More than three hundred Moldovan priests went on a “pilgrimage” to Moscow, with all their expenses covered. The organization of the clergy took place on Viber, and as the sponsor of the entire event, Moldovan media named Ilon Shor – a former Moldovan politician and banker, sentenced to fifteen years in prison for major fraud, who fled to Russia in 2023, and this year received a Russian citizenship. In each diocese of the small Moldovan Metropolitanate (MP), there were several trusted persons – from metropolitan to deacons, who gathered participants.

The priests travel with their wives and parishioners in three groups – in the months of August and September, with the first of one hundred and twenty people leaving at the end of August. The first group of over a hundred people was photographed by Moldovan television at the airport in Chisinau and thus it becomes clear about the event organized by the Moscow Patriarchate.

In Moscow, the priests participated in “several religious conferences and had a meeting with high-ranking officials of the Moscow Patriarchate.” The center of the conversations were the problems of the Russian Orthodox Church and the “persecution against the Ukrainian Church”. Guests from Moldova were impressed with “royal receptions” and rich meals. They also visited the largest plant for church utensils “Sofrino”, where they received gifts for their parishes.

Finally, many of the clerics received MIR bank cards from the sanctioned Promsvyazbank for supporting the Russian war in Ukraine. The priests received the bank cards at a ceremony at the Theological Academy in Moscow. Each priest has signed a contract with the bank, and the card does not have his name on it, but the bank account is his. They were promised that they would receive 1,000 euros in “temple aid” each month.

Moscow Patriarchate spokesman Vladimir Legoida said “pilgrimages can have a very big impact.”

Hundreds of priests have agreed to the “free pilgrimage “, although they admit that the very procedure and form of the organization is strange. “Many priests are confused about the program and purpose of the visit, as the pilgrimage does not fit into any festive or religious context,” noted a source from the Chisinau Metropolitanate, which denied being the organizer.

The purpose of the venture is to buy the clerics under a good pretext to influence public opinion in the upcoming presidential elections in Moldova, in which Ilon Shor is participating through a party from Moscow, and for the October 20 referendum on the country’s accession to the European Union.

The visits of the priests were not supposed to become public, but after local media revealed that the hundreds of tickets were bought at once by a Russian agency, and the clerics are expected to exert political influence after their return at a critical moment for the state, the press office of Chisinau The Metropolitanate stated that “the visits have no pre-election or political goals, but aim to acquaint the Moldovan clergy with the spiritual and historical heritage of Orthodox Russia, strengthening the fraternal ties between the two Orthodox churches.”

The press service of the Metropolitanate of Moldova also stated that “the pilgrimages are organized for priests with limited resources, especially from the poor rural areas of Moldova, and do not pursue political goals.”

“The priests who returned from Moscow denied any form of financial support from their hosts. The Metropolitan will closely monitor this case and will take all necessary measures to prevent the participation of clergy in political or pre-election activities” – this is stated in a press release of the Metropolitan of Chisinau.