His Eminence Metropolitan Petru of Bessarabia, Exarch of the Territories, marked the Republic of Moldova’s Independence Day on Wednesday with a message urging the faithful to protect freedom through faith, unity, and sacrifice.
“On this national holiday, when we celebrate the proclamation of the independence of the Republic of Moldova, we give thanks to God for granting us the blessing to live in times of freedom, and to manifest our faith, language, and identity defended by our ancestors with sacrifice and at the cost of their lives,” Metropolitan Petru noted.
“Beyond patriotic sentiments, August 27 is a call to remembrance and responsibility. It is the moment when we renew in our hearts the awareness that freedom is not won once and for all, but is defended and cultivated through faith, unity, and sacrifice.”
Quoting Scripture—“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17)—he stressed that true independence arises from communion with God and living in truth.
Freedom built through sacrifice
Metropolitan Petru reminded that “independence was built on the suffering and prayers of the nation’s martyrs and confessors: deported priests and monastics, persecuted peasants and intellectuals, our grandparents who did not forget their language and faith even in the hardest of times.”
He expressed gratitude for recently canonised Romanian saint, Hieromartyr Alexander of Bessarabia, as well as intellectuals and cultural figures such as Ion and Doina Aldea-Teodorovici, Grigore Vieru, Leonida Lari, Nicolae Dabija, and many others.
“Just as the Union of 1918 was prepared and achieved through the work of the Church, so too the national awakening at the end of the 20th century bore the mark of the sacrifice of believers and clergy who longed to be free and reunited with the Motherland and the Mother Church,” the metropolitan underlined.
He noted that among the first aspirations of this rebirth was the reactivation of the Metropolis of Bessarabia, a sign of the longing for unity and continuity with the nation’s natural history.
Independence does not mean isolation
Metropolitan Petru emphasised that in the effort to build a dignified and prosperous society, “independence does not mean isolation, but assuming our rightful place in the concert of free European nations, faithfully preserving the gifts God has given us: the Orthodox faith, the Romanian language, and the bond of blood and history with our entire Romanian family.”
He concluded his message with blessings and prayers that “the Republic of Moldova may remain a state of Christian values, freedom, and dignity, and that every family may live the joy of unity in Christ.”
On August 27, 1991, the Republic of Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
Photo: Metropolis of Bessarabia
