The Exodus Quest

II

Kostas plucked a large volume from his shelves, licked his thumb and forefinger, checked the index, then turned to pages of photographs of the original letter in handwritten Greek. 'This is a forgery, remember,' he warned Augustin. 'A despicable forgery designed to enrich and aggrandize one man at the expense of the truth.'

'Just tell me.'

'Very well.' He put on his reading glasses, squinted at the photograph, muttering each sentence to himself until he'd made a suitable translation that he then spoke out loud for Augustin's benefit. 'To Theodore. Commendations on silencing these Carpocratians. They are those mentioned in prophecy, who fall from the narrow path of the commandments into chasms of lust. They boast of knowing the secrets of Satan, yet do not realize that they are casting themselves away. They claim they are free, but in truth are slaves of their desires. They must be opposed utterly. Even should they say something true, do not agree with them. For not everything true is the truth, nor should human truth be preferred to the truth of faith.' Kostas looked up. 'Clement goes on to acknowledge the existence of "secret" writings. Then he says: 'So Mark wrote a second Gospel for those being perfected. He did not reveal the secrets or the sacred teaching of the Lord, but merely added new stories to those already written, and brought in certain sayings to lead hearers into the innermost sanctuary of truth.' Augustin smiled. 'The innermost sanctuary of truth!

'Apparently the Carpocratians tricked some hapless presbyter into giving them a copy of this supposed Secret Gospel. Clement then cites some of the more perverse sections – an absurd thing for him to do when you think about it – which is where this whole thing turns so controversial. But you need some context, first. Are you familiar with the lacuna in chapter ten of the Gospel of Mark, between verses thirty-four and -five?'

'Do I look like a Bible scholar?'

'Well, the text reads: "And he came unto Bethany. And then they left Bethany." You see the problem?'

'Nothing happens.'

'There's also an unexplained switch from "he" to "they". Scholars have long wondered whether some overzealous Church editor didn't cut out some problematic episode; no doubt why Morton Smith seized upon it. Listen. This is his version. 'They arrived in Bethany. A woman whose brother had died was there. She prostrated herself before Jesus and said, "Son of David, have mercy on me." But his disciples-'

'What did you say?' interrupted Augustin. 'Did you just say "Son of David, have mercy on me"?'

Kostas frowned, perplexed by his sudden vehemence. 'Yes. Why?'

Augustin shook his head. That same subscript had been on one of Gaille's photographs. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'Please go on.'

Kostas nodded and picked it up again. 'But his disciples chastised her. And Jesus, angered, went with her to the tomb where the young man was buried. He reached out and raised him by his hand. But the young man, looking upon him, loved him and begged to go with him. And they went to the house of the young man, who was rich. And after six days Jesus instructed the youth, and he came to him that night wearing only a linen cloth over his naked body. And they stayed together, and Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. And then he went to the far side of the Jordan.'

'Good God,' muttered Augustin. Linen cloths, naked bodies, overnight stays; standard fare for a Greek mystery initiation, a worst nightmare come true for a homophobic Christian fundamentalist.

'You can see why it generated such controversy,' said Kostas. 'But, like I say, it's nothing but a malicious forgery. It can't possibly have anything to do with this ancient site of yours.'

'Maybe not,' admitted Augustin. But what if Peterson didn't realize that?