| Logline: Set against the back drop of the
emergence of Christianity as a
major world religion, the story
follows the tragic love affair
between Luke and Phoebe, whose
lives would shape the world for
generations to come.
The
Story:
In
the first century A.D., in the
dawning of the Christian world, a
young Greek named Luke seeks to
prove his worth to his betrothed -
Phoebe, the only daughter of a
rich magistrate from Philippi -
and sets out on a journey to Rome.
He takes with him scrolls of
papyrus given to him by Phoebe to
make a journal of his travels.
During
his journey to Rome, Luke
encounters a new sect of
Christians who spread the word of
Jesus by doing great humanitarian
works in His name. Unlike his
faith, these Christians accept
everyone equally and encourage
women to accept leadership roles.
He
discovers women are important
members of the new sect, called
"The Way," in large part
because the initial gatherings
were held in private homes and not
in churches or synagogues. Since
women hosted these gatherings, it
was only natural that they be
church leaders.
Luke
was drawn to the new sect in part
because of his fiancé, Phoebe,
who was not satisfied with the
confining role of women in her
world.
Luke
arrives in Rome and is stuck by
the violence and cruelty of the
gladiator games. He ends up giving
medical aid to an injured
gladiator, the brother of a
follower of the New Way and
through him discovers a remedy for
the violence that he has seen.
Eventually,
Luke gains employment as an
assistant physician in the
imperial palace and there he is
tempted by his boss' daughter
Diana. An accomplished artist,
Luke paints a detailed portrait of
her but in the end he resists the
temptations, vowing himself to his
one true love, Phoebe.
Later
even the emperor Claudius' wife
Messalina tries to endear herself
to Luke but when he resists her
charms, she vows revenge on him
for the humiliation of rejection.
All
around Rome, the world is rapidly
changing as the conflict between
Jews and Romans spill out into the
streets, prompting Claudius to
expel all Jews from Rome, even
those of the new sect of
Christians. Being a new follower,
Luke is forced out of the city. In
the confusion, Messalina's greed
turns Claudius against her and she
is put to death as a traitor. The
Emperor decrees that any man who
shared her bed to be sentenced to
his wife's fate. Luckily for Luke,
his expulsion from Rome protected
him from being arrested and put to
death.
Luke
sets off for home and along the
road meets Paul, an Apostle of
Jesus and invites him to come to
Greece. The two then travel
together to Philippi.
Back
home, Phoebe hears of Luke's
sentence of death and not knowing
his fate, she consults the Oracle
of Delphi. As fate would have it,
Luke arrives not long after Phoebe
leaves and the two barely miss
each other and Luke follows her to
the Oracle.
Phoebe's
experience at the temple is thrown
into chaos when Luke arrives and
the medium shrieks - claiming she
had a vision of Luke believing and
serving one God. Phoebe and Luke
try to make sense of their
newfound faith and the idea that
it encourages favorable treatment
of women.
Because
of his beliefs, Paul is put on
trial by Phoebe's father and
despite this, Luke and Phoebe are
secretly married in a private
ceremony. On his wedding night,
however, Luke is arrested and put
on trial for entering Delphi.
During the trial, Diana appears
and shows Phoebe the portrait Luke
painted of her. Phoebe rejects
Luke and seeks counsel with Paul,
who tells her to find her place in
the new movement.
Phoebe
finds more than that and becomes a
leading deacon in the new movement
and eventually is to be sent to
Rome as Paul's pilot. She is not
accepted by everyone as the evil
Nimrod opposes the involvement of
women in religious matters. In his
rage, Nimrod rapes and murders
Phoebe, destroying the exulted
role of women in the Church at the
same time.
The
story ends where it begins, with
Luke looking out over the Harbor
of Neapolis where, as a recent
graduate, he recalls the gift of a
moonflower given to him by Phoebe.
That moonflower - which opens at
dusk and closes before the break
of dawn - sits behind Luke now as
he contemplates his future and
future of the movement, and of the
tragic loss of his great love.
A
gripping story that sets a tragic
love story against the epic events
of history, "The Lost
Moonflower" is a journey
about love, loss, betrayal and
most of all, faith. A cautionary
tale of our cruelty and
unfairness, it is all an important
story for our times and one that
might - like Luke and Phoebe -
once again change the course of
human events.
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