Читать книгу The Journey: How an obscure Byzantine Saint became our Santa Claus - David Price Williams - Страница 55

to the east and to the valley of the Nile, she became more and more animated.

“Do you know, you will be travelling near the places our Lord Jesus was when he was alive? I wonder whether you’ll visit some of them. Oh, Niko, I would love to see such places, like Bethlehem, where our Lord was born, where he preached and Jerusalem where he was crucified and entombed then rose from the dead. We believe he was crucified and buried and that three days later he rose again and conquered death for our sake. That is how we have been saved from the clutches of the evil one and can attain everlasting life. If you only knew how wonderful this news is for us and all who believe in him! It makes us all into new men and women, in his name.”

I didn’t really understand the principle of this faith as Irene described it to me, but there was no mistaking her enthusiasm and the light in her eyes. She was almost ecstatic as she described the mystery which she experienced and the love that she so clearly felt in her heart. I was very moved by her sincerity; she was obviously a true believer. It was strange to think that she’d been part of this Christian movement for some years without any of us knowing about it.

But I had heard that the Christians were a somewhat secretive band and I understood that this was because they kept everything hidden to exclude outsiders from being

DAVID PRICE WILLIAMS