Keston
News Service - 31 July 2002
Posted 2 August 2002 on Religioscope
After
what the secretary for the Bessarabian Orthodox Metropolia
described as a "ten-year battle" for state registration,
the Moldovan government's State Service for the Affairs of
Cults has finally registered the Orthodox jurisdiction, which
forms part of the Patriarchate in neighbouring Romania.
"Everyone
is pleased. We have fought for our rights for ten years. We're
equal now," Fr Victor Restesanu told Keston News
Service from the Moldovan capital Chisinau on 31 July. "All
our problems have been resolved." He added that the
fine imposed on the government by the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg last December for its refusal
to register the Church, which should have been paid in June,
was paid a week ago.
It
remains unclear, however, whether the Bessarabian Church's
victory will help
another Orthodox jurisdiction - the True Orthodox Church -
to overturn an unofficial ban on its registration. Similarly
banned from registering is the country's Muslim community,
which has seen its leader Talgat Masaev and other prominent
members detained and questioned in recent days. An official
of the State Service, who declined to give her name, said
that Serghei Iatco, the director of the State Service, was
unavailable by telephone. "How can I say whether the
True Orthodox Church and the Muslims are going to get registration?" she told Keston from Chisinau on 31 July. "Let their
representatives come and discuss their case with Serghei Iatco."
Fr
Restesanu told Keston that the Bessarabian Church's leader,
Metropolitan Petru Paduraru, had received a telephone call
from Iatco at 11 am on 30 July, summoning him to a meeting
at the government an hour later. "We didn't know if
they would give it to us or not." But when Metropolitan
Petru arrived with Vlad Cubreacov, a member of the church's
council and an opposition parliamentary deputy, Iatco handed
them the certificate of registration. "When they returned
from the government more than a hundred of our parishioners
gathered in celebration," Fr Restesanu reported.
Despite
fierce opposition from the rival Moldovan Orthodox Church
of the Moscow Patriarchate, the largest religious denomination
in Moldova, the government finally bowed to pressure from
the ECHR and from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly,
which on 24 April had given the Moldovan government a deadline
of 31 July to register the Church.
The
government originally argued that the 1992 religion law would
have to be changed before the Bessarabian Church could be
registered, claiming that this would take a long time. However,
the government presented amendments to parliament and these
were adopted on 12 July, paving the way for the registration.
The
most significant change in the amendments is the transfer
of responsibility for registration from the government to
the State Service for the Affairs of Cults. Some have expressed
initial concern at the move, believing it increases the power
of the state service. "The procedure for registering
churches becomes much simpler," Valeriu Ghiletchi,
head of the Baptist Union, told Keston from Chisinau on 22
July. "At the same time it could become more bureaucratic
than it is used to be. Article 14 gives more power to the
state service for the affairs of cults than it had before,
which could be abused. This is the only concern I see, so
far. When it comes to the implementation of this law we will
see how it works."
Metropolitan
Vladimir (Cantareanu), head of the Orthodox Church under Moscow,
complained vigorously about the amendments, claiming on 24
July that "adopting amendments that envisage making
it easier to register religions will substantially increase
the risk of totalitarian sects penetrating Moldova".
He believed "amendments to the law will diminish rather
than strengthen the Orthodox faith".
The
Bessarabian Orthodox Church claims 75 priests and 68 parishes
in Moldova. Most parishes do not have a proper church, Fr
Restesanu declared, having to make do with temporary chapels
or having to meet in private homes.
Under
the December 2001 ECHR ruling, the government was instructed
to pay the Bessarabian Church compensation of 27,025 Euros
(24,400 US dollars) "for pecuniary and non-pecuniary
damage and for legal costs and expenses". Fr Restesanu
says his Church has not yet decided how it will use the money. "We will probably use it to help to build new churches
- many of these are now being built."
The
Bessarabian Church also had one parish in a Romanian-speaking
village across the border in Ukraine's Odessa region. However,
the Ukrainian authorities expelled the priest, barred him
from re-entry for five years and handed the parish over to
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. "We built the church, but they drove out our priest," Fr Restesanu complained.
