Church having the holly bearing of the Saint Voivodes Michael and Gabriel;

Leova District, Tomai Village, tel. 0263-69-109;

The first church was of wood, built around 1846-47. Unfortunately, it was burnt during a great storm. “A housewife nearby the church was boiling sugar and from the storm there went on fire a haycock, the men were working on the field and half of the village went on fire, among the houses there was also the church”.

The present church was built in 1883. Due to the contribution of every village man (each inhabitant had to give his contribution, in some cases their oxen were even taken) and with the support of the local boyars, there were gathered the means for the construction of the church.

The church is built of brick; the width of the walls is of 1 m, in Roman-Byzantine style, after the model of the churches from the Russia of the 17^th century. It was built by masters from Orhei and Akkerman. It is formed of 6 domes: 4 little ones, a big one in the middle and another big one in the front. It did not suffered during the war, about 500-600 German prisoners being captured.

The old iconostasis was preserved on the interior, after a small reconstruction (gilding, paint, some parts are of wood).

It is an imposing building from the point of view of the quality of the artistry and size. The deeds are as witness. It resisted to the war, 3 earthquakes and the communist urge. In 1960 the communist authorities tried to pull down the belfries, using massive tractors and metal ropes that kept breaking at each new attempt. The village men revolted with forks, cleavers and with no fear of the communist authorities, they defended the unique cultural halidom of the village.

After having closed the church during the regime, a lot of valuable icons were taken away. From the most representative left or brought back icons there are: “The Covering of the Mother of God” 1899, “Saint Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ” 1908, “Saint Nicholas”, “The Entrance of the Mother of God in the Church”.

In 1989, it was reconstructed with the efforts of the villagers and a little help from the State.

Be our guests to visit it. God bless you!

The Legend of the Church:

„ Once the constructions begun, things were not getting to well, a just built wall of a few meters tall crashed. Then the masters decided to build in the hair of a girl, as oblation.” At that time a girl named “Borodache” was passing by, having beautiful fair hair. They cut her hair and built it under the wall. The girl is said to die after having finished the construction of the church.