Saint Varlaam

Saint Varlaam, Metropolitan Bishop of Moldova, served in the highest church position in the Principality of Moldova between 1632-1653. For his written works he is recognized as one of the founders of the modern Romanian language.

The future saint was born in 1590 with the name Vasile Moţoc into a family of freemen (as opposed to serfs, a common condition in those days) in the village of Borceşti, near Târgu Neamţ in the Principality of Moldova, in today’s Romania. From his youth Vasile became familiar with monastic life, spending much time in the Zosim hermitage, a small residence for monks in nearby Secu valley. It was at this hermitage that he had the opportunity to learn Slavonic and Greek, at that time the languages of church and civil officialdom.

In 1602 a family of nobles founded Secu monastery in the valley of the same name and endowed it with a school. It was here that Vasile was tonsured as a monk with the name Varlaam, and while still young he was elected abbot of the monastery, on account of his profound knowledge and great learning. At Secu abbot Varlaam translated The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus, which became one the first writings of the church fathers available in Romanian. Shortly thereafter, metropolitan of Moldova Anastasie Crimca made abbot Varlaam a priestmonk (i.e. an archimandrite), and after 1628 the latter became an important counselor of Miron Barnovski, ruler of Moldova in 1626-1629 and 1633.

From this position archimandrite Varlaam was sent to Kiev and Moscow to purchase icons for the Dragomirna and Bârnova monasteries as well as the Barnovski church that was being built in Iaşi, the capital of Moldova. On his return trip in 1629 archimandrite Varlaam heard of the death of Metropolitan Anastasie and the fall from rule of Miron Barnovski and consequently retired to Secu monastery. His retirement was short-lived however, and in 1632, during the second reign of Alexandru Iliaş, archimandrite Varlaam was elected to succeed the recently reposed Athanasie as metropolitan bishop of Moldova. Metropolitan Varlaam was cognizant of the heavy pastoral responsibility he bore as teacher, ruler, and mediator in prayer for his community, and was blessed by the assistance of the pious ruler Vasile Lupu (1634 – 1653), who aided in the modernization of Moldova’s educational system.

A wise defender of the Orthodox faith and of the unity of the Orthodox Church in troubled times, metropolitan Varlaam was a key organizer of the Synod of Iaşi of 1642, which corrected and approved the Confession of Faith of metropolitan Peter Moghila of Kiev 1638, thereby providing Orthodox clergy and faithful with a solid foundation in their struggles to hold fast to the Holy Traditions of the Church. Because of this metropolitan Varlaam became well known and respected abroad, even being one of the three candidates for the vacant throne of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople in 1639, a position that he did not ultimately occupy.

Of great importance during the life of Saint Varlaam was the translation of the relics of Saint Paraskeva to Iaşi, where they can be seen and venerated to this day. Through his holy and God-fearing life the Metropolitan greatly strengthened the veneration of Saint Paraskeva, the most beloved saint of Moldova and a constant source of help and healing for the faithful.

In 1639 metropolitan Varlaam and then ruler Vasile Lupu broke ground on the Three Hierarchs monastery in Iaşi, which from its founding hosted the first Romanian-language printing press in Moldova. It was here that Metropolitan Varlaam oversaw the printing of numerous Romanian-language books of liturgics and apologetics, notably: Cazania (a book of of homilies and commentary on the Gospels), The Seven Sacraments, Answers Against the Calvinist Catechism, Pravila, (a book of religious and secular law), and the Paraklesis to the Birthgiver of God. The Cazania, Romanian Book for Teaching on Sundays all Over the Year, at the Imperial Feasts and the Days of the Great Saints, is a high point of traditional Romanian culture and was doubly important because of its spread to Romanian speakers outside of Moldova, especially in Transylvania, where the local Calvinist lords were attempting to convert the Orthodox faithful.

To further strengthen the Orthodox faith and especially to illumine its youth metropolitan Varlaam encouraged the ruler Vasile Lupu to found the first school of higher learning in Moldova. Opening its doors in 1640 in Iaşi, the school followed the model of the Spiritual Academy of Kiev of Saint Peter Moghila and featured instruction in Greek, Slavonic, and Romanian, in addition to  philosophy, rhetoric, poetics, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, grammar and music.

After Vasile Lupu lost the rulership in 1653 Metropolitan Varlaam, suffering from paralyzed hands and yearning for prayer and quietude, retired to Secu monastery, where he had been tonsured a monk. The righteous Varlaam lived another four years in humility and prayer, before falling asleep in the Lord in the year 1657. In his will he bequeathed his worldly possessions to Secu monastery, and was buried in the exterior side of the monastery church’s south wall.

For his great zeal and defense of the faith, as well as for the sanctity of his life, the Metropolitan Synod of Moldova and Bucovina supported his canonization, and on the 12th of February 2007 the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church entered the name of the Holy Metropolitan Varlaam of Moldova in the liturgical calendar of the Church, with a feast day on the 30th of August. “Worthy servant of Christ and wise defender of the true faith, great worshiper of Saint Paraskeva and faithful enlightener of the Romanian people, Holy Hierarch Varlaam, pray that Christ-God protect and save our souls!”

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