Читать книгу The Journey: How an obscure Byzantine Saint became our Santa Claus - David Price Williams - Страница 68

city and the surrounding towns. It’s enormous. You can lose yourself there very easily.”

I’d heard some of the stories of Alexandria before but Polios was becoming very animated describing to me his version of the city. I found myself getting goose flesh just listening to him. By his reckoning, we’d see the flame from the lighthouse sometime during the night, certainly before dawn. My first real ‘overseas’ adventure was about to begin.

“Are there Christians in Alexandria?” I asked somewhat naïvely.

“Of course,” replied Polios. “It’s one of the main centres of our faith. Many of the people in the old Jewish quarter have converted to Christianity. It’s much more obvious there. There are meeting houses and debating schools all over the city; you’ll see. I’ll take you there if you want.”

“Yes,” I echoed, “I would like that very much. I must declare that after the meeting yesterday I would really like to learn much more about what you believe in and perhaps even become a part of the movement. You all look so dedicated and so happy when you talk about Jesus and his life and what he has done for mankind through his teachings and through his death. That’s right isn’t it? He died for us all? Yes, I would like to know so much more.”

“Are you sure that isn’t just because of the lovely Elizabeth?” he said with a knowing grin. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist that! But if you’d

THE JOURNEY