow. For, the scandal aroused by the appointment of the cleric Petru Musteata as the Bishop of Ungheni, Nisporeni, and Calarasi was caused by the fact that this decision had been taken by Moscow, regardless of the will of a few dozens of parsons and religious communities of Moldova.

Why the Western parishes of Moldova do not want Petru Musteata? Some say that he might have disregarded the Christian prescription of immaculacy of the body; others speak about corruption within the Orthodox elite of Chisinau and Moscow; the rest refer to the activity of secret agents loyal to Moscow within the religious communities on the Prut River. It is possible that all or none of the above scenarios are true. Only the secret archives can provide clear arguments, but these would be revealed only after a few decades.

From now on, the scenarios seem to be clear. Moscow has never accepted to lose in Moldova, neither on the battlefield of Transnistria, nor in the gas conflict, nor in the wine battle. All the more, Moscow will not cede the public prayer places besides the EC border, especially since it has the support of the owners of "Alexander Nevsky" church and order. The scenario may have another turn only if religious communities, tired of revolts, find forces to follow, besides the path of Redemption, the one of the European justice.