Tradition holds that a wooden church, part of a nuns’ skete existed in the area, as seemingly attested by a 1642 document. A princely order of 1672-1673 provided that the leather smiths – tăbăcari or tabaci – of another district be moved there; these workers gave rise to the name of their new quarter, and originally had a single church, later demolished. The earliest sure mention of an older church comes from missionary Blasius Kleiner, who mentions it in a pre-1761 list of Bucharest churches. The present church, situated on a hillock, dates to 1763-1765. As recorded in the pisanie, now lost, the ktetor was a captain at the court of Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos. A 1798 inventory mentions the church as being the parish of the Apostol district, home to millers and bakers. Butchers moved in once a slaughterhouse opened, so that it was sometimes called the “cutting church” (Biserica de la Tăiere) and, from the neighboring tribunal, the “judgment church” (Biserica de la Judecată). Significant repairs took place in 1810 and again in 1820-1830.Stoica and Ionescu-Ghinea, pp. 253-54
