Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni

Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni (; 1746 – 30 March 1821) was a Romanian clergyman who served as Metropolitan of Moldavia, Metropolitan of Kherson and Crimea (1793–1799), Metropolitan of Kiev and Halych (1799–1803), Exarch of Moldo-Wallachia (1806–1812), and Archbishop of Chișinău (1812–1821), being the first head of the church in Bessarabia after the Russian annexation.

Biography Early life Born in Bistrița, Transylvania to a family originating from Câmpulung, Moldavia, Bănulescu studied at the Kiev Theological Academy (1771–1773), then at the Greek-language academy in the Island of Patmos, Smyrna and the Athonite Academy in Vatopedi (1773–1786). At Patmos, he befriended Nikephoros Theotokis, a Greek cleric and enlightenment figure, with whom he taught at the Princely Academy of Iași in 1776.

Clergyman in Moldavia In 1784, Bănulescu-Bodoni returned to Iași to serve under Metropolitan Gavriil Callimachi, then moved to the diocese of Huși.

Patriarch Neophytus VII saw the appointment a challenge to the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and requested the new Phanariot hospodar, Alexander Mourousis to demand Bănulescu-Bodoni's departure. Bănulescu-Bodoni refused to leave without a Russian imperial decree. The patriarch convened with local bishops to declare his seat vacant and to select a new Metropolitan.

When Catherine the Great was on her deathbed, he gave her the anointing of the sick.

Falling ill, Bănulescu settled in Odessa and Dubăsari, where he stayed until 1806, when 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.

Road name and commemorative plaque in Chisinau, Moldova, commemorating Archbishop Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni. 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 Moldavian (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 Chișinău 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 Chișinău, where a street is named after him near the Nativity Cathedral.

Canonization Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni was canonized by the Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova on 3 September, 2016, as Saint Hierarch Gabriel (in Romanian: Sfântul Ierarh Gavriil).