"You are so wonderful...buddy !" It was Irini's voice, one of the funniest voices I have heard.
After an hour and something, we were there. Since it was evening, there were a lot of people. But we managed to get table and of course with wonderful views. It was not new for non of us but it was like the saying goes " Athens is 1000 cities from Acropolis". We were able to see the city from the hill, but there was one site which was the eye-catching view for me.
It is not far from the temple of Zeus, the popular tourist site. What you see there is not eye-catching, of course, if you try to compare it with the temple. What you merely see is small collection of stones and a few yard of green field. But It opened me a window ....far there... there was a crowd of people... most of them wearing the finest robes of all the ages. Wait...I see people carrying some stuffs. I see fruits, jeweleries, garments, and... a lot of other stuffs. Hey why are there some visible bunches of people here and there? I have to look what is happening there...
"Hey, hey, hey you are standing on my feet, watch your steps, man" I yelled. It is too painful. Why are all these Greeks with athletic physique? they are different from what I actually I know.
Anyways, I think I saved my feet in time from being crushed by those feet which were like a wheel for me. A bit far from the market, I am now in one of the bunches I saw before. Come on I am listening someone speaking with a raised voice. What is it? Is it stump speech? wait... Let me try to tune my ears.
"What the hell is this babbler trying to say? He ain't like those- the Epicureans."
"sh..sh..sh...I am trying to listen to him. Just shut up!" I said whispering, fearing my own voice would disturb me.
Now I can hear him... "Look this temple... Zeus must be proud to have you built it form him. I can see that you are very religious people!..." Come on, we have Ares here! He is promoting another god. people lets go to the other crowd... we might learn about the planets from that crowd." Suddenly I found my self in front of the stumper. Ehe ehe... I cleared my voice and watched the people around. These ones are not leaving... well I will not be alone listening to this orator. He continued...
Men of Athens.....I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."
"wait... wait Is this guy, as I heard before, adding another god to the "god antiques?" C'mon I am not stayin' here to hear this non-sense. I need someone, if he speaks God, who can tell me about the real God who is not carved from marble stones." But he continued as I turned my face.
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else."
"I think I have to stay... He is making a point." He continued...I turned to him and watched his face. He is speaking with compassion, honesty but also a heck of confidence about his God. No he is not stumping for someone neither is he promoting god from ebony tree wood.
"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
what... what? Is he talking about resurrection of the dead? I turned to the people.
"We accept the immortality of the soul. but how come a dead body can have life again? You should come here and teach this stuff another day, Paul."
"Nahum where are you buddy?" He was one of my friends, Arionas. I looked at everybody's glass. I was thinking a lot! I supped my vanilla fredecino, and started to talk
"You guys do you know anything about Areopagus?...."
Posts
