Scarlat Vârnav

Scarlat Vasile Vârnav, or Sofronie Vârnav (also known as Charles Basile Varnav, Charles de Wirnave, Varnavu or Vîrnav; died January 6, 1868 [O.S. December 25, 1867]), was a Moldavian and Romanian political figure, philanthropist, collector, and Orthodox clergyman. The scion of an aristocratic family, he was made to study for a career in the church, but fled Moldavia and studied abroad. Acquainted with the Romanian liberal movement and the Romanian nationalist movement, he helped establish bodies of intellectuals dedicated to cultural and political cooperation across the Danubian Principalities and beyond, including the 1846 Romanian library of Paris. His purchase of mainly Baroque paintings, donated by him to Academia Mihăileană, forms the core of the Iași Museum of Art.

With Nicolae Bălcescu and C. A. Rosetti, Vârnav also managed the Society of Romanian Students in Paris, whose revolutionary agenda brought him into conflict with European governments. He then played a small part in the French Revolution of 1848, before returning to take orders at Neamț Monastery, a Hieromonk and Starets. Throughout the 1850s, he and his brother Constantin, who was the son-in-law of Gheorghe Bibescu, took part in the nationalist movement that established the United Principalities, and was especially active as an electoral campaigner. However, his support of modernization in schools and the church was not welcomed by the religious establishment, and his stand-off with the conservative monks of Neamț resulted in the establishment of a dissident monastery. Subsequently, Vârnav lost the backing of Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza, although he still approved of Cuza's authoritarian agenda.

After campaigning nationally in support of Carol I, Vârnav ended his career in Tutova County. Active in antisemitic circles, he was allied with the Free and Independent Faction. On this basis, he contested a seat in the Assembly of Deputies during December 1867, but died from a sudden illness just days after winning. Rumors the he was poisoned by Romanian Jews sparked a riot, which had to be quelled by armed intervention, and an official inquiry. He was survived by his brother Constantin and his nephew, engineer and politician Scarlat C. Vârnav.