History of Religious Culture and Medicine in Romanian Principalities

• Abgar — The name borne by several kings of Edessa (historical Syria), the most famous in Romanian Christian ethnomedicine being Abgar V Ukhamâ. According to apocryphal legends found in old folk healing books, he suffered from leprosy and was cured after receiving a letter and a cloth bearing the face of Jesus (Mandylion). Abgar's Letter circulated for centuries in Romanian villages as a sacred talisman, worn around the neck by the sick to ward off plague, epilepsy, fevers, or difficult births.