175s and Blicero's & the Bishop

[Terrance]

The 175s, obviously have and deserve Pynchon's great
tenderness. 

"They are the 175s--homosexual prison-camp inmates. They
have come north from the Dora camp at Nordhausen, north till
the land ended, and have set up an all male community
between this marsh and the Order estuary. Ordinarily, this
would be Thanatz's notion of paradise, except that none of
the men can bear to be out of Dora--Dora was home, and they
are homesick. Their "liberation" was a banishment." GR.665

Paradise? The man named Thanatz, after falling off the boat
of "salvation" thinks this community would be his notion of
Paradise, except that the men 
cannot bear to be out of Dora. The 175 Slothrop sees, and we
narrative filtered through his consciousness, is carrying a
basket and he is MOIST. 


"Their 'liberation' was a banishment. So here in a new
location they have made up a hypothetical SS chain of
command--no longer restricted to what Destiny (P's caps) 
allotted then for jailers, they have now managed to come up
with some really *mean ass* (P's italics,) imaginary Nazi
playmates,
Schutzhaftlingsfuhrer to Blockfuhrer, Kapo, Vorarbeiter,
Stubendienst, Laufer, (who is a runner or messenger, but
also happens to be the German name for a chess bishop...if
you have seen him, running across the wet meadows in very
early morning, with his red vestments furling and fluttering
darkened almost to tree-bark color among the watery downs,
you will have some notion of his real purpose here inside
the community--he is a carrier of holy strategies, memoranda
of conscience, and when he approaches over the reedy flats
of morning you are taken by your bowed nape and brushed with
a sidebands of a Great Moment (P's Caps)--for the Laufer is
the most sacred here, it is he who takes messages out to the
ruinous interface between the visible Lager and the
invisible SS).

The Laufer is dressed as a Bishop, in Red Vestment, Blicero
waits at dawn for the carmine-skirted runner with news of
how the night went. Blicero's interest, his dearest
interest, is the night. The Laufer is the most sacred, the
hierarchy is reversed. It's reversed because this is a
religious structure. The Bishop carries the messages of the
night to Blicero: "holy strategies" and "memoranda of
conscience." 

Following the description of Blicero, as malignant, a
cankered root, growing toward winter, growing whiter toward
the idleness and famine, we read: 

"Who else could the 175s have chosen for their highest
oppressor? His power is absolute." 

Was it his open homosexuality that caused the men to choose
Blicero as their highest oppressor? 

Where is this supported by the text? It makes sense that
they would choose a homosexual man with power to be their
Badass, but that nots what they do here. 

Now, the narrator provides additional information about the
"phantom SS command." It is based not so much on the one the
prisoners knew at Dora as on what they inferred to be the
Rocket-structure next door at the Mittelwerke." 

The Rocket? These guys have mimicked the Rocket-structure?
Is that why the Bishop, the Laufer, the carrier of messages,
of Word about the night, of holy strategies, of memoranda of
conscience is the most sacred? Why does he run to the
ruinous interface? Why is Blicero there? The
Rocket-structure? So these guys are like a lot of other
characters in GR, the choose an oppressor, not because of
his sexual orintation, but because they construct hierarchy
based in part on what the experienced in Dora, but mostly on
the Rocket-Stucture. So wonder Blicero, whose Power is
absolute, is at the top.   

"The A4,   in its way, was also concealed behind an
uncrossable wall that separated real pain and terror from
summoned deliverer." 

The real pain and terror are their very real experiences at
Dora. And the summoned deliverer? Is this like von Trotha
the Deliverer? They have been delivered, out of the pan, a
horrible Destiny,  and in the Fire.  

Here P puts  the man and deity and the name together: 

"Weissmann/Blicero's presense crossed the wall, warping,
shivering into the fetid bunkrooms, with the same reach
toward another shape as words trying to make their way
through dreams. What the 175s heard from their real SS
guards there was enough to elevate Weissmann on the
spot-they, his own brother elite, +didn't know+ (P's
italics) what this man was up to. When prisoners came in
earshot, the guards stopped whispering. But their fear kept
echoing: fear not of Weissmann personally, but of the time
itself, a time so desperate that +he+ (P's italics) could
now move through the Mittlewerke as if he owned it, a time
which was granting him the power different from that of
Auschwitz or Buchenwald, a power the couldn't have born
themselves." GR.666

If you care to read about the Bishop, I have included some
excerpts from that old Catholic Encyclopedia: 



 


He possesses the fullness of the priesthood to rule a
diocese as its chief pastor, in due submission to the
primacy of the Pope. It is of Catholic faith that bishops
are of Divine institution. In the hierarchy of order they
possess powers superior to those of priests and deacons; in
the hierarchy of jurisdiction, by Christ's will, they are
appointed for the government of one portion of the faithful
of the Church, under the direction and authority of the
sovereign pontiff, who can determine and restrain their
powers, but, not annihilate them. They are the successors of
the Apostles, though they do not possess all the
prerogatives of the latter. Only the Bishop can confer major
orders. Only the Bishop is the minister of the Sacrament of
Confirmation. The following powers are reserved to the
bishop: the dedication of a  church, the consecration of an
altar, of chalices and patens, and generally of the articles
serving for the celebration of Holy Mass, the reconciliation
of a desecrated church, the benediction of bells, the
benediction of an abbot, the benediction of the holy oils,
etc. Besides the power of order, bishops possess that of
jurisdiction; they have the right to prescribe for the
faithful the rules which the latter must follow in order to
obtain eternal salvation. The power of jurisdiction is of
Divine origin, in the sense that the pope is held to
establish in the Church bishops whose mission it is to
direct the faithful in the way of salvation. The Bishop
possess also other important powers through
"delegated"jurisdiction which is accorded to him either by
law, whether written or established through the Roman
Congregations. The last named jurisdiction he exercises in
the name of the Apostolic. It is a controverted question
whether the bishops hold their jurisdiction directly from
God or from the sovereign pontiff. The latter opinion,
however, is almost generally admitted at the present day,
for it is more in conformity with the monarchical
constitution of the Church, which seems to demand that there
should be no power in the Church not emanating immediately
from the sovereign pontiff. The Bishop has power to
supervise writings published or read in his diocese; works
regarding the sacred sciences are subject to his
approbation; he may forbid the reading of dangerous books
and newspapers. He exercises a special control over the
publications of the secular clergy, who are bound to consult
him before undertaking the direction of newspapers or of
publishing works even upon profane matters. The bishop can
enact for his diocese those laws which he considers
conducive to the general good. Though he is not bound to
convoke a synod for this purpose, his legislative power is
not absolute.

This power is exercised in two ways: without legal apparatus
(extra judicialiter) or in a judicial process
(judicialiter). In his diocese the bishop is judge in the
first instance in all trials, civil and criminal that
pertain to the ecclesiastical tribunal, unless the persons
be exempt from his authority, or                 the matters
reserved for other judges.  He has the power to absolve his
subjects from all sins and censures not reserved to the Holy
See. The right to punish is a necessary consequence if the
right to judge. Formerly the bishop could and did inflict
even corporal punishments and fines. These are no longer
customary even for ecclesiastics.  He has a special right of
intervention in all matters relating to Divine worship and
to the                    sacraments; he authorizes and
supervises the printing of liturgical books, regulates
public worship, processions, exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament, celebration of the Holy Mass, celebration of Mass
twice on the same day by the same priest, and exorcisms; his
consent is required for the erection of churches and
oratories; he authorizes the public veneration of the relics
of saints and of those who have been beatified; he exercises
supervision over statues and images exposed for the
veneration of the faithful: he publishes  Indulgences, etc.
But in all these matters his power not absolute. He must pay
the Visitatio ad limina Apostolorum, and present the Relatio
de statu diocesis, i.e. he must visit the shrines of Saints 
Peter and Paul at Rome and present a report on the condition
of his diocese. He is the messenger of the pope.