XIV.

1.  By order of the Governor, the soldiers seized upon Issa and the two thieves whom they conducted to the place of torture, where they nailed them to the crosses they had erected.

2.  All that day, the bodies of Issa and of the two thieves remained suspended, dripping with blood, under the guard of soldiers; the people stood around them, while the parents of the crucified men wept and prayed.

3.  At sunset, the agony of Issa came to an end.  He lost consciousness, and the soul of this just man detached itself from his body to become part of the Divinity.

4.  Thus ended the terrestrial existence of the reflection of the Eternal Spirit in the form of a man who had saved hardened sinners and endured so much suffering.

5.  Pilate, however, becoming alarmed at his own actions, gave up the body of the holy man to his relations, who buried him near the place of his execution; the multitude then came to pray over his tomb and filled the air with weeping and wailing.

6.  Three days later the Governor sent his soldiers to take up the body of Issa and bury it elsewhere, fearing a general uprising of the people.

7.  The following day the sepulcher was found open and empty by the multitude; and the rumor immediately spread that the Supreme Judge had sent His Angels to take away the mortal remains of the saint in whom dwelt on earth a part of the Divine Spirit.

8.  When this report came to the ears of Pilate he fell into a rage and forbade everyone, under penalty of perpetual slavery, to ever utter the name of Issa and to pray to the Lord for him.

9.  But the people continued to weep and praise their master aloud; therefore many were placed in captivity, subjected to torture and put to death.

10.  And the disciples of Saint Issa left the land of Israel and went in all directions among the pagans, telling them that they must abandoned their gross errors, think of the salvation of their souls, and of the perfect felicity in store for men in the enlightened and immaterial world where, in repose and in all His purity, dwells the Great Creator in perfect majesty.

11.  Many pagans, their kings and soldiers, listened to these preachers, abandoned their absurd beliefs, deserted their priests and their idols to sing the praises of the All-Wise Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings, Whose heart is filled with Infinite Mercy.