Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni (; 1746 – 30 March 1821) was a Romanian clergyman who served as Metropolitan of Moldavia (1792), Metropolitan of Kherson and Crimea (1793–1799), Metropolitan of Kiev and Halych (1799–1803), Exarch of Moldo-Wallachia (1806–1812), and Archbishop of Chişinău (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 Iaşi in 1776. In 1779 he became a monk in Constantinople, then continued his studies in Patmos, returning to Moldavia in 1781 to be a preacher at the Metropolitan cathedral. Then, between 1782–1784, he taught philosophy and Greek language in Poltava at the Slavic Seminary, then in the Russian Empire. Clergyman in Moldavia In 1784, Bănulescu-Bodoni returned to Iaşi to serve under Metropolitan Gavriil Callimachi, then moved to the diocese of Huşi. In 1874 he was nominated to become a bishop of Roman, but the phanariote ruler declined his nomination. After the second Russo-Turkish War began, he fled to Ukraine, together with the phanariot ruler of Moldavia, Alexandru Mavrocordat Firaris. In Imperial Russia, he became the rector of the Poltava Seminary. In 1789, as Russians occupied the Danubian Principalities, Catherine II of Russia and the Holy Synod appointed Archbishop Amvrosii Serebrennikov of Ekaterinoslav to be the locum tenens Exarch of Moldo-Wallachia, naming in 1791 Bănulescu-Bodoni bishop of Cetatea Albă. The Treaty of Iaşi ended the military occupation of Wallachia and Moldavia, but prior to the Russian retreat, in February 1792, Amvrosii appointed Bănulescu-Bodoni the Metropolitan of Moldavia. Patriarch Neophytus VII saw the appointment a challenge to the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and requested to 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. Neophytus VII also obtained an order from the Sultan to arrest Bănulescu-Bodoni, who was taken to Constantinople in June 1792. The Patriarch tried to give him a bishop seat in Greece, but Bănulescu-Bodoni refused to give up his Russian citizenship. He was freed after