CHAPTER 12. THE SAVED RELIC

April 12, 1997.

"And now, the next lot in our auction is a copy of the painting 'Madonna of Foligno' by Raphael, made in oil on canvas in the 18th century by an unknown artist..." one of the organizers of the auction said in a sonorous voice, after which the hall began to buzz chaotically, like an agitated beehive.

Among those who continuously contributed to this buzzing were two Italian nouveaux riches—thirty-year-old Gustavo de Giralamo and twenty-eight-year-old Tito Pantuzo.

"A wonderful copy, I must say!" Tito enthusiastically remarked to Gustavo. At that moment, an extraordinarily bright masquerade of ephemeral thoughts reigned in his mind and manifested its essence with all kinds of colors.

"I agree with you, but I'm more attracted to the personality of the unknown person who created this copy: who would have thought that this copy would be valued at such a fabulous sum today... I don't think he created it to sell, because back then people created from something, not for something, but if it had sold and brought him a tidy sum, and consequently temporary prosperity, and perhaps even recognition, he couldn't have helped but be sincerely happy about it..."

"I think I see mold in the corner of it..."

"Indeed... it looks like mold, but we need to look closer... You know, I was just thinking, mold never appears on a product that was bad from the start—it always appears where something good and healthy prospers: mold seeks out flaws in that which is good and healthy—either when there is an excess of it, or when the storage conditions are improper... But enough about mold, let's get back to the author of the painting! Perhaps back then, when he was creating this copy, no one saw a genius in him... There are few people in our world who are capable of seeing... and often, the final result of success is the only thing that can open people's eyes to this world: the final result of success is an alphabet for a first-grader... the one who truly sees and is capable of discerning will see genius and talent even before that very moment when it becomes successful and publicly recognized... The final result of success is criteria and categories for mediocrities, for they can only draw conclusions based on the finished work, and not on the process itself, which, in turn, is the personification of that genius, of that brilliance..."

"Did you hear?! Someone just said that the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is on fire—the place where the Shroud of Turin is kept..."

"The Almighty protects His relics, it cannot perish..."

"Exactly! They say the Shroud of Turin was saved..."

"And yet, someone once created that shroud as well... and only one event made it a sacred and holy relic for a multi-million-person religion, for billions of people, but... how many similar cloths did its author create then... and of even better quality, but it was this one that became sacred! And you know what else... if the Shroud of Turin had burned, its spirit, image, and sacredness would have been transferred to some other piece of fabric, entirely similar to it!... and somewhere in this, one can feel the breath of a wandering truth nearby, because the search for truth is inextricably linked with death—in order to know the metaphysical, the supra-human, you must kill the man in you, and become a substance outside of form and matter!"

"You understand yourself well, your own feelings—like a librarian within the confines of his orderly cell: you know where your delicate feelings-books are, and where your heavy folios are..."

"Well-noted! I call my feelings a nation—if their will is too tightly reined in, one day they will rebel, and then not only I will suffer, but all the people around me as well... However, you know... I prefer to embalm my feelings—to embalm them for one who will be worthy of tasting the nature of their essence... Just look at Raphael's 'Madonna' copy... at this auction, inanimate things are being sold by living people—inanimate things are arousing living emotions in people... Now look at those who organized this auction—they are smiling at all of us now, sending their smiles into the hall, and a little later, outside this show, they will shake hands with a select few and talk about serious things..."

"Every candy needs its wrapper... I'm looking at the 'Madonna' and you know what I see? I see how many talents in our world have been ruined by marriage to women—certainly no less than the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind!"

In an instant, as if he had caught and trapped a moment of insight, Gustavo de Giralamo very emotionally took a fifty-dollar bill from the right pocket of his trousers.

"Look, Tito, there's a portrait here too, and unlike the portraits being sold here, its price is always constant! It's amazing! But there's nothing supernatural in it for someone who is limited in their vision by the power of those who hold and create technology, including those who know how and are able to see: if you were to magnify it under a microscope, you would see things in it that you would never have guessed on your own with a mediocre eye. Therefore, every bill is a sacred, holy means of transmitting information, a kind of relic of its time and its places, which are all the spaces of the globe! The fifty-dollar bill! Here is the true relic, the life of which is undoubtedly many times more interesting than the lives of most people! It has seen much in this world—maybe even everything and everyone! Money is that which has seen and heard all of human history with its own nature, seen and heard it as it is, without embellishments, authentic: from money, nothing can be hidden—no conversations or actions in this world... it's no wonder that many consider it their God! Perhaps at one time it was in a president's pocket and heard conversations about war—there it was able to learn many things... for example, that when you are in power, no one pays attention to your beauty! This bill had a unique ability—to command people: both those who wear crowns on their heads and those who ask for a loaf of bread on the steps of a temple!... And at the same time, it is not at all afraid of death—its lot is to be among people, maybe for months, maybe for days, or maybe even for years and centuries! It has no fear of losing its influence, which earthly life gives it—it never feels pain, and therefore there is no sense in its fear! Look at it, Tito! It's worn and tattered, like flesh, but its content and price have remained unchanged—both now and in its best years, its price was always the same! It never showed its emotions, even though it continuously contemplated them in the world of people—it saw both joy and suffering: perhaps it was a birthday gift or an offering to the relatives of the deceased at a funeral. Daily, being a small cluster of the living energy of the Universe, it gave rise to world processes unique in their depth, at the same time not guessing at all that its nature was initially subject to almost everything in this world—from the creation of a new city to the complete destruction of all religions! Money! Just like with women, all real men strive for them—to conquer them: to conquer them in the greatest quantity and in the best quality! But at the same time... there is no soul in money—when they die, they will never see their corpse from the side, for their life is the existence of this matter!... Look at it! In this world, it has seen both day and night, both the sun and the stars—those very matters, the distant ancestors of whose dust it was! It has felt drops of tears, sweat, and blood on its surface—it was both deep underground, in a mine, and high in the sky, in a plane... it was both alone and in the company of others like it! People paid with it to a doctor for the salvation of their flesh... and with it, they also paid a murderer for a contract killing! For this bill, people bought the forgiveness of sins in the form of a candle and donations in a temple, not suspecting at all that true forgiveness they could buy in the form of a piece of bread for a beggar or a homeless person... It heard how some people insulted it, spat on it, but for it these insults and spittle were an empty sound, for they in no way affected its price or changed its essence, and its essence is a characteristic of liquidity... If with this bill one could afford to buy something good or bad, a miracle of the Universe or the coals of hell, then is it not itself both a miracle and the coals of hell at the same time? This bill saw how an ordinary piece of metal in the form of a cross became an invaluable pectoral talisman for a person! It heard a lover's confession while being hidden at that moment in his wallet—how the beloved said that the girl's eyes were woven exactly from the blueness of the sky, and her lips were the scent and tenderness of roses! It was in a casino, it was used to pay bets—it was, perhaps, even on the set of the 1992 film 'Gladiator'! At another time, this bill served as a bookmark in a priest's Bible!... Ah! If only religion fully knew the power of money! It should have, when it had absolute influence over public authority, started depicting saints on bills: then the faces of saints would be known to everyone better than the face of any existing and past ruler! It has known the history of mankind! It has become known to it that the history of mankind is a funeral procession that leaves behind a train of tears, sorrow, tragedy, and sadness! The history of mankind is a corpse that should be studied by forensic pathologists, and not by everyone, for there is a risk of contracting incurable diseases, like those that raged during the French Revolution! It, better than anyone, has come to know that our world is an udder with which we must interact tirelessly to gain energy and strength!... This bill, on a local, and consequently, as a component part of a global level, continuously wove with its own peculiar nature, like its small and large brethren, the canvas of human history!... As you can see, Tito, money in this world, like everything else, has its own history—the treasures of pirates, which archaeologists will find in the future, will not be used in taverns and pubs, but will adorn museums with their nature..."