Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 138 Wash your feet with the blood of the wicked!

Archos, an Orthodox priest, originally belonged to the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.

As an ancient church, it has been separated from the Patriarchate of Antioch since 441 AD.

Like Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy also has seven sacraments, but what makes it different from Catholicism is that Eastern Orthodoxy is composed of a large number of "autonomous churches" or "autonomous churches."

If there is only one Roman Catholic Church, then there are many Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Although the Eastern Orthodox Church fully recognizes Patriarch Constantine as the Ecumenical Patriarch, during the Ecumenical Council, apart from serving as chairman and spokesperson for the entire Orthodox Church, his power was not higher than that of other patriarchs present.

This has resulted in the Orthodox Church being in a state of being unified in name but divided in reality.

These numerous independent churches have essentially become appendages of the secular power of various countries.

That is why Archos said that his boss’s boss was the Emperor of Cyprus. After all, his boss was the Archbishop of Cyprus, and the Archbishop’s boss was the Emperor of Cyprus.

After offending the "emperor", Archos felt that his future in Cyprus was bleak, so he was not surprised to be driven to Antioch.

But he never expected that just a few days after arriving in Antioch, he became a prisoner of the Turkic emperor.

And now, he saw a scene that he had never imagined in his life: Muslims actually came to worship a Frank!
what?
Isn't this... a little bit? It's not in line with Islamic etiquette, or Latin etiquette or Greek etiquette?

With such a shock, Aljos finished his dinner and forgot what he had for dinner. Then he was arranged to stay in a hotel. He was also in a daze and forgot what he dreamed about at night.

It wasn't until the next day, when he was pulled into Gellis' office and Gellis threw him a handwritten note, that he came to his senses.

Arcos opened the handwritten note while watching the young man in front of him smiling.

After taking a look at the first page of the notebook, Aljos opened his mouth completely and looked up at Garys.

Garys sat behind his desk with a calm look on his face.

"You are the first priest to see this book. What do you want to say now?"

"Well, I'm a little bit, sir, let me take my time..."

Aljos did want to slow down, and Gairis allowed it.

To be honest, the appearance of Aljos was purely a pleasant surprise. He never thought that Zayd could help him get an Orthodox priest.

Orthodox priests are good! They won't beat the younger ones before the older ones come.

After all, there is no shortage of Islamic imams in his territory, but there is a real shortage of Christian priests.

It would take some time to cultivate it on our own, and it would be very troublesome if we tried to poach Catholics.

For example, he poaches a priest, but the priest is a subordinate of the bishop, and the bishop may investigate on a whim.

Then Garys would have to fool the bishop, or simply poach him.

But the bishop accepts the guidance of the archbishop, so in the end, Gaillis will have to deal with the archbishop's problems, and above the archbishop there is the patriarch...

After he dealt with those churches, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was gone.

This church system, which exists parallel to the feudal lord system, is extremely difficult to deal with and can easily lead to a whole series of problems if one is not careful.

But the Orthodox priest Archos is different. His hometown is Cyprus, which is more than 400 kilometers away from Gairis. Even if Archos is dissatisfied with Gairis and goes out to find other churches to say that Gairis wants to make a big deal.

Even the Catholic Church doesn’t believe in him, an Orthodox priest!
As for the Orthodox Church, it has even less deterrent power. As an independent church, they have become an appendage of secular power and have no control over Gairis at all.

And the most interesting thing is that these days many of the rituals and sacraments of Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are actually similar.

Even when the Crusaders reached Palestine, they were influenced by the Eastern Orthodox traditions there, so that many places became "Hellenized".

Finally, Aljos recovered enough and opened the page again, reading it carefully.

There were actually not many words on that page, just a few short lines, but for the Christian church of that era, it was almost subversive.

【Man is created in the image and likeness of God. The voice of the poor who want to live is the voice of God. God is not a God in heaven, but the Lord of life who can hear the cry of God's people.】

[The church of the priests is nothing but a walking corpse, the church is nothing but a pile of stones, the true temple is the temple of the human heart.]

【Where the poor suffer, the Church does not suffer. This is the sorrow of the Church. If the pillars of truth go along with the powers of this world, the door of salvation will become the door of curse.】

[The Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of Life, which is incompatible with the Kingdom of Tyrants in this world that oppresses and kills people.]

After reading just these few lines, Aljos felt his scalp tingling.

Heresy? Actually, not really, because these remarks do not affect the Trinity. In his eyes, these remarks are just to dig up the roots of the church.

Because in this era, the church is a tool of the rulers and a vassal of the tyrants. It is the suffering of the poor that can exchange for the wealth and glory of the priests. Garys looked at Aljos's expression and knew that this Orthodox priest had really read and thought about it carefully.

So Gellis said slowly: "You see, in our land, suffering and poverty are like shadows for the people. The poor have to dig for water and bread every day, and they have to fight endlessly."

“The day comes when they don’t find bread, and the poor die.”

"Every day, poor people have to experience a duel between life and death. Do you think this is God's will?"

It was a little difficult for Alchos to answer. He could not answer yes or no because he was not qualified to make judgments on behalf of God.

"We all know that the church is not heaven, nor is it the embodiment of perfect order. If the church exists only to maintain its own operation, then it is meaningless. It is just a corpse with nothing on its surface."

“The church is to bear witness to grace and the nearness of the kingdom of heaven at the end of this world.”

“Only by capturing the word of God from the lips of all peoples can the Church become a true Church, a pillar of truth and grace, rather than a vassal of worldly power.”

Listening to Garys' words, Aljos thought that the young man in front of him might be crazy, but he listened very seriously.

Unlike many priests, Archos was not the second son of a noble family. He was an orphan who survived to adulthood because he was adopted by the church.

There was absolutely no such thing as luxury in the first half of his life. Instead, he struggled with hunger day after day.

Archos was raised by the church, but even more so by the poor. It was the food given by the poor that kept him alive until now.

On the one hand, he was indeed grateful to the church, but on the other hand, he knew that without the believers, the priests were nothing.

But at the same time, the church he relied on was completely useless in the face of the tyranny of the Cypriot emperor, except for aiding and abetting him.

Since the day the emperor was crowned, Cyprus, a beautiful island, has become a victim of the rapist.

The Emperor of Cyprus and his mercenaries plundered the island at will, raping women, defiling virgins, and torturing anyone who offended them.

Even the Emperor of Cyprus's own teacher had his feet chopped off by that tyrant beast.

Once, when Archos was holding mass in his own church, the emperor's mercenaries rushed into the church and tried to rob the believers in his parish and attack the young women in front of him.

At that time, Archos, dressed in gorgeous sacrificial robes, walked up and gave instructions to the soldiers.

"In the name of the Father, I ask you, I beg you, I command you! Don't do this!"

Of course, this didn't work because those mercenaries were not Christians at all.

God's dwelling place thus became a paradise for abusers, and the girl's cries and sobs became the tragic song of the beautiful island of Cyprus.

Aljos himself was severely beaten.

The next day, before he even got out of bed, he received an order to go to Antioch.

At that time, he was thinking: Why is the Lord's Judgment Day not coming yet?

Then, Archos will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked!

May a furious and fierce wind scatter them all before they know the fire of their calamity! The righteous will rejoice when he sees the great vengeance, and will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

—Psalm 58:11
However, that is just a fantasy after all. In Aljos' lifetime, he will never see this scene. He may have to wait until he is resurrected in the next life to do so, but that will be a long, long time later.

Tired, destroy it...

With this mentality, he left Cyprus and set foot on the mainland.

But by chance, I seem to have met an extraordinary guy.

If the above quotations from classics only made Archos admire Gairis's knowledge and literary talent.

So, what Garys said now added a hint of madness to his eyes.

Unlike the others, Archos had never witnessed the miracles performed by Gellis, but he was seduced simply by the power of words and speech.

Because these words and texts truly contain the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

[Priests are in the world but not of the world. Priests should weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Priests should take all responsibilities for the cause of their flocks to fulfill the Lord's incarnation.]

—Camilo Torres

　The monthly votes have reached 815, so this is an extra chapter. Next time when the monthly votes reach , I will continue to add chapters.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)