 | A RIVER OF BLOOD was the promise to Moldova's Slavic minority in 1990. Ethnic conflict played a role in independence struggles on both sides of the Dniester river. [more] |  | | |  | LENIN'S LEGACY is alive and well in Pridnestrovie. But it means something very different than what you might think at first glance. [more] |
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Moldova president says Jesus was a Communist
Jesus Christ was a Communist. And, according to Moldova's president Vladimir Voronin, there is nothing in the Bible which criticizes Communism. The former Soviet-era General also told his country's priests that they "had no choice but to vote for the communists."
Communist Comrade? According to Vladimir Voronin, head of the Communist Party of Moldova, Jesus Christ (shown) was a CommunistCHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - Vladimir Voronin, the president of Moldova, compared himself to Jesus Christ in a speech before local church leaders. But instead of highlighting the Christian virtues of the Son of God, he said that Jesus was the world's first Communist. That, apparently, was a good thing.
" - There are many things in common between the communist ideology and the Christian doctrine. And in our, communist, opinion, Jesus Christ was the first communist", said Vladimir Voronin, who is a lifelong Communist and held the rank of General in the now-defunct Soviet Union.
The Moldovan president is also the head of Moldova's Communist Party, a post which he has held with an iron grip for an uninterrupted period since 1994. He highlighted the fact that the Bible did not write anything bad about Marx, Lenin or other Communist leaders like himself:
" - Nowhere in the Old or New Testament you will find anything bad said about communists" said Vladimir Voronin, according to a report in Chisinau's Flux newspaper.
Moldova's president Vladimir Voronin, a former Soviet General, is the head of his country's Communist Party. According to him, Jesus was a Communist, too.
According to the press report, these words produced a deathly silence in the congregation which was made up of Moldovan bishops and priests during Voronin's recent visit to St. Nicholas’s monastery at a village named Condrita.
- Priests told to vote for Communist Party
During his theological treatise, Voronin also hinted that the church - which receives state funding - will not be able to continue to operate in Moldova unless priests vote for his Communist Party in the next presidential elections.
" - If they want to stay in the Moldovan Metropolia, priests have no choice but to vote for the communists", the head of the state asserted.
In response, one of the priests addressed himself to the president with these words: "You are our father. We will do as you say. We are a boat and you are our helmsman."
No such servility was evident on the other side of the Dniester river.
In Tiraspol, capital of the 'de facto' independent republic of Pridnestrovie, the head of the city's largest church refused to take Voronin's red interpretation of the Bible seriously. Speaking at the city's Nativity Church, the verdict was one of derision: "I assume that the Moldovan President mouthed off his usual populist statements." (With information from Interfax, Flux)
See also:
» After freedom and reform, Pridnestrovie says it is no longer Communist
» Communist opposition demands reversal of recent free market reforms
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An estimated 4,000 people took to the streets of Tiraspol this weekend in favor of independence from Moldova. The march called for "Slavic Unity" between churches and local civil society organizations. Unlike Pridnestrovie, Moldova is not majority Slavic and friendship - but not unity - is sought with Moldova. . . 
