Armenian Church „St. Maria "

As long as there is at least one Armenian in Romania, the church will exist and will preserve the memory of the Armenians. ", says the priest Avedis Mandalian, who served in Constanța for 26 years.

At the 2011 census, the Armenian community in Constanța counted 230 souls. Almost all Armenians lived in the old fortress of Tomis and in the early '80s of the nineteenth century, when, near the Greek slum, at the end of the former street Tomis, now Callatis, was built, in wood, the Church Armenian “St. Maria ”.

Next to it, facing the sea from the end of the high cliff, a cube-shaped building, in neoclassical style, without exterior decorations, which respected the architectural line of the Greek quarter, became the headquarters of the Armenian school.

In Constanța at that time you could find few places of worship: the Greek church, in the north of the peninsula, the Hunkiar Mosque, built a stone's throw away and a year away from it and the old Mahmudie mosque, in Ovidiu Square, which would soon be demolished.

In those times, when Dobrogea was still difficult to break away from the Ottoman customs in favor of the new visions of the Romanian administration, there were not many Armenians in Constanța. But they played an important role in the development of the city. The mercantile spirit, good taste, love of art and architectural styles borrowed from all over the world convinced Constanța City Hall to donate, in 1880, a 1300 sq m plot of land in the Cealic neighborhood, on the beach, especially for the construction of the future Armenian church and schools.

And the Armenians from Constanta started working. Nazareth Torosian, the great Armenian owner known for the construction, in 1900, of the house in Ovidiu Square that bore his name, which housed on his ground floor a luxury restaurant with western touches at the time, called "Bristol", was the one who founded the Armenian Church “St. Maria ”.

Becoming the spiritual, cultural and educational center of the Armenians in Constanța, this complex that included the Armenian church and school announced the development of a community that would leave much to the city by the sea.

If in the middle of the 19th century in Dobrogea lived 75 Armenian families, according to Ion Ionescu de la Brad, at the time of the construction of the Armenian church, in 1881, Constanța hosted 175 Armenian souls. Very quickly, in less than two decades, a community of Armenians lived in Constanța, totaling about 600 people.

The numerical development of the community makes the cultural and spiritual life in its bosom flourish. Thus, in 1906, the first publication in Armenian in Romania appeared in Constanța. Named "Brown", meaning Mary, this first publication was a certification of the intellectual and financial importance of this community. A year later, in 1907, the community of almost 600 souls published another publication in their mother tongue, in Constanța appeared the magazine "Ararat" (the holy mountain of the Armenians, where, the Armenian legend says that Noah's Ark stopped) .

After the First World War, the importance of the Armenians in Constanța is accentuated by the occupation of the position of deputy mayor of the city by Krikor Zambaccian, in 1925. Collector and art critic, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, lover of beauty who invented the concept of consignment of art, Krikor Zambaccian was part of the intellectuals of Constanța, and his house in Constanța Veche, the standard of art nouveau, now in a state of ruin, stands out from an architectural point of view.

At the same time that Krikor Zambaccian was deputy mayor, another wealthy Armenian, Aram Damadian, president of the Cereals Association of Constanța, offered to finance a large part of the construction costs of the building in which one of the most important institutions operates today. of education in Romania: the National College «Mircea cel Bătrân».

The 1928 census, the first conducted after the Armenian refuge, following the atrocities in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, showed that approximately 3,750 Armenians lived in interwar Constanța.

The Armenian school, the native language publications and the tolerance of local administrations, open to multiculturalism, offered Armenians a favorable place for development.

For almost half a century, the Greek, Armenian, and Hunkiar Gemias were joined by the Orthodox Cathedral, the Ashkenazi Synagogue, the Sephardic Temple, the Bulgarian Church, the Carol I Mosque, and the Catholic Basilica. Constanța Veche became the center of multiculturalism in Romania.

Visiting the lands of Dobrogea, in 1901, the Swiss anthropologist Eugene Pittard wrote about Constanța: “Various religions in this Tower of Babel, with their churches; Orthodox cathedral, Protestant, Catholic, Armenian, Greek churches, and Turkish minarets raise fine figures in the blue sky. ".

The gray period of the Second World War followed, when most of the churches of Old Constance suffered. The wooden church of the Armenians was burned by flames in 1940, being completely destroyed. The services were moved to the festivities hall of the Armenian school, and only after half a century, in 1990, a typical Armenian bell tower was added to this building, ie the old school.

The priest Avedis Mandalian is the one who, starting with 1998, decides to rebuild, inside, the church. Upstairs, where the prayer hall is located, the image is dominated by wide arches and an open altar, devoid of iconostasis. Elements of Armenian medieval art and large icons complete the picture of this place of worship, declared a historical monument of architecture.

It was also the Mandalian priest who, in addition to the reconstruction of the church, also took care of the spiritual and educational reconstruction of the young Armenians: "I served from September 1986 to March 2012 at the Armenian Church in Constanța. I introduced Armenian language classes every Saturday for four hours. Since 1990 I have been teaching at the union and I had 40 or so students. Every Sunday, at least an hour and a half before the service, the choristers came, but also the other believers, to talk about history. I tried to anchor them in the past, to arouse their interest, curiosity, but I always left them in suspense for next Sunday. The church was open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 26 years. I have never had a vacation and I have always been available at any time for any community issue. They did not appeal to me only for religious issues, but for any problem and I supported them with everything I could. ".

Regarding the importance of the church among the Armenian community, Father Avedis Mandalian states: "The church is the ship of the Armenians. The ship provides shelter, but if there is no collaboration among the crew, the ship is also automatically affected. You can tell an Armenian anything, but don't speak ill of the church. The church is a national pride ".

And the Church „St. Maria “represented, for the Armenians of Constanta, the center of community development for almost a century and a half.

Today, in Constanța, there are almost 200 Armenian souls left. The community is aging, but Father Avedis Mandalian is optimistic: "I am firmly convinced that in Constanța the heritage will be well preserved. It is a community with great potential for survival. And in 100 or 200 years there will be more Armenians in Constanța. The Church and the Union of Armenians in Romania will preserve the heritage. As long as there is at least one Armenian in Romania, the church will exist and will preserve the memory of the Armenians. The Romanian state also helps us. The Armenian community in Romania and the church were supported by the Romanian state ".

Among the Armenians, the coffee ritual is well known. They claim to have the best coffee, not necessarily because of its superior quality, but because of the responsibility with which it is brewed.

Armenians gather around the cafe, speak their language and discuss business. The Armenian visit, they say, has a specific feature: you come and don't leave.

Armenians came to Constanța and created a common history with the other communities of the city, contributing to the development of the city, and their memory, which we find today in Constanța, around the Church “St. Maria ", should never leave.