Watching the Dead by Wendy Cartmell

Author:Wendy Cartmell [Cartmell, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Costa Press
Published: 2020-06-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Jo yawned her way into work later that morning at 9am. Byrd had gone to the post-mortems of first their dead girl, Tess, and then John Holt.

Sasha had made enquiries of the cathedral staff to see if anyone could help them with the cryptic references that had been pinned to the pumpkins and a young curate, Osian Price, was coming in later that morning to talk to them about The Book of Enoch. Apparently, he had made a study of it for his theology degree so the Bishop thought he would be the most suitable member of the clergy available to help.

Jo, not knowing what to expect, not having been in the Cathedral very much herself, even though she particularly enjoyed sitting in the gardens, was rather taken aback by the normalcy of the cleric. She had been envisaging someone like Father Brown, the eponymous crime-solving Roman Catholic priest in the BBC TV period drama. That black-garbed priest was in his 50’s, sported round wired glasses, wore a black hat and carried the ubiquitous black umbrella, which he used to get himself out of scrapes. Osian was quite a different fish altogether. Younger, fresh faced, with black curly hair, eager and full of energy, he burst into the office, introduced himself to everyone, shaking their hands in turn, even Sasha’s.

‘So, how can I help?’ he asked them.

‘Could you tell us about the Book of Enoch?’

‘Certainly, what do you want to know?’

‘Well,’ said Jo, ‘we don’t want an essay, or a theological discussion. We want clear information, a synopsis I suppose.’

Osian nodded. ‘Sure, I’ll try my best, if it gets too confusing just shout. OK? Can I ask why you want to know about the Book of Enoch?’

‘Tell us about it first. We’ll get to that later.’

‘So,’ Osian began, ‘when the Book of Enoch was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, it became clear that it was a piece of literature that had influenced biblical writers of the time, including those who wrote the New Testament.’

‘Dead Sea Scrolls?’ asked Jo.

‘Manuscripts dating from the last three centuries BC and the first century AD. They were found in caves near the Dead Sea by archaeologists in the 1940’s and 50’s.’

‘So the Book of Enoch was important?’ asked Jo. Like the others she’d heard of The Dead Sea Scrolls but had no idea what they were.

‘Yes, at least it was thought so at the time.’

‘So why isn’t that particular book in the modern bible?’

Jo thought Sasha must really want to know, to actually instigate a conversation. Was it possible that working for them, and being accepted for who she was without any pressure, Sasha could feel confident enough to come out of the protective shell she had wrapped herself in for fear of being ridiculed?

‘Good question,’ said Osian. ‘Today it is only included in the main canons of Ethiopian Orthodox sects but it was popular for hundreds of years in ancient Jewish perspectives. In fact, some people have pointed out that it was likely the inspiration for the Book of Genesis, due to a number of similarities between the two.

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