The World Goes On
Page 22
JOURNEY IN A PLACE
WITHOUT BLESSINGS
I.
A church is that place where the Holy Scriptures are read and understood.
II.
The diocesan bishop sits sadly among the congregation and he says: this is the end of the reading of the Scriptures, for there has been no understanding.
III.
Then—because in a sacred place only that is permitted which will serve the practice of the adoration of God, and all which does not accord with the holiness of the place is prohibited; and as the sacred places have been degraded by means of the deep injustices, scandalous to believers, which have taken place within them: henceforth no divine service may be held as long as this injury has not been corrected by means of a penitential ceremony. The diocesan bishop says to the congregation: “The Lord was with you!” and then after the morning it shall be evening, then the end of evening, and it shall be eventide and midnight, but the congregation doesn’t keep vigil all night, but falls asleep, and when twilight descends the diocesan bishop takes the Holy Sacrament from the tabernacle; he extinguishes the sanctuary lamp, and he pronounces these words:
“We do not supplicate! Because our comprehension has not been filled with the truth, we do not stand in glory before the Lord. Our Lord, receive not the gifts offered by Your bitter congregation, for Your people have not gained eternal salvation in this sacred building through the mysteries. And it is worthy, just, fitting, and beneficial for us to confess this, and now we withdraw in sadness from this temple of prayer built with human labor, and so may this temple here be the house of salvation unfulfilled, the hall of the sanctities of heaven forever unattainable.”
IV.
My Dear Brethren, says the diocesan bishop.
V.
Then he blows out the candles placed upon the altar, gives them to one of the attendants, and addresses the congregation. “Light of Christ! Almighty Eternal God! Withdraw Your mercy from this place, for Your divine help to those who prayed to You was all in vain.”
VI.
The diocesan bishop gives the tabernacle to the other attendant, then he takes away the flowers and the altar cloth as well. “Withdraw Your blessing from these objects,” he says, “and receive no more the prayers, the thanksgivings, the appeasement, and the requests of all those who formerly fell to their knees before Your Holy Son.”
VII.
“Your Holy Son, who lives and reigns with You forever and ever.”
VIII.
The diocesan bishop takes the frankincense from the censer, he extinguishes the embers, and in the meantime he says: “Our Lord, our prayers did ascend here before Your Presence like frankincense. Never shall they ascend again. I rescind the censing of the altar, the walls, and of this congregation.”
IX.
The congregation is silent.
X.
The diocesan bishop turns to the walls, and he washes from them the signs of the twelve crosses once rendered in chrism. Then he steps to the altar, and from the four corners he wipes away the memory of the sacred oil.
XI.
And this he says: “Our Lord, who has sanctified and guided Your Church, we have praised Your sacred name with festal songs; and yet we shall do so no more. Because on this day, Your withered people ceremoniously return this temple to Prayer itself; this temple, where, although You were honored, but from Your Word nothing was learnt, and by Your sanctities no soul was nourished. And so it was that this church symbolized the Church, sanctified by Christ with His own blood, so that He might choose it as His glorious betrothed, to be kept in the purity of belief as a resplendent virgin, becoming a happy mother through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so it was that the vineyard of the sacred Church, chosen by the Lord, the twigs of which replenished the entire world—and its shoots were made to grow upon the crucifix—was raised to the country of heaven. This was the shelter of God among people, a church built from living stone, which, like a foundation of stone, is built upon the apostles; and within it Jesus Christ Himself was the cornerstone.”
XII.
“And the Church was majestic,” says the diocesan bishop, “the city built upon the top of the mountain, which shone in pure radiant light before everyone. And within it, the glory of the Lamb was radiant, and the song of the happy ones echoed. And now, Our Lord, we yearningly implore You to withdraw every blessing of the heavens, to make this place sacred no more, because the currents of God’s grace can no longer wash away the sins of the people, because Your sons did not become as dead to sin, and they were not reborn to eternal life.”
XIII.
“And around the table of the altar,” says the diocesan bishop, “no longer shall there gather Your believers dispersed, no longer shall they celebrate the holy secret of Easter, no longer shall they be nurtured by receiving the Word and Body of Christ. Here, in the heartless voice of farewell, resounds the arrogance of forfeiture, because no human word shall unite with the songs of the Angels. No longer shall prayers ascend towards You for the salvation of the world, because those suffering in need shall no longer find the path to assistance, and the downtrodden shall never again come upon freedom: between every person and the dignity of the Son of God shall extend a chasm vast.”
XIV.
“No one shall attain,” says the diocesan bishop, “no one shall attain heavenly Jerusalem, and the distance which leads to Your Son is unutterable.”
XV.
“Your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Heavenly Spirit, one God for ever and ever.”
XVI.
The diocesan bishop takes down the altar with the two attendants, then they remove it, and he speaks: “Withdraw Your blessing from this place, our God, because there is no longer any sign of the love of Jesus, who sacrificed, for us. The ardor of the congregation was not worthy of this beautiful altar. In vain did sound the call, they did not gather round, and they did not take part here in the Holy Sacrament.”
XVII.
The diocesan bishop takes down the pulpit with the two attendants, the place of proclamation of the Word, he has them take it out, and he says: “Withdraw Your blessing from this place, our God, because Your word resounded here in vain, it was not fruitful.”
XVIII.
And the diocesan bishop, with the two attendants, takes down the images that were hanging there, and they move the statues, and the images and the statues are all taken away, and so he speaks: “Almighty God! No longer shall it be permitted for us to see Your Holy Son . . .”
XIX.
“Your Holy Son, who lives and reigns with You forever and ever.”
XX.
“ . . . Or the likenesses of Your saints, because if we gaze upon them here, they only make us think of our sins and the path that leads to baseness, and not of sacred life. So withdraw Your blessing from us, our Lord, because as we look at them we are not strengthened in our faith, and thus those who sought intercession from Your Saints, praying before these icons and these statues, shall never gain shelter upon this earth, and eternal glory in Heaven never shall they gain.”
XXI.
The diocesan bishop gathers up the relics from beneath the altar, and then he says:
XXII.
“My Beloved Brethren!”
XXIII.
“Nevermore shall our pleading ascend to Almighty God in the name of Christ our Lord! Nevermore shall the Saints hear our pleas, the Saints who took part in the suffering of Jesus, and who were guests at His table. My Lord, have mercy on us! Christ, have pity on us! Sacred Virgin Mary, Holy Mother of God, Archangel Michael, have mercy on us!”
XXIV.
“St. Michael Archangel, All Holy Angels, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, the Apostles Saint Peter and St. Paul, St. Andrew the Apostle, St. John the Apostle, St. Maria Magdalena, the martyr St. Stephen, the martyrs St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas, the martyr St. Agnes of Rome, St. Gregory the Pop
e, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. Basil of Ceasarea, St. Martin of Tours, St. Benedict of Nursia, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic of Osma, St. Francis Xavier, St. John Vianney, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Therese of Ávila, St. Stephen of Hungary, St. Gerard of Csanád, All the Saints of Our Lord, deliver us!”
XXV.
After the Liturgy of the Word is abandoned, the diocesan bishop draws out from the walls and from the entire congregation all traces of the water that once had been consecrated; then he stands in front of a vessel filled with water, and he speaks:
XXVI.
“My Dear Brethren!”
XXVII.
“When we ceremoniously consecrated this building, we begged Our Lord and our God to bless this water, which reminded us of our own baptism. Now we beg Our Lord to withdraw this blessing, because we did not follow the promptings of the Soul. Our God! We could have attained the clarity of life through You, but in vain did You decide that, cleansed, we would arise to a new life: we did not arise to a new life, and we have not become the inheritors of Eternal Happiness. So withdraw Your former blessing from this water, so that we shall never remember Your heavenly mercy, a mercy which we shall never ever attain.”
XXVIII.
And then the diocesan bishop, with the silent congregation following after him, withdraws from the church, closes the door, and hands over the key to the emissary of the former master builder, then—after the diocesan bishop withdraws all the former requests concerning the blessing of the grounds of the building, and forbids processions to take place there—with the help of the master builder he digs out the cornerstone, shoves it into a ditch and says:
XXIX.
“And so it was, that I, John, saw the new heavens and the new earth. And the first heavens and the first earth passed, and the oceans were no more. And I, John, saw the holy city, I saw the new Jerusalem descend from heaven, from God, like a bride adorned in ornament, descending toward her husband. And then I heard that strong resounding voice speak from the throne: ‘Behold the shelter of God among the people! He shall live with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them. And God shall wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be death, nor mourning, nor lamentation, nor pain, because all that had been before has passed.’ And He who sat upon the throne spoke: ‘Behold, I shall create everything anew.’”
XXX.
The congregation dispersed, and the bishop vanished from sight.
THE SWAN OF ISTANBUL
(seventy-nine paragraphs on blank pages)
in memoriam Konstantinos Kavafis
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NOTES
Page 287. suddenly forgot: after the kind personal communication of Attila Golyo Gulyas-Kovacs (Rockefeller Institute, New York) 9.30.2011.
Page 287. the rapid forgetting of details: after the kind personal communication of Balint Lasztoczi (Columbia University, New York) 9.30.2011.
Page 287. he was aware that he was forgetting, that some kind of confusion had developed between himself and the world, in this case between him and the . . . : David S. Martin: “Man’s Rare Ability May Unlock Secret of Memory.” CNN, May 2008.
Page 287. and then he roamed all over the place, without any memories; he entered the bar where there was no indication to remind him of what he was doing there: Parker, E. S., Cahill, L., McGaugh, J. L., “A Case of Unusual Autobiographical Remembering,” Neurocase (February 2006).
Page 287. the intent to remember something stayed with him throughout: David S. Martin: “Man’s Rare Ability May Unlock Secret of Memory.” CNN, May 2008.
Page 287. this too would pass, and he would no longer be aware of having forgotten something, of having a sense that the situation is confusing, and this state had indeed set in, a state of happiness, everywhere he went or found himself he felt happy, in part; however part of his mind was increasingly burdened by an overall problem, for example Istanbul, this had turned into an overall problem, he felt completely that . . . : Porter, S., Birt, A. R., Yuille, J. C., Herve, H. F., “Memory for Murder: A Psychological Perspective on Dissociative Amnesia in Legal Contexts,” International Journal of Law Psychiatry (January–February, 2001).
Page 287. one cannot say that he had seen Istanbul, only that he knew what Istanbul was like: Kritchevsky, M., Chang, J., Squire, L. R., “Functional Amnesia: Clinical Description and Neuropsychological Profile of 10 Cases,” Learning & Memory (March, 2004).
Page 288. He rapidly began to forget the details and simultaneously a similarly dangerous alteration occurred in his thinking regarding overall problems, that is to say he perceived these problems in an increasingly “overall” manner, as the outlines of these problems began to broaden more and more . . . until in the end he perceived the extent of each overall problem as so enormous that although he was able to grasp it the operation began to split his head apart, so that finally there he stood in Istanbul with a split head, and it was as if the plane could only transport him home in two pieces, his head and the rest of his body, that is, no longer the entirety of his overall person: cf., short-term memory/long-term memory: Roediger, H. L., Dudai, Y., Fitzpatrick, S. M., Science of Memory: Concepts. Oxford University Press. New York. Danziger, Kurt. Marking the Mind: A History of Memory. Cambridge University Press, 2008. Fivush, Robyn, Neisser, Ulric. The Remembering Self: Construction and Accuracy in the Self-Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Page 289. at an undefined point of the outskirts of town, at The White Dervishes . . . : Rumi. Spiritual Verses. First book translated from the latest Persian edition of M. Este’lami. Penguin Classics. London and New York, 2006.
Page 289. The White Dervishes not quite like that . . . : The Masnavi. Book Two, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi. Oxford World’s Classics Series. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Page 289. The White Dervishes the whirling . . . : The Essential Rumi. Translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, A. J. Arberry, Reynold Nicholson. Harper Collins. San Francisco, 1996.
Page 289. The White Dervishes are no longer persons in the . . . : The Illuminated Rumi. Translated by Coleman Barks, Michael Green contributor. Broadway Books. New York, 1997.
Page 289. As the garment maker for The White Dervishes . . . : The Mesnevi of Mevlana Jelalu’d-din er-Rumi. Translated by James W. Redhouse. London, 1881.
Page 289. On the other hand the White Dervishes instantly disbanded: Masnavi-i Ma’navi: The Spiritual Couplets of Maulana Jalalu’d din Muhammad Rumi. Translated and abridged by E. H. Whinfield. London, 1887.
Page 290. caydanlik: Tula’s verbal communication, Istanbul.
Page 293. Sultanahmet Camii: cf, Cesar de Saussure, Travels in Turkey.
Page 293. Samahane: Letter from the Galata Mevlevihanesi, 9.10.2011.
Page 297. Qanun: Recording of a qanun on the terrace of the Derwish Café, Cankurtaran Mh., Kabasakal Caddesi 1, Istanbul.
Page 298. in the direction of the Kariye Muzesi: Chora: The Scroll of Heaven. Text by Cyril Mango. Ed. by Ahmed Ertug. Istanbul, 2000.
Page 298. In this city of events He is the Lord,
In this realm He is the King who plans all events.
If He crushes his own instruments,
He makes those crushed ones fair in His sight.
Know the great mystery of whatever verses we cancel,
Or cause you to forget, we substitute better for them.
In: The Spiritual Couplets of Maulana Jalalu-‘D-Din Muhammad Rumi. Story XVI.
Page 299. The Kariye Muzesi was not the . . . : “Mimar Sinan,” in Goodwin, G. A., History of Ottoman Architecture. Thames & Hudson, Ltd. London, 1971. Underwood, P. A. Third Preliminary
Report on the Restoration of the Frescoes in the Kariye Camii at Istanbul. Harvard University Press, 1958.
Page 299. qanun, heaven’s dome over their heads: Verbal communication from Kudsi Erguner and Omar Faruk Tekbilek.
Page 299. and from here on another sky, qanun heaven: Yarman, Ozan. 79-tone Tuning and Theory for Turkish Maqam Music as a Solution to the Non-Conformance Between Current Model and Practice. Istanbul Technical University. Institute of Social Sciences, 2007.
Page 299. under the firmament of the qanun the musicians lose their personal . . . : Pohlit, Stefan, Weiss, Julien Jalal. A Novel Tuning System for the Middle-Eastern Qanun. Ph.D. Thesis. Istanbul Technical University. Institute of Social Sciences, 2011.