Chişinău, October 21, 2022
Photo: mitropoliabasarabiei.md
The Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Bessarabia in Moldova celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday with a hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Chişinău.
The Metropolis was reactivated in 1992,
The service was held at the St. Andrew’s Monastery in the capital city by His Eminence Metropolitan Petru of Chişinău and Bessarabia with several other hierarchs from Romania and Moldova, reports the Metropolis of Bessarabia.
The service was also attended by public officials from both Moldova and Romania.
At the end of the Liturgy, His Eminence Metropolitan Teofan of Iași read the message sent by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania for the occasion, in which he discussed the history of the Metropolis and offered praise for the hierarchical labors of Met. Peru over the past 30 years.
The Patriarch states:
The anniversary of three decades since the reactivation of the Bessarabian Metropolia (1992-2022) is therefore an occasion of gratitude to God for the gifts bestowed upon the hierarchs, clerics, and believers of the Romanian Orthodox Church on the left of the Prut River, as well as a day of gratitude for all those who contributed to the reactivation and recognition of the Bessarabian Metropolia by the authorities of the Republic Of Moldova, but also to numerous liturgical, pastoral, missionary, urban, educational, philanthropic, and cultural activities.
At the same time, this anniversary is an occasion to highlight the importance of dignity and unity of nation, language, and faith among Romanians on both sides of the Prut River, as well as an occasion for reflection, evaluation, and launch of new initiatives, through which the spiritual and cultural values of Romanians in the Republic of Moldova will be promoted and developed through peaceful dialogue, cooperation and respect for human freedom and dignity.
At the end, Met. Teofan gave out Church awards to those who have been involved in and supported the Metropolis of Bessarabia over time.
The anniversary celebration also included a series of academic events. On Wednesday, a conference entitled, “Romanian Spirituality in the Bessarabian Space,” was held, with special guests from the ecclesiastical, social, and academic worlds.
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The Metropolis of Bessarabia was created as the Archdiocese of Chişinău after the Great Union of Romanian people in 1918. The Church was previously under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Archdiocese was elevated to the rank of Metropolis in 1925.
After the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia in 1940, the jurisdiction of the Russian Church was reestablished, though as Pat. Daniel notes in his message, the Romanian Holy Synod never recognized the abolition of its Metropolis of Bessarabia.
After Moldova’s independence in 1991, part of the clergy followed Petru (Păduraru), then the Russian Church’s Bishop of Bălţi and now the head of the Romanian Metropolis, into the Romanian Orthodox Church to reestablish its Metropolis of Bessarabia, which formally occurred on September 14, 1992.
The Romanian Synod recognized the Metropolis as autonomous in December 1992 and appointed Bp. Petru as its head. He was elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Chişinău, Metropolitan of Bessarabia and Exarch of the Plains in 1995.
The Russian Church hadn’t canonically released Bp. Petru, and considered him suspended from December 1992 until April 1999, after he appealed to His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow with a message of regret over the events of 1992 and a request to be canonically released, which the Russian Synod granted.
Thus, since the early 1990s, there have been two overlapping jurisdictions in Moldova, under the Russian and Romanian Churches. Moldovan authorities largely sided with the Russian Orthodox Church, and it wasn’t until 2004 that the Romanian Metropolis was legally registered in the country following a decision from the European Court of Human Rights.
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