BISERICA ORTODOXĂ DIN BASARABIA. PROCESE DE UNIFORMIZARE ȘI DE RUSIFICARE ÎN PRIMA JUMĂTATE A SECOLULUI AL XIX-LEA
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF BASSARABIA. PROCESSES OF UNIFORMITY AND RUSSIFICATION IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: The topic seen from a diachronic point of view includes the pastorate of the diocese nominated by Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni, Dimitrie Sulima and Irinarh Popov. It is precisely the period when both the policy of the tsarist authorities and the actions of the diocesan leaders tried to completely transform the Institution of the Orthodox Church in Bessarabia into an instrument similar to the Russian Orthodox Church, which was primarily to fulfill the function of Russification. The black-and-white treatment of the role of the Orthodox Church for the history of Bessarabia did not allow highlighting all the nuances related to the role of this institution and its leaders for the spiritual-cultural life in the region. For these reasons, we propose an analysis the behavior of the three leaders of the church-administrative unit established in 1813, and their balance between the local Orthodox tradition and the requirements and pressures from the leadership of the Russian Empire. These eventually led to the establishment of a hybrid “body” – a Romanian-Russian church (we refer to the existence in the Orthodox Churchin Bessarabia of a majority of Romanian believers and a Russian imperial church and administrative leadership). It is necessary a meticulous analysis of the actions undertaken by either Bodoni or Popov, both in terms of sympathies with the Romanian parishioners and in terms of personal interests and the fulfillment of instructions from the Holy Synod of St. Petersburg as an exponent of the autocrat regime.

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