3 assuming the Karma himself that had to be paid 'But,'

Daskalos went on, i am afraid he is beginning to suspect something.'

When Theophanis came in the following day I asked him to describe to me exactly what had happened the day Daskalos cured himself. He, repeated the same story, including the incident with the Turkish woman. Daskalos was not present when I conversed with Theophanis about this incident.

Memories

Daskalos and Iacovos arrived at our home in the early evening to have supper with us. We had no agenda to discuss anything specific but I knew that with Daskalos there could be no dull moments. I remember how much I laughed one night when Daskalos narrated one hilarious incident after another. I was still laughing when I reached home and the laughter severely irritated my throat.

It was Friday, three weeks before Easter. I had completely forgotten that in the Greek Orthodox religion this was a period of fasting. Believers were expected to avoid meat, meat products, poultry, fish, even milk, cheese and eggs. I wondered whether Daskalos followed these nutritional guidelines of Orthodoxy as the dinner we prepared was hardly vegetarian.

'A priest eating chicken during Holy Week was caught by a bishop,' Daskalos mused as he worked on a crispy wing of the roasted chicken. ' "Your Grace," the priest said to the annoyed bishop, "each Sunday I transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Why can I not transform chicken into vegetables?" '

On that note Daskalos began to reminisce on his turbulent reladonship with the Greek Orthodox hierarchy. Twenty-five years ago Daskalos, at the instigation of several Greek theologians, was labeled by the Cypriot bishops as an instrument of the devil and was brought in front of a religious tribunal for his excommunication. The tribunal was composed of the bishops and six theologians from Greece. The Archbishop was on an extended tour of the United States and Europe.

'They accused me of using satanic powers to perform acts of magic. They even claimed that I forced my daughter to dance on a rope! These bishops and a few archimandrites knelt in front of the Holy Altar day and night anathematizing my name. During the proceedings one of the bishops asked me whether I

MEMORIES 7 5 was in contact with spirits. "Yes. What is wrong with that?" I replied. "Had you known your Bible well, you should have known that there is nothing wrong in contacting the spirits." Then he asked me to raise my right arm and repeat after him, "I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible...." They assumed that had I been the devil I would not be able to recite the prayer and mention God's name. I raised my arm as he instructed me and said the prayer. After I finished I lost my patience. "These fools," I exploded, and pointed my finger at the stern faces of the six theologians, "are poisoning our church. You had better send them back where they came from because what happened today is a disgrace to the church." '

Fortunately for Daskalos Archbishop Makarios cancelled the proceedings. When he learned about what his bishops were doing in his absence (he was in America at the time), he sent a cable instructing that they should 'stop the nonsense' until his return.

'The Archbishop told me later not to be bothered by those "half-crazed illiterate bishops." '

'Why would the Archbishop interfere on your behalf?' I wondered.

'He was my friend,' Daskalos said with a foxy smile. He then revealed to us that the Archbishop regularly received taped talks and messages from Daskalos.

After our conversation on Daskalos' adventure with the local clergy the conversation shifted to Daskalos' early life. His father, I was somewhat surprised to find out, was half Scot and half Greek. After a successful career as an admiral in the Briti#i navy his father was knighted by the king. Daskalos inherited this aristocratic title but repudiated it and returned it to the British throne in protest against the maltreatment of Greek Cypriots by the British colonial authorities during the under- ground guerrilla war of the 1950s.

'My father was a tough rigid man who showed little outward affection towards me. He wished to make a British military officer out of me and demanded that all of us in the family speak English instead of Greek. I resented this pressure, but, desperately craving my father's affection and approval, I joined the British army and became an officer. I remember the

day I completed my training and returned home dressed up in my uniform. Everyone remarked how tall and handsome an officer I was. I looked at myself in the mirror and all I could see was a belted mule,' Daskalos concluded, roaring with laughter. 'When I completed my training I visited my father in his office. I expected a warm welcome but received, instead, cool instructions from his secretary to wait for him. When I entered his office an hour later he was as distant and aloof as ever. He asked me to have a seat and then offered me a cigarette. I was terribly distressed when he began to address me as "Captain." "Have a cigarette, Captain." "No thank you. I do not smoke in front of my father," I replied. After I returned home I informed my mother that as far as I was concerned, my father was dead. I locked myself into my room, took off my uniform and belts, threw everything on the floor and stepped over them with rage. When my father returned home he came to my room. "Here is your Captain," I said, sobbing and pointing at the mess on the floor. "Behave yourself, Captain," he said, without any trace of emotion. What an English iceberg, I thought to myself. In spite of everything I still loved him. To have him as a father was like going through six incarnations,' Daskalos added, laughing.

it is difficult for me to identify any traces of English upbringing in your personality,' I marvelled.

'This shows,' Daskalos responded quickly, 'that environment does not play the determining role in the formation of personality as most of you social scientists assume.'

He then went on to point out that he particularly objected to his parents' aristocratic pretenses. His mother, although Greek herself, behaved like an English lady, and his parents' circle of friends revolved around the British governor's mansion. To escape the suffocating atmosphere of his home he spent the summers during his teenage years at the Stavrovouni monastery, an ancient citadel renowned for its austerity and located at the very top of a precipitous mountain. According to legend, Saint Helena, Emperor Constantine's mother, left a piece of the Holy Cross behind her during a visit to the island. Daskalos had access to the monastery because the abbot was his uncle.

'One day in July my parents came to visit me there. They wanted to know how I was spending my time. That day I was out in the fields working with other monks. I was dressed in a

MEMORIES 7 7