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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES
BRIEFS IN RELIGION AND SPORT

Tracy J. Trothen

Spirituality,
Sport, and
Doping: More
than Just a
Game
SpringerBriefs in Religious Studies

Briefs in Religion and Sport

Series editors
Eric Bain-Selbo, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, USA
D. Gregory Sapp, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, USA
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13810
Tracy J. Trothen

Spirituality, Sport,
and Doping: More than
Just a Game

123
Tracy J. Trothen
School of Religion and School
of Rehabilitation Therapy
Queen’s University
Kingston, ON, Canada

ISSN 2510-5035 ISSN 2510-5043 (electronic)

SpringerBriefs in Religious Studies
ISSN 2510-5051 ISSN 2510-506X (electronic)
Briefs in Religion and Sport
ISBN 978-3-030-02996-8 ISBN 978-3-030-02997-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02997-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018958928

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018

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Preface

I love sport. I invest a lot in it. Sport is spiritual for me. I usually hesitate or qualify
these statements. Especially as an ordained minister and professor of ethics and
theology, I want to be careful about how I describe the relationship between
spirituality and sport. In this short book, I make the case that sport is spiritual for
some athletes and fans.
I ask what difference sport’s spirituality makes to the use of science and tech-
nology in sport. Like so many sports fans, I am troubled by doping scandals and the
relentless pursuit of winning at any cost. What does it really mean to make sport
better? What does spirituality have to do with doping and other ways of improving
sports performances?
In my 2015 book on sport and enhancements, I introduce the question of what a
reframing of the sport enhancement ethics debate might look like if sport’s spiritual
dimension is taken seriously. In this book, I shift the discussion to the reciprocal
relationship between sport enhancement use and spirituality.
I write this as a United Church of Canada minister, a registered psychotherapist with
the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) specializing in spiritual
health, and professor of ethics and Christian theology in religious studies and reha-
bilitation therapy. For much of my career, I have tried to keep these aspects of my
identity separate. Only recently have I begun to understand the wisdom of some of my
mentors in encouraging me to bring these aspects together more deliberately as
intertwined resources. A psychotherapeutic perspective added depth to my ethical
analysis. My commitment to spirituality and to the value of discovering the divine in
multiple areas of life helped shape this book. I hope that my musings help the reader to
reimagine sport enhancement ethics as we contemplate the meaning of sport.
I am a firm believer in the value of sport, in spite of the distortions that twist
sport into over-the-top violence or take the joy and fun out of it. But all aspects of
life, including religion and sport, are like that: They can get twisted and abusive,
emptied of goodness. This is why it is so very important to examine our value base
and desires deliberately and critically. While it is easy to go along for the ride, the
rapid expansion of sport enhancement options carries a tidal wave of values that
threaten to drown marginalized values, including spirituality. People can and do

v
vi Preface

experience spirituality in sport. If sport has a sacred dimension, we need to ask how
growing technological innovations affect not only sports performances but expe-
riences of sport as sacred. What difference does it might make to the enhancement
debate if sport’s spirituality is taken seriously?
Athletes have long used technology and science to improve their perfor-
mances including lightweight tennis racquets, biodynamic running shoes, training
regimes, caffeine, banned substances such as EPO and anabolic steroids. Now we are
on the verge of new possibilities, including gene editing, robots, stem cell therapies,
and moral bioenhancements. How might these innovations affect sport’s spiritual
dimension?
Before I begin, a few words of explanation are in order regarding my word choice.
I have chosen to use the term “doping” in the title of this book. “Doping” is the term we
know best, on a popular level, to describe sport enhancement use. I had to wrestle with
this choice because doping does not describe all enhancements and doping has a
pejorative meaning. Not all enhancements are banned, not all administered as a pill or
by injection, and not all are bad. “Enhancement” is a much more inclusive term but it is
fraught, too, with value problems; not every enhancement makes sport better. And
“enhancement” is not yet a term familiar to everyone. I decided to begin with the
familiar term—doping—complicate it, and shift to a complicated understanding
of “enhancement.” I also want to point out my decision to use the term “athlete.”
Sometimes I substitute “sports participant” for “athlete” because many of us see
“athlete” as an exclusive, privileged term to describe only those who are highly skilled
at their sport. I can hesitate to claim that I am an athlete because sometimes I struggle
to see myself as good enough to warrant that title. But when I stand back and think
about it, we can all be athletes through dedicated participation in sport. We do not have
to be among the elite, but we do have to be committed and do our best.
I begin, in Chap. 1, with psychologist Kenneth I. Pargament’s research and finding
that people can perceive the sacred in many aspects of life. Pargament does not make
ontological claims about the sacred. Instead, his research is about the qualities that
facilitate perceptions of the sacred, and the everyday life implications of discovering the
sacred. I apply his finding to sport and show that it is very possible for people to
discover the sacred in sport. I propose that the discovery of the sacred in sport can
be expressed in the hope experienced in sport. Theological insights help us to consider
the significance of intentionality as a needed aspect of sport’s spirituality. Chapter 2
identifies several possible sport enhancements and distills five ethical issues regarding
the use of these enhancements. We are then positioned to consider possible implica-
tions of sport enhancement use for the sacred in Chap. 3 by revisiting hope in sport.
Beginning with a tragic Canadian sports story, in Chap. 4 I pose the reciprocal
question, asking what implications an awareness, valuing, and prioritizing of sport’s
spiritual dimension might have on the sport enhancement ethics debate. To explore this
reciprocal question, I go back to the five ethical issues identified in Chap. 2.
Intentionality, values, and critical self-reflexivity emerge as key concepts throughout
the book.

Kingston, Canada Tracy J. Trothen

Acknowledgements

This book grew out of a longer volume (Winning the race? Religion, hope, and
reshaping the sport enhancement debate, 2015) that I wrote for the Sport and
Religion Series by Mercer University Press. Readers of Winning the Race? will see
some continuation of the themes from that book in this one. They will also notice
important new directions, especially the application of a psychological approach to
spirituality, from my perspective as a theological ethicist and psychotherapist. I am
grateful to the people who have encouraged me (sometimes mercilessly) to engage
both these aspects of my identity in my writing.
I am indebted to many people. Thanks go to the people at Springer for the
encouragement and assistance in the creation of this monograph. I am particularly
grateful to the editors of this series, Eric Bain-Selbo and Gregory Sapp, and to the
anonymous peer reviewer, for their thoughtful feedback. Without a six-month
sabbatical leave from Queen’s University, this book would not have been possible.
A few very good friends have generously read over drafts of these chapters. Others
have encouraged this project and suffered through several conversations about
enhancements, spirituality, and sport. Barb, Lynne, Lois, Calvin, Ian, Marie, and, of
course, Sophia and Gwen, I owe you many thanks. Your insights and suggestions
have been invaluable. As always, any mistakes remaining are mine alone.
Most important has been the support of my husband and best friend, Ron.
While I find the sacred in sport, I find it most in my faith and in my closest
relationships. This one is dedicated to you, Ron.

vii
Contents

1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Why a Consideration of Sport as Sacred Is Worthwhile . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Spirituality as a Search for the Sacred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Game Is On!—Why Are Sports Such a Big Deal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
It’s About Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Sport as Spiritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 Improving Sports Performance? Enhancements and the Future
of Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Words We Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Enhancements: Now and in the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Five Ethics Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3 Sport Enhancements: Implications for Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Self-Reflexivity and Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Sport Enhancements and Values: It’s About Hope and More . . . . . . . . . 55
Pulling It Together: Enhancing Hope? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4 Spirituality: Implications for Sport Enhancement Ethics . . . . . . . . . 71
Five Ethics Questions Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Real People, Real Sport, Real Spirituality: Some Last Thoughts . . . . . . 86
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

ix
Chapter 1
Spirituality and Sport: Searching
for the Sacred

Abstract This chapter explores the meaning of spirituality, focusing on the research
of psychologist Kenneth I. Pargament. The sacred is characterized by the qualities of
transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, interconnectedness, and spiritual emotions.
When the sacred is discovered in sport, there are implications for one’s life. These
implications and sacred qualities are examined as they may occur in five locations
of hope in sport. This chapter demonstrates that multifaceted hope can be a mani-
festation of the sacred in sport by showing that sacred qualities and implications of
finding the sacred are experienced in the five locations of hope. In short, sport has a
spiritual dimension.

Is sport a religion? If so, is it a civil religion, folk religion, popular religion, or

“secular” religion? Scholars studying the relationship between sport and religion
have made use of Ninian Smart’s definition and criteria for a civil religion (Smart
1996; Price 2006, pp. 111–75; Bain Selbo and Sapp 2016; Alpert 2015), or Rudolph
Otto and Schleiermacher (Bain-Selbo 2009), or Durkheim (1965). There are aspects
that can be drawn from the writings of these well-regarded scholars. One example is
Durkheim’s notion of “collective effervescence” and its applicability to sports fans’
experiences of flow. If sport has a spiritual or religious dimension, as many scholars
have argued (for example: Bellah 1967; Novak 1967/1994; Albanese 1982; Mathisen
1992; Prebish 1993; Price 2006; Bain-Selbo 2009; Austin 2010; Cipriani 2012; Ellis
2014; Trothen 2015; Bain-Selbo and Sapp 2016), this dimension of sport needs to be
considered in assessments of enhancements (Trothen 2015). In other words, sport’s
spiritual or religious dimension is morally relevant to sport enhancement ethics. We
need to ask how enhancements affect the spirituality of sport. But first we need to
consider the relationship between sport, religion, and spirituality.
Unlike approaches that focus primarily on sport’s relationship to religion, I explore
how sports might satisfy psychologist Kenneth I. Pargament’s research-driven psy-
chological understanding of spirituality as “the search for the sacred” (Pargament
2013a, p. 258). In this chapter, using Pargament’s understanding of spirituality, I sug-
gest that one reason why sport draws so many followers and participants is because

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 1

T. J. Trothen, Spirituality, Sport, and Doping: More Than Just a Game, Briefs
in Religion and Sport, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02997-5_1
2 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

it can be a place where the sacred is discovered through the multifaceted presence
of hope. In this way, the concept of hope overlaps with the concept of spirituality.
Pastoral theologian Pamela R. McCarroll carried out an in-depth study of hope,
investigating fifty-two articles and thirty books published between 1976 and 2011 that
addressed the topic of hope. These sources came from several disciplines, including
theology, philosophy, psychology and health care (McCarroll 2014, p. 19). She found
that there was no consensus regarding the meaning of hope. Hope has been understood
as an internal dispositional quality and also as transcendent. Hope can be about the
pursuit of varied goals and outcomes—some specific and concrete, and others more
open-ended. McCarroll describes hope as being about relationship with self, others
(community), creation, and the transcendent. Interestingly, these domains of hope
mirror many understandings of the domains of spirituality, which is also a very
difficult concept to define.1 Based on careful analysis of these many understandings
of hope, McCarroll proposes the following broad definition of hope: “Hope is the
experience of the opening of horizons of meaning and participation in relationship
to time, other human and nonhuman beings, and/or the transcendent” (p. 48) In this
chapter, I am interested in hope as a manifestation of spirituality when spirituality is
understood as the search for the sacred (Pargament 2013a).
Sport can inspire hope in at least five different ways, which will be discussed
later in this chapter: winning, anticipation, and losing; star athletes and “my team”;
perfect moments; embodied connections and possibilities of just communities; and
flow states which can be experienced by the athlete and by fans (Trothen 2015). I
suggest that these sources of hope in sport each can be manifestations of spirituality
as a search for the sacred (Pargament 2013a). In other words, I discuss how the
discovery of sacred may be manifest in each of these locations of hope.2

Why a Consideration of Sport as Sacred Is Worthwhile

Some see claims of sport’s spirituality or religiosity as idolatrous (Higgs and Braswell
2004) or inaccurate (Chandler 1992, p. 57), while others see these claims as very
fitting (for example, Price 2006; Ellis 2014; Trothen 2015). Part of the reason for this
disagreement are differences in understandings of secular and religious. If the secular
and the religious are understood as mutually exclusive, and if spirituality is seen
as restricted to institutional religions, then sport and other pop-culture phenomena
cannot be spiritual.

1 For example, Fisher (2011) proposes four domains of spirituality: the personal domain, the com-
munal domain, the environmental domain (connecting with nature), and the transcendental domain
(“relating to some-thing or some-One beyond the human level”).
2 I write as a Canadian and often use sports examples from the Canadian context. Since most

publications on sport, religion, and spirituality are written by scholars in the United States and
the United Kingdom, examples from sports in these countries are more common. My hope is that
examples from countries such as Canada that appear less often in this discipline can generate a more
global sense of sport as it relates to religion and spirituality.
Why a Consideration of Sport as Sacred Is Worthwhile 3

Religious studies scholar Jennifer Porter vigorously critiques value-based distinc-

tions between spirituality that is experienced within established institutional religions
and spirituality that is experienced within pop-culture. Mainstream religions are com-
monly considered authentic, while the religious dimension of fandom has often has
been considered fake or dismissed as derivative. After establishing that many schol-
ars have pathologized the implicitly religious dimension of fan experience, Porter
makes a convincing case for the “authenticity” and validity of “pop-culture inspired
spiritualities” (2009, p. 272): fan communities, she proposes,
are, or at least can be, a place that embodies a person’s and/or a community’s expression of
the essence of all meaning: what it means to be human, to be in community, to be in space
and time, to be moral or immoral, to be finite or eternal, to simply be. As a result, pop culture
fandoms are implicitly religious. Implicit religion underpins ardent pop culture fandom, just
as it underpins ardent explicit religion. (p. 275)

The question of meaning need not be explicitly pursued, but can be lived or expe-
rienced. The implicit quality of spirituality inspired by pop culture, religions, or
both, resist hard-and-fast definitions, just as they open up a multiplicity of ways of
experiencing the sacred.
Part of the problem involved in pinning down what some experience as the com-
plex, powerful, and awe-inspiring qualities of sport is the difficulty of defining spir-
ituality and religion. Instead of starting with definitions of religion and spirituality,
it may be more prudent to start instead with understandings of religion and spiri-
tuality, since the term “understanding” implies a more provisional conception that
is responsive to shifting contexts and new insights. I am persuaded that empirical
studies combined with theoretical research may offer constructive and insightful
approaches to contemporary spirituality, so long as scientism is avoided.3
I have suggested elsewhere that “sport is a secular religion because sport functions
as a communal belief system and it is characterized by the spiritual quality of hope”
(2015, p. 80). I have been drawn to an understanding of sport as a secular religion in
part because this concept implicitly rejects a binary split between the secular and the
religious. I agree with theologians such as Jürgen Moltmann and Mayra Rivera who
see the sacred and the profane, and the religious and the secular, as intersecting and
overlapping. Likewise, I find it compelling because good arguments have been made
for the religious-like function and form, and sometimes content, of sport (for example,
see Bellah 1967; Novak 1967/1994; Albanese 1982; Mathisen 1992; Prebish 1993;
Price 2006; Bain-Selbo 2009; Ellis 2014; Trothen 2015; Bain-Selbo and Sapp 2016).
Notwithstanding the value of these arguments, including my own, that sport can
function similarly to an institutional religion, I am becoming more persuaded that
sport may be better understood in terms of spirituality rather than as a religion. No
matter how strenuously and persuasively counterarguments are made, the concept

3 Scientism assumes arguments or findings and their interpretations as objective fact, camouflaging
the influence of investigators’ values, assumptions, and perspectives. See, for example, an excellent
article by Parry (2005, p. 22). Scientific, evidence-based methods are built on the assumption that
every claim is provisional. Every finding and interpretation may be proven false or limited, otherwise
there would be no need for further inquiry.
4 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

of religion tends to be reduced to anthropomorphic theism in much of the Euro-

American world. Critiques by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others
who reject religion, particularly Christianity and Islam, as irrational (not arational
which is a far more apt claim) and inherently destructive, rely on assumptions that all
religious followers ascribe human qualities to an all-powerful, enthroned God who
chooses capriciously whether to respond to prayer requests. Further complicating
perceptions of the relationship of sport to religion are faith claims that the Chris-
tian God is a jealous God who, anthropomorphically, will not abide any claims of
religiosity outside of an explicit Christian structure. One benefit to the exploration
of sport as a type of religion is the potential for debating these claims and assump-
tions in the spirit of the radical reformer. Perhaps, however, we can better address
such value-laden assumptions by beginning the discussion differently; the concept
of spirituality provides an alternative starting point for exploring the dimension of
sport that suggests transcendence, meaning, and expansiveness.4
But how should we understand “spirituality?” One literature review published
in 2002 yielded ninety-one different definitions of spirituality (Unruh et al. 2002,
Appendix). Many of these definitions are based on individual subjective experiences,
in the absence of systemic attempts to outline a broader narrative. This individualistic
approach makes definitions of spirituality susceptible to charges of uncritical reliance
on individual inner experiences. Contemporary shaping of the meaning of spirituality
has been influenced by the emergence of New Age movements in the 1960s,5 the
postmodern rejection of master narratives (including those of theistic religions),
and an extreme individualism.6 The first consensus definition of spirituality was
put forward in 2009: “spirituality is that aspect of humanity that refers to the way
individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their
connectedness to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred” (Puchalski
et al. 2009). This definition was broad enough to be supported by diverse healthcare
clinicians, scholars, and groups. The strength and the weakness of this definition is
its breadth and simplicity.
Spirituality overlaps with religion but is not the same as religion (Schlehofer et al.
2008). Some scholars have been approaching spirituality from perspectives such as
psychology using social-scientific, evidence-based research methods in addition to

4 Historian Nongbri (2013) provides a very readable of religion as a constructed category. Nongbri
points out that the concept of religion is projected onto many ancient cultures, noting that religion
has not been a universal concept. Looking back over the past 2000 years, Nongbri concludes that
the contemporary assumption that religion is about “inner disposition and concern for salvation”
(24) does not apply to antiquity. His analysis supports the notion that through much of antiquity
there was no distinction between the “religious” and the secular. Indeed, it was not until modernity
(the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) that the category of religion as separate from the secular
emerged. In sum, Nongbri argues that the category of religion has been assumed to be natural and
universal, when it is, in reality, neither.
5 The more recent SBNR (spiritual but not religious) tendency (I stop short of calling it a movement

as this status is not clear) sometimes includes a social justice component, extending well beyond
the self and embracing a value system.
6 See, for example, Simon Robinson’s analysis of this historical backdrop (2007).
Why a Consideration of Sport as Sacred Is Worthwhile 5

theoretical explorations. Ontological questions do not drive much of this research.

Instead, perception and implications for day-to-day living are most important.
One of the most established and well-regarded scholars engaged in such research
on spirituality is Kenneth I. Pargament, an emeritus professor of psychology from
Bowling Green State University, who has published more than 200 papers on the
relationship between religion, spirituality, and psychology. Based on a combination
of theoretical research and empirical studies using scales with demonstrated relia-
bility and validity, Pargament has constructed a definition of spirituality that reflects
common themes distilled from research carried out by himself and colleagues over
the years. He describes spirituality as a “‘search for the sacred’ … and a natural
and normal part of life” (2013a, p. 58). Supporting his contention that spirituality is
part of being human, Pargament cites studies from neuroscience that suggest humans
may be “hard-wired” for spirituality (2013b, p. 273). In other words, according to
Pargament, a yearning for the sacred is a basic part of being human: “Our yearning
for the sacred is what makes us human, healthy, and whole” (2013b, p. 271).

Spirituality as a Search for the Sacred

Pargament’s definition of spirituality as a “search for the sacred” is multifaceted.

Consider first the term “sacred,” which Pargament defines as referring “not only to
ideas of higher powers, God, and transcendent reality, but also to other significant
objects that take on spiritual character and meaning by virtue of their association
with the divine” (2013b, p. 271). “Sacred” can be understood in both theistic and
nontheistic terms.
Pargament’s research suggests that anyone “can perceive spiritual qualities in
various aspects of life” (2013a, p.260) through the process of sanctification which
he defines from a psychological perspective as “the process through which people
come to perceive the sacred in their daily life” (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 718). Those
experiences and/or objects that are perceived as sacred hold “deeper meaning and
value” (Pargament et al. 2017, pp. 719–720) for the perceiver beyond the surface
representation. As Pomerleau, Pargament and Mahoney explain, “in shifting from a
theological to a psychological framework, our focus shifts from a theological under-
standing of sanctification as a gift handed down from God or higher powers per se to
the individual’s active role in sanctifying various elements of life by viewing them
through a sacred lens” (Pomerleau et al. 2017, p. 38).7
Very briefly, theologically, sanctification is “the process of growth in Christian
love” (Migliore 2004, p. 239). More literally, it means to make holy but from a faith
perspective, making something holy involves not only God’s grace through the work
of the Holy Spirit but intentional individual growth. Pomerleau misses the nuance
of theological sanctification as it does require an individual’s active role as well as

7 It
is important to note that contextual factors including individual experiences, social norms and
customs, and cultural features influence what we see as sacred.
6 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

divine action; justification cannot be separated from sanctification. Sanctification by

the Holy Spirit cannot occur without a human response that includes the emulation
of God’s love in relationships with all humanity, God, and creation, and much more.
Importantly for our reflections in this book, from a theological perspective, sanctifica-
tion requires the individual’s active role to extend beyond experiencing the sacred to
intentionally acting upon the reception of God’s love through spiritual practices and
disciplines. We will return to the contribution that this theological insight regarding
the necessity of intentionality, practices and disciplines, can make to an exploration
of spirituality, sport, and enhancement ethics, later in this book.
The sacred can be discovered in many aspects of life, ranging from nature, institu-
tional religions, relationships, work, and music to sport. One can discover the sacred
in more than one facet of life. These experiences and/or objects that are perceived as
sacred are far-ranging and can include sport. Pargament quotes the Brazilian Roman
Catholic priest Jose Benedito Filho as saying that “[w]e have so much misery and
suffering here. But soccer is our gift from God. Our healing grace so that we Brazil-
ians can go on” (2013c). A commitment to an organized traditional religion does
not preclude experiencing the sacred in sport or other aspects of life such as familial
relationships or music. Not everyone, likewise, discovers the sacred in organized
religions. One may or may not, moreover, explicitly use the term “sacred” when
discussing an aspect of life that satisfies the meaning of sacred.8
One may object that this functionalist understanding of sacred still leaves us with
the problem that the concept of spirituality is defined too loosely and too individu-
alistically; I could claim that jam on toast is sacred, simply because I enjoy it. How
do we know when we have discovered something that is sacred to us, and not just
enjoyable or otherwise pleasure-inducing?
While there are wide-ranging aspects of life that can be sacred, this wide range
does not preclude the identification of what Pargament calls “a set of key ingredients
of the sacred” which distinguish the sacred from the merely enjoyable or pleasurable
(Pargament et al. 2017, p. 726). Opting for a substantive rather than only functional
definition of spirituality, Pargament (2007) and his colleague Mahoney (Pargament
and Mahoney 2005) propose three core sacred qualities: transcendence, ultimacy,
and boundlessness. They arrived at these sacred qualities “[t]hrough a building block
approach … involving a review of personal narratives, scholarly writings, and empir-
ical investigations” (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 722).
If an experience or object is sacred, it will minimally possess these three sacred
qualities—or attributes—for the perceiver. The quality of transcendence involves a
sense of set apartness in contrast to ordinariness and “the sacred quality of transcen-
dence often goes hand in hand with the sense of mystery and ineffability” (p. 723).
The quality of ultimacy concerns the conviction that there are “deeper truths” to the
sacred than what meets the eye; there is more to the experience or object than what
may be visible or apparent (p. 723). The sacred quality of boundlessness points to the

8 Bain-Selbo, in his study of southern US college football fans, found that while these fans often
used spiritual or religious terms to describe their football fan experiences, they did not often identify
these experiences directly as religious (Bain-Selbo 2008).
Spirituality as a Search for the Sacred 7

timelessness and “spacelessness” that is experienced when the sacred is discovered

(p. 724).
Pargament and his colleagues understand these three sacred qualities of tran-
scendence, ultimacy, and boundlessness not as an exhaustive “list of attributes [or
qualities] that ‘qualify as sacred’ but rather … [as] a ‘starting point’” towards a
substantive understanding of spirituality (p. 723). The researchers selected transcen-
dence, ultimacy, and boundlessness not only since they emerged as building block
research themes but also since they “were applicable to the variety of constructs
that lie in the core of the sacred (i.e., divine, God, and transcendent reality).” Inter-
connection and sacred emotions are additional sacred attributes identified in at least
one of Pargament’s publications: “sacred moments refer to brief periods of time in
which people experience qualities of transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, inter-
connectedness, and spiritual emotions” (Lomax et al. 2011; Mahoney et al. 2005,
p. 406).9
What is at the core of the sacred, from a psychological (not ontological) perspec-
tive, shifts according to the individual and the individual’s context. Contextual factors
such as education, family, media, and religion influence what we perceive as sacred.
Individuals sanctify aspects of their lives by viewing them through a sacred lens. The
core of the sacred is thus extended into the person’s everyday world. As a result, one
of the criterions for a quality to be identified as sacred must be its transferability to a
variety of life aspects including family, relationships, nature, music, religious ritual
and, for some, sport. In other words, transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, and
often interconnectedness and spiritual emotions, are commonly attributed to theistic
and nontheistic experiences of the sacred; they are qualities commonly associated
with religious deities and, also, with secular experiences of spirituality through the
psychological process of sanctification:
People can perceive a wide range of objects as sacred; not only, gods and divine beings,
but also other aspects of life that are imbued with divine-like qualities, such as transcen-
dence, boundlessness, and ultimacy. Sacred objects include marriage, parenting, work, the
environment, virtues, sports, and the soul. Thus, any seemingly secular aspect of life can be
the container for a deeper dimension. Spirituality rests on this capacity to see more deeply.
(Pargament 2013d, p. 398)

Research using social scientific tools to measure spirituality related to percep-

tions of the sacred have yielded results that support Pargament’s finding that both
theistic and nontheistic experiences and aspects of life can be perceived as sacred
and that qualities such as transcendence, ultimacy, and boundlessness are attributed
to what is perceived as sacred (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 731). The earliest mea-
sures, with the first developed in 1999 (Mahoney et al. 1999), were designed to
investigate the psychological concept of sanctification in the context of marriage.
The Sanctification Measure was used later to assess sanctification in domains other
than marriage including work (Walker et al. 2008), social justice (Todd et al. 2014),
and forgiveness (Bell et al. 2014; Davis et al. 2012). Other sanctification measures

9 Because spiritual emotions such as awe, joy, and gratitude are interwoven throughout the other
four attributes, I do not always explicitly identify spiritual emotions as a distinct attribute.
8 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

have been developed to investigate the sanctification of additional domains such as

strivings which means the goals to which people are drawn (Mahoney et al. 2005),
sexuality (Murray-Swank et al. 2005), and parenting (Murray-Swank et al. 2006).
Another scale designed to test what people see through a sacred lens is the Per-
ceiving Sacredness in Life Scale, developed by pastoral theologian Doehring et al.
(2009). All studies using these scales showed that people, whether they followed a
formal religion or not, commonly perceived the sacred in their lives. These areas
were diverse, ranging from life as a whole, marriage, career, meaningful objects,
social justice strivings, to nature.
Pargament’s understanding of spirituality as the search for the sacred also thickens
the concept of spirituality. As Pargament explains, his research shows that the search
for the sacred is characterized by three activities that are in constant motion: discovery
of the sacred, conservation of the sacred, and transformation of the sacred (2013b,
p. 274). The search for the sacred often is not intentional. One thus might discover
the sacred or be discovered by the sacred. Spirituality, as the search for the sacred, is
“a dynamic process in which people try to develop, conserve, and at times transform
a relationship with what is perceived as sacred over the course of the lifespan. What
makes this definition of spirituality special is its distinctive focus on the sacred as an
ultimate end in living” (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 729). Spirituality is not a means to
another more utility focused end; spirituality is valuable in itself. The sacred brings
meaning, vibrancy, and sometimes tension to life.
In this chapter I am interested in the search for and discovery of the sacred in
sport. When people discover the sacred, Pargament’s research indicates at least six
implications for their lives. The discovery of the sacred affects day to day func-
tioning. These implications add a functional dimension to Pargament’s substantive
understanding of spirituality.10 This functional dimension can indicate the possible
discovery of the sacred. In this way, Pargament provides us with a model of spir-
ituality that goes beyond the purely subjective sense of spirituality. If the sacred
attributes of transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, and likely interconnectedness
and spiritual emotions, together with these six implications are not experienced, then
what has been discovered may well be important but not sacred to the person.
These six implications for people’s lives are as follows. First, because the sacred
has core “attributes of transcendence, boundlessness, and ultimacy” (2007, p. 39),
people invest their resources, including themselves, time, and money, in sacred things.
Second, perceptions of the sacred generate strong emotions of awe, elevation, love,
hope, and gratitude, which have been associated with the spiritual. Third, “people
derive more support, strength, and satisfaction from those parts of their lives that they
hold sacred” (Pargament 2013a, p. 261). In more recent publications, Pargament and
his colleagues describe this implication more succinctly and broadly: “the sacred
serves as a significant resource” (Pargament et al. 2017, pp. 734–735) and people

10 Religious studies scholar Blazer (2012) found that most persuasive understandings of sport as
a religion rely on function (form-based), not substantive (content-based), approaches to religion.
In fact, content-based arguments tend to demonstrate a disjuncture between sport and religion.
Pargament’s substantive and functional approach to spirituality, from a psychological perspective,
provides an alternative lens through which to understand sport’s spiritual dimension.
Spirituality as a Search for the Sacred 9

derive meaning from what is perceived as sacred (Pomerleau et al. 2016, p. 45).
Fourth, sacred objects or experiences are prioritized and become “organizing forces”
in their lives (2013a, pp. 261–262).11 Fifth, “people protect and preserve the sacred
(Pargament et al. 2017, p. 734). And sixth, “people react strongly to loss or violation
of the sacred” (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 734).
I consider how these implications may manifest when one discovers the sacred in
sport. When the locations of hope in sport are examined, the core sacred attributes of
transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, interconnectedness, and spiritual emotions
emerge as aspects of hope in sport. In sum, I theorize that Pargament’s research can
help us to appreciate more fully the significance and meaning of sport in the lives of
many followers.

The Game Is On!—Why Are Sports Such a Big Deal?

The gold-medal game of the men’s 2010 Olympic hockey game became the most
watched event (of any kind, not only sport) in Canadian history, with 16.6 million
Canadians, almost half of the country’s population, watching the entire game and
26.5 million—about 80% of Canada’s population at the time—watching at least
part of the game (NHL.com 2010). The question of why sport is so important to so
many people has been investigated mainly through psychological, sociological, and
historical lenses. The reasons why people are motivated to follow sport as spectators
or fans are multiple, but most research points to the excitement of competition;
stress relief; connecting with others (for example, social issues of belonging and
identity); aesthetics; and escapism.12 Theologian Robert Ellis, in his 2012 empirical
study of 468 sports spectators and athletes, had similar findings regarding motives
behind both spectating and playing sports: fitness and health (primarily for athletes);
stress relief; social motives; enjoyment of competition and simple enjoyment.13 What
has been ignored in many of these studies, with a very notable exception being
Ellis’s, is the possibility that these motives for watching or participating in sports
may have additional layers that point to a greater driving force. Although competition,
stress relief, social connection, enjoyment, and fitness are persuasive and important
motivators, they do not fully explain the pervasive, powerful attraction of sport. I
agree with Ellis who suggests that spirituality may be the underlying reason why so
many people are drawn to sports.
There are few social scientific research studies that investigate the possible rele-
vance of spirituality or religion to the question of why people follow sport. The two
most notable of such studies suggest that there is indeed a spiritual motivation for

11 This fourth implication is included in all relevant sources in which Pargament is an author, except

for the Pomerleau et al. (2016) article.

12 See Markovitz and Albertson for a helpful summary of relevant research studies (Markovits and

Albertson 2012, pp. 159–160).

13 Included under enjoyment was the appreciation of the aesthetic dimension of sport (2014, p. 251).
10 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

many followers. Ellis considers the possibility of underlying religious motivations,

positing that the quest for transcendence, including self-transcendence, characterizes
sport and distinguishes it from play (2012, pp. 170, 174; 2014, pp. 228–274). Reli-
gious studies scholar Eric Bain-Selbo surveyed 220 fans at college football games in
the U.S. south and, based on his subjects’ usage of words that allude to religious and
even mystical concepts to describe the game-day experience, found that such games
provided opportunities for fans to have what he calls “religious experiences” (2008).
Ellis’s and Bain-Selbo’s contention that sport often has a “religious” dimension
for its followers can be strengthened and deepened through the application of Parga-
ment’s understanding of the discovery of the sacred through the process of sanc-
tification. Pargament’s findings that transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, inter-
connectedness, and spiritual emotions are common core qualities associated with
perceptions of the sacred, and that the discovery of the sacred has implications for
human functioning, help explain Ellis’ and Bain-Selbo’s findings as well as my own
theoretical research regarding locations of hope in sport.
Pargament makes the case that people are drawn to religion primarily because of
their search for the sacred. While other motivations, including the need to belong
to a united community (Durkheim 1965), make meaning (Geertz 1966), achieve
a sense of control (and thus serve in part as Karl Marx’s “opiate of the people”),
and enhance self-esteem (Spilka et al. 1985), may partly explain the motivation for
following a religion, the motivations of many followers cannot be reduced to these
factors; “spirituality is an important, irreducible motivation and process in and of
itself” (Pargament 2013b, p. 271). All these factors are important and are entwined,
adding depth to spiritual concepts such as hope. Pargament’s point is that the quest
for spiritual meaning and fulfilment cannot and should not be explained only in
functional terms, but must include sport’s spirituality as an end in itself.14
Several scholars refer to hope in sport (for example see Robinson 2007; Scholes
2014; Price 2006, pp. 117, 125; Evans and Herzog 2002, pp. 7, 48; Grimshaw 2002).
Like Ellis, professor of sociology Michael Grimshaw makes the point that hope
characterizes experiences of reaching toward transcendence in sport. Discussions
of the relationship between religion and sport, and of sport’s spiritual dimension,
almost always address hope and the human quest for meaning as part of that hope.
In short, hope is a thread through the elements that draw many people to sport.
Based on a review of scholarly literature regarding the intersection of religion and
sport, I propose five locations of hope in sport for fans and athletes (Trothen 2015,
pp. 115–132).15 I will consider how each of these locations of hope may be expres-

14 Pargament explains that there has been a tendency within psychological research to diminish or

deny spirituality as a motivation in and of itself. Instead, motivations for subscribing to a religion
tend to be explained away in “psychological, social, or physiological” terms (2013b, p. 271). Part of
the reason for this overlooking of spirituality as irreducible, Pargament offers, is that psychologists
as a group in the United States are much less theistic than the general population of the country. It
may well be that attempts to understand sports fans’ and athletes’ motivations have been affected
by the same myopia.
15 Elsewhere I have considered the spiritual quality of hope and posit that there are four locations

of hope in sport and that these locations of hope attract both fans and athletes (Trothen 2015,
The Game Is On!—Why Are Sports Such a Big Deal? 11

sions of the discovery of the sacred in sport. To do this, I ask whether Pargament’s
core sacred qualities—transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, interconnectedness,
and spiritual emotions—may be present in some people’s perception of sport, and
if the six implications of the discovery of the sacred may be experienced by sports
fans and athletes.

It’s About Hope

Winning, Losing and Anticipation: We hope to win. We wait with bated breath for
record-breaking performances and personal bests. Even when the odds are stacked
against us, we hope our team will win. In 1992, immediately following the Toronto
Blue Jays’ first World Series win, it is estimated that half a million fans flooded
Yonge Street, from Lake Ontario all the way north to Highway 401. In 2015, when
the Blue Jays won the American League East pennant for the first time since 1993,
fans rejoiced. As one fan tweeted, “22 years. 3559 games. You’re damn right it’s
time to celebrate!”
Part of the fans’ jubilation is the identification that many experience with their
teams. Winning can bring a special sort of hope–validating our loyalties and even
validating ourselves. This psychological dynamic of identification with a team or
individual athlete is called “basking in reflected glory” (BIRG), and is even more
pronounced if the win occurs following a challenge to the individual fan’s self-esteem
(Cialdini et al. 1976). A big win can make it seem as if anything is possible and that
one is on top of the world. If sport is perceived through a sacred lens, the experience
of winning can go even further, imbued with qualities of transcendence, ultimacy,
boundlessness, interconnectedness, and spiritual emotions. The win may take on a
sense of ineffability and hold deeper meaning than meets the eye for the perceiver:
it is not uncommon for a devout fan to feel a lasting sense of vindication or that
they are truly on top of the world because their NHL team won the coveted Stanley
Cup. Also, Pargament’s observation that “perceptions of the sacred appear to act
like an emotional generator,” stimulating feelings of awe, elevation, love, hope, and
gratitude, fits well with the emotions that are generated at sports events particularly at
championship-level competitions in the wake of a win or outstanding performance.
Winning is important and stokes hope and jubilation. Winning, however, is not
required for hope. Fans persist in hoping for a win even in the face of years of losses.
I continue in defiance of much reason to hope that the Toronto Maple Leafs will win
the Stanley Cup, even though they have not won it since 1967. And Chicago Cubs
fans kept rooting for their team despite not winning the World Series from 1908 until
2016, when they finally broke the infamous curse of the Billy Goat!
Losing can be crushing. Philosopher and theologian Michael Novak went so far
as to say that losing in sport can feel like a “death” (1967/1994, p. 153). While there

pp. 115–132). I now suggest that one of the locations of hope that I have identified is better understood
as two separate locations.
12 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

has been critique of this description as too extreme (Feezell 2013, p. 70), others have
supported Novak’s contention, arguing that sport is much more than just a game
for followers (Ellis 2012, p. 183). If sport was just a game, fans should be able to
disengage from an unsatisfying or disappointing sports event. Studies show, however,
that fans do not see themselves simply as passive observers: “supporters believe they
can influence what happens” in a competition (Ellis 2014, p. 259).16 Real people,
real dreams, and real struggle are involved; authentic meaning and happiness are not
restricted to dramatic existential moments but seem to be generated through more
temporary and simple “meaningful activities” such as sport for many people (Feezell
2013, p. 193). And if sport is perceived through a sacred lens, wins and losses take
on even greater meaning and significance. As Halifax cartoonist and Toronto Maple
Leaf fan Michael de Adder tweeted on April 26, 2018, “After the Empire Strikes
Back ends, the feeling I had that the Empire was winning and all hope was lost, is
the exact same feeling I have when the Boston Bruins win [and the Toronto Maple
Leafs lost in game seven of the 2018 Conference Quarterfinals].”
Pargament and his colleagues have found that one of the implications that the
discovery of the sacred has for human functioning is a strong reaction to the loss or
violation of the sacred (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 734). When people are not able
to protect and preserve what is sacred to them, through everyday spiritual coping
methods such as the continuation of rituals (eating nachos on game night, wearing the
lucky shirt), sticking to the conviction that they will win next time, or commiserating
with other fans or teammates, a spiritual struggle ensues. In this struggle, one’s beliefs
are either changed or discarded (Pargament 2013b, p. 277). Spiritual struggles are
“typically marked by isolation from God, self, and/or others and involve topics and/or
questioning that are not perceived as socially acceptable” (Faigin et al. 2014, p. 211).
The general expectation is that upset over a big loss, or the news that an athlete has
cheated is passing. For those fans who become depressed or otherwise stuck, social
norms suggest that there is something defective about these individuals. But it may
be that their sense of spiritual meaning has been damaged and they are struggling to
make sense of something that has been sacred to them. The loss is not just a loss;
it represents something more. There are, however, few safe places for people to be
taken seriously and to get help in processing these struggles. Sport is supposedly
“just a game.” We have failed to understand that for some people sport is spiritual,
regardless of whether it is explicitly named as spiritual.
Fans of teams that have lost numerous championships may find it even more
meaningful when they eventually do win; the years of persistence can inculcate
an increased sense of loyalty and community through mutual commiseration. This
shared narrative can open horizons of meaning, which McCarroll proposes form the
basis of hope. A long struggle can make victory sweeter.
Anticipation of the next season, game or moment is an important component of
hope. Winning is very important and it is not all that matters: athletes and fans in
Ellis’s study also reported a “good quality game as important, a strong performance

16 Ellis proposes that sports spectators are more than spectators and have vicarious relationships

with the players, noting that spectators expressed a strong sense of identification with the team.
It’s About Hope 13

from one’s team, a good effort” (Ellis 2014, p. 256). As Pargament asserts, “people
derive more support, strength, and satisfaction from those parts of their lives that
they hold sacred” (Pargament 2013a, p. 261). A loss will not usually compromise the
sacredness of sport; the sport usually will remain a prioritized and organizing force
with game-time being sacrosanct.
Star Athletes and “My Team”: Identification, including BIRG, with a team and
their fan group makes one part of a community; one belongs. Research studies and
anecdotal evidence show that people can find the “support, strength, and satisfaction”
that Pargament outlines as one of the implications of discovering the sacred, by being
part of a sports community (Price 2003, p. 16; McCutcheon et al. 2004, p. 82; Ellis
2012, p. 179).
Fans buy shirts with their favorite team’s logo or player’s number. Posters of
individual athletes and teams adorn walls. Time and money are spent on attending
games and competitions, as per Pargament’s first implication of the discovery of the
sacred: “people invest their resources, including time and money, in these sacred
things.”
Star athletes are regarded by some fans as more than role models; they are seen
as moral exemplars, even though there is no reason to expect exemplary or even
good moral behavior from someone known for the athletic skill alone. Sport does
not necessarily instill good character or virtue; athletes are not better people simply
because they perform their sport well or even superbly. But even when confronted
with incontrovertible proof that an athlete or a sport is not all that he/she/it is per-
ceived to be, the believer will usually find ways to hold fast to their convictions. The
conservation of the sacred is a strong motivating force. People want to hold onto
whatever is sacred to them and will go to some lengths to do so.
There are many spiritual pathways to help conserve or deepen one’s relationship
with the sacred. For people who subscribe to institutional religions, these pathways
may include attending worship services; participating in ritual practices; meditating
or praying; and gathering with others in the faith community. For people who find
the sacred in sport, spiritual pathways may include attending sporting events and
engaging in rituals such as singing the national anthem before a NHL game; making
pilgrimages to sacred sites such as the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto; wearing
emblematic clothing such as four-time gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser’s hockey
number, 22; and gathering with fan communities.
These pathways can fail when one is confronted by what Pargament calls a dis-
orienting issue. For those who perceive the sacred in sport, spiritual disorientation
could be generated by a disruption to hope: a momentous loss, a career-ending injury,
the inability to break records continually, or the revelation that an admired athlete
has used banned substances to stay in the game, break more records, or win. People
react strongly to violations of what is perceived to be sacred.
If sport is sacred to someone and if an athlete who they strongly admire is revealed
to be cheating or otherwise disrespecting the ideals of the game, Pargament and his
colleagues have identified methods that people use to cope with these violations.
Coping methods that conserve the sacred include trying one’s usual spiritual pathways
again, “spiritual meaning-making, seeking spiritual support and connection, and
14 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

spiritual purification” (Pargament 2007, p. 99). Meaning-making17 usually involves

the reframing or redefining of a stressor. For instance, one may have believed that
worthy sports icons never cheat by using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).
Lance Armstrong was an icon for many cycling fans. By beating cancer and being
a star athlete, Armstrong was the “ultimate symbol of hope, inspiration, and the
limitless potential of the human will and spirit to the American audiences” (Kusz
2007, p. 139). Ben Johnson similarly was an icon for many Canadians. Johnson is
Jamaican-born former Canadian sprinter who won gold and set a record for the 100-
meter race at the 1988 Olympics, which was later rescinded after tests showed he
had used banned substances.
To cope with the news that Armstrong or Johnson used PEDs, some reframed
the issue: Armstrong used PEDs but he did it because everyone else did and there
was no other good option if he wanted to continue to compete. Similarly, Johnson used
PEDs but he has redeemed himself by confessing and doing educational and mentor-
ing work with youth around sports and drugs (Brunt 2013). Seeking support could
involve something as simple as talking about the scandal with other fans. Spiritual
purification involves a ritual in which the disorienting incident or impulse is cleansed.
Purification seems most helpful for people who have committed a wrong that offends
their understanding of the sacred. The athlete who uses a banned enhancement, for
example, may need to confess and do penance for their wrong-doing, as did Johnson.
There are dangerous consequences to putting athletes on a pedestal. Not only can
fans be devastated by revelations of bad (Lance Armstrong’s doping and repeated
denials) or even criminal behavior (Oscar Pistorius’ murder of Reeva Steenkamp or
charges of domestic abuse against several NFL players). The athletes experience the
dangerous consequence of regarding themselves as special and some may think that
they are beyond reproach (Teitelbaum 2010).
Pargament sees spiritual coping methods as distinctive from other coping mecha-
nisms, in that “spiritual coping methods are tailored to provide solutions to problems
of human finitude and insufficiency” (Pargament 2013a, p. 264). Indeed, part of the
very reason people discover the sacred in sport is the escape from temporality and
the experience of transcending perceived human limits. Sport can put us in touch
with something greater than ourselves, a sense of awe, inspiration and the belief
that the impossible may be possible. Paradoxically, with the emphasis on becoming
better and superseding limits, we come in touch with the reality that we are limited.
Transformation must involve the reconfiguring of the meanings of being human, its
limits and transcendence toward “more-ness.”
There are few who perform what may be altruistic acts in the midst of fierce com-
petition such as Canadian speed skater Gilmore Junio in the 2014 winter Olympics.
Junio gave up his spot to Denny Morrison in the 1000-m race, given that Morrison
had failed to qualify for the team, despite his impressive record in this competition.

17 Pastoral theologians have written about embedded and deliberative theologies. See, for example,
Stone and Duke (1996) and Doehring (2015). When a faith conviction is not deliberately examined
and reevaluated in relation to lived experiences, including those of suffering, loss and systemic
injustice, the faith claim may cease to make sense and not hold up in times of extreme stress.
It’s About Hope 15

By giving up his spot, Junio in all probability improved the chances of the Canadian
team winning. Morrison achieved a silver medal in the event. Whether or not athletes
act as moral role models or even exemplars, fans admire their star athletes for their
more-ness, seeing them as symbols of hope and promise because of their exceptional
athletic accomplishments.
Unity and Diversity: At its best, sport does not allow one to forget or devalue
one’s body, emotions, intellect, or spirit. At its worst, sport can promote unnecessary
violence, and athletes can be regarded as mere machines. Mainstream western cul-
ture tends to be either body-denying or body-obsessed. The ethic of winning at any
cost encourages an instrumental approach to the athlete as a body that has utility in
its potential to win. The value of the athlete is reduced to their capacity to compart-
mentalize, utilize, and optimize measurable abilities that can produce a win. On the
other hand, a sports ethic that centers on becoming the best that one can be holds the
potential for the promotion of embodied integrity fostering intrapersonal integration
and growth that may even transcend one’s perceived limits.
Sport also has the potential to celebrate and unite a confluence of people from
diverse racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Top-notch athletes with
physical disabilities challenge assumptions about the meaning and limitations of
disability. Hayley Wickenheiser and other women’s Olympic hockey players chal-
lenged gender stereotypes.18 An example of a sports event that helped to unify a very
divided country is the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted in South Africa
soon after the end of apartheid. Through Nelson Mandela’s inspired leadership, the
country came together, black and white, to support and celebrate their rugby team in
winning the 1995 World Cup. On a less dramatic level, sports events that have been
previously restricted to certain countries or regions are being introduced across the
globe. For example, Toronto Maple Leaf games are broadcasted by Punjabi televi-
sion stations and commentators. Learning more about others through sport creates
more opportunities to develop relationships (Markovits and Albertson 2012).
Sport can be both liberating and oppressive, with athletes, teams, and sports lead-
ers overcoming or reinforcing barriers on the basis of sex, gender, disability, race,
ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation. Theologian Jürgen Moltmann sees the promise
of Olympia, in the expression of protest against barriers, divisiveness, and oppres-
sion: “Olympia will be ‘a symbol of hope’ if its character as protest, as alternative,
and as the prelude to freedom is stressed, in its contrast to burdened everyday life
in the economic, political, and social world. This is a primal human longing” (Molt-
mann 1989, p. 107). When sport is the locus of inclusion, it is a source of “support,
strength, … satisfaction”, and justice, stimulating feelings of awe, elevation, love,
hope, and gratitude.
Sport can be a unifying force, increasing intrapersonal and interpersonal connec-
tion, connection with nature, and connection with the transcendent (Pargament 2007,
pp. 112–113). The development of these relationships contributes to an awareness
of the interdependence of all life and of the possibilities endemic to this interdepen-

18 Some studies suggest that diversity can be promoted effectively in recreational sport, combating

societal prejudices (see, for example Bridel and Rail 2007).

16 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

dence. Connectedness is a spiritual attribute (Lomax et al. 2011) that can sustain
hope as the “opening of horizons of meaning and participation” (McCarroll 2014,
p. 48).
Perfect Moments: Perfect athletic moments are liminal: they stand at the thresh-
old of this world and beyond. The “imperfect performer” bridges the gap between the
seemingly possible and impossible. These moments include Dick Fosbury’s remark-
able jump, Nadia Comaneci’s perfect ten in the 1976 Olympic gymnastics, Paul
Henderson’s stunning goal in 1972 Canada-Russia series, and the list goes on. These
inspiring moments of athletic perfection generate feelings of awe, akin to Parga-
ment’s second implication of discovering the sacred.
These perfect sports moments are shared moments that draw a wide community
together through a known narrative. Because international or national level sports
competitions bring together such a large and broad community of people, perfect
moments become part of a shared story that allow many of us to connect with others
outside of our more intimate familial, collegial, and social communities. In Canada,
if you were alive in 1972, it is not uncommon to be drawn into conversations about
where you were when Paul Henderson scored the winning goal in the Summit Series.
This does not mean that there are not other perfect moments in sport that are etched
on one’s heart and mind. However, these perfect moments may not be as recog-
nized and known. For example, your first goal in a new soccer league, or your first
completed marathon. These, too, can be perfect moments filled with the same sense
of transcendence, fulfillment, and boundlessness that was experienced by fans who
witnessed Michael Phelps’ stunning achievement of eight gold medals at the 2008
Olympics.
I use the term perfect instead of excellent, deliberately. Theologian Michael R.
Shafer draws attention to the question of whether it is the sport act or the way it is
done (that is, through effort and/or giftedness) that informs a judgement of perfection
(2016, p. 194). What counts as perfection is difficult if not impossible to pin down. I
use the term perfect to try to capture those sports moments that elicit strong feelings
of riveted awe and amazement, leaving one with bated breath, and even a sense of
suspended time, or boundlessness. In other words, I choose the term perfect to connote
the sports moments that generate strong spiritual emotions including awe, elevation,
hope, and gratitude. These moments are in both continuation and contrast with the
stark ability of sport to exhibit human mistakes, failures, and glory, often within very
brief time passage. These perfect moments must occur within the muddiness and
sometimes ineptitude of raw human effort and amazing human abilities if they are
to generate the awe of which I write.
Is the quest for perfect moments too egocentric to generate an authentic sense
of transcendence? Joseph Price, professor of religion, notes that “[e]ven when the
pursuit of a perfect performance in sport becomes corrupted or distorted—when it
moves toward selfish goals rather than the joy and disclosive possibilities of play
itself—it still manifests a fundamental human desire for fulfillment” (Price 2000,
p. 211). This desire for fulfillment is part of the search for the sacred: the human
desire for something more—for transcendence. Even when motives are more self-
It’s About Hope 17

centered than outwardly oriented, the search for the sacred may well provide the
underlying propulsion.
The biblical Greek understanding of perfection has to do with wholeness, becom-
ing complete (Bain-Selbo and Sapp 2016, p. 144, note 6),19 or, I would suggest,
becoming more fully human. Instead of perceiving strivings for perfection as attempts
to supersede appropriate human limits, or even to become god-like, the quest for per-
fection is perhaps better understood as the quest to be more fully human, embracing
the part of ourselves that is hard-wired for spirituality, including the desire for feel-
ings of awe, elevation, love, hope, and gratitude that follow the discovery of that
which is sacred to us.
What it means to be more fully human is not clear. Athletes can go overboard in the
pursuit of so-called perfection in sport; this best of impulses can become manifested
destructively. Excessive self-violence, for example, is a risk. An overwhelming desire
to be the best can lead to dangerous weight loss or high risk-taking in already extreme
sports such as snow-boarding.
The quest for perfection and the best possible athletic performance is an organiz-
ing principle for many sport fans and athletes. A focus on watching one’s team or
improving our performance and hoping for the ultimate sports moment is a priority
that most are unwilling to give up unless faced with an overwhelming reason. Fit-
tingly, Pargament’s fourth implication of discovering the sacred is that the sacred is
prioritized as an organizing force in one’s life (see, for example, Ellis 2012, p. 179).
Perfect moments generate awe and can offer hope that the almost unimaginable,
the never before achieved, is indeed possible. These moments have the sacred quality
of boundlessness for the believer; they generate a sense of timelessness and “space-
lessness” (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 724). In this way, fans and athletes experience
“more support, strength, and satisfaction” from sport than from parts of their lives
that are not sacred to them. Perfect moments are about hope in that they can open
up horizons of meaning. The witnessing of moments in which human limitations are
transcended suggest the possibility that we can be or do, or participate in, more than
we had thought. This opening of possibilities is part of hope.
Flow: A “flow state,” as coined by psychologist Mihalyi Csikszenthmihalyi, is
characterized partially by total absorption in the experience, the sense that all life
is connected, a strong sense of self and the loss of individual ego. As an athlete in
flow, one is aware of working very hard but also not working at all—some describe
it as being on automatic pilot. Exceptionally strong athletic performances can be
driven by a flow experience. Although conditions for flow have been identified,
flow experiences cannot be induced (Elkington 2010; Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi
1999).
Most studies focus on flow states and the athlete, but the sports fan seems to
experience similar states (Bain-Selbo 2008, p. 9).20 Fans’ euphoria has been variously

19 See Chap. 3 of this title (pp. 51–70) for an in-depth exploration of the perspectives of several

religions on perfection, and the relationship between sport, religion, and perfection.
20 Bain-Selbo argues that “the experience of the religious adherent and the experience of the Southern

college football fan are essentially the same flow experiences; they are simply labeled differently.”
18 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

called a wave, effervescence, a type of flow, “anonymous enthusiasm” (Vondey 2003,

p. 319) or “shining moments.” As philosophers Hubert Dreyfuss and Sean Dorrance
Kelly explain, “there are moments in sport—either in the playing of them or in the
witnessing of them—during which something so overpowering happens that it wells
up before you as a palpable presence and carries you along as on a powerful wave.
… That is the moment when the sacred shines” (2011, p. 194). As with athletes’
flow states, fans’ shining moments hold transformative potential, are extraordinary,
temporary, can seem to be propelled by an external force, and can generate strong
emotions including “feelings of awe, elevation, love, hope, and gratitude” (Pargament
2013a, pp. 261–262).
In my 2015 book, I argued that “[not] all flow experiences can or ought to be
understood as spiritual.” I put forward that if a flow experience was truly spiritual,
the person would express that experience in life-giving positive actions, otherwise the
experience was most likely only an adrenaline induced high (Trothen 2015, p. 107). In
the past, I have dismissed blanket claims that flow states are spiritual, mainly because
of the destructiveness of some large sports crowds caught up in the wave, but also
because I have not heard many sports participants connect their flow experiences to
any greater meaning than the moment. I have since nuanced my thinking.
Pargament’s research tells us that people can perceive the sacred if they imbue
that experience or object with recognizable sacred qualities. The test is not the stim-
ulation of life-giving positive actions. The test is if one experiences sacred qualities
(i.e. transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, and connectedness) in that aspect of
life, and the occurrence of the six implications on everyday functioning. Transcen-
dence, boundlessness, and some level of connectedness are arguably included in
Csikszentmihalyi’s eight elements of flow (Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi 1999).21
But ultimacy is another question: deeper meaning may not be associated with flow
for all people in all flow states. As a result, flow states may or may not be spiritual
experiences, depending on whether ultimacy is part of that flow experience. As with
the other locations of hope in sport, it is possible to experience flow states without
necessarily discovering the sacred in sport.
Fan flow states often occur in a crowd and are related to this crowd dynamic. I
propose that crowd waves include at least four types of individual experiences: flow
states that are spiritual; flow states that are not spiritual; strong emotions that are
spiritual; and, strong emotions that are not spiritual. If one experiences the eight
elements of flow, one is in a flow state. If, in addition to these eight elements, one
experiences the sacred qualities (and the six implications in one’s everyday func-
tioning), one is in a spiritual flow state. It is possible, too, to not experience flow

21 Very briefly, these eight elements are: clarity of goals and immediate feedback; a high level of

concentration; a close match between one’s perceived skills and the challenge; a feeling of control;
effortlessness; an altered perception of time; the melting together of action and consciousness; and
the experience of the autotelic quality of the sport. For more explanation and analysis please see
Flow in Sports: The Keys to Optimal Experiences and Performance (Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi
1999). For a fan to experience flow, they would need to identify strongly with the athlete(s); for
example, the fan must be fully convinced that the athlete’s abilities make the athletic challenge
possible but not easily possible.
It’s About Hope 19

but to experience strong emotions as part of a fan wave. These emotions could be
characterized as spiritual—but not necessarily—if sport is spiritual for that person.
If a person sanctifies sport, psychologically, then it is possible for emotions that
one experiences in response to sport as a source of the sacred, to be spiritual, as
understood by Pargament and his research colleagues. For an experienced emotion
to be spiritual, from Pargament’s psychological perspective, the emotion must have
spiritual qualities (e.g. transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness, and possibly inter-
connectedness). If sport is not spiritual for the individual (i.e. an aspect of life in
which one has discovered the sacred), then the emotions experienced by that indi-
vidual are likely not spiritual if we accept that spiritual emotions are experienced
primarily—and possibly only—in the context of an object or experience that we have
sanctified. It may be that there are more than these four types of fan experiences.
My primary interest is that we recognize that not all emotions experienced by fans
in response to a sports event indicate a flow or spiritual state.
Fueled by strong emotions, sporting event crowds can be violent. Some have
theorized that the violence of sports fans has roots in “personal and political identities
involving economic and ethnic issues,” (O’Gorman 2010, p. 233)22 but other research
refutes this (Wann 1995).23 Studies have found likewise that although crowds can
engage in passive “automatic thinking,” they can also function proactively (Percy
and Taylor 1997, p. 38). So, why choose violence? I suspect that all four types of
emotional wave experiences can manifest in violent, destructive behavior. Regarding
the two types that are related to spirituality, it is important to consider Pargament’s
suggestion that in addition to awe, elevation, love, hope, and gratitude, there may
be “darker” emotions associated with the sacred (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 735).
Some fans who find the sacred in sport may benefit from greater awareness and
understanding of what lies behind their strong emotions at sports events.
Flow can generate hope through the sacred qualities of interconnectedness and
spiritual emotions. Intentional and communal reflection on the meanings of such
awe-inspiring moments for both athletes and fans, however, is necessary if these
experiences are to be expressed in consonant actions. This is where the theological
insight that the process of sanctification must include intentionality and discipline is
especially prudent and instructive. Long established religions know well the value and
necessity of spiritual disciplines in relation to experiences of the sacred. The sacred
is discovered through the process of sanctification—the imbuing of that aspect of
life with sacred qualities. The psychological understanding of sanctification rests on
description rather than proscription. A theological perspective of sanctification takes
the concept of the spiritual a step further. Not only is active participation required to
experience the sacred (God’s justification through grace), but so too is an intentional
and disciplined response to the sacred.

22 O’Gorman addresses fan violence and sums up the explanation for this provided by Franklin Foer

in How Football Explains the World (2004. London: Arrow Books, p. 13).
23 Wann studied the motivations of 272 sports fans and found no “relationship between level of

economic motivation and self-proclaimed fandom.”

20 1 Spirituality and Sport: Searching for the Sacred

Sport as Spiritual

Spirituality is comprised of the discovery of the sacred, conservation of the sacred,

and transformation of the sacred (Pargament 2013b, p. 274). Each of these aspects has
been explored in this chapter as they may apply to sport. We have considered the six
implications that the discovery of the sacred has for people’s lives and discussed the
alignment of these implications with hope in sport. First, people invest their resources
in sport. Second, experiences of sport often “act like an emotional generator,” stim-
ulating feelings of awe, elevation, love, hope, and gratitude. Third, “people derive
more support, strength, and satisfaction” from time they spend on sport. Fourth, sport
is an “organizing force” in the lives of many fans and athletes (Pargament 2013a,
pp. 261–262). Fifth, people protect and preserve the sacred. And sixth, “people react
strongly to loss or violation of the sacred” (Pargament et al. 2017, p. 734).
Pargament’s work on spirituality can help us to see why people draw on spiritual
concepts, some of which are associated also with modern religions, to describe their
sport experiences (Bain-Selbo 2009; Ellis 2014). If people discover the sacred in
sport, it explains why sport is so meaningful and absorbing for these people. Recall
that sanctification, as the process through which people come to perceive the sacred,
“involves the search for deeper meaning within everyday experiences and objects”
(Pomerleau et al. 2016, p. 53). The discovery of the sacred in sport also explains
the intensity of emotional responses to losses, wins, scandals, and trades. Significant
efforts are made to conserve and, if necessary, transform what one believes about
sport in the face of disorienting events.
I have shown how each of these five locations of hope may be expressions of
the discovery of the sacred in sport. I explored how Pargament’s six implications of
discovering the sacred can be expressed in these locations of hope by athletes and
fans. Spirituality can be a very powerful lens through which to experience sport. It
behooves us to be intentional about how we address this spiritual dimension,24 espe-
cially given expanding enhancement options that have the potential to change sport
and to change us. In the next chapter, we will explore some of these enhancements.
Later, in Chaps. 3 and 4, we will consider how sport’s spiritual dimension, including
hope, may be impacted by enhancement use.

References

Albanese, C. (1982). America: Religions and religion. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Alpert, R. T. (2015). Religion and sports: An introduction and case studies. New York: Columbia
University Press.
Austin, M. W. (2010). Sports as exercises in spiritual formation. Journal of Spiritual Formation &
Soul Care, 3(1), 66–78.

24 If people discover the sacred in sport, this has implications for therapeutic care. Instead of ignoring

sports talk, spiritual care providers need to listen more attentively, assuming sport may be about
hope as a manifestation of the sacred.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
lähestyäkään ketään kaunista tyttöä koettamatta siepata suukkosta
tältä huolimatta mustasukkaisesta ihailijasta ja levottomista
vanhemmista, mutta nyt saivat kylän kaunottaret katsella turhaan
häneen tunteellisin ja puhuvin silmin. Hän tervehti vain heitä
ohimennessään ystävällisesti kiinnittämättä heihin sen enempää
huomiota, ja hänen silmissään oli niin omituinen ilme kuin hän
alituisesti olisi katsellut jotakin näkymätöntä.

Hän ei milloinkaan enää sunnuntaisin tullut ystäviensä kanssa

suureen latoon kuuntelemaan mustalaisten soittoa eikä pyörittämään
tyttöjä csárdaksessa omalla hurjalla tavallaan. Tienvieren
ravintolaankin odotettiin häntä turhaan, eikä sen isännän tarvinnut
enää raivota mustasukkaisuudesta, kuten ennen, jolloin kaunis Lotti
istui Andráksen polvella.

Niin, hän oli muuttunut, sitä ei voitu enää epäilläkään, hyvin

surullisesti muuttunut. Tuo yhtämittainen seurustelu kreivin ja tämän
perheen kanssa oli aiheuttanut sen, jota eivät vanhan Keményn
rahatkaan ollut voineet tehdä — se oli tehnyt Andráksen ylpeäksi.
Hän ei enää välittänyt kylästä, ei soitosta, ei kauniista tytöistä eikä
tanssista. Mustalaisten viuluissa eivät enää kilahdelleet hänen
hopeafloriininsa eikä hän enää ostellut tytöille kirjavia nauhoja.
András erosi heistä vähitellen yhä enemmän saadakseen olla kreivin
ystävä.

Vähitellen tuntui heidän väliinsä kohoavan näkymättömien käsien

rakentama sulku, ja nykyään, kun hän tuli kylään, nostivat nuoret
miehet hänelle lakkiaan, kuten kreivillekin. Vanhemmatkin ihmiset
alkoivat nimittää häntä »teidän armoksenne» ja tytöt niiasivat hänelle
ohimennessään.
 András huomasi kyllä heti tämän erotuksen. Ensin järkytti se häntä
kovasti, sillä hän rakasti suuresti kylää ja ystäviään. Etelka huomasi
sen myöskin, ja tunsi tuhon lähestyvän lähestymistään. Hän pelkäsi,
että András irtautuessaan vanhasta elämästään ja koettaessaan
mukautua uuteen ei ollut onnellinen. Alussa oli András puhunut siitä
kyyneleisin silmin, mutta sitten ei hän enää näyttänyt siitä välittävän.
Ja hänen käytöksensä muuttui todellakin. Hänen aurinkoinen
luonteensa muuttui omituisesti surulliseksi, ja tuo vakavuus muutti
tuon hartiakkaan ja uneksivan talonpojan niin arvokkaaksi, että kaikki
kyläläiset sen tietämättään huomasivat ja kunnioittivat sitä kuin
jotakin jaloa ja suurta. Sitten eräänä päivänä tuli Jánko kiihkoissaan
ratsastaen kylään, ja hänellä oli kerrottavana niin merkityksellisiä
uutisia, ettei hän oikein tiennyt, miten aloittaa.

András, Keményn András, tuo rikas talonpoika, tuo nuorukainen,

joka oli laulanut ja tanssinut heidän kanssaan ja joka oli kasvanut
heidän joukossaan, aikoi — ei Jánko ei voinut jatkaa, sillä sanat
tarttuivat hänen kurkkuunsa — mennä naimisiin —

»Voi, kenen kanssa, Jánko? Sano pian! Kauan eläkööt András ja

hänen tuleva vaimonsa! Ah, tuota ujoa veitikkaa, tuollainenko hänen
juroutensa ja vaiteliaisuutensa syy olikin! No, Jánko, nopeasti nyt!
Kuka hän on»?

Ja joukko kokoutui levottomasti Jánkon ympärille. Hänet vietiin

riemusaatossa ravintolaan, jossa hänen eteensä asetettiin tuopillinen
parasta viiniä, että hän paremmin voisi kertoa ihmeelliset uutisensa.

»Ah, miten Zcuzsi nyt itkeekään ja mitähän Panna sanoneekaan?

Entä sitten Erzsi, jonka sydän varmasti murtuu? Sano, Jánko, onko
András valinnut Erzsin? Eikö? Margitinko? Eikö häntäkään? No
Mariskan sitten? Vai ei! Puhu nyt, Jánko, äläkä kiusaa meitä»!
 Milloinkaan eivät uutiset olleet levinneet niin nopeasti kuin nyt
nämä Jánkon tuomat. Keményn András aikoi mennä naimisiin! Vai
sellainen olikin hänen surunsa ja vaiteliaisuutensa syy. Nyt muuttuisi
kaikki jälleen hyväksi! Hän palaisi heidän luokseen yhtä iloisena kuin
ennenkin, lopettaisi vierailunsa linnassa eikä kuuntelisi enää kreivin
houkutuksia. Nyt hän saisi oman lemmityn, jonka kanssa hän voi
tanssia. Kauan eläköön Keményn András!

»Jánko, miksi et puhu etkä juo? Juo nyt ja ilmoita meille tuon
onnellisen tytön nimi, joka saa jakaa Kisfalun rahat Andráksen
kanssa ja saa vielä parhaimman miehen kaupan päälliseksi».

Mutta Jánko ei halunnut puhua, ennenkuin kaikki jälleen

vaikenisivat. Miehet kokoutuivat hänen ympärilleen kuulemaan noita
suuria uutisia, ja ravintolan ikkunoista tuijotti uteliaita silmäparia
sisälle. Sisällä oleva levoton joukko odotti kiihkeästi.

»Keményn András Kisfalusta aikoo naida Bideskuty’n jalosukuisen

neidin»!

Tuntui kuin salama olisi iskenyt taivaasta jyrähtäen kylän keskelle.

Kuolettava hiljaisuus seurasi tätä erinomaista uutista, ja Jánko joi
viiniään syvin kulauksin, sillä uutisen kertominen oli ruvennut häntä
janottamaan.

Sitten alkoi kuulua kysymyksiä, huudahtuksia ja epäluulon

ilmauksia sekä oikealta että vasemmalta kuin kiihtyvän myrskyn
kohinaa.

»Mahdotonta!»

»Jánko, valehtelet!»
 »Huhtikuun ensimmäinen päivä oli jo aikoja sitten».

»Keményn Andrásko»?

»Meidän Andrásko»?

»Ja hänen nuori armonsako»?

»Muudanko meistä»?

»Naimisiinko jalosukuisen neidon kanssa»?

»Milloin se tapahtui»?

»Miten se tapahtui?»

»Rakastaako András häntä»?

»Onko tyttö kiintynyt Andrákseen»?

Kaikki puhuivat yhteen ääneen ja kokoutuivat Jánkon ympärille.

Toinen veti häntä takin helmasta ja toinen nyki häntä hihasta, eikä
kukaan sallinut hänen juoda, ennenkuin hän kertoisi enemmän.
Kaikki otaksuivat hänen tietävän enemmän tästä omituisesta
tapauksesta.

»Päästäkää minut pihalle, jossa kaikki voitte kuunnella, mitä

minulla on sanottavaa».

»Oikein, Jánko»!

»Eläköön Jánko»!
 Jánko nostettiin suurelle tyhjälle laatikolle seisomaan. Hän oli
täydellisesti tietoinen omasta merkityksestään ja uutisiensa
ihmeellisyydestä. Hän näki tuosta korkeudesta kaikki nuo häneen
päin kääntyneet kiihkeät kasvot. Kuivattuaan suunsa hihallaan
valmistautui hän puhumaan mielenkiintoisesti ja lumoavasti. Mutta
juuri kun hän oli aloittamaisillaan, näki hän päitten yli isä
Ambrosiuksen tulevan häntä kohti, ja hän ajatteli, ettei hänen
asentonsa laatikon kannella ollut kyllin arvokas, ja otaksui, että pappi
kertoo kreiville, miten hänen luotettu palvelijansa levittää juoruja
kylään, jolloin kreivi ehkä suuttuu. Senvuoksi laskeutui Jánko
varovaisuuden vuoksi maahan silloin kun isä Ambrosius tunkeutui
joukon läpi.

»Lapseni, näytätte kaikki kovin kiihtyneiltä», sanoi hän. »Minkä

vuoksi»?

»Keményn András, isä».

»Senvuoksiko siis? Jánko on luultavasti kertonut jo uutisen ja nyt

haluatte kuulla yksityiskohdat. Niin, lapseni, ne on kyllä pian kerrottu.
Kaikkihan te tunnette Andráksen, jonka sydän on yhtä kiiltävä kuin
hänen kultansa, ja jonka anteliaisuus on yhtä suuri kuin hänen
rikkautensakin. Onko teidän joukossanne ainoatakaan, joka ei viime
kymmenen vuoden kuluessa ollessaan puutteessa ole saanut
Andrákselta toivomaansa apua ja kymmenen kertaa enemmän
ystävyyttä ja myötätuntoa kuin hän on osannut odottaakaan»?

»Ei ole! Eläköön Keményn András! Meidän Andráksemme»! kuului

kaikilta suunnilta, heikompaan sukupuoleen kuuluvien kohottaessa
esiliinansa kosteille silmilleen.
 »No niin, lapseni, silloin kai olette samaa mieltä kuin minäkin, että
niin hyvä mies kuin András, joka elää herramme Jeesuksen
Kristuksen määräysten mukaan ja opettaa meitäkin rakastamaan ja
auttamaan toisiamme, on niin arvokas, että hän ansaitsee saada
vaimokseen jalosukuisen neitosen. Keményn András on kosinut
Bideskuty’n nuorta neitoa, ja tämän vanhemmat ovat suostuneet
antamaan tytön hänelle».

»Rakastaako Ilonka häntä»? kysyivät myötätuntoisesti kuulijoiden

joukossa olevat naiset, joiden silmät olivat kyynelistä kosteat.

»Jalo neito täyttää kyllä vaimon velvollisuudet ja rakastaa

miestään», vastasi vanha pappi varovaisesti. »Nyt voitte palata
jälleen kotiinne ja töihinne, ja kun András seuraavan kerran tulee
tänne kylään, voitte toivottaa onnea hänen tulevalle avioliitolleen».

Mutta oli kumminkin hyödytöntä puhua töistä tänään. Kaikki, jotka

olivat olleet kuulemassa näitä suuria uutisia, halusivat kertoa ne
muille, jotka olivat töissä joko Andráksen tahi kreivin pelloilla tahi
kävellä tiepuolen ravintolaan tasangolle tapaamaan nuoria paimenia
ja katsomaan, miten he uutiseen suhtautuisivat.

Vanhemmat ja viisaammat halusivat vain jutella, sillä uutiset olivat

suurenmoiset ja kaikki näkökohdat oli otettava huomioon
keskusteltaessa. Nuorten kiihtymys oli aivan luonnollinen, sillä
varmastikaan ei tässä ollut minkäänlaista ilon aihetta. András oli
ruvennut kreivin ystäväksi ja liittynyt viholliseen. Hän oli kääntänyt
selkänsä ystävilleen ikuisiksi ajoiksi. Hänen ylpeytensä ei välittänyt
enää mistään kahleista, ja hän oli käyttänyt rikkauksiaan
päästäkseen vertaisiaan korkeammalle arvossa. Luonnollisesti
pysyisi hän nyt noiden joukossa, jotka olivat hyväksyneet talonpojan
seuraansa hänen suurien rikkauksiensa ja maittensa perusteella.
Andrákselle olisi pitänyt syntyä poika, joka, jos hänen äitinsä olisi
ollut talonpoikaistyttö, olisi jatkanut isänsä kovaa työtä pelloilla,
huvitellut ravintoloissa ja rakastanut soittoa ja tanssia, mutta joka nyt
erotettaisiin kokonaan kyläläisten seurasta ja opetettaisiin
halveksimaan isänsä entisiä ystäviä ja tovereita. Ylpeys on todellakin
kauhistuttava, kun ei Andráskaan voinut välttää sen pauloja. Kaikki
nuoret oppisivat pian huomaamaan sen, että heidän oli
tulevaisuudessa pakko tyytyä Andráksen armollisuuteen ja suosioon,
jotka eivät olleet minkään arvoiset Andráksen ystävyyteen ja
iloisuuteen verrattuina.

Hän ajaisi kirkkoon vaunuissa pukeutuneena pitkään takkiin

lammasnahkaviitan asemasta, viitan, jota hän tietysti alkaisi
halveksia; hän auttaisi hänen armoaan, vaimoaan, laskeutumaan
vaunuista, nyökäyttäisi ystävällisesti nuorukaisille, jotka paljain päin
töllisteleisivät siinä ympärillä, ja kutittaisi kaikkia niiaavia ja
punastuvia tyttöjä leuan alta. Hän vaatisi tietysti, että häntä ruvetaan
sanomaan »teidän korkea-arvoisuudeksenne», ja sitten hän tietysti
luovuttaa niin ja niin monta mitallista vehnää, jonka isä Ambrosius
saa sitten jakaa köyhille. Hän ei tietysti sitten enää tule
ilahduttamaan sairaita eikä vanhuksia näiden asuntoihin iloisella
puheellaan eikä hopeafloriineillaan, vaan lähettää avustuksensa isä
Ambrosiuksen välityksellä.

»Mutta sellaisista avustuksista emme välitä, vai välitämmekö»?

kysyi Vas Berczi lyöden nyrkkinsä jymähtäen pöytään. »Näytämme
Andrákselle, ettemme välitä hituistakaan hänen rahoistaan, koska
hän on tullut liian ylpeäksi elämään joukossamme ja valitsemaan
vaimokseen jonkun tyttäristämme».
 Kylän vanhempi väki oli siis hyvin suutuksissaan nykyiselle
suosikilleen. Koko tuo asia tuntui heistä niin kokonaan
mahdottomalta ja ihmeelliseltä, etteivät he sitä ymmärtäneet, ja he
olivat hyvin vihoissaan, että heidän mielipiteitänsä aatelisten
suhtautumisesta talonpoikiin näin kovasti järkytettiin. Tuntui melkein
siltä kuin joku olisi uskaltanut pakottaa taivaan pyhiä kävelemään
kylän valtatiellä. Bideskuty’n kreivi perheineen ei ollut juuri
rakastettu, sillä he olivat liian ylpeitä saavuttaakseen kansan
suosion, mutta kumminkin olivat he samalla näiden maiden
omistajia, kuten he muinoin olivat olleet kaikkien talonpoikien ja
maakunnan herroja. He halveksivat lakeja ja elivät korkeimmissa
ilmapiireissä kuin kirkon seinissä olevissa syvennyksissä seisovat
pyhimykset. Erään heikäläisen rohkeus ruveta yhdeksi heistä tuntui
heistä melkein pyhyyden loukkaukselta. Vanhemmat ihmiset
pudistivat arvellen päätään ja ennustivat onnettomuutta, sillä
sellainen yhteiskunnallisten lakien syrjäyttäminen tuo varmasti aina
jotakin pahaa mukanaan. András saa kyllä kokea, että hänen
ylpeytensä ja rohkeutensa aiheuttavat vain surua ja nöyryytyksiä.

Mutta nuori väki ei mennyt arveluissaan niin pitkälle. He arvailivat

vain, milloin häät vietettäisiin, ja ihmettelivät kutsuisiko András heidät
juhlaillallisille Kisfaluun. Heistä oli tuo tuleva avioliitto vain iloisten ja
juhlallisten häiden aihe, häiden, joissa vanhoja tapoja noudattaen
juotaisiin paljon hyvää viiniä, tanssittaisiin ja kuunneltaisiin
maakunnan parhaimman mustalaissoittokunnan esityksiä. He
otaksuivat nuoren emännän pukevan ylleen kolme- tahi
neljäkymmentä hametta ja vetävän niin kauniit punaiset kengät
jalkaansa kirkkoon tullessaan, ettei sellaisia ole milloinkaan nähty
paikkakunnalla. Nuoret eivät puhuneet sanaakaan rohkeudesta, ei
pyhyyden loukkauksesta eikä korkeammasta yhteiskunnallisesta
arvosta, vaan heidän mielestään oli tuon nuoren jalosukuisen neidon
vapaaehtoinen tulo heidän mitättömään, mutta kumminkin iloiseen
seuraansa vain runollista romantillisuutta. He toivoivat nuoren
emännän tulevan tanssimaan suureen latoon csárdásta iloisesti
heidän kanssaan huvitellakseen, ja otaksuivat hänen kävelevän
avojaloin likaisilla teillä ja luopuvan mielellään loistosta ilon vuoksi.

He olivat valmiit ottamaan hänet vastaan avosylin, koska hän nyt

kerran haluaa tulla heidän joukkoonsa, ja tervehtimään häntä
kylässä hänen hääpäivänään niin, että tasanko kajahtelee heidän
huudoistaan. Andráksen oli ennen häitään tanssittava jokaisen tytön
kanssa niin kauan, etteivät nämä enää jaksa seisoa, ja tehtävä
jokainen kosija mustasukkaiseksi ja jokainen isä raivostuneeksi. Sen
jälkeen tulee hänestä itsestäänkin tietysti luonnonlakien mukaan
mustasukkainen mies, ja talonpojan jalosukuinen vaimo saa tutustua
läheisesti solmuruoskaan, joka on tanssiva hänen valkoisilla
hartioillaan.

Ah, miten paljon iloisia päiviä olikaan tulossa, paljon huvituksia ja

runsaasti viiniä ja soittoa! Nuori väki ei ollut milloinkaan ennen
pitänyt Andráksesta niin paljon kuin nyt, vaikka moni kaunis
silmäpari vuodattikin kyyneliä salaisten toivojen nopean raukeamisen
vuoksi.

Vanhemmat ihmiset rykivät ja pudistivat päätään, ja nuoremmat

juttelivat, nauroivat ja huudahtelivat. Mutta linnassa surtiin ja Kisfalun
talossa oli niin hiljaista kuin autiolla tasangollakin, jossa yksinäinen
hevonen ratsastajineen harhaili tähtitaivaan alla, ja suuri ja lämmin
sydän oli murtua ikävästä.
XXIV

HÄÄT.

»Introibo ad altare Dei!» [Astun Jumalan alttarin luo.]

Isä Ambrosius ojensi nelikulmaisen lakkinsa hennolle

päivettyneelle apulaiselleen, kumartui kunnioittavasti korkeaan
alttariin päin ja alkoi lukea messun alkurukouksia.

Ilma kirkossa on raskas kukkien tuoksusta. Siellä on ruusuja ja

yhä vain ruusuja, punaisia, valkoisia, vaaleanpunaisia ja keltaisia,
suoraan sanoen, kaikenvärisiä tuoksuvassa suloudessaan. Niitä on
sidottu suuriin kimppuihin pyhän neitsyen patsaan juurelle ja suurien
kynttilänjalkojen ympärille, puhumattakaan kirkonlaivasta, joka on
niillä kokonaan verhottu. Ollen melkein piilossa lehtien välissä
levittävät ne ilmaan huumaavan hienoa tuoksua, joka sekoittuu
pienten apulaisten heiluttamista yksinkertaisista suitsutusastioista
kohoavaan läpitunkevampaan pyhäänsavuun. Tuo pieni
maalaiskirkko jykevine kivipilareineen, kirjaviksi maalattuina pyhien
kuvineen ja alttarikoristeineen on muutettu todelliseksi
sulotuoksuisista kukista valmistetuksi lehtimajaksi. Päivä on hyvin
lämmin, sillä on toukokuun alku, jolloin maa antaa ensimmäiset
lupauksensa tulevasta viini- ja viljasadosta, jolloin lukemattomien
lintuparvien huudot täyttävät ilman ja haikara huutaa äänekkäästi
puolisolleen, jolloin pääskyset rakentavat ahkerasti pesiään ja
varpuset ja peipposet visertelevät iloissaan auringon lämmölle ja
kirkkaudelle. Sen säteet tunkeutuvat pienistä lyijypuitteisista
ikkunoista kirkkoon ja valaisevat iloisesti innostuneitten ja uteliaitten
sanankuulijain sunnuntaipukuja, vasemmalla puolella olevia kauniita
tyttöjä, jotka ovat pukeutuneet kirkkaanvärisiin hameihin ja
koruompeluksin koristettuihin liiveihin, ja kammanneet mustan
tukkansa sileäksi komean päähineen alle. Heidän silmänsä loistavat
yhtä kirkkaasti kuin heidän pyöreän kauniin kaulansa ympärille
kiedotut kiiltävät helmensäkin, jotka riippuvat täyteläisille rinnoille ja
kimaltelevat pienissä korvissa. Ne hymyilevät kauniille nuorukaisille,
joilla on yllään raakalaismaisen komeat sunnuntaivaatteensa. He
ovat kiinnittäneet suuriin viittoihinsa isoja kevätkukkakimppuja, ja
pyöreät hatut, joita he pitävät kunnioittavasti käsissään, on koristettu
monenvärisin nauhoin.

He eivät ymmärrä ollenkaan näitä latinan kielisiä menoja,

rukouskirjat on otettu mukaan vain näön vuoksi, koska vain harvat
osaavat lukea, ja sitäpaitsi kukapa nyt voi rukoilla tänään, jolloin on
muutakin erinomaista katseltavaa ja ajateltavaa. Kaikkien katseet
ovat kääntyneet pääkäytävälle, johon mies ja nainen ovat
polvistuneet hyvin kuluneille samettipieluksille. Mies on pitkä ja
ryhdikäs tummine paineen, joka näkyy muiden sanankuulijain yli, ja
suurine kulta- ja hopeaneuloksilla koristeltuine viittoineen, joka
riippuu hänen leveiltä hartioiltaan kuin joku raakalaispäällikön
kuninkaallinen vaippa. Nainen on solakka ja hento valkoisine
musliinipukuineen ja pitkine läpinäkyvine huntuineen, joka melkein
kätkee näkymättömiin tuon puhtaan nuoren olennon ja sallii vain
muutamien kullanväristen kiharain pistää sieltä täältä esiin. He ovat
polvistuneet siihen toistensa viereen tuon läpitunkevan suitsutuksen
keskelle, jota leijailee kaikkialla heidän ympärillään. Heidän
jaloissaan ja kuoriaitauksen harjalla ja portailla on puoleksi
kuihtuneita suuria ruusukimppuja, joita koristelemiseen
tottumattomat kädet ovat heitelleet kaikkialle, mutta jotka
runsaudessaan ja vaatimattomuudessaan muodostavat
maalauksellisen taustan. Polvistuneina siihen vierekkäin, ovat he
valmiit ottamaan vastaan kirkon ja Jumalan siunauksen liitolleen,
jonka meidän onnemme määräävä kohtalo on päättänyt. Tyttö
koettaa, pitäessään jääkylmin hennoin käsin hermostuneesti
norsunluulla koristettua rukouskirjaansa, seurata siitä latinankielisen
tekstin vaikeasti ymmärrettäviä lauseita. Hänen siniset silmänsä
tuijottavat kiinteästi sivuihin, mutta raskaiden luomien alta ei
vierähdä kyyneltäkään. Miehen asento on suora ja ryhdikäs, ja
ristittyään kätensä lujasti rinnalleen koettaa hän kiinnittää huomionsa
alttarilla oleviin pyhiin astioihin eikä vierellään olevaan tyttömäiseen
olentoon, jonka jokainen liike sytyttää taivaan liekit palamaan hänen
suonissaan. Tytön hunnun pitkät laskokset kätkevät kyllä tytön
melkein kokonaan hänen näkyvistään, mutta huolimatta siitä näkee
hän mielessään tytön kultaiset kiharat, hänen kauniin nenänsä ja
leukansa ja kaulan jalomuotoiset solakat piirteet, ja hänen
käsivarsiansa ote rinnalla tiukkenee niin, että voimakkaat lihakset
naksahtelevat kuin tyynnyttääkseen sydämen riemukasta sykintää ja
kääntääkseen ajatukset nöyrään rukoukseen.

Kumartuen yhä syvempään alkaa isä Ambrosius lukea

uskontunnustusta ja sivelee samalla rintaansa laihalla kädellään.

»Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!» [Syntini, syntini,

suuret syntini.]
 Kreivi on polvistunut aivan heidän taakseen. Hänen vartalonsa on
hieman kumarassa kuin jonkun raskaan taakan alla, joka on liian
raskas ihmisen kannettavaksi. Ahtaassa, kaulaan asti napitetussa
pitkässä takissaan näyttää hän vielä nuorelta ja ylimykselliseltä
näiden romuluisempien maalaisten keskellä. Uskontunnustusta
luettaessa tunkeutuu hänen yhteen puristettujen huuliensa välitse
raskas huokaus, joka kuulostaa melkein nyyhkytykseltä.

»Indulgentiam, absolutionem et remissionem peccatorum

nostrorum, tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Deus!» [Armoa,
vapahdusta ja anteeksiantoa rikoksistamme antakoon meille
kaikkivaltias ja armorikas Jumala!]

Hänenkin kätensä ovat suonenvedon tapaisesti ristissä. Hänkin

rukoilee Jumalalta anteeksi kaikkia syntejään, uppiniskaisuuttaan,
ylpeyttään, turhaa kunnianhimoaan ja kaikkia tyhmyyksiään, jotka
ovat vieneet hänen kauniin jalosukuisen tyttärensä talonpojan syliin.

Vanhanaikaiseen jäykkälaskoksiseen silkkipukuun pukeutunut jalo

kreivitär seuraa rukouskirjastaan mumisten uskontunnustuksen
lukemista enemmän vain näön vuoksi, sillä hän ei ole minkään
anteeksiannon eikä lohdutuksen tarpeessa. Hän on täyttänyt
velvollisuutensa ja uhrannut synnynnäisen ylpeytensä, oman
lapsensa ja kalliit isiltä perityt tapansa miehensä kunnian ja suvun
tulevaisuuden vuoksi.

Sitten nousee vanha arvokas pappi alttarin portaille uudessa

messukaavussaan, joka on koristettu päärmein ja koruompeluksin, ja
joka hieman estää hänen liikkeitään. András on lahjoittanut hänelle
kaavun tämän erikoisen tilaisuuden kunniaksi. Hän kompastelee ja
on melkein kaatua aiheuttaen, että ajattelemattomat nuoret tirskuvat
hänen selkänsä takana ja vanhemmat pudistavat päätään ristien
silmänsä, sillä tuollainen ei ennusta mitään hyvää. Odotuksen ja
kiihtymyksen aiheuttama jännitys on niin voimakas, että
mitättöminkin tapaus aiheuttaa joko hermostunutta iloisuutta tahi
kyyneliä.

Sillä aikaa aloittaa isä alkuvirren lukemisen.

»Deus Israel conjugat vos…» [Israelin Jumala liittäköön teidät

yhteen.]

András kuunteli kunnioittavasti. Eilen oli tuo vanha ystävällinen

pappi selittänyt hänelle jokaisen vihkimäkaavan lauseen, että hän
ymmärtäisi, mitä Jumala käskee hänen tekemään ja mitä hän
vannoo täyttävänsä.

»Yhdistäköön Israelin Jumala teidät»!

Kun hän eilen oli lukenut nämä sanat, olivat ne tuntuneet hänestä
enkelien lausumilta silloin kun paratiisin portit aukenevat.

Mustalaissoittokunta, jollaisetta ei ainoatakaan unkarilaista

juhlatilaisuutta vietetä, oli sijoitettu kirkon toiseen päähän. He eivät
tunne juuri ollenkaan virsien eikä hymmien säveliä, vaan soittavat
ainoastaan surunvoittoisia unkarilaisia kansanlauluja pehmeästi ja
tunteellisesti. Ne täyttävät tuon pienen karkeasti rakennetun kirkon
kuin vetoavilla kuiskauksilla.

András ummistaa silmänsä. Hän on luvannut isälle pitää

ajatuksensa koossa ja kohdistaa ne täydellisesti pyhään
toimitukseen ja Jumalan siunaukseen, että hän olisi kyllin arvokas
saamaan sen.
 Sympaalien pehmeät ja viulujen huokaavat äänet täyttävät ilman,
ja isä Ambrosiuksen hiljaa kuuluva mumina, kun hän lukee
evankeliumin ja toistaa uskontunnustuksen ja kolehtirukoukset, on
kuin unelmien maasta kaikuvaa suuresti todellisuudesta poikkeavaa
huminaa.

András katsoo kumminkin enenevien suitsutuspilvien läpi, miten

pappi lausuu vihkimäkaavakkeen pyhiä sanoja. Pienet kellot soivat ja
päät ovat kunnioittavasti kumarassa, ja Ilonkan silmistä putoilee
kyyneliä hitaasti rukouskirjan lehdille. András taasen haaveilee
Kisfalussa olevasta kodistaan, jonka hänen nuori vaimonsa muuttaa
loistavaksi liidellessäään kuin keijukainen noissa matalissa
huoneissa. Sitten hän on kuulevinaan vielä pienempien jalkojen
kolinaa, kun niiden omistajat juoksentelevat nopeasti huoneissa ja
huutavat iloisesti kirkkain äänin »Isä!», kun hän tulee kotiin. Hänen
sydämessään vallitsee täydellinen rauha ja hän on unhottanut
kokonaan nuo intohimon myrskyt, jotka olivat vähältä murskata
hänet pari viikkoa sitten. Näiden viime viikkojen kuluessa on hän
vain ajatellut häntä kuin pyhää neitsyttä, kuin jotakin tyyntä ja
puhdasta onnen lähdettä, kun hän istuessaan korkealla
valtaistuimellaan, jonka juurelle András on polvistunut kunnioittaen ja
jumaloiden, jakaa onnea kodille.

Mutta nyt laskeutuu isä Ambrosius alttarin askelmilta, ja kreivikin

nousee istuimeltaan ja seisoo hyvin suorana ja kalpeana
pääkäytävän sivulla yhden apulaisen pitäessä käsissään pientä
lautasta, jolla pari kultasormusta kimaltelee.

Ääni, joka muistuttaa pitkää huokausta, tuntuu tunkeutuvan noiden

satojen kirkossa olevien ihmisten kurkuista paljastaen heidän
äärettömän ja kiihkeän odotuksensa aiheuttaman jännityksen.
András ja Ilonka seisovat papin edessä tullakseen lopullisesti
mieheksi ja vaimoksi, mutta ei kumpikaan heistä kuule papin sanoja,
sillä he luulevat uneksivansa. Taaempana olevat kurottautuvat
eteenpäin nähdäkseen vilahdukseltakaan nuo olennot, joista toinen
on niin pitkä ja harteikas ja toinen niin hento. Muutamat
häikäilemättömimmät nousevat penkeille seisomaan, ja hermostunut
kuiskaileminen ja hihitys, kovaksi kiilloitettujen hameiden kahina, ja
helmien ja rannerenkaiden kilinä rikkovat kirkossa vallitsevan pyhän
hiljaisuuden.

Binecz Marko ja hänen soittokuntansa soittavat jotakin surullista

laulua, jotakin omituisesti uneksivaa säveltä. Heidän
soittokoneittensa musikaaliset kuiskaukset ovat kuin hiljaisia pitkiä
huokauksia, jotka kaikuvat jostakin kaukaisesta pilvimaasta
yhtyäkseen suitsutukseen.

Isä Ambrosius on tarttunut tuohon pieneen, kylmään ja valkoiseen

käteen, ja tuohon toiseen voimakkaaseen, ruskeaan ja karkeaan, ja
yhdistänyt ne. András ei uskalla oikein hengittääkään, sillä hän
luulee olevansa kaukana todellisuudesta. Isä Ambrosius pitää noita
molempia käsiä yhdistettyinä, mutta kaikesta huolimatta tuntee
András jonkunlaista lepattamista kuin jonkun juuri pesästään
vangitun pienen linnun siipien lyöntiä. Kun llonkan käsi laskeutuu
hänen käteensä, jäykistyvät Ilonkan vaaleat kasvot kokonaan ja
hänen siniset silmänsä kohdistuvat Andrákseen niin kauhistunein ja
vetoavin ilmein, että Andráksen sydän murtuu melkein säälistä. Eikö
Ilonka sitten ymmärtänytkään, että hän rakasti häntä kuin
pyhimykset Jumalaansa, että hän halusi palvella ja kunnioittaa häntä
ja karkoittaa kaikki surut hänen tieltään? Eikö hänelle oltu
kerrottukaan, miten hän oli rukoillut lupaa saada levätä hänen
jaloissaan ja suojella häntä myrskyiltä ja auringon kuumuudelta
saadakseen palkakseen hänen hymynsä? Miksi hän sitten katsoo
niin rukoilevasti häneen? Näytti aivan siltä kuin Ilonka olisi ollut
peloissaan. Suuri ja mahtava Jumala, pelkäsikö hän vieläkin, kun
hänen kätensä lepäsi miehen kädessä, ja Jumala itse uskoi hänet
hänen haltuunsa suojeltavaksi ja varjeltavaksi?

Isä Ambrosius laskee nyt nuo kultaiset sormukset, toisen toiseen

ja toisen toiseen käteen. Sitten hän kuiskaa Andrákselle, että tämä
pistäisi kädessään olevan sormuksen tuon hennon nimettömään. Isä
sanoo jotakin, jonka András toistaa. Sanoissa puhutaan paljon
rakkaudesta ja hellimisestä, sairaudesta ja kuolemasta, hyvästä ja
pahasta, ja András toistaa tuon kaiken kuin unessa, ymmärtäen
ainoastaan epämääräisesti, että hän nyt vannoo valan Jumalalle ja
ihmisille. Tarvitseeko hänen sitoa itseään valoilla, hänen, jonka kaikki
sydänkielet on sidottu toteuttamaan hänen omaa onneaan?

Sitten alkaa Ilonka puhua, toistaen myöskin kaikki isä

Ambrosiuksen lauseet. Hänen äänensä, joka on kuin suloisinta
soittoa, kuulostaa tuskin kuiskausta kovemmalta, tuskin sympaalin
heikkenevää ääntäkään vahvemmalta, kun se heikosti kaikuu
pyhitetyssä rakennuksessa. Hänkin vannoo pistäessään jäykin
sormin sormuksen sulhasensa sormeen rakastavansa,
kunnioittavansa ja tottelevansa häntä.

Andráksen vastaukseksi lausuma »Kyllä!» kaikuu riemuisasti ja

kovasti, kun Jumala papin välityksellä kysyy, kuten kirkon vaatima
laki määrää, tahtooko hän ottaa tuon naisen aviovaimokseen. Hänen
vastauksensa on kuin hänen tukahdutetun intohimonsa, hänen
ikävänsä ja syvän äärettömän rakkautensa riemuitseva kaiku ja
ilmaus. Vakavasti myöntää Ilonakin eikä hänen äänensä vapise,
vaikka pari suurta kyyneltä valahtaakin hänen silmistään poskille
kuin pari kimaltelevaa kastepisaraa.

Kuulijakunta huokaisi syvään tyydytyksestä. Tuo peruuttamaton oli

siis nyt tapahtunut. Keményn András, tuo talonpoika, jota pienenä
poikana niin monet vaatimattomat huulet olivat suudelleet ja jota
hänen vanhemmaksi tultuaan hirmuinen isä oli lyönyt ja sortanut,
joka oli työskennellyt tallissa ja pelloilla kuin tavallinen työmies ja
joka kuului heidän joukkoonsa, koska hän oli syntynyt ja kasvanut
Unkarin tasangoilla, oli nyt tullut ikuisiksi ajoiksi tuon jalosukuisen
naisen herraksi ja hallitsijaksi, tuon kreivin tyttären mieheksi, joka
omisti nämä maat, ja joka polveutui noista, jotka olivat omistaneet
kaikki talonpojat, kaikki heidän tavaransa ja rakennuksensa, voineet
myydä tahi vaihtaa niitä, ja kohdella heitä huonosti ja vieläpä
tappaakin. Kuinka ihmeellistä tämä kaikki olikaan! Se oli kuin
loistavaa unta, jonka kaikki näkivät samanlaisena. Valot, ruusut ja
nuo kauniit messupuvut, Bideskuty’n kreivi seisomassa siinä
luovuttaakseen tyttärensä talonpojalle ja tuo kaunis valkopukuinen
neito, joka oli kuin joku komerostaan maahan astunut pyhimys, ja
näiden kaikkien keskellä tuo pitkä ja voimakas mies kauniine
tummine paineen, jonka vuosikausia kestänyt kova työ kuuman
auringon paisteessa oli ruskettanut, ja kovine känsäisine käsineen,
jotka aina avautuivat sulasta ystävällisyydestä luovuttamaan rahaa ja
lahjoja kaikille tarvitseville, joiden ei milloinkaan tarvinnut pyytää
turhaan, eivät sopineet oikein todellisuuteenkaan. Päivä oli loistava
ja tapaus niin suurenmoinen, ettei ainoakaan silmä pysynyt kuivana
eikä kukaan voinut olla nyyhkyttämättä, niin loistava ja
suurenmoinen, että mustalaiset kaiuttelivat voimakkaasti tuoksuvaan
ilmaan surullisimpia ja tunteellisimpia säveleitään, niin suuri ja
loistava, että päätekijät siinä, tuo voimakas mies ja hento tyttö,
polvistuivat järkytetyin sydämin ja kyynelisin silmin kaikkivaltiaan
Jumalan armoistuimen eteen.

Jumalanpalveluksen loppua kuunneltiin tyynesti, sillä kaikki olivat

vaipuneet uneksivaan haaveiluun. Jumalalle kohdistettujen
vaatimattomien rukouksien sanojen merkityksen, vaikka ne
lausuttiinkin latinan kielellä, ymmärsivät mitättömimmätkin ja
sivistymättömimmätkin joukosta. András oli polvistunut haalistuneelle
pielukselle ja kätkenyt kasvonsa käsiinsä. Hänen ummistettujen
silmiensä edessä väikkyi vielä tuo pelokas katse, joka oli herättänyt
hänessä sääliä. Tuo näky näytti järkyttävän hänen sydäntään ja hän
puri hampaansa lujasti yhteen, etteivät hänen sydäntä vihlovat
nyyhkytyksensä kuuluisi muille. Ilonka taasen näytti polvistuneessa
asennossaan kovin haluttomalta ja kylmältä. Kummatkin nielivät
kunnioittavasti valkoisen rippileivän, jonka isä Ambrosius pisti heidän
suuhunsa. Nuori talonpoika uskoi epäröimättä tuon suuren
salaperäisyyden, jonka katolinen kirkko pakottaa kaikki
tunnustajansa uskomaan. Hän ei kyllä tuota kaikkea ymmärtänyt,
vaan luotti siihen kyselemättä ja epäilemättä sitä juuri ollenkaan.
Kuihtuvat kukat vaikuttivat häneen nukuttavasi ja Binecz Markon
surullinen soitto tuuditti hänet haaveelliseen tunnottomuuteen.

Isä Ambrosius kohotti nyt käsivartensa rukoukseen.

»Olkoon Abrahamin, Israelin ja Jaakobin Jumala kanssanne,

vuodattakoon hän siunauksensa kastetta jatkuvasti ylitsenne niin,
että näette lastenlapsenne kolmanteen ja neljänteen polveen, ja
lopulta saavutatte iankaikkisen elämän Herramme Jeesuksen
Kristuksen armosta, Vapahtajan, joka elää ja hallitsee Isän Jumalan
ja Pyhänhengen avulla iäistä valtakuntaansa. Amen».

Sitten hän lisäsi tehden ristinmerkin nuoreen pariin päin.

 »Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus, Pater et Filius, et Spiritus
Sanctus». [Siunatkoon teitä kaikkivaltias Jumala, Isä, Poika ja
Pyhähenki.]

Viimeinen »amen» häipyi kuulumattomiin, viimeinen evankeliumi

luettiin, ja sitten rupesi isä Ambrosius kuivaamaan pyhiä astioita.

Pitkäksi ajaksi uskonnolliseen hartauteen vaipuneiden

sanankuulijain vaiteliaisuus uhkasi nyt rikkoutua. Nuorempi väki alkoi
kuiskailla kiihkeästi, rukouskirjojen hakaset painettiin äänekkäästi
kiinni ja kaikkialta kuului hermostunutta rykimistä ja tukahdutettua
hihitystä. Kaikki pysyivät kumminkin kunnioittavasti paikoillaan
ojentautuen eteenpäin nähdäkseen sulhasen ja morsiamen, ja
morsiamen jalosukuiset vanhemmat. Lausuttiin kiihkeitä kysymyksiä
ja yhtä innokkaita huomautuksia. Isä Ambrosius tuli pääkäytävälle,
puristi isällisin vapauksin morsiamen nuoret kalpeat kasvot käsiensä
väliin, katsoi suoraan tämän viattomiin silmiin ja kuiskasi jotakin
hänen korvaansa viimeiseksi neuvoksi ja siunaukseksi. Sitten hän
kääntyi Andráksen puoleen, puristi tämän käden omiinsa ja kaikki
kuulivat hänen sanovan: »Jumala siunatkoon sinua, poikani, olet
täydellisesti ansainnut onnesi»! Sitten hän pani lakin päähänsä ja
poistui.

Jalosukuinen kreivitär oli heittänyt vaippansa käsivarrelleen ja

tullut Ilonkan viereen. Jokainen katselija kurotti kaulaansa
nähdäkseen tuon merkityksellisen silmänräpäyksen. Aina
kunnioitettuun aito unkarilaiseen perinnäiseen tapaan kohotti András
hunnun nuoren vaimonsa kasvoilta huomattavasti vapisevin käsin, ja
kumarruttuaan häneen päin suuteli hän äsken saamansa vaimon
puhdasta otsaa kalmankalpein kasvoin.