Peregrinus, the main character of Lucian's story (below), was a charlatan. But the targets of Lucian's satire were the "atheists." We would call them Christians. But to the pagans of the first and second century, Christians were the godless ones (a=no and theos= god). After all the Christians did not bow down to idols. They didn't offer sacrifices to the gods of Rome. They were obviously god-less.
According to the title for this entry, I met Peregrinus. I'm not old enough to have met the character Lucian described. But I've run into several folks who seem to fit Lucian's description. There was the fellow who visited the local United Way office every week to use their phone. He was calling churches to see where he could get assistance that week. Or that fellow who was driving from Washington state to New York state by way of deep south Texas. Or the woman who stole a page of checks from the church and was at the bank drive through trying to cash one with forged signatures.
But the one I call Peregrinus was just passing through town. He had AIDS and had been abandoned by his family and friends because he'd chosen to become a Christian. He told me all that over the phone when he gave me his name and asked for some groceries. I didn't do well with that request. An internet search turned up a couple of sermons inspired by this fellow. It seems that he'd visited the Unitarian Universalists somewhere up north. But the story was a little bit different. He had AIDS even then but for the UU folks he'd been abandoned by his strictly religious family when he strayed from the straight and narrow so it was up to the UU family to shelter him and cast stones at his heartless family.
I've never been comfortable "doing benevolence." Maybe no one ever is. I never felt good about not helping yet I didn't really feel very good about helping either. For one of my elders it was fairly simple. "If they're lying then they'll have to answer for it. But we're responsible for doing our part." I wonder if Lucian ever understood that?
According to the title for this entry, I met Peregrinus. I'm not old enough to have met the character Lucian described. But I've run into several folks who seem to fit Lucian's description. There was the fellow who visited the local United Way office every week to use their phone. He was calling churches to see where he could get assistance that week. Or that fellow who was driving from Washington state to New York state by way of deep south Texas. Or the woman who stole a page of checks from the church and was at the bank drive through trying to cash one with forged signatures.
But the one I call Peregrinus was just passing through town. He had AIDS and had been abandoned by his family and friends because he'd chosen to become a Christian. He told me all that over the phone when he gave me his name and asked for some groceries. I didn't do well with that request. An internet search turned up a couple of sermons inspired by this fellow. It seems that he'd visited the Unitarian Universalists somewhere up north. But the story was a little bit different. He had AIDS even then but for the UU folks he'd been abandoned by his strictly religious family when he strayed from the straight and narrow so it was up to the UU family to shelter him and cast stones at his heartless family.
I've never been comfortable "doing benevolence." Maybe no one ever is. I never felt good about not helping yet I didn't really feel very good about helping either. For one of my elders it was fairly simple. "If they're lying then they'll have to answer for it. But we're responsible for doing our part." I wonder if Lucian ever understood that?
RSS Feed
