A violent conflict broke out in the Rîșcani district of the Republic of Moldova, where priest Constantin Turtureanu was assaulted and forcibly thrown out of his place of worship by some of his parishioners.
Violence broke out after Sunday mass the village of Grinăuți, Rîșcani district of the Republic of Moldova.
Father Constantin Turtureanu was assaulted and hurled out of his church by his parishioners.
Reportedly, the conflict broke out after the priest announced his decision to transfer the church from the subordination of the Metropolitanate of Moldova (affiliated with the Russian Patriarchate) to the authority of the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, which belongs to the Romanian Patriarchate.
A video, posted on social media by the priest’s wife, Anișoara Turtureanu, shows several people pulling the priest by his hair out of church.
Police officers are visibly intervening in the video.
The two religious structures coexist on Moldovan territory, but have been in tense relations for years.
In response to Turtureanu’s declarations, the Metropolis of Moldova issued an eparchial decrees suspending the priest and appointing another cleric in his place.
The document was signed by His Holiness Ioan Moșneguțu, Bishop of Soroca and Vicar of the Metropolis of Moldova.
On the same day of the assault, supporters of the Moldova faction entered the church and changed its locks.
