Rule of God

EPILOGUE

Now you know my history, Gabrielle, and my role in the Dei and in the assassination of Domitian. I am only grateful that the wrath of Rome’s angels has not come to pass, and I pray that with the shift in caesars you will escape judgment.

As for me, I have indeed come to the end of my life, but I have failed to finish my race. I have fought the wrong fight and done more evil in the name of good and of God than I ever imagined in my former life as the hedonist and playwright Athanasius of Athens.

This is my confession as Chiron, general of the infernal order that calls itself Dominium Dei.

But even if few remember the past, and the future should be forgotten by those who come after it, I take comfort in this revelation: from generation to generation, God has granted a place of repentance to all who would listen.

There was Noah who repented and was saved with the animals. There was Jonah who repented and preached repentance to the Ninevites, and they repented and were spared. Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, signaled her repentance by hiding the Israelite spies and hanging a scarlet cord in her window, saving her family from the city’s destruction. This cord was a sign of the redemption that would flow through the blood of Jesus to all those who believe and hope in God.

You were that place of repentance for me.

You taught me how nature continually proves that there shall be a future resurrection. Day and night declare to us a resurrection, as light gives way to darkness and darkness gives way to light. The fruits of the earth also declare the resurrection, as the seed dies in the ground only to rise up again as a vine bearing many grapes.

I may not be long for this world, Gabrielle, but thanks to you I now live for the next.

May you continue to bring forth your fruit in your season and provide shade and comfort to others. To God our savior be all glory, dominion and power, both now and forever.

Clement of Rome