Читать книгу The chosen vessel. Fighting of the spirits - Miki Lazović - Страница 6

In the afternoon Miki began his story: “Let me tell you everything that I remember and what my grandfather told me. Of course, some secrets should remain a secret, but I will say everything I can.

They say that one of the great – great – great – grandfathers in his family felt for the first time that he could help people with his hands. They say that he had a fantastic power. It is also said that he is the first in the world who managed to open the way for the development of the brain to unimaginable possibilities. He was not literate, like others at the time. Then the secrets were recounted several hundred and thousand times to the Chosen One, who was to inherit them. The Chosen One, at the end of his life, told to the next Chosen One and so this knowledge was passed from the Chosen One to the Chosen One or from generation to generation. His family has always produced many children. In addition to other brothers and sisters, my grandfather Gatso was born. So, this hereditary knowledge, with the consent of the previous Elects, passed to my grandfather. He inherited it and became a Chosen One. He learned to write in the church and everything that the previous Chosen had explained to him was later recorded in a notebook. At that time the children from an early age started to do something and thus contributed to their family. So, my grandfather in less than three and a half year began to graze cattle with his elder brother. He learned together with his and later he worked alone. While my grandfather was a small and weak child, his grandfather Demetrius, who was the Elect, and his son Mitar did not know it, one night the previous Chosen One appeared and demanded all the knowledge to pass on to his grandson, so that he by the will of God Became a Chosen One too. For several nights Demetrius spoke with the previous Chosen One, trying to save the child from the heavy burden that he was destined to. He resisted and argued that it is too early for a child who does not know how to speak well and does not know about the seriousness of the situation, to impose such responsibility. Everything was in vain. The will of God and the previous Elected should be respected. So, his grandfather, with sadness in his heart, began to teach the future Chosen One. He woke him at dawn on one Monday and went with him into the forest. Long baptized before him, silently moving his lips, and then blew thrice in the nose. The child has been transformed. His face shone with a strange light. This light could be seen by the previous Chosen One or by any enlightened person. Then the grandfather began to teach the child, giving him the most sacred secrets that he inherited. Every day these sessions lasted, once all day and sometimes even less. A child endowed with the Holy Spirit absorbed everything into his soul without telling anyone about the sacred mystery that he inherited from his grandfather. According to his grandfather he endowed with a holy spirit and understood what would be the danger if these secrets were learned and therefore remained silent. No one, even his relatives, mentioned a single word from the conversation between him and his grandfather. He also mastered the most difficult tasks assigned to him. Successes were accumulated at an incredible rate. It was necessary to learn a lot more, but his grandfather Demetrius was already very pleased. One day, after St. Peter’s Day, the summer sun warmed up, he was given trousers and left him to herd. Sheep fled in different directions. The child in four and a half years was interested in chasing them and collecting them in a herd, and they seemed to foresee something and ran back and forth moving farther than usual. And Garinja’s faithful dog was restless and only growled. “Maybe a wolf wants to attack a herd,” – the child thought and ran to turn the herd to the house, but Garinja jumped up across the path. But it was too late… A huge poisonous snake pierced its sharp teeth into its lower leg. Garinja jumped, caught a huge reptile and tore it with his teeth. He came to my grandfather, began to whine and he more and more lost consciousness because of the poison that got into the body. He could hardly hear the squeal of his faithful Garinja feeling that he was falling asleep more and more. He drowned in a dream and he did not hear anything else. He did not know that the sheep had returned home. He did not know that everyone in the house was frightened and began to look for him. He did not know that the faithful Garinja stayed with him and continually licked his face, waiting for his awakening. It was getting dark. Family members were joined by family members from the village and went on a search with lit torches.

“Probably a wolf has bite to him and Garinja!” – suggested one of the neighbors.

“They say there is one old and dangerous wolf like a black devil”.

“They also say that it does not leave anyone alive…” – they continued to comment on each in their own way and then combed the forest.

Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, one heard a barking. Everyone stopped listening. Then again, as if on command, everyone started talking.

“Look, the wolf ate only Gatso and wounded Garinja and now it can not drag himself to the house” – suggested one and the other replied:

“Everything can be! People, stop talking, let’s call Garinja again, we’ll hear where it is, let’s go there and find.”

And they did it. Again, they heard a barking in the direction of the Machkova Stena[5]. It is a bare rock with a height of more than seventy meters, with sharp stones in the foothills. It was named after one cat[6]), which penetrated into the smokehouse or cellar in the village and did great harm. One evening one of the villagers caught him, thrust him into a linen bag and threw him from the top of this rock on to sharp stones. He thought that he killed him and went home. To the surprise of him and all the villagers that night the cat was walking around the village and meowing so loudly that everyone thought that evil spirits lived in it. After this night no one saw him ever again. Because of this, since this story became known, all the peasants avoided this rock. And now all together they went in this direction. Soon they found Garinja and the lying body of the baby. When they saw near the torn body of the snake, it became clear to everyone what had happened. Great – grandfather and great – grandmother looked at the flattened body of their child.

“How is it, sonny?” – The great – grandfather cried embracing a motionless body.

Next to him my grandmother sobs and tears her hair. And many others cry. Garinja joined them nibbling. God knows how long this would have lasted if there had not been a wolf howl from somewhere nearby. Garindja snarled and they all shuddered. My great – grandfather Mitar took my grandfather, pressed him to his chest and everyone hurried home. Complete silence. Everyone expected to hear the wolf’s howl again. Everybody thought that it, probably, has the den somewhere nearby and it was disturbed.

In this silent procession my great – grandfather’s voice sounded like thunder:

“Kosana, I think I feel that our child is alive!”

They all crowded together and brought torches. And indeed, my grandfather was alive. Completely he weakened by poison, but still alive. They reached the house and lit the lamp. The fire was kindled to warm a room and they took off my grandfather’s clothes and put him in untreated wool. Exhausted by the search the neighbors dispersed and at home remained tired members of our family. All went to bed, only my great – grandfather Mitar remained to support the furnace in the fire and watch my grandfather if, God forbid, something happens.

That night my great – grandfather Demetrius entered into spiritual contact with the previous Chosen One and asked him to explain the events, that took place. The previous Chosen was silent for a long time and then very cautiously replied:

“Demetrius, the will of God and the previous Elected ones can not be resisted. The child must go through a difficult test because of your resistance to our will. None of yours should know about this, and the child after that will receive even greater strength from all previous Chosen.”

The next few days neighbors and relatives came from all sides to see and learn about my grandfather’s health. And his condition did not change at all. Coma. He was neither alive nor dead. Only breathes and does not move any part of the body by a millimeter. And so went every day. Every day, every night, someone was next to him. He did not eat anything. Just through a funnel they filled him a little bit of dissolved honey and tea. Something poured over his lips and penetrated between his clenched teeth. So, it was several times a day.

The twenty – first day has come. That morning, great – grandmother Kosana stood up and kneaded the bread dough, and great – grandfather Mitar, after a sleepless night, was still sitting on a chair near the bed of boards he had made for the child and filled with untreated wool, with his hands laid on the put stick and his head leaning against hands and dozing. He waits for his grandmother to bake bread. He will have breakfast and he will go about his business. He was put to sleep by the weak squeaking of the old wooden table, where she kneaded the bread. While he was dozing and great – grandmother kneaded bread my grandfather’s eyes opened and he looked around the room. Afterwards, God knows how long it was, he saw his father, how he sleeps and the mother kneaded the dough. He looks at her and has a strange feeling, as if he hears her thoughts:

“My God, for what our poor child is so tormented. Have mercy on God, take him to yourself and stop his suffering so that other family members can rest.”

“Mom, I will not die…” – my grandfather said in a weak voice. The great – grandmother trembled with astonishment and her great – grandfather jumped out of sleep.

“God, this is our child gone mad!” – There was his first thought after the interrupted sleep.

And this thought heard my grandfather.

“Daddy, I have not gone mad…” – again my grandfather said.

They both have lost the gift of speech from surprise. They could not believe either their ears or eyes. Then the great – grandfather stood up, went to the child, took a weak body in his arms and cried for joy. To this joy joined great – grandmother and the rest numbers of the family of my grandfather, who came up from the next room. At that moment everyone was happy. As well as the last time, when all this happened, a message spread through the village that the boy had woken up from a coma. Again, neighbors, relatives and friends visited him. Many visits my grandfather slept because of exhaustion, but many times, when he did not sleep, he called his father and silently whispered to him what the guests thought. Great – grandfather asked him to remain silent not letting him say anything to the guests, so that they did not recognize the secret of my grandfather.

“Sonny, only be cured and fully strengthened. The father will take you to the priest, so that he read the prayers and all the evil left you!” – Whispered his grandfather, stroking his hair.

So, day after day, week after week and a month and a half later my grandfather completely recovered. His grandfather Demetrius again began to deal with him. Now the child showed even greater success.

One day father took and brought him to church. He told the priest Gavril everything that happened. At the end he confessed:

“We dare not think anything wrong with him. He reads our thoughts as literate, as if it was a book.”

“Mitar, can you stay with us for two or three nights, because we hope that the day after tomorrow, or on the third day, Grace will come to our church and make a decision on what to do with the child.”

Great – grandfather agreed, they slept two nights and on the third day Grace Theodosius arrived. Pop Gabriel told him everything and Grace ordered to take the child to church, teach literacy and drive evil spirits out of him. This was reported to my great – grandfather and he, having no other choice, left his child and returned home alone. Father Demetrius was waiting for him at the door of the house.

“Son, what did you do with the child?”

“Dad, you know that our child is possessed by an unclean spirit and I left him in the church at the behest of Bishop Theodosius, so that he could read prayers all year long and his body was cleansed of sin. He will learn to read and write too.”

“Oh, sonny, I do not know whether you made a mistake or not…”

That night, my grandfather’s grandfather again entered into spiritual contact with the previous Chosen One and asked him to explain what had happened. He received the answer not to interfere, the child had to spend the next year in the church, in order to learn to read and write, and then it could be possible to continue studying with him until his perfection. Then Demetrius calmed down.

After admission to the church the grandfather began to live a completely different life than the one he lived before. In the church he must do all the deeds demanded of him. He had to read, write numbers, letters and constantly pray that evil spirits emerge from his body. So, the days passed. He prayed to God more and more connecting with the spiritual realm, he studied and constantly kept the mystery of the Chosen One, which he would improve with his grandfather after leaving the church. So, this long year passed.

Exactly one year later, at the end of the day, Grace came to the church again. All gathered to meet him. They greet him, kissing his hand, and when my grandfather’s turn came, the Grace said:

“My son, tell me how you live?”

“Thank you, thank God!” – Replied the grandfather.

“Today is exactly a year since we received you here. Tomorrow your father will come and take you and I came to see what they could do to you and, with the hope of God, we will return you back to your parents.”

Indescribable joy flooded my grandfather’s soul. Again, he will be at home with his parents, with his brothers and sisters. Tears of joy flowed down his face.

“Do not cry, son. This is the will of God and God’s providence. They told me that the Spirit of God helped you to learn, read, write, add and subtract incredibly quickly”, – “the old Grace told him. But, son, let’s see if it was possible to expel the evil spirits from your body.”

And my grandfather is a child as a child. In fact, he did not even know why they left him in the church. He prayed with all his heart that evil spirits should leave his body, but He did not even fully know what it was. And now, happy to go home, he told the Bishop that he prayed every day and there are no more evil spirits in his body. Some inner feeling told him that these unknown evil spirits could spoil his departure home.

And then the lord asked:

“Can you tell us, do you see what is going to happen here with us and do you hear any of those present?”

Grandfather was delighted and at that moment thought: “Finally, I can tell him everything that I see and feel, but others have not allowed me to do this.”

And my grandfather began:

“I see, my Reverend Bishop, that soon these Turkish bandits will lose all power in our region. We will lose Shkoder (Shkodir, or Shkodra, Serb Skadar) is a city in Albania, located on the shore of Skadar Lake) and a lot of our land, and then the days will come when we will fight a lot. Death will be at every step and many innocent people will suffer”, – my grandfather said and for a moment he looked at the Grace, Reverend Mother, priests and sisters and on all faces he noticed an expression of surprise.

“He is possessed by demonic forces!” – Shouted the Bishop and began to be baptized.

After him the others began to be baptized.

“Do not be baptized, demonic force, you cannot deceive us!” – Again shouted the Grace to my grandfather, who, seeing that everyone was baptized, also began to be baptized.

When he realized that they were all opposed to him, grandfather was going to convince them with the words:

“Your Grace, by God I swear that sad what I saw.”

“Shut up, Satan!” – The Grace yelled again and began to show by his hands who and what should do.

The priests and all the others fled and began to follow orders. The bells rang. They lighted candles and ministers with censers began to illuminate the place where he stood. Two priests carried out a device and placed it in the middle of the yard. The sound of bells in the middle of the night foreshadowed the difficult moments that awaited my grandfather. Several priests approached the weak child, grabbed him on arms and put him in the same device.

“Your Grace, this device is for torture of adult people and his head and hands could be very easily pulled out,” – one of the priests explained to the Bishop.

“Knit his hands and head with chains and pass through holes so that I can punish him and, finally, drive out of his body all possible demonic forces,” – said the Bishop, crossing himself.

They quickly did as they were ordered, tied up my grandfather with chains and fixed him on this device. A prayer began and the bells stopped ringing. Grace began first and then all the others in the choir sang for him. In the end everything calmed down. Grace went to my grandfather. He took a stick with a thumb and a length of eighty centimeters from one priest and began to pray.

“O Lord our God, forgive your servant for all the sins that he consciously and unconsciously committed and help, the Lord, through your power, to expel all impure forces out of his body.”

My grandfather told me that he felt completely indifferent at that moment. He felt fear of the impending event. He could not understand it and see what would happen later on. From excitement nothing was revealed to him from his clairvoyance. He thought that the best was to give into the hands of fate. Then the branch of the hazel – tree whistled in the air and sank to its back. My grandfather squealed. Immediately it occurred to give the order the consciousness, which he trained to give with his grandfather and stop this torture. He tried, but there was a stronger blow and he yelped even harder. Then his grandfather’s words reached his consciousness: “If it happens sometime that you cannot influence the consciousness of the one who hurts you, then work on your own consciousness and it will eliminate the pain, no matter how strong it was.”

My grandfather executed a new order, but this time to himself. In a moment the pain stopped and no sound came from his mouth. Grace beat and beat him, but then stopped and ordered all to disperse. My grandfather was left for the night, covered with a blanket. Coming out from the strikes received, he first wanted to work on the master’s consciousness, so that he freed him and let him sleep inside, but then he remembered that his father would arrive in the morning and decided to spend the whole night there and show his father where and in whose hands he had left him. He did not know exactly when he fell asleep, but only when his own impact on consciousness ceased, he began to feel stronger and stronger the pain from the beatings received. Only a small puppy approached him five or six times during the period and licked him several times, thus showing that he had one real friend here. He decided to take it with him when he will go home. Then he was all clear. He realized that the demonic forces in his body, about which the Bishop spoke, in fact are his real strength, growing at each moment more and more. It seemed to him that this night he became a hundred times stronger.

A new day came at the monastery and everyone began to wake up. Morning Service began. Everyone prayed in the church and only my grandfather was in chains. The Morning Prayer ended and everyone went for breakfast. Only they finished breakfast, as a knock sounded at the gate of the monastery. My grandfather knew that his father had come. Everyone left the church and stood beside my grandfather. They waited for the arrival of the lord. Grandfather’s father stood as petrified. He looked from his grandfather to them all without saying a word.

The Grace comes out and slowly goes to my grandfather. When he approached, he turned to his great – grandfather:

“Brother Mitar, I must tell you that your child is possessed by demonic forces. We took him a year ago to our monastery, so that by fasting and prayers he reached purification, but all was in vain. Before all the servants of the monastery he blasphemed God and said such words and such visions that are available only to God’s prophets. When I tried to stop him, he swore by God’s name and again blasphemed God. As the Grace of this region and this monastery I took measures and began to cleanse his body with a rod that God sent from paradise to convert sinners and disobedient. Brother Mitar, I must tell you that I am obliged to repeat the cleansing that I used yesterday, because his body was cleansed twice and he cried out twice, and then the demonic forces protected him and he did not cry out even once, even though I hit him fifty times, and for forty strokes are allowed.”

Is it possible that they do not understand anything? Is it possible that this monster intends to beat me again? Will my father protect me? My grandfather told me that at that moment various thoughts appeared to him.

Great – grandfather stood and tears streamed down his face. Neither he nor any other of the common people dared to oppose the Grace. Then a huge fury began to boil in my grandfather: he would do what he learned from his grandfather! Everyone will hear a voice that no one speaks. And his father Mitar did not know about this ability, he thought that he owned only clairvoyance.

“Grace, Theodosius!” – Came out a voice that sounded like the old man’s whisper. “Grace, Theodosius!” – repeated the same voice again and all became baptized, and the lord’s rod fell out of his hands.

When he saw this, his grandfather had an idea and he decided to take revenge for the pain and suffering he had suffered.

“Because you tortured my Chosen One, everyone will be punished. I must punish you, Mitar, too, because your sacred duty is to protect your child at the cost of your own life, but I forgive you, because you did not resist the decision of the servant of God, and my Grace Theodosius” – at the last moment my grandfather changed his mind to punish his father too.

Then, to the surprise of all those present, the rod itself rose and several times struck the first lord and then all the others. In the end my grandfather performed a command of influence on consciousness, so that he was released and ordered no one to say a word, because they say that God’s displeasure will fall on him. Grandfather was freed from bondage. He went and took his things. Together with my father they went home and, at the end of all, my grandfather sent his consciousness to the puppy and it ran after them. No one said a word, only their lips moved and their hands with three fingers made a cross on chests.

So, my grandfather left the monastery one year later. He learned a lot here. First: he learned to read, write and count. Secondly: he learned to believe sincerely in the power of God, which is many times stronger than the power that he has. He knew that he was a Chosen One and that he had amazing powers, but this time he tried to use them. Everything worked out. He believed that he would succeed and he succeeded. He came to understand what his grandfather taught him: when someone hurts him, he cannot execute the command to consciousness. Or he will have to act before someone starts to torture him or continue the activities he has begun and bring the body to perfection. He must talk about this with the grandfather. Or he will have to endure the pain and then react. The first option is better, he thought and smiled.

He and his father walked. They held the horse by the nose and the puppy rushed around them, as if it had lived with them for a hundred years. The father was sometimes baptized. At some point the grandfather thought to reveal a secret to him, but he remembered his grandfather’s words that he should not tell anyone what was open to him at the price of his own life and the whole family, with the exception of the Chosen One, indicated by the will of God and the prediction of the previous Chosen One.

So, with the conversation, finally they reached the house. Everyone rushed to hug them. And then my grandfather felt all the pain from the scars. When he was asked where he got this from, he said that he stumbled and rolled down the hill and fell into the thickets of the blackberry and so earned these wounds. The great – grandmother of Kosana first washed his wounds with warm water and then smeared with some kind of balm. Wounds have healed and life has continued, as it was before.

Every day, along with his grandfather Demetrius, they went somewhere and came back late at night. Grandfather used every minute to convey to his grandson the secrets that had been stored for a thousand years so that he would fully remember them. Always at the end of these exercises he kept repeating again and again that there would come a time when he would give these secrets to the new Chosen One. He will be from another family, but still from his kind. When he made sure that the child remembered everything and has the opportunity to use all these secrets, he left the world, by the grace of God, happy and pleased that he transferred his knowledge to another Chosen One. The funeral was huge.

“Glory to Most Merciful! He gave my father the opportunity to live for very old age and stay in peace and reason. Dear brothers, sisters, relatives, godparents, neighbors and friends, I want to wish everyone to live to his hundred and three years old, and look in this old age as he looks. “

With these words, my great – grandfather Mitar said goodbye to his father Demetrius. Even in his last days of life his father did not reveal to him the most sacred mystery that he inherited.