Abel of Korazim
Abel is an leper taking refuge near Corozaïn (Chorazeïn). He survives only thanks to Samuel, a hunchbacked mendiant like himself, with whom he has befriended.
But that day[1] Samuel comes running all joyful: he has been guéri by the "rabbi" Jesus.[2] He supplies him more than usual, with good food, not poor leftovers as usual. He tells him of his healing and the power of Jesus. Samuel urges Abel to trust, but Abel dares not hope: he is so hunted everywhere and his appearance is truly repulsive. He's nothing more than a "ghost"!
However, Samuel's communicative faith has its effect: Abel can't wait to meet Jesus. He immediately gives up the feast, all the good food he'd been deprived of for so long. And while Samuel runs to warn Jesus and bring him to this place, Abel immediately leaves, advancing hidden in the ditch (it's evening), to meet him in a small wood close to the town, out of sight. "Oh, my Lord, if You will, You can cleanse me!" says Abel, daring to kneel down and stretch out his skeletal arms towards Jesus.[3] The latter, overcome with pity, reaches out his hand to caress him."Don't touch me! Have mercy on You!" cries Abel, but Jesus places his fingers on the leprosy-devoured head and says in a full voice, in a voice that is only love and yet imperious: "I do, be cleansed!" The hand remains on the poor head for a few minutes."Get up. Go find the priest. Do what the Law prescribes. Do not say what I have done to you, but be bon and never sin again. I blessings to you."
"Master! Master! Master! Master! Master! I cannot leave you. I can't leave you anymore!" pleads Abel.
"Do what the Law wants. Then we'll meet again," Jesus promises.
The character
Character and appearance
Maria Valtorta sees Abel's particularly repulsive appearance "with the precision of a perfect photograph":"He's really a human ruin. I couldn't tell how old he is, so degraded has mal been to him. Skeletal, half-naked, he shows his body reduced to the state of an emaciated mummy. His hands and feet are twisted, missing parts, so that these poor extremities no longer appear to belong to a man. The twisted, disarticulated hands resemble the legs of some winged monster, the feet are like ox hooves, so reduced and disfigured are they. Then the head and... I think a corpse left unburied, mummified by sun and wind, would have a head like this head [...]"[4]
Apostolic journey
A little later Jesus pays tribute to the zeal apostolic of the new disciple:"I heal him near Corozaïn (Chorazeïn) one evening already far away and then I left him. Now I find him again. It was he who announced me on the mountains of Nephtali. And, to confirm his words, he raises what remains of his hands, healed but partially diminished, and shows his healed but deformed feet, with which he has nevertheless come so far. The people understand how sick he was by what remains and believe his words, which are seasoned with laughter of recognition."[5]Abel and Samuel, inseparable in the Friendship, become so in the Apostolate following Jesus. They join the first nucleus of disciples: the bergers of the Nativity. This nucleus will grow to form the seventy-two disciples, sent evangelize two by two.[6]
It is Abel who sends the hemorrhosis from The Gospel of Matthew[7] to Jesus.[8]
His name
The first name Abel derives from the Hebrew הֶבֶל (Hevel), meaning "breath", but also "son". This word is used in the Bible, notably in Ecclesiastes, to express the transience and fragility of life. It refers to the younger son of Adam and Eve, the shepherd killed by Cain his brother jealous.[9]
Historical concordances
Abel would be Mark's leper[10] and Luke[11], but not Matthew's[12], although the synoptic gospels usually associate them. All three accounts present the same ritual: Jesus stretches out his hand until he touches the leper. He pronounces the same commandment: "I will it, be cleansed", followed by the same recommendations: not to publicize this healing and to go and see the priest for the customary purifications. These accounts are therefore similar.
However, if Luke situates the event "in the city"[13], here Corozaïn, Matthew specifies that the healing takes place "coming down from the mountain"[14] Mark places it just after the announcement of Jesus' departure for the "neighboring villages" of Capernaum, which corresponds to Maria Valtorta's account[15], while Matthew places it directly after the great Sermon on the Mount, which we find described by Maria Valtorta in[16].
If Mark alone notes that Jesus was "seized with compassion", which is very clear in Maria Valtorta's narrative. He also notes that the leper "began to proclaim and spread the news". This attitude, which seems to deviate from Jesus' command, finds its explanation in Jesus' commentary on Abel's apostolate, which, with Samuel, became an ardent disciple[5]...
Where are they mentioned in the work?
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