From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 16. LET’S NOT FACE IT – YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY ALONE
The high priest was very angry because people were talking about those three saints. He said, ”But
how did they become saints? I have not certified anybody. This is simply outrageous.” But people
are people.... People were still going, so finally he decided, ”I have to visit these people. Who are
these people? They have declared themselves saints! I don’t even know who they are. I have not
even been informed, and it is in my power only to sanctify a person to be a saint.” So he was very
angry.
He went in his boat – and he had a beautiful boat because he was the high priest and he was higher
than the czar as far as religion was concerned. Even the czar and czarina used to come to touch his
feet. And he thought, ”Who are these fools, unknown, anonymous? – declaring themselves saints?”
He went there and found those three very simple people, three old people, sitting under the tree.
They immediately stood up, touched the feet of the high priest and they said, ”Why did you take all
this trouble? You could have sent a message and we would have come.”
The high priest cooled down a little bit, but he said, ”Who declared you saints?”
They said, ”We don’t know. We didn’t know that we are saints. Who told you?”
And the high priest could see that all three were absolutely uneducated and knew nothing about
Christianity or religion. And he said, ”What is your prayer? Do you know the orthodox prayer,
without which you cannot be even a Christian? – what to think about a saint!”
They said, ”We are uneducated and nobody ever taught us any prayer. But if you forgive us, we will
tell you – we have composed a prayer of our own.”
He said, ”What! You have composed a prayer of your own! Okay, let me listen to what your prayer
is.”
One said to the other, ”You tell him.”
The other said, ”You can tell him.” They were all feeling very shy and very ashamed.
The high priest said, ”You tell it! Anybody tell it.”
They said, ”We all three will tell it together.” Their prayer was simple: ”’You are three – God the father,
the Holy Ghost and God the son. You are three, we are also three – have mercy on us.’ This is our
prayer. More than that we don’t know. We have heard that He is three, and we know that we are
three, and what more is needed?’Have mercy on us – you are three, we are three, have mercy on
us!”’
The priest said, ”This is unforgivable. You are making a mockery of religion.”
They said, ”Then you can tell us what the prayer is so we can repeat it.”
The high priest told them the prayer, a long prayer of the Russian orthodox church. They listened
and they said, ”Wait, you repeat it again because this is so long and we may forget it. Our prayer is
so short, and we never forget it because it is so simple and we always remember that He is three,
From Ignorance to Innocence 225 Osho