Metropolis of Bessarabia
Metropolis of Bessarabia | |
|---|---|
Organization of the Metropolis of Bessarabia | |
| Location | |
| Territory | Moldova |
| Headquarters | Chișinău |
| Statistics | |
Population
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| Information | |
| Denomination | Eastern Orthodox |
| Sui iuris church | Romanian Patriarchate (Autonomous Metropolis) |
| Established | 1918 |
| Language | Romanian |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Metropolitan Petru |
| Website | |
| mitropoliabasarabiei.md | |
The Metropolis of Bessarabia (Romanian: Mitropolia Basarabiei), also referred to as the Bessarabian Orthodox Church, is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan bishopric of the Romanian Orthodox Church, situated in Moldova. Its canonical jurisdiction is the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and over the Moldovan and Romanian Orthodox diaspora from the former USSR.
The Metropolis of Bessarabia was created in 1918, as the Archbishopric of Chișinău, and organized as a Metropolis, in 1927. Inactive during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia (1940–1941) and the Soviet rule in Moldova (1944–1991), the Metropolis of Bessarabia was re-activated on 14 September 1992, and raised to the rank of exarchate, in 1995. The current Metropolitan of Bessarabia is Petru (Păduraru).