As the robed man ignited the smokes and prayed to a deity beyond, craving for forgiveness for what he was about to do, and pleaded for strength not to flinch in this dubious endeavor; the young man in the other room waited patiently, silent, as those who do not seek in the waiting, but for the time to run.

The man proceeded to enter the next room, where the young man was, he had a big wooden box in his hand, which he placed in the table of the room. It was a little pre-hall room with stone and gravel walls and no ventilation. The only source of light was a window where someone, must likely by mistake, had put a stained glass of a dove surrounded by a red and yellow aura that did not even fit in the window frame, it was probably a left over. The result was a work place with a red and yellow lighting and the Holy Spirit resting in the table, that was of course until 6 p.m, when the reflection moved to the other wall.

“What is today’s lesson father?” The young man asked, without a sign of eagerness or boredom. The old man remained silent while he opened the dusty box, and once the lid was taken away and the old man caught his breath after all the dust had scattered he looked at the young man as if he had just noticed his presence. “Our interest today is the content of this box” he said, looking at the inside of the container.

“But first, we must review one of the most basic concepts there can be in a corporation such as ours” The young man slightly shrieked when the word corporation was used. “Can you as a soon to be priest tell me in few words, why was Christ important?” the father asked.

The priest to be was thrown out of position for a second, open mouthed and looking at the priest as if what he had just implied a horrible insult. “Of course I could, that is the true purpose of a priest, spread the word of the savior” he replied, confused of the father’s intentions. “Jesus Christ is the son of God and king of kings, holy among the mortals and yet he sacrificed his life to beg forgiveness for all of us; he had profound knowledge of science and medicine, yet was humble and carried the office of a carpenter. He used his miracles to heal the ill, guide the lost and redeem all human kind.” He said, not knowing where that question was going. “And after his dead, he resuscitated three days later, bringing the message of love and peace to the world” he ended.

“That is all true in what you have learned and also very inspirational. But what if I told you he’s not unique? The ancient Greeks had in their cosmogony a son of God that had been killed by and then, out of his holy and living heart, the gods were able to put him together again, Dionysus.” He explained while taking out a very old book with Greek letters and images of a boat and dolphins, and one with a heart and the gods. “Then there is Krishna, the direct incarnation of the creator, who on Earth performed what could be called miracles and brought a message of peace?” the priest explained with another book, expecting some sort of response from Joseph, who remained silent, waiting for the priest to be over.

“Then there is Mithra, whose sole name means to bring together, to tie the heavens and the Earth. Being the redeeming part of a triad of deities, he was the one in contact with the humans, punishing evil and praising good, redeeming those who have done wrong.” He said, showing Joseph another book, and other. “And while there is not an account of a sacrifice made by him, there is still the symbol of the god who saves the mankind, who intervenes between God and man.” He said that last part raising his voice, raising his spirit for truth and understanding. Joseph remained silent and observing while the priest went on explaining with a somewhat passion and guilt the origin of Horus from Egypt, or the similarities of the biblical symbols with Pagan deities.

“So, what do you think about this?” asked the father, after some hours, knowing it would take a while for the disciple to produce an educated response.

“I do not understand your point clearly, is this supposed to show me the other religions had influence of our believes, or that they all just used a transverse story of Jesus?” he asked, completely confused, yet remaining calmed.

“My son, this could be true if only our religion was as old as the others, which is not” he said, making an effort to confuse the young man. “The reason of me telling you this is beyond any person, even God’s son.” He said, crunching the silent atmosphere around, as if with that sole sentence he had turned the class into something else, as if the whole room and monastery had became something else. A disturbing silence came in. “What I’m trying to make you see is that all these cultures had the symbol. Maybe it was present in different figures, and maybe none of them existed, not even Jesus, but they all had the symbol” he said, part of him wanting to make the young man understand, and other craving for forgiveness.

“But.. Father, is that not heresy?” he asked, for once upset and fearful.

“You could think it is.” The Father said, looking deep into Joseph’s eyes. “But I actually believe is quite the contrary, and that what must be gotten out of all of this, is that the savior is the symbol we all share. Jesus, and this other deities were not holy just in a country, they were believed to save the whole world. And at the end of the day that is the message you want to spread around. Because if Jesus did existed, which I wouldn’t dare to deny, he would prefer, I think, that we remembered the message of love and sacrifice rather than a history lesson.” Ended the father.

The room then became the most silent place in the world. And there most surely have been a thousand other places with less noise, but that was the most silent one, as if nothing there have ever existed, as if the walls had been there by mere coincidence as well as the white dove who slowly moved out of the table. The Father and the priest to be did not existed there, there was just vacuum.

Vacuum was only filled with a single whisper from Joseph “Why...?” It was not a question, the Father knew it, he also knew it would take more than a day to explain this to Joseph, given the state of his raising and education.

“You may not understand now” The Father said, “but ahead of us comes a time where we will need to tell apart what is what in the chaos this world has become…”

“I really don’t know what you are talking about Father, and frankly it is perturbing” said Joseph expecting some type of apology, some laugh that would tell him Father had just gone senile. They both remained sit staring at each other.

“You are dismissed” the Father said “be sure of something, all what I have said today is for the better, and for your nearness into the holy” he said, not looking at Joseph, in fact not even telling him; more like repeating it to himself. He was only trying to save Joseph’s life, with the few time there was left.

[I understand it is a lame short story, that is because it is not a short story]

by I'm the penguin