The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 88 -
The Greeks' fear of the Saviour.
Now everyone directs their eyes to the natural sun which already has sank half its disc behind the mountains; but in the moment of sinking the false sun rises with an equally strong light for this area and also for the nearby bordering lands and areas. Naturally such a light does not reach the stars; thus some of the guests present could discover several stars of greatest size, particularly towards the east, since the firmament remained somewhat dark, because the light of the false sun could only weakly reach the far-off lands in the East, and wondered much about it.
2
Now Ouran also came to Me then with his daughter, Helena, in great respect and said in a voice somewhat trembling with sheer reverence, "If I am not deceived by what is around me, and I myself am no deceiver, then You are a god over the gods, the spirits and all people, all animals, all lands, all seas, all lakes, all rivers, streams and springs, and everything that is in them and lives! Even the winds seem to be subservient to You, the lightning and the frightfully rumbling thunder; also the sun, the moon and all the stars take note of Your will!
3
But if You, although formed like a person as I am, can do such things alone through Your word and Your all-powerful will, I ask then all the wise men of the world what more could You still have to be the first and most perfect God of gods!?
4
I, Ouran, a small prince from the area of the great Pontus[Black Sea], recognize You; and if Zeus himself and Apollo came here and said a laughable 'No', I would call even them the greatest stupidity!
5
And now you, my dear daughter Helena, come nearer and look at the god of gods. Look at what a mortal eye has never seen before!
6
You see, a most holy temple has been built among us Greeks and also in other nations to a highest, unknown god, but will never be opened! We called this unknown god meanwhile the unknowable Fatum [fate, destiny], before whom even the great Zeus according to our religion is shaking like a leaf in a storm.
7
And you see, this frightful god now stands before us and has just ordered Apollo to stop the cart holding the sun according to the wish of this revered, venerable Roman who probably is also a small prince of some happy province!
8
And see, daughter, Apollo does not move any further until he has received the secret sign from the highest, unknown god, whom simply the servants of the temple in Jerusalem are supposed to know well - but which could also just as well be very untrue; for if they do not recognize this One as the only true One, they are on the worst path in the world!"
9
The beautiful Helena says, "They will perhaps know something better about Him, but certainly only in symbolic pictures; I would bet a lot that they do not consider this miracle worker to be whom you consider him to be, and what He in all probability seems to be! There is only one thing that I do not understand very well, that my heart is constantly filled with more and more true, serious love for Him; and yet every person is supposed to only fear and honor a god and bring him sacrifices!
10
You know how strictly our priests who have to serve Apollo forbade me love towards a god; for such a love is firstly too unholy for a god like Apollo, and secondly, if it became too intense and attracted a high god, one would soon awake the jealousy of the goddesses and then inevitably get the severe fate of Europa, Dido, Daphne, Euridice and Proserpine eternally around one"s neck - and that would be truly something highly terrible.
11
After the truly wise teaching of our Apollo priest I have now succeeded in my soul, as you know, so that I would not be any less terrified by the possible appearance of the most beautiful god than by the most terrible head of Medusa, Gorgon, or Megera!
12
Therefore in such circumstances there can be no longer be any talk of love towards a god! And see, I admit it to you openly, that despite all my inner battles and despite the most frightful images that I call to my memory because of the awakened love to a god, I love this God constantly more and more! Yes, out of love for Him I would to go to the bitterest death if He would only grant me one friendly glance!
13
Oh heaven of heavens! How unspeakably worthy is He of love despite his seriousness! Oh, the gods have not done well in that they have forbidden us people to love them!"
14
Ouran says, "Yes, my daughter! The gods are highly wise and know what they have to grant the people! We must first make ourselves so pure through our life on this Earth that there is no spot to be found any longer on our soul even at the harshest court of the three most merciless judges Aeakus, Minos and Rhadamanthys; if we are declared fully pure before the eyes and ears of all the gods, only then will the eternal Elysium be granted to us as the greatest of all benedictions - to be allowed to love the high gods at least in secret!
15
But here in the world in impure flesh you must take care above all not to fall in love with this most high and most serious God! For that would truly be the most terrifying thing of all terrifying things! If you really feel a sort of love for Him already, it would be best for us to distance ourselves as fast as ever possible from this place!"
16
Helena says, "But that will no longer be of any help to me; for I have him already in my heart and cannot bring him out again! But just look at that yet very tender girl who seems also to love him very much and yet seemingly nothing bad is happening to her!"
17
Ouran says, "Love, do you know then whether that is not some sort of goddess? You would have to fear not so much Him, but her! Who knows then whether she is not at least ten times a Juno?!"
18
Helena says quite gloomily and with tears in her eyes, "Yes, yes, you could well be right! Oh, how happy are the gods and how unhappy are the people in contrast! A heart that is not allowed to love is probably the most unhappy thing that a person in the world can call unhappy! If my eye annoys me, I can blur it; if a hand annoys me, I can have it cut off, the same with a foot, and if my whole tender and white skin annoys me I can have it purged with whips and then smear myself with dirt; but what can one do with a heart if it begins to annoy me? If one has a pressure in the stomach, Aesculapius recommends the juice of aloe and it will then be better in the stomach; but against the pressure in the heart there are no means recommended as far as I know!
19
But now something occurs to me. Look, this God is also a Savior of all Saviors! If we ask him, he would perhaps help me?! For He helped us when we could not possibly ask him since we did not know Him; so He should help me now that we know Him and if we ask Him and are certainly ready to bring Him any sacrifice He demands!?"
20
Ouran says, "You see, that was a good idea of yours, and perhaps it will bear good fruit for us! But since the highest god himself has given us wise Mathael for our education, we can turn to god only through him. Mathael himself seems to be at least a very powerful half-main god, just like this youth whom I, you know Helena, consider to be the god Mercury in secret but nonetheless unmistakably."
21
Helena says, "Yes, yes, yes, that will be correct, and the boy is Mercury! But now something else occurs to me! In the end we are already dead on the Earth, have passed the severe judgment, have drunk the waters of oblivion and thereby lost our memories that we lived on the Earth and perhaps only died recently?! Perhaps we are still in Elysium but the gods don't want to reveal this to us and let us recognize it through all sorts of situations!?
22
Just look at the indescribable majesty of this area! Can, I ask, Elysium be any more majestic?! A sun goes down and another rises in its place, and also the stars are not lacking in the majestic eternal east! If so, father, then my love is truly nothing bad anymore!"
23
Ouran says, "Child! There is a lot to be said for this remark of yours, although I would not like to subscribe to it as the full truth! In brief, Mathael was not given to us for no reason, he will give us the correct explanation!
24
If we are already in Elysium, then we are new-comers and do not know anything in this world by a long shot; but the leader Mathael will soon correct us! Now it looks very like Elysium here in any case; yet previously during the whole eclipse of the sun it did not look like Elysium, but rather a little like Orcus. But now, yes; just as I heard it, this Elysium magnificence can only last a bare two hours more - and then, we cannot know it, but perhaps it will look very tellurian!? But in short, we have Mathael - he will give us the most correct and true information about it! But you speak to him, Helena; for I don't have enough courage for that! You women always succeed better than us men!
25
It is true, he is deep in conversation with the old prince now, and the god is also speaking to a Roman captain! As I said, I don't have the courage at the moment, and someone might hold it against me in the end; but you are a female, no-one will take any little pushiness for something evil - so you try your luck first!"
26
Helena says, "Now I am also becoming somewhat anxious, and I don't know how I should tackle the issue cleverly; but give me a little time, then the thing will go well!"
27
Ouran says, "Hurry slowly!" is an old saying by the oracle of Dodona, whose discoverer is supposed to have been wise Plotin who apparently lived before Homer; thus you can always give yourself time!
28
Whatever a person does, he should do it cleverly and at the same time constantly think which consequences could come from it; one should thus avoid every hurried step and one will easily avoid a pitfall! Slowly, but surely is always better than to jump with courageous haste over a deep ditch whose width you have underestimated beforehand and therefore you fall into its depths! Oh, old Ouran is also clever and wise in his own way and has never had to regret a step before; perhaps the good geniuses will protect him even in the future!"