Romania to Give Moldovan Clergy Diplomatic Passports

Romania says it will issue 14 working and diplomatic passports to clergy of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia, which is canonically subordinate to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church in the former Soviet republic is split between the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, which is subordinate to the Moscow Partriarchate.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry said it would issue the working passports on the request of a Romanian deputy originally from Moldova, Constantin Codreanu, together with a previous request from the Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch, Daniel.

Codreanu argued on Facebook that a number of Bessarabian Metropolitan Church priests frequently cross the border between Romania and Moldova and who, "due to the fact that they are detained for long periods in the customs service, are delaying the liturgical and pastoral-missionary programs in the parishes".

He noted that the head of the Moldovan Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Vladimir, who is a member of Russian Church's Holy Synod, already has a Russian diplomatic passport.

The Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia has less influence than the Moldovan Orthodox Church. Almost 97 per cent of Moldovan citizens declared themselves Orthodox Christians according to the last population survey in March 2017.

The Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia was reactivated on September 14, 1992, after Moldova proclaimed its independence from the former Soviet Union.

Initially, it was created by a Romanian royal decree, issued in 1925, when Moldova was a part of Romania.