Young man expelled from theology academy for criticizing services provided by Moldovan Orthodox Church

Ion Andronache has been a student of Orthodox Theology at the Academy of Orthodox Theology of Moldova. Only until recently.

On June 2nd, the Academy announced about the expelling of Ion and three other students. The announcement was eventually deleted from the website of the Academy, but the order was dated with 20 of February 2017 (100 days difference).

regulations of education”, Ion previously criticized the Moldovan Orthodox Church for its discrimination of LGBT group (interview for Moldova.ORG in Romanian). The peak of his critique was when he launched a vlog proposing to change the pricing of services provided by the Church, replacing it with membership fees and donations. That’s when the expelling decree from February 20th suddenly appeared from nowhere.

Ion instead continued his video blogs on explaining Orthodox Christian values adapted to new realities, like service pricing, or even old problems, like allowing women within their menstruation period inside the church.

The Moldovan Orthodox Church is known as a harsh defender of conservative principles and, often, Kremlin’s interests in Moldova.

source: moldova.org