page_title: Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni
section_title: Clergyman in Imperial Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni / Biography / Clergyman in Imperial Russia
caption_attribution_description: English: Road name and commemorative plaque in Chisinau, Moldova, commemorating Archbishop Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni.
context_page_description: Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni was a Romanian clergyman who served as Metropolitan of Moldavia, Metropolitan of Kherson and Crimea, Metropolitan of Kiev and Halych, Exarch of Moldo-Wallachia, and Archbishop of Chişinău, being the first head of the church in Bessarabia after the Russian annexation.
context_section_description: Bănulescu-Bodoni returned to Russia to become Metropolitan of Kherson and Crimea (1793–1799), then Metropolitan of Kiev and Halich (1799–1803) and in 1801, a member of the Holy Synod of Petrograd.
  When Catherine the Great was on her deathbed, he gave her the anointing of the sick. 
  Falling ill, Bănulescu settled to Odessa and Dubăsari, where he stayed until 1806, when he following the Russo-Turk War, the Russian Army occupied again the Principalities and he was once again named Exarch of Moldo-Wallachia. The Russian annexation of Bessarabia was acknowledged by the Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of Bucharest and Bănulescu was named in charge with organizing the archdiocese of Bessarabia.
  His proposal of the creation of a new eparchy was approved by Tsar Alexander I of Russia, whose ukaz of 21 August 1813 created a new "Archbishopry of Chişinău and Hotin", which included Bessarabia and the Kherson gubernya, including the cities of Odessa, Tiraspol, Ananyiv and Elisabetgrad. The tsar allowed the eparchy to organize itself according to "local customs".
  The local boyars, led by Bănulescu-Bodoni, petitioned for self-rule and the establishment of a civil government based on the Moldavian traditional laws. In 1818, a special autonomous region was created, which had both Moldovan (Romanian) and Russian as languages used in the local administration.
  In 1813, Bănulescu-Bodoni founded a Romanian-language seminary and in 1814, a printing press. He also oversaw the building of the Chişinău Metropolitan Church (1817) and of the Soborul Cathedral. A Romanian translation of the New Testament was published in 1817 and the whole Bible in 1819 in Petrograd.
  Bănulescu died in 1821, and was buried at the Căpriana Monastery. He was canonized by the Moldovan Orthodox Church in 2016.
  He is commemorated in Chişinău, where a street is named after him near the Nativity Cathedral.
caption: Road name and commemorative plaque in Chisinau, Moldova, commemorating Archbishop Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni.
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