Page 388 - Revelation

Svetlana de Rohan-Levashova. Revelation

turned on his heels and left the room.

My heart sharply shrank. I missed my dear girl so much! I desperately wanted to
hug her! But I was in no hurry to rejoice. I knew Caraffa. I knew that he could cancel
everything just like that, if his mood changed a tiny bit. Therefore I mentally gathered
myself and, having little faith in the Pope’s promise, decided to take advantage of the
permission and visit the papal library which once had impressed me so much.
I wandered a bit in the familiar corridors and found the door I was looking for. I
pressed a diminutive elegant lever and found myself in the same enormous room with
books and handwritten scrolls up to the ceiling. Everything looked just as before, as if
nobody ever took the trouble to use this amazing well of somebody else’s wisdom;
although I knew that Caraffa carefully studied everything, even the plainest book and
each manuscript which got into this astonishing book treasury.

I did not hope to find quickly that in which I was interested in this chaos and
therefore I used my favourite method, that being "blind vision" (I think now we call
this process scanning) and at once saw a corner with piles of the manuscripts I was
looking for. There were thick and single-page ones, plain and embroidered with golden
threads. It seemed that they invited me to have a look at them and dive into the
captivating and mystic world of the Cathars about which I knew almost nothing, but
which implicitly attracted me even now, when Anna and I were threatened with
imminent danger without the least hope of rescue.
A plain and well read book, sewn together with rough threads caught my
attention. It looked weather-stained and lonely among the great number of thick books
and gilt scrolls. I looked at the cover and saw unknown letters which surprised me,
because I knew many of the languages known at that time. This raised my curiosity
even more. I carefully took the book, sat on a free from books window-sill, "tuned" in
to the unknown hand and began to "look at" the content...
The words lined up in a very unusual way, but they emanated such pleasant
warmth, as if the book truly spoke to me. I heard a soft, tender and very tired female

voice which tried to tell me her story.
If I got it right, it was somebody's short diary.
– My name is Esclarmonde de Pereille. I am a child of Light and a "daughter" of
Magdalena. I am a Cathar. I believe in Good and Knowledge, just as do my mother,
my husband and my friends.
– The story of a stranger sounded sadly. – Today I live my last day on this land. I cannot
believe it! The servants of Satan gave us two weeks. Tomorrow at dawn our time will
come to an end.

I had a lump in my throat. It was exactly what I was looking for – the story of an
eyewitness!!! It was the story of a person who experienced the horror and pain of
extermination, who knew what the death of family members and friends was, who was
a true Cathar!
Well, as it appeared, the Catholic Church lied unscrupulously about everything
and Caraffa was not the first to do that...

The church restlessly threw mud at the stranger faith, but at the same time the

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