Athanasius sipped his wine. “What message do you want me to take back to Alexander?”
Hosius thought about this for a moment. “I’m not sure. I need to craft a reply for Arias as well, and what I tell them depends on how my meetings go with the Emperor. You should come with me to Byzantium. I’ll meet with Constantine, and then I’ll craft a reply for you to take back. It’s a twenty day voyage from here to Byzantium, and then it’s only a nine day voyage from there to Alexandria. You’ll be home in just over a month. Surely Alexander can spare you for that long.”
Athanasius’ excitement at the prospect of traveling again with Hosius filled his mind with memories of his first voyage to Rome. I’d like to know Hosius’ plans for how the Imperial Church will do what the Emperor needs it to do. Besides, I’ve never been to Byzantium before, and I’ve always wanted to go.
Before Athanasius could respond, Hosius called to his two acolytes across the room. “Tell Lucius that there will be another passenger on the voyage. And then find somewhere for Athanasius to sleep. It’s a long journey to Byzantium, and we leave before dawn.
Chapter 3
Arias sat at his desk, reading his well-worn copy of the Gospel of John. It was his favorite text – the only one of the gospels written by an apostle of Jesus. Arias believed that its eyewitness account of Jesus’ ministry on earth had greater clarity than the other gospels.
As he read, several verses stood out to him.
“God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth,”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”
“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
Arias put down the scroll and meditated on the meanings of the passages he had read. It was more than an hour before he opened his eyes and looked around his chamber, feeling the peace of God surrounding and filling him. He felt at one with all living things. If only all men could feel as I feel right now.
He noticed a stack of letters on the edge of his desk. My letter should have reached Hosius by now. I look forward to his reply. I’ll never see Alexander as an enemy, but sometimes I wonder if Alexander views me in the same way that the Pharisees viewed our Master.
As he thought about his disagreements with Alexander, a rapid knocking on his door interrupted him. “Enter.”
His acolyte Andrew entered the chamber. “Arias, come quick. A boy has been hit by a chariot. The physician told his parents that he doesn’t have long to live.”
Arias leapt to his feet and followed Andrew into the town.
When they reached the house of the child, Arias turned to Andrew. “When we go inside, I want you to take the parents and anyone else who’s there outside so I can be alone with the lad.”
“Yes, Arias,” Andrew responded.
Arias entered the house. The front room was empty. Arias announced himself but heard no response. Arias crossed the front room, looking for any signs of the house’s occupants. He heard a woman crying, and he and Andrew followed the sound to a room at the rear of the house. When he reached the room, he saw several people standing or kneeling around the boy’s bed. The lad was pale and the bedding blood-soaked.
Andrew ushered everyone out of the room as Arias approached the lad and sat down on the edge of the bed. Andrew returned a few moments later and stood in the doorway so no one could enter.
Arias closed his eyes and bowed his head in silent communion with God. After a short while, he placed a hand on the lad’s chest. At first, nothing happened. Then the child began to moan – softly at first, and then louder. Arias never moved his hand from the lad’s chest. The color returned to the child’s face. A moment later, his eyes opened.
“What happened to me?” the lad asked, looking confused.
“Nothing, my boy,” Arias answered kindly, removing his hand from the boy’s chest and helping him sit up. “You are made in God’s image, and no accident can change that fact.”
Arias turned toward Andrew, who called for the parents. When the parents entered the room, they were astonished to see their son sitting up and smiling.
“Your son is fine,” Arias said, getting to his feet.
“How can we thank you, Arias?” the lad’s father asked as the mother hugged her son. Tears of gratitude were evident on the father’s cheeks.
“No need,” Arias replied softly. Then he added, “But tell no one what has happened here. The healing of your son is a gift from God, and it’s God who deserves your thanks.”
The father nodded and then joined his wife next to their son. Arias motioned to Andrew, and the two men left the house to return to the church.
As they walked away from the house, Andrew asked, “Why didn’t you want the father to say anything about what happened?”
“Because healings like this are no longer commonplace. I don’t want anyone looking at the child differently, nor do I want the parents ridiculed by those who don’t believe in the power of God to heal the sick and injured. And there is no need to keep talking about the accident. The boy is healed, and talking about what may or may not have happened will not make the healing any more or less real. Besides, I don’t want anyone saying that the healing came about because of me. I didn’t do anything special. I knew that the boy was perfect, as God created him, and that no supposed accident could ever change that. I helped the child see the truth, and the truth set him free.”
“I don’t understand,” Andrew said.
“Then I’ll explain it to you,” Arias said, kindly. “Do you remember reading the first part of the book of Genesis?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say about the creation of man?”
“That God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
“That’s right. Now in the Gospel of John, it says that ‘God is a spirit.’ If God is a spirit, then his image and likeness must also be spiritual, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the true nature of man: he is spiritual, and he is the image and likeness of God. The image and likeness of God can’t have something that God can’t have, can it?”
“No,” Andrew replied.
“And if God is a spirit, and He’s all-powerful, then He can’t have an accident, can He?”
“No.”
“So then how can man, who is spiritual and is the image and likeness of God, have an accident?”
“I don’t know,” Andrew