Chișinău, May 23, 2025
omniapres.md
His Eminence Archbishop Marchel of Bălți and Fălești, a hierarch of the Moldovan Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, was detained at the Chișinău airport for the third time in a month this week.
In Holy Week, he was twice blocked from flying to Jerusalem to retrieve the Holy Fire at the Holy Sepulchre, and yesterday he was prevented from going on pilgrimage to Turkey to venerate the holy places associated with the life of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Following the initial incident, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it would look into the matter. This latest incident comes just days after the Archbishop joined the Coordination Council of the Church Against Xenophobia and Discrimination international human rights alliance, which has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council.
In a video statement published on omniapres.md, the Archbishop explained that like before, he was detained for questioning and his documents were held until his plane had already taken off:
I tried to make a pilgrimage to the holy places, where the Holy Hierarch Nicholas labored. Having procured my round-trip ticket in advance, then having the hotel accommodation voucher, I still wound up at the Border Police, where I was again subjected to level 2 control, which lasted somewhere around 20-25 minutes maybe, but it ended 2.5 hours before the plane’s takeoff. However, my passport and ticket weren’t returned to me until the plane was already on the runway for takeoff.
“I was forbidden to leave and subjected to humiliating searches,” His Eminence told journalists.
Moldova is going down a dark path, the hierarch believes:
Our state, the Republic of Moldova, is taking on the characteristics of a police state and depriving its citizens, not just me—there are many to whom prohibitions are applied. Those in power often condemn Stalin, but their actions are no different from Stalin’s—repressions, prohibitions, refusals, persecutions. Recently, I’ve had discussions with law enforcement ministries, which have tried to force me to speak less in public.
His Eminence warns he could be the target of further provocations in the coming days:
I can’t rule out that you’ll hear that either in my car or in my house, they found either weapons, or drugs, or some other forbidden things. Or they’ll accuse me of the most despicable sins that I vehemently condemn, or women will be found, or, I don’t know, many other filthy things.
But the Church will always stand for truth, he affirms:
In the name of God, I call on you to be absolutely sure that the Orthodox Church of Moldova that I represent won’t abandon you. It will always be on the side of truth, always against lies, and I also will remain on the side of the Lord’s truth.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia recently spoke about the harassment of Abp. Marchel as just one element in the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moldova and throughout the Baltics.
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