SEVEN MYSTERIES OF THE CHURCH (fragment) by Bishop Varlaam of Moldavia (1645)
This fragment of the book is the first recorded mention of undead in Moldavia. The word used by the author (a major head of the Orthodox Christian Church), is werewolf but the ritual of banishing is typical for a vampire banishing. The terms of vampire werewolf witch and others (pricolich, striga, moroi etc.) are interchangeable in the old beliefs and documents, so I decided to add this fragment here as referring to vampirism. The translation is close to the original and I`m sorry if it`s hard to read or has mistakes.
A fragment from the book SEVEN MYSTERIES OF THE CHURCH by Bishop Varlaam of Moldavia
The man who would be dead and the people would say that he is a werewolf... This is told by the simple people, and there is no way that he is a werewolf... The people go to the grave and unearth his bones, to see how they are... and they show that that dead body has blood and nails and hair and when they see this... immediately gather wood and set fire to burn those bones since they are no more on the face of the earth.
The Bishop of Moldavia, Varlaam in Seven Mysteries of the Church, published in 1645, quoted in N. Cartojan, The History of Old Romanian Literature, 1940-1945 reed 1980.
Original Romanian version:
“Omulu ce va fi mortu şi vor zice oamenii că iaste vârcolac... Acesta lucru dzicu oamenii cei proşti, iară nice într-un chipu nu poate să fie acesta vârcolac... Să pornescu oamenii la mormantu şi-i dezgroapă oasele aceluia, să le vază cum sâmtu... şi le arată că acelu trup mortu are sânge şi unghi şi păru şi cum vădu acesta lucru... şi strângu lemne şi pun foc de ardu acele oase de le pierdu de totu de pre pământu.”
Mitropolitul Varlaam al Moldovei în Şapte taine ale Bisericii, publicat la 1745, citat după N. Cartojan în Istoria literaturii române vechi (1940-1945) reed 1980.
