Churches with Historical Monument Status in the Republic of Moldova: Between State Ownership and Ecclesiastical Property

The article examines the difficulties faced by religious communities under the Metropolis of Moldova (Russian Patriarchate) in their process of joining the Metropolis of Bessarabia (Romanian Patriarchate), within the context of Law no. 125/2007. The main obstacle is related to property rights over historical ecclesiastical buildings. An example is the 2003 case where the property rights of the community in Camencea were registered under the name of the Metropolis of Moldova. In 2002, the government in Chișinău adopted Decision no. 740 to prevent the legalization of the Metropolis of Bessarabia’s places of worship. The decision was challenged in the Constitutional Court, which suspended the examination of the constitutionality of the normative act.