Demetis, converted sinner
See also:
Greek money changer, usurer and trafficker.
"They are the curses of those I enslaved after taking all their properties through usurious practices."[1]
He is converted by the testimony of Zacchaeus whom he had come to see for "one of his ill-famed affairs".[2] Zacchaeus tells him about his conversion, the words of Jesus, the peace that was in him. At the end of a whole night of conversation, Demetis, converted sinner, exclaims:
"Mercury has lost a follower and his satyrs a companion. Take this money as well, it is not enough for the criminal deed, but it will buy some bread for a beggar, and take me with you. I want to become acquainted with a perfume after so many foul smells."[2]
He is part of the group of fifteen outcasts who come to Jesus.
Character and appearance
Rather old.
Apostolic journey
Jesus entrusts him more particularly with the spreading of a teaching on reincarnation:
"- I am speaking thus to you Demetis, because you have not always been a money-changer, so you can understand and explain this to the others.» - You are really a seer, Master. No, I have not been only a money-changer… Nay, that was the last step of my descent…"[3]
His name
Related to Demeter, the fertile goddess who produces wheat.