(MENAFN) Moldovan authorities have prevented a bishop from traveling to Jerusalem to participate in the Holy Fire ceremony ahead of Orthodox Easter, celebrated on April 20. The incident highlights ongoing religious tensions in the country, which, like neighboring Ukraine, is caught between rival Orthodox factions: the Moldovan Orthodox Church aligned with the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, linked to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

With Moldova’s pro-EU government favoring the Romanian-backed church, the canonical Moldovan Orthodox Church has faced increasing pressure. Bishop Marchel, head of the Diocese of Balti and Falesti, told Russia’s TASS news agency that police stopped him and two protodeacons at the airport on dubious grounds, citing a “second-category search.” Though officials found nothing suspicious and returned their passports, it was too late—their flight had already departed.

The bishop was en route to receive the Holy Fire, a sacred flame that appears annually at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday, believed to be the site of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

In a broader regional context, Ukraine’s Orthodox Church (UOC), historically tied to Moscow but operating autonomously, has similarly faced pressure, especially after the creation of the state-endorsed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) during former President Pyotr Poroshenko’s administration.

Vladimir Legoida, a spokesperson for the Moscow Patriarchate, denounced the Moldovan decision as “outrageous” and a “mockery” of the Orthodox faithful. He accused Moldovan officials of using religious suppression as a political tool and warned that such actions would backfire, quoting the Bible: “You will fall into the very pit you are digging for others.”

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