BISERICA „SFÂNTUL MARE MUCENIC ȘI TĂMĂDUITOR PANTELIMON“, DIN GALAȚI

Repere istorice

Abstract

In this paper, we aimed to present some historical milestones of an
important religious building in Galați, dating from the second half of the 19th century,
built by the Bulgarian community of the city – the Church of Saint Great Martyr and
Healer Pantelimon, in Galați. Our approach also includes a brief presentation of the
Bulgarian community, present in the Danube city since the 17th-18th centuries, due
to commercial needs, which becomes more numerous with the 19th century, when it
is represented by members of the elites who emigrate from the Ottoman-dominated
space and integrate into the Romanian space easily, due to the common Orthodox
cultural background. Thus, young Bulgarians, eager to learn, to build careers, are also
those who, without forgetting their roots, fight either through the press or through
financial support, for Bulgaria's independence. We also mention here the Bulgarian
poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev. Also, the Bulgarian merchants Gheorghe Hagi
Ioan, Guşu Şiştovul, Nicola Puliev, the brothers Hristo and Evloghie Gheorghiev, as
well as Atanasie Gheorghiev, should be remembered for their contributions to the
development of the city. This is the context in which, in 1860, the construction of the
holy place began, with an important role played by the one who would also become the
priest of the Bulgarian church – Archimandrite Maxim Raicovici. Alongside him, there
was also a school for the children of the Bulgarian community, transferred from the
Church of St. Haralambie. The church is currently administered by the Archdiocese of
Lower Danube, under whose auspices a large restoration process began in 2024.