Chalice of Blood (36 page)
Authors: Peter Tremayne
Tags: #_NB_Fixed, #_rt_yes, #blt, #Clerical Sleuth, #Fiction, #Suspense, #Medieval Ireland
Absolution by Murder
Shroud for the Archbishop
Suffer Little Children
The Subtle Serpent
The Spider’s Web
Valley of the Shadow
The Monk who Vanished
Act of Mercy
Hemlock at Vespers
Our Lady of Darkness
Smoke in the Wind
The Haunted Abbot
Badger’s Moon
Whispers of the Dead
The Leper’s Bell
Master of Souls
A Prayer for the Damned
Dancing with Demons
The Council of the Cursed
The Dove of Death
The Chalice of Blood
Shroud for the Archbishop
Suffer Little Children
The Subtle Serpent
The Spider’s Web
Valley of the Shadow
The Monk who Vanished
Act of Mercy
Hemlock at Vespers
Our Lady of Darkness
Smoke in the Wind
The Haunted Abbot
Badger’s Moon
Whispers of the Dead
The Leper’s Bell
Master of Souls
A Prayer for the Damned
Dancing with Demons
The Council of the Cursed
The Dove of Death
The Chalice of Blood
T
he reader does not have to study the history of the early Christian movement to understand the doubts and conflicts that Brother Donnchad was faced with in this story. Nor does the reader have to accept or believe in the veracity of them. The point being made is that these matters influenced him as they influenced others of this period. Fidelma argued that, whether Donnchad was right or wrong in losing his Faith over the material he had discovered, it was a matter of personal choice.
he reader does not have to study the history of the early Christian movement to understand the doubts and conflicts that Brother Donnchad was faced with in this story. Nor does the reader have to accept or believe in the veracity of them. The point being made is that these matters influenced him as they influenced others of this period. Fidelma argued that, whether Donnchad was right or wrong in losing his Faith over the material he had discovered, it was a matter of personal choice.
But for those readers who are interested in that material, it is a matter of record that once Christianity took over as the official religion of the Roman empire, many works that were contemporary with the birth of Christianity and its early years were amended or destroyed when they were found to contradict and challenge the changing dogmas of the leadership of the Christian movement.
Some texts survived such as the comments of Pliny the Younger (AD 61/62 – AD 113) who saw the early Christians as just a
hetaeria
, or political club. The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry of Tyre (AD 234 – 305) saw them as ‘a confused and vicious sect’ in his
Adversus Christianos
. The scholarly Roman Emperor Julian, known as Julian the Apostate, who ruled from
AD 355 – 360, wrote a discourse called
Contra Galilaeos
(
Against the Galilaeans
), which survives only in fragments. He called all Christians ‘Galilaeans’ and did not hold their philosophies in high regard. Galen of Pergamun (
c
. AD 129 – 200) gave his criticisms as part of his essay, ‘On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body’, written
c.
AD 170, in which he expressed his belief that the Christian philosophies were ‘unreasonable’.
hetaeria
, or political club. The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry of Tyre (AD 234 – 305) saw them as ‘a confused and vicious sect’ in his
Adversus Christianos
. The scholarly Roman Emperor Julian, known as Julian the Apostate, who ruled from
AD 355 – 360, wrote a discourse called
Contra Galilaeos
(
Against the Galilaeans
), which survives only in fragments. He called all Christians ‘Galilaeans’ and did not hold their philosophies in high regard. Galen of Pergamun (
c
. AD 129 – 200) gave his criticisms as part of his essay, ‘On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body’, written
c.
AD 170, in which he expressed his belief that the Christian philosophies were ‘unreasonable’.
The critical writings of the second-century Greek philosopher Celsus, essential to this story, have not survived completely. However, they are almost entirely reproduced in quoted excerpts given by Origenes in his counter-polemic
Contra Celsum
(written in
c
. AD 248). Celsus wrote his work
Alethos Logos
(
The True Word
) as a polemic against Christianity in approximately AD 178.
Contra Celsum
(written in
c
. AD 248). Celsus wrote his work
Alethos Logos
(
The True Word
) as a polemic against Christianity in approximately AD 178.
Sadly for historians, many works similar to these were burnt in the enthusiasm of zealots for the new Faith whose ideas and philosophies were then evolving.
Some very early Christian traditions had it that Joachim, of the House of Amram, and Anna, of the House of David, were the parents of Mary, mother of Jesus, and that they were natives of Sepphoris (Hebrew, Tzippori), which is in the centre of Galilee, six kilometres north north-east of Nazareth. The
Protoevangelium of James
(sometimes referred to as the
Infancy Gospel of James
) was written in
c
. AD 150, although the earliest surviving copy dates from the third century AD. It is in the Martin Bodmer Foundation Library and Museum, in Cologny, near Geneva, Switzerland. While this text was not accepted in the final version of the New Testament by its compilers in the fourth century, St Anne and St Joachim are accepted in the Christian faith. When the Council of Laodicia,
c
. AD 363, made their final choice of the texts that would form the New Testament, with the exception of
Revelations
, it took a long time before all the branches of the Christian movement agreed on the choice.
By the time of the Council of Rome in AD 382, there was general unanimity in the Western churches. The twenty-seven books, now including
Revelations
, that constitute the New Testament as we recognise it today, were accepted in the West. The Eastern churches accepted them the following century. St Jerome’s Vulgate Latin Bible became the standard text of the Western churches through the medieval period.
Protoevangelium of James
(sometimes referred to as the
Infancy Gospel of James
) was written in
c
. AD 150, although the earliest surviving copy dates from the third century AD. It is in the Martin Bodmer Foundation Library and Museum, in Cologny, near Geneva, Switzerland. While this text was not accepted in the final version of the New Testament by its compilers in the fourth century, St Anne and St Joachim are accepted in the Christian faith. When the Council of Laodicia,
c
. AD 363, made their final choice of the texts that would form the New Testament, with the exception of
Revelations
, it took a long time before all the branches of the Christian movement agreed on the choice.
By the time of the Council of Rome in AD 382, there was general unanimity in the Western churches. The twenty-seven books, now including
Revelations
, that constitute the New Testament as we recognise it today, were accepted in the West. The Eastern churches accepted them the following century. St Jerome’s Vulgate Latin Bible became the standard text of the Western churches through the medieval period.
The city of Sepphoris was the centre of Jewish religious and spiritual life in Galilee. Early texts said that Anna or Ch’annah (Hebrew ‘favoured’) and Joachim (Hebrew ‘Yahweh prepares’), were living there with their daughter Miriam. Miriam was an ancient Hebrew name meaning ‘rebellious’ and ‘disobedient’ and was written in Greek as Maria and thence passed into Latin. The people of Sepphoris rose up against the Roman colonial administration in the Roman year 750
ab urbe condita
, which is 4 BC in the Christian calendar. Because of calendar changes, this is the year now accepted as the birth year of Jesus. Under the Governor Publius Quinctilius Varus (46 BC – AD 9), Roman troops burnt the city to the ground as punishment for the insurrection and sold many of its inhabitants into slavery. Varus’s campaign was brutal and he also crucified two thousand Jewish insurgents. The story is recorded by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (AD 37 – after AD 93), who also mentions the death of Jesus’s brother James, the name coming from Iakobos, the Greek form of the Hebrew Jacob.
ab urbe condita
, which is 4 BC in the Christian calendar. Because of calendar changes, this is the year now accepted as the birth year of Jesus. Under the Governor Publius Quinctilius Varus (46 BC – AD 9), Roman troops burnt the city to the ground as punishment for the insurrection and sold many of its inhabitants into slavery. Varus’s campaign was brutal and he also crucified two thousand Jewish insurgents. The story is recorded by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (AD 37 – after AD 93), who also mentions the death of Jesus’s brother James, the name coming from Iakobos, the Greek form of the Hebrew Jacob.
A story circulated that during the sack, rape and burning of Sepphoris, a Roman soldier named Abdes Pantera raped Miriam. The child born from this rape, Yeshua ben Pantera, was mentioned in early texts. Yeshua (Yehoshua) was a common name among the Jews of the Second Temple Period (516 BC – AD 70). It is argued by some scholars that the name means ‘cry to God when in need’ and is the same name from which Joshua is transliterated. Jesus is the Graeco-Latin form. Celsus, with
other early text writers, identified Yeshua ben Pantera with Jesus of Nazareth.
other early text writers, identified Yeshua ben Pantera with Jesus of Nazareth.
There was, indeed, a real soldier named Abdes Pantera who was a Phoenician from Sidon. He served in the Roman army and his unit could well have been one of those who sacked Sepphoris at this time. He later became a Roman citizen and was able to add the Roman
praenomen
of ‘Tiberius Julius’ before his own.
praenomen
of ‘Tiberius Julius’ before his own.
The tombstone of Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera, who served in the
Cohors I Sagittariorum
, and lived
c.
22 BC – AD 40, was rediscovered during the construction of a railroad in Bingerbrück (formerly Bingium), on the River Rhine, along with other monuments, in 1859. It is currently in the Schlossparkmuseum in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. The inscription on the tombstone of this Phoenician archer from Sidonia is still readable.
Cohors I Sagittariorum
, and lived
c.
22 BC – AD 40, was rediscovered during the construction of a railroad in Bingerbrück (formerly Bingium), on the River Rhine, along with other monuments, in 1859. It is currently in the Schlossparkmuseum in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. The inscription on the tombstone of this Phoenician archer from Sidonia is still readable.
It is of coincidental interest that Varus had been given command in Germania and took three of his legions, the XVII, XVIII and XIX, into the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, where the German prince, Arminius, annihilated them. Varus himself was killed. The three eagles of the legions were never recovered.
The writer who first commented on these connections in modern times was the Italian Biblical scholar Dr Marcello Craveri in
La vita di Gesù
, 1966, which was translated into English in 1967 as
The Life of Jesus: An assessment through modern historical evidence
, Panther Books, London, 1967.
La vita di Gesù
, 1966, which was translated into English in 1967 as
The Life of Jesus: An assessment through modern historical evidence
, Panther Books, London, 1967.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2010 by Peter Tremayne.
THE CHALICE OF BLOOD. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
First published in Great Britain by HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP, an Hachette UK Company
eISBN 9781429978453
First eBook Edition : September 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
First U.S. Edition: November 2011
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