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Let
me take it to them and I promise, as soon as
they have inspected it and assessed its worth
you shall have it back. It is my belief that it
is beyond price, but let us see what they think
of it."
The elders of the church, not without some
misgiving agreed. "It shall be as Your
Beatitude pleases" and entrusted the Gospels to
him. Months passed, a year and more and there
was no reply from The Archbishop, nor was the
book returned to the church of St. Luke's. The
villagers blamed the Elders and angrily demanded
that they should set out at |
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EPTAKOMI'S GOSPEL |
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once for Nicosia and
insist on bringing back the book.
The delegation failed, the Elders were told that
the book was in a safe place and should remain
there. Trembling with fear the Elders returned
to Eptakomi empty handed, and were again
violently abused and threatened. Again they
returned to Nicosia to plead with the
Archbishop, and again he rejected their appeal.
He decided to put an end to this useless
argument, he would hold a solemn service at St
Luke's Church and explain that the book was
unique and must be kept in a safe place under
expert care. He offered to give the church
richly bound copies of the Gospels &
£300.00 in
gold, but the villagers would have none of it.
"This is our heritage, and we must keep it in our
village. Your Beatitude can see our crops are
ruined by drought, our cattle are dying of
thirst. God is angry that His Book has been
taken from us. We have had no rain in these two
years since you took the Gospel." The Elders
spoke for them all. " if you do not let us have
the book we will reject your authority, refuse
to pay our contribution, separate from the
church and follow another faith." at this the
Archbishop even more alarmed than the delegates
had been when the villagers threatened not to
let them return to the village if they could not
get their way with the Archbishop after three
failures.
He invited the Elders to Nicosia,
promising to hand over the book of the Gospels. Hadji Georgis & Hadji Koumis, the father of
Father Basilios, was their leader. He and his
companions were received courteously and a
parcel tied with cord was solemnly presented to
them. As they walked through the courtyard,
Hadji Georgis said to Hadji Loukas.
"He has
given us this parcel, what if our book is not in
it? Let us go back and ask the Archbishop to
open it in our presence." They agreed to do this
and they returned to the anteroom and spoke
humbly but firmly. "Your Beatitude gave us this
parcel, but we have not seen what is in it.
Perhaps he has made a mistake? If that is so the
villagers will think we are to blame and will
banish us from our homes." The Archbishop looked
at him and said simply. |
