Judas the Apostle, page 15
“The letters of St. Paul were among the earliest such documents written, beginning in about AD 50–51,” stipulated Father Al. “While not all scholars agree on the order in which the Gospels were written, many believe St. Matthew’s Gospel was the earliest, written sometime in the ’40s to ’50s. Consider that Christ was crucified in AD 33 or thereabouts. With the earliest of these materials written a mere decade or so after Christ died, there would have been hundreds, if not thousands, of people still alive who could attest to the veracity of events as described in the works of St. Paul and St. Matthew.”
Cloe saw that the monsignor had picked up the coffeepot and was moving around the table, pouring coffee for those who wanted it. She marked that as an attribute of a servant leader and wondered whether she had judged the monsignor too harshly. Time would tell.
The monsignor resumed the narrative. “The Gospels of Mark and Luke were written a bit after Matthew’s, and the Gospel of John was written about the early nineties, all still within the first century AD and within sixty or so years of Christ’s death.
“The proximity of the events of the day to their chronicling in these Gospels provides the certification of their authenticity. There is also the fact that some of the Apostles had protégés who studied under them. Many of these students were located in far-flung areas of the Roman Empire. Imagine the power and authority a person would have if he could truthfully say he had been tutored directly by one of the Apostles. This is how the early Church grew and prospered. This is one reason why the Church is referred to as ‘Apostolic.’”
“This is very exciting … enormously exciting,” said Dr. Harrell. “If the manuscript we have removed from the jar dates to a time comparable to the Gospel of St. John, it could be incredibly significant, both from an antiquities standpoint and from a doctrinal standpoint. It could be a huge double whammy in the religious and scientific worlds.”
Cloe reflected on the initial insistence of the LSU scholars that this was a purely scientific inquiry and had no religious overtones. Apparently, she thought, listening to Dr. Harrell now, they no longer clung to that view.
“As we said when we started this exercise, this could be the most important relic to be recovered since the birth of Christ,” stated the monsignor.
“Except, Monsignor, how could you know to follow this particular lead?” questioned Cloe. “There must be hundreds or thousands of excavations each year in the Middle East—and elsewhere—that produce interesting jars, pottery, markings, writings, and the like. Something has stirred the Vatican’s interest in this particular jar. Why is this jar from the humble mantelpiece of an old soldier in south Louisiana so important to the Holy See?”
“A fair question,” he responded. “I’m not the only operative that the Vatican has in place to pursue these kinds of discoveries. There are others. And you are correct that we have many leads to pursue. But once we learned where it had been found, the Vatican thought this discovery might have promise. We were aware that certain groups had been active in securing ancient relics in this area. Thus, the jar had a high level of interest for us from early on in our involvement. Also, we became aware of the language on the outside of that jar. Thib also told us about the niche where it was found. If you remember, my predecessor sent Polaroid pictures back to the Vatican years ago. We have been waiting. We have been watching.”
“Waiting,” said Cloe. “Waiting so long, watching. Is that how it goes? Were you never anxious to find out what the jar contained?”
“Cloe, the Church is not anxious,” said the monsignor, looking upon her kindly. “Time and space have no real hold on the universal Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Men come and go, but the Church is immutable and immortal and continues its service to mankind. Had it been a half a millennium instead of a half-century to get to the truth of the jar and its contents, the Church still would have been there. We are here now, and our waiting is at an end.”
CHAPTER 28
The man thought about his options for securing the jar. He had excellent intelligence and knew what was happening in the Louisiana city called Baton Rouge in almost real time. New agents were also in position. In fact, he had parallel forces in place. Truth be told, he had spies even in the Vatican itself.
He had sent the Gulfstream V to America with several trusted Armenian servants who were now triply ready to serve him. They would cut the hearts out of everyone involved if he instructed them to take the jar by force. The leader of the group had been tasked with recruiting some of the local criminal population to help with certain elements of the operation.
When his untraceable cell phone rang, he answered promptly. “Yes?”
“Master, I have made contact with the appropriate representatives here in New Orleans,” said the familiar voice of his field general. “All is in order, and I have secured the services of adequate retainers for our project.”
The man knew better than to question the agent on recruitment particulars. He knew his commander would have vetted the personnel far more thoroughly than even he himself could have. He simply said, “Well done.” He also knew the soldier’s tactical preparation and execution were second to none. Now the question moved to the best strategy to be employed to achieve the objective.
“Do you have instructions for me?” queried the warrior servant.
“I have been contemplating different strategies, but I believe the best thing now is to have patience. With the people in charge still on high alert after the last show, caution is advised. The actors in the play are also watchful.”
Despite the safeguards on his phone, the man and his employees remained circumspect in their conversations. With the expectation that the CIA or the Mossad might randomly intercept their cell phone traffic, they avoided key words or phrases that would trigger their infernal computer programs for closer scrutiny.
He continued, “Perhaps it is best to enjoy the play and to see what develops and how it ends. In the meantime, we will know what they learn almost as soon as they discover it. Best to let them do the work and look for our opportunity.”
“A wise approach, sir. I shall deploy our resources in a strategic manner, and we shall await your advice.” As always, the soldier on the other end of the phone was a faithful servant of few words.
“Very well, my old friend. Please see to it and make sure our people are aware of the reward for success and the price of failure in my service,” said the man as he snapped the phone shut.
CHAPTER 29
Early Sunday afternoon, back in the original photo lab, laid out on the central optical field table, each page of the manuscript was being carefully photographed with film, infrared, and digital cameras in order to make a complete record. Meanwhile, Cloe and the others had donned the usual lab coats, plus face masks meant to shield the manuscript from any bacteria or other contaminants that might be present. Cloe thought that they must look like something from a science fiction movie about one of those deadly plagues infecting the earth.
Dr. Harrell glanced around at the assembly and said, “Cloe, please look at the first few pages of the manuscript and see if you can get anything from them. Mike has read the manuscript, and he’s working on a translation, but a real understanding will take a team of scholars and many months or years. Your insights would be very valuable at this point.”
Cloe walked forward to the table. Somehow her entire career had come to this moment. Excitement and anxiety coursed through her. She bent over and carefully examined the manuscript. What was the binding? Was it leather or some other animal skin? Yes, the latter for lack of a more precise descriptor.
As Cloe examined the cover, the thought struck her, as it had many times in her investigations of historical documents, that almost everything the ancients did was meant to last millennia. Their cunning in understanding and adapting their meager materials to the task at hand was extraordinary. The manuscript was in surprisingly good external condition considering its age. Cloe had books only a few years old that were in worse shape. Of course, they were of modern materials and construction.
“Has the paper been confirmed as papyrus?” she asked, turning and looking at Dr. Harrell. Mentally, she was clicking through her checklist of relevant points.
“Yes,” responded Dr. Harrell immediately. “Mike says it is consistent with the age and time to which it has been dated. That is to say, we still believe the end of the first century is about right but perhaps as late as midway into the second century. The ink analysis shows a carbon-based pigment that was oil- or resin-bound of a general type that had been in use for centuries. It was in common use in the first and second centuries.”
“The lettering is certainly ancient Greek,” Cloe said, turning back to the papyrus. “But it is written with a flourish and style that suggest an author other than some anonymous monk routinely transcribing ancient literature. My initial thought is that this is the original document rather than a handwritten copy. Of course, this is just an impression, but I would view this point as possibly very important. Much of the writing and certainly all of the copying in that era was delegated to scribes who did this for a living. Their efforts were consistent and predictable. This work was written by someone, I believe, in some position of authority who was fully aware of the importance of what he was doing. I cannot get over the impression of drama and urgency in the script that I’m reading.”
“How can you tell that?” asked J.E., looking over his mother’s shoulder at the text as if he could make something of it.
“Just intuition, of course. But after looking at many, many ancient manuscripts, one develops a sense about them. Call it an intelligent guess. But Dr. Harrell is quite right. A team of experts will need a great deal of time to go through the manuscript to arrive at anything definitive,” Cloe said. “Another thing that is striking is the thinness of the document.”
Dr. Harrell nodded. “The manuscript contains about twenty pages, but unfortunately, some of them have been partially or completely corrupted over time,” he said, somewhat dejectedly. “This is due not to the paper but rather to the deterioration or smudging of the ink under the conditions in the jar. We know whoever placed the document in the jar went to some lengths to try to preserve it. But the smudging suggests the jar was moved one or more times or otherwise handled in some way. A rough sea voyage could explain such smearing.”
“Equally possible,” agreed Cloe. “And maybe more plausible is the notion that the manuscript itself was moved, read, or handled to some substantial degree before it was sealed in the jar. This could also account for the smudging.”
“There are techniques to isolate the smudging and to clarify the writing, but these will take time and effort,” said Dean Broussard. “In due course, we shall see what the entire writing says.”
The lab was silent for a long moment as the group absorbed this information and then telescoped out the natural progression of events based on what they now thought. Cloe knew it would be a slog from here. This was the way of scientific discovery—miles and miles of effort possibly leading to one “eureka” moment, or not in many cases. They were on the front end of the bell curve of effort. Time would tell.
“While there’s certainly a great deal of work to do, there is one thing we can complete now,” said Dr. Harrell.
Cloe’s curiosity rose. “What’s that?”
“Well, there’s little doubt an important discovery has been made. Under such circumstances it is customary to assign a name to the discovery. Sometimes the name is after the place where the discovery was made, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, or after the person who made the discovery. An example would be the Salk Vaccine after Dr. Jonas Salk, who discovered the vaccine against polio.”
“Hmm,” said Father Al, chuckling. “We can’t very well name it the Mantelpiece Manuscript, but that was certainly where we found it—on the mantelpiece at Thib’s house.”
“Before that it was discovered by Thib in a cave in North Africa, but we don’t know exactly where,” added the monsignor.
“There’s only one proper name for this manuscript,” said the old priest with a smile. “It shall be the Lejeune Manuscript after Thib who found it and now Cloe, given her efforts to unlock its secrets.”
There was general agreement on this, and everyone looked at Cloe, who was smiling through the tears in her eyes. She thought her dad would be proud.
“The Lejeune Manuscript it is,” she confirmed. “But only after Thibodeaux Lejeune, the discoverer of the jar and its contents.”
***
With that decided, Cloe knew there was much to be done. “What remains now is the hard work of translating the text of the Lejeune Manuscript,” she said finally. “If we spend only a half day on each of the pages, it will take at least two weeks to draft a working translation. That’s if we can translate all the smudged pages. Even that would be extremely tentative due to the distortion of some of the pages. It may take months or years to come to a translation consensus.”
Cloe felt her energy level draw down at the prospect of the long effort ahead of them. Well, what had she expected? She had promised Thib she would unlock the secrets of the jar, and she would do whatever it took to do so. Time and tide would tell the tale, or so her mother had often incorrectly said. But it seemed appropriate in this instance.
“Well, that means we have done what can be done, and we have certainly been witnesses to a great event,” said Father Al in his usual upbeat manner. “It sounds like it is time for me to return home to Madisonville and to my flock. We all know how the sheep will scatter when the shepherd is away for too long,” he concluded with a smile.
“And Dr. Harrell and I have been away from our daily duties as long as is prudent in any event,” added Dean Broussard. “However, we will make special arrangements for you, Cloe, if you wish to stay here and work on the translation. The full resources of our labs and of Mike will be available to you. You are really the only one of us qualified to make the translation. The ball is in your court if you want it.”
Cloe considered this and her promise to her father when she had read his letter. A leave of absence from her work in Seattle could be arranged without too much fuss. In fact, as she thought about it, the university would probably insist on her remaining on the job in Louisiana. What better use of her time as the vice-chair, and hopefully soon-to-be-chair, of the Department of Ancient Languages of her alma mater than to investigate the authenticity and content of an ancient Greek tome that might be the earliest known edition of the Gospel of Judas Iscariot? Not only would they give her the time off from her duties in Seattle, but they would likely insist that she do this on the university’s dime and be prepared to lecture and write about it when she returned.
No matter what she found hereafter in her examination of the jar, the opportunity itself would be a huge boost to her career. Should she find and translate something extraordinary, there might be no limit to the heights she could attain in her discipline. And as she had promised Thib, she would find the answer to the jar. In spite of the attempt on her life and her father’s murder, she would find out who wanted it so badly and why.
“Dean Broussard, your accommodation is very much appreciated,” she said. “I’ll make the necessary arrangements in Seattle, but I’m confident I will be able to see this project to fruition.” Cloe was once again energized and anxious to proceed.
The monsignor stepped forward. “I too am willing to work on the project. While the Signorina is very able and versed in ancient languages, including Greek, I believe my knowledge of religious events, customs, and usages will prove valuable in getting to the meaning of the Lejeune Manuscript, or at least those parts that are still readable. Also, I’m the only one of our group who is familiar with the existing Coptic Judas Gospel, the one that dates to the third or fourth century. It is very possible that the Gospel from our jar is an earlier version of that Gospel. A comparison of the two could be extremely significant.”
And so it was decided that the monsignor and Cloe would stay and work on the Lejeune Manuscript. J.E. and the Swiss Guards would provide security and logistics.
The group had come together over strange and extremely trying circumstances. As a result, the bond that had formed between them was as strong as the mystery on which they worked was deep. No one wanted to break this link, so they decided that farewell was the correct note of departure. Dean Broussard and Dr. Harrell said they would check in daily. Father Al seemed satisfied with Cloe’s promise to keep him apprised of their progress. Nevertheless, he and Cloe both had tears in their eyes early the next morning as he climbed in the monsignor’s car for the ride back to Madisonville.
Cloe looked after the car until it was out of sight and wondered when she would next see that kindly, gentle servant of God.
CHAPTER 30
The phone rang Monday morning, not long after Father Al had departed, in the hotel room where Cloe and J.E. were discussing the Judas Gospel. J.E. picked it up and listened intently to the voice on the other end. Cloe could see his shoulders slump and the steel go out of his young body. After a while, he responded quietly and rang off. He turned, ashen-faced, to Cloe and said, “That was the chief from the campus police. There’s been a terrible accident.”
“What is it?” she asked softly with a dread and trepidation as deep as any she had ever experienced.
