Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 629: Is the founder of the religion from Trier?

After introducing these, Elder Nasir led everyone to start the tour. Except for Da Lama Wang who had been here on business, everyone else was here for the first time and therefore quite curious.

Of course, there were also people with different emotions, such as Sir John of the Knights Templar, who were very sad.

Sir John said that the Knights Templar were originally founded in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. At that time, they only had a dozen people and seven or eight horses, and they had to borrow each other's mounts when they went out. The church and the royal government took care of them and gave them a corner of the mosque as their territory. Because this is the location of the temple in the legend, even the name "Temple" actually comes from this place.

Over the years, the Knights had experienced several ups and downs. They once established military hegemony here, but were defeated by pagans; they once rose again with the help of their financial management ability, but were finally destroyed by fellow believers.

Now when I return to the place where I started, everything has changed. The magnificent mosque is still there, but there is no trace of the Knights, which makes me feel very sad.

"That's understandable." Tuo Huan nodded in agreement, but after thinking for a while, he said, "But it's rare to demolish it so cleanly. We still have so many buildings and works left in Rome after a thousand years."

"I just heard from the explanation that the decorations in this temple are all authentic from ancient times. Did you not destroy them when you occupied this place?"

"No. They are all fine." Sir John said confidently, "We have properly protected and placed the holy relics in the two large mosques, including important relics related to the prophet of the Muslims. The tourism industry here was also our mainstay of income at the time. If the holy relics were demolished, the Muslims would not come to make pilgrimages; if they did not come to make pilgrimages, a series of industries here would not be able to sustain themselves. The Knights still rely on this to make money."

"I thought the Crusaders were crazy because of their fanaticism." Tuo Huan was a little surprised: "Did you start to think so at that time?"

"When we formed the Knights, it was no longer the same situation as when the Crusaders first invaded," Sir John explained. "And relatively speaking, the Knights were already a group that took their faith very seriously. The Royal Government and even the Church itself compromised more."

"At that time, a characteristic building of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was the 'Three Religions in One' chapel." He introduced: "Although there were frequent wars with surrounding countries, wars only lasted for a small part of the time. Most of the time, everyone still had to live their lives."

"In peacetime, there were many pilgrims and tourists coming and going, but there were not enough local religious buildings - this was true for both sides. Therefore, the church and the kingdom built a number of these universal altars. Not only us Christians, but also Jews and Muslims could pay to go in and pray."

"Can all of this be compatible?" Zhu Wenkui was very surprised.

"Sure. After all, you won't be too particular when you're away from home for a long time. And although this kind of church is usually very small, or even just a shed or a simple altar, it still has everything you need." Sir John said, "The priests in charge there are all well-educated and versatile. They not only understand the scriptures, but have also studied the Torah and the Quran. When you need a ceremony, just pay him some money and let him know, and he will help you arrange it."

"I thought the conflicts between different religions would be more serious." Zhu Wenkui thought: "I didn't expect it to be like this..."

"Alas, it's easy to conquer the Holy Land, but it's difficult to govern it. It's only natural to compromise." Sir John sighed, "And, to be a little offensive, even the first generation of Crusaders, those armed pilgrims who went to the East despite starvation, did they do it purely out of religious enthusiasm?"

"It's okay, we are all Romans." Tuohuan comforted him, "It's not an offense to offend the Crusaders in front of us."

"What I said is the truth we have concluded after reflection." Sir John thought for a moment and said, "Now, even we Europeans ourselves believe that the nobles who went to the Crusades were almost all for wealth and status. Among those famous Crusaders, perhaps only Godfrey, the 'Guardian of the Holy Sepulchre', had some faith factors mixed in. It is precisely because he was too pious in comparison that he made a particularly deep impression on everyone and gained a lofty status. Even though he himself has always refused to be king in the Holy Land, we still believe that he is the real 'Crusader King'."

"As for the others, the reason for their madness was not religious. The Knights' archives said that before the Crusaders came here, there was a settlement of Ethiopians in the city, but after the massacre, these people disappeared, and no one gathered here again. Many believers of other sects and even local Latins were also killed because the Crusaders wanted to occupy their properties and take away their wealth."

"On the contrary, the Saracen governor and his cronies in the city were let go. Many of the rich people in the Jewish and Muslim quarters also survived. Many of the records we see now were left by them. They had enough money to buy their own safety, and after getting enough money, the Crusaders were relatively trustworthy."

"This is quite unusual," Tuohuan commented.

"Maybe everyone knows that poor people die when they die. But we will have to deal with these rich people in the future." Sir John did not seem to have thought about it carefully. After a little thought, he replied: "We Crusaders will still have to do business with the Saracens in the future!"

Tuo Huan and the others were silent for a while. Finally, Zhu Wenkui asked, "Aren't you rich too? Logically, they should do business with you, so why are there no relics here? They have all been demolished?"

"Religious places also have different statuses, and this one is more important," said Sir John.

"This is the case with the temple. As for the things outside... it's not a religious issue." Elder Nasir hesitated and explained, "The Franks occupied several plots of land at the time. It's not necessary to demolish them, but if we leave it alone, the people around will not be able to bear it."

"What's going on?" Zhu Wenkui asked.

"It's too dirty." Elder Nasir said bluntly: "Wherever the Franks went, fleas would immediately become prevalent. This has been recorded in almost all groups and sects."

"Everyone said that from the highest nobles to the common soldiers, they were all dirtier and smellier than the others. Some even claimed to have seen the Franks catching fleas on their bodies and eating them. As a result, a stereotype was quickly formed - this is not us smearing pagans, you can ask other Christian residents. In fact, no one is willing to mix with them."

"Their planning was also terrible. They used the corridors of the temple as stables - even if we don't consider religious issues, it's impossible for the sanitation to improve if people and horses live together..." "When Saladin recaptured this place, he drew water from outside the city to clean the temple. This was not just a religious symbol, but it was necessary to clean it. That time, it was not like the Romans spreading salt, just symbolically sprinkling a few handfuls and holding a ceremony, but they really organized a lot of people to clean up the city on a large scale. Just for our temple, we used dozens of trucks of water. There were too many dirty things and it was really hard to clean..."

“Okay…” Zhu Wenkui felt a little speechless and didn’t continue asking.

After the visit, according to the procedure, the Romans had to hold a sacrifice to show respect for the host and the gods. Elder Nasir and others said that they could accept their kindness, but they did not want them to bring the pigs in. Tuohuan said that you guys are too polite and are still refusing. In fact, there is no need to be modest. This place can bear such a great courtesy. After the sacrifice, everyone will have to eat together.

After some refusals, the Mamluks could no longer hold back. They said that it was not good to allow unclean food to enter the holy land, but they could not refuse the kindness of others. They were the secular rulers here, and with this power, they had to bear the corresponding responsibilities and could not sit idly by. So, they would bear the responsibility - although it was sad, they would have to eat the whole pig reluctantly.

Seeing that they were so proactive, the others followed suit and agreed.

After a round trip, they went to the place where the Christians lived in the evening. The main buildings here were several ancient churches. They came to the core Church of the Holy Sepulchre and prepared to worship Brother Tian.

Father Andreas said that this was the place where Brother Tian was crucified and resurrected. After the Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem, they built a temple of Venus here. During the reign of Constantine the Great, in order to enhance his legitimacy, he sent his mother, Queen Helena, to tour around the country to look for various holy objects. After arriving in Jerusalem, the Queen Mother had the Temple of Venus torn down and searched the ruins below, and finally found three crosses.

There are many different versions of the story that follows. Some say that a sign was hung on one of the crosses, with the handwriting of the Roman governor Pilate, recording the identity of the victim, so it was recognized directly; another version says that people touched the corpse with three crosses, and one of them resurrected the corpse directly, so this is true; the third version is that the queen mother found a dying girl and touched her with a cross, and the last cross made her healed directly.

The first version is too straightforward, and the second may be too "high magic", which believers find outrageous, so it is also unpopular. Everyone generally agrees with the third story. Helena has also become a saint worshipped by different factions. After the Great Schism, the Roman Catholic Church still canonized her, and the place for worshiping her in the church was specially opened for her by the Armenian Church in its own basement.

Unfortunately, after the cross, the whereabouts of the fragment gradually became unknown. The last known fragment was taken to the battlefield by the Crusaders during the Battle of Hattin. But this time, Brother Tian was unable to protect everyone, and the fragment was finally taken away by the Ayyubid dynasty.

Later, when the Crusaders besieged Damietta, the Ayyubids offered to return the fragments as compensation if they lifted the siege. However, the Crusaders obviously wanted land more, so they ignored the offer. Later, Egypt also fell into civil strife, and no one knew where the holy relic was anymore.

Everyone sighed again about the impermanence of the world, but Guo Kang found that Master Hans had a strange expression. But he had heard these stories more than once at the Niangniang Temple. It should be the consensus of all churches, so there is no problem. So he took the initiative to ask: "What's wrong? Do you have any questions?"

"I heard the same story in my hometown before." Master Hans whispered, "But it was told to me by a priest in Trier. He said that their archbishop's cathedral was the residence of St. Helena in the past, and it was donated to the church. The priest swore that Queen Mother Helena dug out the True Cross, the iron nails used to crucify Brother Tian, ​​and other holy objects from there."

"The story the priest told is similar to what he just told. But our version changes the setting to Trier, and the one who was healed by the cross is not a little girl, but an old lady. But the rest of the story is almost exactly the same. What's going on?"

"I thought it was a big deal." Guo Kang breathed a sigh of relief: "It was copied. These stories are everywhere, and the plots are indeed similar. It was originally copied from each other by churches in various places to elevate themselves."

"But what they said is true." Master Hans still hasn't recovered from his surprise: "I always thought it was true! Oh, by the way, there is also the skull of Saint Helena in the archbishop's cathedral over there, which is also an important holy relic..."

"Hey, that's not from here either." Captain Lucas leaned over and interrupted him: "I was an apprentice in Trier, and I heard about it from the monks in the church when I was drinking with them."

"After their death, Saint Helena and the rest of her family were buried in the imperial mausoleum in Constantinople. Later, during the Fourth Crusade, all the imperial mausoleums in Rome were excavated and destroyed. Most of the other tombs and corpses were destroyed. Because of Saint Helena's special status, the church specially transported her sarcophagus back to Rome to display it as a holy relic. Her skull was also obtained by the Crusaders at that time and given to Trier, the most important religious center in Germany. In short, they were all robbed."

"so……"

"You should use your brain." Captain Lucas said helplessly: "Trier has a long history, but the queen mother was a top figure in Rome at that time. How could she just go to our remote place..."

"Besides, Brother Tian's story has always been in Jerusalem. It doesn't make sense that he suddenly jumped to Trier. It must be because he is the founder of our religion, so everyone wants to take advantage of his reputation and insists that he is a local. So, they made up a story like this."

"It's really strange to say that," Master Hans admitted, "but there's nothing we can do about it. Most people probably only know these two place names, and they probably think that Jerusalem is right next to Trier. What do you think, Captain?"

"I think the food culture is not very developed where you are." Guo Kang thought for a while and said.

"what?"

"Otherwise there would definitely be a lot of stories saying that Saint Helena searched the world for holy relics, and when she arrived here, she fainted due to fatigue and hunger. It happened that Brother Heaven appeared and sent angels to bring a local specialty food. After eating it, she woke up and regained her spirit." Guo Kang did it without hesitation, and seemed to be quite familiar with this.

"Ah?" Captain Lucas and Master Hans were both stunned.

(End of this chapter)