Changes

Romanians in the Republic of Moldova (a region also formerly known as "Moldavia") belonging to the Metropolis of Bessarabia, having resisted Russification for 192 years (after the annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian Empire in 1812), are said to currently number about 2 million. The Metropolis of Bessarabia is part of the Romanian patriarchate.In 2001 it won a landmark legal victory against the government of the Republic of Moldova at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.

In 2001 it won a landmark legal victory against Following the government creation of Greater Romania after the Republic of Moldova at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights. TraditionallyFirst World War, Orthodox Christians in Moldova had been were part of the Church of Romania, but due to . Following Stalin's annexation of the country in 1944, the church there was again brought under the authority of the [[Church of Russia]]. As suchFollowing the fall of communism, Moldova's government had been refusing refused to recognize allow the Romanian church's to exercise any authority in Moldova, attempting to force the . The Bessarabian metropolis was created by the Romanian Patriarchate to submit cater for those clergy and people wanting to the Moscow Patriarchatereturn part of Moldova to Romanian rule. With the legal European Court ruling in of 2001, however, the Metropolis of Bessarabia was declared to be a part of the Church of Romaniaand permitted to operate in Moldova.  2003 figures show the Metropolis of Bessarabia has 84 parishes in Moldova while the autonomous Moldovan Orthodox Church has 1080 parishes.