Is the tomb of Jesus Christ really in Israel? Could Jesus have worked in India and Kashmir? In his novel Code 1, Jozef Banas again undermines the established dogmas and pillars on which the Catholic Church is built. The story reveals the power of faith and also presents an array of facts and photographs documenting the activities of Jews, Christians and probably even Jesus Christ in countries that are nowadays seen exclusively through the perspective of oriental religions. At times when the beliefs and foundations of the Catholic Church are radically shaken up, this book raises even greater doubts: What if the truth is quite different? Does the Christian belief reinforce the feelings of guilt, suffering and pain in people? If so, what is the purpose and what consequences could it possibly have for an individual?
This is a story with Jesus as one of its stars – it is not a history school book, it does not persuade but makes you think and search for the truth.
The novel Code 1 is a story about a human being, flesh and blood, like all of us. As for the content, it could be described as a small alternative Bible, the story of which probably has not yet been adapted in such a way in literature. By no coincidence, some critics call Banas the Slovak Dan Brown. The latter writes about Templars, about alleged secrets of the church, mentions, however, Christ himself and his life and death only marginally. That is where Banas develops his fictional story in detail and controversial depth.
His books are an easy read. The plot of the story evolves in two layers: first as a journey of contemporaries following the traces of Jesus and second as the life of Jesus and his journeys to the ´East´. As any other author, Banas also inserts his own views, observations and many pieces of wisdom from historic sources, as well as from his own travels. These are well documented in pictures attached at the end of the book. Thus the reader can gain the impression that the novel is not fiction.
Jozef Javurek, journalist
Storyline
The novel has two parallel story lines – one of the married couple Marika and Michal and another of Christ´s life. Marika´s breast cancer returns after the surgery and she refuses to have her second breast removed. As she believes in Christ, she also believes that a meditation at his grave will help her to recover. She leaves for Jerusalem with her husband; there Michal´s friend Tomas, a Catholic priest, introduces her to the rabbi Simonides who gives Marika convincing hints about Christ´s grave being located in Kashmir. Marika and Michal decide to go to Srinagar – the capital of Kashmir; they are however followed by Tomas, who has been forced to cooperate with the Vatican secret service SIV. Vatican is in panic fear of any attempt to find Christ´s grave, as this discovery would mean the end of Vatican´s hierocracy. They arrive in Srinagar where they are taken care of by the family of doctor Bashrat, a famous nonmedical practitioner and alleged Christ´s descendant. Thanks to his healing methods Marika´s health state improves, but for a complete recovery a meditation at the alleged Christ´s grave in the Roza Bal shrine is still missing. In the mysterious tomb of a Jewish holy man who lived in the first century, an evidence is supposed to be hidden which proves that the man is Christ – the statue UNUM, symbolizing the unity of all mankind, which was put into the ossuary with Christ´s bones by Thomas the Apostle, who veritably lived and died in India. (3.7.72) On May 21st, 2010, Marika, Michal, doctor Bashrat, his son Eli and Sahib decide to enter the tomb. In Srinagar however, a military offensive of the Indian army begins which is aimed against the Kashmir rebels supported by the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, Army of the Righteous, one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world. The entry to the underground part of the Roza Bal shrine with the mysterious sarcophagus is walled up, but due to a shell explosion a whole appears in the wall and the five explorers enter the underground area. The excitement caused by so much evidence and Jewish artifacts lets them forget about the conflict in the streets above the tomb. Tomas follows his friends to Srinagar; he decides to leave Vatican, stop cooperating with the secret service SIV and finds refuge in the forgotten region of Ladakh. When SIV loses contact with Tomas and lacks information from Srinagar, it decides to blow up the tomb with the help of Afghan rebels in Kashmir. After the explosion, the tombstone of the ossuary with the bones of the dead Jewish holy man is moved aside. With shaky hands, Tomas takes out a statue with signs of rotting and patina, the statue of a meditating Christ – UNUM; at the same time, Afghan LET militants enter the tomb. The lives of our heroes seem to have shortened to a few remaining minutes. The Afghans, however, have no idea that the tomb has already been surrounded by members of the elite Indian Para Commando Kargil. Fights between the Indian army and the rebels reach their peak in the old town of Srinagar the centre of which is the Roza Bal shrine. Marika, Michal, Tomas, Bashrat, Eli and Sahib are in the middle of the arising final fights. Will they survive together with the precious statue of Christ with a clearly visible scar after a spear attack, proving that Christ did not die on the cross?
Simultaneously with the main story line, the author reconstructs Christ´s life in a very convincing and totally unconventional way. According to many hints, Christ gained his wonderful healing abilities in India, mainly at the Takshashila University where even 500 years before Christ Greek scholars had taught. Referring mainly to the Gospel of John, the author claims that Christ did not die on the cross, but after he had been taken down from the cross he returned to Kashmir where he died in the year 70. The novel brings plenty of breathtaking evidence about Jews living in Kashmir. The book contains many photographs from the author´s expeditions to India and Kashmir. The author brought the mysterious statue of the meditating Christ from the oldest Jewish town in India, from Cochin.
The novel Code 1 has become the bestselling book in Slovakia within three weeks after publishing(September 12th, 2013) and in numerous key bookstores the book has gotten ahead of Dan Brown´s novel Inferno, which is coincidentally sold in Slovakia at the same time.
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World editions
Code 1
The Secret of The Miracle
Original title: Kód 1
Hardcover: 456 pages
Publisher: Ikar (2013)
Language: Slovak (English translation available)
ISBN-10: 978-8055135946
Product Dimensions: 158×212 mm