Текст книги "Messiah is late"

Collision

In the morning, after looking for five minutes at the breakfast, Arshak, with an empty stomach, with the newspaper page titled “job vacancies’ folded in his hand ran out to the street. He took a deep breath; it seemed to him if he stayed at home for a few more seconds he would suffocate. His lungs swelled up from the smell of the ancient town. With his head looking down he went up the narrow street of the Christian district. His eyes followed the straight steps of his feet. He did not raise his head up; he wanted to see nothing in between the craggy houses. If he was lucky he would not see anyone who would stop him and start asking about university life for hours.

But suddenly he stopped. He heard the bells of the sole dilapidated church of the town. He raised up his head, smiled. This trick would work even millennia later. The bells call for the men; does not matter when and whom. Arshak entered the church. He felt the smell of the incense. He approached the grimed saint image that had almost merged with the wall. He took his folded notebook and the pencil that was smaller than his little finger from his coat pocket and started to draw. The boy was thinking that the image would soon disappear, at least the copy would be kept, for only a few dozen saint images were left in the world, while there was a time….

“Hello, Arshak.”

The boy was caught off balance. It was as though the priest appeared from nowhere. It was the same thin man whom Arshak had driven out of the house a few days ago. Arshak noticed that the priest looked as exhausted as his church. He too will soon disappear.

“Good afternoon,” uttered Arshak indifferently. He continued drawing.

“Son,” the priest addressed to him.

“I am not your son,” answered Arshak without taking his eyes away from the paper.

And silence.

“Last time we met, you kicked me out of your house. You were angry,” continued the priest with a calm voice. “I understand your anger…”

“Oh really?”

The priest waited a moment. Then he continued.

“You are trying to protect your sister, it’s natural. And I was trying to help her. I was the first to tell your mother to call a doctor. It would have been right. But the word of God also cures…”

Arshak lifted his head up.

“God? This man…” the boy pointed the picture of Christ with his pencil. “You know I don’t understand only one thing – how could you manage to fool people for thousands of years? How could you manage to make the crucified man’s body become the symbol of eternal life?

A bitter grin. Arshak continued to draw. The priest waited a little longer.

“You don’t know anything about Christianity,” he murmured.

“On the contrary, sir, I know everything about it. Christianity is my profession.”

The priest smiled.

“Your mother told me that you are studying at the Faculty of Theology.”

“I am graduating.”

“You are graduating. So what do they teach you about Christianity?”

Arshak put the pencil in his pocket.

“Reality, sir. We, scientists, don’t believe in fairy tales, the reality is what we are looking for.”

The priest nodded. You could see in his eyes that he was willing to listen. Arshak thought that it was time to leave the church, but he continued.

“Well, in short… in very short… once upon a time there was…”

“A boy?”

“An Empire. It was cruel, it was everywhere, it had captured and possessed all nations, it was invincible. Everyone faced a dilemma – either to merge with the empire or suffer in despair. There was of course a third choice. But it was not serious. Everyone knew what eventually happened with the protestors. And in this crater of universal despair, in the corner evolved the phenomenon of Messiah: the God will send the chosen one, and the latter will punish the bad, will destroy the empire and so on and so forth. These ideas were mainly heard among the Jews, but alongside other nations were listening as well. On the other part of the Empire lived another ancient nation. This was also an interesting one. Their gods, unlike those of Jews, were human-like. They were beautiful, immortal; sometimes they were even pulled by mortal girls, which resulted in the birth of demigod children. All this was of course unbelievable for the Jews. They had completely different ideas about God. But soon it turned out that the Greek idea, which stated that Gods could have mortal children, and the Jewish idea, which stated that the God will send his man, orbited around in the air and one day collided. And you know how? Like the giant asteroid collided with the Earth. Bang. And everything changed.

And silence.

“And then?”

“Then… everything is even sadder. In Judea, one after another the Messiah movements were blazing and then fading. In this turmoil a boy appeared one day, who, God knows how, had managed to create his own doctrine at the age of 30. An extreme, absurd ideology, which could not even work out in the human society: love your enemy, if someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. In other words, hopeless ideology, which basically says “do not resist the evil, but on the contrary, go and meet him and conquer evil with good’.

“Let the chain of evil end up on you.”

“Yes, something like that. So, this man became another false Messiah: a few illiterate fisherman started to preach following him, but he was neither the first one nor the last one. One day he was caught. You know, Mr Priest, I do not doubt his faith. I think, when he was caught, he was thinking ‘I will survive and there is no danger of death, God is with me, he will protect me, as I have been chosen by him’. He really believed in it and his last words before he was crossed were…”

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me,” whispered the priest.

“There is infinite disappointment in these words. He did believe that God will be with him, but in fact nothing happened. Nothing.”

For several minutes there was heavy silence in the church. The fluttering candles in front of the saint pictures were about to extinguish. Arshak took a deep breath and returned back to reality. He looked at the priest. At heart he felt guilty for what he had said.

“This was the shortest way possible. What do you think?”

The priest licked his lips before speaking.

“Nothing new. I know all these very well. Your mother has hardly told you that I was once a student of the Faculty of Theology as well, and was your teacher’s favorite student.”

Arshak jumped like he woke up from a deep sleep. He shrank. Then suddenly he started to laugh.

“Now everything is clear.”

“What is clear?”

“Well, it happens. The scientist becomes so taken with the topic of his research that he merges with, and I would say, dissolves into it.

The priest shook his head.

“No, that is not my case.”

“What is your case then? Look at you, sir. A promising scientist is wearing black dress and has become an advocate of dead religion.”

“Christianity is not dead.”

“Isn’t it? It is dead like your God. The world’s population is counted in billions, and how many Christians are among them? Forty…? Fifty…? Ok, let’s be nice, one hundred thousand. Tortured, split Christians that hate each other. Sir, you are something like memorial.”

Arshak stood up, folded his notebook and put it in his pocket.

“You never said what made you become a Christian.”

The cold smile stayed on his face. Arshak himself did not expect that he would get so much pleasure from throwing the reality into the priest’s face.

“So, what made you do it?”

“The longing,” the priest’s big eyes looked straight as if they stroke.

The smile disappeared from Arshak’s face. He headed towards the door. The priest called after him.

“When Christ comes the second time…”

“No one will recognize him,” roared Arshak and left the church.

Chapter 3

Believers

He had a long walk. On his way he visited a couple of offices and said that he was looking for a job. He was offered to fill in a form and they promised to contact him.

It was noon. The believers, gathered around the Temple of One God towering the center of the square, began to sing. They bowed and entered the temple one after another. Arshak joined the crowd and entered the temple. This magnificent building with white dome was a true architectural masterpiece. Small patterns, which looked as if embroidered by stone threads, decorated white walls. Arshak noticed that many believers were crying when singing. These were tears of happiness. People sat forming a big circle. Some prayed silently, swinging their bodies. Some were screaming “Glory, Glory to One God – the creator and guardian of men and nature’.

He remembered his teacher. He used to say that “true pilgrims are never neat and pretty, sweat is always in the center of faith”. He was not mistaken. The believers of One God, however, did not notice anything, they were in prayers with their mind and soul, and they were with their Lord. The scene looked so natural, as if this temple and the people were always there and will always be praying. While it was not the case.

The faith of One God emerged as a sect at the end of the Oil Age. It first made itself known in Islamic countries, probably because here the followers of One God faith faced some particular violent oppression. Blood rivers were flowing, but as a result it only increased the number of believers. Perhaps the reason was that the crisis of natural resources was more acute here. Soon the believers of One God learnt a lesson from their oppressors – take up arms and fight for the true religion. The Christian world generally greeted that fight with joy and indirectly made it understandable that it stood side by side with One God Believers. Years passed, the sect was growing and transforming. An exact religious doctrine was being formed. New sects formed from this new direction: these were either fighting with each other or with other religions. When in the East the One God doctrine wiped all more or less existing beliefs and tore up and weakened Islam, the West suddenly revived. It was horrified. It turned out that for many years the phenomenon of One God had also been evolving here – secretly and almost invisibly, like cancer. And as it usually happens during the disease, when it made itself apparent it was already too late. Christianity digested the faith of One God with no difficulty. Then started the era of world helm of One God. It was a century full of turmoil and violence. The new religion erupted like a furious volcano burning everything on its way: the man, his ideas, states, ancient Gods. The volcano became extinct. End of Oil Age. Science stood up again, new flow of life started.

“Glory, Glory to One God, the creator of man in nature,” sang the believers. Wonderful.

Suddenly Arshak recognized a familiar face among the praying people. He was shocked. It was Gregory. He recalled that the boy had admitted in the train that he believed in One God, but just believing is one thing and singing in the temple is different. So, could it be implied that Gregory was son of One God?

Narek

After the prayers Narek always felt relieved. He believed that God’s light came down on him. He left the church serenely. At the entrance he bowed as was required.

“I did not know that you are son of One God,” he suddenly heard a strange voice. He turned around. A young black-haired man was standing in front of him and smiling. He was wearing a leather jacket and a white shirt; his high leather boots were pretty worn out; his curly hair was messy. The stranger was smiling.

“Excuse me?” for a moment Narek could not understand, but then he got it. It was not the first time something like that happened to him.

“I am afraid you have confused me with my brother Gregory.

Smile disappeared from the stranger’s face.

“I agree,” continued Narek. My brother is skeptical about any kind of faith.

“It turns out he was right when he said that it is almost impossible to tell you both apart.”

“Almost,” naughtily smiled the boy moving his brows up and down. “There is only one obvious difference between us. I am a spiritual person.”

They both laughed.

“I am Narek,” he extended his hand.

“Arshak,” the boy responded by shaking Narek’s hand.

“Are you my brother’s friend?”

“We know each other.”

“Then you will be my friend, I treat my brothers of one true God differently.”

“Of one true God? No, I came here…”

But Narek was not listening.

“You feel kind of relieved after prayers, don’t you? God cleans your soul…”

Arshak had heard somewhere that the more similar the twins look, the more they differ in nature. It seemed that Narek and Gregory denied that view. This one was just like his brother – he talked a lot and was not able to listen.

“Faith and patriotism will save the world, my brother,” continued Narek.

My brother?

“Gregory might have told you that I am the leader of the local youth wing of National party… Bright and smart guys like you will not hurt us. Don’t you want to join our ranks?”

Bright and smart?

“Well, I don’t know,” Arshak hesitated. “To tell the truth, I may have lack of time. I am looking for a job…”

A nice smile appeared on Narek’s face.

“Brother, the members of our party never have financial problems. We are being looked after by the capital very well. Active members get monthly stipend and not only… You can’t build the future of the country with empty stomach, can you? Here, take my card. Brother, you were looking for a job and you found me in God’s temple. I believe that this is a good sign. When you make a decision, let me know. Goodbye, son of one true God.”

Narek disappeared as suddenly as he had begun to jaw. Arshak looked at Narek’s phone number that was shimmering on the card. Son of God?

In the evening, hail and rain emptied the streets. Arshak got home all wet through. His mother looked worried. She told him to change quickly and when she learnt that the boy did not find a job, she returned to the kitchen discouraged.

Ani roosted like a bird at the window inside the room. She was cheerful that day. She told her brother that she had visited the priest with the old neighbor. She had played with his big dog.

“When it has a puppy, I will buy it for you,” promised Arshak.

Ani’s eyes lit up. Out of the window she could see the forest and the valley tied to the tail of the city. The uneven houses that had grown like mushrooms were for some unknown reason considered to be a part of a village and not a town. The priest lived there. Ani showed his house.

Grandpa Torgom’s house was a little farther. He lived with his grandson, Areg. Ani said that Areg was not talkative and his grandpa did not like the boy.

“He likes me and always calls me when he wants to visit the priest…”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” mother’s voice was heard from the kitchen. “He does love his grandson.”

Ani pretended not to hear.

“I have heard how the grandpa curses,” she whispered.

“Does he curse Areg?” asked Arshak.

“No, Areg’s father. He says ‘Be damned, coward, be damned for leaving this boy’. ‘This boy’ is Areg.”

“How do you know?”

“When Areg goes to the woods, he looks behind him and curses.”

“Why does he go to the woods?”

“He is a hunter.”

“But hunting is prohibited.”

“I don’t know.” Ani looked at the drops of the rain washing the window.

Mother entered the room.

“I don’t like you going to that crazy old man’s place. Arshak, tell her.”

The boy hesitated, and then thought, that mother’s concerns may be relevant.

“Don’t visit him anymore, Ani.”

Ani kept silence. Muttering something under her nose their mother returned to the kitchen. Ani whispered in a very low voice.

“Can you keep secrets?”

Arshak nodded.

“Angels visit the priest’s place.”

Arshak did not say anything. He froze. A sly smile appeared on the girl’s face.

“I have a proof.”

Gregory

Emptying another glass of cognac, Gregory realized that he has started to drink a lot. But what else could he do in that dead corner of the world. He never had a desire to return home, but his brother had written that he was planning to organize a luxurious engagement ceremony, and he didn’t want to offend his brother, particularly taking into consideration that he was his twin brother. Now he was at home and from morning till late in the evening he was listening to Narek’s twaddle about saving the nation, the earth and, why not, the universal justice. And his mother was continually telling about Narek’s fiancée, Lilith. She did not forget to add a biting line in the conversation about the girl Gregory used to date: “that girl was not a bad girl. It is a pity, Gregory that you broke up’. Her son was pretending as if he was not listening, but he was burning from anger inside. The name of “that girl’ was Aspram. She was beautiful, but also strange. She always wore black and dyed her long wavy hair the color of raspberry. Gregory was ready to get married, but Aspram left him, when she learnt that Gregory did not exclude the idea that God created the universe. Then the boy learnt that Aspram has moved to the capital and was studying at the Faculty of Cosmology of the Imperial University. Gregory thought that actually she had found herself. Aspram liked to repeat, “The only justification for the existence of mankind is science, especially Astronomy’. She felt herself calm and peaceful when she looked at those shiny dots that were simply glaring in the far, by themselves, without any God.

“You are again lost in thoughts,” his brother hit him on his back.

“Narek,” Gregory was disappointed.

His brother sat in front of Gregory as a reflection of mirror. He smiled.

“Come to the office tomorrow,” the boy’s eyes lit up. “You can see how we work.”

“I am busy,” Gregory lit a cigarette. Narek did not like it.

“You are ruining your health…”

“Stop, please.”

“It is a sin,” Narek gave up and shouted. “For One God’s sake, brother…”

This time Gregory was the one to give up.

“Stop, you idiot,” he shouted. “I hate that faithful ways of yours. You are sitting in the cozy corner of the Western Empire and are advocating the good God. And do you know what is happening in the East or other parts of the world because of your One God? Children are being stolen, people are being slaughtered…”

“They are extremists…”

“Yes, the believers that kill people are extremists, the Christians that hide from the world are extremists as well… and what about the ones like you? Mediocrities?”

“You are going beyond the limits.”

“What limits? You have become the leader of the youth wing of the party, you want to save the world, you dream about the capital, about a warm place in the big Parliament, about a small post, don’t you?

Gregory paused. The cigarette smoke crawled out from the grin. Narek was staring at his angry brother. Seconds later he tempered and licked his lips. When he was little he usually used to do it when he did not know what to say. Narek stood up slowly, went to the door with careful steps and left the room. Gregory was left alone with his own deaf breath. He was himself very surprised by his sudden outburst of anger. He stubbed out his cigarette and took a deep breath.

Narek had always been a part of his life; sometimes it even felt that he was part of his body. When did his brother that was once so close to him become so unbearable? Narek had always had true faith in One God. But it had never annoyed Gregory. “Everything is actually more complicated,” he remembered his teacher’s words. He felt sad. He recalled the last evening he spent with the professor. They were sitting at the university café. The teacher was kind of tense. He said that he and another professors-biologist from the university were regularly receiving threatening letters.

“Who from?” Gregory wondered.

“Different,” smiled the teacher. “Mainly from sons of One God.”

“What about Christians…?”

The teacher laughed.

“No, there are two and a half Christians left on the planet, and as far as I can see, I am the half.”

Gregory did not get the humor, but smiled.

The teacher continued.

“Do you know what the professor told me, when we received the last threat yesterday?”

“What?”

“The more information animals have about the surrounding environment, the greater are the chances of survival. As a result, the perceptions of mankind developed so much, that he started realizing his own existence.”

It seemed as if the teacher was talking to himself.

“You know, son, in our case this argument seems to work in an opposite direction.”

Gregory nodded.

Three days later he learnt that some young men killed the teacher on his way home.