PREHISTORIC
PART 1 – Ch.VI
The white Monastery with nine altars
Romanian tradition about the primitive
VI. 1. The vast size and magnificence of the White
Monastery
We presented in the previous
chapters the legends of Greek antiquity regarding the island and
In Romanian carols, old folk
religious hymns, whose origin harks back to the most obscure ante – Christian
times, is celebrated even today the holiness and miraculous magnificence of a
prehistoric temple called “The great
church with 9 altars” or “The holy
White (alba) Monastery”. According to these Romanian carols, this
illustrious white Monastery, great and holy, was situated in the eastern parts
of the Romanian countries, in the island
of the
[1. In the island (prund) of the
Nine
priests officiate, with nine singers …
(Teodorescu,
Poesii populare,, p.43)
A number of islands in the riverbed of the Danube are still called prund (Frunzescu, Dictionar topographic, p.383)
Look God, in the island of the
sea, Hoi, Leronda Lerului God,
At the monastery with nine altars, nine tapers are burning,
Burning up and dripping
down, drop that drips,
He bathed and he
cleansed, with good oil anointed,
In other vestment he
dressed.
(Baltati village, Ramnicul-Sarat district)
Sea islet, from the
(Ianca village,
The
Historically, the origin of the appellation
The walls of this monastery are made
of frankincense wood, the doors of lemon tree, and the thresholds of marble. It has 9 statues and 9 altars,
9 doors, 9 little doors, 9 windows, 9 little windows, 9 thresholds, 9 little
thresholds, 9 chairs, 9 little chairs and in it 9 tapers burn.
According to a text from across the
Carpathians, this legendary Monastery has also 9 pillars for holding wax, 9 for
frankincense and 9 for torches. It is very old, covered in moss on the outside,
but gilded on the inside. The windows face
east, towards “the sacred sun”. The
doors face the sea, the door jambs are for torches, and on the upper part the
church has iron bars and is opened towards
the stars [2].
[2. Up there and further
up, God, good God! Where all the saints have gone,
There’s a
white monastery, all ready for
consecration,
With the walls of frankincense, doors of lemon wood,
The thresholds all of marble, and the inside full of banners.
But in it, who are they? Ion the holy, at the altar,
With some nine old priests, they say the prayer for weeks;
And same number patriarchs, with large number of old
deacons…
But who listens to the prayer? The little
mother of God,
In her arms her little son…HE throws an apple in the moon,
Makes the
moon exactly full, full like it
is around dinner,
Throws another to the sun, up on sun, when it is rising,
And when the feast is great…
(Marienescu, Colinde, p.28)
God makes, what makes he still; Lilior and
our God!
God makes a monastery, and if great, even more great,
Nine statues, nine altars,
with windows towards the sun …
(Communicated by Gh. Craciunas,
Ciubanca, Transilvania)
On the faces
of the mountains, up in the light of dawn,
It is not the light of dawn, but a white monastery,
Big is, big is on its feet, on nine pillars for wax,
And as many for frankincense, and as many for
the torches But was
made in ancient times, on the outside moss
is grown,
On the inside it is painted, painted, gilded,
But covered with what is it? All with darkened
tiles …
(Alexici, Texte din literature poporala
romana,
Makes big church, with nine altars
Towards the holy sun, with nine “zabrele”
Towards the
holy sun, with nine “zabrele”
Towards the holy stars.
In the small
“zabrea”, the more quaint “zabrea”
Who was siting
there, to what was she thinking?
- The Mother of God sits, she
reads and reads,
And certifies …
(“Familia” –
(TN – “zabrea” means “iron
bar”, but from their meaning these texts might refer to some spaces up in the
roof of the temple, open to the sky. An
astronomic observatory maybe?)
In the island of the sea, white flowers,
apple flowers!
The writing is hard,
the thing is big, monasteries with 9 altars,
With windows towards the east, with
“zabrele” up to the stars.
Holly mass who is singing?
Nine old priests sing it,
With nine little deacons…
(“Gazeta Transilvaniei” Nr. 282, 1892)
With 9 doors,
with 9 altars, with the windows to the
sun,
With the door towards the sea…
(Communicated by Titu Budu, vicar of
Maramures)].
The altar in which the Mother of God
sits, is of pearl. The high chairs
are of gold. The biggest chair has 9
“drops of sun”. The chairs and the
whole Monastery are “written”, and the inside is full with banners. The whole
Monastery is like a “proud sun”.
Near the Monastery there is a lake of
holy oil and a stream of wine, in which “Good God” and “Old Christmas”
(TN – Mos Craciun) bathe and purify themselves, and after bath and unction they
don other vestments. The path from the shore of the island to the Monastery is
called the little path of Heaven
(Teodorescu, Folk poems,
p.43) [3].
[3. And
big church was made, with 9 altars, with 9 little altars,
With 9
doors, with 9 little doors….
With 9
windows, with 9 little windows,
With 9 thresholds, with 9 little thresholds,
With 9 chairs,
with 9 little chairs,
And in the big chair, with 9 drops of sun,
Sat
Most-pure Mother, from a book she read,
She read a
big book, small book she read,
Book with
golden letters, with letters of silver …
(Communicated by G. Catana, Valeadienii,
Up in the white Monastery, monasteries and written verses,
There are
some tables laid, tables laid, torches burning …
(Plevna
village, Ialomita district)
What’s
in the sky and what’s on earth?
Written lofty monasteries.
Btu who sits
there inside? Sits Good God …
(Bora village,
Ialomita district)
Up
are moon and sun, down are white
monasteries
And
in white monasteries, gold high chairs written
…
(Marian, Sarbatorile la
romani,
Up at white
monasteries, at that chair of written gold,
Old
Christmas sits, with the good God …
(Gavanesti village,
Buzeu district)]
The “holy prayer” is “very long” (Marienescu, Colinde, p.29), at evening,
night and dawn, and it is said “for weeks” by 9 old priests, 9 patriarchs and 9
singers.
At the time of the big mass at this White Monastery, all
the saints come here, boats come here, laden with angels, and God himself comes with the boat.
The chairs on which “Good God” and
the other “saints” sit in the Monastery are called “golden summers” (Preller
– Gr. Myth. I. 1854 p.158 - writes that, when Apollo came to the Hyperboreans,
he brought with him the golden summer)
[4].
[4. Hecateus mentions the nocturnal ritual of the
Hyperboreans, during the great feasts of Apollo at the beginning of spring. The
Romans also had such prayers, “pervigilia
and nocturna sacra (Livy, Hist. Rom. Lib. XXIII c.38; Cicero, De legibus II, 9; Ovid, Fast. V. 421).
In the evening “vecernie”, in the night “litrosie”,
and at dawn another mass…
(Daul, Colinde, p.12)
Under
clouds, under sea, proud sun has risen,
But not
risen sun it is, but a holy monastery,
Monastery mass
is holding. Look, a little boat is
coming,
Laden is
with little angels, and among the
little angels,
Good God sits, with his vestment to the
ground …
(Barseanu, Cincizeci de colinde, p.5)
In white monasteries
there are, there are golden summers,
But in
golden summers, sits Good God;
And close to
Good God, sits Most Pure Mother,
And close to
them, sits Old Christmas …
(From
And cf. Sevastos, Povesti, p.81: “God to us arrives”].
This sacred place appears majestic,
not only because of its incomparable splendour, but for the colossal size of
its building. The White Monastery is so vast, that it includes “a whole world”
and its tower “reaches the clouds”. It is also called “Monastery of the Lords”, which in essence corresponds completely
with Hecateus’ tale, that the priests of the Hyperborean temple were the sons
and descendants of king Boreas [5].
[5. In the island of the seas, the
Monastery of the Lords, White holy
Monastery,
In the island of the seas, the Monastery of the Lords…….
(Tamsani village, Prahova district)
We have heard some news, And when the highest priest
White flowers, white, Saw the holy sun emerging
That at the white monastery, He
was very glad,
Nine priests say holy mass, And to him he
looked,
Nine deacons read, And
like this he talked…
In godly place;
(Burada, O calatorie in Dobrogea, p.47)]
This is the precious data offered by
the Romanian religious carols, about the miraculous White Monastery from the
island of the
According to these important archaic
traditions, hieratically preserved in our carols, or our folk religious hymns,
the White Monastery from the island of the
This religious belief in 9 principal
gods was the fundamental dogma of the old Pelasgian religion [6].
[6. The ancient Alban cult,
the religion of the Etruscans and
the Sabines, was founded on the
system of 9 principal gods. “Novensiles
Dii” was the name of a Latin archaic class of divinities, which the learned
men of
But to whom were these 9 altars
consecrated, and the 9 statues represented whom, inside this grandiose and
admirable holy building?
According to our religious carols,
influenced by Christian religion, in this illustrious and holy White Monastery
sat:
Good God (Apollo)
Old Craciun (Saturnus senex)
Most pure Mother, or the Holy Mother, God’s Mother
(Latona)
Great Saint Mary (Gaea, Rhea)
Ion Saint Ion (Ianus)
Saint Saint Basil (Trophonius, chtonic and
divinatory divinity, who had also the
epithet of Basileus)
Little Saint Mary (Iana, Diana, Luna / TN - the
moon)
Siva Vasilcuta (Consiva or Ops – Consiva of the Latins, the divinity of crops /
Varro, L.L.VI.21; Macrobius, Saturn. III.9)
And the 9th divinity is
unknown. It has to be noted that neither Jove, nor Juno appear listed among
these Apollinic divinities [7].
[7. Up
in white monasteries, (sits) Good
God,
Near Good God, sits the Most
pure Mother
Near the Most pure
Mother, sit old Craciun,
Near old Craciun, sits Ion Sant – Ion,
Near Ion Sant - Ion, sit
in line all the saints
And judge Sivo – Ilio, Vasileo – Ilio ….
(Oltina village,
In Apollo’s temple from
Amyclae (
In Apollo’s temples were usually also found the statues of Latona and Diana. (Pausanias, lib.
IX. 22.1; IX.24.4). According to Herodotus
(II c. 156), Latona was one of the
eight divinities adored in the beginning by the Egyptians – meaning the ancient Pelasgian tribes settled near the
banks of the Nile in the first times of Egyptian history.
Great Saint Mary corresponds to Magna Dea, or
Megale
deos (Catull. 63 v. 91; Pausanias,
I. 31. 4), name under which the ancients understood Gaea (or the Earth), later identified with Rhea or Cybele.
According to one Romanian legend, Great Saint Mary sat in the big altar, Little
Saint Mary sat in the small altar, and God’s Mother in the pearl altar.
According to Macrobius (Sat.
I.I.9), Ianus was also called in the most ancient Latin hymns Ianus Iunonius, a form evidently
corrupt. Iunonius can be explained only as a prototype of Ianus.
In other versions (from Dambovita and Buzeu districts), Saint Vasile, identical with Trophonius of antiquity, is mentioned
after Saint Craciun].
In the text of these carols, Good
God is often mentioned as a son, a little son, in the arms of the Most pure
Mother, whose place as a rule is immediately next to Good God. From the point
of view of religious beliefs, this folk divinity called “Good God son” is one
and the same with “Bonus deus puer”
or “Bonus deus puer p(h)osphorus” (bringer of light), epithets given to the god
Apollo, whose cult was spread in the countries of Dacia also during the Roman
epoch, especially at Apulum, the big city which bears Apollo’s name (C. I. L.
III. no. 1133).
Apollo was identified with the Sun
in ancient Pelasgian, as well as in Latin traditions (Macrobius, says in Saturn. I.c.17, that the Latins called Apollo, Sun.
On an inscription from
In one of our carols which refer to
the White Monastery, this prehistoric divinity is invoked under the name
This divinity, the Sun, appears also in
our folk carols, like in the old Pelasgian legends, as God the shepherd, player on the
flute (Gazeta Transilvaniei, No. 287, 1890). And in other legends he is
portrayed with brilliant curls, tresses, or as a white rider with blond, wavy hair (as
his type is represented in the paintings of antiquity / Daul, Colinde, p.68). Apollo, writes Plato, has the epithet with
golden hair, krysokomes, for the brilliance of his rays, which are called the sun’s tresses (Macrobius, Saturn. I.c.17; Pindar,
Olymp. VI.41, VII.32).
Through these carols, apart from
prehistoric traditions about the magnificence of the White Monastery, were also
transmitted legends about the wanderings and sufferings of Latona.
The
Hyperborean goddess Latona, persecuted by Juno, the Pelasgo – Greek legends
said, had wandered for a long time through the world, and no country wanted to
receive her to give birth, in fear of Juno’s revenge. And the memory of this
legend about the wanderings of the Mother of God, who looks for a shelter, to
give birth to the God of light, is sung in our Apollinic carols even today [8].
[8. She
descended on earth, the Mother of God
descended,
Her time had come to give birth, and
she walked from house to house,
Nobody in the world would let her. Until Thursday towards evening.
She sat in a little glade, she laid down some dry hay,
And gave birth to a proud king…
(Gazeta Transilvaniei, No. 287,
1890; Cf. ibid. No. 277, 1897).