The Bishop of Bălți and Fălești, Marchel, issued a decree approving the removal of the pro-European leadership of the country from the prayers of the priests in his diocese, especially the decision-makers who voted to ratify the Convention. Council of Europe on prevention and control violence against women and a violence domestic (better known by the generic name of the Istanbul Convention – ed.).

Marchel’s decision comes after he recently received a letter from dozens of priests in his parish asking for it. In fact, sources close to the Diocese of Bălți and Fălești told G4Media.ro that the movement was set up by Marchel, and the request was formally signed by his canonical subordinates.

“Following the repeated demands of the priests of our Diocese, generated by the voting and promulgation of the law “European Convention” (sic!) Which hides in itself a destructive impact of Christian soul and morals “, is shown in the motivation of the decree of Bishop Marchel, canonically subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate.

He claims that, despite appeals to parliamentarians, he has been ignored by the “leadership of the country”, so that his decree will enter into force indefinitely until another decision that could overturn this provision.

“The priesthood of the Diocese of Bălți and Fălești of the Moldovan Orthodox Church is released from the obligation to offer holy prayers for the leadership of the country, starting with October 18/30, 2021 ”, the decree states.

As early as last week, the PAS came up with a reaction to Bishop Marchel’s decision, urging the church to pray for victims of domestic violence that are primarily concerned with the provisions of the Istanbul Convention.

The President of the Parliament and the leader of PAS, Igor Grosu, declared that such discussions do not make sense in a much more serious context such as the gas crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic. “The relationship with God and faith is a very intimate thing. When it’s you, in your privacy and pray. Otherwise, it’s hypocrisy “, Grosu declares.

In turn, the parliamentarian PAS Radu Marian specified that the Metropolitan Church of Moldova clearly misinterprets in its key the provisions of the Convention.

“It is a misinterpretation, the Convention has nothing to do with what they invoke, they probably did not read what was voted. Adopting this convention is a crucial step for us to finally fight domestic violence, I do not understand why there are such opinions from the church.“, Said Radu Marian.

Last week, Bishop Marchel said that what bothered him about the Convention would be an alleged greater freedom for homosexuals that he would have read among the Convention.

“For this law to tell you that it carries the same devilish seed, which it carries the law of equal opportunities, which also came to equalize the rights of members of societies, which were equal rights, which were reflected in a lot as well. , by the legislation of the Republic of Moldova. But it was done only for the bearers of the most heinous sin which is homosexuality “, Marchel declared for nordnews.md.

According to statistics, the Republic of Moldova is one of the most affected states in the region on domestic violence. The number of cases of domestic violence, reported and registered by the authorities, is increasing since last year. According to the IGP statistical report, recorded in a recent study of UNDP, in 2020 there were 12,970 complaints regarding cases of domestic violence, compared to 11,840 in 2019 and 11,026 in 2018.

The position of the Metropolitan Church of Moldova reflects this actually that of the Moscow Patriarchate, to which it is hierarchically subordinated, wrote Veridica.ro in a detailed analysis on this subject.

The Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia and Russian conservative groups oppose the signing of the Istanbul Convention. In fact, Russia is with Azerbaijan, one of the Council of Europe states that have not yet signed the Istanbul Convention, a document adopted in 2011 (Turkey has since withdrawn from the Convention).

Russia is the country that does not even apply punishments in the case of domestic violence. In the last decade, about 40 legislative initiatives regulating domestic violence have failed to vote after the first reading in the Moscow State Duma.

Photo: Bishop of Bălți and Fălești, Marchel. Source / website of the Diocese of Bălți and Fălești of the Metropolitan Church of Moldova