Λειμὼν ἀμφιλαφής

Δεξιόθεν τοῦ ἱερέως ἐκάθητο ὁ μπαρμπα-Μηλιός, προεστὼς ἅμα καὶ πρόθυμος θεράπων τῆς κοινότητος, ἠξεύρων νὰ ψήνῃ ὡς οὐδεὶς ἄλλος τὸ ἀρνί, λιανίζων μεθοδικώτατα δι᾽ ὅλους, καὶ τρώγων ἅμα καὶ προπίνων. Εἰς τὰς προπόσεις μάλιστα δὲν εἶχεν ἐφάμιλλον. Μετὰ τὴν σύντομον καὶ τυπικὴν τοῦ ἱερέως πρόποσιν, ἐγερθεὶς ὁ μπαρμπα-Μηλιός, κρατῶν τὴν τσότραν τὴν ἑπταόκαδον, ἤρχισε νὰ χαιρετίζῃ τοὺς πάντας καὶ ἕνα ἕκαστον ὡς ἑξῆς· ― Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! ἀληθινὸς ὁ Κύριος! Ζῇ καὶ βασιλεύει εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας! Εἶτα μετὰ τὸ προοίμιον, εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν οὐσίαν· ― Γειά μας! καλὴ γειά! διάφορο! καλὴ καρδιά! Παπά μ᾽, νὰ χαίρεσαι τὸ πετραχήλι σ᾽! Παπαδιά, νὰ χαίρεσαι τὸν παπά σ᾽ καὶ τὰ παιδάκια σ᾽! Ξάδερφε Θοδωρή! νὰ ζήσῃς, νὰ τς χαίρεσαι! Κουμπάρε Παναγιώτη! ὅπως ἔτρεξες μὲ τὸ λάδ᾽ νὰ τρέξῃς καὶ μὲ τὸ κλῆμα! Συμπεθέρα Κρατήρα! Νὰ χαίρεσαι, μ᾽ ἕναν καλὸν γαμπρό! Ἀνιψιὲ Γιώργη! Τίμια στέφανα! στὸ γάμο σας νὰ χαροῦμε. Κουμπάρα Κυπαρισσού! μὲ μιὰ καλὴ νύφη, νὰ ζήσῃς, νὰ χαρῇς! ἐβίβα ὅλοι! Τέ-περ-τε! Πάντα χαρούμενοι!...

What inclines even me to believe in Christ ' s resurrection ? I play as it were with the thought.--If he did not rise from the dead, then he decomposed in the grave like every human being. He is dead & decomposed . In that case he is a teacher, like any other & can no longer help ; & we are once more orphaned & alone. And have to make do with wisdom & speculation. It is as though we are in a hell, where we can only † a dream & are shut out from heaven, roofed in as it were. But if I am to be REALLY redeemed,--I need certainty --not wisdom, dreams, speculation--and this certainty is faith. And faith is faith in what my heart , my soul , needs , not my speculative intellect . For my soul, with its passions, as it were with its flesh & blood , must be redeemed, not my abstract mind . Perhaps one may say: Only love can believe the Resurrection . Or: it is love that believes the Resurrection. One might say: redeeming love believes even in the Resurrection; ...