The Journey: How an obscure Byzantine Saint became our Santa Claus. David Price Williams
acknowledged my presence and greeted Polios warmly, who introduced me as a friend from Patara who was travelling in search of adventure to Egypt. Elizabeth, the elder of the two girls, was a strikingly beautiful woman I supposed to be in her early twenties. She came over and kissed me on both cheeks.
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“We make you welcome to our community, Nicholas. The Lord bless and keep you with his protecting hand.”
Just then more people arrived, a couple I took to be a man and his wife, as well as two more men in working clothes whom I assumed had come straight from the market. Finally there was a rather distinguished elderly man wearing what looked like an expensive toga, at which point John bade the group to be seated. He signalled to a servant waiting in a side room, who brought in a basket containing a large round loaf of bread and a flask of wine with a beaker. The lad placed them on the table and then sat with everyone else.
John led the prayers which preceded their shared meal. I sat to the side and listened.
“Almighty God, be kindly disposed to we who have done wrong, through deed and word, as we remember the day Jesus called his disciples together in the upper room in Jerusalem on the night before he was tried by Pontius Pilate and then crucified, dying for our sins. He accepted death to give us the hope and blessing for our future.”
He paused for a minute or so, head bowed and then he continued, “So Jesus, on the night of the Passover, took bread and broke it before them and handing a portion to each of the twelve he told them that this was his body, broken for them and urged them to take, eat, to remember his death and his passing.
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And afterwards, he drank from the cup of wine and passing it to each of them he said that it represented his blood of the new covenant, spilt for them.”
With that, John broke the loaf open and gave them all a piece and then sipping from the beaker of wine he had filled from the jug, he passed it around to each of them in turn.
“In as much as we eat of this bread and drink of this wine, we do show the Lord’s death till he comes amongst us again.”
He went to each person and kissed them on the cheek and then raising his right hand in blessing, he said finally, “Be with us Lord Jesus in our lives, in our waking and in our sleeping. May we bear witness to your goodness to us and prepare us for everlasting life. Amen!”
Then they all bowed their heads in prayer and recited together, “Heavenly father, may your name be sanctified. May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and release us from our wrong doing, even as we release others who do wrong to us. May we not be tempted today and do not let evil come near to us. For the kingdom is yours.”
They all then said “Amen,” after which they spent some time in silent reflection. It was very moving in its solemnity and its simplicity and you could feel the uplifting nature of the
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thoughts that were going through their minds and see on their faces the quietude and calmness that their shared experience had given them. After another minute of contemplative silence, their celebration came to an end. There were a few embraces and hand-shakes before the group began to disburse though the door and back into the city. Elizabeth came over and smiling, spoke to me.
“Well, Nicholas, how did you enjoy that? That is our way of keeping our faith and our beliefs alive. Maybe you would like to join us, if you feel that hunger for the spiritual aspect of your life, that is. Think about it!”
She joined her father and sister and they too went out back into the city, leaving John, Polios and me alone once more.
“May God bless your journey Polios and keep you safe on the sea. I know it’s a wild place, but you are used to it I know.”
Taking our leave we shook hands with John and walked back to the ship. Polios was deep in thought and I didn’t like to disturb him, but I had so many questions about what I had just seen. Why did this disparate group of people feel so much joy together in such a simple ceremony? What was the story of this man Jesus? When had it all happened and why did someone who was crucified have such enormous significance to people in so many cities of the empire, in so many walks of life? I was determined to ask Polios once we had set sail again.
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We left at dawn the following morning and sailed into a sprightly breeze which drove us out into the open sea. Polios’ navigational skills were outstanding. He determined his course by watching the position of the rising sun and as it climbed the sky he adjusted his bearing accordingly. It was as though the ship was drawn unwaveringly towards its destination, which I already knew was to be the great city of Alexandria, one of the most important and certainly the largest of our Great Sea.
“You will find Alexandria quite over-whelming,” warned Polios. “It is so large and cosmopolitan you will come across every species of humanity there. You’ve got people of every colour and creed you can imagine. And the ideas bound up within the city walls are legion. It’s probably the most sophisticated place I’ve ever been. It has endless teaching colleges, philosophy schools, religious seminaries and commercial buildings and every commodity imaginable is sold there.”
“But probably the most outstanding thing,” he continued after a pause, “at least for us seamen, is the lighthouse. You’ve probably heard about it, but until you see it you can have no idea what to expect. It’s absolutely huge and will be the landmark we’ll aim for. Oh and another thing, Alexandria once had the biggest library in the world. At one time they said it had over half a million scrolls. Imagine that, all the books ever written! That’s one book for every two citizens! Yes, Alexandria has almost one million people living in the
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city and the surrounding towns. It’s enormous. You can lose yourself there very easily.”
I’d heard some of the stories of Alexandria before but Polios was becoming very animated describing to me his version of the city. I found myself getting goose flesh just listening to him. By his reckoning, we’d see the flame from the lighthouse sometime during the night, certainly before dawn. My first real ‘overseas’ adventure was about to begin.
“Are there Christians in Alexandria?” I asked somewhat naïvely.
“Of course,” replied Polios. “It’s one of the main centres of our faith. Many of the people in the old Jewish quarter have converted to Christianity. It’s much more obvious there. There are meeting houses and debating schools all over the city; you’ll see. I’ll take you there if you want.”
“Yes,” I echoed, “I would like that very much. I must declare that after the meeting yesterday I would really like to learn much more about what you believe in and perhaps even become a part of the movement. You all look so dedicated and so happy when you talk about Jesus and his life and what he has done for mankind through his teachings and through his death. That’s right isn’t it? He died for us all? Yes, I would like to know so much more.”
“Are you sure that isn’t just because of the lovely Elizabeth?” he said with a knowing grin. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist that! But if you’d
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really like to know more, there are plenty