The Annals of "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati. Fascicle XIX: History

NAȘTEREA UNEI COMUNITĂȚI DE NEGUSTORI. GRECII DIN MOLDOVA SECOLULUI AL XVI-LEA (I)

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The 16^th century brought a change for Moldova that marked its economic and social life throughout the early modern era. Local merchants (Moldavian subjects of different ethnicities) lost control of the principality's trade to strong foreign competition. The winning side was dominated by Greek-speaking merchants, immigrants from the Ottoman Empire and the Venetian maritime empire starting from 1540s. Within a few decades, they formed a distinct community based on relationships of trust and various forms of solidarity. Towards the end of the century some of its members even began to take to a group identity. The present paper reconstruct the beginnings of this community, following two lines of investigation, published separately.

In this first part, the external conditions that made this mutation possible are explored. The research highlights several forces that acted simultaneously to contribute to this result: 1) the gradual elimination of Moldavian merchants from the position of intermediaries in trade between Poland and the Ottoman Empire; 2) the favouring by the Moldavian legal system of Christian Ottoman subjects (most of them Orthodox Greeks), to the detriment of the Muslims; 3) the opening of Venice's oriental trade for its Greek subjects, in the Stato da Màr; 4) the unprecedented increase in wine consumption in Poland and its supply by the Cretan merchants; 5) the dominance of the Ottoman economy by Jewish merchants and their efficiency in combatting the competition of Greek merchants.

UN NEGUSTOR DIN BRĂILA ÎN SLUJBA FRAȚILOR GHEORGHIEV: IANKO NEDELKOVICI (1853–1856)

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In this article, we present the commercial relationship between the merchant Ianko Nedelkovich from Brăila (the representative of the company ‘Hagi Petre and Nedelkovich brothers’) and the Bulgarian brothers Evlogi and Hristo Georgiev, events that took place during the Crimean War (1853–1856). The Georgiev brothers’ trading house, supported by the maternal uncles, Puliev, became one of the most powerful companies in the Wallachian business environment in the mid-nineteenth century. Our scientific endeavour is supported by the possibility of exploiting primary sources of great importance, such as the commercial letters addressed by Ianko Nedelkovich to the two Georgiev brothers. The correspondence is preserved in the Evlogi and Khristo Georgiev archive at the Central National Historical Archives in Bucharest, and its content has been only partially used so far in the work of Romanian and foreign researchers. The inclusion of this information in the historiography succeeds in ‘uncovering’ one of the central figures of the Georgiev brothers’ network in the Romanian lands, Ianko Nedelkovich, a character as complex and skilful in the art of trade as the two brothers from Karlovo were. This study presents only an insignificant fragment of the Georgiev brothers’ prolific entrepreneurial, political and philanthropic activity.

BISERICA ORTODOXĂ DIN BASARABIA ȘI EDIFICAREA MONUMENTULUI ȚARULUI ALEXANDRU I

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The present article, in fact, continues one of the previously presented communications regarding the involvement of the Orthodox Church in the "jubilee mania" process, triggered by the tsarist authorities, especially in the second decade of the 20th century. In the present material we will focus on a concrete case, namely the one related to the inauguration of the monument of Emperor Alexander I in Chisinau, a phenomenon that is known throughout the empire, when it becomes a fashion to focus the attention of the masses on the previous visits of representatives of the Romanov family of one or another locality, and at the same time through such actions to cement the image of imperial persons among the population. And this is practiced even more intensively, after the erosion of the Tsar's image following the events of 1905-1907.

The material, using both archival materials and periodicals of the time, describes the event that took place in 1914, in Chisinau at a very early time before the start of the Great War, but also analyzes a series of sides and events related to the main actors involved in this event, the role played by the head of the Orthodox Church in the region, but also by the Church Institution itself in the organization and implementation of the inauguration of the monument to Emperor Alexander I and on this occasion of the visit of the capital of the region by Nicholas II.

The theme related to the involvement and impact on the large mass of the population of Bessarabia in general and Chisinau in particular is not left out of attention either.

THE LIPOVAN CLERGY: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE UKRAINIAN AND ROMANIAN DANUBE REGION IN THE 20th CENTURY

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The Old Believers of the Ukrainian and Romanian Danube regions share a common history. The Belokrinitskaya Metropolitanate was established in 1846 on the territory of modern Ukraine. In 1940, with the advent of Soviet power, the center was moved to Romania in Braila. Since the Ukrainian Danube region repeatedly belonged to Romania in the first half of the 20th century, the Old Believer dioceses on both sides of the Danube were under common jurisdiction. The fates of the clergy were closely intertwined. This included not only common issues resolved at the Consecrated Councils, but also personal stories, which can be traced through the analysis of the biographies of the priests of the Izmail diocese in the middle of the 20th century. A third of the priests came from Old Believer villages in Romania and began their service there. In the questionnaires they filled out after the war, it was noted that relations with relatives from Romania were lost. Some of them were accused of Romanian-phileism, counter-revolutionary activities, for which they were subjected to repression.

Metropolitans Tikhon (Tit Kachalkin) (1942-1968) and Iosaf (Ioan Timofeev) (1968-1985) of Belokrinitsa were born in the Ukrainian Danube region. The latter, a priest in Izmail, fled to Romania in 1944 with the advent of the new regime.

The main points of intersection of the Lipovan clergy in the 20th century are outlined, it is stated that despite the ban on communication by the Soviet authorities, information about important events in the life of Old Believers in Romania reached the Ukrainian side and vice versa.

EPISCOPUL VALERIAN ZAHARIA: ÎNTRE SFÂNTUL SINOD ȘI PUTEREA COMUNISTĂ

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Valerian Zaharia was bishop of Oradea from 1951 to 1969. Little has been written about his life and work. This is motivated by his controversial past, characterized by close collaboration with the communist regime. This collaboration is attested by many writings of the bishop but also by many files of the former Securitate. From these documents it emerges who Bishop Valerian Zaharia really was, and the purpose of this article is to outline this biography that remained secret for a long time.

TRANSFORMAREA SOCIETĂȚII SCRIITORILOR ROMÂNI ÎN UNIUNEA SCRIITORILOR (23 AUGUST 1944 - 25 IUNIE 1948)

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The present study aimes to capture the transformation of the Romanian Writers' Society from a politically uninvolved mutual aid institution into an institution for controlling the literary space. In order to reconstruct a more complete picture, the reorganization of the Romanian Writers' Society and the elimination of several writers considered undesirable, the new copyright regime with the effect of modifying the institutional relations between writers and the new pro-communist authorities, censorship and the annihilation of the diversity of cultural directions reborn immediately after August 23, 1944, are analysed.

FENOMENUL POEZIEI CARCERALE. O ANALIZĂ A LOCULULUI POEȚILOR ȘI A ROSTURILOR POEZIEI ÎN CADRUL REZISTENȚEI PRIN CULTURĂ ÎN ÎNCHISORILE COMUNISTE

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Regardless of whether it was practiced in a limited or broadly participatory manner, with longevity or intermittency, intellectual resistance was always supported by three types of artisans, namely lecturers, storytellers and literary creators, each of them distinguished by a diversity of nuances, according to the intellectual background and talent shown, from debutants and dilettantes to masters of the written or spoken word. In any case, the literati were the creators of the moment, and the poets represented the most prominent group, and were even perceived as a distinct category, of "apostles" of salvation through the word. Their capital role was repeatedly emphasized by dozens of Gulag survivors.

In order to understand the world of writers and their influence in the world of detention, it is imperative to outline a typological radiography, depending on the political regimes that condemned them, the relationship with poetry had until the stage of detention, the narratives cultivated in the space of reclusion and, of course, the reception had throughout this time. Other relevant typologies relate to education, age and gender.

INCRIMINAREA CONȘTIINȚEI ÎN BUDHISMUL YOGACARA. CONDIȚIA IGNORANT-DUREROASĂ A OMULUI ȘI ORIGINEA SA ÎN CONȘTIINȚĂ

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Even though, in Mahayana Buddhism, ultimate reality is sometimes considered to have a conscious nature, the most common Buddhist approach to consciousness is rather a phenomenal one. Consciousness would only refer to any particular manifestation; therefore, it would always be characterized by plurality, determination, temporality, and would not be an absolute substance, the substratum of all these. Most often, ultimate reality is considered to be beyond the realm of consciousness.

Moreover, Buddhism sometimes tends to indict consciousness, since its mere existence would represent the germ of evil. Consciousness would be characterized by a predisposition to fall into error and to induce of painful experiences. Liberation would represent not a purification of consciousness, considered intrinsically altered, but rather an annihilation of it.

THE 2024 EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: OUTCOMES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE RENEWAL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONAL LEADERSHIP

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As enshrined in the treaties on which the European Union (EU) is founded, citizens are directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament, an institution that plays a key role in appointing the European Commission and other EU bodies and institutions. Member States are represented in the European Council by their Heads of State or Government and in the Council by their governments, themselves democratically accountable either to their national Parliaments, or to their citizens. In the light of the treaties provisions and taking into account the strong interest of EU citizens in the 2024 European elections and awareness of their significance for the future of Union, the purpose of this study is to describe the process of renewing the EU institutional leadership, with emphasis on the steps to be taken by the end of 2024. In this approach, the analysis will be focused first of all on the aspects related to constitution of the political groups and constituent plenary sitting of the new European Parliament. As is expected, further analysis will deepen the aspects related to election of the European Commission President and appointment of the new College of Commissioners. Also, will be addressed issues related to the election of the new President of the European Council, the Parliament vote on investiture of Commission and election of the European Ombudsman.

Virgil Solomon, Trecutul ne-ajunge din urmă. Memoriile unui martor privilegiat al istoriei 1921-1947, ediție de Claudiu Secașiu, București, Editura Humanitas, 2024, 351 p.

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