Chapter 306 - 230: The Call of the East

Just then, the wooden door was pushed open, and in walked none other than Saint Gregory.

"I told him that if he’d rather trust Rudolph than his own dear friend, then it would be best for me to return to Cluny," Gerard’s Otto whispered to Eric with a smile.

"I am not so old that I’ve gone deaf, Otto," Gregory said.

"All for God, Holy Father." Gerard’s Otto smiled and bowed to Gregory.

"All for God," Gregory repeated. He glanced out the window at Emperor Henry, prostrate on the ground. "You are moved by pity, and so you forget his sins."

"Perhaps we could speak with one of the bishops accompanying the Emperor?" Eric suggested.

"The Emperor’s bishops have all been excommunicated!"

Gregory grew agitated. He could not tolerate a pack of illiterates, a mob of godless laymen, serving as Bishops. But what he found even more intolerable was that these worldly fanatics, these fiends of a secular Emperor, would dare question his authority as the successor to Saint Peter.

They actually stood by the Emperor’s side, choosing to make an enemy of the Holy Roman Curia.

They were even more detestable than the Emperor himself. "He still brings them with him, still keeps their company. This is intolerable."

"For the good of the Church, we must find common ground. As the Marquis said, we must also consider Jerusalem.

Just as you promised the other day, and we all know that all Christians in the West now yearn for the liberation of the Holy City," Gerard’s Otto continued.

"The Christians of the East are still being tormented by heretics. The Emperor of Constantinople has long pleaded for aid, and the Greeks have proven themselves incapable of protecting the Eastern Church.

We all know the excommunication of the Eastern Church thirty years ago stemmed from a misunderstanding. The Holy See, yourself included, has been trying to mend the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches and correct the mistakes made during the *sede vacante*.

Responding to this call for aid from the East presents an unprecedented opportunity—the Eastern and Western Churches may once again become one! It would be a reunification of the two universal empires, East and West, for the first time since Theodosius the Great.

This will undoubtedly be a joy to Christ, for in accordance with His will and His prophecy, His heavenly Kingdom will, a thousand years hence, descend upon the Earth!" Eric chimed in, seizing the moment.

He then gestured to Gerard’s Otto, signaling for him to add more fuel to the fire.

"The Turkic People have brought widespread and severe persecution across Cappadocia, Romania (the Byzantine Empire), and Syria. They have invaded and despoiled Palestine, Jerusalem, and the Holy Sepulchre. They have occupied Armenia, Syria, and Greece, reaching as far as the sea known as the ’Arm of St. George.’

Countless Christians have been slain—children and the elderly, nobles and peasants, priests and monks alike have suffered the profound misery of being sodomized by the Turkic People. Many are forced into circumcision, while noblewomen and their daughters are brutally ravaged. The sacred Empire of the Greeks is besieged on all fronts by these heretics.

With Jerusalem under the control of heretics, Christians who refuse to abandon the Holy Sepulchre are forced to bear an ever-increasing tax burden, and various other persecutions have followed. Even the Jews, who usually thrive under heretical rule, have been persecuted, and many of their synagogues have been burned to the ground.

We know the Greeks are cunning, greedy, and prone to exaggeration. We know some of the knights and soldiers sent to aid Constantinople have been pulled into their endless civil wars. But what of the Western pilgrims? What do those who have returned from the East these past few years have to say?

Torture and violence against Christians are rampant in the East.

The Turkic People—a foreign race, a people forsaken by God... they have invaded Christian lands, depopulated them through fire and sword, and carried Christians away into captivity, far from their homelands.

If the kingdoms of the Christians fall into the hands of the Turkic People, the tomb of the Lord will be lost forever. Hilbrand... Holy Father," Gerard’s Otto finished, his narration to Gregory earnest and filled with pity.

He was attempting to make Gregory remain rational and make the most prudent choice for the situation.

Gregory looked from Gerard’s Otto to Eric. He felt abandoned.

Finally, he looked to Matilda.

"Daughter, what is your opinion? You are the mistress of this place. I entrust this decision to you," Gregory said with a sigh.

"Someone must play the benevolent role in the Emperor’s eyes. It will make him easier to guide, Holy Father," Matilda said.

"Fine... The heretics have saved him. Let him enter. He should have knelt for three days and nights, yet it has been but a single morning."

Gregory glanced down at Henry, prostrate and mud-caked on the ground below the tower, and gave a cold snort.

.....

Gerard’s Otto almost immediately informed Siegfried, the Archbishop of Mainz, of the news that the Holy See’s stance had softened.

The Archbishop was overjoyed. The dispute between the Emperor and the Pope had long left him caught in the middle, unsure of how to act.

He knew Gregory’s actions were in accordance with doctrine, and indeed, were duties the Church should have been fulfilling for centuries. But it was the Emperor who had bestowed everything upon him.

He went with Gerard’s Otto to inform the penitent Emperor.

Suddenly, the castle gates swung open, taking Henry completely by surprise.