#The Church of the Forty Martyrs in Bucharest

The pastoral work of Bishop Filaret of Râmnic (1780–1792) has been reconstructed on the basis of a register of decrees preserved at the Library of the Romanian Academy (call number cmlxxix/1-180), containing 180 documents from the years 1780–1783. The register reveals the hierarch’s concerns regarding the administration of church property, the issuing of certificates of ordination and spiritual guidance, the investigation of divorce cases, the organisation of processions with the Holy Relics, and the reconstruction of places of worship such as the Church of the Holy Archangels in Craiova.

Drawing on previously unpublished documents from the Central National Historical Archives, this article reconstructs the final years of the Church of the Forty Martyrs in Bucharest, a dependency of the Diocese of Râmnic founded by Mihail Cantacuzino, tracing the efforts of Bishop Saint Calinic of Cernica to save it from demolition, the controversial contract between the French contractor Alexis Godillot and the Bucharest City Council, and the transfer of the land for the construction of the Romanian Athenaeum.