The reunification of the Bessarabian diocese with the Russian Orthodox Church in 1940: clergy, believers, and the Soviet state

The Reunification of the Bessarabian Diocese with the Russian Orthodox Church in 1940: Clergy, Believers, and the Soviet State The article is devoted to the reunification of the Bessarabian diocese, previously forcibly annexed by the Romanian Patriarchate in 1918, with the Russian Orthodox Church in 1940. The researcher’s task is to consider the reunification process and to reveal the real character of the church policy of the Bolsheviks’ Communist Party in Bessarabia from June, 1940 to July, 1941 and the attitude of the Bessarabian clergy and believers to the union with Moscow.