Usually the things you avoid are the things you get confronted with. Yeghishe knew this absurd formula well. In his entire conscious life he had strived for an honest, you can say spotless patriotism. He was always against various movements, groups and especially political parties splitting the nation. Yeghishe’s father was not Christian, but had fought against the extremist groups of One God for the sake of Church. His father liked repeating that when patriotism was mixed with politics everything started to smell like gangrene. That smell had also flushed into Yeghishe’s childhood.
Before dying Yeghishe’s father lost his two legs; one then the other. He left only his opinion about the national values and pure patriotism to his sons. As a result, Yeghise was now sitting in one of the city pubs with his two friends of the same political party.
“Have you read the book,” Andok asked excitedly. He was about twenty years old, with sun-parched skin, freckled, skinny boy.
“Sorry?” Yeghishe woke back to life.
“Where have you been, brother,” smiled the dark-skinned, short-heighted Khoren. “How many times should we repeat the question?”
“I was thinking,” answered Yeghishe indifferently. “So, what book?”
“The one written by that idiot, Abel Gichunts,” said Khoren.
“He has definitely made up his name… coward,” Andok interrupted.
“Right,” agreed Khoren. “But the fact is that his books deprave the society.”
“What does he write?” Yeghishe emptied his beer and with a gesture asked the waiter to repeat.
“Well, first he talks too much about Christianity, as if it is the foundation of our identity…”
“In some sense it is true,” smiled Yeghishe looking at the empty bottom of his beer glass. “Like paganism, Christianity was a part of our history, thus also of our identity…”
“Yes, but it was,” protested Andok. When he was angry, his skin became more flushed. “The times have changed now. Besides, the Christianity has been distorted in his books as well. That idiot quotes from some false gospels…”
“The priest used to say ‘a-po-cry-phal’, ” interrupted Khoren with a serious look.