Historical setting: 602 C.E. Arriving in Metz
Ana and I were in Metz the year before the twins were born so I know where the stable is and I can find the church where Bishop Agilulf still serves.
Roman works in stone idle here as a distant civilization is now overlain with the dour shadows of suffering sisters. The nuns have a hospital and healing pools where water nymphs were once danced in godly bliss. The suffering come now, to be sorted into the withering and the healing.
I know Bishop Agilulf receives visitors at this church named for John the Evangelist. Greg, who has only a hint of the meaning of my strange circumstance of life and life again, asks me if I once knew that writer, John.
“The author of the gospel of John? So, you’re asking me if I know who wrote a gospel that tells of a family in Bethany?”
“Yes, Papa. Maybe you knew who wrote about Jesus’ feasting with Simon the leper, and who wrote that Mary poured precious ointment onto his feet. Didn’t you see who was writing down the story when Jesus wept and his friend was healed?”
“You know, Greg, if I did know this, I could never tell. If it were known it could wash away the mystical presence of the gospel. The Gospel of John would just be one person’s little journal, with lots of Roman edits added later.”
“But Papa, I was just thinking, what if you really are the bible guy, Lazarus? That would make me true nobility, wouldn’t it? I would be the son of a saint, and surely that is a higher ranking than son of a baro or a dux or even a king.”
I ask, “Don’t all these distinctions of privilege make you wonder what any birthright really is? What makes a nobleman noble?”
Greg thinks he knows. “The kings and nobleman are better warriors than common people.”
“Well, maybe that’s because the wealth and land they inherit sets them into tension with others who would battle with them over the wealth. Privilege is uniquely driven to warfare for the power lust at the fingertips of the highborn. Kings are even known to fight their own brothers just for power.
“And if you were the son of a saint, or better yet, as you surely already are, a child of God, how could you defend that birthright?”
“Papa, I’ve seen how your peace thing works, and I think learning the sword would be more useful in the real world of kings and dukes.”
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 