Shadow of a Hero

LEGEND

Father Stephan

NEWS WAS BROUGHT to Falje that the Pasha of Potok, with all his bazouks, was slain by Restaur Vax and the Varinians at Riqui. Then the Pasha of Falje, though he had little love for the Pasha of Potok, was both angry and afraid, and sent letters to the other Pashas, at Slot, and Aloxha, and Jirin, saying, ‘Our brother must now be avenged with many lives, or the Varinians will feel strong in their hearts and know they are indeed a people. Then they will rise against us and slay us all. Moreover it is we who must take vengeance, for if we do less the Sultan will send armies from Byzantium, with Viziers and Generals to oversee the vengeance, and we shall ourselves be called to account. Therefore write each of you to the Sultan, as I have done, saying that we have the matter of vengeance well in hand. That done, come with all your bazouks to Potok and we will begin the work.’

So the Pashas gathered at Potok. Then the Pasha of Slot said, ‘Let these Christian swine understand the full measure of our vengeance. Let us take their bishop, Bishop Pango, and crucify him on the walls of Potok, where all Varina may see him.’

The Pasha of Falje said, ‘I have word that he has fled to the Monastery of St Valia, where there are many secret ways and places of hiding.’

The Pasha of Aloxha said, ‘My Captain of Bazouks is a man who does not know pity or fear. Let him take command, and he will find this infidel.’

So the Captain gave orders and the bazouks surrounded the great monastery, and seized all who fled. They broke down the doors and found the Fathers at prayer, but with blows and insults they herded them into the courtyard. The Captain of Bazouks looked silently at them.

Then he said, ‘Where is your bishop? My masters, the Pashas, would speak with him, but not one hair of his beard will they harm.’

But the Fathers saw that he lied and did not answer.

Then the Captain stood the Fathers in line before him and said, ‘Very well, since you are foolish old men, I must show you that I will have my way. Let every fifth old fool stand forward.’

He walked along the line of Fathers, beckoning each fifth one forward. And a certain Father Stephan, counting swiftly to his right, changed places with the Father on his left, pushing him roughly aside, and when the Captain of Bazouks stood before him this Father shook and trembled as if with fear, and seemed to wish to change his place again. And the Captain of Bazouks, having seen what he did, smiled in his beard and said, ‘You have missed your count, old man, for it is now you who are the fifth one. Stand forward.’

When he had passed in this manner all down the line, the Captain made the Fathers he had chosen kneel down, with necks outstretched, and he posted a bazouk beside each one, with his scimitar drawn and ready to smite, and said, ‘Now which of you will tell me where Bishop Pango is hidden? If none will, then all that I have chosen will die on my signal. Moreover they will die in vain, for I will then burn this monastery with fire, and leave no stone standing on its fellow, and your bishop will die among the ruins.’

Still not one Father spoke, so he gave the signal and they died. Of the rest, some he whipped and some he tortured, but still all held their silence. Then with blows and insults he drove them from the monastery, and his bazouks brought fire, and burned it. Levers too they brought and heaved the stones apart. And many secret ways and places of hiding they uncovered, but Bishop Pango they did not find.

But the Fathers took the road from Potok towards the Danube, those who were less hurt helping those who were more hurt. At the river they sent word to a certain man who had a boat, which he brought secretly to them by night. And Bishop Pango stood before them at the water’s edge and said, ‘I leave you, and I leave this beloved land so that I may journey through Christendom, where I will tell the Princes of the Church and the Princes of the Peoples of the sufferings of our nation under the oppression of the Turks. Be brave, and trust in God, and in a little while I will return.’

Now the Fathers urged him to go quickly, before the Turks took thought where he might be and pursued and found him, but he said, ‘I must stay another hour, so that in this place, on the sacred soil of Varina, we may sing a full Mass together for our dead brothers, and especially for the soul of Father Stephan, who knowingly moved into my fifth place in the line, and died so that I might live.’

So on the shore of the Danube, above Slot, where the Chapel of the Blessed Stephan¹ now stands, they sang the full Mass for the Dead. None heard, and none came by. Then Bishop Pango boarded the boat and left them.

¹ The Chapel has recently been demolished by the Communist regime, on the pretext that the site was needed for a navigation light.