The Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church (or Orthodox Old-ritualist Church, Orthodox Old-Rite Church, Romanian: Biserica Ortodoxă de Rit Vechi din România) is the Romanian Old Believer jurisdiction of the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy.

The head of the Church carries the title of Archbishop of Belo-Krinitsa and Metropolitan of All Old Orthodox Christians. His see is officially (not in fact) in Bila Krynytsya (Bukovina), his residence in Brăila, Romania (current titular: Metropolitan Leontius (Izot) since 24 October 1996).

History

Lipovans are Russian Old Believers who fled Russia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, in order to escape the persecution of their faith.

Eparchies

There are seven eparchies of the Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church:^[1]

• Eparchy of Fântâna Albă, with residence in Brăila, which includes the old rite orthodox parishes from Brăila and Galați counties, Bucharest, Borduşani (Ialomiţa county), Fântâna Albă/Bila Krynytsia (Ukraine);
• Eparchy of Slava, with residence in Slava Rusă (Tulcea county), which includes the parishes from Slava Rusă, Slava Cercheză, Carcaliu, Ghindăreşti, Jurilovca, 2 Mai, Constanţa, Cernavodă and Năvodari in Constanţa county, and parishes from Bulgaria;
• Eparchy of Bukovina and Moldavia, with residence in Târgu Frumos (Iași County), which includes the parishes from Iași, Vaslui, Neamţ, Suceava and Botoșani counties;
• Eparchy of Tulcea, with residence in Tulcea, which includes the parishes from Tulcea, Sulina, Mahmudia, Sarichioi, Periprava, Chilia Veche, Mila 23, Sfiştovca;
• Eparchy of the USA, residing in Oregon, which includes the parishes from the U.S., Canada, and Australia;
• Western Eparchy, based in Turin (Italy), which includes the parishes from Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Austria, and Hungary;
• Eparchy of the Baltic States, residing in Jēkabpils, comprising the parishes from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

First Hierarchs

In Hungary and Romania (Belaya Krinitza, temporarily in Brăila, Romania)

Name Title	Portrait	Period		Notes
Ambrose (Papageorgopolos) Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitza		28 October 1846	26 July 1848	Died on 30 October 1863
Cyril (Timofeyev) Archbishop of Belaja Krinitza and Metropolitan of All Old-Rite Orthodox Christians		4 January 1849	2 December 1873
Athanasius (Makurov)		9 May 1874	1 October 1905
Macarius (Lobov)		10 September 1906	2 January 1921
Nicodemus (Fedotov)		24 September 1924	15 October 1926
Paphnutius (Fedoseyev)		8 June 1928	8 April 1939
Silouan (Kravtsov)		25 June 1939	5 January 1941
Innocent (Usov)		10 May 1941	16 February 1942
Tikhon (Kachalkin) Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitza		12 April 1942	4 March 1968
Joasaph (Timofey)		15 December 1968	16 February 1985
Timon (Gavrilov)		1 June 1985	21 August 1996
Leontius (Izotov)		24 October 1996	Incumbent