19th century In 1812, after the
annexation of
Bessarabia by the
Russian Empire, the Orthodox churches were re-organized as the Eparchy of Chişinău and Hotin, from the churches and monasteries of the
Metropolis of Moldavia on that territory that no longer belonged to the
Principality of Moldavia, by
Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni, a popular promoter of Moldavian/Romanian language and culture, who also served as its first archbishop. After 1821, the Russian state and church started an extended policy of
Russification. In 1858, after southern Bessarabia was
returned to Moldavia, which soon united with
Wallachia to form
Romania, the Orthodox churches in Cahul, Bolgrad, and Ismail re-entered under the Romanian Church jurisdiction of the
Metropolis of Moldavia, which established the Diocese of the Lower Danube, in 1864. In 1878, after Russia
re-annexed southern Bessarabia, the Russian Church jurisdiction was reinstated.
20th century In 1918, after the
Union of Bessarabia with Romania, the archbishop
Anastasius Gribanovsky of the Eparchy of Chişinău was ousted after he refused to accede to Romania's demand to secede from the Russian Orthodox Church and integrate the eparchy in the Romanian one. With the advent of
Greater Romania in 1918, there were three church bodies: the autocephalous
Romanian Orthodox Church (on the territory of
Smaller Romania—prior to 1918—formed in 1872 from the union of the
Metropolis of Ungrovlahia with Metropolis of Moldavia), and the non-autocephalous Metropolis of Bessarabia and
Metropolis of Transylvania. Therefore, in 1925, the rank of the Romanian Orthodox Church was raised to that of a Patriarchate, with the Metropolis of Bessarabia as one of its five sees.
Gurie Grosu was the first Metropolitan of Bessarabia, and
Efrem Enăchescu the second. After the
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia in 1940, the church, which then was a non-autonomous Metropolis, was banned, and its property has either changed uses, or was transferred to the
Russian Orthodox Church, which established the
Bishopric in Chişinău and Moldova. In 1980s, two more bishoprics were added, and the See raised to the status of the Archdiocese, in 1990, and as the
Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova, in 1992. After Moldova's independence in 1991, part of the clergy followed Petru Păduraru, the Bishop of
Bălţi, and re-established the Metropolis of Bessarabia. The Romanian Orthodox Church considered that, during the time, the Russian Orthodox Church jurisdiction on the former territory of Bessarabia was an
unfair and abusive act in terms of historical reality and canon law, and as long as it remains under the Russian Orthodox Church, the jurisdiction right of the Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova can be exercised only to the
Russian ethnics of Moldova. The Russian Orthodox Church also refused to recognize the authority of the Bessarabian church, and the two metropolia started an uneasy co-existence. During the 1990s, the one subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church gained the protection of the country's authorities and established itself as the official church, while the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia was refused registration according to the country's new law of religions.
21st century In 2004, after years of legal hurdles and a final decision by the
European Court of Human Rights, the
Orthodox Church of Bessarabia received official registration, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic of Moldova recognizing it as "the spiritual, canonical, historical successor of the Metropolitan See of Bessarabia which functioned till 1944, including". About 20% of country's Orthodox churches were or changed to be under its jurisdictions; a strong desire to similar moves has been expressed in many other parishes. This decision continues to be a major area of tension with the Russian Orthodox Church. The position of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the dispute with the Russian Orthodox Church over the territorial jurisdiction is, according to a press release, that the two Metropolitan Sees should "peacefully co-exist and brotherly cooperate (…) harmonising, with wisdom and realism, the territorial principle with the ethnic principle, as agreed in the pastoral service of the Orthodox in Diaspora." Meanwhile, public trust in the Moldovan Orthodox Church declined from 90 to 70% according to Metropolitan Vladimir (who explicitly linked it to his Church's institutional links with Moscow), or from 73 to 58% between 2021–2023 according to the Moldovan Institute for Public Policy. The dissident priests interpreted this as an attempt at intimidating other doubting priests into not following their example to defect to the Patriarchate of Bucharest. In December 2023,
Agence France-Presse and the
Kyiv Post estimated the Moscow-linked Moldovan Metropolis to govern 1,350 parishes and the Bucharest-linked Bessarabian Metropolis about 200 parishes, but quoted an official from Bessarabia as saying over 50 parishes had switched allegiance from Moscow to Bucharest since the invasion of February 2022. In September 2024, the
Orthodox Times reported that more than 60 priests and their parishes had transitioned from the Moldovan Orthodox Church to the Metropolis of Bessarabia since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, bringing the total number of Bessarabian parishes above 200. In February 2026,
Reuters reported the Metropolis of Bessarabia as having "about 300 parishes", versus "about 1,000 parishes" remaining in the hands of the Metropolis of Moldova. seeking to transition to the Metropolis of Bessarabia, whereas a community vote of parishioners showed a large majority favouring its ties with the Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova in July 2025. In late January 2026, the
Supreme Court of Justice of Moldova confirmed an earlier ruling that the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in
Dereneu was to be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Metropolis of Bessarabia. Therefore, in February 2026, a Bessarabian priest took over the church building in line with the ruling, but was then forcibly removed by opposing parishioners who broke through a police cordon, and then occupied the church and barricaded themselves inside. In both cases, the Moldovan authorities have tended to side with the priest as having the highest authority within a given religious community, and thus being the ultimate decision-maker of a parish's legal status, pointing to the court's decision, although they are trying to be cautious not to engage in what may be regarded as state interference in internal religious disputes. Prime Minister
Alexandru Munteanu said about the Dereneu case that the law had to be upheld, while
President of the Moldovan Parliament Igor Grosu said the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice had to be respected, and that the church "must not be used as a political tool or a factor of social division". Conversely, the pro-Russian opposition leader
Igor Dodon argued that the state should stay out of church politics. ==Structure and organization==