the Church resisted since the plan went against cannon law, as the Russian Patriarchate still held nominal authority over the region. In November 1942, Puiu was called back from retirement to take over Scriban's duties in Transnistria. Puiu received the official title of "Bishop of Odesa and all Transnistria", but his ecclesiastic province was, under canon law, a temporary exarchate of military nature. Nonetheless, he was once again a member of the Holy Synod. Furthermore, aside from Transnistria, he was also granted authority over the neighboring Metropolis of Bessarabia. Puiu's plan for the exarchate included an evolution of Odesa into a metropolitan see, with two suffragan bishoprics in Balta and Tulchyn. This was partially successful since, indeed, Balta and Tulchyn were raised to bishopric status while Puiu was in office, but no bishop was ever appointed because of the Axis retreat. Before the end of 1942, Puiu sent a report from the occupied territories to the Holy Synod. He wrote: The document would become evidence at Puiu's trial after the war. The Romanian effort to restore Eastern Orthodox Christian life in the occupied territories was genuine. Under Soviet rule, by 1941, only 1 out of 891 churches which had been standing before the Russian Revolution was still open; 363 had been closed down, 269 partially demolished, 258 completely demolished and no functioning monasteries or convents remained. By the end of the Romanian occupation, 600 churches were operating (plus 135 "prayer houses"), as well as twelve monasteries and two seminaries. However, many churches and monasteries were rebuilt and refurbished employing Jews as slave labor. This had been enabled by Antonescu's Directive 23 of November 1941. Moreover, many of the missionaries were former affiliates of the Iron Guard seeking rehabilitation after the 1941 insurrection against Antonescu. Some came with a history of antisemitic violence. They vilified Jews in their sermons and, in some cases, some of them were perpetrators of various crimes committed against deported and local Jews. As far as the non-Jewish local population was concerned, there was some enthusiasm for the Christian revival brought by the Romanians, at least in the first two years of the occupation, but the behavior of the Romanian clergy undermined the mission's credibility. Cases of embezzlement, corruption, extortion and various forms of abuse antagonized the local population to the point where officers of the Romanian Gendarmerie in Transnistria complained in writing, with one report reading