Moldova
 Moldova |
||
|---|---|---|
 Attendees at the Chisinau Youth Conference, 2013.
|
||
| Location of Moldova
|
||
| National Assembly | Moldova | |
| Statistics: | ||
| Total Population | ||
| - | UN 2021[1] | 3,061,506 |
| Bahá'í pop. | ||
| - | Bahá'í source | |
| - | Non-Bahá'í source | 601 |
| History: Firsts |
||
| - | Bahá'í to visit | 1974, Annemarie Kruger-Brauns |
| - | Local Bahá'í | 1984, Vladimir Malai |
| - | Local Assembly | 1991, Chisinau |
| - | National Assembly | 1996 |
| How to contact: | ||
| - | nsa.moldova@gmail.com | |
| Official Website | https://bahai.org.md/ | |
 Related media
|
||
| Categories: Moldova • People | ||
The Republic of Moldova is a country in Eastern Europe. Christianity is the predominant religion and Romanian is the official language.
In recent history the region was part of the Russian Empire until achieving independence and voting to integrate into Romania in 1918. It was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, remaining under Soviet influence until declaring independence in 1991.
The Bahá’í Faith was introduced to Moldova in 1974 with an active community being firmly established in the 1990s.
History[edit]
It was not possible for the Bahá’í Faith to be proclaimed in Moldova from the 1940's to the 1960's due to Soviet restrictions as the Soviet Union had forbidden Bahá’í administration and meetings in 1938.[2]
In 1974 Annemarie Kruger-Brauns was granted a visa for Moldova and was able to stay in Chisinau for a brief period for which she was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. During her time in the country she introduced Larissa and Vladimir Malai to the religion and she was able to meet with them again in Romania in 1977. Kruger-Brauns visited Chisinau a second time in 1984 and Vladimir became the first Moldovan Bahá’í during this visit.[3]
Restrictions on religion were greatly relaxed after Moldova became independent and in 1991 an American Bahá’í pioneered to the country and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Chisinau was established in May that year. By 1992 there were fifty Bahá’ís in Moldova, a Local Bahá’í Centre had been purchased in Chisinau, and a joint National Spiritual Assembly for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova was established that year.[4]
In 1994 several Bahá’í travel teachers conducted the Call of the Hands Teaching Project in Moldova teaching the Faith through public forums on family, education, and the environment, and organizing meetings with professors, school administrators, government officials, environmental groups, and the press.[5] In 1995 a teaching team of Turkish Bahá’ís visited the town of Komrad to conduct teaching work with the Turkish speaking Gaugasian people in Moldova,[6] and from 1994 to 1995 the Moldovan Bahá’í community grew from 66 to 173 members.[7]
In 1995 the Universal House of Justice announced that Moldova would establish an independent National Spiritual Assembly the following year,[8] and in 1996 the independent National Spiritual Assembly was formed at Moldova's first National Convention in Chisinau. Ilhan Sezgin represented the Universal House of Justice at the Convention reading a message from the House which included the following:
Only through the healing Message of Baha’u’llah can the age—long rivalries and prejudices between races and peoples be overcome. It is your duty and high privilege to work towards the fulfillment of such a noble goal by spreading the life-giving Teachings to your fellow countrymen, by demonstrating through your own personal lives the transforming power of the Faith and by creating, in cities, towns and Villages of your country, a network of sound and harmonious Bahá’í communities which can radiate the light of unity to all regions.[9]
In 2013 a major international Bahá’í Youth Conference was held in Chisinau which gathered almost two hundred youth to consult on community building activities.[10] In 2019 Bahá’í youth were assisted by a local artist in painting a mural in Chisinau to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb,[11] and in 2022 conferences were held in Moldova as part of the Global Conferences initiative of the international Bahá’í community.[12]
References[edit]
- ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ↑ Moojan Momen, Russia, 1995, published at Bahai-Library Online, accessed 31 October 2022
- ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, pp 397-399
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 215. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 135. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1997). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 24 (1995-1996), Pg(s) 114. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 43. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1997). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 24 (1995-1996), Pg(s) 53. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 42. View as PDF.
- ↑ https://news.bahai.org/community-news/youth-conferences/chisinau.html
- ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1351/slideshow/1/
- ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1601/slideshow/28/
