9 only a small black spot left at the top of my toe In one more

day all the gangrene was gone.'

Daskalos then proceeded to explain the karmic connection between himself and the baby whose baptism had to be postponed for a week until Daskalos had recovered from his ordeal.

'Several centuries ago,' Daskalos began, 'this baby was a sailor in the Byzantine navy. He was a poor man who had to spend months and sometimes even years away from his wife, a very beautiful woman. During one of his voyages a Byzantine aristocrat set his eyes on his wife and started having an affair with her. When the sailor returned she abandoned him for her lover. In his bitterness and rage he joined a group of pirates who eventually made him their leader. With their three boats they became a menace to Byzantium and other ships.

'At that time I was Italian, the son of the charge d'affaires of Venice to Constantinople. I lived in Venice with my mother who was estranged from my father. So every two years I would make the trip from Venice to Byzantium to see my father. In all my travels to Constantinople I was always escorted by my governess, a fat old woman. During one of these trips, on our return home, just as our boat was passing by Sicily we were attacked by these pirates. I was then sixteen years old. The Byzantine pirates took off my clothes, which were embroidered with gold, and dressed me in rags. My governess was put to death along with other older passengers. They had no use for them. They took the rest of us who appeared young and strong to their stronghold in order to sell us as slaves. Their base was a town on the Moroccan coast. They had their tower there. It was a slave market for both men and women. A black Arab bought me after he checked my teeth to see whether I was fit. As I was being led away I looked back and felt affection for that Byzantine pirate. I can't explain why.

'I was in slavery for three years. The living conditions were deplorable. My hair was falling out. I turned yellow and lost many of my teeth. I got very sick. When the pirate boats arrived again, my Arab master took me to the Byzantine pirate and demanded his money back. The pirate protested. He said, "This is not the way I sold him to you. I expected you to use him as your personal servant and not to let him get sick like

this." They quarreled for awhile and then the Byzantine pirate gave something to the Arab and took me back. I sat on a rock and let my body rest on a low wall. I looked into the eyes of the pirate and said, "How could you do this to me, a fellow Christian? Why couldn't you at least have taken me as your personal servant? How could a Christian like you sell me, a Christian?" He shouted angrily at me, "You are not a Christian. You are a Frank [Catholic]," and struck me on the face. In his rage he signaled his men to finish me off. As they jumped on me, piercing their swords into my belly, he changed his mind. Apparently his conscience awakened after what I had said to him. He rushed to stop the others from what they were doing but it was too late. I departed. He then took my body, folded the rag in which I had been dressed, kissed it and put it into his chest. After that he wrapped me in clean white clothes and took me to an Orthodox priest for burial. Byzantine pirates,' Daskalos went on to explain, 'used to set up colonies of their own along the Moroccan coast and had among them priests who had either been defrocked by the Church or were rebels of one sort or another.

'This priest refused to carry out the burial rites because I was a "Frank." The pirate then buried me himself and read all the appropriate prayers. He put a cross on my tomb and stood vigil all night long. Then he decided to give up piracy. He gathered whatever jewelry and money he could carry and asked one of his men to take over the leadership. He told them he was tired of piracy and had decided to settle down. I could see him from the psychic worlds and felt compassion for him. He then went to another Orthodox priest in Sicily and confessed. He asked the priest to give him a robe because he had decided to become a hermit. He took the robe and went off. Every night he would use my clothes as his pillow. A year and a half later he got sick. His belly expanded and he died. I have never met him since.

'As far as I know that was the first time I met him. The second time is now, as this baby. God only knows how much Karma he must have paid along the way, with all the murders and plunders he had committed as a pirate.

'When I went to baptize him,' Daskalos continued, 'the baby behaved in a rather strange way. He took my finger and wouldn't let go. He kept crying and looking into my eyes. He

KARMA 7 I