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Synopsis of the Zaddik

            The Zaddik is the story of James, the brother of Jesus and his struggle with Paul over leadership of the early Christian Church. The manuscript is an historical-suspense with two distinct plots. The first story is set in modern times when a young Jesuit priest from the University of Detroit goes on a dig near Pella, in Jordan. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 c.e., the Jerusalem Assembly lead by Simeon bar Cleophas, brother of James and Jesus, fled to Pella where they encamped for several years while the Romans ravaged Judea. Father Brendan McMahon travels to Jordan to dig for the settlement’s remains when he discovers a cache of ancient books. In the find are two very important works, the Q document, the earliest book of the Bible, written by Judas Thomas the brother of Jesus, a sayings bible from which Matthew and Mark drew their work, and the Book of Epaphroditus, the history of the early church written by Epaphroditus, a colleague of Paul and personal secretary to the Emperor Nero.

Father Brendan translates the books and emails the chapters home to his Father Superior in Detroit. Mohamed Ahmad Al Saad a student from Dearborn, Michigan intercepts the translations. Mohamed traveled with Father Brendan on the dig and is a sleeper cell leader for Al Queda.   Mohamed realizes the importance of the works to the Christians and Jews and decides that he must intercept Brendan on his journey to Rome and steal the books. Father Superior arranges for Brendan to meet Miranda, a covert agent for the Mossad, who is to make sure Brendan gets on a plane to Rome safely with the books. In Jerusalem, Miranda takes control of the books, tests, logs and photographs them for Hebrew scholars and finds a device that signals to a global positioning satellite, allowing Mohamed to track the location of the books. Mohamed calls Father Brendan before he leaves for Rome and offers to meet him and deliver yet another ancient manuscript which the team later translated entitled: the Apostolic Acts of the Apostles of the Jerusalem Assembly.

Brendan wants to collect the book before he leaves for Rome and is persuaded by Miranda to allow her to retrieve the book and bring it on to Rome. Brendan leaves for Rome with his books. Mohamed, unaware that Brendan is on a plane with the books, arranges a meeting on a bus. After the priest is seated on the bus Mohamed calls to tell him that there is a suicide bomber on the bus who will detonate herself if the priest does not hand over the books. The priest gives up the books and as the young girl gets off the bus an Israeli sniper shoots her. The bomb explodes with great loss of life and Mohamed discovers that the books were not on the bus. He takes the next plane to Rome to intercept the books at the Vatican. When Miranda realizes that Al Queda terrorists were stalking the priest, she boards a plane to warn Father Brendan of the danger Mohamed poses. Before Miranda can warn Brendan however, Mohamed arranges another meeting with the priest at the Vatican. They meet in St. Peters Square where Miranda arrives in time to throw herself on Mohamed who detonates a bomb he is carrying before Brendan and the books are harmed. While Brendan recovers the lost book Mohamed offered, he is forever plagued with the knowledge that his pride caused the death of so many.

            This story is woven between chapters of the Book of Epaphroditus that tells the story of James and his leadership of the Jerusalem Assembly. After the crucifixion of Jesus, James is elected leader of the Jerusalem Assembly, the faith formed by the surviving apostles and followers of Christ. In time the Jerusalem Assembly grows to rival the power of the Sanhedrin as a governing force in Jerusalem. James rails against Rome and her puppet rulers the Herodians. Paul is a Herodian cousin and begins his career as the Temple's chief prosecutor of the faithful followers of the allegedly resurrected Jesus. Paul persecutes James and his followers, at one point physically throwing James from the Temple steps breaking both his legs.

Despite Paul's beating, James continues to rail against the Herodians, foreigners and fornicators who defile the Holy of Holies by their sacrifices at the Temple. James accuses Herod Agrippa with sleeping with his own sister Bernice, who is mistress of the Roman Governor Felix. After Paul is converted to the faith by his interaction with the Holy Spirit on the Emmaus Road to Damascus, he is accepted into the assembly of the faithful by the personal recommendation of Judas Thomas, the brother of James. Paul begins to preach the faith to Gentiles or Greek speaking foreigners. James insists that to follow the Way of Jesus is to follow the laws of Moses. James insists that all male followers of Jesus must be circumcised and all must keep to the strictest forms of Mosaic Law. Paul knows that the Greek world of the Roman Empire will not accept adult circumcision and continues to preach the Word in direct confrontation to James' orders.

While Matthias, author of the book of Matthew and father of Josephus, tries with Peter to integrate Paul into the fabric of the Jerusalem Assembly, James will not budge on his ruling. When he finally issues written directives that Paul only teach a faith adhering to Mosaic Law, Paul's work is quickly undone in city after city of his teaching by the faithful followers of the Jerusalem Assembly and the original apostles. Paul, along with his most trusted followers including Lucius the Cyraean, author of the book of Luke, and Epaphroditus, broker a deal with Matthias, Judas Thomas and Peter at the first Council of Jerusalem to accept a public oath that Paul will not preach to Jews that they did not have to follow Mosaic Law. As Paul's mission is exclusively to the Gentiles, both sides accept a public settlement for the good of the faith, but they clearly split from each other and go their separate ways. Paul however is discovered at the Great Temple after his oath to the Jerusalem Assembly and is nearly lynched before being arrested by the Romans for fomenting public discord.   Paul spends several months under house arrest before he demands to be tried as a Roman citizen before Caesar Nero in Rome.

James continues to oppose the Herodian leadership in Jerusalem and its corrupt priesthood, which runs the Great Temple. James convinces the lower class of priests to stop accepting any sacrifices from the Herodians, Romans and any foreigners as a pollution of the Temple. James also begins construction and completes a wall across the sacrificial alters of the Temple which blocks King Herod Agrippa's view of the sacrifices from his palace's dining room. When the Roman Governor Festus dies in office, James is cruelly murdered by the High Priest Ananus, son of the High Priest that ordered the death of Jesus. James is stoned to death at the steps of the Great Temple. After the death of James, followers of the Jerusalem Assembly set the city of Rome on fire and in time, Jerusalem erupts into open insurrection. Nero replaces the Roman Governor of Syria with Vespasianus Flavians, conferring two legions upon the Roman general to crush the Jewish revolt. In Corinth, Nero appoints Vespasian upon the advice of Herod and Bernice who send Paul to Corinth to submit himself to the judgment of the Emperor and recommend Vespasian for the job. Nero accepts Paul's recommendation but accuses Paul of plotting against him through his association with Piso who was recently discovered as plotting the Emperor's overthrow.   Paul denies any involvement with the Piso Conspiracy, but is brought back to Rome by Nero for his sentence of death.

            As Nero returns to Rome from Greece, he realizes that his generals have turned against him and he is about to lose his throne to the advance of the Spanish general Galba, who has sworn to rid Rome of the terrible Emperor. When he can no longer pay, the Praetorian Guard stand down and Nero is ultimately abandoned to Galba who marches on Rome to claim the Imperial throne. Nero flees the city only to commit suicide with the help of Epaphroditus, clearing the way for Galba's short-lived reign. Galba is replaced by Otho who is later deposed by his own troops when they switch their loyalty to Vespasian who marches from his victories in Judea to claim the Imperial seat. Josephus, son of Matthias, surrenders to the Roman general Vespasian after watching his Jewish troops kill themselves to a man rather than be captured and enslaved by the Romans. Vespasian spares Josephus when the young man tells him that his God has declared that Vespasian will one day be Emperor of all Rome. Vespasian leaves the destruction of Jerusalem to his son, the future Emperor, Titus, who destroys Jerusalem, sacks the Temple and returns to Rome in triumph.

            The Book of Epaphroditus ends when Epaphroditus returns to Jerusalem after the death of Nero to meet with Simeon bar Cleophas, the last surviving brother of Jesus. Simeon has returned from Pella to build the synagogue which will later be known as the Church of the Apostles, built around the Canticle or room of the last supper and the appearance of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Both men note the achievement of their lives and the deaths of their friends and each looks forward to the future.

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