The point is that this dexterity was thoroughly taught me only a few days before this event by a Greek priest from Turkey, who, persecuted by Turks for his political convictions, had been compelled to flee from there, and having arrived in our town had been hired by my parents as a teacher for me of the modern Greek language. BTG I

I do not know on which data he based his political convictions and ideas, but I very well remember that in all the conversations of this Greek priest, even while explaining to me the difference between the words of exclamation in the ancient and in modern Greek, there were indeed always very clearly discernible his dreams of getting as soon as possible to the island of Crete and there manifesting himself as befits a true patriot. BTG I

“As almost all my personal activities, my boy, during that second descent of mine were connected with the external circumstances of this priest Abdil and as T happened to have during this descent of mine a great deal of trouble on his account, I shall tell you more or less in detail about this three-brained being there; and moreover, you will at the same time understand from these tales about him, the results I then attained for the purpose of uprooting from the strange psyche of your favorites the need to destroy the existence of beings of other forms in order to ‘please’ and ‘appease’ their gods and revered idols. BTG XIX

“Although this terrestrial being, who afterwards be came for me like one of my kinsmen, was not a priest of the highest rank, yet he was well versed in all the details of the teaching of the religion then dominant in the whole country Tikliamish; and he also knew the psyche of the followers of that religion, particularly, of course, the psyche of the beings belonging to his what is called ‘congregation’ for whom he was ‘priest’. BTG XIX

“Soon after we were on ‘good terms’ with each other, I discovered that in the Being of this priest Abdil — owing to very many external circumstances among which were also heredity and the conditions under which he had been prepared for a responsible being — the function called ‘conscience’ which ought to be present in every three-centered being, had not yet been quite atrophied in him, so that after he had cognized with his Reason certain cosmic truths I had explained to him, he immediately acquired in his presence towards the beings around him, similar to him, almost that attitude which should be in all normal three-brained beings of the whole Universe, that is to say, he became as it is also said there, ‘compassionate’, and ‘sensitive’ towards the beings surrounding him. BTG XIX

“Before telling you more about this priest Abdil, I must make clear to your Reason, that there on the continent of Ashhark, the mentioned terrible custom of Sacrificial-Offerings was at that time, as it is said, at its ‘height’, and the destruction of various weak one-brained and two-brained beings proceeded everywhere in incalculable numbers. BTG XIX

“Well, then, my boy, during the early days of my sojourn in the town Koorkalai, I often talked on various subjects with this mentioned friend of mine, the priest Abdil, but, of course, I never spoke with him about such questions as might reveal my real nature. BTG XIX

“Having said all this to my friend, the priest Abdil, I said further: “‘And what is most distressing is that every man who destroys the existence of other beings, in honor of his honored idols, does so with all his heart, and is convinced beyond all doubt that he is doing a ‘good” deed. BTG XIX

“In short, the final outcome of it all was that this priest Abdil eventually began to cognize and sense concerning the custom of Sacrificial-Offerings almost as in reality he should have done. BTG XIX

“Several days after this conversation of ours, there occurred one of the two large religious festivals of the whole of Tikliamish, called ‘Zadik’; and in the temple where my friend Abdil was the chief priest, instead of delivering the usual sermon after the temple ceremony, he suddenly began speaking about Sacrificial-Offerings. BTG XIX

“It is interesting to notice, that it was the custom then, for priests to exist simply on the offerings of their parishioners, and this priest Abdil had also been in the habit of receiving from parishioners all kinds of food for his ordinary existence, as for instance, roast and boiled ‘corpses’ of beings of various exterior forms, such as ‘chickens’, ‘sheep’, ‘geese’, and so on. But after this famous speech of his nobody brought him any of these customary offerings but brought or sent him only fruits, flowers, handiwork, and so on. BTG XIX

“Day by day the number of this priest Abdil’s enemies increased, and they spread new slanders and innuendoes about him in order to lower or destroy his popularity and significance. BTG XIX

“His colleagues began delivering addresses in their temples proving exactly the opposite of all that the priest Abdil had preached. BTG XIX

“My friend here turned out to be the proprietor of a large Chaihana; and although I became, as it is said there, on very good terms with him, nevertheless I never had that strange ‘tie’ with him which arose in my essence towards the priest Abdil in the city Koorkalai. BTG XX

” It was those who became worthy to become such an All-the-rights-possessing brother of the brotherhood Heechtvori who were first called by the name of ‘priest’. “For your complete elucidation concerning the Very Saintly Activities of Ashiata Shiemash, you must also know that afterwards, when all the results of the Very Saintly Labors of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash were destroyed, both this word priest there and also the word ate about which I have already told you, were used and still continue to be used by your favorites down to present time in two quite different senses. In one sense this word priest was since then and now still is commonly used, but only in certain places and for unimportant separate groups of those professionals existing there whom everybody now calls there ‘confessors’ or ‘clergymen. BTG XXVII

“And in the other sense, those beings were called and are still called by this word priest who by their pious existence and by the merits of their acts performed for the good of those around them, stand out so much from the rank and file of the ordinary three-brained beings there, that whenever these ordinary beings there have occasion to remember them, there arises and proceeds in their presences the process called ‘gratitude’. BTG XXVII

“For instance, let us suppose that the leader of the given ceremony, the priest, or according to contemporaries, the clergyman, has to raise his arms towards Heaven. BTG XXX

“Further, that same half of the copy of the Boolmarshano happened to get this time to the continent of Asia and, again passing from hand to hand, passed in the middle of my sixth descent there, by inheritance from his grandfather, just to that Aisorian priest by whom I saw it for the first time. BTG XLIV

“Having learned in this way that the aforesaid Aisorian priest possessed the half I referred to of the copy of the original Boolmarshano created personally by Makary Kronbernkzion, and likewise having learned that the same Aisorian priest existed on the continent Asia in the locality called ‘Urmia’, I went there and, having found him, soon made it clear that indeed he had a very ancient and, as he expressed it, ‘shapeless large ivory mass’ which he himself considered very antique and valuable. BTG XLIV

“Soon after our beings departed from this planet, a certain Armanatoora who had belonged to the epoch of the blossoming of the Tikliamishian civilization, and who was by profession a priest — but from among those of this profession whom others regarded as ‘learned priests’ — was the first who built up a whole ‘religious teaching’ based on this maleficent idea. BTG XLIV