The Moldovan government has called on the nation’s clergy to take a stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, appealing for them to “tell the truth” about a war that has seen the destruction of some 500 places of worship—and taken a terrible toll on human life.

Speaking on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbour, government spokesperson Daniel Voda said the conflict, which Moscow still calls a ‘Special Military Operation’, was not just a territorial dispute, but a spiritual threat.

“From the beginning of the invasion, more than 500 churches, synagogues and mosques have been destroyed or damaged. That's one every two days,” Voda said, according to Reuters.

“Do not remain silent. Tell the world the truth. The aggression is not just a fight for territory, it is the destruction of shrines.”

The appeal comes as Moldova's Orthodox Church, which boasts 90 per cent of the nation’s churchgoers amongst its ranks, wrestles with a split in loyalties between competing branches of the church falling under the authority of Russia or Romania.  

The invasion of Ukraine has been strongly supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, a position that has seen an exodus of parishes from Moldova's majority Moscow-linked Moldova Metropolis who have instead adhered to the smaller Romania-linked Metropolis of Bessarabia.

This is despite Metropolitan Vladimir of the Moscow-linked Moldova Metropolis making a point of officially denouncing the invasion “from the very first day”, as well as helping organise assistance for more than 90,000 Ukrainian refugees, the highest per capita number in Europe.

“At every service I say a special prayer in which I ask for mercy for the church and pray for an end to the war in Ukraine,” Vladimir said, speaking in a 2023 interview.

“I am not afraid to call it the 'war in Ukraine' in the prayer. I do not pray for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”

Despite the comments by the Metropolitan (a bishop or archbishop acting as the head of an ecclesiastical province), there have been a number of unverified media reports of priests from parishes of the Russian-linked church backing the invasion, while the church has conceded that groups of priests received financing from Russia last year to make ‘pilgrimages’ to Russian holy sites.

Moldova, a country of 2.5 million, has been one of Russia’s staunchest critics since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, and more than 60 parishes have transferred their allegiance from the Russian branch of the church to Romania since the conflict began. 

There is also a political dimension to the schism, with most of Moldova’s current territory having been part of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union and ‘Greater Romania’. The Romania-linked Metropolis of Bessarabia has also become increasingly associated with Moldova’s push to join the European Union by 2030.

There is also tension inside the Russian Orthodox Church itself over the invasion. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been criticised over his support of the invasion and the church’s close links to the Russian government. He earlier used a sermon on Forgiveness Day (a church festival commemorating Adam's expulsion from Paradise) shortly after the start of the conflict to attack the West over its ‘so-called values’, such as support for gay rights, claiming the invasion would determine “which side of God humanity will be on”.

“Kirill has simply discredited the Church," said Rev Taras Khomych, a senior lecturer in theology at Liverpool Hope University and member of Ukraine's Byzantine-rite Catholic Church, speaking to Reuters in a 2022 interview. “More people want to speak out in Russia but are afraid.” 

Indeed, numerous Orthodox priests in Russia have been arrested under laws that forbid any speech ‘discrediting’ the armed forces, or have been forced to resign for speaking out against the war. Despite this, they have refused to keep silent, and even immediately after the Patriarch’s sermon around 300 priests signed an open letter calling for peace. 

“We, the priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church, each in our own name, appeal to everyone on whom the cessation of the fratricidal war in Ukraine depends, with a call for reconciliation and an immediate ceasefire,” the letter began, an appeal that echoes with as much power today.