Bangalore (AsiaNews/UCAN) - Jac Climacus has been a Christian only for five years, but for some priests he has already distinguished himself in preaching the word of God. The 34-year-old travels all over southern India narrating his experience with Christ.

He has his thick beard and wears sackcloth; he carries a five-kilogram chain around his neck and a pair of thick metal bangles on his legs.

His mission is to suffer and to do penance for priests and missioners, explains Father M. Thomas, who serves an ashram for vagabonds.

Father Thomas says children often ridicule the man's strange appearance. People have thrown stones at him and, on several occasions, bus drivers and train attendants refused to let him board. Unfazed, Climacus carries on his mission with the Bible in one hand and a cross in the other.

Another priest, Fr G. Paul, with whom Climacus became friends soon after embracing Christianity, claims the convert has introduced "Christ to more people than any of us who are ordained to preach him."

Climacus considers himself "an ordinary Christian, who has come to know Christ only recently." He says he does not preach the Gospel, but tries to live it "every moment" of his life.

In Father Paul's view, however, this ordinary Christian "is able to witness Christ more powerfully, imitate him more closely, and present him more convincingly to thousands of people who never knew Christ before."

He is the son of a wealthy Brahmin, the highest caste in Hinduism. He was hit by a truck while returning home from his job at a bank. He suffered severe spinal cord injury and broken legs.

"I was in an intensive care unit for 15 days in severe pain," he recalled. "There I remembered a prayer that was said daily in school starting with 'Our Father in heaven.'» The part of the Lord's Prayer about God's forgiveness and forgiveness for others "touched me deeply," he said.

The prayer helped him forgive the truck driver, and he decided not to pursue a legal case against the man over the accident. "From then onward, Jesus began performing miracles in my life," Climacus added.

Suddenly he felt his pain disappear. He rushed home, against medical advice. As his awed parents looked on, he rode his motorcycle to the nearest church, 45 kilometres away, still wearing a back brace and heavy plaster casts on both legs. In the church, he knelt before the crucifix and "praised the Lord for healing me."

After talking about his experience to the parish priest, "I jumped for joy and narrated the miracle to at least 15,000 people in three months," he recalled.

He was baptised in July 2000 and took the name of Jac Climacus from Saint John Climacus, a sixth-century ascetic monk.

"I did not want to be just a follower of Christ, but an ardent, ascetic follower," Climacus said.

He then spent eight months carrying a 25-kilogram cross for a thousand kilometres to share his experience of Christ living thanks to people's charity.

Family and friends, however, did not welcome his new life.

"I was thrown out of my house. My friends and community turned against me. I lost my job and I was in the street," recounted Climacus, who eventually took shelter in the ashram Father Paul manages. There he began "experiencing Christ more closely."

After 18 months of prayers, he turned to full-time missionary work.

Now, he manages his own ashram in Guntur, where he looks after about 30 residents.

He also keeps travelling around preaching Christ. "I cover 15-20 kilometres every day on foot and spread God's message," he explained.

Meanwhile, life has come full circle for Climacus, whose parents now accept him. Father Paul said that on August 31, Climacus and his parents held a prayer meeting in their home.

Climacus hopes his family will accept Christ soon. He said his parents recently survived a major road accident, with his mother now saying that Jesus saved them.

"An accident was a turning point in my life. Another accident is driving my parents closer to Jesus," the wandering missioner remarked.