"Sergius and Bacchus" (1959), a historical novel or rather a novelistic chronicle, draws its plot from Byzantium, but overall recounts, sometimes seriously and sometimes in a humorous way, fourteen centuries of Greek life, from 250 AD to 1948.
The saints Sergius and Bacchus do not live retired in the bliss of Paradise but, on the contrary, from the beautiful temple built in their honor by Justinian, they watch with vigilant eyes the course of the Hellenism and the entire Universe, discussing it, commenting on it, and judging it. Meanwhile, the reader delights and bursts into laughter.
This novel is unique within Karagatsis' work, not only because there is no other inspired by Byzantium - except for the short story "Christmas of 1448 AD" - but also for another reason: the author himself wrote a short summary with the slightly different title: "The Amazing Story of Saints Sergius and Bacchus."
[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]
