Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

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the water with which it mingles, BO do the souls of UK: just
partake so much of the qualities or the Divinity, and conse-
(juently of the love of justice, that they hate what. He hates, and
love what He loves, and it would displease them as much as
God himself, it the wicked were to he rewarded with eternal
happiness.''
"I do not understand this exactly, but I thinlt I can guess
what you mean that there is in the other life merely a relationship,
either with the f?oo(I or the wicked. But how could
though it agrees so much with my spirit, 1 feel myself as yet too
weak to acknowledge it opeuly."
" Faith," continued Athenagoras, " is a gift of Divine Mercy
but to obtain this gift of Faith it is necessary that you should
withdraw yourself from the pleasures and distractions of the
world, and give yourself up to prayer in silence, and soli-
tude. Thus have ail those done who strove after the Truth ; yes,
even the disciples of our own great sages The voice of God
allows itself only
to be beard m the soul of man, when all is
still; but if God has once commenced to speak, His voice is as
loud and audible as the rolling of the thunder in a spacious and
desolate mountain valley."
" Athenagoras can you answer me one question more? I see,
that those who call themselves Christians are ready to sacrifice
their lives for their Faith. With the cool blood of the Spartan,
and the tranquility of a Socrates, they undergo martyrdom and
death for Christ. Whence comes this resolution, this living
conviction? "
" You put questions, Metella, which convince me that this is
The High Priest said to nim: " I conjure Thee by the living God that you
tell m if you are the Son of God." JCBUS answered him: " Thou Last eaid it."
Matt. xivi.
the numerous miracles He had worked. Therefore, uQuwlrntus
tin- former Bishop of Athens* declares in one of his writ
the sick whom Jesus healed, and tl, tfl brought
to 1.
were not a passing vision, tor those very persons remain'
Him upon earth, and some, added the same Bishop, liv
only afler the ascension of our Lord, hut even up to his own
time. We all acknowledge this belief with joyful hearts,
and it affords us comfort in this life, and a happy assu
of a better."
" Not so fast, Athenagoras, but so far you may i
I avoid drawing down upon me the hatred of some one or
other of the divinities, were I to worship the God of the Christians
and thereby fail in my fidelity, to the religion of my ancestors?"
"You speak now, Metella, of several divinities, which
you confidently look upon as servants of the great Jupiter: there
are no god therefore no hatred amongst the gods. You are still
unable to attain the conviction that all power, in Heaven and
on earth streams forth not from a plurality of gods, but from
one God alone, and just in that respect is the difference between
the faith of the Christian and tha, of tne heathen According
to the views of the heathen, Heaven has its Jupiter, the sun his
Helios, the sea its Posidon. the lountains their Naiades, the tree
its Dryas and even the reed its Syrinx. On the contrary, according
to Christian doctrine, there reigns in Heaven and on
earth but one Almighty God, and the spirit of this same God
shines forth in the sun, and moves upon the face of the waters.
He has care for the tree and the flower, and forgets cot in His
fatherly protection, the smallest blade of grass. The thoughts
of God are shed in millions of beams on all creatures, He is the
center whence all proceeds. Yes, Metella, God is only one,
and this one God requires from you, that you acknowledge Him
with your whole heart.'
"Beautiful and dignified as the doctrine is, Athenagoras, and
that 1 will follow your advice with regard to retirement, t<
help me in reflecting diligently on the dignified doctrine of
Christianity, and daily beg of the unknown God, to whom you
have drawn me nearer, that He wUl make Himself known to
me."
CHAPTER XII.
THE COUNTRY BEAT AT EI/ECBI8.
BEFORE the rich Domina arrives at her country seat, which
bears the simple appellation '
Theretron," or " Summer-Seat,"
we will invite our gentle readers to visit this magnificent Villa,
situated at a short distance from Eleusis. It is only half a day's
iourney from Athens, and can be as easily attained across the
Piraus and the sea, as by the so-called " '
Holy Street' or Sacred
'
Way Outside Eleusis is a rich and well watered plain called the
"
Thriasische Field;" and although not a drop of rain has fallen
lor some months over this land, still the corn, refreshed by the
night dews, stands in all its rich beauty, and the country has not
yet exhibited that weary, desolate appearance, which in Greece
returns every year, with the beginning of the second harvest.
Upon this plain, stand various-sized statues of Pan.f twined with
the Acanthus and wild flowers, which the artistic taste of the
Greeks knew so well how to arrange, and which thereby diversi-
fied the otherwise monotonous appearance of this flat country.
Countless numbers of sunburnt hands are everywhere occupied
in collecting the gifts of Ceres, to store them up for the Winter.
Here we meet beasts of burden, watering in the cisterns, and
drawing their heavily-Laden wagons. In the distance are to be
seen herds of goats, feeding on the rich pasture; while the
goatherds are playing cheerfully on their reed pipes. On the
sides of yonder little green undulating mounds, long terraces
are erected, for the cultivation of the vine, of that peculiar sort,
which grows in Corinth, and the fruit of which is exported to
different countries under the name of currants. On the top, are
dirty little fellows, dressed in goat's skin, lying lazily about,
under the shade of the elm-trees, and refreshing themselves
occasionally with the first fruits of the vine. The higher hills
towards the North, are covered with palms and other forest trees;
and in the background, the scene is completed by the " Hoenzug
of the Katharon" uniting itself to the rugged and light blue
Parnassus with its cloud-capped summit.
not the first time you have spoken on Christianity. All those
who seal their Faith with their blood, are fully convinced that
Christ is truly the Son of God. Christ gave proof of His mission,
as clear as the sun, often during life and particularly in the
last days before His death. He told the Jews publicly that He
was the Son of God, He said to them beforehand that He should
be put to death, and that on the third day He would rise again.
Yes, and He was brought before Pilate, and conjured by the
living God, to say if He were really the Son of God? He maintained
it, although He knew that His death would follow the declaration.
After his death His side was pierced with a lance, and
His body laid in the grave and that grave was guarded by soldiers.
But on the third day, as He had, already said, He rose
again by His own power, appeared to His disciples, and showed
Himself on many occasions to several hundreds of His followers.
All those who saw Him believed in Him, and they preached
Him to the world; and not alone those proclaimed His doctrine,
but all whom He had strengthened, previous to His death, "by
Metella's charming Villa was situated on a gradually sloping
hill-, at the foot flowed the silvery waters of the Saramanta. on
whose fertile banks flourished in abundance, the laurel and the
dark myrtle and the slopes were studded with clumps of the
Tamarisk and box-trees. The Villa was surrounded on every
side, except that facing Eleusis, with groves of palms. From
the centre of the building, rose a high turret, whence a charming
view of the surrounding country could be obtained. On one
side, the level plain opened to the sea, on whose shorethe
rich trading town of Eleusis, in the centre of which n
imposing grandeur, the renowned temple of Demetrius, famed
for the so-called " Eleusian Mysteries." Every year at th
mencemcnt of October, agreat procession was formed at Eletisis:
and four days previously, the festival of Demeter was celebrated
This Bishop Quadratic is not to be understood as the Qnadrains of
period. The above was- the successor of St. 1'uhlius, and was appoint'
Episcopacy of Athens 125 years alter tne birth of Christ.
t Pan, the god of the fields.