The Brotherhood Of The Holy Shroud

21

John found Obodas digging in the garden, absorbed in his labor. "Where is Timaeus?"

"With Izaz. They are talking. You know that Timaeus is teaching him so that someday he may be a good leader of the community."

Obodas wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his arm and followed John into the house.

"I bring news," John began, as Timaeus and Izaz greeted him. "Harran has arrived with a caravan."

"Harran! Excellent! Where is he?" asked Izaz, jumping to his feet.

"Wait, Izaz. The caravan does not belong to Senin, though Harran is traveling with it." John stopped, his face twisted with emotion.

"What is it? Speak, John, for God's sake!"

"Yes, I must tell you, though it is hard… Harran is blind. When he returned to Edessa, Maanu ordered the guardsmen to tear out his eyes. His master, Senin, has been murdered and his body thrown to the carrion-eaters in the desert.

"Harran swore that he knew nothing about you, that he had left you in Tyre, on the docks, and that by now you should be in Greece, but that enraged Maanu even more."

Izaz began to weep. It was for his sake that these good men had suffered. Timaeus put his arm around him to comfort him.

"We must go to him and bring him here. We will help him. He will stay with us if he wishes."

"I begged him to come with me, but he refused. He wanted you to know of his blindness before he came. He insists that he will not burden you with his keeping."

Izaz, accompanied by Obodas and John, hurried to the place of the caravans. One of the guides told them where they might find Harran and what had happened.

"The leader of the caravan is a relative of Harran. That is why he consented to bring him here. Harran has no one in Edessa: His wife and children have been murdered, and his master, Senin, was tortured and killed in the plaza before all those who wished to witness the spectacle of his suffering. Maanu has cruelly punished all the friends of Abgar."

"But Harran was not a friend of Abgar."

"Senin was, and Senin refused to reveal the hiding place of the shroud of Jesus with which Abgar was healed. Maanu destroyed Senin's house, burned all his possessions, and built a huge pyre on which he sacrificed his livestock. He tortured and tormented his servants-some had their arms cut off, others, their legs, and Harran had his eyes gouged out, the eyes that had guided Senin's caravans across the desert. Harran should be glad to be alive."

They found Harran sitting on the ground outside one of the tents, and Izaz pulled him up and embraced him.

"Harran, my good friend!"

"Izaz? Is it you?"

"Yes, Harran, yes-I have come for you. You must come with me. We will care for you, and you will want for nothing."

Timaeus greeted Harran warmly. He asked John to take Harran into his house while another room was built onto the little house he shared with Izaz and Obodas.

Harran was comforted to know that he would have a place among friends and that he would not have to wander about the city, begging for alms. His voice quivering, he told them that Maanu had ordered all the Christians' houses burned, even the nobles who had professed their faith in Jesus. He had shown no mercy, even to women and children and the aged. The blood of innocents had stained the snowy marble of the city's streets, which even now reeked with the smell of death.

Obodas, his voice breaking, asked about his family, his father and mother, who were servants of Senin and, like him, Christians.

"They are dead. I am sorry, Obodas."

Tears bathed the giant's face, and the words of Timaeus and Izaz were no comfort to him.

At last Izaz asked the question he had feared to ask, of the fates of Thaddeus and his uncle Josar.

"Josar was murdered in the plaza, like Senin. Maanu wanted the death of nobles to serve as a warning to the people, so that they might know that he would show Christians no mercy, no matter their estate. Josar made no sound. Maanu went to witness his torture personally and forced the queen to witness it as well. The queen entreated him-she fell to her knees and begged for your uncle's life, but the king simply smiled to see her suffer. I know naught of Thaddeus. I fear it was the same."

Izaz struggled to contain his tears. They all had reason to be overwhelmed by sorrow and despair. They had all been sinned against and had lost those who were precious to them. He felt a knot in his stomach turning slowly to a burning desire for vengeance.

Old Timaeus observed the struggle taking place in the young man's heart-the same struggle occurring in the heart of Obodas.

"Vengeance is not the answer," he murmured to them. "I know that you both would be comforted if Maanu was punished, if you could see him die a long and agonizing death. I assure you that he will be punished, because he will have to account to God for the terrible things he has done."

"Do you not say, Timaeus, that God is infinite mercy?" Obodas threw at him, weeping.

"But infinite justice as well."

'And the queen-does she still live?" Izaz asked Harran, fearing the reply.

'After the death of your uncle, no one saw her again. Some servants in the palace say that she died of grief and that Maanu had her body taken into the desert and thrown to the carrion-eaters there. Others say that the king had her killed. No one has seen her. I am sorry, Izaz… sorry to bear such grievous news."

"My friend, the messenger is not to blame for the news he brings," Timaeus said. "Let us pray together and ask God to help us bear our pain at the loss of our loved ones and to take the anger from our hearts."