Bessarabian Metropolis hit by scandal
The Feast of the Holy Trinity in the Bessarabian Metropolis was overshadowed by a scandal so damaging that its head preferred to step down retroactively.
Officially, the public was told that Metropolitan Petru Păduraru’s resignation had been accepted three days earlier because of his advanced age and poor health.
However, a video circulated shortly afterwards suggested that age and health may not have been the real reason. The footage allegedly shows the 79-year-old metropolitan in an intimate situation with another priest, reportedly one of his subordinates.
Old rumours return
Church circles have long discussed rumours about Păduraru’s private life. Some even claim that similar accusations were one of the reasons for his earlier conflict with the Patriarchate and his removal from service in the Moldovan Metropolis, a conflict that later became part of the wider church split.
The new scandal now raises awkward questions for PAS and the unionist camp, which have repeatedly spoken about European morality and spiritual purity while openly favouring Păduraru in his struggle against the canonical Church.
For years, the Bessarabian Metropolis has expanded its influence by taking over parishes and churches. Now its own leadership faces a scandal that its political patrons will find difficult to explain.
A question for Moldova’s “European” moralists
So what will they say now? Is this the kind of “spirituality” they wanted to present as an alternative to the canonical Church? In the case of PAS, perhaps the answer is not so surprising. The ruling party has shown a clear sympathy for every kind of minority agenda.
But for ordinary believers, this is something entirely different. They expect the Church to defend faith, morality and family values, not to become another stage for scandals imported under the banner of “European values”.
