Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 186 Tabor's Three Commandments (Two in One)

Mount Tabor, also known as Tashan for short, has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.

In 1799, during Napoleon's expedition to Syria, he also fought a battle with the Ottomans.

In the Battle of Mount Tabor, Napoleon deployed a total of 3,500 troops and defeated 35,000 Ottoman troops.

With 62 casualties, 6000 Ottomans were killed in battle.

The well-timed surprise attack and fierce firepower coverage crushed the enemy's morale in the shortest time and forced the enemy to flee.

Then, as the Ottomans fled eastward, recent rains had made the banks of the Jordan River muddy and difficult to cross quickly.

The massacre began...

On December 1187, 12, the winter rain arrived in Palestine as expected.

The sky was low and the heavy dark clouds made it almost impossible to breathe.

Lightning suddenly split the clouds, briefly illuminating the world, and then there was a loud roar of thunder, like the roar from deep in the distance mountains, no different from the previous boom of artillery fire.

At first, a few drops of cold rain hit my face gently, like some kind of whispered omen.

Then fine rain poured down from the sky, like a curtain woven with countless silver threads.

A moment later, bean-sized raindrops fell as densely as drums, hitting the cheeks of war horses and the armor of soldiers, making crisp sounds.

The Turks who fled eastward were in a mess and disorder in the endless rain, and encountered a similar situation as the descendants of the Turks on another timeline.

The river water rose rapidly due to the winter rain, and the originally solid river bank became muddy.

Their feet sank into the mud and were dragged by the ground, making it difficult to walk. The rain continued to wash the ground, and the mud was like an invisible swamp, pulling the fugitives.

The scene before Batur was hopeless: the rapidly rising river water and the slippery and muddy ground made it impossible for his troops to form an effective formation.

He could no longer tell whether the thunder was the words of the Lord between heaven and earth or the sound of a carriage on the shore not far away.

Despite the heavy rain, Balian's men still methodically re-tied the tow ropes to the pack horses, pulled the chariots loaded with artillery and archers, and pursued the Turks recklessly under the escort of the infantry.

Although the rain was not suitable for the ignition and firing of artillery, it could still occasionally be heard, bringing the panic of death.

The Turks tried to fight back, but their efforts were disorganized.

The waters of the Jordan River were stained with blood, again and again.

The river swelled rapidly in the rain, mixing mud and blood, and every stream of water flowing into the Jordan River was dyed bright red.

Another bolt of lightning struck, revealing the figures of the Turkic soldiers struggling desperately in the river.

They were chased and fled in all directions, many of them abandoning their weapons and armor, desperately trying to wade across the turbulent river or throwing themselves into the river, allowing the icy current to carry them away.

Amid the thunder, the shouts of the soldiers and the sound of water merged into one, until slogans of "Surrender and no killing!" rang out from all directions. Only then did some people choose to lay down their weapons and surrender in this purgatory of mud and despair.

[At that time, in the presence of God on Mount Sinai;]

[Before the God of Israel;]

【The earth shook, and the heavens gave rain.】

[O God, you sent down rains, and scattered his enemies, and made those who hated him flee from his presence.]

[They are driven away like smoke before the wind; like wax that melts before fire, the wicked perish at the presence of God.]

—Excerpt from Psalm 68

The rain was drizzling as Balian and his men were cleaning up the battlefield.

Gellis also led some people to climb Mount Tabor in this freezing cold winter rain.

Mount Tabor is 575 meters high and has a height difference of 450 meters. As the place where the miracle of the divine brother appeared, Mount Tabor has a unique status in Christianity and can be said to be a holy mountain.

Whether it was the Light of Tabor, or the Taborites who were followers of Hussite in the subsequent Hussite Wars.

The name comes from the place name Mount Tabor.

Many of Gillis' theological ideas actually came from the Taborites.

The ideas of the Taborites are as follows:
【Establish a free and equal church community without a privileged class;】

[Confiscate the land of nobles, knights and landlords, and abolish the feudal obligations of serfs;]

【Abolish the feudal hierarchy and establish a republic with national autonomy;】

[Mass and sacred rites were greatly simplified, with only infant baptism being retained besides the Eucharist;]

【Advocate simple Christian life and oppose entertainment;】

[Opposes transubstantiation and purgatory, and opposes the veneration of saints and their relics;]

【Advocating that clergy and lay believers receive the Holy Grail together;】

【Believe in the millennium and the second coming of Christ, etc.】

In the Catholic Mass, ordinary believers can usually only eat the Eucharist, that is, only the bread.

The Taborites required drinking the holy blood together, that is, drinking wine together, which is the so-called "sharing the Holy Grail".

However, the Grail Faction during the Hussite Wars was actually another faction, also known as the Utraque Faction.

Compared with the radical Taborites, the Holy Grail Sect advocated moderate religious reforms, especially allowing ordinary believers to enjoy the Holy Grail, and tended to reach some kind of compromise with the Catholic Church and pursue relative peace.

The outcome of the Hussite Wars can be said to be a repetition of history.

The wind blew the rain towards them, and even though Garys and his companions were holding umbrellas, they were still wet.

However, Gailis said nothing, and the Paladins and Father Archos behind him also said nothing, but just followed Gailis closely.

Palestine is a sacred land and Mount Tabor is an even more sacred mountain.

This is a pilgrimage and part of the Prophet's mission.

After the rain began to subside, Gailis spoke up, "Arjos, do you think some of us would want to compromise with the Pope in Rome?"

Garys's words came out of the blue, but in fact they were just his own emotional response to the scene.

Aljos, who suddenly heard this question, was speechless for a moment.

As the person who personally organized Gelis' theological thoughts, Archos is different from ordinary believers.

It should be said that today's Gillis theology is actually also mixed with his thoughts.

Therefore, his attitude towards Garys is not a blind follower or worshipper, but rather a fellow traveler on the same path.

Because of this, Archos knew very well how furious the Roman Catholic Church would be when the sect grew stronger and its ideas spread.

When he thought of that scene, Aljos couldn't help but grin.

“Maybe some people will think so, but we will win in the end.”

Hearing Aljos's confident words, Gailis couldn't help but curl his lips.

Then, Gaillis said, "I'm going to give you a few commandments here, and you listen."

"The church is the church, and the country is the country. After the country is destroyed, the church must still exist, because the mission of the church will never end unless the kingdom of heaven comes."

"The church is the church, and the church is the church. The church of the priests is not holy. Because of their greed for money, the gold, silver and jewelry have become their shackles."

"Everyone, one day everyone will become a priest because of me, and all lay people will enter the spiritual life, because our mission cannot be accomplished by only those in the church."

"The gate to the kingdom of heaven must be opened by the poor who speak the word of God."

During the climb, Gellis spoke some commandments, which are another legacy he left to the world.

If the Ten Commandments laid the foundation for Jewish morality, and then for Christian morality, and then for European and American morality, they in turn influenced the formulation of laws.

Then Gellis's three commandments for climbing the mountain are to clearly establish what a religious order is.

A country is not a religion, so the rise and fall of a country should not be the rise and fall of a religion.

The Church is not a religious order, so the wealth, glory, gold, silver and jewelry of the priests are just shackles.

In fact, among all the priests in the Taiping Order, there is no clear hierarchical relationship.

The priests of the order who have been trained by Gairis and Alchos will be awarded graduation certificates and degree certificates.

These new priests were not directly sent to various churches to serve; this process was rather complicated.

Generally speaking, it is similar to having a teacher's qualification certificate, which does not mean that you will definitely become a teacher. It depends on whether there are schools recruiting teachers and whether you can pass the entry assessment...

Different churches have different ownership rights, so their standards for recruiting priests are also different. It can be said that this is a product of a compromise of the interests of multiple parties.

Priests who are recognized by the "local" laity do not have a bureaucratic hierarchical relationship with the central church, nor are they subordinate to a specific bishop.

The influence of the Central Church on local priests lies mainly in two aspects: one is the assessment and review every three years or so, and the other is the call on the purely ideological level.

Priests who fail the assessment and examination will face the possibility of being deprived of their degree certificates, which will indirectly deny their sanctity and require them to be strict with themselves.

The "local government" also has the right to dismiss priests on its own, thus establishing the priests' status as servants.

At the same time, local priests organize themselves into committees and are eligible to elect central members of the church.

This means that the entire power logic of the cult is actually an inverted result.

The "local" laity recruit priests from among the graduates of theological and philosophical schools, and the priests who are hired, as well as those graduates who are not hired, form a large number of interregional committees.

These committees elect the central body of the order, which in turn runs the central organs and takes on the responsibility of training new priests through the Seminary.

Although the central church has a high status, it has no right to abolish the status of local priests.
Because the priesthood is that of "local" laymen ordained by the word of God.

As for the Paladins, they are a special group within the cult.

【One day all people will become priests because of me, and all lay people will enter into spiritual life.】

Jesus Christ is the eternal high priest, and Garys is naturally also the eternal high priest.

Strictly speaking, in Catholicism, only the Heavenly Brother Christ himself is the true priest, and other priests and bishops are only his servants. In Catholic theory, it is Jesus Christ who shared his priestly authority so that the priests, that is, the clergy, resemble their head and thus exercise the authority of the priests.

Then, Gailis would spread the authority of the priest again until everyone in the world became a priest because of him.

Before that, the laity also had the right to ordain priests through Gérice.

"Arjos, you know what? In the future, there will be two kinds of secularization."

"A kind of secularization is that the laity can no longer tolerate the nonsense of the priests, and they can no longer tolerate the priests who are in cahoots with Caesar."

"They rose up one day, knocked the church to the ground, declared that God did not exist, and then opened their own generation with great fanfare."

“People at that time denied the existence of the Creator, and nature was no longer the cradle of mankind, but an object to be ruled and transformed.”

"At that time, people will no longer care about the issue of creation or uncreation. God will leave the world and become a 'hidden God', which means 'God is dead'."

"They will become completely worldly."

Garys was not depressed when he said this.

In fact, to Aljos, when Gairis said this in the rain, his words sounded quite excited, as if he had a lot of expectations.

“But that is not necessarily a good thing, because the whole world may become an object of possession, and people can also be possessed and enslaved by others.”

"This kind of secularization may be seized upon by fetishism, and then be used as a pseudonym for fetishism."

Garys was speaking words that Aljos couldn't understand for a while.

The rain was getting lighter and lighter, and they were almost at the top of the mountain. Gailis continued:
“There is also a kind of secularization, which is another matter.”

"The laity are thirsty for spiritual life, but the church has closed its doors, shutting out the laity and exploiting them wantonly."

“Therefore, the laity demanded that the sacraments be simplified and that the monopoly of the priests over the sacraments be broken.”

"They are not impious. On the contrary, it is because they are too holy and too pious. As a result, the priests are too proud of themselves. If the laity take away their authority, how will they cope?"

"But in the end, the word of God comes from the mouths of the laity, from the mouths of the poor."

"Educated laity who founded their own churches as lay people."

“Their lives were sanctified and they became kings of their own selves.”

“When all laity become part of the church, the church becomes the church of the laity.”

“Religion has been secularized.”

[Anyone who can control his own body, govern his own soul, and not indulge in his own desires and passions is his own master. He can be called a king because he can discipline himself! He is free and independent, and does not allow himself to be bound by the slavery of sin! ]

——Excerpt from the first volume of "The Words of Garys".

Many Chinese people in later generations have never considered a question: Where did the legal spirit of Europe and the United States come from?

Apart from the legal traditions of ancient Greece and Rome, an important source of the legal spirit of Europe and the United States is Christian doctrine and canon law.

Christian Doctrine: Christianity combines the concepts of natural law with divine law and puts forward the idea that law originates from the will of God.

Theologians such as Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas developed the theory of natural law, which holds that human laws should reflect God's moral law and that God's will is superior to all human laws.

It can be said that the idea of ​​natural law had a profound influence on later Western legal philosophy, especially in terms of ethics, justice, and rights.

Canon Law: During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church had a strong religious and political influence in Europe.

Canon law developed into a complex legal system that dealt with religious affairs and some secular affairs, and became the model for the laws of many European countries, especially in areas such as marriage, inheritance, and moral issues.

It can also be said that canon law provided an early form of authority and due process in the modern European rule of law.

The Ten Commandments of Christianity have become the basis for many laws and the source of thought.

1. Worship God above all things.

2. Do not swear falsely by invoking the name of God.

3. Observe the day of worship.

4. Honor your parents.

5. Do not kill.

6. Do not commit adultery.

7. Do not steal.

8. Do not give false testimony.

9. Do not desire another person’s wife.

10. Do not covet other people’s property.

It can be said that in many cases, it was the law that clarified the details of religious commandments, and it was the laity who entered into areas that were not originally involved and seized the power to answer the world from the priests.

In this process, Christian doctrine, as one of the elements, has created modern secular laws in Europe and the United States, and through the strength of European and American countries, it has spread its ideas throughout the world.

So the so-called modernization must include some Westernization and some Christian thought.

The diversification of the world is inevitable, but in this process, who is the primary and who is the secondary?
Garys couldn't answer that question. He only knew that this pilgrimage was almost at its end.

At this time, he once again said to Aljos beside him: "Those two kinds of secularization are not incompatible. In fact, they will occur at the same time and blend with each other, and finally produce all kinds of strange results."

The raindrops in the sky finally stopped, and the dark clouds gradually split open, as if being gently moved by an invisible hand.

Looking back at the plain below the mountain, you can see light leaking out from the broken clouds. Golden beams of light penetrate the sky and fall straight to the earth, illuminating the plains! It also illuminates the battlefield along the Jordan River.

Every ray of light seems to be able to wash away the dust on the earth and the sins of the world.

And in front of Garys, one of the beams of light, as bright as the revelation of heaven, fell on the monastery in front of Garys and the others.

This stone building looks particularly solemn under the sunlight.

The water droplets after the rain hung on the arched windows and eaves of the monastery, sparkling and translucent. These tears shed by angels shone with thousands of flowing brilliance in the beam of light.

It can be said that after all the hardships come happiness, and the sky is clearing up after the rain. Even Garys has become much more cheerful.

Along the path of Mount Tabor, through the misty hillside, the monastery is built on the top of this wide cliff.

This Monastery of Santa Maccovia has towering walls and watchtowers, and there are even people patrolling on the walls.

Although it is called a monastery, it is clearly a castle that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

No wonder the two thousand Turkic troops at the foot of the mountain did not launch a strong attack on the monastery for such a long time.

The main reason was that it was obviously not easy to deploy the army on such a hillside, and the Turkic army was mainly composed of nomadic light cavalry and lacked sufficient armored heavy infantry, so it was naturally difficult to attack the city.

However, the number of people in the monastery did not seem to be large.

The people on the watchtower near the monastery gate seemed to sound some warning bells when they saw the arrival of Garys and his group.

Not long after, the door of the monastery creaked open, and several monks in gray robes walked out tremblingly.

After seeing Garys and the others, they did not dare to look up and take a closer look. They all bowed their heads and the rosaries in their hands had long been thrown aside, replaced by nervous smiling faces.

The leading monk, Mishka, had sweat mixed with rain running down his face, making him look miserable.

He clutched the white turban on his head tightly, bowed slightly thinking of Gairis, and shouted in a high voice: "Lailaha Yilala! Lailaha Yilala!"

“Lailahe Ilelah, Mohammed Nireshulullah!”

"Insala! Insala!"

Listening to the "Arabic" with inaccurate pronunciation and trembling and vague ending, Gailis's face turned a little dark.

Then, not only Mishka, but the monks and priests behind him also followed suit, as if they had rehearsed it many times, chanting the same prayers in a panic, their voices chaotic and keeping time with each other.

Some monks even seemed so excited that they immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed as hard as pounding garlic.

Gairis could hear him saying: "Allahu 'Abdul Muhammad!"

This time, Gailis's face turned completely dark, because he understood Arabic.

"Lailaha ilala! Lailaha ilala! 】This sentence means "There is no god except Allah."

[Lailaheillah, Muhammad Nireshulullah!] This sentence is "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

Inshallah! Inshallah! means "May Allah's will be done! May Allah's will be done!"

Then, at the end, the guy said "Allahu 'Abdul Muhammad!", which translates to "Allah is the servant of Muhammad."

It's okay for others, but the one who said "Allah is the servant of Muhammad" was really going too far.

Gailis couldn't help it, so he walked up to the monk who was kneeling on the ground and kowtowing vigorously, and kicked him.

He didn't use much force, but he just kicked the other person onto his back.

Alchos couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth, while the other Paladins put their hands on the hilts of their swords, as if they were about to draw their swords.

Then, Aljos, who was eager to watch the fun, pointed at Garys and said loudly:
"Aisheh Heduan Laila Hewa Aishe! Heduan Nageris Abduhu Wa Resuluhu!"

Aljos's Arabic was not very good, and most of the people present did not understand him at first.

The monk who really understood, the leader Mishka, felt something was wrong for a moment.

Because the words of Aljos, if we have to translate them, are actually: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. And I bear witness that Gelis is the servant and messenger of Allah!"

Is Ghairis a servant and messenger of Allah?
No, nowadays, Saracens are so disrespectful to the Prophet Muhammad?
No, Mishka noticed something was wrong.

But before he could figure out the problem, his body subconsciously knelt on the ground, clumsily imitating the Muslim prayer posture.

His body was as stiff as a puppet, trying to express the utmost piety in every movement, but his knees were almost off balance because he was not used to the posture of worship.

　There should be more updates tomorrow. Compensation for the monthly ticket update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)