|
Give
the good Book;
there is just one! (Rev of Arès iv/11)
Let's write the perpetual Book of Good!
Unknown
are the author of the epistle
as well as its adressee, a Diognetus.
This now well famed apology
for the Christian life in the ancient days was by chance discovered
in the 15th century by the customer of a fish
dealer who
had wrapped up bream and mackerel in it.
It might be written
between 170 and 220, but let’s make it as topical in 2013 as it was
then. Here is the passage of it which describes the Christians of
old.
The
Christians are
not different from the other men, they cannot be noted for their
countries, their languages, their clothings. They do not live in
cities of their own, they do not use special jargons, their way of
life is not unusual in any way. It is not thanks to imagination or
daydream that they have gained faith; they are no champions of any
ideology, so unlike many others. They live in the cities, whether
greek or barbarian, one way or another by accident of birth and they
follow the local customary clothing, feeding, in short living, while
signalling the principles of their spiritual republic.
So each
Christian lives in his or her birthplace but like a domiciled
foreigner, fulfills his or her citizenship duty, meets the service
charge. Every foreign country is a birthplace and every birthplace is
a foreign country to them. They get married and have children like
all men on earth, but they do not forsake their newborns. They share
the same table, but do not share the same bed.
They are in the
flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh. They live on
earth, but they are citizens of Heaven. They follow the law, but they
as searchers after Good overcome the law.
They love all men
and all men persecute them. They are undervalued, condemned, killed
and as victims they gain Life. They are poor, but
make a large
number of people rich. They are short of everything ; but are
crammed with the (Great) Whole. They are
contempted, but
their glory lies in that contempt. They are
slandered, but
they are justified. They are insulted, but they keep blessing. They
are offended, but they keep praising. They are just good people, but
are treated as villains. When punished thet are joyful like they were
born to Life. The Jews fight them, the Greeks
persecute them
and those who hate them cannot say why they do so.
To sum up, that
which the soul is in the body
the Christians are in the
world. The soul spreads throughout the body like
the
Christiane spread throughout the world. The soul
dwells in the
body although it does not belong to the body: likewise the Christians
dwell in the world but do not belong to the world. The invisible soul
is imprisoned in a visible body just as the Christian are in the
world, but their piety remains invisible. The flesh
hates the soul and is warring with it; the soul
does not harm
the flesh, but tempers its pleasures; likewise the
Christians
do not harm the world, but are opposed to the (unleashed) pleasures
there. The soul loves the flesh
which hates it, just as
the Christians love those who hate them. The soul,
which is
immortal, lives in a mortal tent: similarly the Christians pitch
their camp in the corruptible while expecting heavenly
incorruptibility. The soul depends upon penitence;
although the Christians are persecuted, they grow in number day by
day. God has assigned to them a position so noble that they cannot
desert it.
Substitute Christians
for Arès
Pilgrims and you will have a fine text instrumental of informing
anybody that asks what we Arès Pilgrims are... or should be.
This is, I think, a good
meditation in the Pilgrimage days.
 |