Chapter 309: Excommunication
“What happened later? What happened later? Did he escape?”
“Hmm… In that situation, even if he escaped, it would be excusable.” Facing the children’s eager questions, the old man answered in that slow tone that almost made them anxious, and this answer obviously could not satisfy them. Several older children even began to accuse that “little thief,” saying he was an ingrate.
Who rescued him from the epidemic?
He had clearly received such great favor, yet instead of thinking about how to return it, he became a traitorous betrayer.
“Everyone wants to be a hero, children,” the old man was not angry at their rebuttals: “But at that time the Roman Church was not as weakened as it is now. On the contrary, it was a terrifying and enormous monster. Its tentacles extended into every aspect of people’s lives, missing not even the smallest corners.”
He looked at these children. The oldest among them was only in their teens, meaning that from their birth, they had no longer been shrouded in the Church’s shadow. They had not tasted the bitterness of that time, nor did they know the ferocity and vileness of that monster.
Before that, the Papacy had ruled humanity for more than a thousand years. And with the discovery of the “selection,” their power reached an unprecedented peak.
The Pope at that time could even contend with kings—no, it could even be said that in a certain sense they became the king of kings. They stifled science, monopolized medicine, made all civilization and knowledge bow to the priests. They deliberately made the people ignorant, even including those noble knights, lords, and kings.
Even if society stagnated as a result, they did not care at all. They only cared about their own private interests.
“You should also know that human desires are always endless. Sometimes I find it hard to imagine what the world would become if they continued to rule it.” The old man suddenly smiled. “Perhaps, as the Messiah said, in the end all people would become rigid-thinking savages. Crafts would be lost, scrolls would corrode, and knowledge passed down orally would also be lost, distorted, and twisted.”
“How is that possible? Didn’t anyone resist?” the children asked in confusion.
“Yes, there were people who resisted, so the world could become what it is now. How lucky we are. There is indeed a tolerant and benevolent gaze watching over here. He has not abandoned humanity, even though humans are fickle, forgetful, and foolish. But he still sent the Messiah to rescue us.”
“Thanks to the Messiah.” The children said in unison, but they were still more concerned about the “little thief” the old man mentioned. Although the conspiracy of Bethlehem was recorded in their books, they had never heard this story.
“Didn’t that little thief expose the Church’s conspiracy to the Messiah?”
The old man shook his head. No, he went. He might have used all the conscience and courage of his life here. But upon hearing his words, the Messiah remained very calm.
Yes, when he learned that his enemies had set this trap for him, it was already impossible for him to make any changes. His enemies knew him very well, and also knew those closest friends around him. Their plan had been prepared long before King Baldwin of Ayyarasa Road launched the expedition against Damascus.
And the masterminds of this matter were three people—the Emperor Manuel I of the Byzantine Empire, Pope Alexander III of Rome, and Duke Bohemond of Antioch.
“Perhaps Count Raymond of Tripoli was also involved.”
“But there is no clear record of this. I don’t think I saw it either.” A girl interjected.
“Oh, have you studied up to there already?”
“Yes, sir. My stature is a bit small, but I’m already in ninth grade.”
“Oh, that’s impressive.” Although the Messiah had always been trying to promote education, learning was still not something everyone could afford, even in the Holy City.
“Let’s talk about that little thief. Why do you say his exposure had no effect?”
“I said before that the enemies’ encirclement of the Messiah had been prepared for a long time, but their attack happened all at once, almost without any cover-up. It was just so… naked.
The envoys of the Pope of Rome appeared without warning in Ayyarasa Road, Antioch, Nalessa, Tripoli, Acre, Jaffa… The bishops of Antioch and Tripoli even gathered people in the largest square of the city to listen to the papal decree they brought.
At that time, the plague of Bethlehem had not completely disappeared, yet more than three hundred people stood up to accuse the Count of Edessa at the time, the Knight of Bethlehem, and the Lord of Cyprus of practicing witchcraft on them. They described his so-called crimes in great detail, including all the filthy methods familiar and unfamiliar to people.
Among them were knights, servants, craftsmen, even the lowliest farmers. And their statements were so similar that people could not help but believe them—or rather, those capable of thinking would perceive this as a strangling of the accused and dare not speak out; those who did not know how to think would only blindly follow.
And those priests were so skilled at inciting the emotions of the believers—you know, people at that time had almost no education. The only thing they could listen to was the sermons of the priests, which was almost an instinct engraved in their bodies.
More people, especially those in power—the things the Messiah did at that time had seriously affected their interests—not only that, the Messiah had even stripped certain people of their privileges.
The old man pointed to the most inconspicuous child among them: “Are your parents farmers?”
The child rubbed his hands embarrassedly, but still raised his head and bravely stood up.
“Yes, sir. My father is just an ordinary farmer.”
“Then has your father told you about things from before?
When the Messiah was still just an attendant, even in the Holy City, if a knight killed a farmer, he did not need to be punished—although legally he could not kill an innocent person, he could arbitrarily pin any charge on a commoner, such as theft or ‘attacking a knight’ or the like. They could hang any farmer they encountered on a tree or slit their throats at will.
The only thing they needed to consider was whether the lord who lost that property would come to trouble them. Even so, all they had to pay was just a few silver coins.”
“Did they really have such great power? But the knight sirs I’ve seen are all very amiable.” A child said.
“That’s because from the beginning, the Messiah selected those around him.
What you see now are the best few stalks he picked from thousands of wheat seedlings. And in the subsequent storms and lightning, many withered or grew into detestable weeds, forcing the Messiah to remove them with his own hands.”
At this point, the old man’s tone became low, as if recalling something unpleasant, so he quickly changed the subject. “…You should have read in your books that the Messiah believed there is good and evil in human nature, and whether he ultimately becomes a good person or a bad person depends on the education he receives initially—and at that time, the education people received almost all came from the teachings of priests and the example of their parents. They were inevitably influenced to some extent…
And even the Messiah himself admitted that he could be influenced by emotions, so he believed that law is the most rational and just thing, not some flesh-and-blood person—even when we look at every person, whether Christian or Isaacite, or even Saracen… old people, children, men, women, for us, the only distinction needed is between good person and bad person, criminal and innocent. Other things like faith, age, or even gender and status are not within the scope of consideration.”
“Isaacites?” A child said hesitantly: “Aren’t they all hermits living in the desert?”
“That’s just a remnant branch of the Isaacites. There are not many left in the Holy Land.”
“My grandparents really hate Isaacites,” the girl said: “They sold Jesus Christ for thirty silver coins, and sold the Messiah for thirty gold coins.”
The old man laughed, almost saying—our Messiah seems to be worth more—but he stopped in time. He believed that even if the Messiah heard it, he would just smile and not take it to heart. Otherwise, how could he be the Messiah?
“In fact, to completely bring down the Messiah, his enemies spent a great deal of manpower, material resources, and effort.
Perhaps you don’t know, at the beginning, the witnesses they prepared were not three hundred, but one thousand.
“One thousand. I heard that the number of people infected with the epidemic at that time was only five thousand six hundred and seventy-two.” The girl asked in surprise. She could state the number so clearly because this event was recorded in the history books of the time and in the biography of the Messiah written by Saint Longinus. “That means one in every five people betrayed the Messiah?”
“Yes, although these sinners are unforgivable, we must also comprehensively analyze the situation at the time to be fair.” The old man soothed the children who had suddenly become indignant: “At that time, the Church was the sole master of human thought. From birth to death, a person could not escape the various sacraments administered by the Church.
And if a person could not obtain status from the Church, he was almost destined to social death. Even if he luckily survived, he would be a savage, even more terrifying than a leper. No one dared approach him, and he could not approach anyone. He had no parents, no relatives, no marriage or children. He was just a beast walking upright. Anyone could bully him, hunt him, even kill him—not to mention their fear of hell.
After all, in the mouths of the priests, it was too easy for people to go to hell. Women were born with original sin. Men were not entirely innocent either; many crimes could prevent them from ascending to heaven—not performing sacraments regularly, not fasting, not paying taxes, and so on. For an ordinary person, just ensuring survival was difficult enough, and there would always be oversights.
And the sins resulting from these would be exaggerated by the priests, making it seem as if the next moment they would fall into hell and suffer eternally until the end of the world without relief.
The technology that the Messiah brought out at that time was indeed beyond their imagination. They could not understand what they saw, nor comprehend how their illnesses were cured. They could only think it was either a miracle granted by God or a trick played by the devil.
And when the priests claimed it was the latter, they believed it—not to mention those thirty gold coins.
That was really generous,” a sarcastic smile appeared on the old man’s lips: “A serf might never see any coin in his life, not even a copper coin. Being able to eat their fill of bean porridge was already the greatest fortune; a freeman or craftsman might earn only about ten silver coins a year; and a wealthy banker or merchant might have an annual income of only about one hundred to five hundred gold coins.
Genoa’s entire annual income was around thirty thousand gold coins.
But to make their fabricated charges come true, they generously offered thirty gold coins per person. According to their original plan, one thousand people would receive these gold coins. Although some might not get them, or might mysteriously disappear after receiving them, they did offer this price—one entire year’s income of Genoa.
But among these more than one thousand people, more than one hundred died of the epidemic and could not rise from their graves to give false testimony.
But among the remaining eight or nine hundred, nearly two-thirds refused to testify for them, either out of conscience or faith. They firmly believed this could not be the devil’s trick, after all, they had not seen a pitch-black spirit standing before them, demanding they sign their name on parchment and sell their souls.
In short, they backed out. Whatever the reason, I greatly admire them.”
He looked at the children’s incredulous faces and laughed. They had not experienced that time, so of course they did not know how much courage it took to make that decision then.
“But for those priests, these three hundred plus were enough. They quickly organized a tribunal and conducted a trial in absentia against the Messiah.
The result of the trial was beyond doubt. He was deemed to have colluded with the devil, practiced witchcraft, defiled the Holy Land, desecrated the Cross and holy images. The decree of the Pope of Rome was almost opened on the spot. Yes, as you read—excommunication.
The children let out small boos. “Didn’t anyone come forward to refute them? And the Messiah’s power never left him.”
“This is where the methods of the Church come in, which you are unfamiliar with but our generation knows well—control over public opinion allowed them to call a deer a horse and reverse black and white. Children, in these more than one hundred years, weren’t there knights or priests who wanted to escape their control?
They were all branded devils by the Church.
What does power matter? Even if holy white light overflowed from them, the priests could claim it was the devil’s illusion.
“They were really too vicious.”
“This may be the talent of those Roman priests, far surpassing the blessings they received. Even today, we still cannot determine whether the illness that Patriarch Heraclius of Ayyarasa Road contracted at the time, which also triggered a stroke, was deliberate.
But later he was assassinated by an Assassin, which must have been instigated by the Messiah’s enemies.
They knew that as the Messiah’s teacher, Saint Heraclius would surely stand up to defend him—besides his only student Baldwin, he would surely try every means to manipulate public opinion, win the people’s hearts, persuade those knights and lords, thereby forcing the Roman Church to change the original sentence, at least from excommunication to a minor excommunication barring participation in sacraments, or even self-excommunication—which means fasting and asceticism for confession of sins, but without affecting status in society.
It must be said they did the right thing. Even before Patriarch Saint Heraclius awoke, some priests and monks, including Bishop Andrew of Bethlehem at the time, were already advocating for the Messiah.
They believed that the witnesses’ testimonies were unreliable.
Bishop Andrew even stepped forward, claiming that all the treatments were conducted under his watch and control.
Moreover, half of those witnesses were Isaacites. Everyone knew that Isaacite words were like venomous snake poison, not only directly affecting the credibility of the testimony but thoroughly tainting it.
His words did have some effect. But the problem was, if it were only the Pope of Rome’s decree, those who loved the Messiah would not have despaired.
“There were secular forces helping them, right?” A boy said gravely. The old man nodded. “But we shouldn’t use that word. It wasn’t help; it was collusion.
When the Pope had just announced the decree of excommunication and transmitted it to the states of the Holy Land as well as Francia, the Apennines, and Germany, the Duke of Antioch and the Count of Tripoli almost immediately issued declarations supporting the papal decree on the same day.
The three Knights orders, including the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, also accepted the Pope’s decree.
Although it is said he once argued with the Pope’s envoy over this, the Knights Templar were undoubtedly always the Church’s sharpest long sword—no matter what, he could not turn against his master.
And after the Knights Templar acknowledged the papal decree, it was the Knights Hospitaller.
“Wasn’t their founder Gerard?
And the Gerard at that time… Wasn’t Saint Damara from the Gerard family?”
“The Knights Hospitaller had long broken away from the control of the Gerard family. Moreover, the patriarch of the Gerard family at that time was in Bethlehem, and there were not a few in the family opposing him. He could also be said to have been betrayed by his own kin and friends.
Although he regained power over the Gerard family a few years later, at that time he was indeed just an old knight trapped guarding his daughter.
By the way, we haven’t mentioned another most important person yet. Saint Baldwin.
“We know him! Saint Baldwin! The Messiah’s other half!” The children had all read his story. He could be said to be the Messiah’s lifelong regret and the pain in many people’s hearts.
“He was the Grand Master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Not only did he refuse the Pope’s decree, but it could even be said that without the ministers’ obstruction, he would have burned that document on the spot.
Afterward, disregarding the remonstrations of Queen Mother Maria and others, he rushed to Bethlehem. Then, he stayed with the Messiah, protecting him as King of Ayyarasa Road, lest the Messiah be harmed before things turned around.
“Did anyone really do that at the time? He had just saved the entire Bethlehem.”
“So what? There are always noble people, and there are always base people.”
The children wanted to continue asking, but they were interrupted by a holy office member who hurried over. They saw that although he wore black clothes, he had a red sash, knowing he was an important figure—although it was not like decades ago, they still quickly scattered.
“Archbishop!”
The priest ran panting to the old man and quickly saluted: “Please, lord! Don’t disappear suddenly again—if something happened to you…”
“This is Bethlehem.” The old man—the Archbishop—said with a cheerful smile: “What could happen? Besides, even if I fell here—that would truly be a rare blessing…”
“Look,” he stood up with the priest’s help: “Look there, that’s the Church of the Nativity. Once, a little thief stood there and made a decision that changed his life…”
