On Thu, 12 Mar 1998 urth-errors at lists.best.com wrote:
Even if this isn't what happens in this particular episode, it's certainly striking how quickly Severian `falls off' in any episode where he is somehow fleetingly put up against Christ... In the first example I hazarded, which looked a bit like Christ before Pilate, the chapter ends with Severian demonstrating his torturing skills on one of the soldiers (at the lochage's suggestion, it should be said). In the last, he ends up by killing Typhon/Piaton (though if he's somehow the Devil in this episode then my weak theology has run out of exegetic steam). These sort of references seem like little pieces in a mosaic, which is a suitably Byzantine image.