{"id":268365,"date":"2020-01-15T12:24:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T10:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=268365"},"modified":"2020-01-15T12:24:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T10:24:21","slug":"romanian-metropolitan-of-bessarabia-condemns-removal-of-crucifix-from-moldovan-ministry-of-internal-affairs-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/romanian-metropolitan-of-bessarabia-condemns-removal-of-crucifix-from-moldovan-ministry-of-internal-affairs-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Metropolitan of Bessarabia condemns removal of crucifix from Moldovan Ministry of Internal Affairs building"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 15, a crucifix was installed on the wall in the Ministry of Internal Affairs building in Chi\u0219in\u0103u, Republic of Moldova. The ceremony was attended by then-Interior Minister Andrei N\u0103stase, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Chi\u0219in\u0103u and All Moldova of the Russian Church, and His Eminence Metropolitan Petru of Chi\u0219in\u0103u and Bessarabia of the Romanian Church in the Republic of Moldova.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, this month, the Council for the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Equality in the Republic of Moldova branded the installation of the crucifix as discriminatory and demanded that the current leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs remove it, reports the Moldovan outlet NewsMaker.<\/p>\n

Met. Petru of Bessarabia protests and condemns the decision to remove the crucifix.<\/p>\n

According to the Council\u2019s staff, the decision to demand the cross\u2019s removal came after it received an appeal with a complaint about the installation and Minister N\u0103stase\u2019s speech at the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry of Internal Affairs is a Christian army, and the police, carabineers, and rescue workers are helpless without the power of God and the Holy Cross,\u201d N\u0103stase emphasized during the installation ceremony.<\/p>\n

The Council considers his speech an attempt to impose religious views. \u201cThe rejection of such symbols will preserve the neutrality of the state structure,\u201d reads the text of the Council\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

More than 95% of the Moldovan population identifies as Orthodox, while all citizens are guaranteed equality under the law regardless of religious affiliation.<\/p>\n

In a statement posted on the\u00a0Metropolis of Bessarabia\u2019s website<\/a>, Met. Petru condemns the Council\u2019s decision as \u201can attack on our identity of faith and kinship,\u201d and offers several arguments in favour of keeping the crucifix inside the Ministry\u2019s building.<\/p>\n

The hierarch of the Romanian Church notes that the people have been Orthodox for nearly 2,000 years and refers to great heroes such as St. Stephen the Great and St. Constantine Br\u00e2ncoveanu, and other rulers of the nation, \u201cwho sacrificed their lives to remain\u201d Orthodox.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Met. Petru fully supports N\u0103stase\u2019s statement that nothing can be done without God, and calls on all Ministers and senior officials to promote Orthodox values.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn no democratic state are you obliged to apologize for promoting a national value, in which more than 95% of the population believes, and the Cross is also a national symbol,\u201d Met. Petru writes, referring to the fact that the Cross is depicted on the Moldovan flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly in the communist period were religious insignia banned and removed from public institutions,\u201d the Metropolitan writes, calling on the faithful to gather in prayer for our present times and those that follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision is an attempt on our identity of faith and kinship and can set a dangerous precedent,\u201d Met. Petru believes. Such Christian symbols are \u201charmless,\u201d and, on the contrary, \u201ccan be of great help to a nation that puts its trust in the one true God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan calls on the faithful to pray for all the civil authorities and for the army, as happens at every Orthodox divine service, and prays that God will protect the nation.<\/p>\n

English article by Orthochristian
\nPhotography courtesy of Metropolis of Bessarabia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 15, a crucifix was installed on the wall in the Ministry of Internal Affairs building in Chi\u0219in\u0103u, Republic of Moldova. The ceremony was attended by then-Interior Minister Andrei N\u0103stase, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Chi\u0219in\u0103u and All Moldova of the Russian Church, and His Eminence Metropolitan Petru of Chi\u0219in\u0103u and Bessarabia of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":252127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[22267,22266,22265,19021,10386],"class_list":["post-268365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dioceses","tag-chisinau-en","tag-met-petru-of-bessarabia","tag-metropolitan-vladimir-of-chisinau","tag-moldova-en","tag-orthodox-news"],"better_featured_image":{"id":252127,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":2000,"height":1333,"file":"2019\/09\/inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32-360x360.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32-890x593.jpg","width":890,"height":593,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32-890x593.jpg"},"large":{"file":"inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32-1024x682.jpg","width":1024,"height":682,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32-1024x682.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"5","credit":"VLADISLAV CULIOMZA","camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark III","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1568555500","copyright":"","focal_length":"70","iso":"3200","shutter_speed":"0.003125","title":"","orientation":"1","keywords":[]}},"post":null,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/inaugurare-crucifix-in-prezenta-Mitropolitilor-Petru-si-Vladimir-32.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268365\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=268365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268365\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252127\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=268365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=268365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=268365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}