Metropolis of Bessarabia in the context of "Romanian Orthodox Church"

Moldova's constitution provides for freedom of religion and complete separation of church and state, though the constitution cites the "exceptional importance" of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Discrimination on the basis of religious affiliation is illegal, and incitement to religious and ethnic hatred was made illegal in May 2022. Moldovans are overwhelmingly adherents of Eastern Orthodoxy. According to the 2024 Moldovan census, 95.2 per cent of the country reported to be of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith. Of this number, around eighty to 90 per cent of Orthodox Moldovans belong to the Moldovan Orthodox Church (formally known as Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova) which is subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church, and has played a powerful role in deepening Russia's influence in Moldova. The remaining 10–20 per cent of Orthodox Moldovans belong to the Metropolis of Bessarabia, which is subordinate to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova (Romanian: Mitropolia Chișinăului și a întregii Moldove; Russian: Кишинёвско-Молдавская митрополия, romanized: Kishinyovsko-Moldavskaya mitropoliya), also referred to as the Moldovan Orthodox Church (Romanian: Biserica Ortodoxă din Moldova; Russian: Православная церковь Молдовы, romanized: Pravoslavnaya tserkov Moldovy), is an autonomous metropolitanate under the Russian Orthodox Church. Its canonical territory is the Republic of Moldova.

The Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova is the largest church in the country, and one of the two main Orthodox churches in Moldova, along side the Metropolis of Bessarabia, an autonomous metropolitanate of the Romanian Orthodox Church. In the 2004 census in Moldova 3,158,015 people or 95.5% of those declaring a religion claimed to be Eastern Orthodox Christians of all rites.

Metropolitan Petru (Secular name: Ion Chirivinici Păduraru; born 24 October 1946) is a Moldovan Eastern Orthodox metropolitan and the current Metropolitan of Bessarabia of the Romanian Orthodox Church.