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The secretary and the treasurer must emulate Christ through the virtues of prudence, obedience and honesty. As their duties conform them to Christ, they should not be surprised if this brings them fruitful work but suffering.
A ridiculous story: what a secretary ought not to be
The story is related in the most reliable collections of hadith (that is, sayings) of Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, that he had a secretary, a man by the name of Zaid ibn Thabit. Despite the fact that there is this consensus among all these sources, it is one of the great enigmas of what Western scholars refer to as the SIN (the standard Islamic narrative) that this man seems to be a secretary that never recorded anything. In fact, it is said that after the death of Mohammed in 632, there was nothing written except certain aids to memory, which had been recorded on palm leaves, scraps of skin and the shoulder bones of various animals. No, the insistence is that the Quran was passed down in those generations orally, memorized by a great number of the original companions of the Prophet. When a multitude of these companions were killed in the Battle of Yamama, and, according to the standard story, a great amount of the Quran was lost, then the Caliph Abu Bakr called on Zaid ibn Thabit to collect all the palm leaves, shoulder blades and pieces of skin and transcribe them into a book. This he did. Afterwards, the completed book, the only copy of the Quran, was given into the care of Hafsa, the late Prophet's wife, who took it and put it under her bed, where part of it, subsequently, was eaten by a sheep.
The whole ridiculous, ludicrous story shows us a secretary that was available to take dictation of the literal speech of Allah, but who never recorded anything, apparently, or, if he did record anything, he recorded only the most minimal aids to memory on pieces of completely unworthy materials. Then, only after many years, did he transcribe what was written on those unworthy materials into a book, the literal speech of Allah, and then that book was placed under a bed, where part of it was eaten by an animal.
The handbook today is at pains to tell us that it is the secretary's duty to accurately record the business of the praesidium on and with worthy materials, and then to read the record out clearly and distinctly. The handbook's description shows us several great virtues of the Christian life that each of us has to emulate.
Prudence: The foundation of the sacred duty of accuracy
First, we see the virtue of prudence being exercised by the secretary. The secretary, according to the handbook, has to prudently choose the best available materials to make the record of the praesidium's business. We can see that preservation is always, first and foremost, a matter of prudence. If we need to preserve food on our shelves or in our refrigerators, we need to take certain prudential steps; certain materials must be acquired and utilized. When we are dealing with a written record, that preservation has a special name and takes on a special importance. It is called accuracy, and accuracy becomes the sacred duty of the one who records.
Obedience: To reality, that is, truth
First of all, accuracy is a sacred duty, because, added to the virtue of prudence, which is present in all preservation, it is a matter of obedience. There is an obedience to reality that requires the record to contain what actually happened, nothing more and nothing less. If I am the secretary, if something is said, then I must record it in the best and most complete way possible. There can be no question of me making judgments as to what is important and what is not, or of choosing to omit things on my own discretion, or to add things that surely should have been said but were not.
Honesty: Everything must be recorded
Thus, secondly, we can see that accuracy is a matter of the virtue of honesty. Everything must be recorded, even those things that are unflattering to persons or the group. Many secretaries there are in history, who have behaved unethically in regard to these virtues of obedience and honesty. There are entire cultures in which the custom of damnatio memoriae was allowed to become an institution, in which the unflattering was omitted and certain persons, who had fallen from favor were eliminated completely from the record.
We should remember that the Apostolic College apparently had its own secretary, the Holy Apostle St. Matthew. While it is true that the Holy Apostle John the Theologian was also an eyewitness to the Lord's life and work, it is clear that his account was written only many years later and is the fruit of long reflection on the significance of what he witnessed. As he wrote his own account, we can well imagine that he had a copy of St. Matthew's work under his hand. We can see in St Matthew the same virtues at play: prudence, obedience, honesty.
Special considerations of the treasurer
It is good that the handbook reading also contained the section describing the duties of the treasurer, since the virtues that are necessary for his office are the same. He must exercise prudence, obedience and honesty. He must constantly emulate the Lord by consistently giving to Caesar what is Caesar's, while giving to God what is God's, and further, he must constantly advert to the fact that that, which is God's, is greater. The image on the coin is Caesar's, but the image in us is the One, True God. Many are the treasurers throughout history, who have failed with this.
In fact, we should remember that the Apostolic College also had a treasurer, the Apostle Judas Iscariot, who failed in precisely this manner. He valued the image on the coins, while neglecting the image that was in his heart, and his idolatry cost him his life.
Prudence, obedience and honesty come at a price: Fruitful work but suffering
Having a good secretary/treasurer, one that models the virtues of prudence, obedience and honesty, can make all the difference to fruitful work in docility to the Holy Spirit. After the first trial of St. Maximus the Confessor before the Imperial court in Constantinople, he was sentenced to be exiled to the Roman prison within the fortress at the mouth of the Danube. To this exile, the saint was permitted to take his secretary St. Victor. From his place of exile, he and Victor continued to work, writing treatise after treatise against the Emperor's heretical religious policy. As a result, three years later, Maximus was summoned again to Constantinople, he was tried again. This time, his sentence was more severe. His right hand was cut off and his tongue cut out, and he was exiled to Lazica in what is now Georgia. There, parted from his devoted Victor, tortured by black flies and forced to drink putrid water, the old man was left with nothing but prayer and suffering. As a result of this treatment, he died very shortly, in August of 662.
Prudence, obedience and honesty are all virtues that we have to emulate in our own lives in Christ. We should remember that to practice a virtue is to participate in Christ in a very particular way, to live His life in the concrete, for the names of these virtues are only other names for Him.
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