Читать книгу The Journey: How an obscure Byzantine Saint became our Santa Claus - David Price Williams - Страница 56

admitted to their religious practices. I didn’t appreciate just how vulnerable they all felt in the uncertain political climate of the empire and the upheavals in Rome with its overbearing emphasis on the cult of the divine emperor and the new obsession with the worship of Sol Invictus, the invincible sun which currently dominated every town and city. It was such an overpowering craze, but for me it totally lacked any inspiration. It didn’t answer the questions that were in most people’s minds, questions about life and death, good and evil or fear of the unknown. For me, it was all a bit Roman and as such rather too wooden.

After our mid-day meal the next day, and I had made provision for Irene, I spent the afternoon getting some things together for the journey – clothes, shoes and some gold pieces from my father’s hiding place. When I said I was leaving Eurymachus had told me the names of a few traders in Alexandria, our main port of call in Egypt, upon whom I could rely if I needed any help. It was good to know that our family name counted for something even in such a far off and foreign place. I spent my last evening at home looking through the few books Eugenios had lent me to see if I could find out anything about where I was going, otherwise I was about to launch myself into the unknown. It was exciting and daunting and I got little sleep that night turning the whole journey over in my mind, without knowing anything about it.

THE JOURNEY