Sensibilităţi religioase în vremea Marelui Război. Românii, bulgarii şi moaştele Sfântului Dimitrie
Religious sensitivities during the Great War. Romanians, Bulgarians and the relics of Saint Demetrius

Summary/Abstract: This study focuses on a less known event occurred in Bucharest during World War I, while Germans occupied the city. In the last year of the great conflict, on the morning of February 17th, a group of Bulgarian soldiers stole the relics of Saint Demetrius Basarabov from the Metropolitan Church. Informed of this event and well aware of inhabitants’ religious sensitivity and of potential protests, Field Marshal Mackensen ordered the matter to be investigated and solved immediately. Relics were identified near Giurgiu, before leaving the Romanian territory, and they were brought back to Bucharest on February 19th. The study analyzes this event from a triple perspective: of the inhabitants – who interpreted it as a divine sign (a local legend emerged according to which the relics became, by miracle, too heavy for the thieves to carry), of the metropolitan – concerned with post-war image, and of Mackensen – who focused on preventing a riot. I also pinpointed a common guilty party: the uncivilized Bulgarian.

• Details
• Contents