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400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
…thought, when all is said and done, as others and we ourselves have observed before, is like a great ball of thread coiled around itself, loose in places, taut in others, inside our head. It is impossible to know its full extent, one would have to unwind and then measure it, but however hard one tries or pretends to try, this cannot be done without assistance. One day, someone will come and tell us where to cut the cord that ties man to his navel and thought to its origin.
…human words are like shadows, and shadows cannot explain light, and between shadow and light stands the opaque body from which words are born.
…forgetting is all too easy, that is life.
Jesus realized then that he had been tricked, as the lamb led to sacrifice is tricked, and that his life had been planned for death from the very beginning. Remembering the river of blood and suffering that would flow from his side and flood the globe, he called out to the open sky, where God could be seen smiling, Men, forgive Him, for He knows not what He has done.If the book had been written before 1826, the year of the last execution under the Spanish Inquisition, Jose Saramago would undoubtedly have been burnt at the stake. (The last person to die on the Spanish Inquisition, Cayetano Ripoll, was hung by the civil authorities, much to the annoyance of the Church who buried him in a barrel painted in flames to compensate for this unwarranted act of secular generosity). It is no surprise that the Catholic Church tried to get the book banned, not just because it is subversive but also because it is pretty entertaining.
Χριστός Παντοκράτωρ, τοιχογραφία 12ου αιώνα,
Παναγία του Άρακα, Λαγουδερά, Τρόοδος, Κύπρος
Xριστός Παντοκράτωρ, ψηφιδωτό 13ου αιώνα, Αγία Σοφία,
Κωνσταντινούπολη, Τουρκία
Xριστός Παντοκράτωρ, ψηφιδωτό 11ου αιώνα,
Μονή Δαφνίου, Χαϊδάρι, Ελλάδα
Xριστός Παντοκράτωρ, ψηφιδωτό 12ου αιώνα,
Καπέλα Παλάτινα, Παλέρμο, Σικελία, Ιταλία
Xριστός Παντοκράτωρ, Αγιογραφία 6ου αιώνα,
Μονή Αγίας Αικατερίνης, Όρος Σινά, Αίγυπτος