Church of St. St. Constantine and Helena Plovdiv

Overview

"St. Constantine and Helena" is an Orthodox church in Plovdiv. It was built in 1832 on the site of an older church by master Petko Boz and is richly decorated by Zachary Zograf, Dimitar Zograf, Atanas Gudzhenov, Nikola Odrinchanin, Stanislav Dospevski and Ivan Pashkula.

The church is located in the Old Town, at the transition between the Hill of the Players and the Hill of the Guards, next to the eastern gate of the ancient acropolis (Hissar Kapiya Gate). Under the altar of today's building is a medieval room (probably a crypt), and next door are the foundations of a church building from the XIII-XIV century.

It is possible that the citizens of Philippopolis built a temple on this site soon after the fateful Edict of Milan (313), by which Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) recognized Christ's teaching as a legitimate religion. During the persecutions against Christians undertaken by Emperor Diocletian (284-305), the pagans captured 38 confessors from Plovdiv and the surrounding area. Among them were the noble citizens of Sever and Memnon. It is believed that they were cut down where the church was later built. According to Kozma Apostolidis, it was originally called "St. St. North and Memnon ”and was only later renamed the canonized Roman emperor and his mother.

Stefan Gerlach mentions the church "St. Constantine ”in connection with his visit to Plovdiv in 1578. In the open vestibule of the current building lie three tombstones with Greek inscriptions from 1795 - 1801. From the previous church remain four painted in the XVI century iconostasis icons of Christ, Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and St. St. Constantine and Helena.

The bell tower of the church "St. St. Constantine and Helena ”in the city of Plovdiv
Around 1810, Todor Petkov Moravenov (a relative of Konstantin Moravenov) found the building half-ruined: The wall from where the alley had fallen in half ... ”For twenty years, Moravenov collected among the parishioners funds for repairs, which reached 200,000 groschen. In 1830, Chorbadji Valko Kurtovich Chalakov issued a sultan's decree for the repair of "St. Constantine and Helena "and the neighboring church" St. Nedelya ".

The church was completely rebuilt by Bratsigovo masons, led by Petko Boz, and consecrated on October 30, 1832. The Metz carver Ivan Pashkula (Ioannis Paskulis) made its iconostasis on the model of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Vienna. icons were painted by Zachary Zograf, and that of Saints Peter and Paul (1848) - by Nikola Odrinchanin. from probably from the 60s of the XIX century.

The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena has been a cultural monument since 1954. In 1978-1989 it was completely restored.