Society
Christmas dispute underscores Orthodox Church’s mounting clout
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen, exactly, is Christmas Day? The answer may seem evident to many, but in Moldova this question has been spoiling the seasonal cheer for almost two decades.
By Claire Bigg
When, exactly, is Christmas Day? The answer may seem evident to many, but in Moldova this question has been spoiling the seasonal cheer for almost two decades.
There are three kinds of Christmas revelers in that small nation on the edge of Europe — followers of the Moldovan Orthodox Church who celebrate on January 7 according to the old Julian calendar; pro-Westerners and followers of the Romanian Orthodox Church who celebrate on December 25 according to the new Gregorian calendar; and those who compromise by having a double Christmas celebration.
Then there are the communists, who don’t observe Christmas at all and exchange gifts on New Year’s Eve around a secular fir tree.
Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Moldovans have been quarreling on the best date to mark the nativity.
This year is no exception.
A decision by the new Western-leaning government to make December 25 an official holiday, in addition to January 7, has angered the Moldovan Orthodox Church and stirred fresh debate about the country’s often conflicting ties with Russia and Romania.
"According to our people’s Christian tradition, the birth of Jesus Christ should be celebrated on January 7," a woman in Chisinau says. "Why don’t the Romanians make January 7 an official holiday to show respect to our Orthodox faith?
"We should celebrate on the 25th like other European countries, but January 7 should also be a holiday, so that nobody is discriminated against."
Unprecedented Move
The dispute first entered the realm of politics last winter when Moldova’s then-president, Communist Vladimir Voronin, ruled that the traditional holiday tree would not appear on the capital’s main square before December 30 — days after Western Christmas.
His unprecedented move sparked outrage among liberal Moldovans, including Chisinau’s mayor, the pro-Western Dorin Chirtoaca, who defied the official ban by putting up a Christmas tree in the city center on December 9.
Police removed the tree overnight and blocked off the site.
This year, Voronin is no longer president, and Christmas trees went up unhindered across the country in time for Western-style celebrations.
But the government’s decision to make December 25 a public holiday was a step too far for the Moldovan Orthodox Church, which is loyal to the powerful Moscow Patriarchate.
The church lashed out at authorities, saying the decision caused "bewilderment" among the faithful and demanding that it be scrapped.
Prime Minister Vlad Filat made it clear he had no intention of backtracking.
"We took this decision all together," Filat said. "We discussed it with the head of the Moldovan Church, Vladimir. We are surprised by their change of attitude and their behavior. But everyone has his own priorities. The government’s priority is to make sure that the rights and liberties of all Moldovan citizens are respected."
More Indulgent Position
The country’s other Orthodox denomination, the smaller Metropolis of Bessarabia, which belongs to the Romanian Orthodox Church, has kept out of the Christmas row.
Its position on the matter is a lot more indulgent — for years, it has catered to both camps by holding two separate Christmas services.
Many of its priests disapprove of the Moldovan church’s forceful stance and accuse it of using the issue to boost its authority.
"What date one celebrates is a purely personal choice," says Ioan Ciuntu, a priest of the Metropolis of Bessarabia. "Why not make December 25 a holiday if many believers celebrate according to the new calendar? After all, those who celebrate according to the old calendar on January 7 and 8 can continue to do so. These days are not taken away from them. It’s very easy to create problems and political games by playing on the feelings of believers."
Moldova is not the only country in the former communist bloc where the Orthodox Church has grown into a major political force since the demise of the Soviet Union.
In predominantly Orthodox countries like Russia, Georgia, or Serbia, the church has come to play a decisive role in public life as politicians increasingly turn to religious leaders for guidance — and, often, voter support.
In Georgia, most people hold Patriarch Ilia II in high esteem. In 2008, a weekly Georgian magazine ("Kviris Palitra") named him Man of the Year after he won 53 percent of votes in a popular poll. President Mikheil Saakashvili garnered only 8.3 percent.
‘Captain Must Lead’
Understandably, Georgian politicians have actively courted the Orthodox Church leader.
In May, thousands of opposition activists called on the patriarch following weeks of protests in a bid to obtain his political blessing. Despite his criticism of Saakashvili, he stopped short of publicly backing the opposition.
Ilia has been particularly critical of Saakashvili’s failure to avoid last year’s war with Russia over the pro-Russian rebel region of South Ossetia.
"The captain of a ship must lead his vessel, be able to maneuver, and escape reefs," the Georgian patriarch said.
Ilia nonetheless agreed to act as Saakashvili’s political envoy during a December 2008 visit to Moscow, where he attended the funeral of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksy and met with President Dmitry Medvedev.
A humble Saakashvili publicly thanked him for accepting what he called a "diplomatic mission" to convey Georgia’s stance on South Ossetia to the Kremlin.
Last month, his government even moved to defend the patriarch’s dignity after online videos mocking him sparked national outrage. The Interior Ministry summoned the two teenage authors of the video, and eventually let them go after what they described as a rough questioning.
Perhaps nowhere are the bonds between state and church as palpable as in Serbia, where the death of Patriarch Pavle in November was marked with overwhelming pomp not seen since the 1980 death of Yugoslav strongman Josip Broz Tito.
The 95-year-old Serbian patriarch was widely respected for his humility, although he was also blamed for failing to openly condemn Serb ultranationalism.
Secular In Writing
Authorities declared a national three-day period of mourning, shutting down offices and schools. Critics said this violated the constitution, which defines Serbia as a secular state.
Ljubisa Rajic, a philosophy professor based in Belgrade, says the Serbian government is secular only in writing.
"The state has long since lost its secular character. The only question is how far this process will go," Rajic says. "I think it will continue until we have a situation where people who oppose the church’s meddling in society and in state institutions will be under suspicion, just like people were suspected of straying from communism after World War II."
President Boris Tadic himself was actively involved in commemorations for the late Pavle, giving an emotional speech at his funeral and calling on a Holy Synod meeting. He described the patriarch’s passing as a "personal loss" and said he had often consulted with him about important national decisions.
Authorities also allowed crowds of mourners to file past the patriarch’s body and kiss his forehead, flouting strict guidelines issued earlier by the government to prevent a swine flu epidemic.
RFE/RL’s Moldovan, Balkan, and Georgian services contributed to this report
Society
“They are not needy, but they need help”. How Moldovan volunteers try to create a safe environment for the Ukrainian refugees
At the Government’s ground floor, the phones ring constantly, the laptop screens never reach standby. In one corner of the room there is a logistics planning meeting, someone has a call on Zoom with partners and donors, someone else finally managed to take a cookie and make some coffee. Everyone is exhausted and have sleepy red eyes, but the volunteers still have a lot of energy and dedication to help in creating a safe place for the Ukrainian refugees.
“It’s like a continuous bustle just so you won’t read the news. You get home sometimes and you don’t have time for news, and that somehow helps. It’s a kind of solidarity and mutual support,” says Vlada Ciobanu, volunteer responsible for communication and fundraising.
The volunteers group was formed from the very first day of war. A Facebook page was created, where all types of messages immediately started to flow: “I offer accommodation”, “I want to help”, “I want to get involved”, “Where can I bring the products?”, “I have a car and I can go to the customs”. Soon, the authorities also started asking for volunteers’ support. Now they all work together, coordinate activities and try to find solutions to the most difficult problems.
Is accommodation needed for 10, 200 or 800 people? Do you need transportation to the customs? Does anyone want to deliver 3 tons of apples and does not know where? Do you need medicine or mobile toilets? All these questions require prompt answers and actions. Blankets, sheets, diapers, hygiene products, food, clothes – people bring everything, and someone needs to quickly find ways of delivering them to those who need them.
Sometimes this collaboration is difficult, involves a lot of bureaucracy, and it can be difficult to get answers on time. “Republic of Moldova has never faced such a large influx of refugees and, probably because nobody thought this could happen, a mechanism of this kind of crisis has not been developed. Due to the absence of such a mechanism that the state should have created, we, the volunteers, intervened and tried to help in a practical way for the spontaneous and on the sport solutions of the problems,” mentions Ecaterina Luțișina, volunteer responsible for the refugees’ accommodation.
Ana Maria Popa, one of the founders of the group “Help Ukrainians in Moldova/SOS Українці Молдовa” says that the toughest thing is to find time and have a clear mind in managing different procedures, although things still happen somehow naturally. Everyone is ready to intervene and help, to take on more responsibilities and to act immediately when needed. The biggest challenges arise when it is necessary to accommodate large families, people with special needs, for which alternative solutions must be identified.
Goods and donations
The volunteers try to cope with the high flow of requests for both accommodation and products of all kinds. “It came to me as a shock and a panic when I found out that both mothers who are now in Ukraine, as well as those who found refuge in our country are losing their milk because of stress. We are trying to fill an enormous need for milk powder, for which the demand is high and the stocks are decreasing”, says Steliana, the volunteer responsible for the distribution of goods from the donation centers.
Several centers have been set up to collect donations in all regions of Chisinau, and volunteers are redirecting the goods to where the refugees are. A system for processing and monitoring donations has already been established, while the volunteer drivers take over the order only according to a unique code.
Volunteers from the collection centers also do the inventory – the donated goods and the distributed goods. The rest is transported to Vatra deposit, from where it is distributed to the placement centers where more than 50 refugees are housed.
When they want to donate goods, but they don’t know what would be needed, people are urged to put themselves in the position of refugees and ask themselves what would they need most if they wake up overnight and have to hurriedly pack their bags and run away. Steliana wants to emphasise that “these people are not needy, but these people need help. They did not choose to end up in this situation.”
Furthermore, the volunteer Cristina Sîrbu seeks to identify producers and negotiate prices for products needed by refugees, thus mediating the procurement process for NGOs with which she collaborates, such as Caritas, World Children’s Fund, Polish Solidarity Fund, Lifting hands, Peace Corps and others.
One of the challenges she is facing now is the identifying a mattress manufacturer in the West, because the Moldovan mattress manufacturer that has been helping so far no longer has polyurethane, a raw material usually imported from Russia and Ukraine.
Cristina also needs to find solutions for the needs of the volunteer groups – phones, laptops, gsm connection and internet for a good carrying out of activities.
Hate messages
The most difficult thing for the communication team is to manage the hate messages on the social networks, which started to appear more often. “Even if there is some sort of dissatisfaction from the Ukrainian refugees and those who offer help, we live now in a very diverse society, there are different kind of people, and we act very differently under stress,” said Vlada Ciobanu.
Translation by Cătălina Bîrsanu
Important
#WorldForUkraine – a map that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression
The international community and volunteers from all over te world have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against the Russian aggression. In a digital world – it is an interactive map of public support of Ukrainians under the hashtag #WorldForUkraine – rallies, flash mobs, protests around the world. In the physical dimension – it is your opportunity to take to the streets and declare: “No to Putin’s aggression, no to war.”
„Today, along with the political and military support, emotional connection with the civilized world and truthful information are extremely important for Ukraine. The power to do it is in your hands. Join the #WorldForUkraine project and contribute to the victorious battle against the bloodshed inflicted on Ukraine by the aggression of the Russian Federation”, says the „about the project” section of the platform.
Go to the streets — Tell people — Connect and Unite — Become POWERFUL
Volunteers have launched #WorldForUkraine as a platform that shows the magnitude of the world’s actions against Russian aggression. In digital world – it is an INTERACTIVE MAP of public support of Ukrainians worldforukraine.net under the hashtag #WorldForUkraine – rallies, flash mobs, protests around the world. In the physical dimension – it is your opportunity to take to the streets and declare: “No to Putin’s aggression, no to war.” There you may find information about past and future rallies in your city in support of Ukraine. This is a permanent platform for Ukrainian diaspora and people all over the world concerned about the situation in Ukraine.
So here’s a couple of things you could do yourself to help:
* if there is a political rally in your city, then participate in it and write about it on social media with geolocation and the hashtag #WorldForUkraine
* if there are no rallies nearby, organize one in support of Ukraine yourself, write about it on social media with geolocation adding the hashtag #WorldForUkraine
The map will add information about gathering by #WorldForUkraine AUTOMATICALLY
Your voice now stronger THAN ever
All rallies are already here: https://worldforukraine.net
Important
How is Moldova managing the big influx of Ukrainian refugees? The authorities’ plan, explained
From 24th to 28th of February, 71 359 Ukrainian citizens entered the territory of Republic of Moldova. 33 173 of them left the country. As of this moment, there are 38 186 Ukrainian citizens in Moldova, who have arrived over the past 100 hours.
The Moldovan people and authorities have organized themselves quickly from the first day of war between Russia and Ukraine. However, in the event of a prolonged armed conflict and a continuous influx of Ukrainian refugees, the efforts and donations need to be efficiently managed. Thus, we inquired about Moldova’s long-term plan and the state’s capacity to receive, host, and treat a bigger number of refugees.
On February 26th, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Moldova approved the Regulation of organization and functioning of the temporary Placement Center for refugees and the staffing and expenditure rules. According to the Regulation, the Centers will have the capacity of temporary hosting and feeding at least 20 persons, for a maximum of 3 months, with the possibility of extending this period. The Centers will also offer legal, social, psychological, and primary medical consultations to the refugees. The Center’s activity will be financed from budget allocations, under Article 19 of Provision no. 1 of the Exceptional Situations Commission from February 24th, 2022, and from other sources of funding that do not contravene applicable law.
The Ministry of Inner Affairs and the Government of Moldova facilitated the organization of the volunteers’ group “Moldova for Peace”. Its purpose is to receive, offer assistance and accommodation to the Ukrainian refugees. The group is still working on creating a structure, registering and contacting volunteers, etc. It does not activate under a legal umbrella.
Lilia Nenescu, one of the “Moldova for Peace” volunteers, said that the group consists of over 20 people. Other 1700 registered to volunteer by filling in this form, which is still available. The group consists of several departments:
The volunteers’ department. Its members act as fixers: they’re responsible for connecting the people in need of assistance with the appropriate department. Some of the volunteers are located in the customs points. “The Ministry of Inner Affairs sends us every day the list of the customs points where our assistance is needed, and we mobilize the volunteers”, says Lilia Nenescu.
The Goods Department manages all the goods donated by the Moldavian citizens. The donations are separated into categories: non-perishable foods and non-food supplies. The volunteers of this department sort the goods into packages to be distributed.
The Government intends to collect all the donations in four locations. The National Agency for Food Safety and the National Agency for Public Health will ensure mechanisms to confirm that all the deposited goods comply with safety and quality regulations.
The Service Department operates in 4 directions and needs the volunteer involvement of specialists in psychology, legal assistance (the majority of the refugees only have Ukrainian ID and birth certificates of their children); medical assistance; translation (a part of the refugees are not Ukrainian citizens).
According to Elena Mudrîi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, so far there is no data about the number of Covid-19 positive refugees. She only mentioned two cases that needed outpatient medical assistance: a pregnant woman and the mother of a 4-day-old child.
The Accommodation Department. The volunteers are waiting for the centralized and updated information from the Ministry of Labor about the institutions offering accommodation, besides the houses offered by individuals.
The Transport Department consists of drivers organized in groups. They receive notifications about the number of people who need transportation from the customs points to the asylum centers for refugees.
The municipal authorities of Chișinău announced that the Ukrainian children refugees from the capital city will be enrolled in educational institutions. The authorities also intend to create Day-Care Centers for children, where they will be engaged in educational activities and will receive psychological assistance. Besides, the refugees from the municipal temporary accommodation centers receive individual and group counseling.
In addition to this effort, a group of volunteers consisting of Ana Gurău, Ana Popapa, and Andrei Lutenco developed, with the help of Cristian Coșneanu, the UArefugees platform, synchronized with the responses from this form. On the first day, 943 people offered their help using the form, and 110 people asked for help. According to Anna Gurău, the volunteers communicate with the Government in order to update the platform with the missing data.
Translation from Romanian by Natalia Graur
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