– Too bad you can't look at yourself. Although you wouldn't know what he looked like.
– Who am I? – Ruthra asked demandingly.
– You're currently in the body of Joseph of Arimathea – that's a respected rabbi, a local oligarch.
– Woah how… at the moment? – Rutra put the emphasis on that. – Well, thank you.
– Don't thank me, you are the protagonist. You are Jesus' mentor.
Ruthra widened his eyes in amazement.
– Believe me, there are a lot of dark spots in this world, or rather in the real gospel story, a lot of things are not at all as they have come down to us through the centuries.
– I'm in a hurry to find out.
– So do I. So I'd appreciate it if we could exchange the stories we know. First, to compare them, and second, to see if everything is identical.
– Okay. What do you know?
– I told you, I take the history of my world as a basis. That's why I need to know yours, so I can look up to it.
– And what are you interested in?
– Let's start with Maria. What do you think of yours?
Now Ruthra took a deep breath, walked a couple steps in silence, answered:
– About Maria. I'll start, perhaps, from afar. Her great-grandfather was a Maccabee. He was known to be fearsome. He was very strong. When he was young, they called him the hammer, because he could crack a nut with two fingers. By the way, "Maccabeus" from the Aramaic language, in which the majority of people spoke at that time, means "hammer", as if it means a hammer on enemies. And from this it already follows: once someone in the process of liberation struggle or other battle gave the group such a name.
– It's beginning to come together," said the Rabbi with satisfaction, which caused Rutra to glare at him. – I know the subject," continued the Rabbi, "originally it was the nickname of one Judah Maccabeus of the Hasmonean dynasty, who led the rebellion against the Syrian Greeks in 166-160 BC. Later it was applied to the other sons of Mattathias, a Jewish priest of the family of Jehoiarib… then it was extended to all defenders and confessors of the faith in general during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes.
– Oh. I see you're familiar with the subject.
– I was in those parts at the time.
– And what brings you there?
– Same topic. We wanted to change the process in one of the systems.
– What's the process? What's the bottom line?
– The story was that 90-year-old Eleazar and the seven Maccabee brothers, their mother Solomonia, who died in torture for refusing to eat pork, which, in addition to its prohibition under the Mosaic law…
– Wait, wait," Ruthra didn't let him finish, "let's go into more detail. They were in the vanguard of the liberation struggle. Why die for a pig? You could have eaten for the struggle. For victory. But if they died, there were no fighters.
– Come on. We don't know," the rabbi said sarcastically, referring to everyone but himself, in this context Rutru.
At least, that was the manner in which the earthly Rangit, familiar to Ruthra, often delivered his speeches. So Ruthra reacted silently, realizing the logical concept of his statement. He walked five paces away, and responded to the lunge:
– Well, you know you don't know, so why ask if you do? And the earthly history was this: the Hasmonean dynasty was the leader of the Jewish revolt against the Seleucids… a revolt caused by the Syrian kings' desire to forcibly Hellenize the Jews. Now, these Hasmoneans began initially a guerrilla war against the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes. They attacked from impregnable mountain hideouts, having made a general oath to fight even on the Sabbath. The Maccabean Hasmonean dynasty came to power as a result of a religious liberation revolt of the Jews against the cultural policies of the Seleucid power. An important result of the Hasmonean-led revolt is considered to be the establishment of an independent Jewish state centered in Jerusalem and the restoration of temple worship. In honor of this event, an eight-day festival called Hanukkah, meaning "consecration," was established.
– I'm a little familiar with history. You tell me your role, what was your purpose?
Rutru was a little perturbed by the unapologetic switch to you, even if he had suggested such a thing himself. "Although he said your part, who did he mean, me alone or the whole program?"
– What part? I wasn't there. You're the one who was infiltrating the world in that era. Weren't you?
Rangit didn't answer directly, he asked:
– So it's not a personal observation?
– No, of course not. This is the official story known to Earth science.
– Uh-huh. I see. And what does your story say?
– So, I've been thinking… Let's make a deal: you also explain if something doesn't agree with yours. So we know where the differences are. And even if it's the same, note it.
– I get your idea. Whenever I can.
Ruthra looked at him, expressing a question mixed with indignation. But when he caught his companion's smile, he thought, "How many worlds have you seen this in?" and developed the thought further in his thoughts: however different the worlds were, they were all subject to the same laws of physics, and therefore very similar. After all, the presence of the same sense organs in almost all living beings does not surprise us. And we consider the use of oxygen for the needs of the "internal combustion engine" of living organisms as an axiom.
– Now," continued Rutra, "it is well known that Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greco-Syrian king of the Seleucid Empire, ruled Judea at that time. This Epiphanes pursued a policy of Hellenization, in some places very harsh and cruel. The aim was to spread the Greek language and culture. In 167 B.C. Antiochus transformed the Temple of Jerusalem into a sanctuary of Zeus the Olympian. In it, the main Jewish sanctuary, pagan sacrifices began to be performed. Such actions caused a storm of resentment among the Jews, and eventually it became the cause of an armed rebellion in 166 B.C.; the signal for the rebellion was the murder by Mattathias of a fellow Jew who had sacrificed on an altar built by the Greeks. After that Mattathias and his family fled to the mountains and, already being persecuted, united rebel groups operating throughout Judea. It is fair to say that they rebelled without him, but he was their spiritual leader, which was the impetus for unification. Although he died a short time later, he had made some progress. At least his struggle resulted in the loss of Syrian administrative control in Judea, with the exception of Jerusalem.
Ruthra was abruptly silent, again for quite a long time, apparently unexpectedly for his companion, who kept looking back. Then, though he thought the question might be absurd, he asked, wanting confirmation of his knowledge:
– So what does all this have to do with your mission?
– Yours? – he received a more than ambiguous answer-question.
– And yet?
– Perhaps you want to do what we wanted to do in that world.
– We want to influence an event that should affect our world in a certain way.
– What was your problem? How and in what way do you want to affect it?
Suddenly Ruthra caught himself at his mistake. After all, this was the most important issue in the relationship between the two explorers. They were to have no secrets between them, which meant that the two worlds had already been explored, and now the third had to be added to it, like the third side of a triangle. Then to compare, calculate and deduce formulas, as once did Heron of Alexandria, well or other ancient figure of science, and not only ancient. After all, the method of comparison and comparison is applicable in their case, namely in transmigration of consciousness with the help of scientific postulates. There was no magic in it.
– There's a problem. Why else would I be here?
– I'd be interested to hear it.
– I don't know if I have the right. I don't even know what world you are from, or how our meeting will affect your world and mine, and their combined effect on each other.
– Strange principles your gods have equipped you with, my friend, I'm sorry.
– Hm," Ruthra snorted his displeasure, then explained, "Our Rangit is simpler and more rational, I'll tell you that. Gods? You mean the creators of the system? For the authors of the program can be considered creators.
– But I can't consider them, the authors of the program, as creators. They are too small and numerous compared to my capabilities.
– Oh, my! – Ruthra exclaimed cheerfully.
– Let's not multiply entities.
– It's kind of strange to hear Occam's inferences from a resident of the future.
– Why would you say that? I can quote Aristotle.
– Surely you as a world, since it is identical to ours, already know – Aristotle's statements, all his inferences, are false in the modern paradigm of logic.
– All right, then. Are you gonna let me in on your mission?
– I'd like to know about yours.
– Ha, you're a persistent sly one.
– Just a cautious researcher.
– It is very simple. If the Jews had Hellenized, accepted their pagan gods, then, first, they would not have been destroyed, and systematically, later on, because they would not have been against Jesus. Why? This is a big analysis that would take a lot of text. I can only give a hint, so far only one: Plato's philosophy.
Looking at his companion with squinted eyes, Ruthra replied to such with a shadow of irony:
– I'm guessing what you're basing it on.
– Agree, Jesus essentially carried the ideas of the beliefs of Hellenic culture, which is why both Greece itself and the Hellenic oikoumene so readily accepted his teachings. Although, to be precise, they shaped his teachings. You can find out more about this in a later post. You need to make a request to your center to be allowed to follow me on the chronology of some worlds.
– What do you want to show me?
– There are worlds in our system where Jesus is not killed on the cross. The Jews adopt first Hellenic culture and later Christian culture. This caused them to actually multiply – like the sand of the sea. If you remember, this is what God supposedly promised Abraham. But that is not the most important thing. Since there was no antagonism – Islam did not appear.
– But that's just in your system. In ours, on the contrary, Islam appeared six centuries after the death of Jesus. First as a separate branch of his teachings, which proclaimed the impossibility of God and the rejection of idolatry.
– Christianity already proclaims the rejection of idolatry.
– Proclaim proclaims proclaim, but they also proclaim the rejection of icons…do not make an idol of yourself and so on, but in reality....
– Uh-huh.
– So, in our world, not only Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism interact, let's say, but also Islam. That is, we have Islam together with them, a branch of one religion.
– How's that?
– It goes like this. Originally, and even now in many ways, Islam and Christian denominations, such as Orthodoxy, have a lot in common.
– Nothing is clear, but it's very interesting.
Having caught the incomprehension of his interlocutor, the mysterious world traveler hastened to explain his position:
– I'm kidding. And we have them in origin, a branch of the same religion. And we have a lot in common. For example, Jesus in Islam is Isa, Moses is Musa, Abraham is Ibrahim, and so on. And the history is very similar. I am more interested in how you decided to act, how to influence the world?
– We need to get the story straight first.
– With the rebellion?
– And with a sequel.
– And what was it? – The Rabbi asked with genuine interest.
To which Rutra had a legitimate question: Why is the rabbi so interested in this particular thing? After all, he is a participant himself. Although each of us would not be interested in what it would be like in life if we acted differently in this or that situation than we once did – how would our lives be different? Rutra decided to play his part, to develop the situation.
– Having quelled the revolt in Jerusalem, Antiochus Epiphanes further intensified his punitive measures against the Jews. He wanted to unite the Jews, or rather the Judeans, with the Greeks, or rather the Hellenes, in every possible way. That's the kind of thing. And, following the plan, he was not a stranger to any cruelty, which was characteristic of the ancient world, but for the modern world too. Antiochus issues a decree that all Jews must necessarily honor the Greek gods and must not perform the rites of their religion. Everywhere in Judea statues of pagan gods were erected on which pigs were sacrificed. The scrolls of the Holy Scriptures were covered with images of pagan gods. A large statue of Zeus was placed on the sacred altar of the Jerusalem temple, and worship was held before it. By the way, many became Hellenists and voluntarily obeyed Greek orders. Such apostates received honorable positions and generous rewards. But many still refused to betray their religion, hid in the mountains and in caves, and from there raided their own and strangers, in towns and villages. Does this ring a bell?
– Do you still get that?
– Don't you have one?
– We are all enlightened to the bone, literally and figuratively. The system of analysis, long before you are born, knows what you will be like, and even recommends parents to conceive in this or that period. To be more precise, conception is completely artificial.
– I see," Ruthra replied with a kind of doom and shared the situation in his world, "we have it, but it's very individual.
Said was yet another reason for the silence surrounding the understanding of worlds.
They walked on, looking at each other alternately, looking around and turning around. When they had walked fifteen paces in silence, the Bedouin pointed to a tree a little farther away from them. They had almost reached some sort of settlement, near which two donkeys were tethered. "Strange that no one has followed us," thought Ruthra.
– We are afraid of development, afraid of the consequences," Rutra expressed his vision of such a method of birth and continuation of the human race.
His companion looked at him questioningly again. It was very hot. Ruthra wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. The rabbi took out of his leather bag something that looked like a gourd. It was a kalebasa, a vessel made from the dried fruit of the bottle gourd. This or similar vessels for storing food, especially for drinks, had been used in the ancient world, and in some places even now, in different parts of the world, on different continents, so Rutra was not surprised at the Rabbi's suggestion to use a kalebat. He felt gratitude and some surprise – why Joseph, that is, he, did not have such a vessel. The Rabbi, having offered water, brought Rutra out of his reverie and continued his story about his worlds.
– You should be worried," he said, looking around while Joseph drank water. – At first we had it like you, too, and even blocked the pituitary gland through a chip so that it wouldn't ovulate, but then it all came to a bad end. Ladies began to use the reproductive system for their own purposes. To be more precise, the world was divided into male and female parts. Not all of it, of course, but the groups were huge, down to the countries. The battle began. That's actually why I'm here.
– What's the battle? Battle of the sexes?
– Yes, the great battle of the sexes. Women formed a matriarchal kingdom on the moon. Then they began to take over the countries. All of the Middle East and Asia Minor serve the matriarchy. The great Mairam reigns there.
– Oh, my God, wow.
– Yeah, that's the way it is. All because of a man's invention. He made it possible to fertilize an egg with a technique–" the rabbi hesitated a bit, "very classified, something with stem cells and chromosomes. And so it went. Women intercepted the technology and rejected men. And to be honest, they rejected men because men rejected them first.
– Android?
– Android.
– Light me in the dawn. It's the same everywhere.
– The worlds are parallel. What about you?
– We still have all of this experimentally, in its infancy, as it were. But it is a very promising direction.
