Moscow gave its church in Moldova self-governing status, but at the same time, the Romanian Bessarabian Orthodox Church returned and became more active, although it has remained significantly smaller According to surveys, 86 percent of the Moldovan population say they are affiliated with the Moldovan Orthodox Church (MOC), as the Moscow church in M

In brief, the modern history of Russian Orthodoxy in what is now Moldova began in the first part of the 19th century when the Russian Empire seized the region from the Ottoman Empire and reorganized the existing Orthodox presence under the Patriarchate of Moscow. When Romania absorbed this region in 1918, Bucharest the local churches under the Patr

and could even open the way for a possible unification of Moldova and Romania. The potential that the growth of the Romanian church in Moldova could further undermine the ROC MP’s influence in Ukraine, which has been used by Moscow to undermine Ukrainian statehood, represents Moscow’s biggest nightmare in the region In other post-Soviet countri