Source: Orthodox History
by
Pridnestrovian editor, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Today, relations between the patriarchates of Moscow and Romania are tense: both lay claim to jurisdiction in the Republic of Moldova, which makes up about two-thirds of the historic region known as Bessarabia. The other third of Bessarabia is now in Ukraine, Budjak (Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi). In the Republic of Moldova, the Russian and Romanian patriarchates have had rival jurisdictions ever since the fall of the USSR, although things didn’t get really tense until very recently, when Russian-affiliated clergy began joining the Romanian jurisdiction (without canonical releases) as part of the fallout from the war in Ukraine…
