Capítulo 37: MONEY EXCHANGE

"I don't think it's facetious to say the Templars were an incredibly sophisticated organization with rudimentary business practices and financial methods that you would want any business to emulate."

-Dan Jones

"Since the very beginning, the first pilgrims to the Holy Land are the wealthy Christians who can afford to leave their home countries and with enough money to sacrifice to the church." He paused before continuing.

"Have you heard of the famous pilgrim journey by Helena the mother emperor Constantine the Great?" asked the Abbot.

"Yes Abbot, he came to look for the relic of the Holy cross of our Lord. He is considered one of the first prominent pilgrims to the Holy Land," answered Brother Philemon from the little church history he remembered.

"Even when the Knights Templars took control of Holy Land and formed the Kingdom of Jerusalem in … thus making the cost of undertaking a pilgrim to the Holy Land cheap. I Am told by my predecessors the majority were wealthy." Said Abbot as he recollected the words of his predecessors.

Brother Philemon listened to all these words while started counting the sum of the coins. He started from the lowest denominations.

He was grateful to the church and seminary education which had instilled in him the ability to read, write and perform calculus tasks. This was something that the majority of the peasants and ordinary Christians were ignorant about. He was proficient in Latin, Italian, Portuguese, French, English Armenian, and Arabic like most of the brothers of the cloth in the Holy Land. This was a melting pot of all the major European languages.

"Abbot, help me with a piece of paper where I can note down the calculations. These coins are too many for me to trust my head." Brother Philemon made his request.

If it was just one currency denomination, it was going to be easy. However, with all these different currencies of France, Spain, Italy, Romania, Britain, Egypt, Ethiopia, and others from the Slavic states. It was tricky.

"Here, it is good to know your limits, Brother Philemon." Abbot Jeromy said as he passed him some blank papers with the fountain pen plus the inkpot.

"I know it looks confusing the first time you get to work with all these different currencies. But once you do it over twenty times. It becomes easy, I was like you once." He added.

Abbot Jeromy leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling in reflection.

"I remember when I was being introduced to handing the finances of the monastery and church by Father Donovan. I made errors over and over in the computation of the different currencies, but he was patient with me. Correcting me until I mastered everything. He was truly a great father and teacher to me, I could not be what I am now without his patient guidance…" he paused in his speech, overcome with emotion.

Abbot Jeromy sighed and uttered in a soft voice full of grief. "May the Almighty God rest his soul in peace."

'Oh man, once he starts on the topic of his dead mentor. I Am told he gets this emotional and can talk nonstop. Have to find something to divert his train of thought, or else I will be bored to death of his favorite memories with Father Donovan.' Thought Brother Philemon.

"Abbot, why don't we have money changers in the church who can exchange with the pilgrims the money they have come with, into a uniform currency that the church needs?" Brother Philemon asked.

"I know this was done by the Knights Templars when they were in control of Jerusalem and the entirety of the whole land. Pilgrims could pay for the pilgrim journey with the local Temple in their home country using local currencies, and also deposit what they intended to use. When they reached the Holy Land, they then withdrew the money in the predominant currency of the Holy Land. This system when used could save us all this hassle." Brother Philemon stated.

"Brother Philemon, you make a valid point there. As a church, our first task is to take care of the spiritual needs and wants of our flock. Getting entangled in the money exchange and transmission business will be a distraction, which brings with it many temptations like attracting money-minded people to the service of the church. Money attracts the worst of humanity, Judas was attracted to Jesus because of money and not because of the Good News gospel."

"Also, most of us priests took a vow of poverty. It is unbecoming to be handling money outside of what has been offered as tithes and offerings to the church." Abbot Jeromy stated his point of view.

"I get it now Abbot. But there is no denying that working with all these different currencies can be confusing and frustrating since they don't have the same values." Brother Philemon added.

"Not exactly. That is where the Knights Templars and their different temples come in. We exchange this money with them, and they give us the currencies we require and where we need them.

Take some of those Slavic coins. We have no need for them, here in Jerusalem but the Slavic temples need them. We exchange or sell them to the nearest temple to get our required currencies, which also does the same until the money returns where it belongs." Abbot Jeromy gave his view on how the money exchange worked.

"Wow! It is an elaborate scheme I can see." Exclaimed Brother Philemon.

"It is not only the Knights Templar involved in this, we also have European traders and also some Arab merchants transacting between Europe and Arabia. But the most trusted are the Knights Templars. They never cheat in their transactions, as far as I know." The Abbot concluded.

"Seeing that we no longer have an active Knights Templar Temple in Jerusalem. Where will we exchange this money from?" Brother Philemon asked

All this business of how the collected church money was transmitted and exchanged with the Knights Templars had got him intrigued.

"The closest and active Knights Templar temple in the Kingdom of Jerusalem is in Jaffa. That's where this money will be sent. But once in a while, we have a team of Knights Templars that come by, saving us from having to move the money over." Replied the Abbot.

"I see." Brother Philemon nodded his head with short cropped hair in agreement.

"Are you about to finish, counting all these coins?" the Abbot asked.

"Not yet Abbot, but it won't take me long. Started with these smaller and more confusing currencies first. The others will be a walkover." Answered Brother Philemon.

***

Rashid Abubaker sat with the emissary elder sent from the Assassin Order in the quiet tea house. A special room for honored guests had been emptied for their sake.

Rashid Abubaker was an honorary member of this tea house, he was offered all the privileges whenever he stepped foot in the tea house.

They were seated, facing each other, cross-legged on a dark red hand-woven carpet imported from Morocco. Sipping fragrant tea in small ceramic cups.

"Elder, how do you find this tea?" Rashid Abubaker asked.

Hoping to hear that the emissary was enjoying the tea.

"This tea is not bad. I have tasted better." Replied the elder.

'To hell! Am spending my money, entertaining you with this sweet and fragrant tea; and all you can manage to say is, not bad.

If you were not my elder from the Brotherhood, I could strangle you. Foolish old man!' Rashid cursed inwardly.

Rashid took a deep breath and sipped his tea briefly to cool down his anger before asking.

"Elder, tell me. which tea is that, which tastes better than this one?" He asked teasingly.

"I will love to drink it someday," Rashid added.

"Oh, it was a long time ago in Alexandria. It was in an Ottoman tea house. Don't remember the name of the tea. This old age is catching up with me." The emissary replied.

'Shit! What kind of response is this? Trying to brag of better tea yet you even don't know its name.'

'All the hashish smoking must have driven your mind mad old man.'

"Esteemed elder, what business brings you over to Jerusalem?"

Rashid Abubaker decided to brooch upon the main topic, seeing that this emissary was a dull company.

"Ah about that. I was sent to you by our senior elder Saddam." Replied the emissary as he refilled his second cup of tea.

"Do you remember elder Saddam?" asked the elder.

"How can I forget him, he is the one in charge of all external operations when I was there. Has he been promoted or he is still at the same rank?" Rashid inquired.

"Something like that. You may not know, but elder Yakub died sometime back during a skirmish with the Knights Templar in Syria. He was in charge of the financing department. Currently, elder Saddam is occupying these two offices of financing and external operations." Narrated the emissary.

"Allah Akbar! Allah has truly smiled upon him. Long may he prosper. Two important offices in our Brotherhood under him." Replied Rashid Abubaker.

"Elder Saddam has sent me to you with the following information:

A team of Knights Templar headed by a young man of about 30 years called Yosef from Cyprus left Jaffa sometime back, it must be close to two or three weeks on a secretive mission which we want you to investigate.

This Yosef is dark-skinned, of medium height with a lean body, and short curly hair. He must be a veteran of the Jaffa war since he was accompanied by an escort of Commander Gallo Francis. The one rumored to have killed the relative of Saladin in the Jaffa war.

Your job is to find out: where are they residing in Jerusalem, and what are they after, report to us. Then you will be assigned a team to send them to hades for their overflowing sins.

Knowing of your reckless desire to kill and plunder, elder Saddam asked me to tell you to not act on your own. This is an experienced and elite team of Templars, don't think of acting alone.

This information was collected by your brother Abu Bin Zayyid stationed in Jaffa, but he has some serious charges to answer so he was not allowed to complete this mission."

"I get it, elder. Tell elder Saddam I will not disappoint. I will work night and day to see that this mission is completed to the best of my abilities." Rashid Abubaker answered with excitement.

Finally! He was getting on an exciting mission.

The fact that the elder Saddam had even cautioned him to not act alone, spurred his curiosity to heaven and back.

These few weeks are going to be exciting for me.

As a warrior. Rashid Abubaker took pleasure in fighting, and not just fighting any enemy. But fighting against stronger enemies and defeating them. It validated his masculinity and emphasized his superiority.

The Assassins Order normally issues such missions in a letter. But the fact that an emissary was sent directly to him. It validated his sense of importance and the value of this mission.