by Lew Wallace
CHAPTER VIII
OUR LORD'S CREED
Proceeding now to the special service mentioned in the extract from thelast report of Count Corti to Mahommed.
The nave of Sancta Sophia was in possession of a multitude composed ofall the Brotherhoods of the city, interspersed with visitingdelegations from the monasteries of the Islands and many of thehermitic colonies settled in the mountains along the Asiatic shore ofthe Marmora. In the galleries were many women; amongst them, on theright-hand side, the Princess Irene. Her chair rested on a carpeted boxa little removed from the immense pilaster, and raised thus nearly to alevel with the top of the balustrade directly before her, she couldeasily overlook the floor below, including the apse. From her positioneverybody appeared dwarfed; yet she could see each figure quite well inthe light of the forty arched windows above the galleries.
On the floor the chancel, or space devoted to the altar, was separatedfrom the body of the nave by a railing of Corinthian brass, insidewhich, at the left, she beheld the Emperor, in Basilean regalia, seatedon a throne--a very stately and imposing figure. Opposite him was thechair of the Patriarch. Between the altar and the railing arose abaldacchino, the canopy of white silk, the four supporting columns ofshining silver. Under the canopy, suspended by a cord, hung the vesselof gold containing the Blessed Sacraments; and to the initiated it wasa sufficient publication of the object of the assemblage.
Outside the railing, facing the altar, stood the multitude. To get anidea of its appearance, the reader has merely to remember thedescription of the bands marching into the garden of Blacherne thenight of the _Pannychides_. There were the same gowns black and gray;the same tonsured heads, and heads shock-haired; the same hoods andglistening rosaries; the same gloomy, bearded faces; the same banners,oriflammes, and ecclesiastical gonfalons, each with its community underit in a distinctive group. Back further towards the entrances from thevestibule was a promiscuous host of soldiers and civilians; having nopart in the service, they were there as spectators.
The ceremony was under the personal conduct of the Patriarch. Silencebeing complete, the choir, invisible from the body of the nave, beganits magnificent rendition of the _Sanctus_--"Holy, holy, holy, Lord Godof Sabaoth. Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosannain the highest"--and during the singing, His Serenity was clothed forthe rite. Over his cassock, the deacons placed the surplice of whitelinen, and over that again a stole stiff with gold embroidery. He thenwalked slowly to the altar, and prayed; and when he had himselfcommunicated, he was led to the baldacchino, where he blessed the Bodyand the Blood, and mixed them together in chalices, ready for deliveryto the company of servers kneeling about him. The Emperor, who, incommon with the communicants within and without the railing, had beenon his knees, arose now and took position before the altar in aprayerful attitude; whereupon the Patriarch brought him a chalice on asmall paten, and he put it to his lips, while the choir rang the domewith triumphal symphony.
His Serenity next returned to the baldacchino, and commenced giving thecups to the servers; at the same time the gate leading from the chancelto the nave was thrown open. Nor rustle of garment, nor stir of footwas heard.
Then a black-gowned figure arose amidst a group not far from the gate,and said, in a hoarse voice, muffled by the flaps of the hood coveringhis head and face:
"We are here, O Serenity, by thy invitation--here to partake of theHoly Eucharist--and I see thou art about sending it to us. Now not afew present believe there is no grace in leavened bread, and othershold it impiety to partake thereof. Wherefore tell us"--
The Patriarch looked once at the speaker; then, delivering the chalice,signed the servers to follow him; next instant, he stood in the opengateway, and with raised hands, cried out:
"Holy things to the holy!"
Repeating the ancient formula, he stepped aside to allow thecup-bearers to pass into the nave; but they stood still, for there camea skurry of sound not possible of location, so did it at the samemoment seem to be from the dome descending and from the floor going upto the dome. It was the multitude rising from their knees.
Now the Patriarch, though feeble in body, was stout of soul andready-witted, as they usually are whose lives pass in combat and fiercedebate. Regarding the risen audience calmly, he betook himself to hischair, and spoke to his assistants, who brought a plain chasuble, andput it on him, covering the golden stole completely. When he againappeared in the spaceway of the open gate, as he presently did, everycleric and every layman in the church to whom he was visible understoodhe took the interruption as a sacrilege from which he sought by thechange of attire to save himself.
"Whoso disturbs the Sacrament in celebration has need of cause for thathe does; for great is his offence whatever the cause."
The Patriarch's look and manner were void of provocation, except asone, himself rudely disposed, might discover it in the humilitysomewhat too studied.
"I heard my Brother--it would be an untruth to say I did not--and to goacquit of deceit, I will answer him, God helping me. Let me say first,while we have some differences in our faith, there are many thingsabout which we are agreed, the things in agreement outnumbering thosein difference; and of them not the least is the Real Presence once theSacraments are consecrated. Take heed, O Brethren! Do any of you denythe Real Presence in the bread and wine of communion?"
No man made answer.
"It is as I said--not one. Look you, then, if I or you--if any of us betempted to anger or passionate speech, and this house, long dedicatedto the worship of God, and its traditions of holiness too numerous formemory, and therefore of record only in the Books of Heaven, fail therestraints due them, lo, Christ is here--Christ in RealPresence--Christ our Lord in Body and Blood!"
The old man stood aside, pointing to the vessel under the baldacchino,and there were sighs and sobs. Some shouted: "Blessed be the Son ofGod!"
The sensation over, the Patriarch continued:
"O my Brother, take thou answer now. The bread is leavened. Is ittherefore less grace-giving?"
"No, no!" But the response was drowned by an affirmative yell so strongthere could be no doubt of the majority. The minority, however, wasobstinate, and ere long the groups disrupted, and it seemed every manbecame a disputant. Now nothing serves anger like vain striving to beheard. The Patriarch in deep concern stood in the gateway, exclaiming:"Have a care, O Brethren, have a care! For now is Christ here!" And asthe babble kept increasing, the Emperor came to him.
"They are like to carry it to blows, O Serenity."
"Fear not, my son, God is here, and He is separating the wheat from thechaff."
"But the blood shed will be on my conscience, and the _Panagia_"--
The aged Prelate was inflexible. "Nay, nay, not yet! They are Greeks.Let them have it out. The day is young; and how often is shame themiraculous parent of repentance."
Constantine returned to his throne, and remained there standing.
Meantime the tumult went on until, with shouting and gesticulating, andrunning about, it seemed the assemblage was getting mad with drink.Whether the contention was of one or many things, who may say? Well ascould be ascertained, one party, taking cue from the Patriarch,denounced the interruption of the most sacred rite; the otheranathematized the attempt to impose leavened bread upon orthodoxcommunicants as a scheme of the devil and his arch-legate, the Bishopof Rome. Men of the same opinions argued blindly with each other; whilegenuine opposition was conducted with glaring eyes, swollen veins,clinched hands, and voices high up in the leger lines of hate anddefiance. The timorous and disinclined were caught and held forcibly.In a word, the scene was purely Byzantine, incredible of any otherpeople.
The excitement afterwhile extended to the galleries, where, but thatthe women were almost universally of the Greek faction, the samepassion would have prevailed; as it was, the gentle creatures screamed_azymite, azymite_ in amazing disregard of the proprieties. ThePrincess Irene, at first pained and mortified, kept her seat untilappea
rances became threatening; then she scanned the vast pit long andanxiously; finally her wandering eyes fell upon the tall figure ofSergius drawn out of the mass, but facing it from a position near thegate of the brazen railing. Immediately she settled back in her chair.
To justify the emotion now possessing her, the reader must return tothe day the monk first presented himself at her palace near Therapia.He must read again the confession, extorted from her by the secondperusal of Father Hilarion's letter, and be reminded of her educationin the venerated Father's religious ideas, by which her whole soul wasadherent to his conceptions of the Primitive Church of the Apostles.Nor less must the reader suffer himself to be reminded of theconsequences to her--of the judgment of heresy upon her by both Latinsand Greeks--of her disposition to protest against the very madness nowenacting before her--of her longing, Oh, that I were a man!--of thefantasy that Heaven had sent Sergius to her with the voice, learning,zeal, courage, and passion of truth to enable her to challenge ahearing anywhere-of the persistence with which she had since cared forand defended him, and watched him in his studies, and shared them withhim. Nor must the later incident, the giving him a copy of the creedshe had formulated--the Creed of Nine Words--be omitted in theconsideration.
Now indeed the reader can comprehend the Princess, and the emotionswith which she beheld the scene at her feet. The Patriarch's dramaticwarning of the Real Presence found in her a ready second; for keepingstrictly to Father Hilarion's distinction between a right Creed and aform or ceremony for pious observance, the former essential tosalvation, the latter merely helpful to continence in the Creed, it waswith her as if Christ in glorified person stood there under thebaldacchino. What wonder if, from indignation at the madness of theassembly, the insensate howling, the blasphemous rage, she passed toexaltation of spirit, and fancied the time good for a reproclamation ofthe Primitive Church?
Suddenly a sharper, fiercer explosion of rage arose from the floor, anda rush ensued--the factions had come to blows!
Then the Patriarch yielded, and at a sign from the Emperor the choirsang the _Sanctus_ anew. High and long sustained, the sublime anthemrolled above the battle and its brutalism. The thousands heard it, andhalting, faced toward the apse, wondering what could be coming. It evenreached into the vortex of combat, and turned all the unengaged thereinto peacemakers.
Another surprise still more effective succeeded. Boys with lightedcandles, followed by bearers of smoking censers, bareheaded and inwhite, marched slowly from behind the altar toward the open gate,outside which they parted right and left, and stopped fronting themultitude. A broad banner hung to a cross-stick of gold, heavy withfringing of gold, the top of the staff overhung with fresh flowers inwreaths and garlands, the lower corners stayed by many streaming whiteribbons in the hands of as many holy men in white woollen chasublesextending to the bare feet, appeared from the same retreat, carried bytwo brethren known to every one as janitors of the sacred chapel on thehill-front of Blacherne.
The Emperor, the Patriarch, the servers of the chalices, the whole bodyof assistants inside the railing, fell upon their knees while thebanner was borne through the gate, and planted on the floor there. Itsface was frayed and dim with age, yet the figure of the woman upon itwas plain to sight, except as the faint gray smoke from the censersveiled it in a vanishing cloud.
Then there was an outburst of many voices:
"The _Panagia!_ The _Panagia!_"
The feeling this time was reactionary.
"O Blessed Madonna!--Guardian of Constantinople!--Mother ofGod!--Christ is here!--Hosannas to the Son and to the ImmaculateMother!" With these, and other like exclamations, the mass precipitateditself forward, and, crowding near the historic symbol, flungthemselves on the floor before it, grovelling and contrite, if notconquered.
The movement of the candle and censer bearers outside the gate forcedSergius nearer it; so when the _Panagia_ was brought to a rest, he,being much taller than its guardians, became an object of generalobservation, and wishing to escape it if possible, he took off his highhat; whereupon his hair, parted in the middle, dropped down his neckand back fair and shining in the down-beating light.
This drew attention the more. Did any of the prostrate raise their eyesto the Madonna on the banner, they must needs turn to him next; andpresently the superstitious souls, in the mood for miracles, beganwhispering to each other:
"See--it is the Son--it is the Lord himself!"
And of a truth the likeness was startling; although in saying this, thereader must remember the difference heretofore remarked between theGreek and Latin ideals.
About that time Sergius looked up to the Princess, whose face shone outof the shadows of the gallery with a positive radiance, and he waselectrified seeing her rise from her chair, and wave a hand to him.
He understood her. The hour long talked of, long prepared for, was atlast come--the hour of speech. The blood surged to his heart, leavinghim pallid as a dead man. He stooped lower, covered his eyes with hishands, and prayed the wordless prayer of one who hastily commitshimself to God; and in the darkness behind his hands there was anillumination, and in the midst of it a sentence in letters each alambent flame--the Creed of Father Hilarion and the Princess Irene--ourLord's Creed:
"I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON."
This was his theme!
With no thought of self, no consciousness but of duty to be done,trusting in God, he stood up, pushed gently through the kneeling boysand guardians of the _Panagia_, and took position where all eyes couldlook at the Blessed Mother slightly above him, and then to himself, insuch seeming the very Son. It might have been awe, it might have beenastonishment, it might have been presentiment; at all events, themoaning, sobbing, praying, tossing of arms, beating of breasts, withthe other outward signs of remorse, grief and contrition grotesque andpitiful alike subsided, and the Church, apse, nave and gallery, grewsilent--as if a wave had rushed in, and washed the life out of it.
"Men and brethren," he began, "I know not whence this courage to docomes, unless it be from Heaven, nor at whose word I speak, if not thatJesus of Nazareth, worker of miracles which God did by him anciently,yet now here in Real Presence of Body and Blood, hearing what we say,seeing what we do."
"Art thou not He?" asked a hermit, half risen in front of him, his wrapof undressed goatskin fallen away from his naked shoulders.
"No; his servant only am I, even as thou art--his servant who would nothave forsaken him at Gethsemane, who would have given him drink on theCross, who would have watched at the door of his tomb until laid tosleep by the Delivering Angel--his servant not afraid of Death, which,being also his servant, will not pass me by for the work I now do, ifthe work be not by his word."
The voice in this delivery was tremulous, and the manner so humble asto take from the answer every trace of boastfulness. His face, when heraised it, and looked out over the audience, was beautiful. Thespectacle offered him in return was thousands of people on their knees,gazing at him undetermined whether to resent an intrusion or welcome amessenger with glad tidings.
"Men and brethren," he continued, more firmly, casting the oldScriptural address to the farthest auditor, "now are you in the anguishof remorse; but who told you that you had offended to such a degree?See you not the Spirit, sometimes called the Comforter, in you? Be atease, for unto us are repentance and pardon. There were who beat ourdear Lord, and spit upon him, and tore his beard; who laid him on across, and nailed him to it with nails in his hands and feet; onewounded him in the side with a spear; yet what did he, the Holy One andthe Just? Oh! if he forgave them glorying in their offences, will he beless merciful to us repentant?"
Raising his head a little higher, the preacher proceeded, withincreased assurance:
"Let me speak freely unto you; for how can a man repent wholly, if thecause of his sin be not laid bare that he may see and hate it?
"Now before our dear Lord departed out of the world, he left sayings,simple even to children, instructing such a
s would be saved untoeverlasting life what they must do to be saved. Those sayings I callour Lord's Creed, by him delivered unto his disciples, from whom wehave them: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.' So we havethe First Article--belief in God. Again: 'Verily, verily, I say untoyou, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.' Behold the SecondArticle--belief in Christ.
"Now, for that the Son, and he who sent him, are at least in purposeone, belief in either of them is declared sufficient; nevertheless itmay be simpler, if not safer, for us to cast the Two Articles togetherin a single phrase; we have then a Creed which we may affirm was madeand left behind him by our Lord himself:
I BELIEVE IN GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON.
And when we sound it, lo! two conditions in all; and he who embracesthem, more is not required of him; he is already passed from death untolife--everlasting life.
"This, brethren, is the citadel of our Christian faith; wherefore, tostrengthen it. What was the mission of Jesus Christ our Lord to theworld? Hear every one! What was the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ?Why was he sent of God, and born into the world? Hearing the question,take heed of the answer: He was sent of God for the salvation of men.You have ears, hear; minds, think; nor shall one of you, the richest inunderstanding of the Scriptures, in walk nearest the Sinless Example,ever find another mission for him which is not an arraignment of thelove of his Father.
"Then, if it be true, as we all say, not one denying it, that our Lordbrought to his mission the perfected wisdom of his Father, how could hehave departed from the world leaving the way of salvation unmarked andunlighted? Or, sent expressly to show us the way, himself the appointedguide, what welcome can we suppose he would have had from his Father inHeaven, if he had given the duty over to the angels? Or, knowing thedeceitfulness of the human heart, and its weakness and liability totemptation, whence the necessity for his coming to us, what if he hadgiven the duty over to men, so much lower than the angels, and thengone away? Rather than such a thought of him, let us believe, if theway had been along the land, he would have planted it with inscribedhills; if over the seas, he would have sown the seas with pillars ofdirection above the waves; if through the air, he would have made it apath effulgent with suns numerous as the stars. 'I am the Way,' hesaid--meaning the way lies through me; and you may come to me in theplace I go to prepare for you, if only you believe in God and me. Menand brethren, our Lord was true to his mission, and wise in the wisdomof his Father."
At this the hermit in front of the preacher, uttering a shill cry,spread his arms abroad, and quivered from head to foot. Many of thosenear sprang forward to catch him.
"No, leave him alone," cried Sergius, "leave him alone. The cross hetook was heavy of itself; but upon the cross you heaped conditionswithout sanction, making a burden of which he was like to die. At lasthe sees how easy it is to go to his Master; that he has only to believein God and the Master. Leave him with the truth; it was sent to save,not to kill."
The excitement over, Sergius resumed:
"I come now, brethren, to the cause of your affliction. I will show itto you; that is to say, I will show you why you are divided amongstyourselves, and resort to cruelty one unto another; as if murder wouldhelp either side of the quarrel. I will show your disputes do not comefrom anything said or done by our Lord, whose almost last prayer wasthat all who believed in him might be made perfect in one.
"It is well known to you that our Lord did not found a Church duringhis life on earth, but gave authority for it to his Apostles. It isknown to you also that what his Apostles founded was but a community:for such is the description: 'And all that believed were together, andhad all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and partedthem to all men, as every man had need.' [Footnote: Acts ii. 44, 45.]And again: 'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heartand of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the thingswhich he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.''Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as werepossessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of thethings that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: anddistribution was made unto every man according as he had need.'[Footnote: Acts iv. 32, 34, 35.] But in time this community becameknown as the Church; and there was nothing of it except our Lord'sCreed, in definition of the Faith, and two ordinances for theChurch--Baptism for the remission of sins, that the baptized mightreceive the Comforter, and the Sacraments, that believers, often asthey partook of the Body and Blood of Christ, might be reminded of him.
"Lo, now! In the space of three generations this Church, based uponthis simple Creed, became a power from Alexandria to Lodinum; andthough kings banded to tread it out; though day and night the smell ofthe blood of the righteous spilt by them was an offence to God; thoughthere was no ingenuity more amongst men except to devise methods forthe torture of the steadfast--still the Church grew; and if you digdeep enough for the reasons of its triumphant resistance, these arethey: there was Divine Life in the Creed, and the Community was perfectin one; insomuch that the brethren quarrelled not among themselves;neither was there jealousy, envy or rivalry among them; neither didthey dispute about immaterial things, such as which was the right modeof baptism, or whether the bread should be leavened or unleavened, orwhence the Holy Ghost proceeded, whether from the Father or from theFather and Son together; neither did the elders preach for a price, norforsake a poor flock for a rich one that their salaries might beincreased, nor engage in building costly tabernacles for the sweets ofvanity in tall spires; neither did any study the Scriptures seeking atext, or a form, or an observance, on which to go out and draw from thelife of the old Community that they might set up a new one; and intheir houses of God there were never places for the men and yet otherseparate places for the women of the congregation; neither did asupplicant for the mercy of God look first at the garments of theneighbor next him lest the mercy might lose a virtue because of a patchor a tatter. The Creed was too plain for quibble or dispute; and therewas no ambition in the Church except who should best glorify Christ byliving most obedient to his commands. Thence came the perfection ofunity in faith and works; and all went well with the Primitive Churchof the Apostles; and the Creed was like unto the white horse seen bythe seer of the final visions, and the Church was like him who sat uponthe horse, with a bow in his hand, unto whom a crown was given; and hewent forth conquering and to conquer."
Here the audience was stirred uncontrollably; many fell forward upontheir faces; others wept, and the nave resounded with rejoicing. In onequarter alone there was a hasty drawing together of men with frowningbrows, and that was where the gonfalon of the Brotherhood of the St.James' was planted. The Hegumen, in the midst of the group, talkedexcitedly, though in a low tone.
"I will not ask, brethren," Sergius said, in continuance, "if thisaccount of the Primitive Church be true; you all do know it true; yet Iwill ask if one of you holds that the offending of which you wouldrepent--the anger, and bitter words, and the blows--was moved byanything in our Lord's Creed, let him arise, before the Presence iswithdrawn, and say that he thinks. These, lending their ears, will hearhim, and so will God. What, will not one arise?
"It is not necessary that I remind you to what your silence commitsyou. Rather suffer me to ask next, which of you will arise and declare,our Lord his witness, that the Church of his present adherence is thesame Church the Apostles founded? You have minds, think; tongues,speak."
There was not so much as a rustle on the floor.
"It was well, brethren, that you kept silence; for, if one had said hisChurch was the same Church the Apostles founded, how could he haveabsolved himself of the fact that there are nowhere two parties eachclaiming to be of the only true Church? Or did he assert both claimantsto be of the same Church, and it the only true one, then why therefusal to partake of the Sacraments? Why a division amongst them atall? Have you not heard the aforetime saying, 'Every
kingdom dividedagainst itself is brought to desolation'?
"Men and brethren, let no man go hence thinking his Church, whicheverit be, is the Church of the Apostles. If he look for the communitywhich was the law of the old brotherhood, his search will be vain. Ifhe look for the unity, offspring of our Lord's last prayer, lo!jealousies, hates, revilements, blows instead. No, your Creed is ofmen, not Christ, and the semblance of Christ in it is a delusion and asnare." At this the gonfalon of the St. James' was suddenly lifted up,and borne forward to within a few feet of the gate, and the Hegumen,standing in front of it, cried out:
"Serenity, the preacher is a heretic! I denounce"--
He could get no further; the multitude sprang to foot howling. ThePrincess Irene, and the women in the galleries, also arose, she paleand trembling. Peril to Sergius had not occurred to her when she gavehim the signal to speak. The calmness and resignation with which helooked at his accuser reminded her of his Master before Pilate, andtaking seat again, she prayed for him, and the cause he was pleading.
At length, the Patriarch, waving his hand, said:
"Brethren, it may be Sergius, to whom we have been listening, has hisimpulse of speech from the Spirit, even as he has declared. Let us bepatient and hear him."
Turning to Sergius, he bade him proceed.
"The three hundred Bishops and Presbyters from whom you have yourCreeds, [Footnote: _Encyclopedia Brit.,_ VI. 560.] O men andbrethren"--so the preacher continued--"took the Two Articles from ourLord's Creed, and then they added others. Thus, which of you can find atext of our Lord treating of his procession from the substance of God?Again, in what passage has our Lord required belief in the personage ofthe Holy Ghost as an article of faith essential to salvation?[Footnote: Four Creeds are at present used in the Roman CatholicChurch; viz., the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene, the Athanasian, that ofPius IV--ADD. and AR., _Catholic Dictionary,_ 232.] 'I am the Way,'said our Lord. 'No,' say the three hundred, 'we are the way; and wouldyou be saved, you must believe in us not less than in God and his Son.'"
The auditors a moment before so fierce, even the Hegumen, gazed at thepreacher in a kind of awe; and there was no lessening of effect whenhis manner underwent a change, his head slightly drooping and his voiceplaintive.
"The Spirit by whose support and urgency I have dared address you,brethren, admonishes me that my task is nearly finished."
He took hold of the corner of the _Panagia;_ so all in view were morethan ever impressed with his likeness to their ideal of the BlessedMaster.
"The urgency seemed to me on account of your offence to the RealPresence so graciously in our midst; for truly when we are in thedepths of penitence it is our nature to listen more kindly to what isimparted for our good; wherefore, as you have minds, I beg you tothink. If our Lord did indeed leave a Creed containing the all in allfor our salvation, what meant he if not that it should stand in savingpurity until he came again in the glory of his going? And if he sointended, and yet uninspired men have added other Articles to thesimple faith he asked of us, making it so much the harder for us to goto him in the place he has prepared for us, are they not usurpers? Andare not the Articles which they have imposed to be passed by us asstratagems dangerous to our souls?
"Again. The excellence of our Lord's Creed by which it may be alwaysknown when in question, its wisdom superior to the devices of men, isthat it permits us to differ about matters outside of the faith withoutweakening our relations to the Blessed Master or imperilling our lot inhis promises. Such matters, for example, as works, which are butevidences of faith and forms of worship, and the administration of thetwo ordinances of the Church, and God and his origin, and whetherHeaven be here or there, or like unto this or that. For truly our Lordknew us, and that it was our nature to deal in subtleties and speculateof things not intended we should know during this life; the thought ofour minds being restless and always running, like the waters of a riveron their way to the sea.
"Again, brethren. If the Church of the Apostles brought peace to itsmembers, so that they dwelt together, no one of them lacking or inneed, do not your experiences of to-day teach you wherein yourChurches, being those built upon the Creed of the three hundredBishops, are unlike it? Moreover, see you not if now you have severalChurches, some amongst you, the carping and ambitious, will go out andin turn set up new Confessions of Faith, and at length so fill theearth with rival Churches that religion will become a burden to thepoor and a byword with fools who delight in saying there is no God? Ina village, how much better one House of God, with one elder for itsservice, and always open, than five or ten, each with a preacher for aprice, and closed from Sabbath to Sabbath? For that there must bediscipline to keep the faithful together, and to carry on the holy waragainst sin and its strongholds and captains, how much better oneChurch in the strength of unity than a hundred diversely named anddivided against themselves?
"The Revelator, even that John who while in the Spirit was bidden.'Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, andthe things which shall be hereafter,' wrote, and at the end of his bookset a warning: 'If any man shall add unto these things, God shall addunto him the plagues that are written in this book.' I cannot see,brethren, wherein that crime is greater than the addition of Articlesto our Lord's Creed; nor do I know any who have more reason to beafraid of those threatened plagues than the priest or preacher who frompride or ambition, or dread of losing his place or living, shallwilfully stand in the way of a return to the Church of the Apostles andits unity. Forasmuch as I also know what penitential life is, and howyour minds engage themselves in the solitude of your cells, I give youwhereof to think. Men and brethren, peace unto you all!"
The hermit knelt to the preacher, and kissed his hand, sobbing thewhile; the auditors stared at each other doubtfully; but the Hegumen'stime was come. Advancing to the gate, he said:
"This man, O Serenity, is ours by right of fraternity. In thy hearinghe hath defamed the Creed which is the rock the Fathers chose for thefoundation of our most holy Church. He hath even essayed to make aCreed of his own, and present it for our acceptance--thy acceptance, OSerenity, and that of His Majesty, the only Christian Emperor, as wellas ours. And for those things, and because never before in the historyof our ancient and most notable Brotherhood hath there been an instanceof heresy so much as in thought, we demand the custody of this apostatefor trial and judgment. Give him to us to do with."
The Patriarch clasped his hands, and, shaking like a man struck withpalsy, turned his eyes upward as if asking counsel of Heaven. His doubtand hesitation were obvious; and neighbor heard his neighbor's heartbeat; so did silence once more possess itself of the great auditorium.The Princess Irene arose white with fear, and strove to catch theEmperor's attention; but he, too, was in the bonds waiting on thePatriarch.
Then from his place behind the Hegumen, Sergius spoke:
"Let not your heart be troubled, O Serenity. Give me to my Brotherhood.If I am wrong, I deserve to die; but if I have spoken as the Spiritdirected me, God is powerful to save. I am not afraid of the trial."
The Patriarch gazed at him, his withered cheeks glistening with tears;still he hesitated.
"Suffer me, O Serenity!"--thus Sergius again--"I would that thyconscience may never be disquieted on my account; and now I ask notthat thou give me to my Brotherhood--I will go with them freely and ofmy own accord." Speaking then to the Hegumen, he said: "No more, Ipray. See, I am ready to be taken as thou wilt."
The Hegumen gave him in charge of the brethren; and at his signal, thegonfalon was raised and carried through the concourse, and out of oneof the doors, followed closely by the Brotherhood.
At the moment of starting, Sergius lifted his hands, and shouted so asto be heard above the confusion: "Bear witness, O Serenity--and thou, OEmperor! That no man may judge me an apostate, hear my confession: Ibelieve in God, and Jesus Christ, his Son."
Many of those present remained and partook of the Sacraments; far thegreater number hurried away, and it was not
long until the house wasvacated.
