Holy Forty Martyrs Church, Iași

About

The Holy Forty Martyrs Church (Romanian: Biserica Sfinții 40 de Mucenici) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 12 General Henri M. Berthelot Street in Iași, Romania. It is dedicated to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.

Located in the Copou neighborhood, which in the mid-18th century was sparsely populated and had no place of worship, the church was built in 1760 by hetman Vasile Roset and his wife Safta. It was located on a plot of land granted that year by Prince Ioan Teodor Callimachi. Completed quickly, it was blessed by the prince's brother, Metropolitan Gavriil Callimachi.

Initially, Roset placed the church under the protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1767, he transferred it to the Metropolis of Proilavia. Within twenty years, the church was in a state of degradation, prompting the high vistiernic Lascarache Roset to try and reclaim the church founded by his parents.

Thus, he obtained a decree in 1787 from Prince Alexander Ypsilantis, providing twenty lei per month in customs revenue for church maintenance. Successive princes issued orders maintaining or increasing the allowance: Constantine Ypsilantis (1799), Alexandros Soutzos (1801), Alexander Mourousis...