The New Church of St George

The New Church of St George at the end of my street on a cold, bright day. We are having a very mild winter, by the way - it makes me wonder if climate change is really a thing.

Constantin Brâncoveanu, Voivode of Wallachia, was deposed by Sultan Ahmed III, brought to Constantinople where he was imprisoned and tortured by the Turks, who hoped to locate the immense fortune he had supposedly amassed. Brâncoveanu and his four sons were asked to turn Turk, i.e. become Muslim, to save their lives but refused and were beheaded on the same day in August, together with Prince Constantin's faithful friend, grand treasurer Enache Văcărescu. Brâncoveanu's body was thrown into the Bosporus but dredged up and brought to Bucharest and part is buried here. Part of it was buried in Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria on the way because it smelt. Was it just the head that is buried here? I used to know but I cannot find it on the net.

The five martyrs were canonised by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992.
I always wonder why a conversion under threat of beheading counts as apostacy.

Facebook keeps showing me pictures of Bucharest under snow, posted by me in previous years. Here is one taken by the great Octav Dragan: