Absorption of All the Group’s Belief

beliefs that Silas holds throughout the novel as the result of his interaction with the Teacher. The first one is that the enemies of God must be exterminated. After becoming the member of opus Dei, Silas is taught the Bible by the bishop. He knows exactly the basic teaching of Jesus Christ is peace, love and nonviolence. However, his fanaticism to Opus Dei prevented him from truly understanding the true meaning of the message and then he steps in to offer a conclusion that this is one message that must be protected at all cost, even if he must murder and kill. Jesus message is one of peace... of nonviolence... of love. This was the message Silas had been taught from the beginning, and the message he held in his heart. And yet this was the message the enemies of Christ now threatened to destroy. Those who threaten God with force will be met with force. Immovable and steadfast For two millennia, Christian soldiers had defended their faith against those who tried to displace it. Tonight, Silas had been called to battle p. 34. He absorbs this group belief that in order to be a soldier of God he must exterminate those who endanger his faith, just like what some Christian soldiers did in the past. The second belief is that performing murder for the sake of Opus Dei in order to save the existence of The Way - the basic teaching in Opus Dei which consists of 999 points of meditation for doing Gods Work and feeling God’s existence in everyday life – is a white sin and therefore forgivable. As a background, in the Novel, it is told that the Vatican will be revoking its sanction of Opus Dei i.e. The Vatican will disassociate itself from Opus Dei. This revocation means that many of Opus Dei’s followers might lose their faith in the 45 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI organization, as it will no longer be considered an official Catholic prelature. This will greatly endanger Opus Dei’s existence. Silas’s attitude towards this situation is very extreme; he must do whatever is necessary to save Opus Dei, including murders. Silas knows that his action of murder means breaking the law of God and it is definitely a great sin. However, he feels that it is all right, because the sin of murder that he is committing will be forgiven as it is done for a holy purpose, and that is performing a mission from God to protect the existence of The Way, the true faith of Christianity, “I do the work of God. The Way is in peril ” p. 311. This belief is taught and reinforced by the Teacher, whom he sees as the highest leader, “the one who had assured him his actions were ordained by a higher power” p. 80. Silas believes that his final goal of getting the Holy Grail will justify his action. Therefore God’s forgiveness is assured. I must purge my soul of todays sins. The sins committed today had been holy in purpose. Acts of war against the enemies of God had been committed for centuries. Forgiveness was assured p. 14. The last group’s belief that he absorbs is that The Way is the only way to be close to God and it can be seen from his action of giving so much attention to Corporal Mortification. His group’s belief emphasizes that the pain and the blood caused by Corporal Mortification ritual will bring believers close to God and therefore will clean him from his sins. Corporal Mortification is a sacred ritual that requires its follower to practice a kind of self-torture, which includes wearing a cilice – “a leather strap, studded with sharp metal barbs that cut into the flesh as a perpetual reminder of 46 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Christs suffering” p. 14, and doing the Discipline – a kind of self torture by using a heavy knotted rope to whip the body. As one of the truest followers of The Way, Silas absorbs his group’s belief that the pain caused by the devices will remind him to Christ’s suffering and it also “helped counteract the desires of the flesh.” p. 14. Pain is good, is the wisdom of The Way that is strongly believed by thousand of faithful servants of Opus Dei, including Silas. He applies that wisdom fully in his life because he believes that the pain will bring him closer to God. He absorbs his group’s belief that the more he can endure the pain caused by this sacred ritual, the bigger his faith. Therefore, he always wears the cilice longer than the requisite two hours. Besides using cilice more, Silas also practices the Discipline harder than the requisite. Usually, the Practice of the Discipline does not cause bleeding, but Silas practices using the devices until it causes bleeding because he believes that the pain and blood cause by this ritual will purify him from sin. Five hundred miles away, the albino named Silas stood over a small basin of water and dabbed the blood from his back, watching the patterns of red spinning in the water. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, he prayed, quoting Psalms. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow p. 34. It is an enjoyment for Silas to perform this ritual. It really does cause pain, but he feels that the pain that he receives from the ritual will discipline his soul and cleanse him from his past. He also considers this practice as a great service to God. One mile away, the hulking albino named Silas limped through the front gate of the luxurious brownstone residence on Rue La Bruyère. The spiked cilice belt that he wore around his thigh cut into his flesh, and yet his soul sang with satisfaction of service to the Lord p. 12. 47 Furthermore, he believes that the measure of his faith can be gauged by measuring the amount of pain that he can endure. As he wishes to be one of the firmest, most dedicated followers of The Way, he thus seeks to cause as much pain as possible during the ritual as a statement of his faith. As his pain and faith gets stronger, he believes that he is further saved from his miserable past. It is for this reason that he puts so much appreciation to the corporeal mortification ritual.

4. Intolerance

A fanatic will consider the ideology that he absorbed from the group as the only truth worthy to be his ideology in life, and any other teachings, even those from his own religion who are not taught by his leaders, will only be seen as insignificant chatter. This means that a fanatic will often be an intolerant person even towards the believers of the same religion Flossen, http:pages.prodigy.netkrtq73aafanatic.htm. Silas as a fanatic displays this sort of behavior too. As a Christian, Silas is supposed to put his faith in the word of God. However, his understanding of the word of God is limited to only those that are selected and taught to him by his leaders. Therefore, his version of the Word of god is a stunted, distorted version. Nevertheless he believes that his understandings of the word of God and his ways of applying it are identical to the word of God itself. This attitude leads him to become an intolerant person even to fellow Catholics. Silas basically sees himself and the people who have the same belief as the faithful, whereas members the Priory are seen as the enemies of God, heathens 48 with godless lives and therefore deserve to die, “how all four of his victims, moments before death, had desperately tried to buy back their godless lives by telling their secret.” p. 13. His intolerance towards the Priory is further proven by his feeling no guilt whatsoever when killing all the top four members of the Priory. On top of that, as a fanatic, Silas does not want to accept or listen to other ideas or arguments. All he cares about is that his slogan must be upheld and that those who are working against the Opus Dei are scorning God. Therefore, when he discovers that Sister Sandrine is against Opus Dei’s ways of applying the word of God – on top of helping the Brotherhood of the Priory to hide the keystone – this sister becomes the next target of Silas’ intolerance. Sister Sandrine is the keeper of the Saint-Sulpice church who cannot accept nor understand the ways and rituals of the Opus Dei. According to this sister, Opus Dei has strayed from teachings of Jesus Christ. She knows that Jesus Christ never taught his followers to torture themselves to prove their faith. The sister’s understanding is actually truer to Christian doctrines than Silas’ but she will never be able to make Silas understand this. True enough, at the first sign of her criticizing the ways of Opus Dei, Silas kills her. According to Silas, the sister of the Church who helps the Priory and questions the ways of Opus Dei has betrayed God. Therefore, the sister also deserves to die. “You are a sister of the Church, and yet you serve them?” “Jesus had but one true message,” Sister Sandrine said defiantly. “I cannot see that message in Opus Dei.” 49 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI