The Bishopric of Ungheni and Nisporeni that forms part of the Metropolitan Church of Chisinau and all Moldova reacted to the accusations made by the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and the priest of Dereneu village of Calarasi district Florin Marin, as to the fact that the Bishopric organized the seizure of the local church.
In a news conference at IPN, priest Vadim Corostinschi, secretary of the Bishopric, said Florin Marin was stopped from serving following complaints submitted by people from the village, who expressed their indignation at the behavior of the priest whom they accused of appropriation of funds, making public of confessed sins, sexual harassment, electoral campaigning and other wrongdoings.
Vadim Corostinschi contradicted Florin Marin who, in another news conference said that last August the religious community of Dereneu decided to join the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia. He noted that only 18 signatures in favor of such an act were put, some of these being false.
“The Bishopric condemns the defection of priests who are in litigation with the church to any other religious denomination as it will never be order among priests if something like this is tolerated, and the suspects or the accused will only emigrate from one religious denomination to another,” it is said in a statement issued by the Bishopric that was read in the news conference.
The secretary of the Bishopric also said that on March 4 this year, at the invitation of locals from Dereneu, he went to the local church to pray together with Spiridon Marin, the abbot of the Harbovat Monastery, and 150 Christians from the village, but they had to pray outside as the church was locked. The next day, a group of parishioners from the village managed to enter the church. Priest Florin Marin came later with six priests of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia. Throughout the week until March 11, over 100 parishioners of the Orthodox Church of Moldova went daily to the church to pray.
“The legal acts – the Government Decision No. 740, by which the churches and state monuments are declared state heritage, and the cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Culture and the Moldovan Metropolitan Church – support the parishioners in their wish to see the church in Dereneu forming part of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church,” said priest Vadim Corostinschi.
He denied Florin Marin’s assertions that large sums of money are collected from priests within the Metropolitan Church of Chisinau and all Moldova and that on March 5, when the group of Christians opened the church, money was stolen from this.
The priest wondered why Marin Florin and the secretary of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia Ioan Cosoi demand that the law enforcement agencies should solve the problem, but the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia hasn’t written a letter to the Bishopric of Ungheni and Nisporeni to ask for the file of ex-priest Florin Marin, especially if they know that this is in litigation with the episcopal courts.
Vadim Corostinschi also said that the Christians who were in the church on March 28 were taken out by the police commissioner of Calarasi and the door was sealed. Consequently, the villagers wrote a letter to Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen, asking that priest Marin Florin and the police employees should be held accountable.
