Saint Ephrem Life and History
"I was born in the way of truth:
though my childhood was unaware
of the greatness of the benefit,
I knew it when trial came."
Ephrem (or Eprhaim) the Syrian left us hundreds of hymns and poems on the faith that inflamed and inspired the whole Church, but few facts about his own inspiring life.
Most historians infer from the lines quoted above that Ephrem was born into a Christian family -- although not baptized until an adult (the trial or furnace), which was common at the time. Other than that little is known about his birth and youth although many guess he was born in the early fourth century in Mesopotamia, possibly in Nisibis where he spent most of his adult life.
"He Who created two great lights,
chose for Himself these three Lights,
and set them in the three dark seasons of siege that have been."
Ephrem served as teacher, and possibly deacon, under four bishops of Nisibis, Jacob, Babu, Vologeses, and Abraham. The first three he describes in the hymn quoted above written while Vologeses was still alive. As the verse states, Ephrem did not live in easy times in Nisibis.
"I have chanced upon weeds, my brothers,
That wear the color of wheat,
To choke the good seed."
According to tradition, Ephrem began to write hymns in order to counteract the heresies that were rampant at that time. For those who think of hymns simply as the song at the end of Mass that keeps us from leaving the church early, it may come as a surprise that Ephrem and others recognized and developed the power of music to get their points across. Tradition tells us that Ephrem heard the heretical ideas put into song first and in order to counteract them made up his own hymns. In the one below, his target is a Syrian heretic Bardesan who denied the truth of the Resurrection:
"How he blasphemes justice,
And grace her fellow-worker.
For if the body was not raised,
This is a great insult against grace,
To say grace created the body for decay;
And this is slander against justice,
to say justice sends the body to destruction."
The originality, imagery, and skill of his hymns captured the hearts of the Christians so well, that Ephrem is given credit for awakening the Church to the important of music and poetry in spreading and fortifying the faith.
Ephrem's home was in physical as well as spiritual danger. Nisibis, a target of Shapur II, the King of Persia, was besieged by him three times. During the third siege in in 350, Shapur's engineers turned the river out of its course in order to flood the city as Ephrem describes (speaking as Nisibis):
"All kinds of storms trouble me --
and you have been kinder to the Ark:
only waves surrounded it,
but ramps and weapons and waves surround me...
O Helmsman of the Ark, be my pilot on dry land!
You gave the Ark rest on the haven of a mountain,
give me rest in the haven of my walls."
The flood, however, turned the tide against Shapur. When he tried to invade he found his army obstructed by the very waters and ruin he had caused. The defenders of the city, including Ephrem, took advantage of the chaos to ambush the invaders and drive them out.
"He has saved us without wall,
and taught us that He is our wall:
He has saved us without king
and made us know that is our king:
He has saved us, in each and all,
and showed us that He is All."
In the end, however, Nisibis lost. When Shapur defeated the Roman emperor Jovian, he demanded the city as part of the treaty. Jovian not only gave him the city but agreed to force the Christians to leave Nisibis. Probably in his fifties or sixties at that time, Ephrem was one of the refugees who fled the city in 363.
Sometime in 364 he settled as a solitary ascetic on Mount Edessa, at Edessa (what is now Urfa) 100 miles east of his home.
"The soul is your bride,
the body is your bridal chamber..."
In the time before monks and monasteries, many devout Christians drawn to a religious life dedicated themselves as ihidaya (single and single-minded followers of Christ). As one of these Eprhem lived an ascetic, celibate life for his last years.
Heresy and danger followed him to Edessa. The Arian Emperor Valens camped outside of Edessa threatening to kill all the Christian inhabitants if they did not submit. But Valens was the one forced to give up in the face of the courage and steadfastness of the Edessans (fortified by Ephrem's hymns):
"The doors of her homes Edessa
Left open when she went forth
With the pastor to the grave, to die,
And not depart from her faith.
Let the city and fort and building
And houses be yielded to the king;
Our goods and our gold let us leave;
So we part not from our faith!"
Tradition tells us that during the famine that hit Edessa in 372, Ephrem was horrified to learn that some citizens were hoarding food. When he confronted them, he received the age-old excuse that they couldn't find a fair way or honest person to distribute the food. Ephrem immediately volunteered himself and it is a sign of how respected he was that no one was able to argue with this choice. He and his helpers worked diligently to get food to the needy in the city and the surrounding area.
The famine ended in a year of abundant harvest the following year and Ephrem died shortly thereafter, as we are told, at an advanced age. We do not know the exact date or year of his death but June 9, 373 is accepted by many. Ephrem relates in his dying testament a childhood vision of his life that he gloriousl fulfilled:
"There grew a vine-shoot on my tongue:
and increased and reached unto heaven,
And it yielded fruit without measure:
leaves likewise without number.
It spread, it stretched wide, it bore fruit:
all creation drew near,
And the more they were that gathered:
the more its clusters abounded.
These clusters were the Homilies;
and these leaves the Hymns.
God was the giver of them:
glory to Him for His grace!
For He gave to me of His good pleasure:
from the storehouse of His treasures."
In His Footsteps:
Has a song ever moved you so much that it changed or challenged your faith or lifestyle -- for good or bad? How do you feel about the music you sing during liturgy? Put your whole heart and soul into the hymns you sing next. Listen to the words and let them speak to you.
Prayer:
Saint Ephrem, sometimes we treat the power of song lightly. Help us to open our hearts and souls to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit given us through music. Amen .
"I was born in the way of truth:
though my childhood was unaware
of the greatness of the benefit,
I knew it when trial came."
Ephrem (or Eprhaim) the Syrian left us hundreds of hymns and poems on the faith that inflamed and inspired the whole Church, but few facts about his own inspiring life.
Most historians infer from the lines quoted above that Ephrem was born into a Christian family -- although not baptized until an adult (the trial or furnace), which was common at the time. Other than that little is known about his birth and youth although many guess he was born in the early fourth century in Mesopotamia, possibly in Nisibis where he spent most of his adult life.
"He Who created two great lights,
chose for Himself these three Lights,
and set them in the three dark seasons of siege that have been."
Ephrem served as teacher, and possibly deacon, under four bishops of Nisibis, Jacob, Babu, Vologeses, and Abraham. The first three he describes in the hymn quoted above written while Vologeses was still alive. As the verse states, Ephrem did not live in easy times in Nisibis.
"I have chanced upon weeds, my brothers,
That wear the color of wheat,
To choke the good seed."
According to tradition, Ephrem began to write hymns in order to counteract the heresies that were rampant at that time. For those who think of hymns simply as the song at the end of Mass that keeps us from leaving the church early, it may come as a surprise that Ephrem and others recognized and developed the power of music to get their points across. Tradition tells us that Ephrem heard the heretical ideas put into song first and in order to counteract them made up his own hymns. In the one below, his target is a Syrian heretic Bardesan who denied the truth of the Resurrection:
"How he blasphemes justice,
And grace her fellow-worker.
For if the body was not raised,
This is a great insult against grace,
To say grace created the body for decay;
And this is slander against justice,
to say justice sends the body to destruction."
The originality, imagery, and skill of his hymns captured the hearts of the Christians so well, that Ephrem is given credit for awakening the Church to the important of music and poetry in spreading and fortifying the faith.
Ephrem's home was in physical as well as spiritual danger. Nisibis, a target of Shapur II, the King of Persia, was besieged by him three times. During the third siege in in 350, Shapur's engineers turned the river out of its course in order to flood the city as Ephrem describes (speaking as Nisibis):
"All kinds of storms trouble me --
and you have been kinder to the Ark:
only waves surrounded it,
but ramps and weapons and waves surround me...
O Helmsman of the Ark, be my pilot on dry land!
You gave the Ark rest on the haven of a mountain,
give me rest in the haven of my walls."
The flood, however, turned the tide against Shapur. When he tried to invade he found his army obstructed by the very waters and ruin he had caused. The defenders of the city, including Ephrem, took advantage of the chaos to ambush the invaders and drive them out.
"He has saved us without wall,
and taught us that He is our wall:
He has saved us without king
and made us know that is our king:
He has saved us, in each and all,
and showed us that He is All."
In the end, however, Nisibis lost. When Shapur defeated the Roman emperor Jovian, he demanded the city as part of the treaty. Jovian not only gave him the city but agreed to force the Christians to leave Nisibis. Probably in his fifties or sixties at that time, Ephrem was one of the refugees who fled the city in 363.
Sometime in 364 he settled as a solitary ascetic on Mount Edessa, at Edessa (what is now Urfa) 100 miles east of his home.
"The soul is your bride,
the body is your bridal chamber..."
In the time before monks and monasteries, many devout Christians drawn to a religious life dedicated themselves as ihidaya (single and single-minded followers of Christ). As one of these Eprhem lived an ascetic, celibate life for his last years.
Heresy and danger followed him to Edessa. The Arian Emperor Valens camped outside of Edessa threatening to kill all the Christian inhabitants if they did not submit. But Valens was the one forced to give up in the face of the courage and steadfastness of the Edessans (fortified by Ephrem's hymns):
"The doors of her homes Edessa
Left open when she went forth
With the pastor to the grave, to die,
And not depart from her faith.
Let the city and fort and building
And houses be yielded to the king;
Our goods and our gold let us leave;
So we part not from our faith!"
Tradition tells us that during the famine that hit Edessa in 372, Ephrem was horrified to learn that some citizens were hoarding food. When he confronted them, he received the age-old excuse that they couldn't find a fair way or honest person to distribute the food. Ephrem immediately volunteered himself and it is a sign of how respected he was that no one was able to argue with this choice. He and his helpers worked diligently to get food to the needy in the city and the surrounding area.
The famine ended in a year of abundant harvest the following year and Ephrem died shortly thereafter, as we are told, at an advanced age. We do not know the exact date or year of his death but June 9, 373 is accepted by many. Ephrem relates in his dying testament a childhood vision of his life that he gloriousl fulfilled:
"There grew a vine-shoot on my tongue:
and increased and reached unto heaven,
And it yielded fruit without measure:
leaves likewise without number.
It spread, it stretched wide, it bore fruit:
all creation drew near,
And the more they were that gathered:
the more its clusters abounded.
These clusters were the Homilies;
and these leaves the Hymns.
God was the giver of them:
glory to Him for His grace!
For He gave to me of His good pleasure:
from the storehouse of His treasures."
In His Footsteps:
Has a song ever moved you so much that it changed or challenged your faith or lifestyle -- for good or bad? How do you feel about the music you sing during liturgy? Put your whole heart and soul into the hymns you sing next. Listen to the words and let them speak to you.
Prayer:
Saint Ephrem, sometimes we treat the power of song lightly. Help us to open our hearts and souls to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit given us through music. Amen .
Ephrem of Edessa, Deacon, Doctor (RM)
(also known as Ephraem, Ephraim)
Born c. 306 in Nisibis (Syria), Mesopotamia; died at Edessa (Iraq) on June 9, 373; declared Doctor of the Church in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV; feast day formerly June 18 and February 1.
Ephrem passed his entire life in his native Mesopotamia (Syria). He was long thought to be the son of a pagan priest, but it is now believed his parents were Christians. He was baptized at eighteen, served under Saint James of Nisibis, became head of his school, and probably accompanied him to the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Syrian sources attribute the deliverance of Nisibis from the Persians in 350 to his prayers, but when in 363 Nisibis was ceded to the Persians by Emperor Jovian, he took residence in a cave near Edessa in Roman territory. Edessa (Urfa in Iraq), the site of a famous theological school, was where he did most of his writing.
Tradition says he visited Saint Basil at Caesarea in 370 and on his return helped alleviate the rigors of the famine of winter 372-73 by distributing food and money to the stricken and helping the poor (one of the jobs of deacons).
Ephraem's fame rests on his writings, above all on his metrical homilies, to be read aloud, and his hymns. The latter in particular were designed for popular use and were didactic in character, often directed against various current heresies (Attwater). He is largely responsible for introducing hymns into public worship. Particularly outstanding are his Nisibeian hymns and the canticles for the seasons:
Compositions attributed to him are still much used in the Syriac churches, and his reputation spread to the Greek-speaking world before his death. The English hymns 'Receive, O Lord, in Heaven above/Our prayers' and 'Virgin, wholly marvelous' are translated from Saint Ephraem's Syriac.
He wrote commentaries on a considerable number of books of the Bible, and a personal 'Testament' which seems to have been added to by a later hand. He countered the heretics--especially the Arians and the Gnostics--and wrote on the Last Judgment.
All Saint Ephraem's work is elevated in style, flowery in expression, and full of imagery: even as a theologian he wrote as a poet. He has always been regarded as a great teacher in the Syriac churches and many of his works were early translated into Greek, Armenian, and Latin.
Ephraem was devoted to the Blessed Virgin. He is often invoked as a witness to the Immaculate Conception because of his absolute certainty about Mary's sinlessness. He is quoted by other authors but we lack a critical edition, which has prevented further examination.
He was called 'the Harp of the Holy Spirit,' and proclaimed a doctor of the Church, the only Syrian so honored. He is especially venerated in the Eastern Church (Attwater, Delaney).
In art, Saint Ephraem is a hermit sitting on a column. There may be fiery pillars in heaven above him. He might also by shown (1) in a cave with a book, (2) with a cross on his brow, pointing upwards, or (3) his eyes cast up, full of tears (Roeder).
1. The Pearl -- Seven Hymns on the Faith
2. Hymns on the Nativity.
3. The Nisibene Hymns
4. Hymns for the Feast of Epiphany
2. Hymns on the Nativity.
3. The Nisibene Hymns
4. Hymns for the Feast of Epiphany
The Pearl -- Seven Hymns on the Faith
Hymn 1
1. On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren; I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom; semblances and types of the Majesty; it became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.
I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand, that I might examine it: I went to look at it on one side, and it proved faces on all sides. I found out that the Son was incomprehensible, since He is wholly Light.
In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded, and in its pureness a great mystery, even the Body of our Lord which is well-refined: in its undividedness I saw the Truth which is undivided.
It was so that I saw there its pure conception—the Church, and the Son within her. The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him, and her type the heaven, since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.
I saw therein His trophies, and His victories, and His crowns. I saw His helpful and overflowing graces, and His hidden things with His revealed things.
2. It was greater to me than the ark, for I was astonied thereat: I saw therein folds without shadow to them because it was a daughter of light, types vocal without tongues, utterances of mysteries without lips, a silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.
The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters; be not daring then; leave things hidden, take things revealed. You have seen in the clear sky a second shower; the clefts of your ears, as from the clouds, they are filled with interpretations.
And as that manna which alone filled the people, in the place of pleasant meats, with its pleasantnesses, so does this pearl fill me in the place of books, and the reading thereof, and the explanations thereof.
And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries, it had no mouth for me that I might hear from, neither any ears wherewith it might hear me. O you thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!
3. It answered me and said, The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea! And from that sea whence I came up it is that there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom! Search out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!
I have seen the various who came down after me, when astonied, so that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground; for a few moments they sustained it not. Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?
The waves of the Son are full of blessings, and with mischiefs too. Have you not seen, then, the waves of the sea, which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces, and if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them, then she is preserved? In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not, and, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land, and how shall you be kept alive? And the men of Sodom were licked up by the fire, and how shall you prevail?
At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved, and Leviathan also. Have you then a heart of stone that you read these things and run into these errors? O great fear that justice also should be so long silent! Ecclesiastes 8:11
4. Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, and whether of the two will prevail? The incense of praise rises along with the fume of disputation from the tongue, and unto which shall we hearken? Prayer and prying [come] from one mouth, James 3:10 and which shall we listen to?
For three days was Jonah a neighbour [of mine] in the sea: the living things that were in the sea were affrighted, [saying,] Who shall flee from God? Jonah fled, and you are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!
Hymn 2
1. Whereunto are you like? Let your stillness speak to one that hears; with silent mouth speak with us: for whoso hears the stammerings of your silence, to him your type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer.
Your mother is a virgin of the sea; though he took her not [to wife]: she fell into his bosom, though he knew her not; she conceived you near him, though he did not know her. Do thou, that are a type, reproach the Jewish women that have you hung upon them. You are the only progeny of all forms which art like to the Word on High, Whom singly the Most High begot. The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above. This visible offspring of the invisible womb is a type of great things. Your goodly conception was without seed, and without wedlock was your pure generation, and without brethren was your single birth.
Our Lord had brethren and yet not brethren, since He was an Only-Begotten. O solitary one, you type exact of the Only-Begotten! There is a type of yours in the crown of kings, [wherein] you have brothers and sisters.
Goodly gems are your brethren, with beryls and unions as your companions: may gold be as it were your kinsman, may there be unto the King of kings a crown from your well-beloved ones! When you came up from the sea, that living tomb, you cried out. Let me have a goodly assemblage of brethren, relatives, and kinsmen. As the wheat is in the stalk, so you are in the crown with princes: and it is a just restoration to you, as if of a pledge, that from that depth you should be exalted to a goodly eminence. Wheat the stalk bears in the field; you the head of the king upon his chariot carries about.
O daughter of the water, who hast left sea, wherein you were born, and art gone up to the dry land, wherein you are beloved: for men have loved and seized and adorned themselves with you, like as they did that Offspring Whom the Gentiles loved and crowned themselves withal.
It is by the mystery of truth that Leviathan is trodden down of mortals: the various put him off, and put on Christ. In the sacrament of oil did the Apostles steal You away, and came up. They snatched their souls from his mouth, bitter as it was.
Your Nature is like a silent lamb in its sweetness, of which if a man is to lay hold, he lifts it in a crucial form by its ears, as it was on Golgotha. He cast out abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Him.
2. Shadowed forth in your beauty is the beauty of the Son, Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him. The awl passed in you since they handled you roughly, as they did His hands; and because He suffered He reigned, as by your sufferings your beauty increased.
And if they showed no pity upon you, neither did they love you: still suffer as you might, you have come to reign! Simon Peter showed pity on the Rock; whoso has smitten it, is himself thereby overcome; it is by reason of Its suffering that Its beauty has adorned the height and the depth.
Hymn 3
1. You do not hide yourself in your bareness, O pearl! With the love of you is the merchant ravished also, for he strips off his garments; not to cover you, [seeing] your clothing is your light, your garment is your brightness, O you that are bared!
You are like Eve who was clothed with nakedness. Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her. The serpent cannot strip off your glory. In the mysteries whose type you are, women are clothed with Light in Eden.
2. Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written, Who gave you to Ethiopia [the land] of black men. He that gave light to the Gentiles, both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.
The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot Acts 8:27 saw Philip: the Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water. While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptised and shone with joy, and journeyed on!
He made disciples and taught, and out of black men he made men white. And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son; He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the Ethiopians.
3. The Queen of Sheba 1 Kings 10:1 was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves; the lamp of truth did Solomon give her, who also married her when he fell away. She was enlightened and went away, but they were dark as their manner was.
The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen], held on its shining amid the darkness, till the new Day-spring came. The bright spark met with this shining, and illumined the place.
4. There are in the sea various fishes of many cubits, and with all their greatness they are very small; but by your littleness the crown is made great, like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great.
For the head is your crown intended: for the eye your beauty, for the ear your goodliness. Come up from the sea, you neighbour to the dry land, and come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing. Let the ear love the word of life as it loves you!
In the ear is the word, and without it is the pearl. Let it as being warned by you, by you get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth. Be its mirror: the beauty of the Word in your own beauty shall it see: in you it shall learn how precious is the Word on High! The ear is the leaf: the flesh is the tree, and you in the midst of it are a fruit of light, and to the womb that brings forth Light, you are a type that points.
You He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl! As He did the virgins that entered into it, five in number, clothed with the light of their lamps! To you are those bright ones like, you that are clad in light!
5. Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor? For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not. Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men. But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl.
It were a great disgrace if you should throw your pearl away into the mire for nought!
In the pearl of time let us behold that of eternity; for it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury. Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys. Your pearl has the High One sealed up as taking account of all.
Hymn 4
1. The thief gained the faith which gained him, Luke 22:42 and brought him up and placed him in paradise. He saw in the Cross a tree of life; that was the fruit, he was the eater in Adam's stead.
The fool, who goes astray, grazes the faith, as it were an eye, Zechariah 2:8 by all manner of questions. The probing of the finger blinds the eye, and much more does that prying blind. the faith.
For even the diver pries not into his pearl. In it do all merchants rejoice without prying into whence it came; even the king who is crowned therewith does not explore it.
2. Because Balaam was foolish, a foolish beast in the ass spoke with him, because he despised God Who spoke with him. You too let the pearl reprove in the ass's stead.
The people that had a heart of stone, by a Stone He set at nought, Matthew 21:42 for lo, a stone hears words. Witness its work that has reproved them; and you, you deaf ones, let the pearl reprove today.
With the swallow Jeremiah 8:7 and the crow did He put men to shame; with the ox, yea with the ass, Isaiah 1:3 did He put them to shame; let the pearl reprove now, O you birds and things on earth and things below.
3. Not as the moon does your light fill or wane; the Sun whose light is greater than all, lo! Of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in your little compass. O type of the Son, one spark of Whom is greater than the sun!—
The pearl itself is full, for its light is full; neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it; for its wall is its own beauty, yea, its guard also! It lacks not, since it is entirely perfect.
And if a man would break you to take a part from you, you are like the faith which with the heretics perishes, seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it: for is it any better than this to have the faith scrutinised?
The faith is an entire nature that may not be corrupted. The spoiler gets himself mischief by it: the heretic brings ruin on himself thereby. He that chases the light from his pupils blinds himself.
Fire and air are divided when sundered. Light alone, of all creatures, as its Creator, is not divided; it is not barren, for that it also begets without losing thereby.
4. And if a man thinks that you are framed [by art] he errs greatly; your nature proclaims that you, as all stones, are not the framing of art; and so you are a type of the Generation which no making framed.
Your stone flees from a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son. For your own generation is from the midst of the deep, that of the Son of your Creator is from the highest height; He is not like you, in that He is like His Father.
And as they tell, two wombs bare you also. You came down from on high a fluid nature; you came up from the sea a solid body. By means of your second birth you showed your loveliness to the children of men.
Hands fixed you, when you were embodied, into your receptacles; for you are in the crown as upon a cross, and in a coronet as in a victory; you are upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking; you extend over all.
Hymn 5
1. O gift that camest up without price Isaiah 55:1 with the diver! You laid hold upon this visible light, that without price rises for the children of men: a parable of the hidden One that without price gives the hidden Dayspring!
And the painter too paints a likeness of you with colours. Yet by you is faith painted in types and emblems for colours, and in the place of the image by you and your colours is your Creator painted.
O you frankincense without smell, who breathes types from out of you! You are not to be eaten, yet you give a sweet smell unto them that hear you! You are not to be drunk, yet by your story, a fountain of types are you made unto the ears!
2. It is you which are great in your littleness, O pearl! Small is your measure and little your compass with your weight; but great is your glory: to that crown alone in which you are placed, there is none like.
And who has not perceived of your littleness, how great it is; if one despises you and throws you away, he would blame himself for his clownishness, for when he saw you in a king's crown he would be attracted to you.
3. Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew you out, pearl! It was not kings that put you before men, but those naked ones who were a type of the poor and the fishers and the Galileans.
For clothed bodies were not able to come to you; they came that were stript as children; they plunged their bodies and came down to you; and you much desired them, and you aided them who thus loved you.
Glad tidings did they give for you: their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] open, and produced and showed the new riches among the merchants: upon the wrists of men they put you as a medicine of life.
4. The naked ones in a type saw your rising again by the sea-shore; and by the side of the lake they, the Apostles of a truth, saw the rising again of the Son of your Creator. By you and by your Lord the sea and the lake were beautified.
The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing; and from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming and put on his coat; John 21:7 clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two.
5. And since I have wandered in you, pearl, I will gather up my mind, and by having contemplated you, would become like you, in that you are all gathered up into yourself; and as you in all times are one, one let me become by you!
Pearls have I gathered together that I might make a crown for the Son in the place of stains which are in my members. Receive my offering, not that You are shortcoming; it is because of my own shortcoming that I have offered it to You. Whiten my stains!
This crown is all spiritual pearls, which instead of gold are set in love, and instead of ouches in faith; and instead of hands, let praise offer it up to the Highest!
Hymn 6
1. Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs; who were very simple as being wise, and reverend as believing. They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path.
He gave the law; the mountains melted away; fools broke through it. By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream; and moreover gave from the skeleton honey unto Samson. They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean, why clean.
2. And when He made void the sabbaths, the feeble Gentiles were clothed with health. Samson took the daughter of the aliens, and there was no disputing among the righteous; the prophet also took a harlot, and the just held their peace.
He blamed the righteous, Hosea 1:2 and He held up and lifted up [to view] their delinquencies: He pitied sinners, Matthew 9:13 and restored them without cost: and made low the mountains of their sins: Luke 18:9 He proved that God is not to be arraigned by men, and as Lord of Truth, that His servants were His shadow; and whatsoever way His will looked, they directed also their own wills; and because Light was in Him, Song of Songs 2:17 their shadows were enlightened.
3. How strangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things! For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testament by that of the Prophets, those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep, and shouted out and made a disturbance. And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on, and by their truths had gone forth therein, that [Way] have these broken up, because they were besotted: this they left and went out of; because they pried, an evil searching, [yea,] an evil babbling led them astray.
They saw the ray: they made it darkness, that they might grope therein: they saw the jewel, even the faith: while they pried into it, it fell and was lost. Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it.
4. O Gift, which fools have made a poison! The People were for separating Your beauteous root from Your fountain, though they separated it not: [false] teachings estranged Your beauty also from the stock thereof.
By You did they get themselves estranged, who wished to estrange You. By You the tribes were cut off and scattered abroad from out of Sion, and also the [false] teachings of the seceders.
Bring Yourself within the compass of our littleness, O Gift of ours. For if love cannot find You out on all sides, it cannot be still and at rest. Make Yourself small, You Who is too great for all, Who comes unto all!
5. By this would those who wrangle against our Pearl be reproved; because instead of love, strife has come in and dared to essay to unveil your beauty. It was not graven, since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted.
You showed your beauty among the abjects to show whereto you are like, you Pearl that art all faces. The beholders were astonied and perplexed at you. The separatists separated you in two, and were separated in two by you, you that are of one substance throughout.
They saw not your beauty, because there was not in them the eye of truth. For the veil of prophecy, full as it was of the mysteries; to them was a covering of your glistering faces: they thought that you were other [than you are], O you mirror of ours! And therefore these blind schismatics defiled your fair beauty.
6. Since they have extolled you too much, or have lowered you too much, bring them to the even level. Come down, descend a little from that height of infidelity and heathendom; and come up from the depth of Judaism, though you are in the Heaven.
Let our Lord be set between God and men! 1 Timothy 2:5 Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds! Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice! That Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathens!
7. Come, You Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her! The circumcised have troubled You, in that they are vain babblers, and so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious. Blessed be He that gave You a goodly company which bears You about!
In the covenant of Moses is Your brightness shadowed forth: in the new covenant You dart it forth: from those first Your light shines even unto those last. Blessed be He that gave us Your gleam as well as Your bright rays.
Hymn 7
1. As in a race saw I the disputers, the children of strife, [trying] to taste fire, to see the air, to handle the light: they were troubled at the gleaming, and struggled to make divisions.
The Son, Who is too subtle for the mind, did they seek to feel: and the Holy Ghost Who cannot be explored, they thought to explore with their questionings. The Father, Who never at any time was searched out, have they explained and disputed of.
The sound form of our faith is from Abraham, and our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab, and ours are the expectations of the Prophets, Genesis 15:6 ours of the Apostles.
2. And envy is from Satan: the evil usage of the evil calf is from the Egyptians. The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces is from the Hittites. Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks.
The bitter [enemy] read and saw orthodox teachings, and subverted them; he saw hateful things, and sowed them; and he saw hope, and he turned it upside down and cut it off. The disputation that he planted, lo! It has yielded a fruit bitter to the tooth.
3. Satan saw that the Truth strangled him, and united himself to the tares, and secreted his frauds, and spread his snares for the faith, and cast upon the priests the darts of the love of pre-eminence.
They made contests for the throne, to see which should first obtain it. There was that meditated in secret and kept it close: there was that openly combated for it: and there was that with a bribe crept up to it: and there was that with fraud dealt wisely to obtain it.
The paths differed, the scope was one, and they were alike. Him that was young, and could not even think of it, because it was not time for him; and him that was hoary and shaped out dreams for time beyond; all of them by his craftiness did the wicked one persuade and subdue. Old men, youths, and even striplings, aim at rank!
4. His former books did Satan put aside, and put on others: the People who was grown old had the moth and the worm devoured and eaten and left and deserted: the moth came into the new garment of the new peoples:
He saw the crucifiers who were rejected and cast forth as strangers: he made of those of the household, pryers; and of worshippers, they became disputants. From that garment the moth gendered and wound it up and deposited it.
The worm gendered in the storehouse of wheat, and sat and looked on: and lo! The pure wheat was mildewed, and devoured were the garments of glory! He made a mockery of us, and we of ourselves, since we were besotted!
He showed tares, and the bramble shot up in the pure vineyard! He infected the flock, and the leprosy broke out, and the sheep became hired servants of his! He began in the People, and came unto the Gentiles, that he might finish.
5. Instead of the reed which the former people made the Son hold, others have dared with their reed to write in their tracts that He is only a Son of man. Reed for reed does the wicked one exchange against our Redeemer, and instead of the coat of many colours, wherewith they clothed Him, titles has he dyed craftily. With diversity of names he clothed Him; either that of a creature or of a thing made, when He was the Maker.
And as he plaited for Him by silent men speechless thorns that cry out, thorns from the mind has he plaited [now] by the voice, as hymns; and concealed the spikes amid melodies that they might not be perceived.
6. When Satan saw that he was detected in his former [frauds]; that the spitting was discovered, and vinegar, and thorns, nails and wood, garments and reed and spear, which smote him, and were hated and openly known; he changed his frauds.
Instead of the blow with the hand, by which our Lord was overcome, he brought in distractions; and instead of the spitting, cavilling entered in; and instead of garments, secret divisions; and instead of the reed, came in strife to smite us on the face.
Haughtiness called for rage its sister, and there answered and came envy, and wrath, and pride, and fraud. They have taken counsel against our Redeemer as on that day when they took counsels at His Passion.
And instead of the cross, a hidden wood has strife become; and instead of the nails, questionings have come in; and instead of hell, apostasy: the pattern of both Satan would renew again.
Instead of the sponge which was cankered with vinegar and wormwood, he gave prying, the whole of which is cankered with death. The gall which they gave Him did our Lord put away from Him; the subtle questioning, which the rebellious one has given, to fools is sweet.
7. And at that time there were judges against them, Luke 23:14-15 lo, the judges are, as it were, against us, and instead of a handwriting are their commands. Priests that consecrate crowns, set snares for kings.
Instead of the priesthood praying for royalty that wars may cease from among men, they teach wars of overthrow, which set kings to combat with those round about.
O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful; that in one Church priests may pray for their kings, and kings spare those round about them; and may the peace which is within You become ours, Lord, You that are within and without all things!
Hymn 1
1. On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren; I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom; semblances and types of the Majesty; it became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.
I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand, that I might examine it: I went to look at it on one side, and it proved faces on all sides. I found out that the Son was incomprehensible, since He is wholly Light.
In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded, and in its pureness a great mystery, even the Body of our Lord which is well-refined: in its undividedness I saw the Truth which is undivided.
It was so that I saw there its pure conception—the Church, and the Son within her. The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him, and her type the heaven, since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.
I saw therein His trophies, and His victories, and His crowns. I saw His helpful and overflowing graces, and His hidden things with His revealed things.
2. It was greater to me than the ark, for I was astonied thereat: I saw therein folds without shadow to them because it was a daughter of light, types vocal without tongues, utterances of mysteries without lips, a silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.
The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters; be not daring then; leave things hidden, take things revealed. You have seen in the clear sky a second shower; the clefts of your ears, as from the clouds, they are filled with interpretations.
And as that manna which alone filled the people, in the place of pleasant meats, with its pleasantnesses, so does this pearl fill me in the place of books, and the reading thereof, and the explanations thereof.
And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries, it had no mouth for me that I might hear from, neither any ears wherewith it might hear me. O you thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!
3. It answered me and said, The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea! And from that sea whence I came up it is that there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom! Search out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!
I have seen the various who came down after me, when astonied, so that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground; for a few moments they sustained it not. Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?
The waves of the Son are full of blessings, and with mischiefs too. Have you not seen, then, the waves of the sea, which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces, and if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them, then she is preserved? In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not, and, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land, and how shall you be kept alive? And the men of Sodom were licked up by the fire, and how shall you prevail?
At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved, and Leviathan also. Have you then a heart of stone that you read these things and run into these errors? O great fear that justice also should be so long silent! Ecclesiastes 8:11
4. Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, and whether of the two will prevail? The incense of praise rises along with the fume of disputation from the tongue, and unto which shall we hearken? Prayer and prying [come] from one mouth, James 3:10 and which shall we listen to?
For three days was Jonah a neighbour [of mine] in the sea: the living things that were in the sea were affrighted, [saying,] Who shall flee from God? Jonah fled, and you are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!
Hymn 2
1. Whereunto are you like? Let your stillness speak to one that hears; with silent mouth speak with us: for whoso hears the stammerings of your silence, to him your type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer.
Your mother is a virgin of the sea; though he took her not [to wife]: she fell into his bosom, though he knew her not; she conceived you near him, though he did not know her. Do thou, that are a type, reproach the Jewish women that have you hung upon them. You are the only progeny of all forms which art like to the Word on High, Whom singly the Most High begot. The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above. This visible offspring of the invisible womb is a type of great things. Your goodly conception was without seed, and without wedlock was your pure generation, and without brethren was your single birth.
Our Lord had brethren and yet not brethren, since He was an Only-Begotten. O solitary one, you type exact of the Only-Begotten! There is a type of yours in the crown of kings, [wherein] you have brothers and sisters.
Goodly gems are your brethren, with beryls and unions as your companions: may gold be as it were your kinsman, may there be unto the King of kings a crown from your well-beloved ones! When you came up from the sea, that living tomb, you cried out. Let me have a goodly assemblage of brethren, relatives, and kinsmen. As the wheat is in the stalk, so you are in the crown with princes: and it is a just restoration to you, as if of a pledge, that from that depth you should be exalted to a goodly eminence. Wheat the stalk bears in the field; you the head of the king upon his chariot carries about.
O daughter of the water, who hast left sea, wherein you were born, and art gone up to the dry land, wherein you are beloved: for men have loved and seized and adorned themselves with you, like as they did that Offspring Whom the Gentiles loved and crowned themselves withal.
It is by the mystery of truth that Leviathan is trodden down of mortals: the various put him off, and put on Christ. In the sacrament of oil did the Apostles steal You away, and came up. They snatched their souls from his mouth, bitter as it was.
Your Nature is like a silent lamb in its sweetness, of which if a man is to lay hold, he lifts it in a crucial form by its ears, as it was on Golgotha. He cast out abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Him.
2. Shadowed forth in your beauty is the beauty of the Son, Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him. The awl passed in you since they handled you roughly, as they did His hands; and because He suffered He reigned, as by your sufferings your beauty increased.
And if they showed no pity upon you, neither did they love you: still suffer as you might, you have come to reign! Simon Peter showed pity on the Rock; whoso has smitten it, is himself thereby overcome; it is by reason of Its suffering that Its beauty has adorned the height and the depth.
Hymn 3
1. You do not hide yourself in your bareness, O pearl! With the love of you is the merchant ravished also, for he strips off his garments; not to cover you, [seeing] your clothing is your light, your garment is your brightness, O you that are bared!
You are like Eve who was clothed with nakedness. Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her. The serpent cannot strip off your glory. In the mysteries whose type you are, women are clothed with Light in Eden.
2. Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written, Who gave you to Ethiopia [the land] of black men. He that gave light to the Gentiles, both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.
The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot Acts 8:27 saw Philip: the Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water. While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptised and shone with joy, and journeyed on!
He made disciples and taught, and out of black men he made men white. And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son; He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the Ethiopians.
3. The Queen of Sheba 1 Kings 10:1 was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves; the lamp of truth did Solomon give her, who also married her when he fell away. She was enlightened and went away, but they were dark as their manner was.
The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen], held on its shining amid the darkness, till the new Day-spring came. The bright spark met with this shining, and illumined the place.
4. There are in the sea various fishes of many cubits, and with all their greatness they are very small; but by your littleness the crown is made great, like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great.
For the head is your crown intended: for the eye your beauty, for the ear your goodliness. Come up from the sea, you neighbour to the dry land, and come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing. Let the ear love the word of life as it loves you!
In the ear is the word, and without it is the pearl. Let it as being warned by you, by you get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth. Be its mirror: the beauty of the Word in your own beauty shall it see: in you it shall learn how precious is the Word on High! The ear is the leaf: the flesh is the tree, and you in the midst of it are a fruit of light, and to the womb that brings forth Light, you are a type that points.
You He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl! As He did the virgins that entered into it, five in number, clothed with the light of their lamps! To you are those bright ones like, you that are clad in light!
5. Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor? For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not. Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men. But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl.
It were a great disgrace if you should throw your pearl away into the mire for nought!
In the pearl of time let us behold that of eternity; for it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury. Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys. Your pearl has the High One sealed up as taking account of all.
Hymn 4
1. The thief gained the faith which gained him, Luke 22:42 and brought him up and placed him in paradise. He saw in the Cross a tree of life; that was the fruit, he was the eater in Adam's stead.
The fool, who goes astray, grazes the faith, as it were an eye, Zechariah 2:8 by all manner of questions. The probing of the finger blinds the eye, and much more does that prying blind. the faith.
For even the diver pries not into his pearl. In it do all merchants rejoice without prying into whence it came; even the king who is crowned therewith does not explore it.
2. Because Balaam was foolish, a foolish beast in the ass spoke with him, because he despised God Who spoke with him. You too let the pearl reprove in the ass's stead.
The people that had a heart of stone, by a Stone He set at nought, Matthew 21:42 for lo, a stone hears words. Witness its work that has reproved them; and you, you deaf ones, let the pearl reprove today.
With the swallow Jeremiah 8:7 and the crow did He put men to shame; with the ox, yea with the ass, Isaiah 1:3 did He put them to shame; let the pearl reprove now, O you birds and things on earth and things below.
3. Not as the moon does your light fill or wane; the Sun whose light is greater than all, lo! Of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in your little compass. O type of the Son, one spark of Whom is greater than the sun!—
The pearl itself is full, for its light is full; neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it; for its wall is its own beauty, yea, its guard also! It lacks not, since it is entirely perfect.
And if a man would break you to take a part from you, you are like the faith which with the heretics perishes, seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it: for is it any better than this to have the faith scrutinised?
The faith is an entire nature that may not be corrupted. The spoiler gets himself mischief by it: the heretic brings ruin on himself thereby. He that chases the light from his pupils blinds himself.
Fire and air are divided when sundered. Light alone, of all creatures, as its Creator, is not divided; it is not barren, for that it also begets without losing thereby.
4. And if a man thinks that you are framed [by art] he errs greatly; your nature proclaims that you, as all stones, are not the framing of art; and so you are a type of the Generation which no making framed.
Your stone flees from a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son. For your own generation is from the midst of the deep, that of the Son of your Creator is from the highest height; He is not like you, in that He is like His Father.
And as they tell, two wombs bare you also. You came down from on high a fluid nature; you came up from the sea a solid body. By means of your second birth you showed your loveliness to the children of men.
Hands fixed you, when you were embodied, into your receptacles; for you are in the crown as upon a cross, and in a coronet as in a victory; you are upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking; you extend over all.
Hymn 5
1. O gift that camest up without price Isaiah 55:1 with the diver! You laid hold upon this visible light, that without price rises for the children of men: a parable of the hidden One that without price gives the hidden Dayspring!
And the painter too paints a likeness of you with colours. Yet by you is faith painted in types and emblems for colours, and in the place of the image by you and your colours is your Creator painted.
O you frankincense without smell, who breathes types from out of you! You are not to be eaten, yet you give a sweet smell unto them that hear you! You are not to be drunk, yet by your story, a fountain of types are you made unto the ears!
2. It is you which are great in your littleness, O pearl! Small is your measure and little your compass with your weight; but great is your glory: to that crown alone in which you are placed, there is none like.
And who has not perceived of your littleness, how great it is; if one despises you and throws you away, he would blame himself for his clownishness, for when he saw you in a king's crown he would be attracted to you.
3. Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew you out, pearl! It was not kings that put you before men, but those naked ones who were a type of the poor and the fishers and the Galileans.
For clothed bodies were not able to come to you; they came that were stript as children; they plunged their bodies and came down to you; and you much desired them, and you aided them who thus loved you.
Glad tidings did they give for you: their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] open, and produced and showed the new riches among the merchants: upon the wrists of men they put you as a medicine of life.
4. The naked ones in a type saw your rising again by the sea-shore; and by the side of the lake they, the Apostles of a truth, saw the rising again of the Son of your Creator. By you and by your Lord the sea and the lake were beautified.
The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing; and from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming and put on his coat; John 21:7 clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two.
5. And since I have wandered in you, pearl, I will gather up my mind, and by having contemplated you, would become like you, in that you are all gathered up into yourself; and as you in all times are one, one let me become by you!
Pearls have I gathered together that I might make a crown for the Son in the place of stains which are in my members. Receive my offering, not that You are shortcoming; it is because of my own shortcoming that I have offered it to You. Whiten my stains!
This crown is all spiritual pearls, which instead of gold are set in love, and instead of ouches in faith; and instead of hands, let praise offer it up to the Highest!
Hymn 6
1. Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs; who were very simple as being wise, and reverend as believing. They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path.
He gave the law; the mountains melted away; fools broke through it. By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream; and moreover gave from the skeleton honey unto Samson. They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean, why clean.
2. And when He made void the sabbaths, the feeble Gentiles were clothed with health. Samson took the daughter of the aliens, and there was no disputing among the righteous; the prophet also took a harlot, and the just held their peace.
He blamed the righteous, Hosea 1:2 and He held up and lifted up [to view] their delinquencies: He pitied sinners, Matthew 9:13 and restored them without cost: and made low the mountains of their sins: Luke 18:9 He proved that God is not to be arraigned by men, and as Lord of Truth, that His servants were His shadow; and whatsoever way His will looked, they directed also their own wills; and because Light was in Him, Song of Songs 2:17 their shadows were enlightened.
3. How strangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things! For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testament by that of the Prophets, those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep, and shouted out and made a disturbance. And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on, and by their truths had gone forth therein, that [Way] have these broken up, because they were besotted: this they left and went out of; because they pried, an evil searching, [yea,] an evil babbling led them astray.
They saw the ray: they made it darkness, that they might grope therein: they saw the jewel, even the faith: while they pried into it, it fell and was lost. Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it.
4. O Gift, which fools have made a poison! The People were for separating Your beauteous root from Your fountain, though they separated it not: [false] teachings estranged Your beauty also from the stock thereof.
By You did they get themselves estranged, who wished to estrange You. By You the tribes were cut off and scattered abroad from out of Sion, and also the [false] teachings of the seceders.
Bring Yourself within the compass of our littleness, O Gift of ours. For if love cannot find You out on all sides, it cannot be still and at rest. Make Yourself small, You Who is too great for all, Who comes unto all!
5. By this would those who wrangle against our Pearl be reproved; because instead of love, strife has come in and dared to essay to unveil your beauty. It was not graven, since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted.
You showed your beauty among the abjects to show whereto you are like, you Pearl that art all faces. The beholders were astonied and perplexed at you. The separatists separated you in two, and were separated in two by you, you that are of one substance throughout.
They saw not your beauty, because there was not in them the eye of truth. For the veil of prophecy, full as it was of the mysteries; to them was a covering of your glistering faces: they thought that you were other [than you are], O you mirror of ours! And therefore these blind schismatics defiled your fair beauty.
6. Since they have extolled you too much, or have lowered you too much, bring them to the even level. Come down, descend a little from that height of infidelity and heathendom; and come up from the depth of Judaism, though you are in the Heaven.
Let our Lord be set between God and men! 1 Timothy 2:5 Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds! Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice! That Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathens!
7. Come, You Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her! The circumcised have troubled You, in that they are vain babblers, and so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious. Blessed be He that gave You a goodly company which bears You about!
In the covenant of Moses is Your brightness shadowed forth: in the new covenant You dart it forth: from those first Your light shines even unto those last. Blessed be He that gave us Your gleam as well as Your bright rays.
Hymn 7
1. As in a race saw I the disputers, the children of strife, [trying] to taste fire, to see the air, to handle the light: they were troubled at the gleaming, and struggled to make divisions.
The Son, Who is too subtle for the mind, did they seek to feel: and the Holy Ghost Who cannot be explored, they thought to explore with their questionings. The Father, Who never at any time was searched out, have they explained and disputed of.
The sound form of our faith is from Abraham, and our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab, and ours are the expectations of the Prophets, Genesis 15:6 ours of the Apostles.
2. And envy is from Satan: the evil usage of the evil calf is from the Egyptians. The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces is from the Hittites. Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks.
The bitter [enemy] read and saw orthodox teachings, and subverted them; he saw hateful things, and sowed them; and he saw hope, and he turned it upside down and cut it off. The disputation that he planted, lo! It has yielded a fruit bitter to the tooth.
3. Satan saw that the Truth strangled him, and united himself to the tares, and secreted his frauds, and spread his snares for the faith, and cast upon the priests the darts of the love of pre-eminence.
They made contests for the throne, to see which should first obtain it. There was that meditated in secret and kept it close: there was that openly combated for it: and there was that with a bribe crept up to it: and there was that with fraud dealt wisely to obtain it.
The paths differed, the scope was one, and they were alike. Him that was young, and could not even think of it, because it was not time for him; and him that was hoary and shaped out dreams for time beyond; all of them by his craftiness did the wicked one persuade and subdue. Old men, youths, and even striplings, aim at rank!
4. His former books did Satan put aside, and put on others: the People who was grown old had the moth and the worm devoured and eaten and left and deserted: the moth came into the new garment of the new peoples:
He saw the crucifiers who were rejected and cast forth as strangers: he made of those of the household, pryers; and of worshippers, they became disputants. From that garment the moth gendered and wound it up and deposited it.
The worm gendered in the storehouse of wheat, and sat and looked on: and lo! The pure wheat was mildewed, and devoured were the garments of glory! He made a mockery of us, and we of ourselves, since we were besotted!
He showed tares, and the bramble shot up in the pure vineyard! He infected the flock, and the leprosy broke out, and the sheep became hired servants of his! He began in the People, and came unto the Gentiles, that he might finish.
5. Instead of the reed which the former people made the Son hold, others have dared with their reed to write in their tracts that He is only a Son of man. Reed for reed does the wicked one exchange against our Redeemer, and instead of the coat of many colours, wherewith they clothed Him, titles has he dyed craftily. With diversity of names he clothed Him; either that of a creature or of a thing made, when He was the Maker.
And as he plaited for Him by silent men speechless thorns that cry out, thorns from the mind has he plaited [now] by the voice, as hymns; and concealed the spikes amid melodies that they might not be perceived.
6. When Satan saw that he was detected in his former [frauds]; that the spitting was discovered, and vinegar, and thorns, nails and wood, garments and reed and spear, which smote him, and were hated and openly known; he changed his frauds.
Instead of the blow with the hand, by which our Lord was overcome, he brought in distractions; and instead of the spitting, cavilling entered in; and instead of garments, secret divisions; and instead of the reed, came in strife to smite us on the face.
Haughtiness called for rage its sister, and there answered and came envy, and wrath, and pride, and fraud. They have taken counsel against our Redeemer as on that day when they took counsels at His Passion.
And instead of the cross, a hidden wood has strife become; and instead of the nails, questionings have come in; and instead of hell, apostasy: the pattern of both Satan would renew again.
Instead of the sponge which was cankered with vinegar and wormwood, he gave prying, the whole of which is cankered with death. The gall which they gave Him did our Lord put away from Him; the subtle questioning, which the rebellious one has given, to fools is sweet.
7. And at that time there were judges against them, Luke 23:14-15 lo, the judges are, as it were, against us, and instead of a handwriting are their commands. Priests that consecrate crowns, set snares for kings.
Instead of the priesthood praying for royalty that wars may cease from among men, they teach wars of overthrow, which set kings to combat with those round about.
O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful; that in one Church priests may pray for their kings, and kings spare those round about them; and may the peace which is within You become ours, Lord, You that are within and without all things!
Hymns on the Nativity
This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed! For the Virgin this day brought forth Immanuel in Bethlehem. The voice that of old Isaiah spoke, Isaiah 10:19 today became reality. He was born there who in writing should tell the Gentiles' number! The Psalm that David once sang, by its fulfilment came today! The word that Micah once spoke, Micah 5:2 today had come indeed to pass! For there came from Ephrata a Shepherd, and His staff swayed over souls. Lo! From Jacob shone the Star, Numbers 24:17 and from Israel rose the Head. Hosea 1:11 The prophecy that Balaam spoke had its interpreting today! Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty! The light that spoke in Zachary, today shined in Bethlehem!
Risen is the Light of the kingdom, in Ephrata the city of the King. The blessing wherewith Jacob blessed, to its fulfilment came today! That tree likewise, [the tree] of life, brings hope to mortal men! Solomon's hidden proverb Proverbs 3:18 had today its explanation! Today was born the Child, and His name was called Wonder! Isaiah 9:6 For a wonder it is that God as a Babe should show Himself. By the word Worm did the Spirit foreshow Him in parable, because His generation was without marriage. The type that the Holy Ghost figured today its meaning was [explained.] He came up as a root before Him, as a root of parched ground. Isaiah 53:2 Anything that covertly was said, openly today was done! The King that in Judah was hidden, Thamar stole Him from his thigh; today arose His conquering beauty, which in hidden estate she loved. Ruth at Boaz' side lay down, because the Medicine of Life hidden in him she perceived. Today was fulfilled her vow, since from her seed arose the Quickener of all. Travail Adam on the woman brought, that from him had come forth. She today her travail ransomed, who to her a Saviour bare! To Eve our mother a man gave birth, who himself had had no birth. How much more should Eve's daughter be believed to have borne a Child without a man! The virgin earth, she bare that Adam that was head over the earth! The Virgin bare today the Adam that was Head over the Heavens. The staff of Aaron, it budded, and the dry wood yielded fruit! Its mystery is cleared up today, for the virgin womb a Child has borne!
Shamed is that people which holds the prophets as true; for unless our Saviour has come, their words have been falsified! Blessed be the True One Who came from the Father of the Truth and fulfilled the true seers' words, which were accomplished in their truth. From your treasure-house put forth, Lord, from the coffers of Your Scriptures, names of righteous men of old, who looked to see Your coming! Seth who was in Abel's stead shadowed out the Son as slain, by Whose death was dulled the envy Cain had brought into the world! Noah saw the sons of God, saints that sudden waxed wanton, and the Holy Son he looked for, by whom lewd men were turned to holiness. The brothers two, that covered Noah, Genesis 9:23 saw the only Son of God who should come to hide the nakedness of Adam, who was drunk with pride. Shem and Japhet, being gracious, looked for the gracious Son, Who should come and set free Canaan from the servitude of sin.
Melchizedek expected Him; as His vicegerent, looked that he might see the Priesthood's Lord whose hyssop Leviticus 14:52 purifies the world. Lot beheld the Sodomites how they perverted nature: for nature's Lord he looked who gave a holiness not natural. Him Aaron looked for, for he saw that if his rod ate serpents up, Exodus 7:12 His cross would eat the Serpent up that had eaten Adam and Eve. Moses saw the uplifted serpent that had cured the bites of asps, and he looked to see Him who would heal the ancient Serpent's wound. Moses saw that he himself alone retained the brightness from God, and he looked for Him who came and multiplied gods by His teaching:
Caleb the spy bore the cluster on the staff, and came and longed to see the Cluster, Whose wine should comfort the world. Him did Jesus son of Nun long for, that he might conceive the force of his own surname: for if by His name he waxed so mighty, Hebrews 4:8 how much more would He by His Birth? This Jesus that gathered and carried, and brought with him of the fruit, was longing for the Tree of Life to taste the Fruit that quickens all. For Him Rahab too was looking; for when the scarlet thread in type redeemed her from wrath, in type she tasted of the Truth. For Him Elijah longed, and when Him on earth he saw not, he, through faith most throughly cleansed, mounted up in heaven to see Him. Moses saw Him and Elijah; the meek man from the depth ascended, the zealous from on high descended, and in the midst beheld the Son. They figured the mystery of His Advent: Moses was a type of the dead, and Elijah a type of the living, that fly to meet Him at His coming. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 For the dead that have tasted death, them He makes to be first: and the rest that are not buried, are last caught up to meet Him.
Who is there that can count me up the just that looked for the Son, whose number cannot be determined by the mouth of us weak creatures? Pray for me, O beloved, that another time with strength endued, I in another legend may so set forth their foretaste, as I am able. Who is adequate to the praising of the Son of the Truth that has risen to us? For it was for Him the righteous longed, that in their generation they might see Him. Adam looked for Him, for He is the Cherub's Lord, and could minister an entrance and a residence hard by the branches of the Tree of life. Abel longed after Him, that in his days He might come; that instead of that lamb that he offered, the Lamb of God he might behold. For Him Eve also looked; for woman's nakedness was sore, and He capable to clothe them; not with leaves, but with that same glory that they had exchanged away. The tower that the many built, in mystery looked for One, who coming down would build on earth a tower that lifts up to Heaven. Yea the ark of living creatures looked in a type for our Lord; for He should build the Holy Church, wherein souls find a refuge. In Peleg's days earth was divided into tongues, threescore and ten. For Him Who by the tongues, to His Apostles divided earth. Earth which the flood had swallowed up, in silence cried to her Lord. He came down and opened Baptism, and men were drawn by it to Heaven. Seth and Enos, Cainan too, were surnamed sons of God; for the Son of God they looked, that they by grace might be His brethren. But little short of a thousand years did Methuselah live: He looked for the Son Who makes heirs of life that never ends! Grace itself in hidden mystery was beseeching on their behalf that their Lord might come in their age and fill up their shortcomings. For the Holy Spirit in them, in their stead, besought with meditation: Romans 8:26 He stirred them up, and in Him did they look on that Redeemer, after whom they longed. 1 Peter 1:11
The soul of just men perceive in the Son a Medicine of life; and so it felt desires that He might come in its own days, and then would it taste His sweetness. Enoch was longing for Him, and since on earth the Son he saw not, he was justified by great faith, and mounted up in Heaven to see Him. Who is there that will spurn at grace, when the Gift that they of old gained not by much labour, freely comes to men now? For Him Lamech also looked who might come and lovingly give Him quiet from his labour and the toiling of his hands, and from the earth the Just One had cursed. Genesis 5:29 Lamech then beheld his son, Noah—him, in whom were figured types relating to the Son. In the stead of the Lord afar off, the type at hand afforded quiet. Yea Noah also longed to see Him, the taste of whose assisting graces he had tasted. For if the type of Him preserved living things, Himself how sure to bestow life upon souls! Noah longed for Him, by trial knowing Him, for through Him had the ark been established. For if the type of Him thus saved life, assuredly much more would He in person. Abraham perceived in Spirit that the Son's Birth was far off; instead of Him in person he rejoiced to see even His day. John 8:56 To see Him Isaac longed, as having tasted the taste of His redemption; Hebrews 11:19 for if the sign of Him so gave life, much more would He by the reality.
Joyous Daniel 4:13 were today the Watchers, that the Wakeful came to wake us! Who would pass this night in slumber, in which all the world was watching? Since Adam brought into the world the sleep of death by sins, the Wakeful came down that He might awake us from the deep sleep of sin. Watch not we as usurers, who thinking on money put to interest, watch at night so oft, to reckon up their capital, and interest. Wakeful and cautious is the thief, who in the earth has buried and concealed his sleep. His wakefulness all [comes to] this, that he may cause much wakefulness to them that be asleep. Wakeful likewise is the glutton, who has eaten much and is restless; his watching is to him his torment, because he was impatient of stint. Wakeful likewise is the merchant; of a night he works his fingers telling over what pounds are coming, and if his wealth doubles or trebles. Wakeful likewise is the rich man, whose sleep his riches chase away: his dogs sleep; he guards his treasures from the thieves. Wakeful also is the careful, by his care his sleep is swallowed: though his end stands by his pillow, yet he wakes with cares for years to come. Satan teaches, O my brethren, one watching instead of another; to good deeds to be sleepy, and to ill awake and watchful. Even Judas Iscariot, for the whole night through was wakeful; and he sold the righteous Blood, that purchased the whole world. The son of the dark one put on darkness, having stripped the Light from off him: and Him who created silver, for silver the thief sold. Yea, Pharisees, the dark one's sons, all the night through kept awake: the dark ones watched that they might veil the Light which is unlimited. You then watch as [heaven's] lights in this night of starry light. For though so dark be its colour yet in virtue it is clear.
For whoever is like this clear One, wakeful and prayerful in darkness, him in this darkness visible a light unseen surrounds! The bad man that in daylight stands, yet as a son of darkness deals; though with light clad outwardly, inwardly is with darkness girt. Be we not deceived, beloved, by the fact that we are watching! For whoso does not rightly watch, his watch is an unrighteous watch. Whoso watches not cheerfully, his watching is but a sleeping: whoso also watches not innocently, even his waking is his foe. This is the waking of the envious one! A solid mass, compact with harm. That watch is but a trafficking, with scorn and mockery compact. The wrathful man if he wakes, fretful with wrath his wake will be, and his watching proves to him full of rage and of cursings. If the babbler be waking, then his mouth becomes a passage which for sins is ready but for prayers shows hindrance.
The wise man, if so be he that watches, one of two things chooses him; either takes sweet, moderate, sleep, or a holy vigil keeps. That night is fair, wherein He Who is Fair Song of Songs 1:15 rose to come and make us fair. Let not anything that may disturb it enter into our watch! Fair be kept the ear's approach, chaste the seeing of the eye! hallowed the musing of the heart! The speaking of the mouth be cleared. Mary hid in us today leaven that came from Abraham. Let us then so pity beggars as did Abraham the needy. Today the rennet fell on us from the gentle David's house. Let a man show mercy to his persecutors, as did Jesse's son to Saul. 1 Samuel xxvi The prophets' sweet salt 2 Kings 2:20 is today sprinkled among the Gentiles. Let us gain a new savour Matthew 5:13 by that whereby the ancient people lost their savour. Let us speak the speech of wisdom; speak we not of things outside it, lest we ourselves be outside it!
In this night of reconcilement let no man be angry or gloomy! In this night that stills all, none that threatens or disturbs! This night belongs to the sweet One; bitter or harsh be in it none! In this night that is the meek One's, high or haughty be in it none! In this day of pardoning let us not exact trespasses! In this day of gladnesses let us not spread sadnesses! In this day so sweet, let us not be harsh! In this day of peaceful rest, let us not be wrathful in it! In this day when God came to sinners, let not the righteous be in his mind uplifted over sinner! In this day in which there came the Lord of all unto the servants, let masters too condescend to their servants lovingly! In this day in which the Rich became poor for our sakes, let the rich man make the poor man share with him at his table. On this day to us came forth the Gift, although we asked it not! Let us therefore bestow alms on them that cry and beg of us. This is the day that opened for us a gate on high to our prayers. Let us open also gates to supplicants that have transgressed, and of us have asked [forgiveness.] Today the Lord of nature was against His nature changed; let it not to us be irksome to turn our evil wills. Fixed in nature is the body; great or less it cannot become: but the will has such dominion, it can grow to any measure. Today Godhead sealed itself upon Manhood, that so with the Godhead's stamp Manhood might be adorned.
Hymn 2
Blessed be that Child, Who gladdened Bethlehem today! Blessed be the Babe Who made manhood young again today! Blessed be the Fruit, Who lowered Himself to our famished state! Blessed be the Good One, Who suddenly enriched our necessitousness and supplied our needs! Blessed He Whose tender mercies made Him condescend to visit our infirmities!
Praise to the Fountain that was sent for our propitiation. Praise be to Him Who made void the Sabbath by fulfilling it! Praise too to Him Who rebuked the leprosy and it remained not, Whom the fever saw and fled! Praise to the Merciful, Who bore our toil! Glory to Your coming, which quickened the sons of men!
Glory to Him, Who came to us by His first-born! Glory to the Silence, that spoke by His Voice. Glory to the One on high, Who was seen by His Day-spring! Glory to the Spiritual, Who was pleased to have a Body, that in it His virtue might be felt, and He might by that Body show mercy on His household's bodies!
Glory to that Hidden One, Whose Son was made manifest! Glory to that Living One, Whose Son was made to die! Glory to that Great One, Whose Son descended and was small! Glory to the Power Who did straiten His greatness by a form, His unseen nature by a shape! With eye and mind we have beheld Him, yea with both of them.
Glory to that Hidden One, Who even with the mind cannot be felt at all by them that pry into Him; but by His graciousness was felt by the hand of man! The Nature that could not be touched, by His hands was bound and tied, by His feet was pierced and lifted up. Himself of His own will He embodied for them that took Him.
Blessed be He Whom free will crucified, because He let it: blessed be He Whom the wood also did bear, because He allowed it. Blessed be He Whom the grave bound, that had [thereby] a limit set it. Blessed be He Whose own will brought Him to the Womb and Birth, to arms and to increase [in stature]. Blessed He whose changes purchased life for human nature.
Blessed He Who sealed our soul, and adorned it and espoused it to Himself. Blessed He Who made our Body a tabernacle for His unseen Nature. Blessed He Who by our tongue interpreted His secret things. Let us praise that Voice whose glory is hymned with our lute, and His virtue with our harp. The Gentiles have assembled and have come to hear His strains.
Glory to the Son of the Good One, Whom the sons of the evil one rejected! Glory to the Son of the Just One, Whom the sons of wickedness crucified! Glory to Him Who loosed us, and was bound for us all! Glory to Him Who gave the pledge, and redeemed it too! Glory to the Beautiful, Who conformed us to His image! Glory to that Fair One, Who looked not to our foulnesses!
Glory to Him Who sowed His Light in the darkness, and was reproached in His hidden state, and covered His secret things. He also stripped and took off from us the clothing of our filthiness. Zechariah 3:3 Glory be to Him on high, Who mixed His salt Mark 9:49 in our minds, His leaven in our souls. His Body became Bread, to quicken our deadness.
Praise to the Rich, Who paid for us all, that which He borrowed not; and wrote [His bill], and also became our debtor! By His yoke He broke from us the chains of him that led us captive. Glory to the Judge Who was judged, and made His Twelve to sit in judgment on the tribes, and by ignorant men condemned the scribes of that nation!
Glory to Him Who could never be measured by us! Our heart is too small for Him, yea our mind is too feeble. He makes foolish our littleness by the riches of His Wisdom. Glory to Him, Who lowered Himself, and asked; Luke 2:46 that He might hear and learn that which He knew; that He might by His questions reveal the treasure of His helpful graces!
Let us adore Him Who enlightened with His doctrine our mind, and in our hearing sought a pathway for His words. Praise we Him Who grafted into our tree His fruit. Thanks to Him Who sent His Heir, that by Him He might draw us to Himself, yea make us heirs with Him! Thanks to that Good One, the cause of all goods!
Blessed He Who did not chide, because that He was good! Blessed He Who did not spurn, because that He was just also! Blessed He Who was silent, and rebuked; that He might quicken us with both! Severe His silence and reproachful. Mild His severity even When He was accusing; for He rebuked the traitor, and kissed the thief.
Glory to the hidden Husbandman of our intellects! His seed fell on to our ground, and made our mind rich. His increase came an hundredfold into the treasury of our souls! Let us adore Him Who sat down and took rest; and walked in the way, so that the Way was in the way, and the Door also for them that go in, by which they go in to the kingdom.
Blessed the Shepherd Who became a Lamb for our reconcilement! Blessed the Branch Who became the Cup of our Redemption! Blessed also be the Cluster, Fount of medicine of life! Blessed also be the Tiller, Who became Wheat, that He might be sown; and a Sheaf, that He might be cut! [Blessed be] the Architect Who became a Tower for our place of safety! Blessed He Who so tempered the feelings of our mind, Proverbs 18:10 that we with our harp should sing that which the winged creatures' mouth knows not with its strains to sing! Glory to Him, Who beheld how we had pleased to be like to brutes in our rage and our greediness; and came down and was one of us, that we might become heavenly!
Glory be to Him, Who never felt the need of our praising Him; yet felt the need as being kind to us, and thirsted Matthew 25:40 as loving us, and asks us to give to Him, and longs to give to us. His fruit was mingled with us men, that in Him we might come near to Him, Who condescended to us. By the Fruit of His stem He grafted us into His Tree.
Let us praise Him, Who prevailed and quickened us by His stripes! Praise we Him, Who took away the curse by His thorns! Praise we Him Who put death to death by His dying! Praise we Him, Who held His peace and justified us! Praise we Him, Who rebuked death that had overcome us! Blessed He, Whose helpful graces cleansed out the left side!
Praise we Him Who watched and put to sleep him that led us captive. Praise we Him Who went to sleep, and chased our deep sleep away. Glory be to God Who cured weak manhood! Glory be to Him Who was baptized, and drowned our iniquity in the deep, and choked him Luke 8:33 that choked us! Let us glorify with all our mouths the Lord of all creatures!
Blessed be the Physician Who came down and amputated without pain, and healed wounds with a medicine that was not harsh. His Son became a Medicine, that showed sinners mercy. Blessed be He Who dwelt in the womb, and wrought therein a perfect Temple, that He might dwell in it, a Throne that He might be in it, a Garment that He might be arrayed in it, and a Weapon that He might conquer in it.
Blessed be He Whom our mouth cannot adequately praise, because His Gift is too great for skill of orators [to tell]; neither can the faculties adequately praise His goodness. For praise Him as we may, it is too little.
And since it is useless to be silent and to constrain ourselves, may our feebleness excuse such praise as we can sing.
How gracious He, Who demands not more than our strength can give! How would Your servant be condemned in capital and interest, did he not give such as he could, and did he refuse that which He owed! Ocean of glory Who needest not to have Your glory sung, take in Your goodness this drop of praise; since by Your Gift You have supplied my tongue a sense for glorifying You.
Hymn 3
Blessed be that first day of yours, Lord, wherewith this day of Your Feast is stamped! Your day is like You, in that it shows mercy unto men, in that it is handed down and comes with all generations.
This is the day that ends with the aged, and returns that it may begin with the young! A day that by its love refreshes itself, that it may refresh by its might us decayed creatures. Your day when it had visited us and passed, and gone away, in its mercy returned and visited us again: for it knows that human nature needs it; in all things like You as seeking us.
The world is in want of its fountain; and for it, Lord, as for You, all therein are thirsty. This is the day that rules over the seasons! The dominion of Your day is like Yours, which stretches over generations that have come, and are to come! Your day is like You, because when it is one, it buds and multiplies itself, that it may be like You!
In this Your day, Lord, which is near unto us, we see Your Birth that is far off! Like to You be Your day to us, Lord; let it be a mediator and a warranter of peace.
Your day reconciled Heaven and earth, because therein the Highest came down to the lowest.
Your day was able to reconcile the Just One, who was angry at our sins; Your day forgave thousands of sins, for in it bowels of mercy shone forth upon the guilty!
Great, Lord, is Your day; let it not be small upon us, let it show mercy according as it used to do, upon us transgressors!
And if every day, Lord, Your forgiveness wells forth, how exceeding great should it be upon this day! All the days from the Treasure of Your bright day gain blessings. All the feasts from the stores of this feast have their fairness and their ornaments. Your bowels of mercy upon Your day make abundant to us, O Lord! Make us to distinguish Your day from all days! For great is the treasure-house of the day of Your Birth; let it be the ransomer of debtors! Great is this day above all days, for in it came forth mercy to sinners. A store of medicines is this Your great day, because on it shone forth the Medicine of Life to the wounded! A treasure of helpful graces is this day, for that on it Light gleamed forth upon our blindness! Yea, it also brought a sheaf unto us; and it came, that from it might flow plenty upon our hunger. This day is that forerunning Cluster, in which the cup of salvation was concealed! This day is the first-born feast, which, being born the first, overcomes all feasts. In the winter which strips the fruit of the branches off from the barren vine, Fruit sprang up Isaiah 5:2 unto us; in the cold that bares all the trees, a shoot was green for us of the house of Jesse. In December when the seed is hidden in the earth, there sprouted forth from the Womb the Ear of Life. In March when the seed was sprouting in the air, a Sheaf Leviticus 23:10 sowed itself in the earth. The harvest thereof, Death devoured it in Hell; which the Medicine of life that is hidden therein did yet burst open! In March when the lambs bleat in the wilderness, into the Womb the Paschal Lamb entered! Out of the stream whence the fishers came up, He was baptized and came up Who incloses all things in his net; out of the stream the fish whereof Simon took, out of it the Fisher of men came up, and took him. With the Cross which catches all robbers, He caught up unto life that robber! Luke 23:43 The Living by His death emptied Hell, He unloosed it and let fly away from it entire multitudes! The publicans and harlots, the impure snares, the snares of the deceitful fowler the Holy One seized! The sinful woman, who was a snare for men, He made a mirror for penitent women! The fig that cast its fruit, that refused fruit, offered Zacchæus as fruit; the fruit of its own nature it gave not, but it yielded one reasonable fruit! The Lord spread His thirst over the well, and caught her that was thirsty with the water that He asked of her. He caught one soul at the well, and again caught with her the whole city: John 4:42 twelve fishers the Holy One caught, and again caught with them the whole world. As for Iscariot, that escaped from His nets, the strangling halter fell upon his neck! His all-quickening net catches the living, Matthew 13:47 and he that escapes from it escapes from the living.
And who is able, Lord, to tell me up the several succours that are hid in You? How shall the parched mouth be able to drink from the Fountain of the Godhead! Answer today the voice of our petition; let our prayer which is in words take effect in deeds. Heal us, O my Master; every time that we see Your Feast, may it cause rumours that we have heard to pass away. Our mind wanders amid these voices. O Voice of the Father, still [other] voices; the world is noisy, in You let it gain itself quiet; for by You the sea was stilled from its storms. The devils rejoiced when they heard the voice of blasphemy: let the Watchers rejoice in us as they are wont. Matthew 18:10 From among Your fold there is the voice of sorrowfulness; O You that makes all rejoice, Luke 15:7 let Your flock rejoice! As for our murmur, O my Master, in it reject us not: our mouth murmurs since it is sinful. Let Your day, O Lord, give us all manner of joy, with the flowers of peace, let us keep Your passover. In the day of Your Ascension we are lifted up: John 20:17 with the new Bread shall be the memorial thereof. O Lord, increase our peace, that we may keep three feasts of the Godhead. Great is Your day, Lord, let us not be despised. All men honour the day of Your birth. You righteous One, keep the glory of Your birth; for even Herod honoured the day of His birth! The dances of the impure one pleased the tyrant; to You, Lord, let the voice of chaste women be sweet! You, Lord, let the voice of chaste women please, whose bodies You guardest holily. The day of Herod was like him: Your day too is like You! The day of the troubled one was troubled with sin; and fair as You are is Your fair day! The feast of the tyrant killed the preacher; in Your feast every man preaches glory. On the day of the murderer, the Voice was put to silence; but on Your day are the voices of the feast. The foul one in his feast put out the Light, that darkness might cover the adulterers. The season of the Holy One trims lamps, that darkness may flee with the hidden things thereof. The day of that fox Luke 13:32 stank like himself; but holy is the feast of the True Lamb. The day of the transgressor passed away like himself; Your day like Yourself abides for ever. The day of the tyrant raged like himself, because with his chain it put to silence the righteous Voice. The feast of the Meek One is tranquil like Himself, because His sun shines upon His persecutors. The tyrant was conscious that He was not a king, therefore to the King of kings he gave place. The whole day, Lord, suffices me not to balance Your praise with his blame. May Your Gracious day cause my sin to pass away, seeing that it is with the day of the impure one, that I have weighed Your day! For great is Your day beyond comparison! nor can it be compared with our days. The day of man is as of the earthy: the day of God is as of God! Your day, Lord, is greater than those of the prophets, and I have taken and set it beside that of the murderer! You know, O Lord, as knowing all things, how to hear the comparison that my tongue has made. Let Your day grant our requests for life, since his day granted the request for death. The needy king swore on his feast that half his kingdom should be the reward of the dance! Let Your feast then, O You that enrichest all, shed down in mercy a crumb of fine wheat flour! From the dry land gushed the Fountain, which sufficed to satisfy the thirst of the Gentiles! From the Virgin's womb as from a strong rock sprouted up the seed, whence was much fruit! Barns without number did Joseph fill; Genesis 41:49 and they were emptied and failed in the years of the famine. One true Sheaf gave bread; the bread of Heaven, whereof there is no stint. The bread which the First-born broke in the wilderness, failed and passed away though very good. He returned again and broke the New Bread which ages and generations shall not waste away! The seven loaves also that He broke failed, Matthew 15:36 and the five loaves too that He multiplied were consumed; Matthew 14:17 the Bread that He broke exceeded the world's needs, for the more it was divided, the more it multiplied exceedingly. With much wine also He filled the waterpots; they drew it out, yet it failed though it was abundant: of the Cup that He gave though the draught was small, very great was its strength, so that there is no stint thereto. A Cup is He that contains all strong wines, and also a Mystery in the midst of which He Himself is! The one Bread that He broke has no bound, and the one Cup that He mingled has no stint! Proverbs 9:5 The Wheat that was sown, John 12:24 on the third day came up and filled the Garner of Life. Matthew 13:30 The spiritual Bread, as the Giver of it, quickens the spiritual spiritually, and he that receives it carnally, receives it rashly to no profit. This Bread of grace let the spirit receive discerningly, as the medicine of Life. If the dead sacrifices in the name of devils were offered, 1 Corinthians 10:20 yea eaten, not without a mystery; at the holy thing of the offering, how much more does it behoove us that this mystery be circumspectly administered by us. He that eats of the sacrifice in the name of devils, becomes devilish without all contradiction. He that eats the Heavenly Bread, becomes Heavenly without doubt! Wine teaches us, in that it makes him that is familiar therewith like itself: for it hates much him that is fond of it, and is intoxicating and maddening, and a mocker Proverbs 20:1 to him! Light teaches us, in that it makes like itself the eye the daughter of the sun: the eye by the light saw the nakedness, and ran and chastely hid the chaste man. Genesis 9:23 As for that nakedness it was wine that made it, which even to the chaste skills not to show mercy!
With the weapon of the deceiver the First-born clad Himself, that with the weapon that killed, He might restore to life again! With the tree wherewith he slew us, He delivered us. With the wine which maddened us, with it we were made chaste! With the rib that was drawn out of Adam, the wicked one drew out the heart of Adam. There rose from the Rib Genesis 3:15 a hidden power, which cut off Satan as Dagon: for in that Ark a book was hidden that cried and proclaimed concerning the Conqueror! There was then a mystery revealed, in that Dagon was brought low in his own place of refuge! 1 Samuel 5:4 The accomplishment came after the type, in that the wicked one was brought low in the place in which he trusted! Blessed be He Who came and in Him were accomplished the mysteries of the left hand, and the right hand. Matthew 25:33 Fulfilled was the mystery that was in the Lamb, and fulfilled was the type that was in Dagon. Blessed is He Who by the True Lamb redeemed us, and destroyed our destroyer as He did Dagon! In December when the nights are long, rose unto us the Day, of Whom there is no bound! In winter when all the world is gloomy, forth came the Fair One Who cheered all in the world! In winter that makes the earth barren, virginity learned to bring forth. In December, that causes the travails of the earth to cease, in it were the travails of virginity. The early lamb no one ever used to see before the shepherds: and as for the true Lamb, in the season of His birth, the tidings of Him too hasted unto the shepherds. That old wolf saw the sucking Lamb, and he trembled before Him, though He had concealed himself; for because the wolf had put on sheep's clothing, the Shepherd of all became a Lamb in the flocks, in order that when the greedy one had been bold against the Meek, the Mighty One might rend that Eater. Judges 14:6 The Holy One dwelt bodily in the womb; and He dwelt spiritually in the mind. Mary that conceived Him abhorred the marriage bed; let not that soul commit whoredom in the which He dwells. Because Mary perceived Him, she left her betrothed: He dwells in chaste virgins, if they perceive Him. Matthew 5:28 The deaf perceive not the mighty thunder, neither does the heady man the sound of the commandment. For the deaf is bewildered in the time of the thunderclap, the heady man is bewildered also at the voice of instruction; if fearful thunder terrifies the deaf, then would fearful wrath stir the unclean! That the deaf hears not is no blame to him; but whoso tramples [on the commandments] it is headiness. From time to time there is thunder: but the voice of the law thunders every day. Let us not close our ears when their openings, as being opened and not closed against it, accuse us; and the door of hearing is open by nature, that it might reproach us for our headiness against our will. The door of the voice and the door of the mouth our will can open or close. Let us see what the Good One has given us; and let us hear the mighty Voice, and let not the doors of our ears be closed.
Glory to that Voice Which became Body, and to the Word of the High One Which became Flesh! Hear Him also, O ears, and see Him, O eyes, and feel Him, O hands, and eat Him, O mouth! You members and senses give praise unto Him, that came and quickened the whole body! Mary bare the silent Babe, while in Him were hidden all tongues! Joseph bare Him, and in Him was hidden a nature more ancient than anything that is old! The High One became as a little child, and in Him was hidden a treasure of wisdom sufficing for all! Though Most High, yet He sucked the milk of Mary, and of His goodness all creatures suck! He is the Breast of Life, and the Breath of Life; the dead suck from His life and revive. Without the breath of the air no man lives, without the Might of the Son no man subsists. On His living breath that quickens all, depend the spirits that are above and that are beneath. When He sucked the milk of Mary, He was suckling all with Life. While He was lying on His Mother's bosom, in His bosom were all creatures lying. He was silent as a Babe, and yet He was making His creatures execute all His commands. For without the First-born no man can approach unto the Essence, to which He is equal. The thirty years He was in the earth, Who was ordering all creatures, Who was receiving all the offerings of praise from those above and those below. He was wholly in the depths and wholly in the highest! He was wholly with all things and wholly with each. While His body was forming within the womb, His power was fashioning all members! While the Conception of the Son was fashioning in the womb, He Himself was fashioning babes in the womb. Yet not as His body was weak in the womb, was His power weak in the womb! So too not as His body was feeble by the Cross, was His might also feeble by the Cross. For when on the Cross He quickened the dead, His Body quickened them, yea, rather His Will; just as when He was dwelling wholly in the womb, His hidden Will was visiting all! For see how, when He was wholly hanging upon the Cross, His Power was yet making all creatures move! For He darkened the sun and made the earth quake; He rent the graves and brought forth the dead! See how when He was wholly on the Cross, yet again He was wholly everywhere! Thus was He entirely in the womb, while He was again wholly in everything! While on the Cross He quickened the dead, so while a Babe He was fashioning babes. While He was slain, He opened the graves; Matthew 27:52 while He was in the womb, He opened wombs. Come hearken, my brethren, concerning the Son of the Secret One that was revealed in His Body, while His Power was concealed! For the Power of the Son is a free Power; the womb did not bind it up, as it did the Body! For while His Power was dwelling in the womb, He was fashioning infants in the womb! His Power compassed her, that compassed Him. For if He drew in His Power, all things would fall; His Power upholds all things; while He was within the womb, He left not His hold of all. He in His own Person shaped an Image in the womb, and was shaping in all wombs all countenances. Whilst He was increasing in stature among the poor, from an abundant treasury He was nourishing all! While she that anointed Him was anointing Him, with His dew and His rain He was anointing all! The Magi brought myrrh and gold, while in Him was hidden a treasure of riches. The myrrh and spices which He had prepared and created, did the Magi bring Him of His own. It was by Power from Him that Mary was able to bear in Her bosom Him that bears up all things! It was from the great storehouse of all creatures, Mary gave Him all which she did give Him! Jeremiah 31:22 She gave Him milk from Himself that prepared it, she gave Him food from Himself that made it! He gave milk unto Mary as God: again He sucked it from her, as the Son of Man. Her hands bare Him in that He had emptied His strength; and her arm embraced Him, in that He had made Himself small. The measure of His Majesty who has measured? He caused His measures to shrink into a Raiment. She wove for Him and clothed Him because He had put off His glory. She measured Him and wove for Him, since He had made Himself little.
The sea when it bore Him was still and calmed, and how came the lap of Joseph to bear Him? The womb of hell conceived Him and was burst open, and how did the womb of Mary contain Him? The stone that was over the grave He broke open by His might, and how could Mary's arm contain Him? You came to a low estate, that You might raise all to life! Glory be unto You from all that are quickened by You! Who is able to speak of the Son of the Hidden One who came down and clothed Himself with a Body in the womb? He came forth and sucked milk as a child, and among little children the Son of the Lord of all crept about. They saw Him as a little Child in the street, while there was dwelling in Him the Love of all. Visibly children surrounded Him in the street; secretly Angels surrounded Him in fear. Cheerful was He with the little ones as a child; awful was He with the Angels as a Commander: He was awful to John for him to loose His shoe's latchet: He was gentle to sinners that kissed His feet! The Angels as Angels saw Him; according to the measure of his knowledge each man beheld Him: according to the measure of each man's discernment, thus he perceived Him that is greater than all. The Father and Himself alone are a full measure of knowledge so as know Him as He is! For every creature whether above or below obtains each his measure of knowledge; He the Lord of all gives all to us. He that enriches all, requires usury of all. He gives to all things as wanting nothing, and yet requires usury of all as if needy. He gave us herds and flocks as Creator, and yet asked sacrifices as though in need. He made the water wine as Maker: and yet he drank of it as a poor man. Of His own He mingled [wine] in the marriage feast, His wine He mingled and gave to drink when He was a guest. In His love He multiplied [the days of] the aged Simeon; that he, a mortal, might present Him who quickens all. By power from Him did Simeon carry Him; he that presented Him, was by Him presented [to God]. He gave imposition of hands to Moses in the Mount, Exodus 33:22 and received it in the midst of the river from John. In the power of His gifts John was enabled to baptize, though earthy, the heavenly. By power from Him the earth supported Him: it was near to being dissolved, and His might strengthened it. Martha gave Him to eat: viands which He had created she placed before Him. Of His own all that give have made their vows: of His own treasures they placed upon His table.
Hymn 4
This is the month which brings all manner of joy; it is the freedom of the bondsmen, the pride of the free, the crown of the gates, the soothing of the body, that also in its love put purple upon us as upon kings.
This is the month that brings all manner of victories; it frees the spirit; it subdues the body; it brings forth life among mortals; it caused, in its love, Godhead, to dwell in Manhood.
In this day the Lord exchanged glory for shame, as being humble; because Adam changed the truth for unrighteousness as being a rebel: the Good One had mercy on him, justified and set right them that had turned aside.
Let every man chase away his weariness, since that Majesty was not wearied with being in the womb nine months for us, and in being thirty years in Sodom among the madmen.
Because the Good One saw that the race of man was poor and humbled, He made feasts as a treasure-house, and opened them to the slothful, that the feast might stir up the slothful one to rise and be rich.
Lo! The First-born has opened unto us His feast as a treasure-house. This one day in the whole year alone opens that treasure-house: come, let us make gain, let us grow rich from it, ere they shut it up.
Blessed be the watchful, that have taken by force Matthew 11:12 from it the spoil of Life. It is a great disgrace, when a man sees his neighbor take and carry out treasure, and himself sits in the treasure-house slumbering, so as to come forth empty.
In this feast, let each one of us crown the gates of his heart. The Holy Spirit longs for the gates thereof, that He may enter in and dwell there, and sanctify it, and He goes round about to all the gates to see where He may enter.
In this feast, the gates are glad before the gates, and the Holy One rejoices in the holy temple, and the voice resounds in the mouth of children, and Christ rejoices in His own feast as a mighty man.
At the Birth of the Son the king was enrolling all men for the tribute-money, that they might be debtors to Him: the King came forth to us Who blotted out our bills, Colossians 2:14 and wrote another bill in His own Name that He might be our debtor. The sun gave longer light, and foreshadowed the mystery by the degrees which it had gone up. It was twelve days since it had gone up, and today is the thirteenth day: a type exact of the Son's birth Exodus 12:3 and of His Twelve.
Moses shut up a lamb in the month Nisan on the tenth day; a type this of the Son that came into the womb and shut Himself up therein on the tenth day. He came forth from the womb in this month in which the sun gives longer light.
The darkness was overcome, that it might proclaim that Satan was overcome; and the sun gave longer light, that it might triumph, because the First-born was victorious. Along with the darkness the dark one was overcome, and with the greater light our Light conquered!
Joseph caressed the Son as a Babe; he ministered to Him as God. He rejoiced in Him as in the Good One, and he was awe-struck at Him as the Just One, greatly bewildered.
Who has given me the Son of the Most High to be a Son to me? I was jealous of Your Mother, and I thought to put her away, and I knew not that in her womb was hidden a mighty treasure, that should suddenly enrich my poor estate. David the king sprang of my race, and wore the crown: and I have come to a very low estate, who instead of a king am a carpenter. Yet a crown has come to me, for in my bosom is the Lord of crowns!
With rival words Mary burned, yea she lulled Him, [saying,] Who has given me, the barren, that I should conceive and bring forth this One, that is manifold; a little One, that is great; for that He is wholly with me, and wholly everywhere?
The day that Gabriel came in unto my low estate, he made me free instead of a handmaid, of a sudden: for I was the handmaid of Your Divine Nature, and am also the Mother of Your human Nature, O Lord and Son!
Of a sudden the handmaid became the King's daughter in You, You Son of the King. Lo, the meanest in the house of David, by reason of You, You Son of David, lo, a daughter of earth has attained unto Heaven by the Heavenly One!
How am I astonied that there is laid before me a Child, older than all things! His eye is gazing unceasingly upon Heaven. As for the stammering of His mouth, to my seeming it betokens, that with God its silence speaks.
Who ever saw a Child the whole of Whom beholds every place? His look is like one that orders all creatures that are above and that are below! His visage is like that Commander that commands all.
How shall I open the fountain of milk to You, O Fountain? Or how shall I give nourishment to You that nourishest all from Your Table? How shall I bring to swaddling clothes One wrapped round with rays of glory?
My mouth knows not how I shall call You, O You Child of the Living One: for to venture to call You as the Child of Joseph, I tremble, since You are not his seed: and I am fearful of denying the name of him to whom they have betrothed me.
While You are the Son of One, then should I be calling You the Son of many. For ten thousand names would not suffice You, since You are the Son of God and also the Son of man, yea, David's Son and Mary's Lord.
Who has made the Lord of mouths to be without a mouth? For my pure conception of You wicked men have slandered me. Be, O You Holy One, a Speaker for Your Mother. Show a miracle that they may be persuaded, from Whom it is that I conceived You!
For Your sake too I am hated, You Lover of all. Lo! I am persecuted who have conceived and brought forth One House of refuge for men. Adam will rejoice, for You are the Key of Paradise.
Lo, the sea raged against Your mother as against Jonah. Lo, Herod, that raging wave, sought to drown the Lord of the seas. Whither I shall flee You shall teach me, O Lord of Your Mother.
With You I will flee, that I may gain in You Life in every place. The prison with You is no prison, for in You man goes up unto Heaven: the grave with You is no grave, for You are the Resurrection! John 11:25
A star of light which was not nature, shone forth suddenly; less than the sun and greater than the sun, less than it in its visible light, but greater than it in its hidden might, by reason of its mystery.
The Morning Star cast its bright beams among the darknesses, and led them as blind men, and they came and received a great light: they gave offerings and received life, and they worshipped and returned.
In the height and the depth two preachers were there to the Son: the bright star shouted above; John also preached below, two preachers, an earthly and a heavenly.
That above showed His Nature to be from the Majesty, and that below too showed his Nature to be from mankind. O great marvel, that His Godhead and His Manhood each was preached by them.
Whoso thought Him earthly, the bright star convinced him that He was heavenly; and whoso thought Him spiritual, John convinced him that He was also corporeal.
In the Holy temple Simeon carried Him, and lulled Him, [saying,] You have come, O Merciful One, showing mercy on my old age, making my bones to go into the grave in peace. In You shall I be raised from the grave into Paradise!
Anna embraced Him, and put her mouth to His lips, and the Spirit dwelt upon her own lips. As when Isaiah's mouth was silent, the coal which approached his lips opened his mouth; so Anna burned with the Spirit of His mouth, yea, she lulled Him, [saying,] Son of the Kingdom, Son of the lowliness, that hear and are still, that see and are hidden, that know and are unknown, God, Son of Man, glory be unto Your Name.
The barren also heard, ran, and came with their provisions: the Magi came with their treasures, the barren came with their provisions. Provisions and riches were suddenly heaped up in the house of the poor.
The barren woman cried out, as at that which she looked not for, Who has granted me this sight of your Babe, O Blessed One, by whom the heaven and earth are filled! Blessed be your Fruit, which made the barren vine to bear a cluster.
Zacharias came and opened his venerable mouth and cried, Where is the King, for whose sake I have begotten the Voice that is to preach before His face? Hail, Son of the King, to whom also our Priesthood shall be given up!
John approached with his parents and worshipped the Son, and He shed glory upon his countenance; and he was not moved as when in the womb! Mighty miracle, that here he was worshipping, there he leaped.
Herod also, that base fox, that stalked about like a lion, as a fox crouched down, and howled, when he heard the roaring of the Lion, who came to sit in the kingdom according to the Scriptures. The fox heard that the lion was a cub, and as a suckling; and he sharpened His teeth, that while He was yet a child the fox might lie in wait and devour the Lion before He had grown up, and the breath of His mouth should destroy him.
The whole creation became mouths to Him, and cried concerning Him. The Magi cried by their offerings! The barren cried with their children, the star of light cried in that air, lo! The Son of the King!
The Heavens were opened, the waters were calmed, the Dove glorified Him, the voice of the Father, louder than thunder, was instant and said, This is my beloved Son. The Angels proclaim Him, the children shout to Him with their Hosannas.
These voices above and below proclaim Him and cry aloud. The slumber of Sion was not dispersed by the voice of the thunders, but she was offended, stood up, and slew Him because He aroused her.
Hymn 5
At the birth of the Son, there was a great shouting in Bethlehem; for the Angels came down, and gave praise there. Their voices were a great thunder: at that voice of praise the silent ones came, and gave praise to the Son.
Blessed be that Babe in whom Eve and Adam were restored to youth! The shepherds also came laden with the best gifts of their flock: sweet milk, clean flesh, befitting praise! They put a difference, and gave Joseph the flesh, Mary the milk, and the Son the praise! They brought and presented a suckling lamb to the Paschal Lamb, a first-born to the First-born, a sacrifice to the Sacrifice, a lamb of time to the Lamb of Truth. Fair sight [to see] the lamb offered to The Lamb!
The lamb bleated as it was offered before the First-born. It praised the Lamb, that had come to set free the flocks and the oxen from sacrifices: yea that Paschal Lamb, Who handed down and brought in the Passover of the Son.
The shepherds came near and worshipped Him with their staves. They saluted Him with peace, prophesying the while, Peace, O Prince of the Shepherds. The rod of Moses praised Your Rod, O Shepherd of all; for You Moses praises, although his lambs have become wolves, and his flocks as it were dragons, and his sheep fanged beasts. In the fearful wilderness his flocks became furious, and attacked him.
You then the Shepherds praise, because You have reconciled the wolves and the lambs within the fold; O Babe, that art older than Noah and younger than Noah, that reconciled all within the ark amid the billows!
David Your father for a lamb's sake slaughtered a lion. You, O Son of David, hast killed the unseen wolf that murdered Adam, the simple lamb who fed and bleated in Paradise.
At that voice of praise, brides were moved to hallow themselves, and virgins to be chaste, and even young girls became grave: they advanced and came in multitudes, and worshipped the Son.
Aged women of the city of David came to the daughter of David; they gave thanks and said, Blessed be our country, whose streets are lightened with the rays of Jesse! Today is the throne of David established by You, O Son of David.
The old men cried, Blessed be that Son Who restored Adam to youth, Who was vexed to see that he was old and worn out, and that the serpent who had killed him, had changed his skin and had gotten himself away. Blessed be the Babe in Whom Adam and Eve were restored to youth.
The chaste women said, O Blessed Fruit, bless the fruit of our wombs; to You may they be given as first-born. They waxed fervent and prophesied concerning their children, who, when they were killed for Him, were cut off, as it were first-fruits.
The barren also fondled Him, and carried Him; they rejoiced and said, Blessed Fruit born without marriage, bless the wombs of us that are married; have mercy on our barrenness, You wonderful Child of Virginity!
Hymn 6
Blessed be the Messenger that was laden, and came; a great peace! The Bowels of the Father brought Him down to us; He did not bring up our debts to Him, but made a satisfaction to that Majesty with His own goods.
Praised be the Wise One, who reconciled and joined the Divine with the Human Nature. One from above and one from below, He confined the Natures as medicines, and being the Image of God, became man.
That Jealous One when He saw that Adam was dust, and that the cursed serpent had devoured him, shed soundness into that which was tasteless, and made him [as] salt, wherewith the accursed serpent should be blinded.
Blessed be the Merciful One, who saw the weapon by Paradise, that closed the way to the Tree of Life; and came and took a Body which could suffer, that with the Door, that was in His side, He might open the way into Paradise.
Blessed be that Merciful One, who lent not Himself to harshness, but without constraint conquered by wisdom; that He might give an ensample unto men, that by virtue and wisdom they might conquer discerningly.
Blessed is Your flock, since You are the gate thereof, and You are the staff thereof. You are the Shepherd thereof, You are the Drink thereof, You are the salt thereof, yea, the Visitor thereof. Hail to the Only-Begotten, that bare abundantly all manner of consolations!
The husbandmen came and did obeisance before the Husbandman of Life. They prophesied to Him as they rejoiced, [saying,] Blessed be the Husbandman, by Whom the ground of the heart is tilled, Who gathers His wheat into the garner of Life.
The husbandmen came and gave glory to the Vineyard that sprang of the root and stem of Jesse, the Virgin Cluster of the glorious Vine. May we be vessels for Your new Wine that renews all things.
In You may the Vineyard of my Well-beloved that yielded wild grapes find peace! Graft its vines from Your stocks; let it be laden entirely from Your blessings with a fruit which may reconcile the Lord of the Vineyard, Who threatens it.
Because of Joseph the workmen came to the Son of Joseph saying, Blessed be Your Nativity, You Head of Workmen, the impress whereof the ark bore, after which was fashioned the Tabernacle of the congregation that was for a time only!
Our craft praises You, Who art our glory. Make the yoke which is light, yea easy, for them that bear it; make the measure, in which there can be no falseness, which is full of Truth; yea, devise and make measures by righteousness; that he that is vile may be accused thereby, and he that is perfect, may be acquitted thereby. Weigh therewith both mercy and truth, O just One, as a judge.
Bridegrooms with their brides rejoiced. Blessed be the Babe, whose Mother was Bride of the Holy One! Blessed the marriage feast, whereat You were present, in which when wine was suddenly wanting, in You it abounded again!
The children cried out, Blessed He that has become unto us a Brother, and Companion in the midst of the streets. Blessed be the day which by the Branches gives glory to the Tree of life, that made His Majesty be brought low, to our childish age!
Women heard that a Virgin should conceive and bring forth a Son: honourable women hoped that you would rise from them; yea noble ladies that You might spring up from them! Blessed be Your Majesty, that humbled Itself, and rose from the poor!
Yea the young girls that carried Him prophesied, saying, Whether I be hated or fair, or of low estate, I am without spot for You. I have taken You in charge for the bed of Childbirth.
Sarah had lulled Isaac, who as a slave Genesis 22:6 bare the Image of the King his Master on his shoulders, even the sign of His Cross; yea, on his hands were bandages and sufferings, a type of the nails.
Rachel cried to her husband, and said, Give me sons. Genesis 30:1 Blessed be Mary, in whose womb, though she asked not, You dwelled holily, O Gift, that poured itself upon them that received it.
Hannah with bitter tears asked a child; 1 Samuel 1:7 Sarah and Rebecca with vows and words, Elizabeth also with her prayer, after having vexed themselves for a long time, yet so obtained comfort.
Blessed be Mary, who without vows and without prayer, in her Virginity conceived and brought forth the Lord of all the sons of her companions, who have been or shall be chaste and righteous, priests and kings.
Who else lulled a son in her bosom as Mary did? Who ever dared to call her son, Son of the Maker, Son of the Creator, Son of the Most High?
Who ever dared to speak to her son as in prayer? O Trust of Your Mother as God, her Beloved and her Son as Man, in fear and love it is meet for your Mother to stand before You!
Hymn 7
The Son of the Maker is like His Father as Maker! He made Himself a pure body, He clothed Himself with it, and came forth and clothed our weakness with glory, which in His mercy He brought from the Father.
From Melchizedek, the High Priest, a hyssop came to You, a throne and crown from the house of David, a race and family from Abraham.
Be unto me a Haven, for Your own sake, O great Sea. Lo! The Psalms of David Your Father, and the words also of the Prophets, came forth unto me, as it were ships.
David Your father, in the hundred and tenth Psalm, twined together two numbers as it were crowns to You, and came [to You], O Conqueror! With these shall You be crowned, and unto the throne shall You ascend and sit.
A great crown is the number that is twined in the hundred, wherein is crowned Your Godhead! A little crown is that of the number ten, which crowns the Head of Your Manhood, O Victorious One!
For Your sake women sought after men. Tamar desired him that was widowed, and Ruth loved a man that was old, yea, that Rahab, that led men captive, was captivated by You.
Tamar went forth, and in the darkness Genesis xxxviii stole the Light, and in uncleanness stole the Holy One, and by uncovering her nakedness she went in and stole You, O glorious One, that bringest the pure out of the impure.
Satan saw her and trembled, and hasted to trouble her. He brought the judgment to her mind, and she feared not; stoning and the sword, and she trembled not. He that teaches adultery hindered adultery, because he was a hinderer of You.
For holy was the adultery of Tamar, for Your sake. You it was she thirsted after, O pure Fountain. Judah defrauded her of drinking You. The thirsty womb stole a dew-draught of You from the spring thereof.
She was a widow for Your sake. You did she long for, she hasted and was also an harlot for Your sake. You did she vehemently desire, and was sanctified in that it was You she loved.
May Tamar rejoice that her Lord has come and has made her name known for the son of her adultery! Surely the name she gave him Genesis 38:29 was calling unto You to come to her.
For You honorable women shamed themselves, You that givest chastity to all! You she stole away in the midst of the ways, who pavest the way into the kingdom! Because it was life that she stole, the sword was not able to put her to death.
Ruth lay down by a man in the threshingfloor for Your sake; her love made her bold for Your sake, O You that teachest all penitents boldness. Her ears refused [to listen to] any voices for the sake of Your voice.
The live coal that glowed went up into the bed, of Boaz, lay down there, saw the High Priest, in whose loins was hidden a fire for his incense! She hasted and was a heifer to Boaz, that should bring forth You, the fatted Calf.
She went gleaning for her love of You; she gathered straw. You quickly paid her the reward of her lowliness; and instead of ears of grain, the Root of Kings, and instead of straws, the Sheaf of Life, You made to spring from her.
Hymn 8
That Your Resurrection might be believed among the gainsayers, they sealed You up within the sepulchre, and set guards; for it was for You that they sealed the sepulchre and set guards, O Son of the Living One!
When they had buried You, if they had neglected You and left You, and gone, there would have been room to lie [and say] that they did steal, O Quickener of all! When they craftily sealed Your sepulchre, they made Your Glory greater.
A type of You therefore was Daniel, and also Lazarus; one in the den, which the Gentiles sealed up, and one in the sepulchre, that the People opened. Lo! Their signs and their seals reproved them.
Their mouth had been open, if they had left Your sepulchre open. But they went away because they had shut Your sepulchre and sealed it, and closed up their own mouths. Yea they closed it, and when they had senselessly covered Your sepulchre, all the slanderers covered their own heads.
But in Your Resurrection You persuade them concerning Your Birth; since the womb was sealed, and the sepulchre closed up; being alike pure in the womb, and living in the sepulchre. The womb and the sepulchre being sealed were witnesses unto You.
The belly and hell cried aloud of Your Birth and Your Resurrection: The belly conceived You, which was sealed; hell brought You forth which was closed up. Not after nature did either the belly conceive You, or hell give You up!
Sealed was the sepulchre whereto they had entrusted You, that it might keep the dead [safe], Virgin was the womb which no man knew. Virgin womb and sealed sepulchre, like trumpets, proclaimed Him in the ears of a deaf people.
The sealed belly and the closed rock were among the accusers. For they slandered the Conception as being of the seed of man, and the Resurrection as being of the robbery of man; the seal and the signet convicted them, and pleaded that You were of Heaven.
The people stood between Your Birth and Your Resurrection. They slandered Your Birth, Your Death condemned them: they set aside Your Resurrection, Your Birth refuted them; they were two wrestlers that stopped the mouth that slandered.
For Elijah they went and searched the mountains: 2 Kings 2:16 as they sought him on earth, they the more confirmed that he was taken up. Their searching bore witness that he was taken up, in that it found him not.
If then prophets that had had forewarning of Elijah's ascension, doubted as it were of his going up, how much more would impure men speak slander of the Son? By their own guards He convinced them that He was risen again.
To Your Mother, Lord, no man knew what name to give. Should he call her Virgin, her Child stood [there]; and married no man knew her to be! If then none comprehended Your Mother, who shall suffice for You?
For she was, alone, Your Mother; along with all, Your Sister. She was Your mother, she was Your Sister. She along with chaste women was Your betrothed. With everything You adorned Her, You ornament of Your Mother.
For she was Your Bride by nature ere You had come; she conceived You not by nature after You had come, O Holy One, and was a Virgin when she had brought You forth holily.
Mary gained in You, O Lord, the honours of all married women. She conceived [You] within her without marriage. There was milk in her breasts, not after the way of nature. You made the thirsty land suddenly a fountain of milk.
If she carried You, Your mighty look made her burden light; if she gave You to eat, it was because You were hungry; if she gave You to drink [it was], because You were thirsty; willingly if she embraced You, You, the coal of mercies, kept her bosom safe.
A wonder is Your Mother. The Lord entered her, and became a servant: the Word entered her, and became silent within her; thunder entered her, and His voice was still: the Shepherd of all entered her; He became a Lamb in her, and came forth bleating.
The Belly of Your Mother changed the order of things, O You that orders all! The rich went in, He came out poor: the High One went in, He came out lowly. Brightness went into her and clothed Himself, and came forth a despised form.
The Mighty went in, and clad Himself with fear from the Belly. He that gives food to all went in, and gat hunger. He that gives all to drink went in, and gat thirst. Naked and bare came forth from her the Clother of all.
The daughters of the Hebrews that cried in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, instead of lamentations of their Scriptures, used lulling-songs from their own books: a hidden Power within their words was prophesying.
Eve lifted up her eyes from Sheol and rejoiced in that day, because the Son of her daughter as a medicine of life came down to raise up the mother of His mother. Blessed Babe, that bruised the head of the Serpent that smote her!
She saw the type of You from the youth of Isaac the fair. For You Sarah, as seeing that types of you rested on his childhood, called him, saying, O child of my vows, in whom is hidden the Lord of vows.
Samson the Nazarite shadowed forth a type of Your working. He tore the lion, the image of death, whom You destroyed, and caused to go forth from his bitterness the sweetness of life for men.
Hannah also embraced Samuel; for Your righteousness was hidden in him who hewed in pieces Agag as [a type] of the wicked one. He wept over Saul, because Your goodness also was shadowed forth in him. 1 Samuel 2:26
How meek are You! How mighty are You, O Child! Luke 2:52 Your judgment is mighty, Your love is sweet! Who can stand against You? Your Father is in Heaven, Your Mother is on earth; who shall declare You? Isaiah 53:8
If a man should seek after Your Nature, it is hidden in Heaven in the mighty Bosom of the Godhead; and if a man seek after Your visible Body, it is laid down before their eyes in the lowly bosom of Mary.
The mind wanders between Your generations, O Rich One! Thick folds are upon Your Godhead. Who can sound Your depths, You great Sea that made itself little?
We come to see You as God, and, lo! You are a man: we come to see You as man, and there shines forth the Light of Your Godhead!
Who would believe that You are the Heir of David's Throne? A manger have You inherited out of [all] his beds, a cave has come down to You out of all his palaces. Instead of his chariots a common ass's colt, perchance, comes down to You.
How fearless are You, O Babe, that dost let all have you [to carry]: upon every one that meets with You do You smile: to every one that sees You, are You glad-some! Your love is as one that hungers after men.
You make no distinction between Your fathers and strangers, nor Your Mother and maidservants, nor her that suckled You and the unclean. Was it Your forwardness or Your love, O You that loves all?
What moves You that You let all that saw You have You, both rich and poor? You helped them that called You not. Whence came it that You hungered so for men?
How great was Your love, that if one rebuked You, You were not angry! If a man threatened You, You were not terrified! If one hissed at You, You did not feel vexed! You are above the laws of the avengers of injuries.
Moses was meek, and [yet] his zeal was harsh, for he struggled and slew. Elisha also, who restored a child to life, tore a multitude of children in pieces by bears. Who are You, O Child, whose love is greater than that of the Prophets?
The son of Hagar who was wild, kicked at Isaac. He bore it and was silent, and his mother was jealous. Are You the mystery of him, or is not he the type of You? Are you like Isaac, or is it not he that is like You?
Hymn 9
Come rest, and be still in the bosom of Your Mother, Son of the Glorious. Forwardness fits not the sons of kings. O Son of David, You are glorious, and [yet] the Son of Mary, who hides Your beauty in the inner chamber.
To whom are You like, glad Babe, fair little One, Whose Mother is a Virgin, Whose Father is hidden, Whom even the Seraphim are not able to look upon? Tell us whom You are like, O Son of the Gracious!
When the wrathful came to see You, You made them gladsome: they exchanged smiles one with another: the angry were made gentle in You, O sweet One. Blessed are You, little One, for that in You even the bitter are made sweet.
Who ever saw a Babe that was gladsome when in arms to those that came near him, lo! reached Himself unto them that were far off? Fair sight [to see] a Child, that takes thought for every man that they may see him!
He that has care came and saw You, and his care fled away. He that had anxiety; at You forgat his anxiety; the hungry by You forgat his victuals; and he that had an errand, by You was errant and forgot his journey!
O still Yourself, and let men go to their works! You are a son of the poor, learn from Yourself that all the poor had to leave their work to come. You who loves men, hast bound men together by Your gladsomeness.
David, that stately king, took branches, and in the feast among the children as he danced, he gave praise. Is it not the love of David Your father that is warm in You?
That daughter of Saul! Her father's devil spoke in her: she called the stately [king] a vile fellow, because he gave an ensample to the elders of her people of taking up branches with the children in the day of praise to You.
Who would not fear to lay it to You that You are forward? For lo, the daughter of Saul who mocked the child, cut off her womb from childbearing; because her mouth derided, the reward of its mouth was barrenness. 2 Samuel 6:23
Let mouths tremble at blasphemy, lest they be shut up! Refrain, O daughter of Sion, your mouth from Him, for He is the Son of David, Who is gladsome before you. Be not unto Him as the daughter of Saul, whose race is extinct.
Because Elijah restrained the desire of the body, he withheld rain from the adulterous; because he kept under his body, he withheld dew from the whoremongers, who let their fountains be loosely poured out.
Because the hidden fire of the lust of the body ruled not in him, to him the fire from on high was obedient. And since he subdued on the earth the lust of the flesh, he went up there where holiness dwells and is at peace.
Elisha also who deadened his own body, quickened the dead. The resurrection of the dead was in the usual course by a sanctification not in the usual course; He raised the child, because he purified his soul like a weaned child.
Moses, who divided and separated himself from his wife, divided the sea before the harlot. Zipporah though daughter of a heathen priest kept sanctity: with a calf the daughter of Abraham went a whoring.
Hymn 10
In You will I begin to speak, You Head that began all created things. Revelation 3:14 I, even I will open my mouth, but it is You that fills my mouth. I am the earth to You, and You are the husbandman. Sow Your voice in me, Hebrews 6:7 You that sowed Yourself in the womb of your Mother.
All the chaste daughters of the Hebrews, and the virgins' daughters of the chief men, are astonished at me! For You does the daughter of the poor meet with envy, for You, the daughter of the weak with jealousy. Who has given You to me?
O Son of the Rich One, Who abhorred the bosom of the rich women, who led You to the poor? For Joseph was needy and I also in want, yet Your merchants have come, and brought gold, to the house of the poor.
She saw the Magi: her songs increased at their offerings; Lo! Your worshippers have surrounded me, yea your offerings have encircled me. Blessed be the Babe who made His Mother a harp for His words:
And as the harp waits for its master, my mouth waits for You. May the tongue of Your Mother bring what pleases You; and since I have learned a new Conception by You, let my mouth learn in You, O new born Son, a new song of praise.
And if hindrances are no hindrances to You, since difficulties are easy to You, as a womb without marriage conceived You, and a belly without seed brought You forth, it is easy for a little mouth to multiply Your great glory.
Lo! I am oppressed and despised, and yet cheerful: mine ears are filled with reproof and scorn; and it is a small thing to me to bear, for ten thousand troubles can a single comfort of Yours chase away.
And since I am not despised by You, O Son, my countenance is bright; and I am slandered for having conceived, and yet have brought forth the Truth who justifies me. For if Tamar was justified by Judah, how much more shall I be justified by You!
David Your father sung in a psalm of You before You had come, that to You should be given the gold of Sheba. This psalm that he sung of You, lo! It, while You are yet a child, in reality heaps before you myrrh and gold.
And the hundred and fifty Psalms that he wrote, in You were seasoned, because all the sayings of prophecy stood in need of Your sweetness, for without Your salt all manner of wisdom were tasteless. Job 6:6
Hymn 11
(The Virgin Mother to Her Child.)
I shall not be jealous, my Son, that You are with me, and also with all men. Be God to him that confesses You, and be Lord to him that serves You, and be Brother to him that loves You, that You may gain all!
When You dwelled in me, You also dwelled out of me, and when I brought You forth openly, Your hidden might was not removed from me. You are within me, and You are without me, O You that makes Your Mother amazed.
For [when] I see that outward form of Yours before my eyes, the hidden Form is shadowed forth in my mind, O holy One. In Your visible form I see Adam, and in Your hidden form I see Your Father, who is joined with You.
Have You then shown me alone Your Beauty in two Forms? Let Bread shadow forth You, and also the mind; dwell also in Bread and in the eaters thereof. In secret, and openly too, may Your Church see You, as well as Your Mother.
He that hates Your Bread is like him that hates Your Body. He that is far off that desires Your Bread, and he that is near that loves Your Image, are alike. In the Bread and in the Body, the first and also the last have seen You.
Yet Your visible Bread is far more precious than Your Body; for Your Body even unbelievers have seen, but they have not seen Your living Bread. They that were far off rejoiced! Their portion utterly scorns that of those that are near.
Lo! Your Image is shadowed forth in the blood of the grapes on the Bread; and it is shadowed forth on the heart with the finger of love, with the colors of faith. Blessed be He that by the Image of His Truth caused the graven images to pass away.
You are not [so] the Son of Man that I should sing unto You a common lullaby; for Your Conception is new, and Your Birth marvellous. Without the Spirit who shall sing to You? A new muttering of prophecy is hot within me.
How shall I call You a stranger to us, Who is from us? Should I call You Son? Should I call You Brother? Matthew 12:50 Husband should I call You? Lord should I call You, O Child that gave Your Mother a second birth from the waters?
For I am Your sister, of the house of David the father of us Both. Again, I am Your Mother because of Your Conception, and Your Bride am I because of Your sanctification, Your handmaid and Your daughter, from the Blood and Water wherewith You have purchased me and baptised me.
The Son of the Most High came and dwelt in me, and I became His Mother; and as by a second birth I brought Him forth so did He bring me forth by the second birth, because He put His Mother's garments on, she clothed her body with His glory.
Tamar, who was of the house of David, Amnon put to shame; and virginity fell and perished from them both. My pearl is not lost: in Your treasury it is stored, because You have put it on.
The scent of her brother-in-law slunk from Tamar, whose perfume she had stolen. As for Joseph's Bride, not even his breath exhaled from her garments, since she conceived Cinnamon. Song of Songs 4:14 A wall of fire was Your Conception unto me, O holy Son.
The little flower was faint, because the smell of the Lily Song of Songs 2:1 of Glory was great. The Treasure-house of spices stood in no need of flower or its smells! Flesh stood aloof because it perceived in the womb a Conception from the Spirit.
The woman ministers before the man, because he is her head. Joseph rose to minister before his Lord, Who was in Mary. The priest ministered before Your ark by reason of Your holiness.
Moses carried the tables of stone which the Lord wrote, and Joseph bare about the pure Tablet in whom the Son of the Creator was dwelling. The tables had ceased, because the world was filled with Your doctrine.
Hymn 12
The Babe that I carry carries me, says Mary, and He has lowered His wings, and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted into the air; and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son's.
I have seen Gabriel that called him Lord, and the high priest the aged servant, that carried Him and bare Him. I have seen the Magi when they bowed down, and Herod when he was troubled because the King had come.
Satan also who strangled the little ones that Moses might perish, Exodus 1:16 murdered the little ones that the Living One might die. To Egypt He fled, Who came to Judea that He might labour and wander there: he sought to catch the man that would catch himself.
In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame: Your Mother put on in her Virginity the garment of Glory that suffices for all. She gave the little vest of the Body to Him that covers all.
Blessed is she in whose heart and mind You were! A King's palace she was by You, O Son of the King, and a Holy of Holies by You, O High Priest! She had not the trouble nor vexation of a family, or a husband!
Eve, again, was a nest and a den for the accursed serpent, that entered in and dwelt in her. His evil counsel became bread to her that she might become dust. You are our Bread, and You are also [of] our race and our garment of glory.
He that has sanctity, if he be in danger, lo! Here is his Guardian! He that has iniquity, lo! Here is his Pardoner! He that has a devil, here is the Pursuer thereof! They that have pains, lo! Here is the Binder up of their breaches.
He that has a child, let him come and become a brother to my Well-beloved! Matthew 12:15 He that has a daughter or a young woman of his race, let her come and become the bride of my Glorious One! He that has a servant, let him set him free, that he may come and serve his Lord.
The son of free men that bears Your yoke, my Son, shall have one reward; and the slave that bears the burden of the yoke of two masters, of Him above and of Him below, there are two blessings for him, and two rewards of the two burdens.
The free woman, my Son, is Your handmaid: also if she who is in bondage serve You, in You she is free: in You she shall be comforted, because she is freed; hidden apples in her bosom are stored up, Song of Songs 2:3 if she love You!
O chaste woman, long for my Well-beloved, that He may dwell in you; and you also that are impure that He may sanctify you! You Churches also, that the Son of the Creator Who came to renew all creatures, may adorn you!
He received the foolish who worshipped and served all the stars; He renewed the earth which was worn out through Adam, who sinned and waxed old. The new formation was the creature of its Renewer, and the all-sufficient One repaired the bodies along with their wills.
Come you blind, and without money receive lights! Come you lame, and receive your feet! You deaf and dumb, receive your voice! Come you also whose hand is cut off; the maimed also shall receive his hands.
It is the Son of the Creator Whose treasure-houses are filled with all manner of helps. Let him that is without eyeballs come to Him that makes clay and changes it, that makes flesh, that enlightens eyes.
By the small portion of clay He shows that it was with His hand that Adam was formed: the soul of the dead also bears Him witness, that by Him it was that the breath of man was breathed in; by the last witnesses He was accredited to be the Son of Him Who is the First.
Gather together and come, O you lepers, and receive purification without labour. For He will not wash you as Elisha, who baptized seven times in the river: neither will He trouble you as the priests did with their sprinklings. Foreigners and also strangers have betaken themselves to the Great Physician.
The rank of strangers has no place with the King's Son; the Lord makes not Himself strange to His servants, [or conceal] that He is Lord of all. For if the Just makes the body leprous, and You purify it; then, the Former of the body hates the body; but You love it.
And if it be not Your forming, being Just, You would not have healed it; Deuteronomy 32:39 and if it were not Your creature, when in health, You would not have afflicted it. The punishments that You have cast upon it, and the pains which You have healed, proclaim that You are the Creator's Son.
Hymn 13
(Compare Hymn II. For the Epiphany.)
1. In the days of the King whom they called by the name of Semha, our Lord sprang up among the Hebrews: and Semha and Denha ruled, and came, King upon earth, and Son in Heaven; blessed be His rule!
2. In the days of the king who enrolled men in the book of the dead, our Redeemer came down and enrolled men in the book of the living. He enrolled, and they also: on high He enrolled us, on earth they enrolled Him. Glory to His Name!
3. In the days of the king whose name was Semha, the type and the Reality met together, the king and the King, Semha and Denha. His Cross upon His shoulders, was the sign of His Kingdom. Blessed be He Who bare it.
4. Thirty years He went in poverty upon the earth! The sounds of praise in all their measures let us twine, my brethren, to the years of the Lord, as thirty crowns to the thirty years. Blessed be His Birth!
5. In the first year, that is chieftain over the treasures and Dispenser of abundant blessings, let the Cherubim who bare up the Son in glory, praise Him with us! He left His glory, and toiled and found the sheep that was lost. To Him be thanksgiving!
6. In the second year, let the Seraphim praise Him yet more with us. They that had proclaimed the Son Holy, by and by saw Him when He was reviled among the gainsayers; He bore the contempt and taught praise. To Him be Glory!
7. In the third year, let Michael and his followers, that ministered to the Son in the highest, praise Him with us. They saw Him on the earth when He was ministering, washing feet, cleansing souls. Blessed be His lowliness!
8. In the fourth year, let the whole earth praise Him with us. It is but small for the Son, and it marvelled because it saw that it entertained Him in its bed that is so very mean. He filled the bed, and filled the Heaven. To Him be Majesty!
9. In the fifth year, the Sun shone unto the earth. With its breath let it praise our Sun Who brought His breadth down low, and humbled His mightiness, that the subtle eye of the unseen soul might be able to look upon Him. Blessed be His brightness!
10. In the sixth year again, let the whole air praise Him with us, in whose wide space it is that all things are made glorious, which saw its mighty Lord that had become a little Child in a little bosom. Blessed be His dignity!
11. In the seventh year, the clouds and winds rejoiced with us and sprinkled the dews over the flowers, for they saw the Son who enslaved His brightness and received disgrace and foul spitting. Blessed be His Redemption!
12. In the year also that is eighth, let the fields give praise, that suckle their fruits from His fountains. They worshipped because they saw the Son in arms and the pure One sucking pure milk. Blessed be His good pleasure!
13. In the ninth year, let the earth glorify the might of her Creator, Who laid seed in her in the beginning that she might bring forth all her produce; for it saw Mary, a thirsty land, who yielded the fruit of a Child that was a wonder, yea, a marvel. [Then] it praised Him more exceedingly, for that He was a great Sea of all good things. To Him be exaltation!
14. In the tenth year, let the mount Sinai glorify Him, it which trembled before its Lord. It saw that they took up stones against its Lord; He received stones, Who should build His Church upon a Stone. Blessed be His building!
15. In the eleventh year, let the great sea praise the fists of the Son that measured it, Isaiah 40:12 and it was astonished and saw that He came down, was baptized in a small water, and cleansed the creatures. Blessed be His noble act!
16. In the twelfth year, let the holy Temple praise Him, that saw the Child when He sat among the old men: the priests were silent when the Lamb of the Feast bleated in His feast. Blessed be His propitiation!
17. In the thirteenth year, let the crowns praise with us the King who conquered, that died and was crowned with a crown of thorns, and bound upon Adam a great crown at His right hand. Blessed be His Apostleship!
18. In the fourteenth year, let the passover in Egypt praise the Passover that came and passed over all, and instead of Pharaoh sunk Legion, instead of horses choked the devil. Blessed be His vengeance!
19. In the fifteenth year, let the lamb of the gluttons praise Him: since our Lord was so far from slaughtering it as Moses did, that He even redeemed mankind with His own Blood. He that feeds all, died for all. Blessed be His Father!
20. In the sixteenth year, let the wheat praise by its type that Husbandman, John 12:24 Who sowed His Body in the barren earth, since it covers all, spreads itself out and yields new Bread. Blessed be the Pure One!
21. In the seventeenth year, let the Vine praise the Lord that garnished it. He planted a vineyard, souls were as vineplants. He gave peace to the vineyard, but destroyed the vineyard that brought forth wild grapes. Blessed be its Uprooter!
22. In the eighteenth year, let the Vine which the wild boar out of the wood had eaten, praise the True Vine which trimmed Himself, and kept His fruit, and brought the fruits to the Lord of the Vineyard. John 18:9 Blessed be His Vintage!
23. In the nineteenth year, let our leaven praise the true leaven which worked itself in among those that were in error, and drove them all together, and made them one mind by one Doctrine. Blessed be your doctrine!
24. In the twentieth year, let salt praise Your living Body, wherewith are salted the bodies and the souls of all the faithful, and faith is the salt of men wherewith they are preserved. Mark 9:49 Blessed be Your preserving!
25. In the twenty-first year, let the waters of the desert praise You. They are sweet to them afar off, they are bitter to them Exodus 15:25 that are near, who did not minister to Him. The [chosen] people and the nations were bitter in the desert, and He destroyed them. They were sweetened by the Cross which redeemed them. Blessed be Your pleasantness!
26. In the twenty-second year, let arms and the sword praise You: they sufficed not to kill our adversary. It was You that killed him, even You who fixed the ear on, which Simon's sword cut off. Blessed be Your healing!
27. In the twenty-third year, let the ass praise Him, that gave its foal for Him to ride on, that loosed the bonds, that opened the mouth of the dumb, that opened also the mouth of the wild asses Genesis 16:12 when the race of Hagar gave a shout of praise. Acts 2:11 Blessed be the praise of You!
28. In the twenty-fourth year, let the Treasury praise the Son. The treasures marvelled at the Lord of treasures, when in the house of the poor He was increasing, Who made Himself poor that He might enrich all. 2 Corinthians 8:9 Blessed be Your rule!
29. In the twenty-fifth year, let Isaac praise the Son, for by His goodness he was rescued upon the Mount from the knife, and in his stead there was the victim, the type of the Lamb for the slaughter. Hebrews 11:19 The mortal escaped, and He that quickens all died. Isaiah liii Blessed be His offering!
30. In the twenty-sixth year, let Moses praise Him with us, for that he was afraid and fled from his murderers. Let him praise the Lord that bore the spear and that received the nails in His hands, in His feet. He entered into hell and spoiled it, Isaiah 49:24 and came forth. Blessed be Your Resurrection!
31. In the year which is the twenty-seventh, let the eloquent speakers praise the Son, for they found no cloke to save our cause. He was silent in the judgment-hall, and He carried our cause. Honour be to Him!
32. And in this year let all judges praise Him, who, as being just men, killed the ungodly; let them praise the Son who died for the wicked, as being good. Though Son of the Just One, He gave them all manner of good things in abundance. Blessed be His bowels of mercy!
33. In the eight and twentieth year, let all mighty men of valour praise the Son, because they delivered not from him who took us captive. He only is to be praised, who being slain showed us life. Revelation 5:9 Blessed be His delivery!
34. In the twenty-ninth year, let Job praise Him with us, who bore sufferings for himself, and our Lord bore for us the spitting and the spear, and the crown of thorns, and scourges, contempt and reproach, yea mocking. Blessed be His mercy!
35. In the year that is thirteenth, let the dead praise Him with us, because they are quickened, and the living, because they have turned to repentance, Malachi 4:6 because height and depth were set at one by Him. Blessed be He and His Father!
Hymn 14
(Resp .— Blessed be he who became beyond measure low, that he might make us beyond measure great)
1. Of the Birth of the Firstborn, let us tell on His Feast-day. — He gives on His day, secret comforts.— If the unclean King at his feast, in memory of his day—gave the gift of wrath, the head in a charger,— how much more shall the Blessed, give blessings to him— who sings praise at His Feast!
2. Let us not count our vigil like vigils of every day.— His feast, its reward, exceeds an hundredfold.— For this feast makes war, on sleep by its vigil;— speaking it makes war, on silence by its voice—clad with all blessings, it is chief of feasts,— and of every joy.
3. Today the angels, and the archangels—descended to sing— a new song on earth.— In this mystery they descend, and rejoice with the vigil-keepers.— At the time when they gave praise, blasphemy abounded.— Blessed be the Birth by which, lo! The world resounds— with anthems of praise.
4. For this is the night that joined, the Watchers on high with the vigil-keepers.— The Watcher came to make watchers in the midst of creation.— Lo! The vigil-keepers are made comrades with the Watchers:— the singers of praise are made, companions of the Seraphs.— Blessed be he who becomes, the harp of Your praise!— and Your grace becomes his reward.
5. The Birth then of the Firstborn, I will sing and tell how— the Godhead in the womb wove itself a vesture.— He put it on and came forth in birth, in death again put it off—once he put it off, twice He put it on.— On the left He wore it, then took it off thence—and laid it at the right.
6. He dwelt in a narrow bosom, the Might that rules all.— While He was dwelling there, He held the reins of the whole:— to His Father He made offering, that He might fulfil His Will:— Heaven was filled by Him, and every creature.— The Sun entered the womb, and in the height and the depth— his splendour abode.
7. He dwelt in the wide bosoms, of all the creatures—too narrow to hold, the greatness of the Firstborn.— How then sufficed for it, that bosom of Mary?— Marvellous if it sufficed, bewilderment if it sufficed not.— Of all bosoms that held Him, one bosom sufficed for Him—His, the Supreme Who begot Him.
8. The bosom that held Him, if it held Him Wholly,— equals the wondrous bosom, of the Supreme Who begot Him.— But who dare say the bosom, that is narrow weak and lowly—is equal to His, Who is the Supreme Being?— He dwelt there of His mercy, though so great is His Nature:— it is without bound.
9. Reconciling Peace, sent to the nations!— gladdening Brightness, that camest to the sad!— Mighty Leaven in silence, overcoming all!— Patient One that hast taken, man after man in Your net!— Happy he who has welcomed, your joy in his heart—and forgot his groans in You!
10. They sounded forth peace, the Watchers to the vigil-keepers.— Among the vigil-keepers the good tidings, were announced by the Watchers.— Who would sleep on that night, which has waked all creatures?— For they bear good tidings of peace, where warfare had been.— Blessed is he who has pleased, the Divine Majesty by his silence,— when speaking moved His wrath!
11. Watchers mixed with watchers, they rejoiced that the world came to life.— The Evil One was shamed who was king, and had woven a crown of lies;— and set up his throne, as God in the world.— The Babe laid in the manger, cast him from his dominion.— The Sun rendered worship, doing Him homage by his Magi—in his worshippers he worshipped Him.
12. God saw that mankind, worship things created:— He put on a created body, that in our custom He might capture us.— Lo! In this our form, He that formed us healed us—and in this created shape, our Creator gave us life.— He drew us not by force: blessed be He Who came in ours—and joined us in His!
13. Who would not marvel, at Mary, David's daughter—bearing an infant, and her virginity kept!— She lays Him on her breast, and lulls Him with song and He rejoices.— The Angels raise hymns, the Seraphs cry Holy,— the Magi offer, acceptable gifts,— to the Son Who is born.
14. O great above measure, immeasurably made low—praised beyond praises, debased to humiliation!— the tender mercies laid on You, bowed You down to all this—let Your grace bow me down, though evil to give praise!— Happy he who becomes, a fountain of voices—all praising You in all!
15. He was servant on earth; He is Lord in Heaven.— Heir of height and depth, He became a stranger:— Whom men judged in guile, He is judge in truth:— He Whose face they spat on, breathes His Spirit on theirs:— He Who held the frail reed, has become the staff of the world—which grows old and leans on Him.
16. He Who rose to wait on His servants, now sits to be worshipped.— Whom the scribes despised, before Him Seraphs cry Holy.— This praise Adam desired, to steal privily.— The serpent which made him fall, saw to what height he was raised:— he crushed it because it deceived him; the feet of Eve trod it down—which had sent venom into her ears.
17. The wife proved barren, and withheld her fruit—but the bosom of Mary, holily conceived.— To wonder at fields, and to admire plants— she needed not who received, and rendered what she borrowed not.— Nature confessed its defeat; the womb was aware of it—and restored what Nature gave not.
18. Mary was defeated, in the judgment by Elizabeth.— She that was barren pleaded, that the Will which prevailed— to close the open door, has opened the closed.— He has made childless the married womb; He has made fruitful the virgin womb.— Because the People were accurst faithless, He made her that was married—held from bearing before the face of the maiden.
19. He Who could give moisture, to breasts barren and dead—caused them to fail in youth, made them to flow in age—forced and changed nature, in its season and out of its season.— The Lord of natures changed, the Virgin's nature.— Because the People were barren, He made her that was aged—a mouth on behalf of the damsel.
20. And as He began at birth, He went on and fulfilled in death.— His Birth received worship; His Death paid the debt.— As He came to His Birth, the Magi worshipped Him—again He came to His Passion, and the thief sought refuge in Him— Between His Birth and Death, midway He set the world:— in birth and Death he gave it life.
21. Thousand thousands stand, and ten thousand thousands haste.— The thousands and ten thousands, cannot search out the One:— for all of them stand, in silence to serve.— He has no heir of His Throne, save the Son Who is of Him.— In the midst of silence is the enquiry into Him, when the watchers come to search Him out—they attain to silence and are stayed.
22. The Firstborn entered the womb, and the pure Virgin was not harmed.— He stirred and came forth in her travail, and the fair Mother was troubled by Him.— Glorious and unseen in entering, humble and manifest in issuing—for He was God in entering, and He was man in issuing.— A marvel and bewilderment to hear: fire entered the womb; put on a body and came forth!
23. Gabriel chief of Angels, called Him My Lord:— he called Him My Lord, to teach that He was his Lord, not his fellow.— Gabriel had with him, Michael as fellow:— the Son is Lord of the servants; exalted is His Nature as His Name.— No servant can search Him out; for the greater the servant—He is great above His servant.
24. When they stand before You, the watchers with songs of praise—they know not in what part, they shall discern You.— They have sought You above in the height; they have seen You below in the depth:— they have searched for You in the midst of heaven; they have seen You in the midst of the abyss:— they have discerned You beside Him that is worshipped; they have found You in the midst of the creatures:— they have come down to You and sung Glory to You.
25. You are all wonderful, in all parts where we seek You.— Near are You—and far, and who may attain to You?— No seeking avails, that its stretch should reach unto You.— Whereon it stretches to reach You, it is checked and stops—it falls short of Your mountain; Faith reaches there—and Love with prayer.
26. The Magi also sought Him, and in the manger when they found Him—instead of scrutiny worship, they offered Him in silence;— for empty strivings, oblations gave they Him.— Seek too the Firstborn, and if you find Him in the height—instead of troubled questionings, open your treasures before Him—and offer Him your works.
Hymn 15
Resp .— Blessed is He above all in His Birth! (bis).
1. Celebrate, O nations, this feast, first fruits of all feasts;— recount the sufferings that were, and the wounds and pains—that we may know what plagues, He healed, the Son Who was sent.
R., Blessed be He Who sufficed to heal our pains!
2. Celebrate, O saved nations, Him Who saves all in His Birth.— Even my feeble tongue, has become a harp through His mercy.— The excellency of the Firstborn, in His Festival let us sing.
R., Blessed is He Who has made us meet for His Feast!
3. How then can any one, admire a physician—until he hear and learn, what were the pains he healed?— And when our plagues are proclaimed, then is our Healer magnified.
R., Blessed be He Who is exalted in our pains!
4. Created things were worshipped: because the worshipper was foolish—he used to worship all things; but One they worshipped not.— He came down therefore in mercy and broke, the yoke that enslaved all.
R., Blessed is He Who loosed our pains!
5. The mercies of the Highest were revealed; He came down and set free His creature.— In this blessed month, wherein are made releases of slaves—the Lord underwent bondage, to call the bond to freedom.
R., Blessed is He Who brought freedom!
6. The Lord of the months chose Him, two months for His doings.— His Conception was in Nisan, and His Birth in Conun.— In Nisan He sanctified them that were conceived; and them that were born He set free in Conun.
R., Blessed be He Who makes glad His months!
7. The Sun revealed in silence, his worshippers to his Lord:— it was grievous to him, a servant, to be worshipped instead of his Lord.— Lo! creation is glad, that the Creator is worshipped.
R., Blessed is the Child that is worshipped.
8. The months wore three crowns, and crowned Him in His triumphs.— Blessed is the Sun for His Birth, and for His Resurrection desired—and for His Ascension blessed; the months have borne Him crowns.
R., Blessed be He Who has triumphed in His months!
9. Unveil and make glad your face, O Creature, in our feast.— Let the Church sing with voice; Heaven and earth in silence!— Sing and praise the Child, who has brought release for all!
R., Blessed be He Who has annulled the bonds!
10. When fools did reverence to the Sun, in reverence to him they disgraced him.— But now when all know he is a servant, in his course his Lord is worshipped;— all servants rejoice, that as servants they are reckoned.
R., Blessed be He Who ordered their natures!
11. We have done perverse things, who have become servants of servants.— Lo! Our freedom compelled him, a servant, to become lord to us:— the Sun, the servant for all, we have made Lord for all.
R., Blessed is He Who to Himself has turned us!
12. And the Moon too which was worshipped, has been set free by His Birth.— For 'tis strange that by her light, which enlightens the eyes—by it the eyes were darkened, that they gazed on her as a God.
R., Blessed be the beam that has enlightened us!
13. Fire commended Your Birth, which drew away worship from it.— The magi used to worship it: they who have worshipped before You.— They left it and worshipped its Lord; they exchanged fire for the Fire.
R., Blessed is He Who has bathed us in His light!
14. In place of the senseless fire that eats up its own body of itself—the magi adored the Fire Who gave His Body to be eaten.— The live coal drew near and sanctified, the lips that were unclean.
R., Blessed is He Who has mixed His Fire in us!
15. Delusion blinded men, to worship created things:— fellow servants were worshipped, and the God of all was wronged.— He Who is to be worshipped came down to His birth, and gathered to himself worship.
R., Blessed is He Who by all is worshipped!
16. The All-knowing saw, that men worship things that were made:— He put on a body that was made, that in our custom He might take us captive,— and by a body that was made, drew us to the Creator.
R., Blessed be He Who drew us with guile!
17. The Evil One knew how to harm us; and by lights he blinded us—by possessions he hurt us, through gold he made us poor—by the graver's graven images, he made us a heart of stone.
R., Blessed is He Who came and softened it!
18. They graved and set up stones, whereon men should stumble.— They set them not on the highway, for the blind to stumble on:— they called them Gods, that on them with open eyes men might stumble.
R., Blessed is He Who exposed the idols which they feared!
19. Sin had spread its wings, and covered all things—that none could discern, of himself or from above, the truth.— Truth came down into the womb, came forth and rolled away error.
R., Blessed is He Who dispelled Sin by His Birth!
20. For Mercy endured not, to see the way hindered.— When He came down for conception, He opened the way and made it easy:— when He came forth in birth, He trod it and marked its miles.
R., Blessed is the peace of Your Way!
21. He chose the Prophets; they cleared the way for the people:— He sent the Apostles; they smoothed paths for the nations.— The snares of the Evil One were shamed, when feeble men cleared them away.
R., Blessed is He Who made our paths plain!
22. The graven images blinded, their gravers in secret:— they graved eyes on stone, and darkened the eyes of the soul.— Praise to Your Birth that opened, the sight that was blinded.
R., Blessed be He Who has restored sight!
23. Let women praise Her, the pure Mary,— that as in Eve their mother—great was their reproach—lo! In Mary their sister—greatly magnified was their honour.
R., Blessed is He Who sprang from women!
24. Let the nations praise Your Birth, that they have gained eyes to see—how their wine has made them reel; and they have seen their own humiliation?— They come to know themselves, and worship Him who has rescued them.
R., Blessed is He Who has taught repentance!
25. Its worship mankind— had spread everywhere:— Him Who is to be worshipped it sought not, that worship should be paid Him.— But He endured not— worshippers that err.
R., Blessed is He Who came down and is worshipped!
26. The gold of the idols worshipped You, that You treated it as alms; which availed not apart, for the uses of life.— It hasted to Your purse, as it had hasted to the manger.
R., Blessed be He Whom Creation has loved!
27. The frankincense worshipped Your Birth, which had served demons.— It sorrowed then in its vapour: it exulted when it saw its Lord.— Instead of being the incense of delusion, it was an oblation before God!
R., Blessed is Your Birth which is worshipped!
28. The myrrh worshipped You for itself, and for its kindred ointments.— The hands that bore its ointment, had anointed abominable graven images.— To You the perfume was sweet, from the anointing wherewith Mary anointed You.
R., Blessed is Your savour which is sweet to us!
29. The gold that had been worshipped worshipped you, when the magi offered it.— That which had been worshipped in molten images, gave worship to You.— With its worshippers it worshipped You, it confessed that You are He that is to be worshipped.
R., Blessed is He Who claimed worship for Himself!
30. The Evil One fled and his hosts, he that used to exult in the world.— In the high places they sacrificed heifers to him, in the gardens they slew bulls for him.— He swallowed up all creation, he filled his belly with prey.
R., Blessed be He Who came and made him disgorge!
31. Of him the Lord said, that he had fallen from Heaven.— The Abhorred One had exalted himself; from his uplifting he has fallen. The foot of Mary has trod him down, who bruised Eve with his heel.
R., Blessed be He Who by His Birth laid him low!
32. Chaldeans went about, in all places and led astray:— the preachers of delusion, were shamed through the world—they were shamed and overcome—by the preachers of truth.
R., Blessed be the Babe Whom they preached!
33. Sin had spread out, her nets for the draught.— Praise be to Your Birth that captured, the nets of delusion.— The soul took flight on high, which had been taken in the deep.
R., Blessed is He Who prepared for us wings!
34. His Will was able, even by force to rescue us.— But since it was not force that made us guilty, it was not by force He purged us.— The Evil One by enticement enslaved us: Your Birth enticed to give us life.
R., Blessed be He Who planned and gave us life!
35. The creatures complained that they were worshipped; in silence they sought release.— The All-Releaser heard, and because He endured it not He came down—put on the form of a servant in the womb, came forth, set free Creation.
R., Blessed be He Who made his Creation his gain!
36. Mercy was kindled on high, at the voice of Creation that cried out:— Gabriel was sent; he came and gave tidings of Your Conception.— When You came to the Birth, Watchers gave tidings of your coming forth.
R., Blessed be by Your Worship above all!
37. For greater is the joy of the Birth than the Conception.— Yea it was one angel, that brought us tidings of Your Conception:— but in the joy of Your Birth, a multitude of Watchers brought tidings.
R., Blessed be Your tidings in Your day!
38. Glory to You I too in Your day, will offer, O You that are worshipped!— Take of the fruit that is mine; and give me mercy which is Yours!— For if the evil that is in me gives gifts, how much more shall You give Who is good!
R., Blessed is Your wealth in Your servant!
39. The two things You sought, in Your Birth have been done for us.— Our visible body You have put on; Your invisible might we have put on:— our body has become Your clothing; Your Spirit has become our robe.
R., Blessed be He Who has been adorned and has adorned us!
40. Height and depth were amazed, that Your Birth subdued the rebels.— For that we gave You hostages, You gave us the Paraclete:— when the hostages went up from us, the Captain of the host came down to us.
R., Blessed be He Who took away and sent down!
41. Come you mouths of all and pour forth, and be in the likeness of waters, and wells of voices! May the Holy Spirit come—and sing glory through us all, to the Father Who has redeemed us through His Son!
R., Blessed is He above all in His Birth!
Hymn 16
(Resp .— Glory to all of You from all of us! (bis.)
1. Who then that is mortal man, can declare concerning the All-Life giver—Who quitted the height of His Majesty, and abased Himself to humility?— You Who exaltest all in Your Birth, exalt my weak mind—to declare of Your Birth; not that I should search out Your Majesty,— but that I should proclaim Your grace.
R., Blessed be He Who conceals and reveals in His discourses!
2. It is a great marvel that the Son, dwelt wholly in a body—abode therein wholly and it sufficed for Him; dwelt therein though not bounded thereby.— His Will was wholly therein; His bounds reached wholly to His Father.— Who is sufficient to tell, how though He dwelt wholly in a body.— He likewise dwelt wholly in all?
R., Blessed is He Who though without bounds was bounded!
3. Your Majesty is concealed from us; Your Grace is revealed before us.— I will be silent, O Lord of Your Majesty; and I will tell of Your grace.— Your grace clove to You, and bowed You down to our vileness:— Your grace made You a babe; Your grace made You man:— it straitened, it enlarged, Your Majesty.
R., Blessed be the might that became little and became great!
4. Glory to Him Who became lowly, though lofty He was by His nature!— He became in His love the firstborn of Mary, Firstborn though He be of Godhead.— He became in name the offspring of Joseph, offspring though He be of the Most High.— He became by His own Will man, God though He be by His Nature.— Glorified be Your Will and Your Nature!
R., Blessed be Your Glory which put on our image!
5. Yea, O Lord, Your Birth, has become mother of all creatures; for it travailed anew and gave birth, to mankind which gave birth to You. You were born of it bodily; it was born of You spiritually.— All that You came for to birth, was that man might be born in Your likeness.— Your Birth became the author of birth to all.
R., Blessed be He Who became a youth and to all gave youth!
6. When man's hope had broken down, hope was increased by Your Birth.— Good tidings of hope they bore, the Heavenly Ones to men.— Satan who cut off our hope, his own hope by his own hands had cut off.— when he saw that hope was increased: Your Birth became to the hopeless,— a fountain teaming with hope.
R., Blessed be He Who bore the tidings of hope!
7. The day of Your Birth is like You, for it is desired and loved as You.— We who saw not Your Birth, and its flame as in its own time,— in this Your day we see You, even as You were a babe—beloved by all men, lo! In You the Churches rejoice—Your day adorns and is adorned.
R., Blessed be Your day which was ordained for us!
8. Your day has given us a gift, to which the Father has none other like—It was not Seraphim He sent us, nor yet did Cherubim come down among us—there came not Watchers or Ministers, but the Firstborn to Whom they minister.— Who can suffice to give thanks, that the Majesty which is beyond measure— is laid in the lowly manger!
R., Blessed be He Who gave us what He had won!
9. That generation Your Birth made glad, and our generation Your day makes glad: twofold was the happiness of that generation, for they saw Your Birth and also Your day:— less is the happiness of them that come after, for the day of Your Birth they see only.— Yet because they that then were, doubted, greater is the happiness of them that come after—who though they have not seen You have believed in You.
R., Blessed be Your happiness that is added to us!
10. The Magi exalted from afar; the Scribes murmured near at hand—the prophet showed his message, and Herod his wrath—the scribes showed their doctrine, the Magi showed their offerings. It is a marvel that to Him, the Babe, they of His own house hasted with their swords, and they that were strangers with their offerings.
R., Blessed be Your Birth which has stirred up all!
11. The bosom of Mary amazes me, that it sufficed for You, Lord, and embraced You.— All creation were too small, to conceal Your Majesty;— Heaven and earth too narrow, to be in the likeness of wings, to cover Your Godhead.— Too small for You was the bosom of earth; great enough for You was the bosom of Mary.— He dwelt in the bosom and healed in her bosom.
R.,
12. He was wrapped meanly in swaddling clothes, and offerings were offered Him.— He put on garments in youth, and from them there came forth helps: He put on the waters of baptism, and from them there shone forth beams:— He put on linen cloths in death, and in them were shown forth triumphs; with His humiliations, His exaltations.
R., Blessed be He Who joined His Glory to His Passion!
13. All these are the changes of raiment, which Mercy put off and put on—when He strove to put on Adam, the glory which he had put off.— He was wrapped in swaddling-clothes as Adam with leaves; and clad in garments instead of skins.— He was baptized for Adam's sin, and buried for Adam's death:— He rose and raised Adam into Glory.
R., Blessed be He Who came down and clothed him and went up!
14. Though Your Birth had sufficed, for Adam's sons as for Adam;— O Mighty One Who became a babe, in Your Birth anew have You begotten me!— O pure One Who wast baptized, let Your Washing wash away our filth— O Living One who wast buried, may we gain life in Your death!— I will praise all of You in Him that fills all.
R., Glory to all of You from all of us!
Hymn 17
(Resp ., Praise to You from every mouth on this Day of Your Birth!)
1. Infants were slain because of Your Birth, You Giver of life to all— But because He Who was slain was a King, our Lord the Lord of Kingdoms,— the tyrant in subtlety, gave for Him slain hostages,— clad in the mysteries of His slaying: the ranks of heaven received—the hostages that they of earth offered.
R., Blessed be the King who magnified Him!
2. All the Kings of the house of David, transmitted and hauled on each to each—the throne and crown of the Son of David, as guardian of a deposit.— In one they reached their bound and limit, when He came, the Lord of all things—and took away from them all things, and cut off the transmission of all things....
R., Blessed be He Who is clad in that which is His!
3. The doves moaned in Bethlehem, that the serpent destroyed their offspring.— The eagle betook himself to Egypt, to go down and receive the promises.— Egypt rejoiced in Him that there came, abundance for payment of debts,— which had failed the sons of Joseph. Among the sons of Joseph He laboured and paid— the debts of the sons of Joseph.
R., Blessed is He Who called Him out of Egypt!
4. The Scribes read daily, that the Star arises out of Jacob.— For the People were the Voice and the reading, for the nations the rising of the Star and the interpretation:— for them were the Books and for us the facts; for them boughs and for us fruits.— The Scribes read in things written; the Magi saw in things done, the outshining of that which was read.
R., Blessed be He Who added to us their books!
5. Who is able to tell, of the withdrawal and the appearings,— of the shining star that went, before the bearers of the offerings?— It appeared and proclaimed the crown; it was hid and concealed His Body.— It was for the Son in twofold wise, herald and guardian;— it guarded His Body, it proclaimed His Crown.
R., Blessed is He Who has given wisdom to them that proclaim Him!
6. The tyrant gazed on the Magi, as they asked Where is the son of the King?— While his heart was gloomy, he sought for himself a cheerful countenance.— With the sheep he sent wolves, that should kill the Lamb of God.— The Lamb went down to Egypt, that thence He might judge them—whence He had saved them.
R., Blessed be He Who yet again subdued them.
7. The Magi declared to the tyrant, When your servants joined us—the bright star withdrew itself, yea the paths hid themselves.— The blessed ones knew not, that the king had sent bitter foes—murderers as if worshippers, to destroy the sweet fruit—whereof the bitter eat and are made sweet.
R., To You be glory, Medicine of life!
8. When there the Magi received, commandment to go and seek Him.— it is written of them that they saw, that bright star and rejoiced.— Thus it is known that it had been withdrawn; therefore rejoiced they at its aspect.— It was hid and hindered the murderers, it arose and called the worshippers;— it overthrew a part and it called a part.
R., Blessed be He Who has triumphed in both parts!
9. The abhorred one who slew the children, how did he overlook the Child?— Justice hindered him that he thought, the Magi would return to him.— While he stayed waiting to seize, the Worshipped and His worshippers,— everything escaped his hands, the offerings and the worshippers took flight—from the tyrant to the Son of the King.
R., Glory to Him who knows all counsels!
10. The blameless Magi as they slept, meditated on their beds:— sleep became a mirror, and a dream rose on it as light.— The murderer they saw and trembled, as his guile and his sword flashed forth.— He taught the men guile, he sharpened the sword to sharpness:— the Watcher taught the sleepers.
R., Blessed is He who gives prudence to the simple!
11. The simple who believe have known, two Comings of Christ:— but the foolish scribes have not even perceived one Coming.— Yet the nations have life in the first, and shall rise again there in the second.— The People whose mind is blinded, the first Coming has dispersed—the second shall blot out their memory.
R., Blessed be the King Who has come and is to come!
12. When the Saviour arose as the blind, the Sun showed forth his beams—and they were clothed in darkness: the Brightness sent forth his light—and He brought the sons of the stars, to make manifest the sons of darkness.— For lo! Among you is the star, but on your eyes the veil.
R., To You be glory, newborn Sun!
13. Prophets declared concerning His Birth, but they made not plain the time thereof.— He sent the Magi, and they came and showed of its time.— Yet the Magi who made known the time, made not plain who the Child should be.— A star of splendid light, in its course showed who the Child was— how splendid was His lineage.
R., Blessed be He Who by them all was pointed out!
14. They scorned the trumpet of Isaiah, which sounded forth His pure Conception,— they silenced the lute of the Psalms, which sang of His Priesthood;— the harp of the Spirit they hushed, which sang again of His Kingdom;— under deep silence they closed up, the great Birth that joined the cry— of them above with them below.
R., Blessed be He Who appeared in the midst of silence!
15. His voice was the secret key that opened the mouths of the Magi.— Whereas preachers were silent in Judah, they made their voice sound through creation;— and the Gospel which those had scorned, these who came from far took and departed.— The scorners began to hear their own orders from strangers, who cried out the name of the Son of David.
R., Blessed be He Who by our voice has put them to silence!
16. Whereas the People scorned offerings, and brought them not to Him the Son of the King,— He sent His herald to the nations, and caused them to come with their offerings:— yet not all of them caused He to come, for it could not suffice for them—the narrow bosom of Bethlehem; but the bosom of Holy Church—enlarged itself and contained her children.
R., Blessed be He Who has made the barren fruitful!
17. The slayers of Bethlehem mowed down the tender flowers that among them— should perish the tender seedling, wherein was hidden the Bread of life.— But the ear of grain that has life had escaped, that it should come to the sheaves in harvest:— the grape that escaped when young, gave itself to the treading—that its wine might give life to souls.
R., Glory to You, Treasury of life!
18. The murderers went into a paradise, full of tender fruits:— they shook off the flowers from the bough, blossoms and buds they destroyed—unblemished oblations he offered, the persecutor unwittingly.— To him woe, but to them blessing! Bethlehem was first to give, virgin fruits to the Holy One.
R., Blessed is He Who receives the first fruits!
19. The Scribes were silenced in envy, the Pharisees in jealousy.— Men of stone cried out and gave praise, who had a heart of stone.— They applauded in presence of the Stone, the rejected that has become the Head.— Stones were made flesh by that Stone, and obtained mouths to speak; stones cried out through that Stone.
R., Blessed be Your Birth that has caused stones to cry out!
20. The Star that is written in Scripture, the nations beheld from afar—that the People might be shamed which is near; O People instructed and puffed up! Which by the nations hast been in turn instructed, how and where they saw—that vision whereof Balaam spoke; a stranger he who spread abroad concerning it—strangers they who saw it.
R., Blessed is He Who has provoked to jealousy them of His own house!
21. Let my supplication draw near to Your Door, yea my poverty to Your Treasury!— Give to me my Lord without measure, as God unto man!— And though You increase gifts as Son of the Blessed, and though You add to them as Son of the King;— though I be thankless as are all creatures of dust, as Adam so is the son of Adam,— and as the Blessed so too is the Son of the Blessed.
R., Praise be to You Who is like Your Father!
Hymn 18
Resp .— Praise be to Him Who sent Him! (bis)
1. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! In you is the sound—of the great feast the festival of the King!— Sion is deserted, her gates are sore thirsty—and forsaken of festivals.— Blessed your gates that are open yet not filled—and your halls that are enlarged yet suffice not!— In the midst of you lo! Is the sound, of the nations that cry out, and have put to silence the People.
2. Blessed are you, O Church, that in your festivals,— the Watchers rejoice amid your festivity!— for one night the Watchers gave praise—on the earth which withheld and refused praise.— Blessed your voices that have been sown and reaped—and in Heaven stored up in garners!— Your mouth is a censer, and your voices as perfumes, breathing vapour in your festivals.
3. Blessed are you, O Church, that all oblations,— are brought unto you in this feast.— The Magi once among traitors, offered them to the Truth.— Blessed your abode that He bowed Himself and dwelt therein, Son of the King Who is worshipped with gifts!— Gold from the West, and spices from the East—are offered in Your Festivals.
4. Blessed are you, O Church, that there is not with you—a tyrant King slayer of babes! For he killed in Bethlehem the little ones at random—that he might put to death the Child that gives life to all.— Blessed your children that are envied and worshipped,— by Kings, for those are promised for Your worship,— the crowns of the East:— he who trod down your dear ones, shall be trodden down by your beloved.
5. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! Over you—Isaiah too exults in his prophecy—Lo a Virgin shall conceive and bear—a Son Whose name is great mystery!— O interpretation revealed in the Church!— two names that were joined and became one—Emmanuel,— God be with you ever, Who joined you with His members!
6. Blessed are you, O Church, in Micah who cried out—A Shepherd shall come forth from Ephrata:— for He came to Bethlehem to take— from thence the rod of Jesse and to rule the nations.— Blessed your lambs that are sealed with His seal,— and your sheep that are kept by His sword!— You are, O Church,— the abiding Bethlehem—for in you is the Bread of Life!
7. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! In you rejoices—Daniel also the man beloved,— who foretold that the glorious Messiah shall be killed,— and the city of holiness be laid desolate at His killing!— Woe to the People that was rejected and is not converted— Blessed the nations that were called and turned not away!— The bidden guests refused—and others in their stead enjoyed their banquet.
8. Blessed are you, O Church, for on your, lute, lo! King David sings psalms in you! In the Spirit he sings of Him You are My Son and I— this day have begotten You in the glories of holiness.— Blessed your ears that have been purged to hear!— On His day watch as His Body and call on Him—be taught by Sion—which saddened His Feast; make Him glad Who has gladdened you.
9. Blessed are you, O Church, that all festivals— have taken flight from Sion and sheltered with you!— In the midst of you the wearied Prophets have found rest—from the labour and the reproach they bore in Judah.— Blessed the books unrolled in your temples,— and the festivals celebrated in your shrines!— Sion is forsaken—and lo! Today the nations shout in your festivals.
10. Blessed are you, O Church, in ten blessings,— which our Lord has given as a mystery complete:— for on ten all the numbers hang, therefore are you perfect by ten blessings.— Blessed your crowns that are twined— with all blessings mixed in every crown!— O blessed one—with every blessing crowned, on me too send your blessing!
11. Blessed are you, Ephrata, mother of Kings, that from you sprang the Lord of diadems!— Micah gave you tidings that He is from everlasting, and the span of His times is not comprehended.— Blessed are your eyes which first of all discerned Him!— you He deemed worthy to see Him when He appeared—Chief of benediction,— and Beginning of gladness, you received first of all.
12. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, that the towns envy you—and the fortified cities!— As they envy you, so the women envy Mary,— and the virgins daughters of princes.— Blessed the maiden in whom He deigned to abide—and the city wherein He deigned to sojourn—a poor maiden,— and a small city, He chose Him to humble Himself.
13. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, that in you was the beginning—for Him the Son Who from everlasting is in the Father!— It is hard to comprehend, that before Time He is—Who in you made Himself subject to Time.— Blessed your ears, for in you first was heard the cry— of the Lamb of God who exulted in you!— Narrow though your manger—He spread Himself on all sides, and was worshipped of every creature.
14. Blessed are you too, Mary, that your name— is great and exalted because of your child!— You can tell then how and how long— and where He dwelt in you, the great One in small room.— Blessed your mouth that praised and enquired not—and your tongue that glorified and questioned not!— For His Mother was uncertain concerning Him—even while she carried Him in the womb; who then shall suffice to comprehend Him?
15. O Woman, you whom no man knew—how can we behold the Son you have borne?— For no eyes suffice to stand— before the transfigurations of the glory, that is on Him.— For tongues of fire abide in Him— Who sent tongues by His Ascension.— Be every tongue warned—that our questioning is as stubble, and as fire our scrutiny.
16. Blessed is he the priest who in the sanctuary,— offers to the Father the Son of the Father—the fruit that is plucked from our tree, though it be wholly of the Divine Majesty!— Blessed the hands that are hallowed and offer Him!— and the lips that are spent in kissing Him!— The Spirit in the Temple— longed for His embrace; and at His Crucifixion rent the veil and went forth.
17. The Archangel gave you greeting—as the earnest of holiness— Earth became to him new Heavens,— when the Watcher came down and sang glory on it.— The sons of the Highest encompassed your habitation— because of the Son of the King that dwelt in you.— Your abode below—to the Heaven above was made like by the host of Watchers.
Hymn 19
(Resp .— Blessed be your Birth that gladdens all creatures!)
1. The first year wherein, our Saviour was born—is source of blessing, and ground of life—for by it are borne—manifold triumphs, the sum of all help:— as the first day of the beginning,— the great pillar of all creatures—bears the building of Creation;— so the year of the Firstborn bears help for man.
2. In the second year, of our Saviour's Birth—the Magi exult, the Pharisees mourn:— treasures are opened—kings are hastening, and infants are slain.— For in it are offered in Bethlehem—oblations precious and terrible—for while love made offering of gold—hatred offered infants by the sword.
3. The day of the All-Lightening, exults in His birth—a pillar of radiance, which drives away, by its beams— the works of darkness. After the type of that day, wherein light was created,— and sundered the darkness that spread— over the fair beauty of Creation;— the radiance of our Saviour's birth— came in to sunder the darkness that was on the heart.
4. The first day the source and the beginning—orders the roots, to make all things grow.— Our Saviour's day— is praised far above it, a tree planted in the world.— For His Death is as the root in the earth; His Resurrection as the head in heaven; on all sides His words reach as boughs; likewise His Body as fruit for the eaters.
5. Let the second day, sing praise to the Birth— of the second Son, and His voice which first— commanded the firmament and it was made—divided the waters that were above, and gathered the seas that were under.— He Who divided waters from waters, divided Himself from the Watchers and came down to man.— For the waters which at His command were gathered.— He cleft the fountain of life and gave drink.
6. Let the third day weave with various hymns— the crown of psalms and with one voice present it— for His Birth who gave growth— of buds and flowers, on the third day.— But now He the All-giver of growth—has come down and become the All-holy Flower; from the thirsting earth has sprang forth and gone up—that he may decorate and crown the conquerors.
7. Let the fourth day praise, first among the four—His Birth Who created as the fourth day— the two lightgivers,— which fools worship, and are sightless and blind.— The Lord of Lightgivers has come down—and from the womb has shone on us as the Sun.— His splendours have opened the eyes of the blind:— His rays have given light to the wandering.
8. Let the fifth day laud Him Who created— on the fifth day creeping things and Dragons— of whose kind is the serpent.— He deceived with guile our mother, a maid void of counsel.— The deceiver who had mocked the maid,— by the Dove was exposed as false,— which from a virgin bosom sprang, and came forth— the Wise that trod down the crafty.
9. Let the sixth day laud Him who created— on Vesper-day Adam, whom Satan envied; as a feigned friend— cheered him in offering poison in his food.— The medicine of life reached them both—put on a body and came near to both.— The mortal tasted Him and lived through Him—the devourer who ate Him was left void.
10. Let the seventh day hallow the Holy One—Who hallows the Sabbath, and gave rest to all that live.— The Blessed One Who wearied not— has care for mankind, and has care for the beasts.— When Freedom fell under the yoke—He came to the Birth and became bond to make it free:— He was smitten on the face by servants in the judgment hall—He broke the yoke that was on the free, as Lord.
11. Let the eighth day, which circumcised the Hebrews,— praise Him Who commanded his namesake Joshua— to circumcise with a flint— the people circumcised in body, while the heart was profane within.— Lo! As the eighth day, as a Babe,— to circumcision He came Who circumcises all.— Though the sign of Abraham is on His Flesh—the blind daughter of Sion had defiled it.
12. Let the tenth day sing, praises in its turn.— For God the first letter of Jesus (goodly name!), is ten in numbering.— He Who is as a lamb, turns back the numbers.— For when the number goes up to ten, it is turned back to begin again from one. O great mystery of that which is in Jesus, Whose might turns all creation back again!
13. The All-Purifier Firstborn in the day of His purifying—purified the purification of the firstborn and was offered in the Temple:— the Lord of offering needed offerings,— to make offering of birds.— In His Birth were fulfilled the types,— in His purification and circumcision the allegories.— He came and paid over debts in His coming down—in His Resurrection He went up and sent down treasures.
This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed! For the Virgin this day brought forth Immanuel in Bethlehem. The voice that of old Isaiah spoke, Isaiah 10:19 today became reality. He was born there who in writing should tell the Gentiles' number! The Psalm that David once sang, by its fulfilment came today! The word that Micah once spoke, Micah 5:2 today had come indeed to pass! For there came from Ephrata a Shepherd, and His staff swayed over souls. Lo! From Jacob shone the Star, Numbers 24:17 and from Israel rose the Head. Hosea 1:11 The prophecy that Balaam spoke had its interpreting today! Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty! The light that spoke in Zachary, today shined in Bethlehem!
Risen is the Light of the kingdom, in Ephrata the city of the King. The blessing wherewith Jacob blessed, to its fulfilment came today! That tree likewise, [the tree] of life, brings hope to mortal men! Solomon's hidden proverb Proverbs 3:18 had today its explanation! Today was born the Child, and His name was called Wonder! Isaiah 9:6 For a wonder it is that God as a Babe should show Himself. By the word Worm did the Spirit foreshow Him in parable, because His generation was without marriage. The type that the Holy Ghost figured today its meaning was [explained.] He came up as a root before Him, as a root of parched ground. Isaiah 53:2 Anything that covertly was said, openly today was done! The King that in Judah was hidden, Thamar stole Him from his thigh; today arose His conquering beauty, which in hidden estate she loved. Ruth at Boaz' side lay down, because the Medicine of Life hidden in him she perceived. Today was fulfilled her vow, since from her seed arose the Quickener of all. Travail Adam on the woman brought, that from him had come forth. She today her travail ransomed, who to her a Saviour bare! To Eve our mother a man gave birth, who himself had had no birth. How much more should Eve's daughter be believed to have borne a Child without a man! The virgin earth, she bare that Adam that was head over the earth! The Virgin bare today the Adam that was Head over the Heavens. The staff of Aaron, it budded, and the dry wood yielded fruit! Its mystery is cleared up today, for the virgin womb a Child has borne!
Shamed is that people which holds the prophets as true; for unless our Saviour has come, their words have been falsified! Blessed be the True One Who came from the Father of the Truth and fulfilled the true seers' words, which were accomplished in their truth. From your treasure-house put forth, Lord, from the coffers of Your Scriptures, names of righteous men of old, who looked to see Your coming! Seth who was in Abel's stead shadowed out the Son as slain, by Whose death was dulled the envy Cain had brought into the world! Noah saw the sons of God, saints that sudden waxed wanton, and the Holy Son he looked for, by whom lewd men were turned to holiness. The brothers two, that covered Noah, Genesis 9:23 saw the only Son of God who should come to hide the nakedness of Adam, who was drunk with pride. Shem and Japhet, being gracious, looked for the gracious Son, Who should come and set free Canaan from the servitude of sin.
Melchizedek expected Him; as His vicegerent, looked that he might see the Priesthood's Lord whose hyssop Leviticus 14:52 purifies the world. Lot beheld the Sodomites how they perverted nature: for nature's Lord he looked who gave a holiness not natural. Him Aaron looked for, for he saw that if his rod ate serpents up, Exodus 7:12 His cross would eat the Serpent up that had eaten Adam and Eve. Moses saw the uplifted serpent that had cured the bites of asps, and he looked to see Him who would heal the ancient Serpent's wound. Moses saw that he himself alone retained the brightness from God, and he looked for Him who came and multiplied gods by His teaching:
Caleb the spy bore the cluster on the staff, and came and longed to see the Cluster, Whose wine should comfort the world. Him did Jesus son of Nun long for, that he might conceive the force of his own surname: for if by His name he waxed so mighty, Hebrews 4:8 how much more would He by His Birth? This Jesus that gathered and carried, and brought with him of the fruit, was longing for the Tree of Life to taste the Fruit that quickens all. For Him Rahab too was looking; for when the scarlet thread in type redeemed her from wrath, in type she tasted of the Truth. For Him Elijah longed, and when Him on earth he saw not, he, through faith most throughly cleansed, mounted up in heaven to see Him. Moses saw Him and Elijah; the meek man from the depth ascended, the zealous from on high descended, and in the midst beheld the Son. They figured the mystery of His Advent: Moses was a type of the dead, and Elijah a type of the living, that fly to meet Him at His coming. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 For the dead that have tasted death, them He makes to be first: and the rest that are not buried, are last caught up to meet Him.
Who is there that can count me up the just that looked for the Son, whose number cannot be determined by the mouth of us weak creatures? Pray for me, O beloved, that another time with strength endued, I in another legend may so set forth their foretaste, as I am able. Who is adequate to the praising of the Son of the Truth that has risen to us? For it was for Him the righteous longed, that in their generation they might see Him. Adam looked for Him, for He is the Cherub's Lord, and could minister an entrance and a residence hard by the branches of the Tree of life. Abel longed after Him, that in his days He might come; that instead of that lamb that he offered, the Lamb of God he might behold. For Him Eve also looked; for woman's nakedness was sore, and He capable to clothe them; not with leaves, but with that same glory that they had exchanged away. The tower that the many built, in mystery looked for One, who coming down would build on earth a tower that lifts up to Heaven. Yea the ark of living creatures looked in a type for our Lord; for He should build the Holy Church, wherein souls find a refuge. In Peleg's days earth was divided into tongues, threescore and ten. For Him Who by the tongues, to His Apostles divided earth. Earth which the flood had swallowed up, in silence cried to her Lord. He came down and opened Baptism, and men were drawn by it to Heaven. Seth and Enos, Cainan too, were surnamed sons of God; for the Son of God they looked, that they by grace might be His brethren. But little short of a thousand years did Methuselah live: He looked for the Son Who makes heirs of life that never ends! Grace itself in hidden mystery was beseeching on their behalf that their Lord might come in their age and fill up their shortcomings. For the Holy Spirit in them, in their stead, besought with meditation: Romans 8:26 He stirred them up, and in Him did they look on that Redeemer, after whom they longed. 1 Peter 1:11
The soul of just men perceive in the Son a Medicine of life; and so it felt desires that He might come in its own days, and then would it taste His sweetness. Enoch was longing for Him, and since on earth the Son he saw not, he was justified by great faith, and mounted up in Heaven to see Him. Who is there that will spurn at grace, when the Gift that they of old gained not by much labour, freely comes to men now? For Him Lamech also looked who might come and lovingly give Him quiet from his labour and the toiling of his hands, and from the earth the Just One had cursed. Genesis 5:29 Lamech then beheld his son, Noah—him, in whom were figured types relating to the Son. In the stead of the Lord afar off, the type at hand afforded quiet. Yea Noah also longed to see Him, the taste of whose assisting graces he had tasted. For if the type of Him preserved living things, Himself how sure to bestow life upon souls! Noah longed for Him, by trial knowing Him, for through Him had the ark been established. For if the type of Him thus saved life, assuredly much more would He in person. Abraham perceived in Spirit that the Son's Birth was far off; instead of Him in person he rejoiced to see even His day. John 8:56 To see Him Isaac longed, as having tasted the taste of His redemption; Hebrews 11:19 for if the sign of Him so gave life, much more would He by the reality.
Joyous Daniel 4:13 were today the Watchers, that the Wakeful came to wake us! Who would pass this night in slumber, in which all the world was watching? Since Adam brought into the world the sleep of death by sins, the Wakeful came down that He might awake us from the deep sleep of sin. Watch not we as usurers, who thinking on money put to interest, watch at night so oft, to reckon up their capital, and interest. Wakeful and cautious is the thief, who in the earth has buried and concealed his sleep. His wakefulness all [comes to] this, that he may cause much wakefulness to them that be asleep. Wakeful likewise is the glutton, who has eaten much and is restless; his watching is to him his torment, because he was impatient of stint. Wakeful likewise is the merchant; of a night he works his fingers telling over what pounds are coming, and if his wealth doubles or trebles. Wakeful likewise is the rich man, whose sleep his riches chase away: his dogs sleep; he guards his treasures from the thieves. Wakeful also is the careful, by his care his sleep is swallowed: though his end stands by his pillow, yet he wakes with cares for years to come. Satan teaches, O my brethren, one watching instead of another; to good deeds to be sleepy, and to ill awake and watchful. Even Judas Iscariot, for the whole night through was wakeful; and he sold the righteous Blood, that purchased the whole world. The son of the dark one put on darkness, having stripped the Light from off him: and Him who created silver, for silver the thief sold. Yea, Pharisees, the dark one's sons, all the night through kept awake: the dark ones watched that they might veil the Light which is unlimited. You then watch as [heaven's] lights in this night of starry light. For though so dark be its colour yet in virtue it is clear.
For whoever is like this clear One, wakeful and prayerful in darkness, him in this darkness visible a light unseen surrounds! The bad man that in daylight stands, yet as a son of darkness deals; though with light clad outwardly, inwardly is with darkness girt. Be we not deceived, beloved, by the fact that we are watching! For whoso does not rightly watch, his watch is an unrighteous watch. Whoso watches not cheerfully, his watching is but a sleeping: whoso also watches not innocently, even his waking is his foe. This is the waking of the envious one! A solid mass, compact with harm. That watch is but a trafficking, with scorn and mockery compact. The wrathful man if he wakes, fretful with wrath his wake will be, and his watching proves to him full of rage and of cursings. If the babbler be waking, then his mouth becomes a passage which for sins is ready but for prayers shows hindrance.
The wise man, if so be he that watches, one of two things chooses him; either takes sweet, moderate, sleep, or a holy vigil keeps. That night is fair, wherein He Who is Fair Song of Songs 1:15 rose to come and make us fair. Let not anything that may disturb it enter into our watch! Fair be kept the ear's approach, chaste the seeing of the eye! hallowed the musing of the heart! The speaking of the mouth be cleared. Mary hid in us today leaven that came from Abraham. Let us then so pity beggars as did Abraham the needy. Today the rennet fell on us from the gentle David's house. Let a man show mercy to his persecutors, as did Jesse's son to Saul. 1 Samuel xxvi The prophets' sweet salt 2 Kings 2:20 is today sprinkled among the Gentiles. Let us gain a new savour Matthew 5:13 by that whereby the ancient people lost their savour. Let us speak the speech of wisdom; speak we not of things outside it, lest we ourselves be outside it!
In this night of reconcilement let no man be angry or gloomy! In this night that stills all, none that threatens or disturbs! This night belongs to the sweet One; bitter or harsh be in it none! In this night that is the meek One's, high or haughty be in it none! In this day of pardoning let us not exact trespasses! In this day of gladnesses let us not spread sadnesses! In this day so sweet, let us not be harsh! In this day of peaceful rest, let us not be wrathful in it! In this day when God came to sinners, let not the righteous be in his mind uplifted over sinner! In this day in which there came the Lord of all unto the servants, let masters too condescend to their servants lovingly! In this day in which the Rich became poor for our sakes, let the rich man make the poor man share with him at his table. On this day to us came forth the Gift, although we asked it not! Let us therefore bestow alms on them that cry and beg of us. This is the day that opened for us a gate on high to our prayers. Let us open also gates to supplicants that have transgressed, and of us have asked [forgiveness.] Today the Lord of nature was against His nature changed; let it not to us be irksome to turn our evil wills. Fixed in nature is the body; great or less it cannot become: but the will has such dominion, it can grow to any measure. Today Godhead sealed itself upon Manhood, that so with the Godhead's stamp Manhood might be adorned.
Hymn 2
Blessed be that Child, Who gladdened Bethlehem today! Blessed be the Babe Who made manhood young again today! Blessed be the Fruit, Who lowered Himself to our famished state! Blessed be the Good One, Who suddenly enriched our necessitousness and supplied our needs! Blessed He Whose tender mercies made Him condescend to visit our infirmities!
Praise to the Fountain that was sent for our propitiation. Praise be to Him Who made void the Sabbath by fulfilling it! Praise too to Him Who rebuked the leprosy and it remained not, Whom the fever saw and fled! Praise to the Merciful, Who bore our toil! Glory to Your coming, which quickened the sons of men!
Glory to Him, Who came to us by His first-born! Glory to the Silence, that spoke by His Voice. Glory to the One on high, Who was seen by His Day-spring! Glory to the Spiritual, Who was pleased to have a Body, that in it His virtue might be felt, and He might by that Body show mercy on His household's bodies!
Glory to that Hidden One, Whose Son was made manifest! Glory to that Living One, Whose Son was made to die! Glory to that Great One, Whose Son descended and was small! Glory to the Power Who did straiten His greatness by a form, His unseen nature by a shape! With eye and mind we have beheld Him, yea with both of them.
Glory to that Hidden One, Who even with the mind cannot be felt at all by them that pry into Him; but by His graciousness was felt by the hand of man! The Nature that could not be touched, by His hands was bound and tied, by His feet was pierced and lifted up. Himself of His own will He embodied for them that took Him.
Blessed be He Whom free will crucified, because He let it: blessed be He Whom the wood also did bear, because He allowed it. Blessed be He Whom the grave bound, that had [thereby] a limit set it. Blessed be He Whose own will brought Him to the Womb and Birth, to arms and to increase [in stature]. Blessed He whose changes purchased life for human nature.
Blessed He Who sealed our soul, and adorned it and espoused it to Himself. Blessed He Who made our Body a tabernacle for His unseen Nature. Blessed He Who by our tongue interpreted His secret things. Let us praise that Voice whose glory is hymned with our lute, and His virtue with our harp. The Gentiles have assembled and have come to hear His strains.
Glory to the Son of the Good One, Whom the sons of the evil one rejected! Glory to the Son of the Just One, Whom the sons of wickedness crucified! Glory to Him Who loosed us, and was bound for us all! Glory to Him Who gave the pledge, and redeemed it too! Glory to the Beautiful, Who conformed us to His image! Glory to that Fair One, Who looked not to our foulnesses!
Glory to Him Who sowed His Light in the darkness, and was reproached in His hidden state, and covered His secret things. He also stripped and took off from us the clothing of our filthiness. Zechariah 3:3 Glory be to Him on high, Who mixed His salt Mark 9:49 in our minds, His leaven in our souls. His Body became Bread, to quicken our deadness.
Praise to the Rich, Who paid for us all, that which He borrowed not; and wrote [His bill], and also became our debtor! By His yoke He broke from us the chains of him that led us captive. Glory to the Judge Who was judged, and made His Twelve to sit in judgment on the tribes, and by ignorant men condemned the scribes of that nation!
Glory to Him Who could never be measured by us! Our heart is too small for Him, yea our mind is too feeble. He makes foolish our littleness by the riches of His Wisdom. Glory to Him, Who lowered Himself, and asked; Luke 2:46 that He might hear and learn that which He knew; that He might by His questions reveal the treasure of His helpful graces!
Let us adore Him Who enlightened with His doctrine our mind, and in our hearing sought a pathway for His words. Praise we Him Who grafted into our tree His fruit. Thanks to Him Who sent His Heir, that by Him He might draw us to Himself, yea make us heirs with Him! Thanks to that Good One, the cause of all goods!
Blessed He Who did not chide, because that He was good! Blessed He Who did not spurn, because that He was just also! Blessed He Who was silent, and rebuked; that He might quicken us with both! Severe His silence and reproachful. Mild His severity even When He was accusing; for He rebuked the traitor, and kissed the thief.
Glory to the hidden Husbandman of our intellects! His seed fell on to our ground, and made our mind rich. His increase came an hundredfold into the treasury of our souls! Let us adore Him Who sat down and took rest; and walked in the way, so that the Way was in the way, and the Door also for them that go in, by which they go in to the kingdom.
Blessed the Shepherd Who became a Lamb for our reconcilement! Blessed the Branch Who became the Cup of our Redemption! Blessed also be the Cluster, Fount of medicine of life! Blessed also be the Tiller, Who became Wheat, that He might be sown; and a Sheaf, that He might be cut! [Blessed be] the Architect Who became a Tower for our place of safety! Blessed He Who so tempered the feelings of our mind, Proverbs 18:10 that we with our harp should sing that which the winged creatures' mouth knows not with its strains to sing! Glory to Him, Who beheld how we had pleased to be like to brutes in our rage and our greediness; and came down and was one of us, that we might become heavenly!
Glory be to Him, Who never felt the need of our praising Him; yet felt the need as being kind to us, and thirsted Matthew 25:40 as loving us, and asks us to give to Him, and longs to give to us. His fruit was mingled with us men, that in Him we might come near to Him, Who condescended to us. By the Fruit of His stem He grafted us into His Tree.
Let us praise Him, Who prevailed and quickened us by His stripes! Praise we Him, Who took away the curse by His thorns! Praise we Him Who put death to death by His dying! Praise we Him, Who held His peace and justified us! Praise we Him, Who rebuked death that had overcome us! Blessed He, Whose helpful graces cleansed out the left side!
Praise we Him Who watched and put to sleep him that led us captive. Praise we Him Who went to sleep, and chased our deep sleep away. Glory be to God Who cured weak manhood! Glory be to Him Who was baptized, and drowned our iniquity in the deep, and choked him Luke 8:33 that choked us! Let us glorify with all our mouths the Lord of all creatures!
Blessed be the Physician Who came down and amputated without pain, and healed wounds with a medicine that was not harsh. His Son became a Medicine, that showed sinners mercy. Blessed be He Who dwelt in the womb, and wrought therein a perfect Temple, that He might dwell in it, a Throne that He might be in it, a Garment that He might be arrayed in it, and a Weapon that He might conquer in it.
Blessed be He Whom our mouth cannot adequately praise, because His Gift is too great for skill of orators [to tell]; neither can the faculties adequately praise His goodness. For praise Him as we may, it is too little.
And since it is useless to be silent and to constrain ourselves, may our feebleness excuse such praise as we can sing.
How gracious He, Who demands not more than our strength can give! How would Your servant be condemned in capital and interest, did he not give such as he could, and did he refuse that which He owed! Ocean of glory Who needest not to have Your glory sung, take in Your goodness this drop of praise; since by Your Gift You have supplied my tongue a sense for glorifying You.
Hymn 3
Blessed be that first day of yours, Lord, wherewith this day of Your Feast is stamped! Your day is like You, in that it shows mercy unto men, in that it is handed down and comes with all generations.
This is the day that ends with the aged, and returns that it may begin with the young! A day that by its love refreshes itself, that it may refresh by its might us decayed creatures. Your day when it had visited us and passed, and gone away, in its mercy returned and visited us again: for it knows that human nature needs it; in all things like You as seeking us.
The world is in want of its fountain; and for it, Lord, as for You, all therein are thirsty. This is the day that rules over the seasons! The dominion of Your day is like Yours, which stretches over generations that have come, and are to come! Your day is like You, because when it is one, it buds and multiplies itself, that it may be like You!
In this Your day, Lord, which is near unto us, we see Your Birth that is far off! Like to You be Your day to us, Lord; let it be a mediator and a warranter of peace.
Your day reconciled Heaven and earth, because therein the Highest came down to the lowest.
Your day was able to reconcile the Just One, who was angry at our sins; Your day forgave thousands of sins, for in it bowels of mercy shone forth upon the guilty!
Great, Lord, is Your day; let it not be small upon us, let it show mercy according as it used to do, upon us transgressors!
And if every day, Lord, Your forgiveness wells forth, how exceeding great should it be upon this day! All the days from the Treasure of Your bright day gain blessings. All the feasts from the stores of this feast have their fairness and their ornaments. Your bowels of mercy upon Your day make abundant to us, O Lord! Make us to distinguish Your day from all days! For great is the treasure-house of the day of Your Birth; let it be the ransomer of debtors! Great is this day above all days, for in it came forth mercy to sinners. A store of medicines is this Your great day, because on it shone forth the Medicine of Life to the wounded! A treasure of helpful graces is this day, for that on it Light gleamed forth upon our blindness! Yea, it also brought a sheaf unto us; and it came, that from it might flow plenty upon our hunger. This day is that forerunning Cluster, in which the cup of salvation was concealed! This day is the first-born feast, which, being born the first, overcomes all feasts. In the winter which strips the fruit of the branches off from the barren vine, Fruit sprang up Isaiah 5:2 unto us; in the cold that bares all the trees, a shoot was green for us of the house of Jesse. In December when the seed is hidden in the earth, there sprouted forth from the Womb the Ear of Life. In March when the seed was sprouting in the air, a Sheaf Leviticus 23:10 sowed itself in the earth. The harvest thereof, Death devoured it in Hell; which the Medicine of life that is hidden therein did yet burst open! In March when the lambs bleat in the wilderness, into the Womb the Paschal Lamb entered! Out of the stream whence the fishers came up, He was baptized and came up Who incloses all things in his net; out of the stream the fish whereof Simon took, out of it the Fisher of men came up, and took him. With the Cross which catches all robbers, He caught up unto life that robber! Luke 23:43 The Living by His death emptied Hell, He unloosed it and let fly away from it entire multitudes! The publicans and harlots, the impure snares, the snares of the deceitful fowler the Holy One seized! The sinful woman, who was a snare for men, He made a mirror for penitent women! The fig that cast its fruit, that refused fruit, offered Zacchæus as fruit; the fruit of its own nature it gave not, but it yielded one reasonable fruit! The Lord spread His thirst over the well, and caught her that was thirsty with the water that He asked of her. He caught one soul at the well, and again caught with her the whole city: John 4:42 twelve fishers the Holy One caught, and again caught with them the whole world. As for Iscariot, that escaped from His nets, the strangling halter fell upon his neck! His all-quickening net catches the living, Matthew 13:47 and he that escapes from it escapes from the living.
And who is able, Lord, to tell me up the several succours that are hid in You? How shall the parched mouth be able to drink from the Fountain of the Godhead! Answer today the voice of our petition; let our prayer which is in words take effect in deeds. Heal us, O my Master; every time that we see Your Feast, may it cause rumours that we have heard to pass away. Our mind wanders amid these voices. O Voice of the Father, still [other] voices; the world is noisy, in You let it gain itself quiet; for by You the sea was stilled from its storms. The devils rejoiced when they heard the voice of blasphemy: let the Watchers rejoice in us as they are wont. Matthew 18:10 From among Your fold there is the voice of sorrowfulness; O You that makes all rejoice, Luke 15:7 let Your flock rejoice! As for our murmur, O my Master, in it reject us not: our mouth murmurs since it is sinful. Let Your day, O Lord, give us all manner of joy, with the flowers of peace, let us keep Your passover. In the day of Your Ascension we are lifted up: John 20:17 with the new Bread shall be the memorial thereof. O Lord, increase our peace, that we may keep three feasts of the Godhead. Great is Your day, Lord, let us not be despised. All men honour the day of Your birth. You righteous One, keep the glory of Your birth; for even Herod honoured the day of His birth! The dances of the impure one pleased the tyrant; to You, Lord, let the voice of chaste women be sweet! You, Lord, let the voice of chaste women please, whose bodies You guardest holily. The day of Herod was like him: Your day too is like You! The day of the troubled one was troubled with sin; and fair as You are is Your fair day! The feast of the tyrant killed the preacher; in Your feast every man preaches glory. On the day of the murderer, the Voice was put to silence; but on Your day are the voices of the feast. The foul one in his feast put out the Light, that darkness might cover the adulterers. The season of the Holy One trims lamps, that darkness may flee with the hidden things thereof. The day of that fox Luke 13:32 stank like himself; but holy is the feast of the True Lamb. The day of the transgressor passed away like himself; Your day like Yourself abides for ever. The day of the tyrant raged like himself, because with his chain it put to silence the righteous Voice. The feast of the Meek One is tranquil like Himself, because His sun shines upon His persecutors. The tyrant was conscious that He was not a king, therefore to the King of kings he gave place. The whole day, Lord, suffices me not to balance Your praise with his blame. May Your Gracious day cause my sin to pass away, seeing that it is with the day of the impure one, that I have weighed Your day! For great is Your day beyond comparison! nor can it be compared with our days. The day of man is as of the earthy: the day of God is as of God! Your day, Lord, is greater than those of the prophets, and I have taken and set it beside that of the murderer! You know, O Lord, as knowing all things, how to hear the comparison that my tongue has made. Let Your day grant our requests for life, since his day granted the request for death. The needy king swore on his feast that half his kingdom should be the reward of the dance! Let Your feast then, O You that enrichest all, shed down in mercy a crumb of fine wheat flour! From the dry land gushed the Fountain, which sufficed to satisfy the thirst of the Gentiles! From the Virgin's womb as from a strong rock sprouted up the seed, whence was much fruit! Barns without number did Joseph fill; Genesis 41:49 and they were emptied and failed in the years of the famine. One true Sheaf gave bread; the bread of Heaven, whereof there is no stint. The bread which the First-born broke in the wilderness, failed and passed away though very good. He returned again and broke the New Bread which ages and generations shall not waste away! The seven loaves also that He broke failed, Matthew 15:36 and the five loaves too that He multiplied were consumed; Matthew 14:17 the Bread that He broke exceeded the world's needs, for the more it was divided, the more it multiplied exceedingly. With much wine also He filled the waterpots; they drew it out, yet it failed though it was abundant: of the Cup that He gave though the draught was small, very great was its strength, so that there is no stint thereto. A Cup is He that contains all strong wines, and also a Mystery in the midst of which He Himself is! The one Bread that He broke has no bound, and the one Cup that He mingled has no stint! Proverbs 9:5 The Wheat that was sown, John 12:24 on the third day came up and filled the Garner of Life. Matthew 13:30 The spiritual Bread, as the Giver of it, quickens the spiritual spiritually, and he that receives it carnally, receives it rashly to no profit. This Bread of grace let the spirit receive discerningly, as the medicine of Life. If the dead sacrifices in the name of devils were offered, 1 Corinthians 10:20 yea eaten, not without a mystery; at the holy thing of the offering, how much more does it behoove us that this mystery be circumspectly administered by us. He that eats of the sacrifice in the name of devils, becomes devilish without all contradiction. He that eats the Heavenly Bread, becomes Heavenly without doubt! Wine teaches us, in that it makes him that is familiar therewith like itself: for it hates much him that is fond of it, and is intoxicating and maddening, and a mocker Proverbs 20:1 to him! Light teaches us, in that it makes like itself the eye the daughter of the sun: the eye by the light saw the nakedness, and ran and chastely hid the chaste man. Genesis 9:23 As for that nakedness it was wine that made it, which even to the chaste skills not to show mercy!
With the weapon of the deceiver the First-born clad Himself, that with the weapon that killed, He might restore to life again! With the tree wherewith he slew us, He delivered us. With the wine which maddened us, with it we were made chaste! With the rib that was drawn out of Adam, the wicked one drew out the heart of Adam. There rose from the Rib Genesis 3:15 a hidden power, which cut off Satan as Dagon: for in that Ark a book was hidden that cried and proclaimed concerning the Conqueror! There was then a mystery revealed, in that Dagon was brought low in his own place of refuge! 1 Samuel 5:4 The accomplishment came after the type, in that the wicked one was brought low in the place in which he trusted! Blessed be He Who came and in Him were accomplished the mysteries of the left hand, and the right hand. Matthew 25:33 Fulfilled was the mystery that was in the Lamb, and fulfilled was the type that was in Dagon. Blessed is He Who by the True Lamb redeemed us, and destroyed our destroyer as He did Dagon! In December when the nights are long, rose unto us the Day, of Whom there is no bound! In winter when all the world is gloomy, forth came the Fair One Who cheered all in the world! In winter that makes the earth barren, virginity learned to bring forth. In December, that causes the travails of the earth to cease, in it were the travails of virginity. The early lamb no one ever used to see before the shepherds: and as for the true Lamb, in the season of His birth, the tidings of Him too hasted unto the shepherds. That old wolf saw the sucking Lamb, and he trembled before Him, though He had concealed himself; for because the wolf had put on sheep's clothing, the Shepherd of all became a Lamb in the flocks, in order that when the greedy one had been bold against the Meek, the Mighty One might rend that Eater. Judges 14:6 The Holy One dwelt bodily in the womb; and He dwelt spiritually in the mind. Mary that conceived Him abhorred the marriage bed; let not that soul commit whoredom in the which He dwells. Because Mary perceived Him, she left her betrothed: He dwells in chaste virgins, if they perceive Him. Matthew 5:28 The deaf perceive not the mighty thunder, neither does the heady man the sound of the commandment. For the deaf is bewildered in the time of the thunderclap, the heady man is bewildered also at the voice of instruction; if fearful thunder terrifies the deaf, then would fearful wrath stir the unclean! That the deaf hears not is no blame to him; but whoso tramples [on the commandments] it is headiness. From time to time there is thunder: but the voice of the law thunders every day. Let us not close our ears when their openings, as being opened and not closed against it, accuse us; and the door of hearing is open by nature, that it might reproach us for our headiness against our will. The door of the voice and the door of the mouth our will can open or close. Let us see what the Good One has given us; and let us hear the mighty Voice, and let not the doors of our ears be closed.
Glory to that Voice Which became Body, and to the Word of the High One Which became Flesh! Hear Him also, O ears, and see Him, O eyes, and feel Him, O hands, and eat Him, O mouth! You members and senses give praise unto Him, that came and quickened the whole body! Mary bare the silent Babe, while in Him were hidden all tongues! Joseph bare Him, and in Him was hidden a nature more ancient than anything that is old! The High One became as a little child, and in Him was hidden a treasure of wisdom sufficing for all! Though Most High, yet He sucked the milk of Mary, and of His goodness all creatures suck! He is the Breast of Life, and the Breath of Life; the dead suck from His life and revive. Without the breath of the air no man lives, without the Might of the Son no man subsists. On His living breath that quickens all, depend the spirits that are above and that are beneath. When He sucked the milk of Mary, He was suckling all with Life. While He was lying on His Mother's bosom, in His bosom were all creatures lying. He was silent as a Babe, and yet He was making His creatures execute all His commands. For without the First-born no man can approach unto the Essence, to which He is equal. The thirty years He was in the earth, Who was ordering all creatures, Who was receiving all the offerings of praise from those above and those below. He was wholly in the depths and wholly in the highest! He was wholly with all things and wholly with each. While His body was forming within the womb, His power was fashioning all members! While the Conception of the Son was fashioning in the womb, He Himself was fashioning babes in the womb. Yet not as His body was weak in the womb, was His power weak in the womb! So too not as His body was feeble by the Cross, was His might also feeble by the Cross. For when on the Cross He quickened the dead, His Body quickened them, yea, rather His Will; just as when He was dwelling wholly in the womb, His hidden Will was visiting all! For see how, when He was wholly hanging upon the Cross, His Power was yet making all creatures move! For He darkened the sun and made the earth quake; He rent the graves and brought forth the dead! See how when He was wholly on the Cross, yet again He was wholly everywhere! Thus was He entirely in the womb, while He was again wholly in everything! While on the Cross He quickened the dead, so while a Babe He was fashioning babes. While He was slain, He opened the graves; Matthew 27:52 while He was in the womb, He opened wombs. Come hearken, my brethren, concerning the Son of the Secret One that was revealed in His Body, while His Power was concealed! For the Power of the Son is a free Power; the womb did not bind it up, as it did the Body! For while His Power was dwelling in the womb, He was fashioning infants in the womb! His Power compassed her, that compassed Him. For if He drew in His Power, all things would fall; His Power upholds all things; while He was within the womb, He left not His hold of all. He in His own Person shaped an Image in the womb, and was shaping in all wombs all countenances. Whilst He was increasing in stature among the poor, from an abundant treasury He was nourishing all! While she that anointed Him was anointing Him, with His dew and His rain He was anointing all! The Magi brought myrrh and gold, while in Him was hidden a treasure of riches. The myrrh and spices which He had prepared and created, did the Magi bring Him of His own. It was by Power from Him that Mary was able to bear in Her bosom Him that bears up all things! It was from the great storehouse of all creatures, Mary gave Him all which she did give Him! Jeremiah 31:22 She gave Him milk from Himself that prepared it, she gave Him food from Himself that made it! He gave milk unto Mary as God: again He sucked it from her, as the Son of Man. Her hands bare Him in that He had emptied His strength; and her arm embraced Him, in that He had made Himself small. The measure of His Majesty who has measured? He caused His measures to shrink into a Raiment. She wove for Him and clothed Him because He had put off His glory. She measured Him and wove for Him, since He had made Himself little.
The sea when it bore Him was still and calmed, and how came the lap of Joseph to bear Him? The womb of hell conceived Him and was burst open, and how did the womb of Mary contain Him? The stone that was over the grave He broke open by His might, and how could Mary's arm contain Him? You came to a low estate, that You might raise all to life! Glory be unto You from all that are quickened by You! Who is able to speak of the Son of the Hidden One who came down and clothed Himself with a Body in the womb? He came forth and sucked milk as a child, and among little children the Son of the Lord of all crept about. They saw Him as a little Child in the street, while there was dwelling in Him the Love of all. Visibly children surrounded Him in the street; secretly Angels surrounded Him in fear. Cheerful was He with the little ones as a child; awful was He with the Angels as a Commander: He was awful to John for him to loose His shoe's latchet: He was gentle to sinners that kissed His feet! The Angels as Angels saw Him; according to the measure of his knowledge each man beheld Him: according to the measure of each man's discernment, thus he perceived Him that is greater than all. The Father and Himself alone are a full measure of knowledge so as know Him as He is! For every creature whether above or below obtains each his measure of knowledge; He the Lord of all gives all to us. He that enriches all, requires usury of all. He gives to all things as wanting nothing, and yet requires usury of all as if needy. He gave us herds and flocks as Creator, and yet asked sacrifices as though in need. He made the water wine as Maker: and yet he drank of it as a poor man. Of His own He mingled [wine] in the marriage feast, His wine He mingled and gave to drink when He was a guest. In His love He multiplied [the days of] the aged Simeon; that he, a mortal, might present Him who quickens all. By power from Him did Simeon carry Him; he that presented Him, was by Him presented [to God]. He gave imposition of hands to Moses in the Mount, Exodus 33:22 and received it in the midst of the river from John. In the power of His gifts John was enabled to baptize, though earthy, the heavenly. By power from Him the earth supported Him: it was near to being dissolved, and His might strengthened it. Martha gave Him to eat: viands which He had created she placed before Him. Of His own all that give have made their vows: of His own treasures they placed upon His table.
Hymn 4
This is the month which brings all manner of joy; it is the freedom of the bondsmen, the pride of the free, the crown of the gates, the soothing of the body, that also in its love put purple upon us as upon kings.
This is the month that brings all manner of victories; it frees the spirit; it subdues the body; it brings forth life among mortals; it caused, in its love, Godhead, to dwell in Manhood.
In this day the Lord exchanged glory for shame, as being humble; because Adam changed the truth for unrighteousness as being a rebel: the Good One had mercy on him, justified and set right them that had turned aside.
Let every man chase away his weariness, since that Majesty was not wearied with being in the womb nine months for us, and in being thirty years in Sodom among the madmen.
Because the Good One saw that the race of man was poor and humbled, He made feasts as a treasure-house, and opened them to the slothful, that the feast might stir up the slothful one to rise and be rich.
Lo! The First-born has opened unto us His feast as a treasure-house. This one day in the whole year alone opens that treasure-house: come, let us make gain, let us grow rich from it, ere they shut it up.
Blessed be the watchful, that have taken by force Matthew 11:12 from it the spoil of Life. It is a great disgrace, when a man sees his neighbor take and carry out treasure, and himself sits in the treasure-house slumbering, so as to come forth empty.
In this feast, let each one of us crown the gates of his heart. The Holy Spirit longs for the gates thereof, that He may enter in and dwell there, and sanctify it, and He goes round about to all the gates to see where He may enter.
In this feast, the gates are glad before the gates, and the Holy One rejoices in the holy temple, and the voice resounds in the mouth of children, and Christ rejoices in His own feast as a mighty man.
At the Birth of the Son the king was enrolling all men for the tribute-money, that they might be debtors to Him: the King came forth to us Who blotted out our bills, Colossians 2:14 and wrote another bill in His own Name that He might be our debtor. The sun gave longer light, and foreshadowed the mystery by the degrees which it had gone up. It was twelve days since it had gone up, and today is the thirteenth day: a type exact of the Son's birth Exodus 12:3 and of His Twelve.
Moses shut up a lamb in the month Nisan on the tenth day; a type this of the Son that came into the womb and shut Himself up therein on the tenth day. He came forth from the womb in this month in which the sun gives longer light.
The darkness was overcome, that it might proclaim that Satan was overcome; and the sun gave longer light, that it might triumph, because the First-born was victorious. Along with the darkness the dark one was overcome, and with the greater light our Light conquered!
Joseph caressed the Son as a Babe; he ministered to Him as God. He rejoiced in Him as in the Good One, and he was awe-struck at Him as the Just One, greatly bewildered.
Who has given me the Son of the Most High to be a Son to me? I was jealous of Your Mother, and I thought to put her away, and I knew not that in her womb was hidden a mighty treasure, that should suddenly enrich my poor estate. David the king sprang of my race, and wore the crown: and I have come to a very low estate, who instead of a king am a carpenter. Yet a crown has come to me, for in my bosom is the Lord of crowns!
With rival words Mary burned, yea she lulled Him, [saying,] Who has given me, the barren, that I should conceive and bring forth this One, that is manifold; a little One, that is great; for that He is wholly with me, and wholly everywhere?
The day that Gabriel came in unto my low estate, he made me free instead of a handmaid, of a sudden: for I was the handmaid of Your Divine Nature, and am also the Mother of Your human Nature, O Lord and Son!
Of a sudden the handmaid became the King's daughter in You, You Son of the King. Lo, the meanest in the house of David, by reason of You, You Son of David, lo, a daughter of earth has attained unto Heaven by the Heavenly One!
How am I astonied that there is laid before me a Child, older than all things! His eye is gazing unceasingly upon Heaven. As for the stammering of His mouth, to my seeming it betokens, that with God its silence speaks.
Who ever saw a Child the whole of Whom beholds every place? His look is like one that orders all creatures that are above and that are below! His visage is like that Commander that commands all.
How shall I open the fountain of milk to You, O Fountain? Or how shall I give nourishment to You that nourishest all from Your Table? How shall I bring to swaddling clothes One wrapped round with rays of glory?
My mouth knows not how I shall call You, O You Child of the Living One: for to venture to call You as the Child of Joseph, I tremble, since You are not his seed: and I am fearful of denying the name of him to whom they have betrothed me.
While You are the Son of One, then should I be calling You the Son of many. For ten thousand names would not suffice You, since You are the Son of God and also the Son of man, yea, David's Son and Mary's Lord.
Who has made the Lord of mouths to be without a mouth? For my pure conception of You wicked men have slandered me. Be, O You Holy One, a Speaker for Your Mother. Show a miracle that they may be persuaded, from Whom it is that I conceived You!
For Your sake too I am hated, You Lover of all. Lo! I am persecuted who have conceived and brought forth One House of refuge for men. Adam will rejoice, for You are the Key of Paradise.
Lo, the sea raged against Your mother as against Jonah. Lo, Herod, that raging wave, sought to drown the Lord of the seas. Whither I shall flee You shall teach me, O Lord of Your Mother.
With You I will flee, that I may gain in You Life in every place. The prison with You is no prison, for in You man goes up unto Heaven: the grave with You is no grave, for You are the Resurrection! John 11:25
A star of light which was not nature, shone forth suddenly; less than the sun and greater than the sun, less than it in its visible light, but greater than it in its hidden might, by reason of its mystery.
The Morning Star cast its bright beams among the darknesses, and led them as blind men, and they came and received a great light: they gave offerings and received life, and they worshipped and returned.
In the height and the depth two preachers were there to the Son: the bright star shouted above; John also preached below, two preachers, an earthly and a heavenly.
That above showed His Nature to be from the Majesty, and that below too showed his Nature to be from mankind. O great marvel, that His Godhead and His Manhood each was preached by them.
Whoso thought Him earthly, the bright star convinced him that He was heavenly; and whoso thought Him spiritual, John convinced him that He was also corporeal.
In the Holy temple Simeon carried Him, and lulled Him, [saying,] You have come, O Merciful One, showing mercy on my old age, making my bones to go into the grave in peace. In You shall I be raised from the grave into Paradise!
Anna embraced Him, and put her mouth to His lips, and the Spirit dwelt upon her own lips. As when Isaiah's mouth was silent, the coal which approached his lips opened his mouth; so Anna burned with the Spirit of His mouth, yea, she lulled Him, [saying,] Son of the Kingdom, Son of the lowliness, that hear and are still, that see and are hidden, that know and are unknown, God, Son of Man, glory be unto Your Name.
The barren also heard, ran, and came with their provisions: the Magi came with their treasures, the barren came with their provisions. Provisions and riches were suddenly heaped up in the house of the poor.
The barren woman cried out, as at that which she looked not for, Who has granted me this sight of your Babe, O Blessed One, by whom the heaven and earth are filled! Blessed be your Fruit, which made the barren vine to bear a cluster.
Zacharias came and opened his venerable mouth and cried, Where is the King, for whose sake I have begotten the Voice that is to preach before His face? Hail, Son of the King, to whom also our Priesthood shall be given up!
John approached with his parents and worshipped the Son, and He shed glory upon his countenance; and he was not moved as when in the womb! Mighty miracle, that here he was worshipping, there he leaped.
Herod also, that base fox, that stalked about like a lion, as a fox crouched down, and howled, when he heard the roaring of the Lion, who came to sit in the kingdom according to the Scriptures. The fox heard that the lion was a cub, and as a suckling; and he sharpened His teeth, that while He was yet a child the fox might lie in wait and devour the Lion before He had grown up, and the breath of His mouth should destroy him.
The whole creation became mouths to Him, and cried concerning Him. The Magi cried by their offerings! The barren cried with their children, the star of light cried in that air, lo! The Son of the King!
The Heavens were opened, the waters were calmed, the Dove glorified Him, the voice of the Father, louder than thunder, was instant and said, This is my beloved Son. The Angels proclaim Him, the children shout to Him with their Hosannas.
These voices above and below proclaim Him and cry aloud. The slumber of Sion was not dispersed by the voice of the thunders, but she was offended, stood up, and slew Him because He aroused her.
Hymn 5
At the birth of the Son, there was a great shouting in Bethlehem; for the Angels came down, and gave praise there. Their voices were a great thunder: at that voice of praise the silent ones came, and gave praise to the Son.
Blessed be that Babe in whom Eve and Adam were restored to youth! The shepherds also came laden with the best gifts of their flock: sweet milk, clean flesh, befitting praise! They put a difference, and gave Joseph the flesh, Mary the milk, and the Son the praise! They brought and presented a suckling lamb to the Paschal Lamb, a first-born to the First-born, a sacrifice to the Sacrifice, a lamb of time to the Lamb of Truth. Fair sight [to see] the lamb offered to The Lamb!
The lamb bleated as it was offered before the First-born. It praised the Lamb, that had come to set free the flocks and the oxen from sacrifices: yea that Paschal Lamb, Who handed down and brought in the Passover of the Son.
The shepherds came near and worshipped Him with their staves. They saluted Him with peace, prophesying the while, Peace, O Prince of the Shepherds. The rod of Moses praised Your Rod, O Shepherd of all; for You Moses praises, although his lambs have become wolves, and his flocks as it were dragons, and his sheep fanged beasts. In the fearful wilderness his flocks became furious, and attacked him.
You then the Shepherds praise, because You have reconciled the wolves and the lambs within the fold; O Babe, that art older than Noah and younger than Noah, that reconciled all within the ark amid the billows!
David Your father for a lamb's sake slaughtered a lion. You, O Son of David, hast killed the unseen wolf that murdered Adam, the simple lamb who fed and bleated in Paradise.
At that voice of praise, brides were moved to hallow themselves, and virgins to be chaste, and even young girls became grave: they advanced and came in multitudes, and worshipped the Son.
Aged women of the city of David came to the daughter of David; they gave thanks and said, Blessed be our country, whose streets are lightened with the rays of Jesse! Today is the throne of David established by You, O Son of David.
The old men cried, Blessed be that Son Who restored Adam to youth, Who was vexed to see that he was old and worn out, and that the serpent who had killed him, had changed his skin and had gotten himself away. Blessed be the Babe in Whom Adam and Eve were restored to youth.
The chaste women said, O Blessed Fruit, bless the fruit of our wombs; to You may they be given as first-born. They waxed fervent and prophesied concerning their children, who, when they were killed for Him, were cut off, as it were first-fruits.
The barren also fondled Him, and carried Him; they rejoiced and said, Blessed Fruit born without marriage, bless the wombs of us that are married; have mercy on our barrenness, You wonderful Child of Virginity!
Hymn 6
Blessed be the Messenger that was laden, and came; a great peace! The Bowels of the Father brought Him down to us; He did not bring up our debts to Him, but made a satisfaction to that Majesty with His own goods.
Praised be the Wise One, who reconciled and joined the Divine with the Human Nature. One from above and one from below, He confined the Natures as medicines, and being the Image of God, became man.
That Jealous One when He saw that Adam was dust, and that the cursed serpent had devoured him, shed soundness into that which was tasteless, and made him [as] salt, wherewith the accursed serpent should be blinded.
Blessed be the Merciful One, who saw the weapon by Paradise, that closed the way to the Tree of Life; and came and took a Body which could suffer, that with the Door, that was in His side, He might open the way into Paradise.
Blessed be that Merciful One, who lent not Himself to harshness, but without constraint conquered by wisdom; that He might give an ensample unto men, that by virtue and wisdom they might conquer discerningly.
Blessed is Your flock, since You are the gate thereof, and You are the staff thereof. You are the Shepherd thereof, You are the Drink thereof, You are the salt thereof, yea, the Visitor thereof. Hail to the Only-Begotten, that bare abundantly all manner of consolations!
The husbandmen came and did obeisance before the Husbandman of Life. They prophesied to Him as they rejoiced, [saying,] Blessed be the Husbandman, by Whom the ground of the heart is tilled, Who gathers His wheat into the garner of Life.
The husbandmen came and gave glory to the Vineyard that sprang of the root and stem of Jesse, the Virgin Cluster of the glorious Vine. May we be vessels for Your new Wine that renews all things.
In You may the Vineyard of my Well-beloved that yielded wild grapes find peace! Graft its vines from Your stocks; let it be laden entirely from Your blessings with a fruit which may reconcile the Lord of the Vineyard, Who threatens it.
Because of Joseph the workmen came to the Son of Joseph saying, Blessed be Your Nativity, You Head of Workmen, the impress whereof the ark bore, after which was fashioned the Tabernacle of the congregation that was for a time only!
Our craft praises You, Who art our glory. Make the yoke which is light, yea easy, for them that bear it; make the measure, in which there can be no falseness, which is full of Truth; yea, devise and make measures by righteousness; that he that is vile may be accused thereby, and he that is perfect, may be acquitted thereby. Weigh therewith both mercy and truth, O just One, as a judge.
Bridegrooms with their brides rejoiced. Blessed be the Babe, whose Mother was Bride of the Holy One! Blessed the marriage feast, whereat You were present, in which when wine was suddenly wanting, in You it abounded again!
The children cried out, Blessed He that has become unto us a Brother, and Companion in the midst of the streets. Blessed be the day which by the Branches gives glory to the Tree of life, that made His Majesty be brought low, to our childish age!
Women heard that a Virgin should conceive and bring forth a Son: honourable women hoped that you would rise from them; yea noble ladies that You might spring up from them! Blessed be Your Majesty, that humbled Itself, and rose from the poor!
Yea the young girls that carried Him prophesied, saying, Whether I be hated or fair, or of low estate, I am without spot for You. I have taken You in charge for the bed of Childbirth.
Sarah had lulled Isaac, who as a slave Genesis 22:6 bare the Image of the King his Master on his shoulders, even the sign of His Cross; yea, on his hands were bandages and sufferings, a type of the nails.
Rachel cried to her husband, and said, Give me sons. Genesis 30:1 Blessed be Mary, in whose womb, though she asked not, You dwelled holily, O Gift, that poured itself upon them that received it.
Hannah with bitter tears asked a child; 1 Samuel 1:7 Sarah and Rebecca with vows and words, Elizabeth also with her prayer, after having vexed themselves for a long time, yet so obtained comfort.
Blessed be Mary, who without vows and without prayer, in her Virginity conceived and brought forth the Lord of all the sons of her companions, who have been or shall be chaste and righteous, priests and kings.
Who else lulled a son in her bosom as Mary did? Who ever dared to call her son, Son of the Maker, Son of the Creator, Son of the Most High?
Who ever dared to speak to her son as in prayer? O Trust of Your Mother as God, her Beloved and her Son as Man, in fear and love it is meet for your Mother to stand before You!
Hymn 7
The Son of the Maker is like His Father as Maker! He made Himself a pure body, He clothed Himself with it, and came forth and clothed our weakness with glory, which in His mercy He brought from the Father.
From Melchizedek, the High Priest, a hyssop came to You, a throne and crown from the house of David, a race and family from Abraham.
Be unto me a Haven, for Your own sake, O great Sea. Lo! The Psalms of David Your Father, and the words also of the Prophets, came forth unto me, as it were ships.
David Your father, in the hundred and tenth Psalm, twined together two numbers as it were crowns to You, and came [to You], O Conqueror! With these shall You be crowned, and unto the throne shall You ascend and sit.
A great crown is the number that is twined in the hundred, wherein is crowned Your Godhead! A little crown is that of the number ten, which crowns the Head of Your Manhood, O Victorious One!
For Your sake women sought after men. Tamar desired him that was widowed, and Ruth loved a man that was old, yea, that Rahab, that led men captive, was captivated by You.
Tamar went forth, and in the darkness Genesis xxxviii stole the Light, and in uncleanness stole the Holy One, and by uncovering her nakedness she went in and stole You, O glorious One, that bringest the pure out of the impure.
Satan saw her and trembled, and hasted to trouble her. He brought the judgment to her mind, and she feared not; stoning and the sword, and she trembled not. He that teaches adultery hindered adultery, because he was a hinderer of You.
For holy was the adultery of Tamar, for Your sake. You it was she thirsted after, O pure Fountain. Judah defrauded her of drinking You. The thirsty womb stole a dew-draught of You from the spring thereof.
She was a widow for Your sake. You did she long for, she hasted and was also an harlot for Your sake. You did she vehemently desire, and was sanctified in that it was You she loved.
May Tamar rejoice that her Lord has come and has made her name known for the son of her adultery! Surely the name she gave him Genesis 38:29 was calling unto You to come to her.
For You honorable women shamed themselves, You that givest chastity to all! You she stole away in the midst of the ways, who pavest the way into the kingdom! Because it was life that she stole, the sword was not able to put her to death.
Ruth lay down by a man in the threshingfloor for Your sake; her love made her bold for Your sake, O You that teachest all penitents boldness. Her ears refused [to listen to] any voices for the sake of Your voice.
The live coal that glowed went up into the bed, of Boaz, lay down there, saw the High Priest, in whose loins was hidden a fire for his incense! She hasted and was a heifer to Boaz, that should bring forth You, the fatted Calf.
She went gleaning for her love of You; she gathered straw. You quickly paid her the reward of her lowliness; and instead of ears of grain, the Root of Kings, and instead of straws, the Sheaf of Life, You made to spring from her.
Hymn 8
That Your Resurrection might be believed among the gainsayers, they sealed You up within the sepulchre, and set guards; for it was for You that they sealed the sepulchre and set guards, O Son of the Living One!
When they had buried You, if they had neglected You and left You, and gone, there would have been room to lie [and say] that they did steal, O Quickener of all! When they craftily sealed Your sepulchre, they made Your Glory greater.
A type of You therefore was Daniel, and also Lazarus; one in the den, which the Gentiles sealed up, and one in the sepulchre, that the People opened. Lo! Their signs and their seals reproved them.
Their mouth had been open, if they had left Your sepulchre open. But they went away because they had shut Your sepulchre and sealed it, and closed up their own mouths. Yea they closed it, and when they had senselessly covered Your sepulchre, all the slanderers covered their own heads.
But in Your Resurrection You persuade them concerning Your Birth; since the womb was sealed, and the sepulchre closed up; being alike pure in the womb, and living in the sepulchre. The womb and the sepulchre being sealed were witnesses unto You.
The belly and hell cried aloud of Your Birth and Your Resurrection: The belly conceived You, which was sealed; hell brought You forth which was closed up. Not after nature did either the belly conceive You, or hell give You up!
Sealed was the sepulchre whereto they had entrusted You, that it might keep the dead [safe], Virgin was the womb which no man knew. Virgin womb and sealed sepulchre, like trumpets, proclaimed Him in the ears of a deaf people.
The sealed belly and the closed rock were among the accusers. For they slandered the Conception as being of the seed of man, and the Resurrection as being of the robbery of man; the seal and the signet convicted them, and pleaded that You were of Heaven.
The people stood between Your Birth and Your Resurrection. They slandered Your Birth, Your Death condemned them: they set aside Your Resurrection, Your Birth refuted them; they were two wrestlers that stopped the mouth that slandered.
For Elijah they went and searched the mountains: 2 Kings 2:16 as they sought him on earth, they the more confirmed that he was taken up. Their searching bore witness that he was taken up, in that it found him not.
If then prophets that had had forewarning of Elijah's ascension, doubted as it were of his going up, how much more would impure men speak slander of the Son? By their own guards He convinced them that He was risen again.
To Your Mother, Lord, no man knew what name to give. Should he call her Virgin, her Child stood [there]; and married no man knew her to be! If then none comprehended Your Mother, who shall suffice for You?
For she was, alone, Your Mother; along with all, Your Sister. She was Your mother, she was Your Sister. She along with chaste women was Your betrothed. With everything You adorned Her, You ornament of Your Mother.
For she was Your Bride by nature ere You had come; she conceived You not by nature after You had come, O Holy One, and was a Virgin when she had brought You forth holily.
Mary gained in You, O Lord, the honours of all married women. She conceived [You] within her without marriage. There was milk in her breasts, not after the way of nature. You made the thirsty land suddenly a fountain of milk.
If she carried You, Your mighty look made her burden light; if she gave You to eat, it was because You were hungry; if she gave You to drink [it was], because You were thirsty; willingly if she embraced You, You, the coal of mercies, kept her bosom safe.
A wonder is Your Mother. The Lord entered her, and became a servant: the Word entered her, and became silent within her; thunder entered her, and His voice was still: the Shepherd of all entered her; He became a Lamb in her, and came forth bleating.
The Belly of Your Mother changed the order of things, O You that orders all! The rich went in, He came out poor: the High One went in, He came out lowly. Brightness went into her and clothed Himself, and came forth a despised form.
The Mighty went in, and clad Himself with fear from the Belly. He that gives food to all went in, and gat hunger. He that gives all to drink went in, and gat thirst. Naked and bare came forth from her the Clother of all.
The daughters of the Hebrews that cried in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, instead of lamentations of their Scriptures, used lulling-songs from their own books: a hidden Power within their words was prophesying.
Eve lifted up her eyes from Sheol and rejoiced in that day, because the Son of her daughter as a medicine of life came down to raise up the mother of His mother. Blessed Babe, that bruised the head of the Serpent that smote her!
She saw the type of You from the youth of Isaac the fair. For You Sarah, as seeing that types of you rested on his childhood, called him, saying, O child of my vows, in whom is hidden the Lord of vows.
Samson the Nazarite shadowed forth a type of Your working. He tore the lion, the image of death, whom You destroyed, and caused to go forth from his bitterness the sweetness of life for men.
Hannah also embraced Samuel; for Your righteousness was hidden in him who hewed in pieces Agag as [a type] of the wicked one. He wept over Saul, because Your goodness also was shadowed forth in him. 1 Samuel 2:26
How meek are You! How mighty are You, O Child! Luke 2:52 Your judgment is mighty, Your love is sweet! Who can stand against You? Your Father is in Heaven, Your Mother is on earth; who shall declare You? Isaiah 53:8
If a man should seek after Your Nature, it is hidden in Heaven in the mighty Bosom of the Godhead; and if a man seek after Your visible Body, it is laid down before their eyes in the lowly bosom of Mary.
The mind wanders between Your generations, O Rich One! Thick folds are upon Your Godhead. Who can sound Your depths, You great Sea that made itself little?
We come to see You as God, and, lo! You are a man: we come to see You as man, and there shines forth the Light of Your Godhead!
Who would believe that You are the Heir of David's Throne? A manger have You inherited out of [all] his beds, a cave has come down to You out of all his palaces. Instead of his chariots a common ass's colt, perchance, comes down to You.
How fearless are You, O Babe, that dost let all have you [to carry]: upon every one that meets with You do You smile: to every one that sees You, are You glad-some! Your love is as one that hungers after men.
You make no distinction between Your fathers and strangers, nor Your Mother and maidservants, nor her that suckled You and the unclean. Was it Your forwardness or Your love, O You that loves all?
What moves You that You let all that saw You have You, both rich and poor? You helped them that called You not. Whence came it that You hungered so for men?
How great was Your love, that if one rebuked You, You were not angry! If a man threatened You, You were not terrified! If one hissed at You, You did not feel vexed! You are above the laws of the avengers of injuries.
Moses was meek, and [yet] his zeal was harsh, for he struggled and slew. Elisha also, who restored a child to life, tore a multitude of children in pieces by bears. Who are You, O Child, whose love is greater than that of the Prophets?
The son of Hagar who was wild, kicked at Isaac. He bore it and was silent, and his mother was jealous. Are You the mystery of him, or is not he the type of You? Are you like Isaac, or is it not he that is like You?
Hymn 9
Come rest, and be still in the bosom of Your Mother, Son of the Glorious. Forwardness fits not the sons of kings. O Son of David, You are glorious, and [yet] the Son of Mary, who hides Your beauty in the inner chamber.
To whom are You like, glad Babe, fair little One, Whose Mother is a Virgin, Whose Father is hidden, Whom even the Seraphim are not able to look upon? Tell us whom You are like, O Son of the Gracious!
When the wrathful came to see You, You made them gladsome: they exchanged smiles one with another: the angry were made gentle in You, O sweet One. Blessed are You, little One, for that in You even the bitter are made sweet.
Who ever saw a Babe that was gladsome when in arms to those that came near him, lo! reached Himself unto them that were far off? Fair sight [to see] a Child, that takes thought for every man that they may see him!
He that has care came and saw You, and his care fled away. He that had anxiety; at You forgat his anxiety; the hungry by You forgat his victuals; and he that had an errand, by You was errant and forgot his journey!
O still Yourself, and let men go to their works! You are a son of the poor, learn from Yourself that all the poor had to leave their work to come. You who loves men, hast bound men together by Your gladsomeness.
David, that stately king, took branches, and in the feast among the children as he danced, he gave praise. Is it not the love of David Your father that is warm in You?
That daughter of Saul! Her father's devil spoke in her: she called the stately [king] a vile fellow, because he gave an ensample to the elders of her people of taking up branches with the children in the day of praise to You.
Who would not fear to lay it to You that You are forward? For lo, the daughter of Saul who mocked the child, cut off her womb from childbearing; because her mouth derided, the reward of its mouth was barrenness. 2 Samuel 6:23
Let mouths tremble at blasphemy, lest they be shut up! Refrain, O daughter of Sion, your mouth from Him, for He is the Son of David, Who is gladsome before you. Be not unto Him as the daughter of Saul, whose race is extinct.
Because Elijah restrained the desire of the body, he withheld rain from the adulterous; because he kept under his body, he withheld dew from the whoremongers, who let their fountains be loosely poured out.
Because the hidden fire of the lust of the body ruled not in him, to him the fire from on high was obedient. And since he subdued on the earth the lust of the flesh, he went up there where holiness dwells and is at peace.
Elisha also who deadened his own body, quickened the dead. The resurrection of the dead was in the usual course by a sanctification not in the usual course; He raised the child, because he purified his soul like a weaned child.
Moses, who divided and separated himself from his wife, divided the sea before the harlot. Zipporah though daughter of a heathen priest kept sanctity: with a calf the daughter of Abraham went a whoring.
Hymn 10
In You will I begin to speak, You Head that began all created things. Revelation 3:14 I, even I will open my mouth, but it is You that fills my mouth. I am the earth to You, and You are the husbandman. Sow Your voice in me, Hebrews 6:7 You that sowed Yourself in the womb of your Mother.
All the chaste daughters of the Hebrews, and the virgins' daughters of the chief men, are astonished at me! For You does the daughter of the poor meet with envy, for You, the daughter of the weak with jealousy. Who has given You to me?
O Son of the Rich One, Who abhorred the bosom of the rich women, who led You to the poor? For Joseph was needy and I also in want, yet Your merchants have come, and brought gold, to the house of the poor.
She saw the Magi: her songs increased at their offerings; Lo! Your worshippers have surrounded me, yea your offerings have encircled me. Blessed be the Babe who made His Mother a harp for His words:
And as the harp waits for its master, my mouth waits for You. May the tongue of Your Mother bring what pleases You; and since I have learned a new Conception by You, let my mouth learn in You, O new born Son, a new song of praise.
And if hindrances are no hindrances to You, since difficulties are easy to You, as a womb without marriage conceived You, and a belly without seed brought You forth, it is easy for a little mouth to multiply Your great glory.
Lo! I am oppressed and despised, and yet cheerful: mine ears are filled with reproof and scorn; and it is a small thing to me to bear, for ten thousand troubles can a single comfort of Yours chase away.
And since I am not despised by You, O Son, my countenance is bright; and I am slandered for having conceived, and yet have brought forth the Truth who justifies me. For if Tamar was justified by Judah, how much more shall I be justified by You!
David Your father sung in a psalm of You before You had come, that to You should be given the gold of Sheba. This psalm that he sung of You, lo! It, while You are yet a child, in reality heaps before you myrrh and gold.
And the hundred and fifty Psalms that he wrote, in You were seasoned, because all the sayings of prophecy stood in need of Your sweetness, for without Your salt all manner of wisdom were tasteless. Job 6:6
Hymn 11
(The Virgin Mother to Her Child.)
I shall not be jealous, my Son, that You are with me, and also with all men. Be God to him that confesses You, and be Lord to him that serves You, and be Brother to him that loves You, that You may gain all!
When You dwelled in me, You also dwelled out of me, and when I brought You forth openly, Your hidden might was not removed from me. You are within me, and You are without me, O You that makes Your Mother amazed.
For [when] I see that outward form of Yours before my eyes, the hidden Form is shadowed forth in my mind, O holy One. In Your visible form I see Adam, and in Your hidden form I see Your Father, who is joined with You.
Have You then shown me alone Your Beauty in two Forms? Let Bread shadow forth You, and also the mind; dwell also in Bread and in the eaters thereof. In secret, and openly too, may Your Church see You, as well as Your Mother.
He that hates Your Bread is like him that hates Your Body. He that is far off that desires Your Bread, and he that is near that loves Your Image, are alike. In the Bread and in the Body, the first and also the last have seen You.
Yet Your visible Bread is far more precious than Your Body; for Your Body even unbelievers have seen, but they have not seen Your living Bread. They that were far off rejoiced! Their portion utterly scorns that of those that are near.
Lo! Your Image is shadowed forth in the blood of the grapes on the Bread; and it is shadowed forth on the heart with the finger of love, with the colors of faith. Blessed be He that by the Image of His Truth caused the graven images to pass away.
You are not [so] the Son of Man that I should sing unto You a common lullaby; for Your Conception is new, and Your Birth marvellous. Without the Spirit who shall sing to You? A new muttering of prophecy is hot within me.
How shall I call You a stranger to us, Who is from us? Should I call You Son? Should I call You Brother? Matthew 12:50 Husband should I call You? Lord should I call You, O Child that gave Your Mother a second birth from the waters?
For I am Your sister, of the house of David the father of us Both. Again, I am Your Mother because of Your Conception, and Your Bride am I because of Your sanctification, Your handmaid and Your daughter, from the Blood and Water wherewith You have purchased me and baptised me.
The Son of the Most High came and dwelt in me, and I became His Mother; and as by a second birth I brought Him forth so did He bring me forth by the second birth, because He put His Mother's garments on, she clothed her body with His glory.
Tamar, who was of the house of David, Amnon put to shame; and virginity fell and perished from them both. My pearl is not lost: in Your treasury it is stored, because You have put it on.
The scent of her brother-in-law slunk from Tamar, whose perfume she had stolen. As for Joseph's Bride, not even his breath exhaled from her garments, since she conceived Cinnamon. Song of Songs 4:14 A wall of fire was Your Conception unto me, O holy Son.
The little flower was faint, because the smell of the Lily Song of Songs 2:1 of Glory was great. The Treasure-house of spices stood in no need of flower or its smells! Flesh stood aloof because it perceived in the womb a Conception from the Spirit.
The woman ministers before the man, because he is her head. Joseph rose to minister before his Lord, Who was in Mary. The priest ministered before Your ark by reason of Your holiness.
Moses carried the tables of stone which the Lord wrote, and Joseph bare about the pure Tablet in whom the Son of the Creator was dwelling. The tables had ceased, because the world was filled with Your doctrine.
Hymn 12
The Babe that I carry carries me, says Mary, and He has lowered His wings, and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted into the air; and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son's.
I have seen Gabriel that called him Lord, and the high priest the aged servant, that carried Him and bare Him. I have seen the Magi when they bowed down, and Herod when he was troubled because the King had come.
Satan also who strangled the little ones that Moses might perish, Exodus 1:16 murdered the little ones that the Living One might die. To Egypt He fled, Who came to Judea that He might labour and wander there: he sought to catch the man that would catch himself.
In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame: Your Mother put on in her Virginity the garment of Glory that suffices for all. She gave the little vest of the Body to Him that covers all.
Blessed is she in whose heart and mind You were! A King's palace she was by You, O Son of the King, and a Holy of Holies by You, O High Priest! She had not the trouble nor vexation of a family, or a husband!
Eve, again, was a nest and a den for the accursed serpent, that entered in and dwelt in her. His evil counsel became bread to her that she might become dust. You are our Bread, and You are also [of] our race and our garment of glory.
He that has sanctity, if he be in danger, lo! Here is his Guardian! He that has iniquity, lo! Here is his Pardoner! He that has a devil, here is the Pursuer thereof! They that have pains, lo! Here is the Binder up of their breaches.
He that has a child, let him come and become a brother to my Well-beloved! Matthew 12:15 He that has a daughter or a young woman of his race, let her come and become the bride of my Glorious One! He that has a servant, let him set him free, that he may come and serve his Lord.
The son of free men that bears Your yoke, my Son, shall have one reward; and the slave that bears the burden of the yoke of two masters, of Him above and of Him below, there are two blessings for him, and two rewards of the two burdens.
The free woman, my Son, is Your handmaid: also if she who is in bondage serve You, in You she is free: in You she shall be comforted, because she is freed; hidden apples in her bosom are stored up, Song of Songs 2:3 if she love You!
O chaste woman, long for my Well-beloved, that He may dwell in you; and you also that are impure that He may sanctify you! You Churches also, that the Son of the Creator Who came to renew all creatures, may adorn you!
He received the foolish who worshipped and served all the stars; He renewed the earth which was worn out through Adam, who sinned and waxed old. The new formation was the creature of its Renewer, and the all-sufficient One repaired the bodies along with their wills.
Come you blind, and without money receive lights! Come you lame, and receive your feet! You deaf and dumb, receive your voice! Come you also whose hand is cut off; the maimed also shall receive his hands.
It is the Son of the Creator Whose treasure-houses are filled with all manner of helps. Let him that is without eyeballs come to Him that makes clay and changes it, that makes flesh, that enlightens eyes.
By the small portion of clay He shows that it was with His hand that Adam was formed: the soul of the dead also bears Him witness, that by Him it was that the breath of man was breathed in; by the last witnesses He was accredited to be the Son of Him Who is the First.
Gather together and come, O you lepers, and receive purification without labour. For He will not wash you as Elisha, who baptized seven times in the river: neither will He trouble you as the priests did with their sprinklings. Foreigners and also strangers have betaken themselves to the Great Physician.
The rank of strangers has no place with the King's Son; the Lord makes not Himself strange to His servants, [or conceal] that He is Lord of all. For if the Just makes the body leprous, and You purify it; then, the Former of the body hates the body; but You love it.
And if it be not Your forming, being Just, You would not have healed it; Deuteronomy 32:39 and if it were not Your creature, when in health, You would not have afflicted it. The punishments that You have cast upon it, and the pains which You have healed, proclaim that You are the Creator's Son.
Hymn 13
(Compare Hymn II. For the Epiphany.)
1. In the days of the King whom they called by the name of Semha, our Lord sprang up among the Hebrews: and Semha and Denha ruled, and came, King upon earth, and Son in Heaven; blessed be His rule!
2. In the days of the king who enrolled men in the book of the dead, our Redeemer came down and enrolled men in the book of the living. He enrolled, and they also: on high He enrolled us, on earth they enrolled Him. Glory to His Name!
3. In the days of the king whose name was Semha, the type and the Reality met together, the king and the King, Semha and Denha. His Cross upon His shoulders, was the sign of His Kingdom. Blessed be He Who bare it.
4. Thirty years He went in poverty upon the earth! The sounds of praise in all their measures let us twine, my brethren, to the years of the Lord, as thirty crowns to the thirty years. Blessed be His Birth!
5. In the first year, that is chieftain over the treasures and Dispenser of abundant blessings, let the Cherubim who bare up the Son in glory, praise Him with us! He left His glory, and toiled and found the sheep that was lost. To Him be thanksgiving!
6. In the second year, let the Seraphim praise Him yet more with us. They that had proclaimed the Son Holy, by and by saw Him when He was reviled among the gainsayers; He bore the contempt and taught praise. To Him be Glory!
7. In the third year, let Michael and his followers, that ministered to the Son in the highest, praise Him with us. They saw Him on the earth when He was ministering, washing feet, cleansing souls. Blessed be His lowliness!
8. In the fourth year, let the whole earth praise Him with us. It is but small for the Son, and it marvelled because it saw that it entertained Him in its bed that is so very mean. He filled the bed, and filled the Heaven. To Him be Majesty!
9. In the fifth year, the Sun shone unto the earth. With its breath let it praise our Sun Who brought His breadth down low, and humbled His mightiness, that the subtle eye of the unseen soul might be able to look upon Him. Blessed be His brightness!
10. In the sixth year again, let the whole air praise Him with us, in whose wide space it is that all things are made glorious, which saw its mighty Lord that had become a little Child in a little bosom. Blessed be His dignity!
11. In the seventh year, the clouds and winds rejoiced with us and sprinkled the dews over the flowers, for they saw the Son who enslaved His brightness and received disgrace and foul spitting. Blessed be His Redemption!
12. In the year also that is eighth, let the fields give praise, that suckle their fruits from His fountains. They worshipped because they saw the Son in arms and the pure One sucking pure milk. Blessed be His good pleasure!
13. In the ninth year, let the earth glorify the might of her Creator, Who laid seed in her in the beginning that she might bring forth all her produce; for it saw Mary, a thirsty land, who yielded the fruit of a Child that was a wonder, yea, a marvel. [Then] it praised Him more exceedingly, for that He was a great Sea of all good things. To Him be exaltation!
14. In the tenth year, let the mount Sinai glorify Him, it which trembled before its Lord. It saw that they took up stones against its Lord; He received stones, Who should build His Church upon a Stone. Blessed be His building!
15. In the eleventh year, let the great sea praise the fists of the Son that measured it, Isaiah 40:12 and it was astonished and saw that He came down, was baptized in a small water, and cleansed the creatures. Blessed be His noble act!
16. In the twelfth year, let the holy Temple praise Him, that saw the Child when He sat among the old men: the priests were silent when the Lamb of the Feast bleated in His feast. Blessed be His propitiation!
17. In the thirteenth year, let the crowns praise with us the King who conquered, that died and was crowned with a crown of thorns, and bound upon Adam a great crown at His right hand. Blessed be His Apostleship!
18. In the fourteenth year, let the passover in Egypt praise the Passover that came and passed over all, and instead of Pharaoh sunk Legion, instead of horses choked the devil. Blessed be His vengeance!
19. In the fifteenth year, let the lamb of the gluttons praise Him: since our Lord was so far from slaughtering it as Moses did, that He even redeemed mankind with His own Blood. He that feeds all, died for all. Blessed be His Father!
20. In the sixteenth year, let the wheat praise by its type that Husbandman, John 12:24 Who sowed His Body in the barren earth, since it covers all, spreads itself out and yields new Bread. Blessed be the Pure One!
21. In the seventeenth year, let the Vine praise the Lord that garnished it. He planted a vineyard, souls were as vineplants. He gave peace to the vineyard, but destroyed the vineyard that brought forth wild grapes. Blessed be its Uprooter!
22. In the eighteenth year, let the Vine which the wild boar out of the wood had eaten, praise the True Vine which trimmed Himself, and kept His fruit, and brought the fruits to the Lord of the Vineyard. John 18:9 Blessed be His Vintage!
23. In the nineteenth year, let our leaven praise the true leaven which worked itself in among those that were in error, and drove them all together, and made them one mind by one Doctrine. Blessed be your doctrine!
24. In the twentieth year, let salt praise Your living Body, wherewith are salted the bodies and the souls of all the faithful, and faith is the salt of men wherewith they are preserved. Mark 9:49 Blessed be Your preserving!
25. In the twenty-first year, let the waters of the desert praise You. They are sweet to them afar off, they are bitter to them Exodus 15:25 that are near, who did not minister to Him. The [chosen] people and the nations were bitter in the desert, and He destroyed them. They were sweetened by the Cross which redeemed them. Blessed be Your pleasantness!
26. In the twenty-second year, let arms and the sword praise You: they sufficed not to kill our adversary. It was You that killed him, even You who fixed the ear on, which Simon's sword cut off. Blessed be Your healing!
27. In the twenty-third year, let the ass praise Him, that gave its foal for Him to ride on, that loosed the bonds, that opened the mouth of the dumb, that opened also the mouth of the wild asses Genesis 16:12 when the race of Hagar gave a shout of praise. Acts 2:11 Blessed be the praise of You!
28. In the twenty-fourth year, let the Treasury praise the Son. The treasures marvelled at the Lord of treasures, when in the house of the poor He was increasing, Who made Himself poor that He might enrich all. 2 Corinthians 8:9 Blessed be Your rule!
29. In the twenty-fifth year, let Isaac praise the Son, for by His goodness he was rescued upon the Mount from the knife, and in his stead there was the victim, the type of the Lamb for the slaughter. Hebrews 11:19 The mortal escaped, and He that quickens all died. Isaiah liii Blessed be His offering!
30. In the twenty-sixth year, let Moses praise Him with us, for that he was afraid and fled from his murderers. Let him praise the Lord that bore the spear and that received the nails in His hands, in His feet. He entered into hell and spoiled it, Isaiah 49:24 and came forth. Blessed be Your Resurrection!
31. In the year which is the twenty-seventh, let the eloquent speakers praise the Son, for they found no cloke to save our cause. He was silent in the judgment-hall, and He carried our cause. Honour be to Him!
32. And in this year let all judges praise Him, who, as being just men, killed the ungodly; let them praise the Son who died for the wicked, as being good. Though Son of the Just One, He gave them all manner of good things in abundance. Blessed be His bowels of mercy!
33. In the eight and twentieth year, let all mighty men of valour praise the Son, because they delivered not from him who took us captive. He only is to be praised, who being slain showed us life. Revelation 5:9 Blessed be His delivery!
34. In the twenty-ninth year, let Job praise Him with us, who bore sufferings for himself, and our Lord bore for us the spitting and the spear, and the crown of thorns, and scourges, contempt and reproach, yea mocking. Blessed be His mercy!
35. In the year that is thirteenth, let the dead praise Him with us, because they are quickened, and the living, because they have turned to repentance, Malachi 4:6 because height and depth were set at one by Him. Blessed be He and His Father!
Hymn 14
(Resp .— Blessed be he who became beyond measure low, that he might make us beyond measure great)
1. Of the Birth of the Firstborn, let us tell on His Feast-day. — He gives on His day, secret comforts.— If the unclean King at his feast, in memory of his day—gave the gift of wrath, the head in a charger,— how much more shall the Blessed, give blessings to him— who sings praise at His Feast!
2. Let us not count our vigil like vigils of every day.— His feast, its reward, exceeds an hundredfold.— For this feast makes war, on sleep by its vigil;— speaking it makes war, on silence by its voice—clad with all blessings, it is chief of feasts,— and of every joy.
3. Today the angels, and the archangels—descended to sing— a new song on earth.— In this mystery they descend, and rejoice with the vigil-keepers.— At the time when they gave praise, blasphemy abounded.— Blessed be the Birth by which, lo! The world resounds— with anthems of praise.
4. For this is the night that joined, the Watchers on high with the vigil-keepers.— The Watcher came to make watchers in the midst of creation.— Lo! The vigil-keepers are made comrades with the Watchers:— the singers of praise are made, companions of the Seraphs.— Blessed be he who becomes, the harp of Your praise!— and Your grace becomes his reward.
5. The Birth then of the Firstborn, I will sing and tell how— the Godhead in the womb wove itself a vesture.— He put it on and came forth in birth, in death again put it off—once he put it off, twice He put it on.— On the left He wore it, then took it off thence—and laid it at the right.
6. He dwelt in a narrow bosom, the Might that rules all.— While He was dwelling there, He held the reins of the whole:— to His Father He made offering, that He might fulfil His Will:— Heaven was filled by Him, and every creature.— The Sun entered the womb, and in the height and the depth— his splendour abode.
7. He dwelt in the wide bosoms, of all the creatures—too narrow to hold, the greatness of the Firstborn.— How then sufficed for it, that bosom of Mary?— Marvellous if it sufficed, bewilderment if it sufficed not.— Of all bosoms that held Him, one bosom sufficed for Him—His, the Supreme Who begot Him.
8. The bosom that held Him, if it held Him Wholly,— equals the wondrous bosom, of the Supreme Who begot Him.— But who dare say the bosom, that is narrow weak and lowly—is equal to His, Who is the Supreme Being?— He dwelt there of His mercy, though so great is His Nature:— it is without bound.
9. Reconciling Peace, sent to the nations!— gladdening Brightness, that camest to the sad!— Mighty Leaven in silence, overcoming all!— Patient One that hast taken, man after man in Your net!— Happy he who has welcomed, your joy in his heart—and forgot his groans in You!
10. They sounded forth peace, the Watchers to the vigil-keepers.— Among the vigil-keepers the good tidings, were announced by the Watchers.— Who would sleep on that night, which has waked all creatures?— For they bear good tidings of peace, where warfare had been.— Blessed is he who has pleased, the Divine Majesty by his silence,— when speaking moved His wrath!
11. Watchers mixed with watchers, they rejoiced that the world came to life.— The Evil One was shamed who was king, and had woven a crown of lies;— and set up his throne, as God in the world.— The Babe laid in the manger, cast him from his dominion.— The Sun rendered worship, doing Him homage by his Magi—in his worshippers he worshipped Him.
12. God saw that mankind, worship things created:— He put on a created body, that in our custom He might capture us.— Lo! In this our form, He that formed us healed us—and in this created shape, our Creator gave us life.— He drew us not by force: blessed be He Who came in ours—and joined us in His!
13. Who would not marvel, at Mary, David's daughter—bearing an infant, and her virginity kept!— She lays Him on her breast, and lulls Him with song and He rejoices.— The Angels raise hymns, the Seraphs cry Holy,— the Magi offer, acceptable gifts,— to the Son Who is born.
14. O great above measure, immeasurably made low—praised beyond praises, debased to humiliation!— the tender mercies laid on You, bowed You down to all this—let Your grace bow me down, though evil to give praise!— Happy he who becomes, a fountain of voices—all praising You in all!
15. He was servant on earth; He is Lord in Heaven.— Heir of height and depth, He became a stranger:— Whom men judged in guile, He is judge in truth:— He Whose face they spat on, breathes His Spirit on theirs:— He Who held the frail reed, has become the staff of the world—which grows old and leans on Him.
16. He Who rose to wait on His servants, now sits to be worshipped.— Whom the scribes despised, before Him Seraphs cry Holy.— This praise Adam desired, to steal privily.— The serpent which made him fall, saw to what height he was raised:— he crushed it because it deceived him; the feet of Eve trod it down—which had sent venom into her ears.
17. The wife proved barren, and withheld her fruit—but the bosom of Mary, holily conceived.— To wonder at fields, and to admire plants— she needed not who received, and rendered what she borrowed not.— Nature confessed its defeat; the womb was aware of it—and restored what Nature gave not.
18. Mary was defeated, in the judgment by Elizabeth.— She that was barren pleaded, that the Will which prevailed— to close the open door, has opened the closed.— He has made childless the married womb; He has made fruitful the virgin womb.— Because the People were accurst faithless, He made her that was married—held from bearing before the face of the maiden.
19. He Who could give moisture, to breasts barren and dead—caused them to fail in youth, made them to flow in age—forced and changed nature, in its season and out of its season.— The Lord of natures changed, the Virgin's nature.— Because the People were barren, He made her that was aged—a mouth on behalf of the damsel.
20. And as He began at birth, He went on and fulfilled in death.— His Birth received worship; His Death paid the debt.— As He came to His Birth, the Magi worshipped Him—again He came to His Passion, and the thief sought refuge in Him— Between His Birth and Death, midway He set the world:— in birth and Death he gave it life.
21. Thousand thousands stand, and ten thousand thousands haste.— The thousands and ten thousands, cannot search out the One:— for all of them stand, in silence to serve.— He has no heir of His Throne, save the Son Who is of Him.— In the midst of silence is the enquiry into Him, when the watchers come to search Him out—they attain to silence and are stayed.
22. The Firstborn entered the womb, and the pure Virgin was not harmed.— He stirred and came forth in her travail, and the fair Mother was troubled by Him.— Glorious and unseen in entering, humble and manifest in issuing—for He was God in entering, and He was man in issuing.— A marvel and bewilderment to hear: fire entered the womb; put on a body and came forth!
23. Gabriel chief of Angels, called Him My Lord:— he called Him My Lord, to teach that He was his Lord, not his fellow.— Gabriel had with him, Michael as fellow:— the Son is Lord of the servants; exalted is His Nature as His Name.— No servant can search Him out; for the greater the servant—He is great above His servant.
24. When they stand before You, the watchers with songs of praise—they know not in what part, they shall discern You.— They have sought You above in the height; they have seen You below in the depth:— they have searched for You in the midst of heaven; they have seen You in the midst of the abyss:— they have discerned You beside Him that is worshipped; they have found You in the midst of the creatures:— they have come down to You and sung Glory to You.
25. You are all wonderful, in all parts where we seek You.— Near are You—and far, and who may attain to You?— No seeking avails, that its stretch should reach unto You.— Whereon it stretches to reach You, it is checked and stops—it falls short of Your mountain; Faith reaches there—and Love with prayer.
26. The Magi also sought Him, and in the manger when they found Him—instead of scrutiny worship, they offered Him in silence;— for empty strivings, oblations gave they Him.— Seek too the Firstborn, and if you find Him in the height—instead of troubled questionings, open your treasures before Him—and offer Him your works.
Hymn 15
Resp .— Blessed is He above all in His Birth! (bis).
1. Celebrate, O nations, this feast, first fruits of all feasts;— recount the sufferings that were, and the wounds and pains—that we may know what plagues, He healed, the Son Who was sent.
R., Blessed be He Who sufficed to heal our pains!
2. Celebrate, O saved nations, Him Who saves all in His Birth.— Even my feeble tongue, has become a harp through His mercy.— The excellency of the Firstborn, in His Festival let us sing.
R., Blessed is He Who has made us meet for His Feast!
3. How then can any one, admire a physician—until he hear and learn, what were the pains he healed?— And when our plagues are proclaimed, then is our Healer magnified.
R., Blessed be He Who is exalted in our pains!
4. Created things were worshipped: because the worshipper was foolish—he used to worship all things; but One they worshipped not.— He came down therefore in mercy and broke, the yoke that enslaved all.
R., Blessed is He Who loosed our pains!
5. The mercies of the Highest were revealed; He came down and set free His creature.— In this blessed month, wherein are made releases of slaves—the Lord underwent bondage, to call the bond to freedom.
R., Blessed is He Who brought freedom!
6. The Lord of the months chose Him, two months for His doings.— His Conception was in Nisan, and His Birth in Conun.— In Nisan He sanctified them that were conceived; and them that were born He set free in Conun.
R., Blessed be He Who makes glad His months!
7. The Sun revealed in silence, his worshippers to his Lord:— it was grievous to him, a servant, to be worshipped instead of his Lord.— Lo! creation is glad, that the Creator is worshipped.
R., Blessed is the Child that is worshipped.
8. The months wore three crowns, and crowned Him in His triumphs.— Blessed is the Sun for His Birth, and for His Resurrection desired—and for His Ascension blessed; the months have borne Him crowns.
R., Blessed be He Who has triumphed in His months!
9. Unveil and make glad your face, O Creature, in our feast.— Let the Church sing with voice; Heaven and earth in silence!— Sing and praise the Child, who has brought release for all!
R., Blessed be He Who has annulled the bonds!
10. When fools did reverence to the Sun, in reverence to him they disgraced him.— But now when all know he is a servant, in his course his Lord is worshipped;— all servants rejoice, that as servants they are reckoned.
R., Blessed be He Who ordered their natures!
11. We have done perverse things, who have become servants of servants.— Lo! Our freedom compelled him, a servant, to become lord to us:— the Sun, the servant for all, we have made Lord for all.
R., Blessed is He Who to Himself has turned us!
12. And the Moon too which was worshipped, has been set free by His Birth.— For 'tis strange that by her light, which enlightens the eyes—by it the eyes were darkened, that they gazed on her as a God.
R., Blessed be the beam that has enlightened us!
13. Fire commended Your Birth, which drew away worship from it.— The magi used to worship it: they who have worshipped before You.— They left it and worshipped its Lord; they exchanged fire for the Fire.
R., Blessed is He Who has bathed us in His light!
14. In place of the senseless fire that eats up its own body of itself—the magi adored the Fire Who gave His Body to be eaten.— The live coal drew near and sanctified, the lips that were unclean.
R., Blessed is He Who has mixed His Fire in us!
15. Delusion blinded men, to worship created things:— fellow servants were worshipped, and the God of all was wronged.— He Who is to be worshipped came down to His birth, and gathered to himself worship.
R., Blessed is He Who by all is worshipped!
16. The All-knowing saw, that men worship things that were made:— He put on a body that was made, that in our custom He might take us captive,— and by a body that was made, drew us to the Creator.
R., Blessed be He Who drew us with guile!
17. The Evil One knew how to harm us; and by lights he blinded us—by possessions he hurt us, through gold he made us poor—by the graver's graven images, he made us a heart of stone.
R., Blessed is He Who came and softened it!
18. They graved and set up stones, whereon men should stumble.— They set them not on the highway, for the blind to stumble on:— they called them Gods, that on them with open eyes men might stumble.
R., Blessed is He Who exposed the idols which they feared!
19. Sin had spread its wings, and covered all things—that none could discern, of himself or from above, the truth.— Truth came down into the womb, came forth and rolled away error.
R., Blessed is He Who dispelled Sin by His Birth!
20. For Mercy endured not, to see the way hindered.— When He came down for conception, He opened the way and made it easy:— when He came forth in birth, He trod it and marked its miles.
R., Blessed is the peace of Your Way!
21. He chose the Prophets; they cleared the way for the people:— He sent the Apostles; they smoothed paths for the nations.— The snares of the Evil One were shamed, when feeble men cleared them away.
R., Blessed is He Who made our paths plain!
22. The graven images blinded, their gravers in secret:— they graved eyes on stone, and darkened the eyes of the soul.— Praise to Your Birth that opened, the sight that was blinded.
R., Blessed be He Who has restored sight!
23. Let women praise Her, the pure Mary,— that as in Eve their mother—great was their reproach—lo! In Mary their sister—greatly magnified was their honour.
R., Blessed is He Who sprang from women!
24. Let the nations praise Your Birth, that they have gained eyes to see—how their wine has made them reel; and they have seen their own humiliation?— They come to know themselves, and worship Him who has rescued them.
R., Blessed is He Who has taught repentance!
25. Its worship mankind— had spread everywhere:— Him Who is to be worshipped it sought not, that worship should be paid Him.— But He endured not— worshippers that err.
R., Blessed is He Who came down and is worshipped!
26. The gold of the idols worshipped You, that You treated it as alms; which availed not apart, for the uses of life.— It hasted to Your purse, as it had hasted to the manger.
R., Blessed be He Whom Creation has loved!
27. The frankincense worshipped Your Birth, which had served demons.— It sorrowed then in its vapour: it exulted when it saw its Lord.— Instead of being the incense of delusion, it was an oblation before God!
R., Blessed is Your Birth which is worshipped!
28. The myrrh worshipped You for itself, and for its kindred ointments.— The hands that bore its ointment, had anointed abominable graven images.— To You the perfume was sweet, from the anointing wherewith Mary anointed You.
R., Blessed is Your savour which is sweet to us!
29. The gold that had been worshipped worshipped you, when the magi offered it.— That which had been worshipped in molten images, gave worship to You.— With its worshippers it worshipped You, it confessed that You are He that is to be worshipped.
R., Blessed is He Who claimed worship for Himself!
30. The Evil One fled and his hosts, he that used to exult in the world.— In the high places they sacrificed heifers to him, in the gardens they slew bulls for him.— He swallowed up all creation, he filled his belly with prey.
R., Blessed be He Who came and made him disgorge!
31. Of him the Lord said, that he had fallen from Heaven.— The Abhorred One had exalted himself; from his uplifting he has fallen. The foot of Mary has trod him down, who bruised Eve with his heel.
R., Blessed be He Who by His Birth laid him low!
32. Chaldeans went about, in all places and led astray:— the preachers of delusion, were shamed through the world—they were shamed and overcome—by the preachers of truth.
R., Blessed be the Babe Whom they preached!
33. Sin had spread out, her nets for the draught.— Praise be to Your Birth that captured, the nets of delusion.— The soul took flight on high, which had been taken in the deep.
R., Blessed is He Who prepared for us wings!
34. His Will was able, even by force to rescue us.— But since it was not force that made us guilty, it was not by force He purged us.— The Evil One by enticement enslaved us: Your Birth enticed to give us life.
R., Blessed be He Who planned and gave us life!
35. The creatures complained that they were worshipped; in silence they sought release.— The All-Releaser heard, and because He endured it not He came down—put on the form of a servant in the womb, came forth, set free Creation.
R., Blessed be He Who made his Creation his gain!
36. Mercy was kindled on high, at the voice of Creation that cried out:— Gabriel was sent; he came and gave tidings of Your Conception.— When You came to the Birth, Watchers gave tidings of your coming forth.
R., Blessed be by Your Worship above all!
37. For greater is the joy of the Birth than the Conception.— Yea it was one angel, that brought us tidings of Your Conception:— but in the joy of Your Birth, a multitude of Watchers brought tidings.
R., Blessed be Your tidings in Your day!
38. Glory to You I too in Your day, will offer, O You that are worshipped!— Take of the fruit that is mine; and give me mercy which is Yours!— For if the evil that is in me gives gifts, how much more shall You give Who is good!
R., Blessed is Your wealth in Your servant!
39. The two things You sought, in Your Birth have been done for us.— Our visible body You have put on; Your invisible might we have put on:— our body has become Your clothing; Your Spirit has become our robe.
R., Blessed be He Who has been adorned and has adorned us!
40. Height and depth were amazed, that Your Birth subdued the rebels.— For that we gave You hostages, You gave us the Paraclete:— when the hostages went up from us, the Captain of the host came down to us.
R., Blessed be He Who took away and sent down!
41. Come you mouths of all and pour forth, and be in the likeness of waters, and wells of voices! May the Holy Spirit come—and sing glory through us all, to the Father Who has redeemed us through His Son!
R., Blessed is He above all in His Birth!
Hymn 16
(Resp .— Glory to all of You from all of us! (bis.)
1. Who then that is mortal man, can declare concerning the All-Life giver—Who quitted the height of His Majesty, and abased Himself to humility?— You Who exaltest all in Your Birth, exalt my weak mind—to declare of Your Birth; not that I should search out Your Majesty,— but that I should proclaim Your grace.
R., Blessed be He Who conceals and reveals in His discourses!
2. It is a great marvel that the Son, dwelt wholly in a body—abode therein wholly and it sufficed for Him; dwelt therein though not bounded thereby.— His Will was wholly therein; His bounds reached wholly to His Father.— Who is sufficient to tell, how though He dwelt wholly in a body.— He likewise dwelt wholly in all?
R., Blessed is He Who though without bounds was bounded!
3. Your Majesty is concealed from us; Your Grace is revealed before us.— I will be silent, O Lord of Your Majesty; and I will tell of Your grace.— Your grace clove to You, and bowed You down to our vileness:— Your grace made You a babe; Your grace made You man:— it straitened, it enlarged, Your Majesty.
R., Blessed be the might that became little and became great!
4. Glory to Him Who became lowly, though lofty He was by His nature!— He became in His love the firstborn of Mary, Firstborn though He be of Godhead.— He became in name the offspring of Joseph, offspring though He be of the Most High.— He became by His own Will man, God though He be by His Nature.— Glorified be Your Will and Your Nature!
R., Blessed be Your Glory which put on our image!
5. Yea, O Lord, Your Birth, has become mother of all creatures; for it travailed anew and gave birth, to mankind which gave birth to You. You were born of it bodily; it was born of You spiritually.— All that You came for to birth, was that man might be born in Your likeness.— Your Birth became the author of birth to all.
R., Blessed be He Who became a youth and to all gave youth!
6. When man's hope had broken down, hope was increased by Your Birth.— Good tidings of hope they bore, the Heavenly Ones to men.— Satan who cut off our hope, his own hope by his own hands had cut off.— when he saw that hope was increased: Your Birth became to the hopeless,— a fountain teaming with hope.
R., Blessed be He Who bore the tidings of hope!
7. The day of Your Birth is like You, for it is desired and loved as You.— We who saw not Your Birth, and its flame as in its own time,— in this Your day we see You, even as You were a babe—beloved by all men, lo! In You the Churches rejoice—Your day adorns and is adorned.
R., Blessed be Your day which was ordained for us!
8. Your day has given us a gift, to which the Father has none other like—It was not Seraphim He sent us, nor yet did Cherubim come down among us—there came not Watchers or Ministers, but the Firstborn to Whom they minister.— Who can suffice to give thanks, that the Majesty which is beyond measure— is laid in the lowly manger!
R., Blessed be He Who gave us what He had won!
9. That generation Your Birth made glad, and our generation Your day makes glad: twofold was the happiness of that generation, for they saw Your Birth and also Your day:— less is the happiness of them that come after, for the day of Your Birth they see only.— Yet because they that then were, doubted, greater is the happiness of them that come after—who though they have not seen You have believed in You.
R., Blessed be Your happiness that is added to us!
10. The Magi exalted from afar; the Scribes murmured near at hand—the prophet showed his message, and Herod his wrath—the scribes showed their doctrine, the Magi showed their offerings. It is a marvel that to Him, the Babe, they of His own house hasted with their swords, and they that were strangers with their offerings.
R., Blessed be Your Birth which has stirred up all!
11. The bosom of Mary amazes me, that it sufficed for You, Lord, and embraced You.— All creation were too small, to conceal Your Majesty;— Heaven and earth too narrow, to be in the likeness of wings, to cover Your Godhead.— Too small for You was the bosom of earth; great enough for You was the bosom of Mary.— He dwelt in the bosom and healed in her bosom.
R.,
12. He was wrapped meanly in swaddling clothes, and offerings were offered Him.— He put on garments in youth, and from them there came forth helps: He put on the waters of baptism, and from them there shone forth beams:— He put on linen cloths in death, and in them were shown forth triumphs; with His humiliations, His exaltations.
R., Blessed be He Who joined His Glory to His Passion!
13. All these are the changes of raiment, which Mercy put off and put on—when He strove to put on Adam, the glory which he had put off.— He was wrapped in swaddling-clothes as Adam with leaves; and clad in garments instead of skins.— He was baptized for Adam's sin, and buried for Adam's death:— He rose and raised Adam into Glory.
R., Blessed be He Who came down and clothed him and went up!
14. Though Your Birth had sufficed, for Adam's sons as for Adam;— O Mighty One Who became a babe, in Your Birth anew have You begotten me!— O pure One Who wast baptized, let Your Washing wash away our filth— O Living One who wast buried, may we gain life in Your death!— I will praise all of You in Him that fills all.
R., Glory to all of You from all of us!
Hymn 17
(Resp ., Praise to You from every mouth on this Day of Your Birth!)
1. Infants were slain because of Your Birth, You Giver of life to all— But because He Who was slain was a King, our Lord the Lord of Kingdoms,— the tyrant in subtlety, gave for Him slain hostages,— clad in the mysteries of His slaying: the ranks of heaven received—the hostages that they of earth offered.
R., Blessed be the King who magnified Him!
2. All the Kings of the house of David, transmitted and hauled on each to each—the throne and crown of the Son of David, as guardian of a deposit.— In one they reached their bound and limit, when He came, the Lord of all things—and took away from them all things, and cut off the transmission of all things....
R., Blessed be He Who is clad in that which is His!
3. The doves moaned in Bethlehem, that the serpent destroyed their offspring.— The eagle betook himself to Egypt, to go down and receive the promises.— Egypt rejoiced in Him that there came, abundance for payment of debts,— which had failed the sons of Joseph. Among the sons of Joseph He laboured and paid— the debts of the sons of Joseph.
R., Blessed is He Who called Him out of Egypt!
4. The Scribes read daily, that the Star arises out of Jacob.— For the People were the Voice and the reading, for the nations the rising of the Star and the interpretation:— for them were the Books and for us the facts; for them boughs and for us fruits.— The Scribes read in things written; the Magi saw in things done, the outshining of that which was read.
R., Blessed be He Who added to us their books!
5. Who is able to tell, of the withdrawal and the appearings,— of the shining star that went, before the bearers of the offerings?— It appeared and proclaimed the crown; it was hid and concealed His Body.— It was for the Son in twofold wise, herald and guardian;— it guarded His Body, it proclaimed His Crown.
R., Blessed is He Who has given wisdom to them that proclaim Him!
6. The tyrant gazed on the Magi, as they asked Where is the son of the King?— While his heart was gloomy, he sought for himself a cheerful countenance.— With the sheep he sent wolves, that should kill the Lamb of God.— The Lamb went down to Egypt, that thence He might judge them—whence He had saved them.
R., Blessed be He Who yet again subdued them.
7. The Magi declared to the tyrant, When your servants joined us—the bright star withdrew itself, yea the paths hid themselves.— The blessed ones knew not, that the king had sent bitter foes—murderers as if worshippers, to destroy the sweet fruit—whereof the bitter eat and are made sweet.
R., To You be glory, Medicine of life!
8. When there the Magi received, commandment to go and seek Him.— it is written of them that they saw, that bright star and rejoiced.— Thus it is known that it had been withdrawn; therefore rejoiced they at its aspect.— It was hid and hindered the murderers, it arose and called the worshippers;— it overthrew a part and it called a part.
R., Blessed be He Who has triumphed in both parts!
9. The abhorred one who slew the children, how did he overlook the Child?— Justice hindered him that he thought, the Magi would return to him.— While he stayed waiting to seize, the Worshipped and His worshippers,— everything escaped his hands, the offerings and the worshippers took flight—from the tyrant to the Son of the King.
R., Glory to Him who knows all counsels!
10. The blameless Magi as they slept, meditated on their beds:— sleep became a mirror, and a dream rose on it as light.— The murderer they saw and trembled, as his guile and his sword flashed forth.— He taught the men guile, he sharpened the sword to sharpness:— the Watcher taught the sleepers.
R., Blessed is He who gives prudence to the simple!
11. The simple who believe have known, two Comings of Christ:— but the foolish scribes have not even perceived one Coming.— Yet the nations have life in the first, and shall rise again there in the second.— The People whose mind is blinded, the first Coming has dispersed—the second shall blot out their memory.
R., Blessed be the King Who has come and is to come!
12. When the Saviour arose as the blind, the Sun showed forth his beams—and they were clothed in darkness: the Brightness sent forth his light—and He brought the sons of the stars, to make manifest the sons of darkness.— For lo! Among you is the star, but on your eyes the veil.
R., To You be glory, newborn Sun!
13. Prophets declared concerning His Birth, but they made not plain the time thereof.— He sent the Magi, and they came and showed of its time.— Yet the Magi who made known the time, made not plain who the Child should be.— A star of splendid light, in its course showed who the Child was— how splendid was His lineage.
R., Blessed be He Who by them all was pointed out!
14. They scorned the trumpet of Isaiah, which sounded forth His pure Conception,— they silenced the lute of the Psalms, which sang of His Priesthood;— the harp of the Spirit they hushed, which sang again of His Kingdom;— under deep silence they closed up, the great Birth that joined the cry— of them above with them below.
R., Blessed be He Who appeared in the midst of silence!
15. His voice was the secret key that opened the mouths of the Magi.— Whereas preachers were silent in Judah, they made their voice sound through creation;— and the Gospel which those had scorned, these who came from far took and departed.— The scorners began to hear their own orders from strangers, who cried out the name of the Son of David.
R., Blessed be He Who by our voice has put them to silence!
16. Whereas the People scorned offerings, and brought them not to Him the Son of the King,— He sent His herald to the nations, and caused them to come with their offerings:— yet not all of them caused He to come, for it could not suffice for them—the narrow bosom of Bethlehem; but the bosom of Holy Church—enlarged itself and contained her children.
R., Blessed be He Who has made the barren fruitful!
17. The slayers of Bethlehem mowed down the tender flowers that among them— should perish the tender seedling, wherein was hidden the Bread of life.— But the ear of grain that has life had escaped, that it should come to the sheaves in harvest:— the grape that escaped when young, gave itself to the treading—that its wine might give life to souls.
R., Glory to You, Treasury of life!
18. The murderers went into a paradise, full of tender fruits:— they shook off the flowers from the bough, blossoms and buds they destroyed—unblemished oblations he offered, the persecutor unwittingly.— To him woe, but to them blessing! Bethlehem was first to give, virgin fruits to the Holy One.
R., Blessed is He Who receives the first fruits!
19. The Scribes were silenced in envy, the Pharisees in jealousy.— Men of stone cried out and gave praise, who had a heart of stone.— They applauded in presence of the Stone, the rejected that has become the Head.— Stones were made flesh by that Stone, and obtained mouths to speak; stones cried out through that Stone.
R., Blessed be Your Birth that has caused stones to cry out!
20. The Star that is written in Scripture, the nations beheld from afar—that the People might be shamed which is near; O People instructed and puffed up! Which by the nations hast been in turn instructed, how and where they saw—that vision whereof Balaam spoke; a stranger he who spread abroad concerning it—strangers they who saw it.
R., Blessed is He Who has provoked to jealousy them of His own house!
21. Let my supplication draw near to Your Door, yea my poverty to Your Treasury!— Give to me my Lord without measure, as God unto man!— And though You increase gifts as Son of the Blessed, and though You add to them as Son of the King;— though I be thankless as are all creatures of dust, as Adam so is the son of Adam,— and as the Blessed so too is the Son of the Blessed.
R., Praise be to You Who is like Your Father!
Hymn 18
Resp .— Praise be to Him Who sent Him! (bis)
1. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! In you is the sound—of the great feast the festival of the King!— Sion is deserted, her gates are sore thirsty—and forsaken of festivals.— Blessed your gates that are open yet not filled—and your halls that are enlarged yet suffice not!— In the midst of you lo! Is the sound, of the nations that cry out, and have put to silence the People.
2. Blessed are you, O Church, that in your festivals,— the Watchers rejoice amid your festivity!— for one night the Watchers gave praise—on the earth which withheld and refused praise.— Blessed your voices that have been sown and reaped—and in Heaven stored up in garners!— Your mouth is a censer, and your voices as perfumes, breathing vapour in your festivals.
3. Blessed are you, O Church, that all oblations,— are brought unto you in this feast.— The Magi once among traitors, offered them to the Truth.— Blessed your abode that He bowed Himself and dwelt therein, Son of the King Who is worshipped with gifts!— Gold from the West, and spices from the East—are offered in Your Festivals.
4. Blessed are you, O Church, that there is not with you—a tyrant King slayer of babes! For he killed in Bethlehem the little ones at random—that he might put to death the Child that gives life to all.— Blessed your children that are envied and worshipped,— by Kings, for those are promised for Your worship,— the crowns of the East:— he who trod down your dear ones, shall be trodden down by your beloved.
5. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! Over you—Isaiah too exults in his prophecy—Lo a Virgin shall conceive and bear—a Son Whose name is great mystery!— O interpretation revealed in the Church!— two names that were joined and became one—Emmanuel,— God be with you ever, Who joined you with His members!
6. Blessed are you, O Church, in Micah who cried out—A Shepherd shall come forth from Ephrata:— for He came to Bethlehem to take— from thence the rod of Jesse and to rule the nations.— Blessed your lambs that are sealed with His seal,— and your sheep that are kept by His sword!— You are, O Church,— the abiding Bethlehem—for in you is the Bread of Life!
7. Blessed are you, O Church, for lo! In you rejoices—Daniel also the man beloved,— who foretold that the glorious Messiah shall be killed,— and the city of holiness be laid desolate at His killing!— Woe to the People that was rejected and is not converted— Blessed the nations that were called and turned not away!— The bidden guests refused—and others in their stead enjoyed their banquet.
8. Blessed are you, O Church, for on your, lute, lo! King David sings psalms in you! In the Spirit he sings of Him You are My Son and I— this day have begotten You in the glories of holiness.— Blessed your ears that have been purged to hear!— On His day watch as His Body and call on Him—be taught by Sion—which saddened His Feast; make Him glad Who has gladdened you.
9. Blessed are you, O Church, that all festivals— have taken flight from Sion and sheltered with you!— In the midst of you the wearied Prophets have found rest—from the labour and the reproach they bore in Judah.— Blessed the books unrolled in your temples,— and the festivals celebrated in your shrines!— Sion is forsaken—and lo! Today the nations shout in your festivals.
10. Blessed are you, O Church, in ten blessings,— which our Lord has given as a mystery complete:— for on ten all the numbers hang, therefore are you perfect by ten blessings.— Blessed your crowns that are twined— with all blessings mixed in every crown!— O blessed one—with every blessing crowned, on me too send your blessing!
11. Blessed are you, Ephrata, mother of Kings, that from you sprang the Lord of diadems!— Micah gave you tidings that He is from everlasting, and the span of His times is not comprehended.— Blessed are your eyes which first of all discerned Him!— you He deemed worthy to see Him when He appeared—Chief of benediction,— and Beginning of gladness, you received first of all.
12. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, that the towns envy you—and the fortified cities!— As they envy you, so the women envy Mary,— and the virgins daughters of princes.— Blessed the maiden in whom He deigned to abide—and the city wherein He deigned to sojourn—a poor maiden,— and a small city, He chose Him to humble Himself.
13. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, that in you was the beginning—for Him the Son Who from everlasting is in the Father!— It is hard to comprehend, that before Time He is—Who in you made Himself subject to Time.— Blessed your ears, for in you first was heard the cry— of the Lamb of God who exulted in you!— Narrow though your manger—He spread Himself on all sides, and was worshipped of every creature.
14. Blessed are you too, Mary, that your name— is great and exalted because of your child!— You can tell then how and how long— and where He dwelt in you, the great One in small room.— Blessed your mouth that praised and enquired not—and your tongue that glorified and questioned not!— For His Mother was uncertain concerning Him—even while she carried Him in the womb; who then shall suffice to comprehend Him?
15. O Woman, you whom no man knew—how can we behold the Son you have borne?— For no eyes suffice to stand— before the transfigurations of the glory, that is on Him.— For tongues of fire abide in Him— Who sent tongues by His Ascension.— Be every tongue warned—that our questioning is as stubble, and as fire our scrutiny.
16. Blessed is he the priest who in the sanctuary,— offers to the Father the Son of the Father—the fruit that is plucked from our tree, though it be wholly of the Divine Majesty!— Blessed the hands that are hallowed and offer Him!— and the lips that are spent in kissing Him!— The Spirit in the Temple— longed for His embrace; and at His Crucifixion rent the veil and went forth.
17. The Archangel gave you greeting—as the earnest of holiness— Earth became to him new Heavens,— when the Watcher came down and sang glory on it.— The sons of the Highest encompassed your habitation— because of the Son of the King that dwelt in you.— Your abode below—to the Heaven above was made like by the host of Watchers.
Hymn 19
(Resp .— Blessed be your Birth that gladdens all creatures!)
1. The first year wherein, our Saviour was born—is source of blessing, and ground of life—for by it are borne—manifold triumphs, the sum of all help:— as the first day of the beginning,— the great pillar of all creatures—bears the building of Creation;— so the year of the Firstborn bears help for man.
2. In the second year, of our Saviour's Birth—the Magi exult, the Pharisees mourn:— treasures are opened—kings are hastening, and infants are slain.— For in it are offered in Bethlehem—oblations precious and terrible—for while love made offering of gold—hatred offered infants by the sword.
3. The day of the All-Lightening, exults in His birth—a pillar of radiance, which drives away, by its beams— the works of darkness. After the type of that day, wherein light was created,— and sundered the darkness that spread— over the fair beauty of Creation;— the radiance of our Saviour's birth— came in to sunder the darkness that was on the heart.
4. The first day the source and the beginning—orders the roots, to make all things grow.— Our Saviour's day— is praised far above it, a tree planted in the world.— For His Death is as the root in the earth; His Resurrection as the head in heaven; on all sides His words reach as boughs; likewise His Body as fruit for the eaters.
5. Let the second day, sing praise to the Birth— of the second Son, and His voice which first— commanded the firmament and it was made—divided the waters that were above, and gathered the seas that were under.— He Who divided waters from waters, divided Himself from the Watchers and came down to man.— For the waters which at His command were gathered.— He cleft the fountain of life and gave drink.
6. Let the third day weave with various hymns— the crown of psalms and with one voice present it— for His Birth who gave growth— of buds and flowers, on the third day.— But now He the All-giver of growth—has come down and become the All-holy Flower; from the thirsting earth has sprang forth and gone up—that he may decorate and crown the conquerors.
7. Let the fourth day praise, first among the four—His Birth Who created as the fourth day— the two lightgivers,— which fools worship, and are sightless and blind.— The Lord of Lightgivers has come down—and from the womb has shone on us as the Sun.— His splendours have opened the eyes of the blind:— His rays have given light to the wandering.
8. Let the fifth day laud Him Who created— on the fifth day creeping things and Dragons— of whose kind is the serpent.— He deceived with guile our mother, a maid void of counsel.— The deceiver who had mocked the maid,— by the Dove was exposed as false,— which from a virgin bosom sprang, and came forth— the Wise that trod down the crafty.
9. Let the sixth day laud Him who created— on Vesper-day Adam, whom Satan envied; as a feigned friend— cheered him in offering poison in his food.— The medicine of life reached them both—put on a body and came near to both.— The mortal tasted Him and lived through Him—the devourer who ate Him was left void.
10. Let the seventh day hallow the Holy One—Who hallows the Sabbath, and gave rest to all that live.— The Blessed One Who wearied not— has care for mankind, and has care for the beasts.— When Freedom fell under the yoke—He came to the Birth and became bond to make it free:— He was smitten on the face by servants in the judgment hall—He broke the yoke that was on the free, as Lord.
11. Let the eighth day, which circumcised the Hebrews,— praise Him Who commanded his namesake Joshua— to circumcise with a flint— the people circumcised in body, while the heart was profane within.— Lo! As the eighth day, as a Babe,— to circumcision He came Who circumcises all.— Though the sign of Abraham is on His Flesh—the blind daughter of Sion had defiled it.
12. Let the tenth day sing, praises in its turn.— For God the first letter of Jesus (goodly name!), is ten in numbering.— He Who is as a lamb, turns back the numbers.— For when the number goes up to ten, it is turned back to begin again from one. O great mystery of that which is in Jesus, Whose might turns all creation back again!
13. The All-Purifier Firstborn in the day of His purifying—purified the purification of the firstborn and was offered in the Temple:— the Lord of offering needed offerings,— to make offering of birds.— In His Birth were fulfilled the types,— in His purification and circumcision the allegories.— He came and paid over debts in His coming down—in His Resurrection He went up and sent down treasures.
The Nisibene Hymns
Hymn 1.
1. O God of mercies Who refreshed Noah, he too refreshed Your mercies. He offered sacrifice and stayed the flood; he presented gifts and received the promise. With prayer and incense he propitiated You: with an oath and with the bow You were gracious to him; so that if the flood should essay to hurt the earth, the bow should stretch itself over against it, to banish it away and hearten the earth. As You have sworn peace so do You maintain it, and let Your bow strive against Your wrath!
R. Stretch forth Your bow against the flood, for lo! It has lifted up its waves against our walls!
2. In revelation, Lord! It has been proclaimed, that that lowly blood which Noah sprinkled, wholly restrained Your wrath for all generations; how much mightier then shall be the blood of Your Only Begotten, that the sprinkling of it should restrain our flood! For lo! It was but as mysteries of Him that those lowly sacrifices gained virtue, which Noah offered, and stayed by them Your wrath. Be propitiated by the gift upon my altar, and stay from me the deadly flood. So shall both Your signs bring deliverance, to me Your cross and to Noah Your bow! Your cross shall cleave the sea of waters; Your bow shall stay the flood of rain.
3. Lo! All the billows trouble me; and You have given more favour to the ark: for waves alone encompassed it, mounds and weapons and waves encircle me. It was unto You a storehouse of treasures, but I have been a storehouse of debts: it in Your love subdued the waves; I in Your wrath, am left desolate among the weapons; the flood bore it, the river threatens me. O Helmsman of that ark, be my pilot on the dry land! To it You gave rest in the haven of a mountain; to me give You rest also in the haven of my walls!
4. The Just One has chastened me abundantly, but it He loved even among the waves. For Noah overcame the waves of lust, which had drowned in his generation the sons of Seth. Because his flesh revolted against the daughters of Cain, his chariot rode on the surface of the waves. Because women defiled him not, he coupled the beasts, whereof in the ark he joined together, all pairs in the yoke of wedlock. The olive which with its oil gladdens the face, with its leaf gladdened their countenances: for me the river whereof to drink is wont to make joyful, lo! O Lord, by its flood it makes me mournful.
5. The foulness of my guilt Your righteousness has seen, and Your pure eyes abhor me. You have gathered the waters by the hand of the unclean, that You might make for me purification of my guilt; not that in them You might baptize and purify me, but that in them You might chasten me with fear. For the waves will stir up to prayer, which shall wash away my guilt. The sight of them which is full of repentance, has been to me a baptism. The sea, O Lord, which should have drowned me, in it let Your mercies drown my guilt. In the Red Sea You drowned bodies; in this sea drown my guilt instead of bodies!
6. An ark in Your mercy You prepared, that You might preserve in it all the remnants. That You should not desolate the earth in Your wrath, Your compassion made an earth of wood. You emptied them one into the other; You rendered them back one unto the other. But my lands have thrice been filled and emptied again; and now against me the waves rebel, to overwhelm the remnant that has escaped in me. In the ark You saved a remnant; save in me, O Lord, yea in me a leaven. The ark upon the mountain brought forth; let me in my lands bring forth my imprisoned ones!
7. O Lord, gladden in me the imprisoned ones of my fortresses, You Who gladdened those prisoners with the olive leaf! You sent healing by means of the dove to the sick ones that were drowning in every wave; it entered in and drove out all their pains. For the joy of it swallowed up their sorrow, and mourning vanished away in its consolation. And as the chief of a host gives heartening to the fugitives, so the dove disseminated courage among the forsaken. Their eyes tasted the sight of peace, and their mouth hasted to open in Your praise. As the olive leaf in the waves, save me, that You may gladden in me the prisoners of my fortresses!
8. The flood assails, and dashes against our walls: may the all-sustaining might uphold them! It falls not as the building of the sand, for I have not built my doctrine upon the sand: a rock shall be for me the foundation, for on Your rock have I built my faith; the secret foundation of my trust, shall support my walls. For the walls of Jericho fell, because on the sand she had built her trust. Moses built a wall in the sea, for on a rock his understanding built it. The foundation of Noah was on a rock; the dwelling place of wood it bore up in the sea.
9. Compare the souls which are in me, with the living things that were in the ark; and instead of Noah who mourned in it, lo! Your altar mourning and humbled. Instead of the wedded wives that were in it, lo! My virgins that are unmarried. Instead of Ham who went forth from it and uncovered his father's nakedness, lo! Workers of righteousness, who have nourished and clothed apostles. In my pains, O my Lord, I rave in my speech; blame me not if my words provoke You! You put to silence the prosperous when they murmured: have mercy on me as on them that were silenced aforetime!
10. Before Your wrath You made a house of refuge, and all the nations rebelled against it. Noah was refreshed in rest, that his dwelling-place should give rest according to his name. You closed the doors to save the righteous one; You opened the floods to destroy the unclean. Noah stood between the terrible waves that were without, and the destroying mouths that were within: the waves tossed him and the mouths dismayed him. You made peace for him with them that were within; You brought down before him them that were without: You speedily changed his troubles, for light to You, O Lord, are hard things.
11. Hear and weigh the comparison of me with Noah, and though my suffering be light beside his, let Your mercy make our deliverance alike; for lo! My children stand like him, between the wrathful and the destroyer. Give peace, O Lord, among them that are within, and humble before me them that are without; and give me twofold victory! And whereas the slayer has made his rage threefold, may He of the three days show me threefold mercy! Let not the Evil One overcome Your lovingkindness: seeing he has assailed me twice and You overcame him thrice! Let my victory fly abroad through the world, that it may earn You praise in the world! O You who rose on the third day, give us not over to death in our third peril!
Hymn 2.
1. This day are opened, our mouths to give thanks. They who opened the breaches, have opened my sons' mouths. Thank the Merciful, who has delivered the men of our city, nor thought at that time of exacting the debts that were due by us. When they rose up they that took us captive, the worlds in our deliverance, tasted of Your graciousness.
R. From all that have mouths, glory be to Your grace!
2. He has saved us without wall, and taught us that He is our wall: He has saved us without king and made us know that is our king: He has saved us, in each and all, and showed us that He is All: He has saved us in His grace and again reveals, that freely He has mercy and quickens. From every boaster, He takes away his boasting, and gives it to His own grace.
3. The sound of all mouths, is too little for Your praise: for lo! In the hour when our light was smoking, and was at the point to be quenched (seeing that all is easy to You) of a sudden it awoke and shone! Who has seen these two marvels, that for him whose hope was cut off, hope has sprung up and increased; the hour of mourning has been turned into good tidings?
4. This is a festival day, whereon hang the feasts: for if wrath had taken us captive, lo! Our feasts too had ceased. Whereas our peace has conquered and triumphed, lo! Our festivals resound. This blessed day supports all: upon it depends the city, on the city depends the people, on the people depends peace, on peace depends all.
5. Out of these breaches, You have multiplied triumphs. Praise unto the Triune God goes up from the three breaches; for that He descended and repaired them, in His mercy which restrains wrath. He smote the enemy who understood not that He was teaching us. He taught those within, for in His justice He made the breaches; He taught those without, for in His goodness He repaired them.
6. Speak and give glory, my delivered ones on this day; old men and boys, young men and maidens, children and innocents, and you, O Church, mother of the city! For the old men have been rescued from captivity, the youths from torture, the sucklings from being dashed in pieces, the women from dishonour, and the Church from mockery.
7. He came to us with hardness; we were afraid for a moment: He came in gentleness, and we rejoiced for an hour. He turned and left us for a little, we wandered without end; like a beast of prey which is trained by blandishments and by fear, but if so be that men turn from it, rebels and strays and becomes savage in the midst of peace.
8. He punished us and we feared not; He rescued us, and we were not shamed: He straitened us and our vows were multiplied; He enlarged us and our crimes were multiplied. When He constrained there was a covenant, when He gave breathing-space there was straying. Though He knew us He lowered Himself to establish us. In the evening we exalted Him; in the morning we rejected Him. When necessity left us, faithfulness left us.
9. He afflicted us by the breaches, that He might punish our crimes: He raised the mounds that thereby, He might humble our boasting. He made a breach for the seas that thereby, He might wash away our pollution. He shut us in that we might gather together in His Temple. He shut us in and we were quenched; He set us free and we went astray. We are like wool, which passes into every colour.
10. We know that when the blessed sons of Nineveh repented, it was not because of mounds they repented, nor yet by means of waters, nor was it by reason of a breach, nor yet by reason of bows; it was not at the sound of the bowstring they feared and repented. They harkened to a feeble voice; they caused their little ones to fast; they made their youths chaste, they made their kings humble.
11. You smote us and we justified You, for it befell not by chance; You delivered us and we gave thanks, for it was not that we were worthy. You had mercy on us not because You erred, in hoping that we should repent. It was manifest to You that when You had mercy on us we strayed. You knew that we had sinned; You knew that we are sinners: with our iniquity that has been and is, You were acquainted when You had mercy on us.
12. Weigh our repentance, that it may outbalance our crimes! But not in even balance, ascends either weight; for our crimes are heavy and manifold, and our repentance is light. He had commanded that we should be sold for our debt: His mercy became our advocate; principal and increase, we repaid with the farthing, which our repentance proffered.
13. Ten thousand talents for that little payment, our debt He forgave us. He was bound to exact it, that He might appease His justice: He was constrained again to forgive, that He might make His grace to rejoice. Our tears for the twinkling of an eye we gave Him; He satisfied His justice, in exacting and taking a little; He made His grace to rejoice, when for a little He forgave much.
14. Ten thousand are the crimes that He has pardoned; ten thousand tongues, are unable to suffice, in presence of His goodness. He has pardoned us and we have not pardoned; we have requited to Him contrariwise; the guilt committed we write up afresh. Pardon, O Lord, we cry; Requite, O Lord, we pray: pardon verily when we have done wrong; requite verily when wrong is done us.
15. Yea not as those without, have we laboured for our lives. They have raised their mounds, but we not even our voices: they have broken through the wall, but we— not even the chains, the frail chains on our heart within have we broken. God has rejected the diligent, for the sake of the slothful; He has rejected the labour done without, though He was rejected from within.
16. He has set free them that talked, and smitten the silent; the wall was beaten, and the people were instructed: He spared them that can suffer, He smote that which knows no suffering. For instead of souls that feel, He smote the stones that feel not, that He might chasten us. In His love He spared our bodies, and hasted to smite our wall.
17. Who has ever seen, that a breach became as a mirror? Two parties looked thereinto; it served for those without and those within. They saw therein as with eyes, the Power that breaks down and builds up: they saw Him who made the breach and again repaired it. Those without saw His might; they departed and tarried not till evening: those within saw His help; they gave thanks yet sufficed not.
18. Let the day of your deliverance, arouse you from sloth! When the wall was broken through, when the elephants pressed in, when the javelins showered, when men did valiantly, then was there a sight for the heavenly ones. Iniquity fought there; mercy triumphed there; lovingkindness prevailed below; the watchers shouted on high.
19. And your enemy wearied himself, striving to smite by his wiles, the wall that encompassed you, a bulwark to your inhabitants. He wearied himself and availed not; and in order that he might not hope, that if He broke through He should also enter and take us captive, he broke it through and not once only; and was put to shame, nor was that enough, even unto three times, that he might be shamed thrice in the three.
20. Let my happiness by God's grace, be also multiplied in your midst! Whereas in you my crimes have been many, many be in you my fruits! Whereas in you I have sinned in my youth, in you let there be mercy for my old age! By the mouth of your sons pray for your son, for I have sinned beyond my ability, and have repented below my ability; I have scattered above measure, and have gathered below measure.
Hymn 3.
1. Fix our hearing, that it be not loosed and wander! For it is a-wandering if one enquire, who He is and what He is like. For how can we avail, to paint in us the likeness, of that Being which is like to the mind? Naught is there in it that is limited, in all of it He sees and hears; all of it as it were speaks; all of it is in all senses.
R., Praise to the One Being, that is to us unsearchable!
2. His aspect cannot be discerned, that it should be portrayed by our understanding: He hears without ears; He speaks without mouth; He works without hands, and He sees without eyes. Because our soul ceases not nor desists, in presence of Him Who is such; in His graciousness He put on the fashion of humankind and gathered us into His likeness.
3. Let us learn in what way that Being is spiritual and appeared as corporeal; and how it also is tranquil and appears as wrathful. These things were for our profit; that Being in our likeness was made like to us that we may be made like Him. One there is that is like Him, the Son Who proceeded from Him, Who is stamped with His likeness.
4. O Nisibis, hear these things, for, for your sake these things were written and spoken. Both to yourself and to others, you have been in the world a cause of strife and of disputations. Mouths over you, O you that were shut up, even over you mouths sang; when you triumphed and wast enlarged, in you mouths were opened, for lamentation and for thanksgiving.
5. The prayer of your inhabitants, sufficed for your deliverance; it was not that they were righteous, but that they were penitent: according as they were disgraced, so did they haste to submit to the rod. In transgressions and in triumphs they had like part. They whose crimes were great, so be their fruit great; they who triumphed in their sackcloth, have triumphed also in their crowns.
6. The day of your deliverance, is king of all days. The Sabbath overthrew your walls, it overthrew the ungrateful; the day of the Resurrection of the Son, raised again your ruins; the day of Resurrection raised you according to its name, it glorified its title. The Sabbath relaxed its watch; for the making of the breaches, it took blame to itself.
7. In Samaria hunger prevailed, but in you fullness prevailed. In Samaria there broke in and came on her, abundance of a sudden; but in you there roared and came in on you a sea of a sudden. In her was eaten a child, and it saved her alive; in you was eaten the body, living and all life-giving; of a sudden He delivered them, the Eaten delivered the eaters.
8. We know that the Blessed wills not the afflictions, that have been in all ages; though He has wrought them, it is our offenses that are the cause of our troubles. No man can complain against our Creator; it is for Him to complain against us, who have sinned and constrained Him, to be wrathful though He wills it not, and to smite though He desires it not.
9. The Earth, the vine, and the olive, are in need of chastisement. When the olive is bruised, then its fruit smells sweet; when the vine is pruned, then its grapes are goodly; when the soil is ploughed its yield is goodly. When water is confined in channels, desert places drink of it; brass, silver and gold, when they are burnished shine.
10. If then it be that man, by chastening makes all things goodly; and if he who despises and rejects chastening, is hated and all rebels against him; then by that which he chastens, let him learn Him that chastens him; since whoso chastens does so that he may profit thereby. For whoso chastens his servants, does so that he may possess them; the good God chastens His servants that they may possess themselves.
11. Let your afflictions be, books to admonish you, for the thrice-besieged, suffice to become for you, books to meditate therein, every hour on their histories. Because you despised the two Testaments, wherein you might read your life, therefore He wrote for you, three hard books wherein you should read your chastisements.
12. Let us avert by that which has been, the thing that is yet to be; let us be taught by that which has come, to escape that which is coming; let us remember that which is past, to avoid that which is future. Because we had forgotten the first stroke, the second fell on us; because we forgot the second, the third bore heavy on us. Who will yet again forget!
Hymn 1.
1. O God of mercies Who refreshed Noah, he too refreshed Your mercies. He offered sacrifice and stayed the flood; he presented gifts and received the promise. With prayer and incense he propitiated You: with an oath and with the bow You were gracious to him; so that if the flood should essay to hurt the earth, the bow should stretch itself over against it, to banish it away and hearten the earth. As You have sworn peace so do You maintain it, and let Your bow strive against Your wrath!
R. Stretch forth Your bow against the flood, for lo! It has lifted up its waves against our walls!
2. In revelation, Lord! It has been proclaimed, that that lowly blood which Noah sprinkled, wholly restrained Your wrath for all generations; how much mightier then shall be the blood of Your Only Begotten, that the sprinkling of it should restrain our flood! For lo! It was but as mysteries of Him that those lowly sacrifices gained virtue, which Noah offered, and stayed by them Your wrath. Be propitiated by the gift upon my altar, and stay from me the deadly flood. So shall both Your signs bring deliverance, to me Your cross and to Noah Your bow! Your cross shall cleave the sea of waters; Your bow shall stay the flood of rain.
3. Lo! All the billows trouble me; and You have given more favour to the ark: for waves alone encompassed it, mounds and weapons and waves encircle me. It was unto You a storehouse of treasures, but I have been a storehouse of debts: it in Your love subdued the waves; I in Your wrath, am left desolate among the weapons; the flood bore it, the river threatens me. O Helmsman of that ark, be my pilot on the dry land! To it You gave rest in the haven of a mountain; to me give You rest also in the haven of my walls!
4. The Just One has chastened me abundantly, but it He loved even among the waves. For Noah overcame the waves of lust, which had drowned in his generation the sons of Seth. Because his flesh revolted against the daughters of Cain, his chariot rode on the surface of the waves. Because women defiled him not, he coupled the beasts, whereof in the ark he joined together, all pairs in the yoke of wedlock. The olive which with its oil gladdens the face, with its leaf gladdened their countenances: for me the river whereof to drink is wont to make joyful, lo! O Lord, by its flood it makes me mournful.
5. The foulness of my guilt Your righteousness has seen, and Your pure eyes abhor me. You have gathered the waters by the hand of the unclean, that You might make for me purification of my guilt; not that in them You might baptize and purify me, but that in them You might chasten me with fear. For the waves will stir up to prayer, which shall wash away my guilt. The sight of them which is full of repentance, has been to me a baptism. The sea, O Lord, which should have drowned me, in it let Your mercies drown my guilt. In the Red Sea You drowned bodies; in this sea drown my guilt instead of bodies!
6. An ark in Your mercy You prepared, that You might preserve in it all the remnants. That You should not desolate the earth in Your wrath, Your compassion made an earth of wood. You emptied them one into the other; You rendered them back one unto the other. But my lands have thrice been filled and emptied again; and now against me the waves rebel, to overwhelm the remnant that has escaped in me. In the ark You saved a remnant; save in me, O Lord, yea in me a leaven. The ark upon the mountain brought forth; let me in my lands bring forth my imprisoned ones!
7. O Lord, gladden in me the imprisoned ones of my fortresses, You Who gladdened those prisoners with the olive leaf! You sent healing by means of the dove to the sick ones that were drowning in every wave; it entered in and drove out all their pains. For the joy of it swallowed up their sorrow, and mourning vanished away in its consolation. And as the chief of a host gives heartening to the fugitives, so the dove disseminated courage among the forsaken. Their eyes tasted the sight of peace, and their mouth hasted to open in Your praise. As the olive leaf in the waves, save me, that You may gladden in me the prisoners of my fortresses!
8. The flood assails, and dashes against our walls: may the all-sustaining might uphold them! It falls not as the building of the sand, for I have not built my doctrine upon the sand: a rock shall be for me the foundation, for on Your rock have I built my faith; the secret foundation of my trust, shall support my walls. For the walls of Jericho fell, because on the sand she had built her trust. Moses built a wall in the sea, for on a rock his understanding built it. The foundation of Noah was on a rock; the dwelling place of wood it bore up in the sea.
9. Compare the souls which are in me, with the living things that were in the ark; and instead of Noah who mourned in it, lo! Your altar mourning and humbled. Instead of the wedded wives that were in it, lo! My virgins that are unmarried. Instead of Ham who went forth from it and uncovered his father's nakedness, lo! Workers of righteousness, who have nourished and clothed apostles. In my pains, O my Lord, I rave in my speech; blame me not if my words provoke You! You put to silence the prosperous when they murmured: have mercy on me as on them that were silenced aforetime!
10. Before Your wrath You made a house of refuge, and all the nations rebelled against it. Noah was refreshed in rest, that his dwelling-place should give rest according to his name. You closed the doors to save the righteous one; You opened the floods to destroy the unclean. Noah stood between the terrible waves that were without, and the destroying mouths that were within: the waves tossed him and the mouths dismayed him. You made peace for him with them that were within; You brought down before him them that were without: You speedily changed his troubles, for light to You, O Lord, are hard things.
11. Hear and weigh the comparison of me with Noah, and though my suffering be light beside his, let Your mercy make our deliverance alike; for lo! My children stand like him, between the wrathful and the destroyer. Give peace, O Lord, among them that are within, and humble before me them that are without; and give me twofold victory! And whereas the slayer has made his rage threefold, may He of the three days show me threefold mercy! Let not the Evil One overcome Your lovingkindness: seeing he has assailed me twice and You overcame him thrice! Let my victory fly abroad through the world, that it may earn You praise in the world! O You who rose on the third day, give us not over to death in our third peril!
Hymn 2.
1. This day are opened, our mouths to give thanks. They who opened the breaches, have opened my sons' mouths. Thank the Merciful, who has delivered the men of our city, nor thought at that time of exacting the debts that were due by us. When they rose up they that took us captive, the worlds in our deliverance, tasted of Your graciousness.
R. From all that have mouths, glory be to Your grace!
2. He has saved us without wall, and taught us that He is our wall: He has saved us without king and made us know that is our king: He has saved us, in each and all, and showed us that He is All: He has saved us in His grace and again reveals, that freely He has mercy and quickens. From every boaster, He takes away his boasting, and gives it to His own grace.
3. The sound of all mouths, is too little for Your praise: for lo! In the hour when our light was smoking, and was at the point to be quenched (seeing that all is easy to You) of a sudden it awoke and shone! Who has seen these two marvels, that for him whose hope was cut off, hope has sprung up and increased; the hour of mourning has been turned into good tidings?
4. This is a festival day, whereon hang the feasts: for if wrath had taken us captive, lo! Our feasts too had ceased. Whereas our peace has conquered and triumphed, lo! Our festivals resound. This blessed day supports all: upon it depends the city, on the city depends the people, on the people depends peace, on peace depends all.
5. Out of these breaches, You have multiplied triumphs. Praise unto the Triune God goes up from the three breaches; for that He descended and repaired them, in His mercy which restrains wrath. He smote the enemy who understood not that He was teaching us. He taught those within, for in His justice He made the breaches; He taught those without, for in His goodness He repaired them.
6. Speak and give glory, my delivered ones on this day; old men and boys, young men and maidens, children and innocents, and you, O Church, mother of the city! For the old men have been rescued from captivity, the youths from torture, the sucklings from being dashed in pieces, the women from dishonour, and the Church from mockery.
7. He came to us with hardness; we were afraid for a moment: He came in gentleness, and we rejoiced for an hour. He turned and left us for a little, we wandered without end; like a beast of prey which is trained by blandishments and by fear, but if so be that men turn from it, rebels and strays and becomes savage in the midst of peace.
8. He punished us and we feared not; He rescued us, and we were not shamed: He straitened us and our vows were multiplied; He enlarged us and our crimes were multiplied. When He constrained there was a covenant, when He gave breathing-space there was straying. Though He knew us He lowered Himself to establish us. In the evening we exalted Him; in the morning we rejected Him. When necessity left us, faithfulness left us.
9. He afflicted us by the breaches, that He might punish our crimes: He raised the mounds that thereby, He might humble our boasting. He made a breach for the seas that thereby, He might wash away our pollution. He shut us in that we might gather together in His Temple. He shut us in and we were quenched; He set us free and we went astray. We are like wool, which passes into every colour.
10. We know that when the blessed sons of Nineveh repented, it was not because of mounds they repented, nor yet by means of waters, nor was it by reason of a breach, nor yet by reason of bows; it was not at the sound of the bowstring they feared and repented. They harkened to a feeble voice; they caused their little ones to fast; they made their youths chaste, they made their kings humble.
11. You smote us and we justified You, for it befell not by chance; You delivered us and we gave thanks, for it was not that we were worthy. You had mercy on us not because You erred, in hoping that we should repent. It was manifest to You that when You had mercy on us we strayed. You knew that we had sinned; You knew that we are sinners: with our iniquity that has been and is, You were acquainted when You had mercy on us.
12. Weigh our repentance, that it may outbalance our crimes! But not in even balance, ascends either weight; for our crimes are heavy and manifold, and our repentance is light. He had commanded that we should be sold for our debt: His mercy became our advocate; principal and increase, we repaid with the farthing, which our repentance proffered.
13. Ten thousand talents for that little payment, our debt He forgave us. He was bound to exact it, that He might appease His justice: He was constrained again to forgive, that He might make His grace to rejoice. Our tears for the twinkling of an eye we gave Him; He satisfied His justice, in exacting and taking a little; He made His grace to rejoice, when for a little He forgave much.
14. Ten thousand are the crimes that He has pardoned; ten thousand tongues, are unable to suffice, in presence of His goodness. He has pardoned us and we have not pardoned; we have requited to Him contrariwise; the guilt committed we write up afresh. Pardon, O Lord, we cry; Requite, O Lord, we pray: pardon verily when we have done wrong; requite verily when wrong is done us.
15. Yea not as those without, have we laboured for our lives. They have raised their mounds, but we not even our voices: they have broken through the wall, but we— not even the chains, the frail chains on our heart within have we broken. God has rejected the diligent, for the sake of the slothful; He has rejected the labour done without, though He was rejected from within.
16. He has set free them that talked, and smitten the silent; the wall was beaten, and the people were instructed: He spared them that can suffer, He smote that which knows no suffering. For instead of souls that feel, He smote the stones that feel not, that He might chasten us. In His love He spared our bodies, and hasted to smite our wall.
17. Who has ever seen, that a breach became as a mirror? Two parties looked thereinto; it served for those without and those within. They saw therein as with eyes, the Power that breaks down and builds up: they saw Him who made the breach and again repaired it. Those without saw His might; they departed and tarried not till evening: those within saw His help; they gave thanks yet sufficed not.
18. Let the day of your deliverance, arouse you from sloth! When the wall was broken through, when the elephants pressed in, when the javelins showered, when men did valiantly, then was there a sight for the heavenly ones. Iniquity fought there; mercy triumphed there; lovingkindness prevailed below; the watchers shouted on high.
19. And your enemy wearied himself, striving to smite by his wiles, the wall that encompassed you, a bulwark to your inhabitants. He wearied himself and availed not; and in order that he might not hope, that if He broke through He should also enter and take us captive, he broke it through and not once only; and was put to shame, nor was that enough, even unto three times, that he might be shamed thrice in the three.
20. Let my happiness by God's grace, be also multiplied in your midst! Whereas in you my crimes have been many, many be in you my fruits! Whereas in you I have sinned in my youth, in you let there be mercy for my old age! By the mouth of your sons pray for your son, for I have sinned beyond my ability, and have repented below my ability; I have scattered above measure, and have gathered below measure.
Hymn 3.
1. Fix our hearing, that it be not loosed and wander! For it is a-wandering if one enquire, who He is and what He is like. For how can we avail, to paint in us the likeness, of that Being which is like to the mind? Naught is there in it that is limited, in all of it He sees and hears; all of it as it were speaks; all of it is in all senses.
R., Praise to the One Being, that is to us unsearchable!
2. His aspect cannot be discerned, that it should be portrayed by our understanding: He hears without ears; He speaks without mouth; He works without hands, and He sees without eyes. Because our soul ceases not nor desists, in presence of Him Who is such; in His graciousness He put on the fashion of humankind and gathered us into His likeness.
3. Let us learn in what way that Being is spiritual and appeared as corporeal; and how it also is tranquil and appears as wrathful. These things were for our profit; that Being in our likeness was made like to us that we may be made like Him. One there is that is like Him, the Son Who proceeded from Him, Who is stamped with His likeness.
4. O Nisibis, hear these things, for, for your sake these things were written and spoken. Both to yourself and to others, you have been in the world a cause of strife and of disputations. Mouths over you, O you that were shut up, even over you mouths sang; when you triumphed and wast enlarged, in you mouths were opened, for lamentation and for thanksgiving.
5. The prayer of your inhabitants, sufficed for your deliverance; it was not that they were righteous, but that they were penitent: according as they were disgraced, so did they haste to submit to the rod. In transgressions and in triumphs they had like part. They whose crimes were great, so be their fruit great; they who triumphed in their sackcloth, have triumphed also in their crowns.
6. The day of your deliverance, is king of all days. The Sabbath overthrew your walls, it overthrew the ungrateful; the day of the Resurrection of the Son, raised again your ruins; the day of Resurrection raised you according to its name, it glorified its title. The Sabbath relaxed its watch; for the making of the breaches, it took blame to itself.
7. In Samaria hunger prevailed, but in you fullness prevailed. In Samaria there broke in and came on her, abundance of a sudden; but in you there roared and came in on you a sea of a sudden. In her was eaten a child, and it saved her alive; in you was eaten the body, living and all life-giving; of a sudden He delivered them, the Eaten delivered the eaters.
8. We know that the Blessed wills not the afflictions, that have been in all ages; though He has wrought them, it is our offenses that are the cause of our troubles. No man can complain against our Creator; it is for Him to complain against us, who have sinned and constrained Him, to be wrathful though He wills it not, and to smite though He desires it not.
9. The Earth, the vine, and the olive, are in need of chastisement. When the olive is bruised, then its fruit smells sweet; when the vine is pruned, then its grapes are goodly; when the soil is ploughed its yield is goodly. When water is confined in channels, desert places drink of it; brass, silver and gold, when they are burnished shine.
10. If then it be that man, by chastening makes all things goodly; and if he who despises and rejects chastening, is hated and all rebels against him; then by that which he chastens, let him learn Him that chastens him; since whoso chastens does so that he may profit thereby. For whoso chastens his servants, does so that he may possess them; the good God chastens His servants that they may possess themselves.
11. Let your afflictions be, books to admonish you, for the thrice-besieged, suffice to become for you, books to meditate therein, every hour on their histories. Because you despised the two Testaments, wherein you might read your life, therefore He wrote for you, three hard books wherein you should read your chastisements.
12. Let us avert by that which has been, the thing that is yet to be; let us be taught by that which has come, to escape that which is coming; let us remember that which is past, to avoid that which is future. Because we had forgotten the first stroke, the second fell on us; because we forgot the second, the third bore heavy on us. Who will yet again forget!
The Nisibene Hymns
Hymn 4.
1. My God, without ceasing, I will tread the threshold of Your house; I who have rejected all grace, I will ask with boldness, that I may receive with confidence. R., Our hope, be our Wall!
2. For if, O Lord, the earth, enriches manifold, a single grain of wheat, how then shall my prayers, be enriched by Your grace!
3. Because of the voices of my children, their sighs and their groans, open to me the door of Your mercy! Make glad for their voices, the mourning of their sackcloth!
4. O firstborn that wast a weaned child, and wast familiar with the children, the accurst sons of Nazareth, hearken to my lambs that have seen the wolves, for lo! They cry.
5. For a flock, O my Lord, in the field, if so be it has seen the wolves, flees to the shepherd, and takes refuge under his staff, and he drives away them that would devour it.
6. Your flock has seen the wolves, and lo! It cries loudly. Behold how terrified it is! Let your Cross be a staff, to drive out them that would swallow it up!
7. Accept the cry of my little ones, that are altogether pure. It was He, the Infant of days, that could appease, O Lord, the Ancient of days.
8. The day when the Babe came down, in the midst of the stall, the Watchers descended and proclaimed, peace— may that peace be, in all my streets for all my offspring.
9. Seventy and two old men, the elders of that people, sufficed not for its breaches. The Babe it was, the Son of Mary, that gave peace on every side.
10. Have mercy, O Lord, on my children! In my children call to mind Your childhood, You Who wast a child! Let them that are like Your childhood, be saved by Your grace!
11. Mingled in the midst of the flock, are the cry of the innocents, and the voice of the sheep, that call on the Shepherd of all, to deliver them from all.
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13. There is a joy that is affliction, misery is hidden in it; there is a misery that is profit, it is a fountain of joys, in that new world.
14. The happiness that my persecutor has gained, woes are hidden in it; therefore I rejoice. The wretchedness that I have gained from him, happiness is concealed for me in it.
15. Who will not give praise, to Him that has begotten us, and can beget again, from the midst of evil rumours the voices of glad tidings!
16. You Healer of all, have visited me in my sicknesses! Payment for Your medicines, I cannot give You, for they are priceless.
17. Your mercies in richness, surpass Your medicines: they cannot be bought, they are given freely, it is for tears they are bartered.
18. How, O my Master, can a desolate city, whose king is far off, and her enemy near, stand firm without aid of mercy?
19. A harbour and refuge, are You at all times. When the seas covered me, Your mercy descended and drew me out. Again let Your help lay hold on me!
20. Apply to my afflictions, the medicine of Your salvation, and the passion of Your help! Your sign can become, a medicine to heal all.
21. I am greatly oppressed, and I hasten to complain, against him that troubles me. Let Your mercy, my Lord, take the bitterness from the cup, that my sins have mixed.
22. I look on all sides, and weep that I am desolate. Very many though be my chiefs and my deliverers, one is He that has delivered me.
23. My young men have fled, O Lord, and gone forth, and are like chickens, which an eagle pursues; lo! They hide in a secret place: may Your peace bring them back!
24. The sound of my grape-gatherers, lo! My ears miss it, for their voices fail. Let it resound with the glad tidings, O Blessed One of Your salvation!
25. A voice of terror, I have heard on my towers; as my defenders cry, while they guard my walls. Still it with the voice of peace!
26. The noise of my husbandmen, shall speak peace without my walls: the shouting of my dwellers shall speak peace within my walls, that I may give peace without and within.
27. Make an end, O Lord, of the mourning, of this Your pure altar, and of Your chaste priest, who stands clothed in mourning, covered over with sackcloth!
28. The Church and her ministers shall give praise for Your salvation; the city and its dwellers. Be the voice of peace, O Lord, the reward of their voices!
Hymn 5.
1. Cause to be heard in Your grace, the tidings of Your salvation: for an hearing has been made, a path of passage; our minds have been downtrodden, by messages of terror. R., Praises to Your victory! Glory to Your Dominion!
2. Comfort with profits, though small and scanty, those that have had harvest, of hurt by their labour: at a time of profit, they have gained but loss.
3. It is manifest that He has stood, portioning wrath upon earth: loss and profit in anger He divided. There are whom He has cast down of a sudden, and there are whom He has puffed up of a sudden.
4. To teach us that He can, chastise in all ways; when He saw the persecutors, were terrible before my eyes, He laid me out before my children, and they my beloved chastised me.
5. Lo! He taught me to fear, Himself and not man: for when there was none to smite us, His wrath gave command of a sudden, and every man stretched himself out, and chastised himself.
6. In like manner that Babylonian, who struck down all kings when he was confident and hoped that there was none to smite him, God caused that by his own hands, he should strike himself down.
7. His majesty and his mind, of a sudden became mad together: he rent and cast off his garments; he went forth and wandered in the desert; he drove himself out first, and then his servants drove him out.
8. He showed to all kings, whom he had led captive and brought down, that not by his own power, could he have overcome: the power that struck him down, was that which punished them.
9. I have stood and borne, O my Lord; the blows of my deliverers. You are able in Your grace, to make me profit by the smiters: You are able in Your justice to punish me by my helpers.
10. The day when the host was bold, to come up against Samaria; their plenty and their pleasure, their treasures and their possessions, they cast away and forsook and fled. He crowned her by her persecutors.
11. My beloved ones crowned me, and my deliverers healed me. Through the guilt of my dwellers, my helpers chastised me, give me drink from Your vines, of the cup of consolation!
12. The grain and the vine, preserve, O my Lord, by Your grace! Be the husbandman cheered, by the vine of the grape-gatherer; be the vinedresser glad, in the grain of the husbandman!
13. They are joined each to each, the grain and the grape. In the field the reapers, wine can make cheerful, in the vineyard the dressers, bread strengthens in turn.
14. These two things have power, to comfort my troubles: the Trinity has power, to comfort more exceedingly; whom I will praise because of a sudden, I was delivered through grace.
15. But the man whose life, is preserved through grace, if he goes away to murmur, at the loss of his goods, he is thankless for the grace, of Him who had pity on him.
16. Of His own will He destroys, one thing instead of another. He destroys possession, and spares the possessor: He destroys our plants, instead of our lives.
17. Let us fear to murmur, lest His own wrath be roused, and He spare the possessions, and smite the possessor; that we may learn in the end, His mercy in the beginning.
18. Let us learn against whom, it is meet for us to murmur. Learn to murmur, not against the Chastener, but against your own will, that made you sin and you were punished.
19. Let us put away murmuring, and turn unto prayer: for if the possessor dies, his possessions also cease for him; but while he survives, he seeks to recover his losses.
20. Let consolations be multiplied, in mercy to my dwellers: let the remainder and residue, console us in the midst of wrath; and cause us to forget in the residue, the mourning of our devastation!
21. Heal and increase O my Lord, the fruits Your wrath has left! They seem to me like sick ones, that have escaped in pestilence. Make me to forget in these weak ones, the suffering of the many!
22. While I speak, O my Lord, I call to mind that this too is the month, when the blossom pined, and dropped off in blight, may it return to soundness, to be a consolation!
23. For these escaped the pestilence, that carried off their brethren. The vines though voiceless, wept when before them, a multitude was cut down and felled, of trees that they loved.
24. The company of plants, lo! The earth misses! The roots for the husbandmen, weep and cause them to weep. Their beauty had spread and gave shade, and it was torn away in one hour.
25. The axe came near and struck; and struck the husbandman; the blow was on the trees, and it caused the husbandman to suffer; every axe that smote, he bore the pain of it.
Hymn 6.
1. I will run in my affections, to Him who heals freely. He who healed my sorrows, the first and the second, He who cured the third, He will heal the fourth. R., Heal me, You Son the First Born!
2. My sons, O my Lord, drank and were drunken, of the tidings which wrath had mixed; and they rushed on my adornments, and spoiled and cast away my ornaments; they rent and spared not, my garments and my crowns.
3. They uncovered me and I was made bare. Because I was shamed a little, by means of that stripping, the first and the second, because I was shamed a third time, lo! They have stripped me a fourth time.
4. For they have seized and taken away my garments, my ornaments and my gardens. On the sackcloth that girds my altar, look, O my Lord, and have pity on me! Let the sackcloth be to me, O my Lord, the breastplate of salvation!
5. Lo! It is not by the hand of the chaste, that You have chastised me, O my Master! For lo! His shame is before him, and behind him his disgrace; for as to his marriage, adultery is better than it.
6. Lo! His daughter is his wife, and his sister his consort; and his mother whence he came forth, he turns again and takes her to wife! The heavens are astonished that thus, he provokes You, and lo! He prospers.
7. And though, O my Lord, my crimes are many, are my offenses so heavy, that You should make over a chaste woman, mother of chaste daughters, to foul Assyria, mother of defiled daughters?
8. Restrain him that he come not, and wag at me his head, and stamp on me his heel, and rejoice that the voice of his fame, thus troubles the world; and be uplifted yet a little!
9. My sons, O my Lord, have seen my nakedness, yea have uncovered me and wept. Uncover me before my children, who are pained by my pain, and let not those mock at me, the accursed that have no pity!
10. My lands had brought forth fruits and pleasant things; good things in the vineyard, abundance in the fields. But as I rested secure, of a sudden wrath overtook me.
11. The husbandmen were plundered, the spoilers heaped the grain; what you had borrowed and sown these destroyed. With one's debt his hunger, haply will also remain unsatisfied, for his bread is snatched from him.
12. The husbandman, O my Lord, is plundered, for he lent to the earth; she has received the deposit, and given it to a stranger; she has borrowed it of the husbandman; and paid it to the spoiler.
13. Be jealous over me who am Yours, and to You, O my Lord: am I betrothed! The Apostle who betrothed me to You, told me that You are jealous. For as a wall to chaste wives is the jealousy of their husbands.
14. Samson stirred up seas, because he was mightily jealous over his wife, though she was greatly defiled, and was divided against him. Keep Your Church, for no other, has she beside You!
15. Whoso is not jealous, over his spouse despises her. Jealousy it is that can make known, the love that is within. You are called jealous, that you may show me Your love.
16. The nature of woman is this; it is weak and rash: it is jealousy keeps it, under fear every hour. You have been named among the jealous, that You might make known Your solicitude.
17. Every man has been master, of something that was not his own; every man has gone forth gathering, something that he scattered not. The day of confusion, I have prepared for myself by my crimes.
18. How shall they bear the suffering, the labourers and tillers? In the face of the vinedresser, they have cut down the vines and driven away the flocks of the husbandman; his sowing they have reaped and carried off.
19. They had yoked cattle sown and harrowed, they had ploughed, planted, nurtured. They stood afar and wept; and they went away bereft of all. The labour was for the toilers, the increase for the spoilers.
20. The rulers, O my Lord, maintained not, order in the midst of Your wrath. If they had willed it they might have kept order, but our iniquity suffered it not. Though wrath had greatly abated, wrath compelled them to spoil.
21. To whom on any side, shall I look for comfort, for my plantations that are laid low, and my possessions that are laid waste? Let the message of the voice of peace, drive away my sadness from me!
22. Give me not over; lest it be thought that You have given me a writing of divorce, and sent me away and driven me out! Let them not call me, O my Lord, the forsaken and the disgraced!
23. I have not anything, to call to mind before Your eyes, for I am wholly despised. Call to mind for me, O my God, this only that none other, have I set before me beside You!
24. Who would not weep for me, with voice and wailing? For before the days of full moon I was chaste and crowned; and after the days of full moon, I was uncovered and made bare.
25. My chaste daughters of the chambers, wander in the fields; for the wrath that makes all drunken, has caused my honourable women to be despised. Let Your mercy which gives peace to all, restore these beloved ones to honour!
26. My elder daughters and my younger, lo! They cry before You; the damsels with their voices, they that are aged with their tears; my virgins with their fasts, my chaste ones with their sackcloth!
27. My eyes to all the streets, I lift up and lo! They are deserted. There are left of a hundred ten, and a thousand of ten thousand. Give peace and fill my streets, with the tumult of my dwellers!
28. Bring back them that are without, and make them glad that are within! Mighty is Your grace, that You extend it within and without. Let the wings of Your grace gather my chickens together!
29. Let the prayer of my just men, save my fugitives! The unbelievers have plundered me, and the believers have sustained me. In them that believe put to shame them that believe not!
30. There came together on one day, two festivals as one: the Feast of Your Ascension, and the Feast of Your Champions; the feast that wove Your Crown, and the memorial of the crowning of Your servants.
31. Have mercy because there were doubled for us, these feasts on one day; and there were doubled for us instead of them, even the two feasts in one, suffering from the voice of ill tidings, and mourning from desolation!
32. Give peace to my festivals! For both my feasts have ceased; and instead of rejoicing, of my remnants in festivals, tremblings and desolations meet me in every place.
33. Bring home mine that are far off, make glad mine that are near; and in the midst of our land shall be preached, good tidings of joy; and I shall render in return for peace, praise from every mouth!
Hymn 7.
1. Wrath came to rebuke, the greedy who in the midst of peace, bargained, defrauded and plundered. In calamity the greedy have waxed rich: lo! What was theirs they have scattered, what was not theirs they have gathered. R., Give peace, O Son, to our land!
2. Twenty years my troubles, have been like branches, O my Saviour! Which are kept back throughout winter, but when it is time to shoot forth, my troubles shoot forth: with our fruit our heart ripens.
3. Nisan is the time of buds: in it the ill tidings budded. When our delights crowded on us, then crowded on us our ills. At the time of winnowing of wheat, came the winnowing of cities,
4. For the three brethren in Babylon fled not from the fire that men kindled, because they were steadfast: from lust they fled, because they were perfect.
5. The fire of them that have triumphed, is able to turn the black kids into white: the fire of vain men is able to make the lambs into spotted leopards.
6. How great will be my cries, to be cried at any alarm! How great my indignation to ripen at every ill tidings! How great my harvests, to perish every mouth!
7. For the crimes of my sons He has chastened me, in their struggling for my deliverance. The people who deliver me, bring chastisement upon me. Restrain your sins, and lo! My chastisements are restrained!
8. In ill tidings they are afflicted; in time of wrath they are tortured; in time of peace they are distressed; for when every man breathes freely, and all are unthankful for grace, they render thanks on behalf of every man.
9. Their sackcloth is humble for my sake; their ashes are sprinkled in my affliction; their prayer is for my victory; their fast for my deliverance: Lo! The debt is on my ascetics, the guilt with my nobles.
10. Great is in every age, the folly of the wise; the scribes and elders envied and killed the teacher, who taught all people the Law of Moses.
11. Wisdom in this age is a possession that brings loss: he who has a little folly, very small is his guilt; but he who has a little prudence, his iniquity passes measure.
12. They build with their words, and overthrow in their deeds; for the teachers were many and foolish, but the mouth of the judge is both of these things, the judge and the accuser.
Hymn 8 is missing, as also the first part of Hymn 9.
Hymn 9.
...My afflictions are as Job's. Your justice delivered him; let Your grace have mercy on me!
2. In these two things is profit; that neither should the just, be weary in supplication, nor should the rebellious, multiply transgression.
3. With the sons You labour, to chastise and help them; and that the fathers should not be grieved, by the sound of the scourge, they left me in peace.
4. Look, O my Lord, on my woods without, how they have been cut down! Behold, O my Lord, my breasts within, that they are too weak, for me to bear my beloved ones!
5. With swords they have cut off, my wings that are without; again the fire kindles, in my bosom within, the incense of burnt offering.
6. The sun-worshippers have killed, my sons in the plain: and they that offer to Baal, have sacrificed my bulls in the city, my sheep with my babes.
7. In my fields is lamentation; in my halls wailing; in my vineyards terror; in my streets confusion. Who can suffice for me?
8. The Evil One who dealt treacherously, and disturbed me with his words, stirred up trouble within, so that my inward part, is wholly as my outward part.
9. With what face, O my Lord, shall I call on You to send, a camp of holy ones, to guard my bosom, which is full of uncleanness?
10. With Your new leaven, You have chastened creation. Make the old leaven, which ensnares and humbles, to be like the new leaven!
11. By the manifest striving, of Your power let us conquer; lest error should crown, those that strive for You, cleaving to them with blandishment!
12. If we look into our time, it is like our deceit; — for in the years of truthfulness, we practised divinations,— and secretly used enchantments.
13. If I look into the time, it provokes and into light—brings secret things, that our deceit may be shamed—which wore the raiment of Truth.
14. Verily it is truth, that overcomes all; — and the sea with its bitterness, cannot trouble it—for it is pure in its nature.
15. In wisdom You have made it, O my Lord, that it has laid bare our lust.— That the foolish should come to nought, and should not be encouraged— Truth has withheld the crown.
16. On the tottering walls, whereon You have given me victory—the unthankful repay You, with sacrifice and libation, which provoke You openly.
17. If it were at that time, sacrifices had been offered;— there had been room even, for delusion to suppose—that in these I was delivered.
18. Through the multitude of deliverances, You have rebuked two things:— the delusion of graven images, and the teaching of magicians;— for in You, O my Lord, have I been delivered!
Hymn 10.
1. My children have been slain; and my daughters that are without me—their walls are overthrown, their children scattered—and their holy places trodden down. R., Blessed is Your chastisement!
2. The fowlers have taken, my doves out of my strongholds—which quitted their nests, and fled to the caves—in the net have they taken them.
3. After the manner of wax, that melts before the fire—thus melted and dissolved, the bodies, of my sons before the heat— and the drought of my strongholds.
4. And instead of streams, of milk that used to flow—for my sons and my little ones, milk fails the sucklings, and water the weaned children.
5. The suckling falls, from its mother and gasps,— because it cannot suck, nor can she give suck:— they breathe out their spirit and die.
6. How is it possible, that Your grace can refrain— the welling of its stream, when it is not possible to restrain— the abundance of its flow?
7. And why has Your grace, shut up its mercies—and withheld its streams, from the people that cry—for one to moisten their tongue?
8. And there was a pit, between them and their brethren;— like the rich man who cried, and there was none to answer—to moisten his tongue.
9. And as into the midst of fire, the wretched ones were cast—and heat in the midst of thirst, the fire was blowing,— and kindling upon them.
10. Their carcasses were melted, and dissolved by the heat—they that had thirsted gave in turn the earth to drink—of the reek of their bodies.
11. And the fort that with thirst, had killed, its dwellers,— it drank in its turn of the flux from the corpses—that were melted by thirst.
12. Who has seen a people— that were burning with thirst—while there surrounded them a wall of water and they could not— moisten their tongue!
13. Surely with the judgment of Sodom, were my beloved judged,— and my children smitten, with the torment of Sodom—though that was but for one day.
14. The torment of fire, though it be for one hour, O my Lord,— in lingering thirst, is a lingering death, and a subtle punishment.
15. After my sorrows, O my Lord, and my bitter sufferings—this is the best comfort, wherewith You have comforted me—that You have multiplied my afflictions.
16. The medicine that I hoped, it is sorrow decreed;— the binding up that I looked for, it is bitter calamity—that it seeks to work for me.
17. And whereas I hoped to escape, from the midst of the storm—worse for me is the storm in it, even in the harbour,— than that in the sea.
18. Whereas I thought in my folly, that I should anchor and escape— from the midst of the Gulf; my sins have cast me back— again into the midst of it.
19. Look, O my Lord, on my limbs, how the swords are thick in me—and have left their mark on my arms; and the scars of the spears—are planted in my sides!
20. Tears in my eyes, and in my ears ill rumours—wailing in my mouth, and mourning in my heart!— Add no more, O my Lord, to me!
Hymn 11.
1. Your chastening is, as a mother of our infancy:— her rebuke is merciful, in that You have restrained—the children from folly, and they have been made wise! R., Glory be to your justice!
2. Let us search out Your justice; for who is sufficient— to measure its help? Since by it the wanton— are oftentimes made chaste.—
3. Oftentimes Your hand, O my Lord, has made the sick whole—for it is the healer in secret of their diseases—and the fount of their life.
4. Exceeding gently, the finger of Your justice—in love and compassion, touches the wounds— of him that is to be healed.
5. Exceeding mild and merciful, is her cutting to him that is wise:— her sharp remedy, in its mighty love—consumes the corrupt part.
6. Exceeding welcome her wrath, to him that is discerning—but her remedies are hated, of the fool who has delight— in the trouble of his limbs.
7. Exceeding eager is she, to bind the cut she has made—when she has smitten she pities, that from between these two— she may breed healing.
8. Exceeding welcome her wrath, and her anger pleasant—and sweet her bitterness, sweetening bitter things— that they may be made pleasant.
9. A cause of negligence is Your indulgence to the careless—a cause of profit, is Your rod among the slothful— so that they become as traffickers.
10. The cause of our affliction, it is Your justice—the cause of our carelessness, it is Your graciousness,— for our understanding has turned foolish.
11. Pharaoh hardened himself, because of Your graciousness;— for when the plagues were stayed, his cruelties waxed strong—and he lied to his promises.
12. Justice requited him, because he lied greatly against her—even Grace her freeborn sister; yea she restrained him again— that he should not again provoke.
13. Rebuke, O my Lord, my guide, for it has been false as Egypt — my prayers testify, that I am not as she—for Your door have I not forsaken.
14. Let Your cross, O my Lord, which stands, in my breaches that are open—repair again the breaches that are hidden; for instead of those without—those within have cleft me asunder!
15. A sea has broken through, and cast down, the watch tower wherein I had triumphed.— Iniquity has dared to set up, a temple wherein I am shamed: its drink-offering chokes me.
16. My prayers on my walls, my persecutors have heard:— the sun and his worshippers, are ashamed of their magicians,— for I have triumphed by Your cross.
17. All creatures cried out, when they saw the struggle—while Truth with falsehood, on my battered walls, fought and was crowned conqueror.
18. The force of Truth, chastised falsehood:— in its chastisement it felt Truth, and through its own sins, it earned her victory.
19. I have great alarm; for since my deliverance—the honourable and mighty, who were devoted to my altar, have built in me high places.
20. My seven senses, O my Lord, even though they had been as fountains of tears, yet my tears were too little— to lament our ruin.
21. The streets that were in sackcloth, and ashes cried out—disturbed by the play, akin to that which was—in the wilderness before the calf.
22. Poison seeks and wears, the beauty of lilies—and though their buds may conceal, and hidden disguise it—it blossoms in their bitter flowers.
Hymn 12.
1. I will call in my affliction, on the Power that subdues all—that is able to subdue, the Captor in his wrath—as it overcame Legion. R., Glory to His grace!
2. The Evil One has repaid me my brethren, debts that he borrowed not of me:— the good God likewise has repaid me, mercies that I lent Him not.— Come and marvel at these two things!
3. The good God has divided and given, my misdeeds to His grace—my offenses to His justice; His mercy has blotted out my misdeeds— His judgment has requited my offenses.
4. Sin was exceeding angry, and abode in alarm—when she saw how grace, put restraint on freedom, that she might overcome transgressions.
5. Glow, O my Lord, and send down Your love, break out and pour forth Your wrath!— Your wrath to destroy, Your love to rescue— the captives from the captor!
6. The days wherein the Evil One, decreed to cast me forth—as with a sling into perdition, in them the good God has bound up and kept— my soul in the bundle of life.
7. The men of speech who keep not silence, from praising continually—who have kept me in the midst of waves, and supported me that I fell not, let them give praise in my stead, O my Lord!
8. For who has at any time sufficed, in presence of the grace—of the mercies which surrounded him, that I should suffice to praise— the mercies that encompass me?
Hymn 4.
1. My God, without ceasing, I will tread the threshold of Your house; I who have rejected all grace, I will ask with boldness, that I may receive with confidence. R., Our hope, be our Wall!
2. For if, O Lord, the earth, enriches manifold, a single grain of wheat, how then shall my prayers, be enriched by Your grace!
3. Because of the voices of my children, their sighs and their groans, open to me the door of Your mercy! Make glad for their voices, the mourning of their sackcloth!
4. O firstborn that wast a weaned child, and wast familiar with the children, the accurst sons of Nazareth, hearken to my lambs that have seen the wolves, for lo! They cry.
5. For a flock, O my Lord, in the field, if so be it has seen the wolves, flees to the shepherd, and takes refuge under his staff, and he drives away them that would devour it.
6. Your flock has seen the wolves, and lo! It cries loudly. Behold how terrified it is! Let your Cross be a staff, to drive out them that would swallow it up!
7. Accept the cry of my little ones, that are altogether pure. It was He, the Infant of days, that could appease, O Lord, the Ancient of days.
8. The day when the Babe came down, in the midst of the stall, the Watchers descended and proclaimed, peace— may that peace be, in all my streets for all my offspring.
9. Seventy and two old men, the elders of that people, sufficed not for its breaches. The Babe it was, the Son of Mary, that gave peace on every side.
10. Have mercy, O Lord, on my children! In my children call to mind Your childhood, You Who wast a child! Let them that are like Your childhood, be saved by Your grace!
11. Mingled in the midst of the flock, are the cry of the innocents, and the voice of the sheep, that call on the Shepherd of all, to deliver them from all.
* * * * * * * * * * *
13. There is a joy that is affliction, misery is hidden in it; there is a misery that is profit, it is a fountain of joys, in that new world.
14. The happiness that my persecutor has gained, woes are hidden in it; therefore I rejoice. The wretchedness that I have gained from him, happiness is concealed for me in it.
15. Who will not give praise, to Him that has begotten us, and can beget again, from the midst of evil rumours the voices of glad tidings!
16. You Healer of all, have visited me in my sicknesses! Payment for Your medicines, I cannot give You, for they are priceless.
17. Your mercies in richness, surpass Your medicines: they cannot be bought, they are given freely, it is for tears they are bartered.
18. How, O my Master, can a desolate city, whose king is far off, and her enemy near, stand firm without aid of mercy?
19. A harbour and refuge, are You at all times. When the seas covered me, Your mercy descended and drew me out. Again let Your help lay hold on me!
20. Apply to my afflictions, the medicine of Your salvation, and the passion of Your help! Your sign can become, a medicine to heal all.
21. I am greatly oppressed, and I hasten to complain, against him that troubles me. Let Your mercy, my Lord, take the bitterness from the cup, that my sins have mixed.
22. I look on all sides, and weep that I am desolate. Very many though be my chiefs and my deliverers, one is He that has delivered me.
23. My young men have fled, O Lord, and gone forth, and are like chickens, which an eagle pursues; lo! They hide in a secret place: may Your peace bring them back!
24. The sound of my grape-gatherers, lo! My ears miss it, for their voices fail. Let it resound with the glad tidings, O Blessed One of Your salvation!
25. A voice of terror, I have heard on my towers; as my defenders cry, while they guard my walls. Still it with the voice of peace!
26. The noise of my husbandmen, shall speak peace without my walls: the shouting of my dwellers shall speak peace within my walls, that I may give peace without and within.
27. Make an end, O Lord, of the mourning, of this Your pure altar, and of Your chaste priest, who stands clothed in mourning, covered over with sackcloth!
28. The Church and her ministers shall give praise for Your salvation; the city and its dwellers. Be the voice of peace, O Lord, the reward of their voices!
Hymn 5.
1. Cause to be heard in Your grace, the tidings of Your salvation: for an hearing has been made, a path of passage; our minds have been downtrodden, by messages of terror. R., Praises to Your victory! Glory to Your Dominion!
2. Comfort with profits, though small and scanty, those that have had harvest, of hurt by their labour: at a time of profit, they have gained but loss.
3. It is manifest that He has stood, portioning wrath upon earth: loss and profit in anger He divided. There are whom He has cast down of a sudden, and there are whom He has puffed up of a sudden.
4. To teach us that He can, chastise in all ways; when He saw the persecutors, were terrible before my eyes, He laid me out before my children, and they my beloved chastised me.
5. Lo! He taught me to fear, Himself and not man: for when there was none to smite us, His wrath gave command of a sudden, and every man stretched himself out, and chastised himself.
6. In like manner that Babylonian, who struck down all kings when he was confident and hoped that there was none to smite him, God caused that by his own hands, he should strike himself down.
7. His majesty and his mind, of a sudden became mad together: he rent and cast off his garments; he went forth and wandered in the desert; he drove himself out first, and then his servants drove him out.
8. He showed to all kings, whom he had led captive and brought down, that not by his own power, could he have overcome: the power that struck him down, was that which punished them.
9. I have stood and borne, O my Lord; the blows of my deliverers. You are able in Your grace, to make me profit by the smiters: You are able in Your justice to punish me by my helpers.
10. The day when the host was bold, to come up against Samaria; their plenty and their pleasure, their treasures and their possessions, they cast away and forsook and fled. He crowned her by her persecutors.
11. My beloved ones crowned me, and my deliverers healed me. Through the guilt of my dwellers, my helpers chastised me, give me drink from Your vines, of the cup of consolation!
12. The grain and the vine, preserve, O my Lord, by Your grace! Be the husbandman cheered, by the vine of the grape-gatherer; be the vinedresser glad, in the grain of the husbandman!
13. They are joined each to each, the grain and the grape. In the field the reapers, wine can make cheerful, in the vineyard the dressers, bread strengthens in turn.
14. These two things have power, to comfort my troubles: the Trinity has power, to comfort more exceedingly; whom I will praise because of a sudden, I was delivered through grace.
15. But the man whose life, is preserved through grace, if he goes away to murmur, at the loss of his goods, he is thankless for the grace, of Him who had pity on him.
16. Of His own will He destroys, one thing instead of another. He destroys possession, and spares the possessor: He destroys our plants, instead of our lives.
17. Let us fear to murmur, lest His own wrath be roused, and He spare the possessions, and smite the possessor; that we may learn in the end, His mercy in the beginning.
18. Let us learn against whom, it is meet for us to murmur. Learn to murmur, not against the Chastener, but against your own will, that made you sin and you were punished.
19. Let us put away murmuring, and turn unto prayer: for if the possessor dies, his possessions also cease for him; but while he survives, he seeks to recover his losses.
20. Let consolations be multiplied, in mercy to my dwellers: let the remainder and residue, console us in the midst of wrath; and cause us to forget in the residue, the mourning of our devastation!
21. Heal and increase O my Lord, the fruits Your wrath has left! They seem to me like sick ones, that have escaped in pestilence. Make me to forget in these weak ones, the suffering of the many!
22. While I speak, O my Lord, I call to mind that this too is the month, when the blossom pined, and dropped off in blight, may it return to soundness, to be a consolation!
23. For these escaped the pestilence, that carried off their brethren. The vines though voiceless, wept when before them, a multitude was cut down and felled, of trees that they loved.
24. The company of plants, lo! The earth misses! The roots for the husbandmen, weep and cause them to weep. Their beauty had spread and gave shade, and it was torn away in one hour.
25. The axe came near and struck; and struck the husbandman; the blow was on the trees, and it caused the husbandman to suffer; every axe that smote, he bore the pain of it.
Hymn 6.
1. I will run in my affections, to Him who heals freely. He who healed my sorrows, the first and the second, He who cured the third, He will heal the fourth. R., Heal me, You Son the First Born!
2. My sons, O my Lord, drank and were drunken, of the tidings which wrath had mixed; and they rushed on my adornments, and spoiled and cast away my ornaments; they rent and spared not, my garments and my crowns.
3. They uncovered me and I was made bare. Because I was shamed a little, by means of that stripping, the first and the second, because I was shamed a third time, lo! They have stripped me a fourth time.
4. For they have seized and taken away my garments, my ornaments and my gardens. On the sackcloth that girds my altar, look, O my Lord, and have pity on me! Let the sackcloth be to me, O my Lord, the breastplate of salvation!
5. Lo! It is not by the hand of the chaste, that You have chastised me, O my Master! For lo! His shame is before him, and behind him his disgrace; for as to his marriage, adultery is better than it.
6. Lo! His daughter is his wife, and his sister his consort; and his mother whence he came forth, he turns again and takes her to wife! The heavens are astonished that thus, he provokes You, and lo! He prospers.
7. And though, O my Lord, my crimes are many, are my offenses so heavy, that You should make over a chaste woman, mother of chaste daughters, to foul Assyria, mother of defiled daughters?
8. Restrain him that he come not, and wag at me his head, and stamp on me his heel, and rejoice that the voice of his fame, thus troubles the world; and be uplifted yet a little!
9. My sons, O my Lord, have seen my nakedness, yea have uncovered me and wept. Uncover me before my children, who are pained by my pain, and let not those mock at me, the accursed that have no pity!
10. My lands had brought forth fruits and pleasant things; good things in the vineyard, abundance in the fields. But as I rested secure, of a sudden wrath overtook me.
11. The husbandmen were plundered, the spoilers heaped the grain; what you had borrowed and sown these destroyed. With one's debt his hunger, haply will also remain unsatisfied, for his bread is snatched from him.
12. The husbandman, O my Lord, is plundered, for he lent to the earth; she has received the deposit, and given it to a stranger; she has borrowed it of the husbandman; and paid it to the spoiler.
13. Be jealous over me who am Yours, and to You, O my Lord: am I betrothed! The Apostle who betrothed me to You, told me that You are jealous. For as a wall to chaste wives is the jealousy of their husbands.
14. Samson stirred up seas, because he was mightily jealous over his wife, though she was greatly defiled, and was divided against him. Keep Your Church, for no other, has she beside You!
15. Whoso is not jealous, over his spouse despises her. Jealousy it is that can make known, the love that is within. You are called jealous, that you may show me Your love.
16. The nature of woman is this; it is weak and rash: it is jealousy keeps it, under fear every hour. You have been named among the jealous, that You might make known Your solicitude.
17. Every man has been master, of something that was not his own; every man has gone forth gathering, something that he scattered not. The day of confusion, I have prepared for myself by my crimes.
18. How shall they bear the suffering, the labourers and tillers? In the face of the vinedresser, they have cut down the vines and driven away the flocks of the husbandman; his sowing they have reaped and carried off.
19. They had yoked cattle sown and harrowed, they had ploughed, planted, nurtured. They stood afar and wept; and they went away bereft of all. The labour was for the toilers, the increase for the spoilers.
20. The rulers, O my Lord, maintained not, order in the midst of Your wrath. If they had willed it they might have kept order, but our iniquity suffered it not. Though wrath had greatly abated, wrath compelled them to spoil.
21. To whom on any side, shall I look for comfort, for my plantations that are laid low, and my possessions that are laid waste? Let the message of the voice of peace, drive away my sadness from me!
22. Give me not over; lest it be thought that You have given me a writing of divorce, and sent me away and driven me out! Let them not call me, O my Lord, the forsaken and the disgraced!
23. I have not anything, to call to mind before Your eyes, for I am wholly despised. Call to mind for me, O my God, this only that none other, have I set before me beside You!
24. Who would not weep for me, with voice and wailing? For before the days of full moon I was chaste and crowned; and after the days of full moon, I was uncovered and made bare.
25. My chaste daughters of the chambers, wander in the fields; for the wrath that makes all drunken, has caused my honourable women to be despised. Let Your mercy which gives peace to all, restore these beloved ones to honour!
26. My elder daughters and my younger, lo! They cry before You; the damsels with their voices, they that are aged with their tears; my virgins with their fasts, my chaste ones with their sackcloth!
27. My eyes to all the streets, I lift up and lo! They are deserted. There are left of a hundred ten, and a thousand of ten thousand. Give peace and fill my streets, with the tumult of my dwellers!
28. Bring back them that are without, and make them glad that are within! Mighty is Your grace, that You extend it within and without. Let the wings of Your grace gather my chickens together!
29. Let the prayer of my just men, save my fugitives! The unbelievers have plundered me, and the believers have sustained me. In them that believe put to shame them that believe not!
30. There came together on one day, two festivals as one: the Feast of Your Ascension, and the Feast of Your Champions; the feast that wove Your Crown, and the memorial of the crowning of Your servants.
31. Have mercy because there were doubled for us, these feasts on one day; and there were doubled for us instead of them, even the two feasts in one, suffering from the voice of ill tidings, and mourning from desolation!
32. Give peace to my festivals! For both my feasts have ceased; and instead of rejoicing, of my remnants in festivals, tremblings and desolations meet me in every place.
33. Bring home mine that are far off, make glad mine that are near; and in the midst of our land shall be preached, good tidings of joy; and I shall render in return for peace, praise from every mouth!
Hymn 7.
1. Wrath came to rebuke, the greedy who in the midst of peace, bargained, defrauded and plundered. In calamity the greedy have waxed rich: lo! What was theirs they have scattered, what was not theirs they have gathered. R., Give peace, O Son, to our land!
2. Twenty years my troubles, have been like branches, O my Saviour! Which are kept back throughout winter, but when it is time to shoot forth, my troubles shoot forth: with our fruit our heart ripens.
3. Nisan is the time of buds: in it the ill tidings budded. When our delights crowded on us, then crowded on us our ills. At the time of winnowing of wheat, came the winnowing of cities,
4. For the three brethren in Babylon fled not from the fire that men kindled, because they were steadfast: from lust they fled, because they were perfect.
5. The fire of them that have triumphed, is able to turn the black kids into white: the fire of vain men is able to make the lambs into spotted leopards.
6. How great will be my cries, to be cried at any alarm! How great my indignation to ripen at every ill tidings! How great my harvests, to perish every mouth!
7. For the crimes of my sons He has chastened me, in their struggling for my deliverance. The people who deliver me, bring chastisement upon me. Restrain your sins, and lo! My chastisements are restrained!
8. In ill tidings they are afflicted; in time of wrath they are tortured; in time of peace they are distressed; for when every man breathes freely, and all are unthankful for grace, they render thanks on behalf of every man.
9. Their sackcloth is humble for my sake; their ashes are sprinkled in my affliction; their prayer is for my victory; their fast for my deliverance: Lo! The debt is on my ascetics, the guilt with my nobles.
10. Great is in every age, the folly of the wise; the scribes and elders envied and killed the teacher, who taught all people the Law of Moses.
11. Wisdom in this age is a possession that brings loss: he who has a little folly, very small is his guilt; but he who has a little prudence, his iniquity passes measure.
12. They build with their words, and overthrow in their deeds; for the teachers were many and foolish, but the mouth of the judge is both of these things, the judge and the accuser.
Hymn 8 is missing, as also the first part of Hymn 9.
Hymn 9.
...My afflictions are as Job's. Your justice delivered him; let Your grace have mercy on me!
2. In these two things is profit; that neither should the just, be weary in supplication, nor should the rebellious, multiply transgression.
3. With the sons You labour, to chastise and help them; and that the fathers should not be grieved, by the sound of the scourge, they left me in peace.
4. Look, O my Lord, on my woods without, how they have been cut down! Behold, O my Lord, my breasts within, that they are too weak, for me to bear my beloved ones!
5. With swords they have cut off, my wings that are without; again the fire kindles, in my bosom within, the incense of burnt offering.
6. The sun-worshippers have killed, my sons in the plain: and they that offer to Baal, have sacrificed my bulls in the city, my sheep with my babes.
7. In my fields is lamentation; in my halls wailing; in my vineyards terror; in my streets confusion. Who can suffice for me?
8. The Evil One who dealt treacherously, and disturbed me with his words, stirred up trouble within, so that my inward part, is wholly as my outward part.
9. With what face, O my Lord, shall I call on You to send, a camp of holy ones, to guard my bosom, which is full of uncleanness?
10. With Your new leaven, You have chastened creation. Make the old leaven, which ensnares and humbles, to be like the new leaven!
11. By the manifest striving, of Your power let us conquer; lest error should crown, those that strive for You, cleaving to them with blandishment!
12. If we look into our time, it is like our deceit; — for in the years of truthfulness, we practised divinations,— and secretly used enchantments.
13. If I look into the time, it provokes and into light—brings secret things, that our deceit may be shamed—which wore the raiment of Truth.
14. Verily it is truth, that overcomes all; — and the sea with its bitterness, cannot trouble it—for it is pure in its nature.
15. In wisdom You have made it, O my Lord, that it has laid bare our lust.— That the foolish should come to nought, and should not be encouraged— Truth has withheld the crown.
16. On the tottering walls, whereon You have given me victory—the unthankful repay You, with sacrifice and libation, which provoke You openly.
17. If it were at that time, sacrifices had been offered;— there had been room even, for delusion to suppose—that in these I was delivered.
18. Through the multitude of deliverances, You have rebuked two things:— the delusion of graven images, and the teaching of magicians;— for in You, O my Lord, have I been delivered!
Hymn 10.
1. My children have been slain; and my daughters that are without me—their walls are overthrown, their children scattered—and their holy places trodden down. R., Blessed is Your chastisement!
2. The fowlers have taken, my doves out of my strongholds—which quitted their nests, and fled to the caves—in the net have they taken them.
3. After the manner of wax, that melts before the fire—thus melted and dissolved, the bodies, of my sons before the heat— and the drought of my strongholds.
4. And instead of streams, of milk that used to flow—for my sons and my little ones, milk fails the sucklings, and water the weaned children.
5. The suckling falls, from its mother and gasps,— because it cannot suck, nor can she give suck:— they breathe out their spirit and die.
6. How is it possible, that Your grace can refrain— the welling of its stream, when it is not possible to restrain— the abundance of its flow?
7. And why has Your grace, shut up its mercies—and withheld its streams, from the people that cry—for one to moisten their tongue?
8. And there was a pit, between them and their brethren;— like the rich man who cried, and there was none to answer—to moisten his tongue.
9. And as into the midst of fire, the wretched ones were cast—and heat in the midst of thirst, the fire was blowing,— and kindling upon them.
10. Their carcasses were melted, and dissolved by the heat—they that had thirsted gave in turn the earth to drink—of the reek of their bodies.
11. And the fort that with thirst, had killed, its dwellers,— it drank in its turn of the flux from the corpses—that were melted by thirst.
12. Who has seen a people— that were burning with thirst—while there surrounded them a wall of water and they could not— moisten their tongue!
13. Surely with the judgment of Sodom, were my beloved judged,— and my children smitten, with the torment of Sodom—though that was but for one day.
14. The torment of fire, though it be for one hour, O my Lord,— in lingering thirst, is a lingering death, and a subtle punishment.
15. After my sorrows, O my Lord, and my bitter sufferings—this is the best comfort, wherewith You have comforted me—that You have multiplied my afflictions.
16. The medicine that I hoped, it is sorrow decreed;— the binding up that I looked for, it is bitter calamity—that it seeks to work for me.
17. And whereas I hoped to escape, from the midst of the storm—worse for me is the storm in it, even in the harbour,— than that in the sea.
18. Whereas I thought in my folly, that I should anchor and escape— from the midst of the Gulf; my sins have cast me back— again into the midst of it.
19. Look, O my Lord, on my limbs, how the swords are thick in me—and have left their mark on my arms; and the scars of the spears—are planted in my sides!
20. Tears in my eyes, and in my ears ill rumours—wailing in my mouth, and mourning in my heart!— Add no more, O my Lord, to me!
Hymn 11.
1. Your chastening is, as a mother of our infancy:— her rebuke is merciful, in that You have restrained—the children from folly, and they have been made wise! R., Glory be to your justice!
2. Let us search out Your justice; for who is sufficient— to measure its help? Since by it the wanton— are oftentimes made chaste.—
3. Oftentimes Your hand, O my Lord, has made the sick whole—for it is the healer in secret of their diseases—and the fount of their life.
4. Exceeding gently, the finger of Your justice—in love and compassion, touches the wounds— of him that is to be healed.
5. Exceeding mild and merciful, is her cutting to him that is wise:— her sharp remedy, in its mighty love—consumes the corrupt part.
6. Exceeding welcome her wrath, to him that is discerning—but her remedies are hated, of the fool who has delight— in the trouble of his limbs.
7. Exceeding eager is she, to bind the cut she has made—when she has smitten she pities, that from between these two— she may breed healing.
8. Exceeding welcome her wrath, and her anger pleasant—and sweet her bitterness, sweetening bitter things— that they may be made pleasant.
9. A cause of negligence is Your indulgence to the careless—a cause of profit, is Your rod among the slothful— so that they become as traffickers.
10. The cause of our affliction, it is Your justice—the cause of our carelessness, it is Your graciousness,— for our understanding has turned foolish.
11. Pharaoh hardened himself, because of Your graciousness;— for when the plagues were stayed, his cruelties waxed strong—and he lied to his promises.
12. Justice requited him, because he lied greatly against her—even Grace her freeborn sister; yea she restrained him again— that he should not again provoke.
13. Rebuke, O my Lord, my guide, for it has been false as Egypt — my prayers testify, that I am not as she—for Your door have I not forsaken.
14. Let Your cross, O my Lord, which stands, in my breaches that are open—repair again the breaches that are hidden; for instead of those without—those within have cleft me asunder!
15. A sea has broken through, and cast down, the watch tower wherein I had triumphed.— Iniquity has dared to set up, a temple wherein I am shamed: its drink-offering chokes me.
16. My prayers on my walls, my persecutors have heard:— the sun and his worshippers, are ashamed of their magicians,— for I have triumphed by Your cross.
17. All creatures cried out, when they saw the struggle—while Truth with falsehood, on my battered walls, fought and was crowned conqueror.
18. The force of Truth, chastised falsehood:— in its chastisement it felt Truth, and through its own sins, it earned her victory.
19. I have great alarm; for since my deliverance—the honourable and mighty, who were devoted to my altar, have built in me high places.
20. My seven senses, O my Lord, even though they had been as fountains of tears, yet my tears were too little— to lament our ruin.
21. The streets that were in sackcloth, and ashes cried out—disturbed by the play, akin to that which was—in the wilderness before the calf.
22. Poison seeks and wears, the beauty of lilies—and though their buds may conceal, and hidden disguise it—it blossoms in their bitter flowers.
Hymn 12.
1. I will call in my affliction, on the Power that subdues all—that is able to subdue, the Captor in his wrath—as it overcame Legion. R., Glory to His grace!
2. The Evil One has repaid me my brethren, debts that he borrowed not of me:— the good God likewise has repaid me, mercies that I lent Him not.— Come and marvel at these two things!
3. The good God has divided and given, my misdeeds to His grace—my offenses to His justice; His mercy has blotted out my misdeeds— His judgment has requited my offenses.
4. Sin was exceeding angry, and abode in alarm—when she saw how grace, put restraint on freedom, that she might overcome transgressions.
5. Glow, O my Lord, and send down Your love, break out and pour forth Your wrath!— Your wrath to destroy, Your love to rescue— the captives from the captor!
6. The days wherein the Evil One, decreed to cast me forth—as with a sling into perdition, in them the good God has bound up and kept— my soul in the bundle of life.
7. The men of speech who keep not silence, from praising continually—who have kept me in the midst of waves, and supported me that I fell not, let them give praise in my stead, O my Lord!
8. For who has at any time sufficed, in presence of the grace—of the mercies which surrounded him, that I should suffice to praise— the mercies that encompass me?
Hymn 13.
Concerning Mar Jacob and his Companions.
1. Three illustrious priests, after the manner of the two great lights—have carried on and handed down one to another, the See and the Hand and the Flock.— To us whose mounting was great for the two, this last is wholly a consolation. R., Glory to You Who chose them!
2. He Who created two great lights, chose for Himself these three Lights,— and set them in the three dark seasons of siege that have been.— When that pair of Lights was quenched, the other shone wholly forth.
3. These three priests were treasures, who held in their faithfulness,— the key of the Trinity; three doors they opened for us—each one of them with his key, unlocked and opened his door.
4. In the first was opened the door, for the chastisement that befell us—in the next was opened the door, for the King's power that came down on us—in the last was opened the door, for the good tidings that came up for us.
5. In the first was opened the door, for battle between two hosts;— in the next were opened doors, for the kings from either wind—in the last was opened the door, for ambassadors from either side.
6. In the first was opened the door, for battle because of misdeeds;— in the next was opened the door—for the kings because of strife—in the last was opened the door, for ambassadors because of mercies.
7. Lo! In these three successions, as in a mystery and a figure—wrath is likened to the sun; it began under the first—it waxed strong under the next; it sank and was quenched under the last.
8. Three figures the Sun also, shows forth in the three quarters:— its rising is keen and bright; its meridian strong and overpowering—and like a torch that is burnt out, its setting is mild and pleasant.
9. Small yet bright is its rising, when it comes to waken sleepers—hot and overpowering its meridian, when it comes to ripen the fruits—tender and pleasant its setting, when it reaches its consummation.
10. Who is this daughter born of vows, enviable above all women—whose successions thus proceed, and her ranks are thus manifold—and her degrees thus ascend, and her teachers thus excel.
11. Do these similitudes belong, only to the daughter of Abraham—or to you too, O daughter, born of vows, whose adorning is according as your beauty?— for as your occasion, so was your help, and as your help so was its minister.
12. According to the measure of her need, there came to her the supply of her need.— Her fathers were as was her birth; her teachers were as was her understanding—her training as was her growth; her raiment as was her stature.
13. Grace weighed out to her and gave all these things as in the scales—she laid them in her balance, that therefrom there might be profit—she drew them into succession, that therefrom might be perfection.
14. In the days of him that was first, peace abounded and peace vanished—in the days of him that was next, kings came down and kings went back—but in the days of the last, hosts assailed and hosts retreated.—
15. By the first order came in, it came in with him and went out with him—by the next the diadem that gladdened our churches, came near and withdrew far away—but by the last there dawned on us, grace that was not thankfully received.
16. Against the wrath that was first, the labour of the first contended—against the heat that was at noon, the shade of the second stood up—against peace that was thankless, the last multiplied warnings.
17. For the first invader of the land was the first and illustrious priest—for the second invader of the land, was the second and merciful priest:— but the prayers of him that was last, repaired our breaches secretly.
18. Nisibis is set upon waters, waters secret and open:— living streams are within her; a noble river without her. The river without deceived her; the fountain within has saved her.
19. The first priest was her vinedresser; he made her branches to grow even unto heaven.— Lo! Being dead and buried within her, he has become fruit in the midst of her bosom:— when therefore the pruners came, the fruit that was in her midst preserved her.
20. The time of her pruning came; it entered and took from her her vinedresser,— that there should not be one to pray for her. She made haste in her subtlety—He laid in her bosom her vinedresser, that she should be delivered through her vinedresser.
21. Be wise like Nisibis, O you daughters of Nisibis,— for that she laid the body within her, and it became a wall without her.— Place within you the living body, that it be a wall for your lives!
Hymn 14.
1. Under the three pastors,— there were manifold shepherds—the one mother that was in the city—had daughters in all regions.— Since Wrath has destroyed her dwellings—Peace shall build up her churches. R. Blessed be He who chose out those three!
2. The kindly labour of the first—bound up the land in her affliction:— the bread and wine of the next—healed the city when site was broken:— the sweet speech of the last—sweetened our bitterness in affliction.
3. The first tilled the land with his labour—he rooted out of her the briars and thorns:— the next fenced her round about—he made a hedge for her of them that were saved:— the last opened the garner of his Lord,— and sowed in her the words of her Lord.
4. The first priest by means of a fast,— closed up the doors of men's mouths:— the second priest for the captives,— opened the mouths of the purse:— but the last pierced through the ears—and fastened in them the ornament of life.
5. Aaron stripped off from the ears—the earrings and made a calf.— That lifeless calf in secret—pierced and slaughtered the camp:— those who had fashioned his horns, — he ripped them up with his horns.
6. But our priest who was the third—pierced through the ears of the heart:— and fastened there the earrings he had fashioned—of the nails that were fixed in the cross, — whereon his Lord was crucified—and gave life to His fellow-men.
7. A son unto death the fire brought forth—Death feeds upon all bodies:— the son of Death who surpassed Death—upon the souls of men he fed.— The calf forsook his provender—for men's minds were the food for him.
8. To the first Tree that which killed,— to it grace brought forth a son.— O Cross offspring of the Tree,— that fought against your sire!— The Tree was the fount of death—the Cross was the fount of life.
9. The son that was born to Death—all mouths were opened to curse him.— He devoured bodies and souls—and multiplied the disgrace of his father.— But the Cross caused to pass away the rebuke—of its father that first Tree.
10. The two sons were even as were— the two mothers that bare them.— The calf which the fire brought forth—the fire consumed in the midst of the people:— the Cross the offspring of grace—divided good gifts to all creation.
11. O my tongue hold your peace and be silent of the histories of the Cross that press to be told!— for my mind of a sudden has conceived—and lo! pangs of travail smite it:— it has conceived these among the last—and they strive to become the firstborn.
12. The babes struggled in the womb—the elder made haste to come forth:— the younger desiring the birthright—laid his hand upon his heel—that which he obtained not by birth—he obtained by the mess of pottage.
13. After the like sort these later histories,— lo! They make light of the former ones—that themselves may come forth and take the birthright.— Let us bring forth the history of our fathers—for lo! The histories of the Cross— are the firstborn of all creatures.
14. For if that which has no beginning— is the first of all created things—its histories also are the firstborn—for they are elder than all creatures.— Let the histories of You, O my Lord, yield place—that we may tell of Your ministers!
15. The first in degree of doctrine,— His eloquence was like as was his degree—the next who was second in degree—his interpretation mounted to the height of his degree—the last who was third in degree—his eloquence was great as he was.
16. The first in his simple words—gave milk unto his infants—the next in his plain sayings—gave victual to his children—the third in his perfect sayings—gave meat to his that were of perfect age.
17. She too the daughter of instruction—mounted from degree to degree—along with her teachers and fathers.— A young child she was with the first; a simple maid was she with the next—she came to perfect age in the third.
18. The first dealing with her as a child—loved her and taught her to fear—the next as with a damsel, rebuked her and make her glad—the third as with one fully instructed—was to her a solace of pleasantness.
19. Even the Most High with the daughter of Jacob,— gave blandishment and the rod to her childhood—and in her frowardness and full age—gave part in the sword and the Law;— and according to her discipline and instruction—He came to her in mildness and pleasantness.
20. The first that begot the flock—his bosom bare her infancy—the next of glad-some countenance,— cheered with song and made glad her childhood—the last grave of countenance,— lo! He guards her chastity in her youth.
21. The first priest who begot her—gave milk to her infancy—the next priest interpreted—and gave victual to her childhood—the third priest nourished her, and gave meat to her perfect age.
22. The wealthy father who was first—laid up treasures for her childhood—the next for her maturity— multiplied provision for her journey—the third the goodly olive tree—multiplied oil in her vessels.
23. When she comes before Him who is rich,— she will show the treasure of the first—when she comes before the Saviour, she will show the saved ones of the next—when she goes forth to meet the Bridegroom,— she will show the oil of her lamps.
24. Before Him who rewards the weary toilworn,— she will offer the labour of the first—before Him who loves cheerful givers,— she will show the almsgiving of the next—before Him who judges doctrines,— she will offer the discourse of the last.
25. And I the sinner who have striven to be— the disciple of these three—when they shall see Him of the Third Day—that he has closed the door of His chamber—may these three pray Him for me, that He keep the door open a little while for me!
26. May the sinner press into and enter— rejoicing and fearing to behold!— May the three masters call in— the one disciple in their grace!— May he gather up under the table— the crumbs that are full of life!
Hymn 15.
1. If the head had not been right—haply the members had murmured:— for when because of a perverse head— the course of the members is put astray—they are wont to lay the blame on the head. R. Blessed be He who chose you the pride of our people!
2. If now on one that is all goodly—on it we lay our hatred—how much more if we were hateful!— Yea even God though He is kind—bitter men complain against Him.
3. Be like the head O you members!— Get repose in his purity— and pleasantness in his tranquillity—in his sanctity renown—and in his wisdom learning!
4. Get discernment in his mildness—and chastity in his gravity—and bounty in his poverty!— As he is fully and altogether fair—let us be altogether fair with him!
5. See how meted and weighed— are his words and his actions!— Take heed how even his steps— keep the measure of peace!— With all his might he holds the bridle of all himself.
6. He was master over his youth—he bound it in the yoke of chastity:— his members were not enticed by lust—for they were kept under the rod:— his will he had in subjection.
7. For he was ready beforehand for his degree—as he was ready beforehand in his conversation—as he laid his foundations securely.— He became Head in his youth—when they made him preacher to the people.
8. Excellent was he among preachers—learned was he among scholars—and understanding was he among the wise:— chaste was he among his brethren,— and grave among his familiar friends.
9. In two abodes was he— a solitary recluse from his early days—for he was holy within his body—and solitary within his dwelling—openly and secretly was he chaste.
10. But although we my brethren— have put astray those measures—and we have lost that savour,— and have become teachers to ourselves—unto the perfection that called us.
11. Yet that measure of Truth— preserves itself in its vessel:— Truth chose it because she saw it chose her—she has preserved in it her fragrance and savour,— from the beginning to the end.
12. The Head both chaste and grave—that was not wrathful nor hard—nor transgressed even as we did—set and kept his own measures—and cast a bridle on his thoughts.
13. He gave example in his person,— that as he kept the measure of his time,— so was it meet that we should know our time.— We have become strangers to our time,— for we have been witless in the time of discernment.
14. In the beginning the blast of the wind— in its might chastens the fruit—then in the meantime the might of the sun:— but when its mightiness is passed—its end gathers his sweetness.
15. But we— they that were first chastened us—and also they that came next rebuked us—and they that were last added sweetness to us:— then when the time of tasting us arrives—great was our savourlessness.
16. For we came to maturity—that we might wean the children from wantonness—and lead them to gravity:— but our old age stood in need— that we should be rebuked as youths.
17. Accordingly he in kindness endured, nor did he make use of force—that he might increase honour to our old age:— and even if it knew not its degree—let him be magnified who knew its time!
18. And if one say that for the multitude—force and the rod should govern it—even as for the thief fear—and for the spoiler threatening—and for fools open shaming.
19. Yet if with the head as first—the members had hasted to move as second—they would have drawn that which was third—and the whole body from the end— would have followed after them.
20. They that were second despised those that were first—and that were third those that were second:— the degrees were set at naught one by another.— While these within despised one another—they were trodden down likewise by those without.
Hymn 16.
1. Herein is a mirror to be blamed—if its clearness is darkened— because there are spots on its substance;— for the foulness that is on it becomes— a covering before them that look on it. R. Blessed be He Who polished our mirror!
2. For that comeliness is not adorned in it—and blemishes are not brought to view in it—it is altogether a damage to comely things—seeing that their comeliness gain not— adornments as their profit.
3. Blemishes are not rooted out by it—likewise adornments are not multiplied by it.— A blemish that remains is as a loss—that there is no adornment is a defect:— loss is met together with defect.
4. If our mirror be darkness—it is altogether joy to the hateful;— because their blemishes are not reproved:— but if polished and shining—it is our freedom that is adorned.
5. Twofold is the loss in defect—for the hateful and for the goodly—in that the goodly gain no crown—and likewise the hateful get no adorning:— the mirror divides the loss.
6. Never does the mirror drive— by compulsion him that looks therein:— so likewise grace which followed— upon the righteousness of the Law,— does not possess the compulsion of the Law.
7. Righteousness was unto childhood—its adorner of compulsion—for when mankind was in childhood—she adorned it by compulsion—while she robbed it not of its freedom.
8. Righteousness used blandishment,— and the rod to deal with childhood—when she smote it she roused it; her rod restrained frowardness, her blandishment softened the minds.
* * * * * * * * * * *
9. [If one turn from the Gospel,] wherewith we are adorned today, my brethren,— to another gospel he is a child:— in a time of greatness of understanding—he has become without understanding.
10. For in the degree of full age—he has gone down to childhood—and he loves the law of bondmen,— which when he is confident smites him—and when he rejoices buffets him.
11. Whatsoever ornament is compulsion—is not true but is borrowed.— This is a great thing in God's eyes—that a man should be adorned by himself:— therefore took He away compulsion.
12. For even as of His prudence— in its own time He employed compulsion—so likewise of His prudence—He took it away at a time— when gentleness was desired in its stead.
13. For as it is befitting to Youth,— that it should be made to haste under the rod— so is it very hateful that under the rod— Wisdom should be brought to serve—that compulsion should be lord over her.
14. Behold therefore how likewise— God has ordered my successions— in the pastors I have had—and in the teachers He has given me—and in the fathers He has reckoned unto me!
15. For weighed out according to their times— were the helps of their qualities;— namely in him in whom it was needful, fear; and in whom it was profitable, heartening; and in whom it was becoming, meekness.
16. By measure He made my steps advance:— to my childhood He assigned terror; likewise to my youth, fear—to my age of wisdom and prudence—He assigned and gave meekness.
17. In the frowardness of the degree of childhood— my instructor was a fear to me:— his rod restrained me from wantonness—and from mischief the terror of him—and from indulgence the fear of him.
18. Another father He gave to my youth:— what there was in me of childishness,— that was there in him of hardness; what there was in me of maturity—that was in him as meekness.
19. When I rose from the degrees— of childhood and of youth—there passed away the terror that was first—there passed away the fear that was second—He gave me a kind pastor.
20. Lo! For my full age his food—and for my wisdom his interpretations;— and for my peace his meekness—and for my repose his kindness—and for my chastity his gravity!
21. Blessed is He who as in a balance— weighed out and gave me fathers:— for according to my times were my helps—and according to my sicknesses my medicines—and according to my comelinesses my adornments!
22. We then are they that have disturbed— the succession and fair order—for in a time of mildness— lo! We crave for hardness—that You should rebuke us as though we were children!
Concerning Mar Jacob and his Companions.
1. Three illustrious priests, after the manner of the two great lights—have carried on and handed down one to another, the See and the Hand and the Flock.— To us whose mounting was great for the two, this last is wholly a consolation. R., Glory to You Who chose them!
2. He Who created two great lights, chose for Himself these three Lights,— and set them in the three dark seasons of siege that have been.— When that pair of Lights was quenched, the other shone wholly forth.
3. These three priests were treasures, who held in their faithfulness,— the key of the Trinity; three doors they opened for us—each one of them with his key, unlocked and opened his door.
4. In the first was opened the door, for the chastisement that befell us—in the next was opened the door, for the King's power that came down on us—in the last was opened the door, for the good tidings that came up for us.
5. In the first was opened the door, for battle between two hosts;— in the next were opened doors, for the kings from either wind—in the last was opened the door, for ambassadors from either side.
6. In the first was opened the door, for battle because of misdeeds;— in the next was opened the door—for the kings because of strife—in the last was opened the door, for ambassadors because of mercies.
7. Lo! In these three successions, as in a mystery and a figure—wrath is likened to the sun; it began under the first—it waxed strong under the next; it sank and was quenched under the last.
8. Three figures the Sun also, shows forth in the three quarters:— its rising is keen and bright; its meridian strong and overpowering—and like a torch that is burnt out, its setting is mild and pleasant.
9. Small yet bright is its rising, when it comes to waken sleepers—hot and overpowering its meridian, when it comes to ripen the fruits—tender and pleasant its setting, when it reaches its consummation.
10. Who is this daughter born of vows, enviable above all women—whose successions thus proceed, and her ranks are thus manifold—and her degrees thus ascend, and her teachers thus excel.
11. Do these similitudes belong, only to the daughter of Abraham—or to you too, O daughter, born of vows, whose adorning is according as your beauty?— for as your occasion, so was your help, and as your help so was its minister.
12. According to the measure of her need, there came to her the supply of her need.— Her fathers were as was her birth; her teachers were as was her understanding—her training as was her growth; her raiment as was her stature.
13. Grace weighed out to her and gave all these things as in the scales—she laid them in her balance, that therefrom there might be profit—she drew them into succession, that therefrom might be perfection.
14. In the days of him that was first, peace abounded and peace vanished—in the days of him that was next, kings came down and kings went back—but in the days of the last, hosts assailed and hosts retreated.—
15. By the first order came in, it came in with him and went out with him—by the next the diadem that gladdened our churches, came near and withdrew far away—but by the last there dawned on us, grace that was not thankfully received.
16. Against the wrath that was first, the labour of the first contended—against the heat that was at noon, the shade of the second stood up—against peace that was thankless, the last multiplied warnings.
17. For the first invader of the land was the first and illustrious priest—for the second invader of the land, was the second and merciful priest:— but the prayers of him that was last, repaired our breaches secretly.
18. Nisibis is set upon waters, waters secret and open:— living streams are within her; a noble river without her. The river without deceived her; the fountain within has saved her.
19. The first priest was her vinedresser; he made her branches to grow even unto heaven.— Lo! Being dead and buried within her, he has become fruit in the midst of her bosom:— when therefore the pruners came, the fruit that was in her midst preserved her.
20. The time of her pruning came; it entered and took from her her vinedresser,— that there should not be one to pray for her. She made haste in her subtlety—He laid in her bosom her vinedresser, that she should be delivered through her vinedresser.
21. Be wise like Nisibis, O you daughters of Nisibis,— for that she laid the body within her, and it became a wall without her.— Place within you the living body, that it be a wall for your lives!
Hymn 14.
1. Under the three pastors,— there were manifold shepherds—the one mother that was in the city—had daughters in all regions.— Since Wrath has destroyed her dwellings—Peace shall build up her churches. R. Blessed be He who chose out those three!
2. The kindly labour of the first—bound up the land in her affliction:— the bread and wine of the next—healed the city when site was broken:— the sweet speech of the last—sweetened our bitterness in affliction.
3. The first tilled the land with his labour—he rooted out of her the briars and thorns:— the next fenced her round about—he made a hedge for her of them that were saved:— the last opened the garner of his Lord,— and sowed in her the words of her Lord.
4. The first priest by means of a fast,— closed up the doors of men's mouths:— the second priest for the captives,— opened the mouths of the purse:— but the last pierced through the ears—and fastened in them the ornament of life.
5. Aaron stripped off from the ears—the earrings and made a calf.— That lifeless calf in secret—pierced and slaughtered the camp:— those who had fashioned his horns, — he ripped them up with his horns.
6. But our priest who was the third—pierced through the ears of the heart:— and fastened there the earrings he had fashioned—of the nails that were fixed in the cross, — whereon his Lord was crucified—and gave life to His fellow-men.
7. A son unto death the fire brought forth—Death feeds upon all bodies:— the son of Death who surpassed Death—upon the souls of men he fed.— The calf forsook his provender—for men's minds were the food for him.
8. To the first Tree that which killed,— to it grace brought forth a son.— O Cross offspring of the Tree,— that fought against your sire!— The Tree was the fount of death—the Cross was the fount of life.
9. The son that was born to Death—all mouths were opened to curse him.— He devoured bodies and souls—and multiplied the disgrace of his father.— But the Cross caused to pass away the rebuke—of its father that first Tree.
10. The two sons were even as were— the two mothers that bare them.— The calf which the fire brought forth—the fire consumed in the midst of the people:— the Cross the offspring of grace—divided good gifts to all creation.
11. O my tongue hold your peace and be silent of the histories of the Cross that press to be told!— for my mind of a sudden has conceived—and lo! pangs of travail smite it:— it has conceived these among the last—and they strive to become the firstborn.
12. The babes struggled in the womb—the elder made haste to come forth:— the younger desiring the birthright—laid his hand upon his heel—that which he obtained not by birth—he obtained by the mess of pottage.
13. After the like sort these later histories,— lo! They make light of the former ones—that themselves may come forth and take the birthright.— Let us bring forth the history of our fathers—for lo! The histories of the Cross— are the firstborn of all creatures.
14. For if that which has no beginning— is the first of all created things—its histories also are the firstborn—for they are elder than all creatures.— Let the histories of You, O my Lord, yield place—that we may tell of Your ministers!
15. The first in degree of doctrine,— His eloquence was like as was his degree—the next who was second in degree—his interpretation mounted to the height of his degree—the last who was third in degree—his eloquence was great as he was.
16. The first in his simple words—gave milk unto his infants—the next in his plain sayings—gave victual to his children—the third in his perfect sayings—gave meat to his that were of perfect age.
17. She too the daughter of instruction—mounted from degree to degree—along with her teachers and fathers.— A young child she was with the first; a simple maid was she with the next—she came to perfect age in the third.
18. The first dealing with her as a child—loved her and taught her to fear—the next as with a damsel, rebuked her and make her glad—the third as with one fully instructed—was to her a solace of pleasantness.
19. Even the Most High with the daughter of Jacob,— gave blandishment and the rod to her childhood—and in her frowardness and full age—gave part in the sword and the Law;— and according to her discipline and instruction—He came to her in mildness and pleasantness.
20. The first that begot the flock—his bosom bare her infancy—the next of glad-some countenance,— cheered with song and made glad her childhood—the last grave of countenance,— lo! He guards her chastity in her youth.
21. The first priest who begot her—gave milk to her infancy—the next priest interpreted—and gave victual to her childhood—the third priest nourished her, and gave meat to her perfect age.
22. The wealthy father who was first—laid up treasures for her childhood—the next for her maturity— multiplied provision for her journey—the third the goodly olive tree—multiplied oil in her vessels.
23. When she comes before Him who is rich,— she will show the treasure of the first—when she comes before the Saviour, she will show the saved ones of the next—when she goes forth to meet the Bridegroom,— she will show the oil of her lamps.
24. Before Him who rewards the weary toilworn,— she will offer the labour of the first—before Him who loves cheerful givers,— she will show the almsgiving of the next—before Him who judges doctrines,— she will offer the discourse of the last.
25. And I the sinner who have striven to be— the disciple of these three—when they shall see Him of the Third Day—that he has closed the door of His chamber—may these three pray Him for me, that He keep the door open a little while for me!
26. May the sinner press into and enter— rejoicing and fearing to behold!— May the three masters call in— the one disciple in their grace!— May he gather up under the table— the crumbs that are full of life!
Hymn 15.
1. If the head had not been right—haply the members had murmured:— for when because of a perverse head— the course of the members is put astray—they are wont to lay the blame on the head. R. Blessed be He who chose you the pride of our people!
2. If now on one that is all goodly—on it we lay our hatred—how much more if we were hateful!— Yea even God though He is kind—bitter men complain against Him.
3. Be like the head O you members!— Get repose in his purity— and pleasantness in his tranquillity—in his sanctity renown—and in his wisdom learning!
4. Get discernment in his mildness—and chastity in his gravity—and bounty in his poverty!— As he is fully and altogether fair—let us be altogether fair with him!
5. See how meted and weighed— are his words and his actions!— Take heed how even his steps— keep the measure of peace!— With all his might he holds the bridle of all himself.
6. He was master over his youth—he bound it in the yoke of chastity:— his members were not enticed by lust—for they were kept under the rod:— his will he had in subjection.
7. For he was ready beforehand for his degree—as he was ready beforehand in his conversation—as he laid his foundations securely.— He became Head in his youth—when they made him preacher to the people.
8. Excellent was he among preachers—learned was he among scholars—and understanding was he among the wise:— chaste was he among his brethren,— and grave among his familiar friends.
9. In two abodes was he— a solitary recluse from his early days—for he was holy within his body—and solitary within his dwelling—openly and secretly was he chaste.
10. But although we my brethren— have put astray those measures—and we have lost that savour,— and have become teachers to ourselves—unto the perfection that called us.
11. Yet that measure of Truth— preserves itself in its vessel:— Truth chose it because she saw it chose her—she has preserved in it her fragrance and savour,— from the beginning to the end.
12. The Head both chaste and grave—that was not wrathful nor hard—nor transgressed even as we did—set and kept his own measures—and cast a bridle on his thoughts.
13. He gave example in his person,— that as he kept the measure of his time,— so was it meet that we should know our time.— We have become strangers to our time,— for we have been witless in the time of discernment.
14. In the beginning the blast of the wind— in its might chastens the fruit—then in the meantime the might of the sun:— but when its mightiness is passed—its end gathers his sweetness.
15. But we— they that were first chastened us—and also they that came next rebuked us—and they that were last added sweetness to us:— then when the time of tasting us arrives—great was our savourlessness.
16. For we came to maturity—that we might wean the children from wantonness—and lead them to gravity:— but our old age stood in need— that we should be rebuked as youths.
17. Accordingly he in kindness endured, nor did he make use of force—that he might increase honour to our old age:— and even if it knew not its degree—let him be magnified who knew its time!
18. And if one say that for the multitude—force and the rod should govern it—even as for the thief fear—and for the spoiler threatening—and for fools open shaming.
19. Yet if with the head as first—the members had hasted to move as second—they would have drawn that which was third—and the whole body from the end— would have followed after them.
20. They that were second despised those that were first—and that were third those that were second:— the degrees were set at naught one by another.— While these within despised one another—they were trodden down likewise by those without.
Hymn 16.
1. Herein is a mirror to be blamed—if its clearness is darkened— because there are spots on its substance;— for the foulness that is on it becomes— a covering before them that look on it. R. Blessed be He Who polished our mirror!
2. For that comeliness is not adorned in it—and blemishes are not brought to view in it—it is altogether a damage to comely things—seeing that their comeliness gain not— adornments as their profit.
3. Blemishes are not rooted out by it—likewise adornments are not multiplied by it.— A blemish that remains is as a loss—that there is no adornment is a defect:— loss is met together with defect.
4. If our mirror be darkness—it is altogether joy to the hateful;— because their blemishes are not reproved:— but if polished and shining—it is our freedom that is adorned.
5. Twofold is the loss in defect—for the hateful and for the goodly—in that the goodly gain no crown—and likewise the hateful get no adorning:— the mirror divides the loss.
6. Never does the mirror drive— by compulsion him that looks therein:— so likewise grace which followed— upon the righteousness of the Law,— does not possess the compulsion of the Law.
7. Righteousness was unto childhood—its adorner of compulsion—for when mankind was in childhood—she adorned it by compulsion—while she robbed it not of its freedom.
8. Righteousness used blandishment,— and the rod to deal with childhood—when she smote it she roused it; her rod restrained frowardness, her blandishment softened the minds.
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9. [If one turn from the Gospel,] wherewith we are adorned today, my brethren,— to another gospel he is a child:— in a time of greatness of understanding—he has become without understanding.
10. For in the degree of full age—he has gone down to childhood—and he loves the law of bondmen,— which when he is confident smites him—and when he rejoices buffets him.
11. Whatsoever ornament is compulsion—is not true but is borrowed.— This is a great thing in God's eyes—that a man should be adorned by himself:— therefore took He away compulsion.
12. For even as of His prudence— in its own time He employed compulsion—so likewise of His prudence—He took it away at a time— when gentleness was desired in its stead.
13. For as it is befitting to Youth,— that it should be made to haste under the rod— so is it very hateful that under the rod— Wisdom should be brought to serve—that compulsion should be lord over her.
14. Behold therefore how likewise— God has ordered my successions— in the pastors I have had—and in the teachers He has given me—and in the fathers He has reckoned unto me!
15. For weighed out according to their times— were the helps of their qualities;— namely in him in whom it was needful, fear; and in whom it was profitable, heartening; and in whom it was becoming, meekness.
16. By measure He made my steps advance:— to my childhood He assigned terror; likewise to my youth, fear—to my age of wisdom and prudence—He assigned and gave meekness.
17. In the frowardness of the degree of childhood— my instructor was a fear to me:— his rod restrained me from wantonness—and from mischief the terror of him—and from indulgence the fear of him.
18. Another father He gave to my youth:— what there was in me of childishness,— that was there in him of hardness; what there was in me of maturity—that was in him as meekness.
19. When I rose from the degrees— of childhood and of youth—there passed away the terror that was first—there passed away the fear that was second—He gave me a kind pastor.
20. Lo! For my full age his food—and for my wisdom his interpretations;— and for my peace his meekness—and for my repose his kindness—and for my chastity his gravity!
21. Blessed is He who as in a balance— weighed out and gave me fathers:— for according to my times were my helps—and according to my sicknesses my medicines—and according to my comelinesses my adornments!
22. We then are they that have disturbed— the succession and fair order—for in a time of mildness— lo! We crave for hardness—that You should rebuke us as though we were children!
Hymn 17.
Concerning Abraham, Bishop of Nisibis .
1. Suffer, O Lord, that even my lowliness, should cast into Your treasury its farthing, even as the merchant of our flock, who made increase of his talent of Your doctrine, and has departed and entered Your haven. I will speak of the shepherd, under him who has become head of the flock; who was disciple of the Three, and has become our fourth master. R., Blessed be He Who has made him our comfort!
2. In one love will I cause them to shine, and as a crown will I weave them, the splendid blossoms, and the fragrant flowers of the teacher and of his disciple, who remained after him as Elisha; for the horn of his election and he was consecrated and became head, and he was exalted and became master. R., Blessed be He Who made him chief!
3. And they in heaven rejoiced for the flock, that by the pastor whom they fed, they feed it; the abode of the shepherds under him rejoiced, because they saw the succession of their degrees. He took and set him as a mind in the midst of the great body of the church, and his members came round him to buy of him life, doctrine, new bread. R., Blessed be He Who made him their treasury!
4. He chose him from the multitude of shepherds, because he had given trial of his steadfastness; the time tested him in the midst of the flock, and length of days proved him as a crucible; for that he gave proof in his person, He made him a wall for many. Let your fasting be armour to our country, your prayer a shield to our city, let your censer purchase reconcilement. R., Blessed be He Who has hallowed your sacrifices!
5. The Pastor who has been parted from his flock, fed them on spiritual pastures, and by his exalted staff, he defended them from secret wolves. Fill up the room of your master, which thirsts for the sound of his melody; set up yourself as a pillar, in the city of the trembling people; support her with your prayers. R., Blessed be He Who has made you our pillar!
6. He has committed the Hand to his disciple, the Throne to one that is worthy of it, the Key to one that is proved faithful, the Flock to one that has excelled. To your hand belongs the laying-on, to your offering propitiation, and to your tongue consolation. May peace adorn your Dominion; be the watchmen within and the congregations without. R., Blessed be He Who has chosen you for rejoicings!
7. May your doctrine abound, in deeds more than words! In saying few words, till our land with labour, that by much tillage the scanty seed may become rich, the increase of the old seed, may come among us thirtyfold, and your new seed sixtyfold. R., Blessed be He Who multiplies an hundredfold!
8. The wrath that was against you ceases, because peace flows over you altogether; the jealousy against you is quenched, for your love hourly flames forth: you have broken the string of envy, that it should smite none in secret; slander that confounds, to it your ear turns not, for open truth is pleasing to you. R., Blessed be He Who adorned your members!
9. You shall give counsel in the midst of your people, like Jethro among the Hebrews; you shall altogether go with him, who for your profit counsels you, you shall altogether flee from him, who otherwise counsels you: Rehoboam shall be a sign to you; you shall choose counsels of profit, you shall refuse counsels of envy. R., Blessed be He Who has counselled comfort!
10. The gift that has been given you, from on high it flew and came down: you shall call it by a name of man, you shall not bear it in another power, lest haply to its place there should come, Satan in his guile, supposing, that the sons of men have given it to you, so that this freeborn gift should serve in bondage to man. R., Blessed be He Who has handed down his gift!
11. Your master is painted in your person; lo! His likeness is on you altogether; parted from us one with us is he. In you we shall see those three, the excellent ones who are parted from us. You shall be unto us a wall as Jacob, and full of tenderness as Babu, and a treasury of speech as Valgesh. R., Blessed be He Who in one has painted them!
12. I, too, the offscouring of the flock, have not withholden anything that was meet: I have painted the similitude of these two, in the colours of these two; that the sheep may see their adornment, and the flock their beauties. And I who have become a lamb endowed with speech, unto You, O God of Abraham, in the posture of Abram will give You praise. R., Blessed be He Who has made me His harp!
Hymn 18.
1. O you who are made priest after your master, the illustrious after the excellent, the chaste after the grave, the watchful after the abstinent, your master from you has not departed; in the living we see the deceased: for lo! In you is his likeness painted; and impressed upon you are his footprints, and all of him shines from all of you. R., Blessed be He Who in His stead has given us you!
2. The fruit wherein its tree is painted, bears witness concerning the root. Hitherto there has not failed us, the savour of his sweetness. His words you show forth in bodily act, for you have fulfilled them in deed. In your conversation is painted his doctrine, in your conduct his exposition, in your fulfilment his interpretation. R., Blessed be He Who has made your lustre to excel!
3. The last pastor who was exalted, and became head unto the members, the younger who obtained the birthright, not for price like Jacob, not in jealousy like Aaron, whose brethren the Levites envied him, but by love obtained he it like Moses, though he was older than Aaron. In you your brethren rejoiced as in him. R., Blessed be He Who chose you in unanimity!
4. There is no envy or jealousy, among the members of the body; for in love they give ear unto him, with tenderness they are visited by him. A watch tower is the head unto the members, for on every side he looks forth. Exalted is he yet meek in his graciousness, even to the feet he humbles himself, that he may turn away harm from them. R., Blessed be He Who instilled your love into us!
5. A small thing verily had this been, if by an old man apostasy were overcome. Old age in its prudence submitted; youth in its season conquered; for a youthful combatant endured, the hateful conflict waged, by force that was full of apostacy, which like smoke waxed and passed: with its beginning was its end. R., Blessed be He Who blew upon it that it vanished!
6. The voice of the cornet on a sudden amazed and called You to battle. You went up like a new David, by You was subdued a second Goliath. You were not untried in combat, for a secret warfare day by day, You are waging against the Evil One. Exercise in secret is wont to attain the crown openly. R., Blessed be He Who chose You for our glory!
7. In face of trial Job trained his body and his mind, and in temptation he was victorious. And Joseph conquered in the chamber; Ananias and his company in the furnace, and in the midst of the den Daniel. Satan did foolishly, when in tempting, he confirmed their victory openly. R., Blessed be He Who has multiplied shame on him!
8. And the husbandman who apostatized and was urgent, to sow thorns with his left hand; zealous against him was the righteous husbandman, stopped and cut off his left hand. He filled His own right hand and sowed in the heart the words of life; and lo! Our understanding is tilled, by His prophets and His apostles. By You may our souls be tilled! R., Blessed be He Who chose You for our husbandman!
9. And if so be Your words are too little, till our land with deeds, that amid much tillage, stock and root may be strengthened. Better is a goodly deed, than the hearing of ten thousand words. Your seed shall yield an hundredfold, and the after crop sixtyfold, yea that which grows of itself thirtyfold. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your increase!
10. That light should be darkened it is not meet, that salt should lose its savour it is not right; defilement for the head is not seemly, nor yet foulness for the mirror. Nor if medicines have lost their savour sicknesses also are not cured; and if so be the torch is quenched, the stumbling also are many. Your light shall chase away our darkness. R., Blessed be He Who has made You our lamp!
11. Appoint for you scribes and judges, exactors also and dispensers, overseers also and officers: to each assign his work, lest haply by care should be rusted, or by anxiety should be distracted, the mind and the tongue, wherewith you offer supplication, for the expiation of all the people. R., Blessed be He Who makes illustrious Your ministry!
12. That he should purge his mind, and cleanse also his tongue; that he should purify his hands, and make his whole body to shine; this is too little for the priest and his title, who offers the Living Body. Let him cleanse all himself at all hours; for he stands as mediator, between God and mankind. R., Blessed be He Who has cleansed His ministers!
Hymn 19.
1. You who answers to the name of Abraham, in that You are made father of many; but because to You none is spouse, as Sarah was to Abraham—lo! Your flock is Your spouse; bring up her sons in Your truth; spiritual children may they be to You, and the sons be sons of promise, that they may become heirs in Eden. R., Blessed be He Who foreshowed You in Abraham!
2. Fair fruit of chastity, in whom the priesthood was well pleased, youngest among Your brethren as was the son of Jesse; the horn overflowed and anointed You, the hand alighted and chose You, the Church desired and loved You; the pure altar is for Your ministry, the great throne for Your honour, and all as one for Your crown. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your crowning!
3. Lo! Your flock, O blessed one, arise and visit it, O diligent one! Jacob ranged the flocks in order; range the sheep that have speech, and enlighten the virgin-youths in purity, and the virgin-maids in chastity; raise up priests in honour, rulers in meekness, and a people in righteousness. R. Blessed be He Who filled You with understanding!
4. Guard the sheep that are whole, and visit them that are sick, and bind up them that are broken, and seek out them that are lost; feed them in the pastures of the Scriptures, and give them drink or the spring of doctrine: let the truth be a wall unto you, let the cross be a staff unto you, and truthfulness be peace unto you. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your virtues!
5. Let there be with You in Your flock, the power that was with David; for if he plucked a straying lamb, from the mouth of the lion, how meet is it for You, O exalted one, to be zealous to snatch from the Evil One the souls that are precious above all, for by nothing can they be bought, save by the blood of Christ! R., Blessed be He Who was sold and bought all!
6. Unto Moses Joshua ministered, and for the reward of his ministry, from him received the right hand. Because to an illustrious old man you have ministered, he too gave you the right hand. Moses committed unto Joshua, a flock of which half were wolves; but to you is delivered a flock, whereof a fourth yea a third is sanctified. R., Blessed be He who adorned your flock!
7. Let the love of Moses abide in you, for his love was a discerning love, his zeal a discreet zeal. When Korah and Dathan sundered themselves, he sundered the earth from beneath them; by sundering he made the sundering to cease. In Eldad and Medad he made known, that his good will was altogether this that all the people should prophesy. R., Blessed be He who in His good will was reconciled!
8. The poor estate of Elijah, Elisha loved above wealth; a poor man gave to a poor man, a gift that was great above all. Because you have loved the poverty, of your master who in secret was rich, the fountain of his words shall flow from you, that you may become a harp for the Spirit, and may sing to yourself inwardly His good will. R., Blessed be He who made you His treasure!
9. There is none that envies your election, for meek is your headship; there is none angered by the rebuke, for your word sows peace; there is none terrified by your voice, for pleasant in your visitation; there is none that groans against your yoke, for it labors instead of our neck, and lightens the burden of our souls. R., Blessed be He who chose you for our rest
10. Contend not with the mighty, despair not of the outcast; soften and teach the rich, exhort and win the poor; with the harsh join the forbearing, and the long suffering with the wrathful; catch them that are evil by them that are good, and them that spoil by them that give, and the defiled by means of the sanctified. R., Blessed be He who made you our hunter!
11. Take to you ten thousand medicaments, and arise and go forth among the sick; to the diseased offer medicine, and to him that is sound a preservative; not one medicine only shall you offer, for the sickness lest haply it be not meet: offer many remedies, that the sickness may find healing; likewise you shall learn experience. R., Blessed be He who laboured to heal our wounds!
12. May the land be according to your desire; may the vineyard be according to your husbandry; may the flock be in the midst of your dwelling, and the sheep sound under your staff! May you be a great Head, and we the jewels of your crown! May we be beautiful in you and you be beautiful in us! For they are goodly each in the other, people and priest when they are at one. R., Blessed be He who has sowed among us unity!
13. Hearken to the Apostle when he says, to that virgin whom he had espoused; I am jealous over you with jealousy, with a jealousy verily of God, not of the flesh but of the spirit. Be jealous therewith you also in pureness, that He may know what she is and whose she is. In you may she cherish, and in you may she love, Jesus the Bridegroom in truth. R., Blessed is he whose zeal is holy!
14. As are her masters, so are her manners: for with the teacher that lags a laggard is she, and with him that is noble, excellent is she. The Church is like a mirror, for according to the face that gazes into it, thus does it put on the likeness thereof. For as is the king so also his host, and as is the priest so also his flock; according as these are it is stamped on them. R., Blessed be He Who stamped her in His likeness!
15. Without a testament they departed, those three illustrious priests; who in Testaments used to meditate, those two Testaments of God. Great gain have they bequeathed to us, even this example of poverty. They who possessed nothing the blessed ones, made us their possessions; the Church was their treasure. R., Blessed is he who possessed in them his possessions!
16. The priest Jacob the noble, with him she was ennobled as he was: because he joined his love to his jealousy, with fear and love he was clothed. With Babes a lover of bounty, for money she redeemed the captives. With Valgesh a scribe of the law, her heart she opened to the Scriptures. With you then may her profit be manifold! R., Blessed be He Who has magnified her merchantmen!
Hymn 20.
1. O virgin-youth that art become bridegroom, move to a little jealousy your mind, towards her who is the wife of your youth: cut off the attachments which she had, in her girlhood with many others; rebuke her and call together her affections, that she may know what she is and whose she is. In you may she desire yea love, Christ the Bridegroom of truth. R., Blessed be He Who betrothes her to His Only Begotten!
2. Be jealous O husbandman against the tares, which have sprung up and entangled themselves among the wheat. Easy is it to root up the thicket, rather than the despised: if a slight breeze bears it, it attacks the sowing and conquers it. That which three husbandmen have sown, may it return in threefold measure! Thirty-fold and sixty and an hundred! R., Blessed be He Who makes rich your increase!
3. A new shepherd for him it is right, that he should oversee the flock in new wise, and should know what is the number of it, and should see what are its needs. A flock it is that was purchased with the blood, of that chief of the shepherds. Call and cause to pass each sheep by its name, for it is a flock whereof the name is written, and its reckoning in the Book of life. R., Blessed be He Who will require the number thereof!
4. Lo the spouse of your Lord is with you! keep her from all harm, and from men that deal corruptly, and call the congregations by their own names. The name of her spouse is set on her; let her not go a whoring for another name, for she was not baptized in the name of man; with Names wherein she was baptized let her make confession, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. R., Blessed be He by Whose Name she is called!
5. The Apostle her betrother was jealous over her, that she should not be corrupted by names, yet not by names that were false, but not even by names that were true; not by Cephas yea not by his name. They who were true betrothers, set the Name of her betrothed upon her; the false betrothers like whoremongers, set their own names on the flock. R., Glory be to Your Name, our Creator!
6. The stamp on living creatures, O my brethren, no man destroys openly; and a name that is signed to a letter, no man adds to or alters: whoso effaces the stamp is a thief; and whoso alters the name is a falsifier. The name of Christ has been altered; names of falsehood lo! Have been set, upon the congregations that have been corrupted. R., Blessed be He Who has called His flock by His Name!
7. Look at the Prophets and Apostles, how like they are each to the other! By the Prophets the Name of God, was set on the flock of God; and by the Apostles the Name of Christ, was set on the Church of Christ. The false betrothers also are like one another for by their names are called, the congregations who commit whoredom with them. R., Blessed be He in Whose Name we were sanctified!
Hymn 21.
1. John who was a torch, laid bare and rebuked the wanton ones: they made haste and quenched the torch, that they might let loose the desire of their lust. Be a lamp in brightness, and make the works of darkness cease, that whenever your doctrine shines, no man may dare at its rising, to give ear to the lusts of darkness. R., Blessed be He Who made you our lamp!
2. A great blessing was hidden in it, even in the reproof of Elijah. Elisha ministered unto him and sought, a twofold reward of his ministration. Twofold glory it gave to him, for in double measure was he clad with his virtues. You who has loved the reproof of Valgesh your master rich in gifts, may you inherit the treasure of his wisdom! R., Blessed be He Who makes your Doctrine rich!
3. May greediness be overcome by your fasting even as by the fasting of Daniel! May lust be confounded before your body, like as it was confounded before Joseph! May lust of money be overcome by you! like as it was overcome before Simeon, May you bind on earth even as he, and loose on high after his likeness; for your faith is even as his! R., Blessed is He Who committed to you His ministry!
4. Your chastity be as Elisha's, and your celibacy Elijah's, the covenant with your eyes as Job's, your tender mercies as David's; without envy as Jonathan, your firmness as Jeremiah's, your gentleness the Apostles'! Yours be the ancient things of the prophets, yours the new things of the Apostles. R., Blessed be He Who filled you with their treasures!
5. Be a crown to the priesthood, and in you be the ministry made to shine! Be a brother to the elders, likewise an overseer to the deacons; be a master to youth, a staff and a hand to old age; be a wall to the consecrated virgins. In your conversation may the covenant prevail, and the Church in your comeliness be adorned. R., Blessed be He Who chose you to be priest!
6. In your poverty be brought to nought, the hateful custom of the house of Gehazi; in your sanctity be abolished, the abominable custom of the house of Eli; in your unity be done away, the treacherous greeting of the lips of Iscariot the deceiver! Pour forth all our thought, and form it anew from the beginning! R., Blessed be He Who in your crucible refines us!
7. In your conversation let Mammon be put to shame, who has been lord over our freedom! Let the disease be done away from us, which is customary with us and pleasant to us; abolish the causes that have maintained, customs that are full of harm! Evil things have possessed us through custom: let good things possess us through custom! Be, O Lord, the cause of help to us. R., Blessed be He Who chose You in order to our life!
8. Let evil customs be cut off: let not the Church possess wealth; that she be sufficed let her possess souls, and if thus she be sufficed let it be in marvellous measure! And let not her deceased be buried in the cutting off of hope heathenishly, with vestments and wailing and lamentation; for the living is clothed in raiment, but the deceased his all is a coffin. R., Blessed be He Who to our dust turns us again!
9. A cause of evil is the lust, also the greediness of the house of Eli, and the thievishness of the house of Gehazi, and the reviling of Nabal. Close up these hateful well-springs, lest there be a great outpouring, and there come from it defilement, and even you are reached by its overflow. The Lord restrain their outpourings! R., Blessed be He Who dried up their over-flowings!
10. For the old man commit speech to him; for the young enjoin silence on him; for the stranger who comes in unto you, learns of you from your discipline, namely who speaks first, and who second and third: and if every man keeps his mouth, and every man knows his degree, they will call you happy. R., Our Lord perform your desire!
11. Let the voice of your truth be single and your assumed voices without number; the image of truthfulness on your heart, and on your face all aspects, sadness, gladness, and feebleness. To him that errs show that you are wrathful, to him that is chaste show that you are glad. Be single towards the Godhead, and to mankind be manifold. R., Blessed be He Who with all men is all things!
12. If you hear an evil report, from truthful men that deceive not, pour forth tears that you may quench the fire that burns in others; let them that are wise pray with you, and appoint a fast for them that have knowledge, and let your dwelling be in mourning, for him who is lost in sin, that he may turn back in repentance. R., Blessed be He Who found the sheep that was lost!
13. To every man give not your ear, lest liars overwhelm you; to every man lend not your foot, lest vile ones misguide you; to every man give not your soul, lest the insolent trample you. Keep your hand from the false man, lest he gather thorns into your hand. Be far off and near at hand. R., Blessed be He Who is near though far!
14. Lo the fame of the new king, resounds and comes into the world! To the spoiled he is a comfort, and to the spoilers a terror. On the covetous vomiting has come, that they may render up all that they have swallowed. Let them be put to fear from before you also, that between a priest and a righteous king, the former customs may be done away. R., Blessed be He Who was angry, and turns and has mercy!
15. There is that finds opportunity and ventures, and there is that forces and compels his will. One thinks that judgment is reserved, and another that it is not to be at all. There is that steals and quenches his thirst, and there is that steals and thirsts to steal. The rich steal and the poor; but the hungry steal by measure, and the full steal without measure. R., Blessed be He Who has searched out all wills!
16. But now has He given opportunity, and every man has shown his will, of what kind it is and to what it is like, and what he has chosen for himself rather than what. He has removed temptation from every man, lest even he who is not hateful should deny him. He has given us opportunity that we may understand, that better think this power is chastisement which profits much. R., Blessed is He Who for our profit rebukes us!
17. For He wills not by compulsion, to cast his yoke on our neck; He gave us opportunity and we waxed proud, that so when we rebelled and were punished, we might love His light yoke, might choose His pleasant staff. Our rest is very wearisome to us, for in His compulsion is restfulness, and in His yoke is lightening. R., Blessed be He Whose labour is pleasantness!
18. The whole world like a body, had fallen into a heavy sickness; for in the fever of heathenism, it burned and pined and fell. The right hand of tender mercy touched it, and dealt with its soul in pity; and cut off speedily its heathenism, for that was the cause of its sickness, and it was purged and sweated and restored. R., Glory be to the Hand that has healed!
19. The land shall have peace in your days, for it has seen you that you are full of peace. In you shall the churches be built, and shall be clothed with their ornaments, and their books shall be opened in them, and their tables shall be spread, and their ministers shall be adorned; from them shall go up thanksgiving, as first fruits to the Lord of peace. R., Blessed is He Who revives our Churches!
20. Let your prayer go up to heaven, with it let reconciliation go up! May the Lord of Heaven rain down His blessings upon our [], and His consolations upon our afflictions, and His gathering upon our dispersion: may He waken His jealousy with His love; may His righteousness avenge our disgrace, may His grace blot out our iniquity! R., Blessed is He Who blesses His flock!
21. The first priest and first king, even as if depicted each in the other, were balanced as if in scales. So too Valgesh and so too the son of that king, for they were gentle and calm. May these latter be like each to other; the priests be shining lights, the king be glowing lights, likewise illustrious judges! R., Blessed be He Who has enlightened our souls!
22. From the king's office laws, and from the priest's office propitiations. That both should be mild is hateful; that both should be strong is grievous. Let one be strong and one be tender; in prudence and in discretion, let fear with mercy be mingled. Let our priesthood be tender, likewise our king strong. R., Blessed be He Who has mingled our helps!
23. Let the priests pray for the kings, that they may be a wall to mankind! From beside the kings be victory; and from beside the priests faith! May victory save our bodies, and faith our souls! May kings put an end to war; priests put an end to strife! May disputing and quarrelling cease! R., Blessed be the Son of Him Who gives peace to all! Praise to You for Your gift!
Concerning Abraham, Bishop of Nisibis .
1. Suffer, O Lord, that even my lowliness, should cast into Your treasury its farthing, even as the merchant of our flock, who made increase of his talent of Your doctrine, and has departed and entered Your haven. I will speak of the shepherd, under him who has become head of the flock; who was disciple of the Three, and has become our fourth master. R., Blessed be He Who has made him our comfort!
2. In one love will I cause them to shine, and as a crown will I weave them, the splendid blossoms, and the fragrant flowers of the teacher and of his disciple, who remained after him as Elisha; for the horn of his election and he was consecrated and became head, and he was exalted and became master. R., Blessed be He Who made him chief!
3. And they in heaven rejoiced for the flock, that by the pastor whom they fed, they feed it; the abode of the shepherds under him rejoiced, because they saw the succession of their degrees. He took and set him as a mind in the midst of the great body of the church, and his members came round him to buy of him life, doctrine, new bread. R., Blessed be He Who made him their treasury!
4. He chose him from the multitude of shepherds, because he had given trial of his steadfastness; the time tested him in the midst of the flock, and length of days proved him as a crucible; for that he gave proof in his person, He made him a wall for many. Let your fasting be armour to our country, your prayer a shield to our city, let your censer purchase reconcilement. R., Blessed be He Who has hallowed your sacrifices!
5. The Pastor who has been parted from his flock, fed them on spiritual pastures, and by his exalted staff, he defended them from secret wolves. Fill up the room of your master, which thirsts for the sound of his melody; set up yourself as a pillar, in the city of the trembling people; support her with your prayers. R., Blessed be He Who has made you our pillar!
6. He has committed the Hand to his disciple, the Throne to one that is worthy of it, the Key to one that is proved faithful, the Flock to one that has excelled. To your hand belongs the laying-on, to your offering propitiation, and to your tongue consolation. May peace adorn your Dominion; be the watchmen within and the congregations without. R., Blessed be He Who has chosen you for rejoicings!
7. May your doctrine abound, in deeds more than words! In saying few words, till our land with labour, that by much tillage the scanty seed may become rich, the increase of the old seed, may come among us thirtyfold, and your new seed sixtyfold. R., Blessed be He Who multiplies an hundredfold!
8. The wrath that was against you ceases, because peace flows over you altogether; the jealousy against you is quenched, for your love hourly flames forth: you have broken the string of envy, that it should smite none in secret; slander that confounds, to it your ear turns not, for open truth is pleasing to you. R., Blessed be He Who adorned your members!
9. You shall give counsel in the midst of your people, like Jethro among the Hebrews; you shall altogether go with him, who for your profit counsels you, you shall altogether flee from him, who otherwise counsels you: Rehoboam shall be a sign to you; you shall choose counsels of profit, you shall refuse counsels of envy. R., Blessed be He Who has counselled comfort!
10. The gift that has been given you, from on high it flew and came down: you shall call it by a name of man, you shall not bear it in another power, lest haply to its place there should come, Satan in his guile, supposing, that the sons of men have given it to you, so that this freeborn gift should serve in bondage to man. R., Blessed be He Who has handed down his gift!
11. Your master is painted in your person; lo! His likeness is on you altogether; parted from us one with us is he. In you we shall see those three, the excellent ones who are parted from us. You shall be unto us a wall as Jacob, and full of tenderness as Babu, and a treasury of speech as Valgesh. R., Blessed be He Who in one has painted them!
12. I, too, the offscouring of the flock, have not withholden anything that was meet: I have painted the similitude of these two, in the colours of these two; that the sheep may see their adornment, and the flock their beauties. And I who have become a lamb endowed with speech, unto You, O God of Abraham, in the posture of Abram will give You praise. R., Blessed be He Who has made me His harp!
Hymn 18.
1. O you who are made priest after your master, the illustrious after the excellent, the chaste after the grave, the watchful after the abstinent, your master from you has not departed; in the living we see the deceased: for lo! In you is his likeness painted; and impressed upon you are his footprints, and all of him shines from all of you. R., Blessed be He Who in His stead has given us you!
2. The fruit wherein its tree is painted, bears witness concerning the root. Hitherto there has not failed us, the savour of his sweetness. His words you show forth in bodily act, for you have fulfilled them in deed. In your conversation is painted his doctrine, in your conduct his exposition, in your fulfilment his interpretation. R., Blessed be He Who has made your lustre to excel!
3. The last pastor who was exalted, and became head unto the members, the younger who obtained the birthright, not for price like Jacob, not in jealousy like Aaron, whose brethren the Levites envied him, but by love obtained he it like Moses, though he was older than Aaron. In you your brethren rejoiced as in him. R., Blessed be He Who chose you in unanimity!
4. There is no envy or jealousy, among the members of the body; for in love they give ear unto him, with tenderness they are visited by him. A watch tower is the head unto the members, for on every side he looks forth. Exalted is he yet meek in his graciousness, even to the feet he humbles himself, that he may turn away harm from them. R., Blessed be He Who instilled your love into us!
5. A small thing verily had this been, if by an old man apostasy were overcome. Old age in its prudence submitted; youth in its season conquered; for a youthful combatant endured, the hateful conflict waged, by force that was full of apostacy, which like smoke waxed and passed: with its beginning was its end. R., Blessed be He Who blew upon it that it vanished!
6. The voice of the cornet on a sudden amazed and called You to battle. You went up like a new David, by You was subdued a second Goliath. You were not untried in combat, for a secret warfare day by day, You are waging against the Evil One. Exercise in secret is wont to attain the crown openly. R., Blessed be He Who chose You for our glory!
7. In face of trial Job trained his body and his mind, and in temptation he was victorious. And Joseph conquered in the chamber; Ananias and his company in the furnace, and in the midst of the den Daniel. Satan did foolishly, when in tempting, he confirmed their victory openly. R., Blessed be He Who has multiplied shame on him!
8. And the husbandman who apostatized and was urgent, to sow thorns with his left hand; zealous against him was the righteous husbandman, stopped and cut off his left hand. He filled His own right hand and sowed in the heart the words of life; and lo! Our understanding is tilled, by His prophets and His apostles. By You may our souls be tilled! R., Blessed be He Who chose You for our husbandman!
9. And if so be Your words are too little, till our land with deeds, that amid much tillage, stock and root may be strengthened. Better is a goodly deed, than the hearing of ten thousand words. Your seed shall yield an hundredfold, and the after crop sixtyfold, yea that which grows of itself thirtyfold. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your increase!
10. That light should be darkened it is not meet, that salt should lose its savour it is not right; defilement for the head is not seemly, nor yet foulness for the mirror. Nor if medicines have lost their savour sicknesses also are not cured; and if so be the torch is quenched, the stumbling also are many. Your light shall chase away our darkness. R., Blessed be He Who has made You our lamp!
11. Appoint for you scribes and judges, exactors also and dispensers, overseers also and officers: to each assign his work, lest haply by care should be rusted, or by anxiety should be distracted, the mind and the tongue, wherewith you offer supplication, for the expiation of all the people. R., Blessed be He Who makes illustrious Your ministry!
12. That he should purge his mind, and cleanse also his tongue; that he should purify his hands, and make his whole body to shine; this is too little for the priest and his title, who offers the Living Body. Let him cleanse all himself at all hours; for he stands as mediator, between God and mankind. R., Blessed be He Who has cleansed His ministers!
Hymn 19.
1. You who answers to the name of Abraham, in that You are made father of many; but because to You none is spouse, as Sarah was to Abraham—lo! Your flock is Your spouse; bring up her sons in Your truth; spiritual children may they be to You, and the sons be sons of promise, that they may become heirs in Eden. R., Blessed be He Who foreshowed You in Abraham!
2. Fair fruit of chastity, in whom the priesthood was well pleased, youngest among Your brethren as was the son of Jesse; the horn overflowed and anointed You, the hand alighted and chose You, the Church desired and loved You; the pure altar is for Your ministry, the great throne for Your honour, and all as one for Your crown. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your crowning!
3. Lo! Your flock, O blessed one, arise and visit it, O diligent one! Jacob ranged the flocks in order; range the sheep that have speech, and enlighten the virgin-youths in purity, and the virgin-maids in chastity; raise up priests in honour, rulers in meekness, and a people in righteousness. R. Blessed be He Who filled You with understanding!
4. Guard the sheep that are whole, and visit them that are sick, and bind up them that are broken, and seek out them that are lost; feed them in the pastures of the Scriptures, and give them drink or the spring of doctrine: let the truth be a wall unto you, let the cross be a staff unto you, and truthfulness be peace unto you. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your virtues!
5. Let there be with You in Your flock, the power that was with David; for if he plucked a straying lamb, from the mouth of the lion, how meet is it for You, O exalted one, to be zealous to snatch from the Evil One the souls that are precious above all, for by nothing can they be bought, save by the blood of Christ! R., Blessed be He Who was sold and bought all!
6. Unto Moses Joshua ministered, and for the reward of his ministry, from him received the right hand. Because to an illustrious old man you have ministered, he too gave you the right hand. Moses committed unto Joshua, a flock of which half were wolves; but to you is delivered a flock, whereof a fourth yea a third is sanctified. R., Blessed be He who adorned your flock!
7. Let the love of Moses abide in you, for his love was a discerning love, his zeal a discreet zeal. When Korah and Dathan sundered themselves, he sundered the earth from beneath them; by sundering he made the sundering to cease. In Eldad and Medad he made known, that his good will was altogether this that all the people should prophesy. R., Blessed be He who in His good will was reconciled!
8. The poor estate of Elijah, Elisha loved above wealth; a poor man gave to a poor man, a gift that was great above all. Because you have loved the poverty, of your master who in secret was rich, the fountain of his words shall flow from you, that you may become a harp for the Spirit, and may sing to yourself inwardly His good will. R., Blessed be He who made you His treasure!
9. There is none that envies your election, for meek is your headship; there is none angered by the rebuke, for your word sows peace; there is none terrified by your voice, for pleasant in your visitation; there is none that groans against your yoke, for it labors instead of our neck, and lightens the burden of our souls. R., Blessed be He who chose you for our rest
10. Contend not with the mighty, despair not of the outcast; soften and teach the rich, exhort and win the poor; with the harsh join the forbearing, and the long suffering with the wrathful; catch them that are evil by them that are good, and them that spoil by them that give, and the defiled by means of the sanctified. R., Blessed be He who made you our hunter!
11. Take to you ten thousand medicaments, and arise and go forth among the sick; to the diseased offer medicine, and to him that is sound a preservative; not one medicine only shall you offer, for the sickness lest haply it be not meet: offer many remedies, that the sickness may find healing; likewise you shall learn experience. R., Blessed be He who laboured to heal our wounds!
12. May the land be according to your desire; may the vineyard be according to your husbandry; may the flock be in the midst of your dwelling, and the sheep sound under your staff! May you be a great Head, and we the jewels of your crown! May we be beautiful in you and you be beautiful in us! For they are goodly each in the other, people and priest when they are at one. R., Blessed be He who has sowed among us unity!
13. Hearken to the Apostle when he says, to that virgin whom he had espoused; I am jealous over you with jealousy, with a jealousy verily of God, not of the flesh but of the spirit. Be jealous therewith you also in pureness, that He may know what she is and whose she is. In you may she cherish, and in you may she love, Jesus the Bridegroom in truth. R., Blessed is he whose zeal is holy!
14. As are her masters, so are her manners: for with the teacher that lags a laggard is she, and with him that is noble, excellent is she. The Church is like a mirror, for according to the face that gazes into it, thus does it put on the likeness thereof. For as is the king so also his host, and as is the priest so also his flock; according as these are it is stamped on them. R., Blessed be He Who stamped her in His likeness!
15. Without a testament they departed, those three illustrious priests; who in Testaments used to meditate, those two Testaments of God. Great gain have they bequeathed to us, even this example of poverty. They who possessed nothing the blessed ones, made us their possessions; the Church was their treasure. R., Blessed is he who possessed in them his possessions!
16. The priest Jacob the noble, with him she was ennobled as he was: because he joined his love to his jealousy, with fear and love he was clothed. With Babes a lover of bounty, for money she redeemed the captives. With Valgesh a scribe of the law, her heart she opened to the Scriptures. With you then may her profit be manifold! R., Blessed be He Who has magnified her merchantmen!
Hymn 20.
1. O virgin-youth that art become bridegroom, move to a little jealousy your mind, towards her who is the wife of your youth: cut off the attachments which she had, in her girlhood with many others; rebuke her and call together her affections, that she may know what she is and whose she is. In you may she desire yea love, Christ the Bridegroom of truth. R., Blessed be He Who betrothes her to His Only Begotten!
2. Be jealous O husbandman against the tares, which have sprung up and entangled themselves among the wheat. Easy is it to root up the thicket, rather than the despised: if a slight breeze bears it, it attacks the sowing and conquers it. That which three husbandmen have sown, may it return in threefold measure! Thirty-fold and sixty and an hundred! R., Blessed be He Who makes rich your increase!
3. A new shepherd for him it is right, that he should oversee the flock in new wise, and should know what is the number of it, and should see what are its needs. A flock it is that was purchased with the blood, of that chief of the shepherds. Call and cause to pass each sheep by its name, for it is a flock whereof the name is written, and its reckoning in the Book of life. R., Blessed be He Who will require the number thereof!
4. Lo the spouse of your Lord is with you! keep her from all harm, and from men that deal corruptly, and call the congregations by their own names. The name of her spouse is set on her; let her not go a whoring for another name, for she was not baptized in the name of man; with Names wherein she was baptized let her make confession, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. R., Blessed be He by Whose Name she is called!
5. The Apostle her betrother was jealous over her, that she should not be corrupted by names, yet not by names that were false, but not even by names that were true; not by Cephas yea not by his name. They who were true betrothers, set the Name of her betrothed upon her; the false betrothers like whoremongers, set their own names on the flock. R., Glory be to Your Name, our Creator!
6. The stamp on living creatures, O my brethren, no man destroys openly; and a name that is signed to a letter, no man adds to or alters: whoso effaces the stamp is a thief; and whoso alters the name is a falsifier. The name of Christ has been altered; names of falsehood lo! Have been set, upon the congregations that have been corrupted. R., Blessed be He Who has called His flock by His Name!
7. Look at the Prophets and Apostles, how like they are each to the other! By the Prophets the Name of God, was set on the flock of God; and by the Apostles the Name of Christ, was set on the Church of Christ. The false betrothers also are like one another for by their names are called, the congregations who commit whoredom with them. R., Blessed be He in Whose Name we were sanctified!
Hymn 21.
1. John who was a torch, laid bare and rebuked the wanton ones: they made haste and quenched the torch, that they might let loose the desire of their lust. Be a lamp in brightness, and make the works of darkness cease, that whenever your doctrine shines, no man may dare at its rising, to give ear to the lusts of darkness. R., Blessed be He Who made you our lamp!
2. A great blessing was hidden in it, even in the reproof of Elijah. Elisha ministered unto him and sought, a twofold reward of his ministration. Twofold glory it gave to him, for in double measure was he clad with his virtues. You who has loved the reproof of Valgesh your master rich in gifts, may you inherit the treasure of his wisdom! R., Blessed be He Who makes your Doctrine rich!
3. May greediness be overcome by your fasting even as by the fasting of Daniel! May lust be confounded before your body, like as it was confounded before Joseph! May lust of money be overcome by you! like as it was overcome before Simeon, May you bind on earth even as he, and loose on high after his likeness; for your faith is even as his! R., Blessed is He Who committed to you His ministry!
4. Your chastity be as Elisha's, and your celibacy Elijah's, the covenant with your eyes as Job's, your tender mercies as David's; without envy as Jonathan, your firmness as Jeremiah's, your gentleness the Apostles'! Yours be the ancient things of the prophets, yours the new things of the Apostles. R., Blessed be He Who filled you with their treasures!
5. Be a crown to the priesthood, and in you be the ministry made to shine! Be a brother to the elders, likewise an overseer to the deacons; be a master to youth, a staff and a hand to old age; be a wall to the consecrated virgins. In your conversation may the covenant prevail, and the Church in your comeliness be adorned. R., Blessed be He Who chose you to be priest!
6. In your poverty be brought to nought, the hateful custom of the house of Gehazi; in your sanctity be abolished, the abominable custom of the house of Eli; in your unity be done away, the treacherous greeting of the lips of Iscariot the deceiver! Pour forth all our thought, and form it anew from the beginning! R., Blessed be He Who in your crucible refines us!
7. In your conversation let Mammon be put to shame, who has been lord over our freedom! Let the disease be done away from us, which is customary with us and pleasant to us; abolish the causes that have maintained, customs that are full of harm! Evil things have possessed us through custom: let good things possess us through custom! Be, O Lord, the cause of help to us. R., Blessed be He Who chose You in order to our life!
8. Let evil customs be cut off: let not the Church possess wealth; that she be sufficed let her possess souls, and if thus she be sufficed let it be in marvellous measure! And let not her deceased be buried in the cutting off of hope heathenishly, with vestments and wailing and lamentation; for the living is clothed in raiment, but the deceased his all is a coffin. R., Blessed be He Who to our dust turns us again!
9. A cause of evil is the lust, also the greediness of the house of Eli, and the thievishness of the house of Gehazi, and the reviling of Nabal. Close up these hateful well-springs, lest there be a great outpouring, and there come from it defilement, and even you are reached by its overflow. The Lord restrain their outpourings! R., Blessed be He Who dried up their over-flowings!
10. For the old man commit speech to him; for the young enjoin silence on him; for the stranger who comes in unto you, learns of you from your discipline, namely who speaks first, and who second and third: and if every man keeps his mouth, and every man knows his degree, they will call you happy. R., Our Lord perform your desire!
11. Let the voice of your truth be single and your assumed voices without number; the image of truthfulness on your heart, and on your face all aspects, sadness, gladness, and feebleness. To him that errs show that you are wrathful, to him that is chaste show that you are glad. Be single towards the Godhead, and to mankind be manifold. R., Blessed be He Who with all men is all things!
12. If you hear an evil report, from truthful men that deceive not, pour forth tears that you may quench the fire that burns in others; let them that are wise pray with you, and appoint a fast for them that have knowledge, and let your dwelling be in mourning, for him who is lost in sin, that he may turn back in repentance. R., Blessed be He Who found the sheep that was lost!
13. To every man give not your ear, lest liars overwhelm you; to every man lend not your foot, lest vile ones misguide you; to every man give not your soul, lest the insolent trample you. Keep your hand from the false man, lest he gather thorns into your hand. Be far off and near at hand. R., Blessed be He Who is near though far!
14. Lo the fame of the new king, resounds and comes into the world! To the spoiled he is a comfort, and to the spoilers a terror. On the covetous vomiting has come, that they may render up all that they have swallowed. Let them be put to fear from before you also, that between a priest and a righteous king, the former customs may be done away. R., Blessed be He Who was angry, and turns and has mercy!
15. There is that finds opportunity and ventures, and there is that forces and compels his will. One thinks that judgment is reserved, and another that it is not to be at all. There is that steals and quenches his thirst, and there is that steals and thirsts to steal. The rich steal and the poor; but the hungry steal by measure, and the full steal without measure. R., Blessed be He Who has searched out all wills!
16. But now has He given opportunity, and every man has shown his will, of what kind it is and to what it is like, and what he has chosen for himself rather than what. He has removed temptation from every man, lest even he who is not hateful should deny him. He has given us opportunity that we may understand, that better think this power is chastisement which profits much. R., Blessed is He Who for our profit rebukes us!
17. For He wills not by compulsion, to cast his yoke on our neck; He gave us opportunity and we waxed proud, that so when we rebelled and were punished, we might love His light yoke, might choose His pleasant staff. Our rest is very wearisome to us, for in His compulsion is restfulness, and in His yoke is lightening. R., Blessed be He Whose labour is pleasantness!
18. The whole world like a body, had fallen into a heavy sickness; for in the fever of heathenism, it burned and pined and fell. The right hand of tender mercy touched it, and dealt with its soul in pity; and cut off speedily its heathenism, for that was the cause of its sickness, and it was purged and sweated and restored. R., Glory be to the Hand that has healed!
19. The land shall have peace in your days, for it has seen you that you are full of peace. In you shall the churches be built, and shall be clothed with their ornaments, and their books shall be opened in them, and their tables shall be spread, and their ministers shall be adorned; from them shall go up thanksgiving, as first fruits to the Lord of peace. R., Blessed is He Who revives our Churches!
20. Let your prayer go up to heaven, with it let reconciliation go up! May the Lord of Heaven rain down His blessings upon our [], and His consolations upon our afflictions, and His gathering upon our dispersion: may He waken His jealousy with His love; may His righteousness avenge our disgrace, may His grace blot out our iniquity! R., Blessed is He Who blesses His flock!
21. The first priest and first king, even as if depicted each in the other, were balanced as if in scales. So too Valgesh and so too the son of that king, for they were gentle and calm. May these latter be like each to other; the priests be shining lights, the king be glowing lights, likewise illustrious judges! R., Blessed be He Who has enlightened our souls!
22. From the king's office laws, and from the priest's office propitiations. That both should be mild is hateful; that both should be strong is grievous. Let one be strong and one be tender; in prudence and in discretion, let fear with mercy be mingled. Let our priesthood be tender, likewise our king strong. R., Blessed be He Who has mingled our helps!
23. Let the priests pray for the kings, that they may be a wall to mankind! From beside the kings be victory; and from beside the priests faith! May victory save our bodies, and faith our souls! May kings put an end to war; priests put an end to strife! May disputing and quarrelling cease! R., Blessed be the Son of Him Who gives peace to all! Praise to You for Your gift!
Hymn 35.
Concerning Our Lord, and Concerning Death and Satan.
1. The Voice made proclamation: and they gathered and came; the hosts of the Evil One, together with his ministers. The army of the tares was gathered altogether, for they saw that Jesus had triumphed, to the grief of all them on the left hand, for there was none of them but had been tormented. They began one by one to relate all whatsoever they had endured. Sin and Hell were terrified: Death trembled and the dead rebelled; and Satan because sinners rebelled against him. R., To You be glory because the Evil One saw You and was troubled!
2. Sin cried aloud; she gave counsel to her sons, to the demons and the devils, and unto them she said, Legion the head of your ranks is not, the sea has swallowed him and his company; and likewise ye my sons if you despise, this Jesus will destroy you. You who in a snare took Solomon, it is therefore a reproach to you, that you should be overcome by his disciples, takers of fish and ignorant men; for lo! They have taken the draught of men, which had been taken by us.
3. This is great, above all evils (says the Evil One, concerning our Saviour); for this suffices Him not that He has spoiled us, but likewise on us He has begun retribution for Jonah son of Amittai. On Legion therefore He was avenging him when He seized and cast him into the sea. Jonah emerged, after three days and came up; but Legion yea not after a long season, for the depth of the sea closed upon him at the command.
4. I tempted Him, after his past, with pleasant bread, but He desired it not. To my grief I strove to learn a psalm, that by His psalm I might take Him as a prey: I paused and learned it a second time, but He made my second trial to be vain. I brought Him up to a mountain and showed Him all possessions; I gave them to Him and He was not moved. Better was it for me in the days of Adam, who gave me no great trouble in teaching him.
5. The Evil One ceased, from his activity and said, A cause of idleness to me, is this Jesus; for lo! The publicans and harlots take refuge in Him. What work shall I seek for myself? I who was master to all men, to whom shall I be a disciple? Sin again said, It must be, that I forsake, therefore, and change from that which I am; for this Son of Mary who has come, as a new creation, has created mankind.
6. Gluttonous Death, lamented and said, I have learned fasting, which I used not to know; lo! Jesus gathers multitudes, but as to me, in His feast a fast is proclaimed for me. One man has closed my mouth, mine who have closed the mouths of many. Hell said I will restrain my greed; hunger, therefore, is mine: this Man triumphs as at the marriage, when He changed the water into wine, so He changes the vesture of the dead into life.
7. And moreover, God made a flood, and washed the earth, and purged her crimes; fire and brimstone again He sent on her, that He might make white her stains. By fire He gave me the Sodomites, and by flood the Giants. He closed the mouth of the hosts of Sennacherib, and opened the mouth of Hell. These things and such as these, I loved. But now, in place of deadly visitations of justice, He has wrought in His Son, the quickening of the dead by grace.
8. Prophets and righteous men, said the Evil One, unto his companions, have been seen by me; and though their strength was exceeding mighty, there was in them a savour of that which is mine; for the stuff whereof the sons of man are made, is near akin to our heaven. This man has clothed Himself with the body of Adam, and is troubling us, for our leaven has no power on Him. He is man, therefore, and God; for His manhood in His Godhead is intermingled.
9. Adam was seen by me, that fountain from whence flowed all races of men; his children has been sought out by me, and proved one by one. Yet have I not seen from the beginning a man, of whom one part was of God, and the other half, man. Moses, who shone in his splendour, I tempted again, and in his tongue I made him to err; but this man, yea, not in His mind, for pure exceedingly is the fountain of His thoughts.
10. The lust of the body, is in all bodies; for even while they sleep, it wakes in them. Him, who in his waking hours keeps himself pure, by means of a dream, I disturb. The dregs of the body are stirred in him, by a shaking movement in secret inwardly. The sleeping and the waking besides, I trouble alike. This is He Who alone keeps Himself pure, Whom not even in a dream can I disturb, Who even in His sleep is pure and holy.
11. But separate was even His childhood, from that of the children who have been seen by me; for I have not seen in Him any part of that which is of me. I was afraid of His childhood; therefore, I stirred up Herod, that among the infants He might be slain. Because of this also that He escaped, I was greatly afraid, for our mystery how did He find out! He received the offerings of the Wise Men; He scorned us and departed and escaped from our sword.
12. Children have been seen by me, sons of righteous men; yea, also youths, sons of chaste women; and I have moved them from the womb, one by one, and I have seen in them our leaven. For they were wrathful men and revilers, yea, also furious and gluttonous; fruits were they that by instruction were to be ripened and sweetened. But this man from His first planting, was a good fruit that possessed sweetness, wherewith sinners were made sweet.
13. Even while He was an infant, He was a teacher of the sons of men, by the splendour that was upon Him. Even the priest as he carried Him was amazed at Him. In the prudence of old men was He clad. Joseph stood aloof from Him: His mother gloried in His presence. He was a help in His childhood, to every one that saw Him; He was a profit to them that knew Him from the day when He entered into the world, He was a helper of mankind by His excellencies.
14. From whence has it sprung up before me, this fruit of Mary, the grape whereof the wine is not according to nature? For lo! I stand between doubts. To turn away and leave Him, I am afraid, lest by His teaching, they should be sweetened, they, who have acquired by bitterness. But again to tread on Him and crush Him, is a terror to me, lest haply He turn and become new wine unto sinners, and when they are drunken therewith, lo! They forget their idols.
15. Lo! I am afraid of both things, as well His death, as also His life. Then unto the Evil One His ministers made answer and counselled Him. Though both these things be grievous, somewhat lighter to us is the trouble, that we should choose His death rather than his life. Let Death tell us whether any one from among the righteous, has ever from the first been aroused again. The sons of the Giants and the renowned ones, there is none that has issued forth from her, even Hell, the Devourer.
16. The blowing of the wind, a man may feel after; but the Son of Mary, who shall search him out? For when He wept, by His tears He robbed me; and again when I bid Him cast Himself, from the holy Temple, I thought, that it was through fear He cast Himself not: yet when they threw Him from the hill-top, He flew through the air. On the well again when He was weary He sat. His variableness I understand not, for on the dry land alike and on the water He walks.
17. I have seen Him that He hungered, as a Son of man; yet this was done away by the bread which He multiplied. From the beginning I proved Him and I came to Him; He questioned me as though He knew me not; but this, too, was done away, when He showed that He knew our secrets. Again He chose Iscariot, as though He knew him not; then He turned and showed that He knew him, though he was binding and loosing. I was mistaken in Him, for He was baptized and emerged and overwhelmed me.
18. But one token there is which I have seen in Him that heartens me exceedingly above all. For while He was praying I saw Him and was glad, because He changed colour and was afraid: His sweat was as drops of blood, because He felt that His day had come. This is pleasant to me, exceedingly above all, if it be not that deceiving He has deceived me therein. But if beguiling He has beguiled me, this is both for me and for you alike, my ministers.
19. Then shouted the host of devils and said, Hateful is the sign that we see in you, for never from the beginning has it thus happened to you. In prompt counsels you were excellent: the Son of Mary captures our cities, while you are prolonging your discourse. Arise, go forth, let us fight with Him, for this were to us a reproach, that we being many should be overcome by one. And if you are in pain or fear, give us counsel for the battle and stay behind.
20. This Jesus out of His own words it is, that I shall teach Him, and war with Him; for He said that he, even Satan, is divided, himself against himself, and that he cannot stand. Though He desires to fight with us, He has given us arms which are against Himself, gage and divide for me His disciples, for if you divide them, with these you will conquer them, even with Eve and the serpent, the weak powers, whereby I conquered the first Adam.
21. Death unto the Evil One, made answer and said to him, Wherefore do you not tarry according to your wont? For lo! It is those that are despised and least, that you ensnare after your custom: Jesus Who is great above all, wherewith have you sought to ensnare Him? The experience of His weapons moves you to fear, which He hurled against you when he was tempted of you. You and I with your followers, the host of us is too little for the battle with Him, the Son of Mary.
22. I counsel, then, if this our strife permits us to do anything: go into that disciple, let yourself loose, that head may speak with heads; and let loose all your host, let it go and stir up the Pharisees. And beware, lest you speak contentiously as you are wont. If you are a god, descend from hence, with fondness kiss them and betray Him; and, lo! We will bring on Him the envy and the sword of the Levites.
Hymn 36.
1. Our Lord subdued His might and constrained it, that His living death might give life to Adam. His hands He gave to the piercing of the nails, instead of the hand that plucked the fruit: He was smitten on the cheek in the judgment hall, instead of the mouth that ate it in Eden. And because his foot bore Adam thence, His feet were pierced. Our Lord was stripped, that He might make us modest: with the gall and vinegar He made sweet the bitterness of the serpent, which he had poured forth into mankind. R. Blessed is He Who gave me the victory and quickened the dead to His glory!
2. (Death.)— If You are God show Your power; and if You are man, feel our power. And if it is Adam that You seek, go away! Because of his transgressions he is shut up here; Cherubim and Seraphim await not, in his stead to pay his debt. There is none among them mortal, so as to give his life in his stead. Who can open the mouth of hell, and plunge and bring him up from her, who has swallowed him and keeps a hold on him, and that forever!
3. I am He who has conquered all the wise men; and lo! In the corners they are heaped for me in hell. Come, enter, son of Joseph, and see terrible things; the limbs of the giants, the mighty corpse of Samson, and the skeleton of the stubborn Goliath; Og, moreover, the son of the giants, who made for himself a bed of iron and lay thereon, from whence I hurled him and cast him down; that cedar I laid low to the gate of hell.
4. I by myself alone have conquered multitudes, and one may single-handed seek to conquer me. Prophets and priests and men of renown have I carried off; I have conquered kings in their armies, and mighty men in their hunts, and righteous men in their excellencies. Streams of corpses are hurled by me into hell, and though they pour into her she is thirsty. Though one be near or though he be far off, the end brings him to the gate of hell.
5. Silver I despised at the hand of the rich, and their offerings corrupted me not. The lords of slaves never once persuaded me, to take a slave instead of his lord, and a poor man instead of a rich man, or an old man instead of a child. As for wise that are able to charm wild beasts, their charms enter not into my ears. Hater of persuasion all men call me; and I the thing that is commanded me that I do.
6. Who is this, or whose son is He, or what His lineage who has conquered me? The book of families is by me; lo! I went in and read and studied the names from Adam till now, and not one of the dead do I forget. Family by family, lo! They are written, upon my limbs. Because of You, O Jesus, I went in and made a reckoning, that I might show You that there is none that escapes my hands.
7. Yet were there two men (that I lie not) whose names have escaped me in Hell. For Enoch and Elijah came not to me. In all the world I have sought them; yea there where Jonah descended, I descended and sought and they were not. And though I suppose that into Paradise, they have entered and escaped, a mighty Cherub guards it. The ladder Jacob saw, what if haply by it they have entered into Heaven!
8. Who is there that has measured the sand of the sea, and has spilt only two grains? This harvest wherein every day there labour, diseases as harvesters, I alone carry the handfuls and gather them up; other gatherers in making haste, drop handfuls. Vintagers overlook clusters; but two grapes have escaped me, in that great vintage which I alone have plucked.
9. I am He that has taken (said Death), on sea and on dry land, all prey in chase. Eagles of the air come to me; yea and dragons of the deep: creeping things and fowl and cattle; old men, youths and children. These will convince You, O Son of Mary, that this my power rules over all. Your Cross how shall it conquer me, who by a tree lo! I have prevailed and conquered from old time?
10. But I was desirous to speak yet farther, for I am not wanting in words; yea words are not to be sought by me, for lo! deeds call on me close at hand. Not as you do I make promise, to the simple of secret things, that forsooth there is to be a resurrection at some time or other. If then You are very powerful, give a present pledge, that Your distant promise also may be believed.
11. Death ended his speech of derision: and the voice of our Lord sounded into Hell, and He cried aloud and burst the graves one by one. Tremblings took hold on Death; Hell that never of old had been lighted up, into it there flashed splendours, from the Watchers who entered in and brought out the dead to meet Him, who was dead and gives life to all. The dead came forth, and the living were ashamed, they who thought that they had conquered the Life Giver of all.
12. But who gave me the day of Moses, (said Death) who made a feast for me? For that lamb that was slain in Egypt gave me, from every house the first fruit: heaps and heaps of the first born, at the gate of Hell he piled me them. But this Lamb of the festival, has robbed Hell; of the dead He has taken title and carried them off from me. That lamb filled the graves for me; but this has emptied the graves that were full.
13. The death of Jesus to me is a torment; I prefer for myself His life rather than His death. This is the Dead whose death (lo!) is hateful to me; in the death of all men else I rejoice, but His Death, even His, I detest; that He may come back to life I hope. While He was living He brought to life and restored three that were dead; but now by His death, at the gate of Hell they have trampled on me, the dead who have come to life, whom I was going to shut in.
14. I will haste and will close the gates of Hell, before this Dead, Whose death has spoiled me. Whoso hears will wonder at my humiliation, that by a dead man who is without I am overcome. All the dead seek to go forth, but this one presses to enter in. A medicine of life has entered into Hell, and has restored life to its dead. Who then has brought in and hidden from me, that living fire wherein have reposed, the cold and dark recesses of Hell?
15. Death has seen the Watchers in Hell; the immortal instead of the mortal; and he said Confusion has entered our abode, for in these two things is torment to me: That the dead have come forth out of Hell, and the Watchers that die not have entered therein. Lo! One at the pillow in this tomb, has entered and sat down by it, and a second his companion at His feet. I will entreat of Him and will persuade Him, with His pledge to ascend and go to His Kingdom.
16. Be not angry against me, gracious Jesus, for the words that my pride has spoken before You! Who is there that when seeing Your Cross, shall have doubted that You are man? Who is there that shall have seen Your Power, and shall not believe that You are also God? Lo! Thus by these two things I have learned to confess that You are man and likewise art God! For as much as the dead in Hell repent not, go up among the living, O Lord, and preach repentance.
17. O Jesus King, receive my supplication, and with my supplication take to Yourself a pledge, even Adam the great pledge accept for Yourself, him in whom are buried all the dead; even as when I received him, in him were hidden all the living. The first pledge I have given You, the body of Adam; go up therefore and reign over all; and when I shall hear Your trumpet, I with mine own hand will lead forth the dead at Your Coming.
18. Our King living has gone forth and gone up, out of Hell, as Conqueror. Woe He has doubled to them that are of the left hand; to evil spirits and demons He is sorrow, to Satan and to Death He is pain, to Sin and Hell mourning. Joy to them that are of the right hand, has come today. On this great day therefore, great glory let us give to Him, who died and is alive that, unto all He may, give life and resurrection!
Hymn 37.
1. Death was weeping for her, even for Sheol, when he saw her treasury that it was emptied. And he said, Who, then, has plundered your riches? Gehazi stole and was discovered; I am stealing every day, but theft has not been laid to my charge. I am sent to Kings, in their sicknesses, their guards are set around them, guards are also at their gate. The soul of kings I snatch and I go forth. R., Blessed is He Who has broken the sting of Death by His Cross!
2. All women grieve that are barren; Sheol rejoices because of her barrenness; she is desolate if so be that she brings forth. The all-compelling Power constrained it, even the bosom that was barren and cold, and it rendered back though wont to deny its debts. Rebekah, when the two babes afflicted her, asked for death. How great then the pain of Sheol, when there smote her strange pangs; the dead were roused and broke forth and came out from her bowels.
3. Is this then perchance that saying, which was heard by me from Isaiah? (but I despised it) when he arose and said, Who has heard such a thing as this? That the earth should travail in one day, and bring forth a nation in one hour. Is it this that has come to pass? Or else, is it reserved for us hereafter? And if it be this it is a vain shadow that I thought I am a king; I knew not it was but a deposit I was keeping.
4. Two utterances that were different, have I heard from him, even this Isaiah. For he said that a virgin should conceive and bring forth; and he said again that the earth should bring forth. But lo! The Virgin has brought Him forth, and Sheol the barren has brought Him forth; two wombs that contrary to nature, have been changed by Him; the Virgin and Sheol both of them. The Virgin in her bringing forth He made glad; but Sheol He grieved and made sad in His Resurrection.
5. I saw in the valley that Ezekiel, who quickened the dead when he was questioned; and I saw the bones that were in heaps and they moved. There was a tumult of bones in Sheol, bone seeking for his fellow, and joint for her mate. There was there none that questioned, or that was questioned, whether those bones lived. Unquestioned, the voice of Jesus, the Master of all creatures quickened them.
6. Sheol was made sorrowful when she saw them, even the sorrowful dead made to rejoice. She wept for Lazarus when he went forth, Go in peace you dead that live, bewailed by two houses of mourning. Within and without were lamentations for him; for his sisters wept for him when he came into the grave unto me, and I wept for him as he went forth. In his death there was weeping among the living; likewise in Sheol is great mourning at his resurrection.
7. Now it is that I have tasted the taste of his sorrow, even of him who weeps over his beloved. The dead that are thus beloved of Sheol, how dear were they to their fathers! The limbs which I severed and carried away, lo! They are shorn away and carried off from me. If I thus suffer for the departure of him, the youth who was restored to life, blessed is He Who had compassion on the widow; in her only son He gave peace to her dwelling that had been made desolate.
8. Lo! This suffering which I cause men to suffer in their beloved ones, in the end on me it gathers itself altogether. For when the dead shall have left Sheol, for every man there will be resurrection, and for me alone torment. And who is he then that shall bear for me all these things, that I shall see Sheol left alone, because this voice which has rent the graves, makes her desolate and sends forth the dead that were in her midst?
9. If a man reads in the Prophets, he hears there of righteous wars. But if a man meditate in the story of Jesus, he learns of grace and tender mercy. And if a man think of Jesus, that He is a strange God it is a reproach against me. No other strange key into the gate of Sheol could ever be fitted. One is the key of the Creator, that which has opened it, yea, is to open it at His Coming.
10. Who is he that is able to join the bones, save that Power which created them? What is it that shall reunite the shreds of the body, save the hand of the Maker? What is it that shall restore the forms, save the finger of the Creator? He, who created and turned and destroyed, is He that is able also to renew and raise up. Another God is unable to enter in and restore creatures not his own.
11. But were he another Power, I should be very joyful that He is coming to me. Into the bosom of Sheol He would descend and learn that One alone is God. Mortals that have erred and preached that there are Gods many, lo! They are bound for me in Sheol, and their Gods have never grieved because of them. One God do I know, and His Prophets and His Apostles do I acknowledge.
Hymn 38.
1. My throne was set for me in Sheol: and one arose that was dead, and hurled me from it. Every man feared me alone, and I feared no man. Terror and trouble were among the living, rest and peace among the dead. In a man that was slain lo! There has entered into Sheol He that takes her captive. I used to take all men captive: the Son of Captivity Whom I took captive has taken me captive. He Whom I took captive has led her away and is gone to Paradise. R., Blessed is He Who has quickened the dead of Sheol by His Cross!
2. All men complain much against me; and I against one only have complained. Who is there among men so just as I? Has corruption touched my integrity? I held all men in affection, and whoso hates me knows it; I know not all my days what a bribe is. The person of a king have I not accepted. By me is preached equality, for bondman and his lord in Sheol I make equal.
3. Before God it is that I minister, with Whom is no acceptance of persons. What other is there that endures as I do, I that am cursed when I do good? Perversely are requited to me the benefits I have rendered. Though my deeds are goodly, my name is not goodly. Yet my mind rests in its integrity: in God it is that I comfort myself; for though He is good He is denied every day and endures it.
4. The old I remove from all sufferings, likewise the young from all sins. Secret contention I quell in Sheol; in our land there is no iniquity: it is Sheol and Heaven alone, that are removed from all sins; this earth that lies between, in her iniquity dwells. He therefore that is prudent will either go up into Heaven, or, if that be too hard, will go down to Sheol which is easy.
5. To one man because of one that is dead, every man hastes to comfort him. But for me though many of my dead have come to life, there is none that comes in and comforts me. Satan came in, against Whom, had been proclaimed seven woes even against him; though mightily the Son of Mary had trodden on him, yet uplifted is his spirit; for he is the serpent that strives though bruised. Better is it for me to fall and worship, before this Jesus Who has conquered me by His Cross.
6. When He enters at the gate of Sheol, in place of John who preached before His coming, then will I cry Lo! He that quickens the dead has come; Your servant am I from henceforth, Jesu! Because of The Body I reviled You, for it covered Your Godhead. Be not angry, O Son of the King, against Your treasury; at Your command I have opened and closed. Though my wings be very swift it is at your nod I haste to every quarter.
7. All that have been raised were not first born; for our Lord is the First-born of Sheol. How can any that is dead go before Him, that power whereby he was raised? There are last that are first, and younger that have become first-born. For though Manasseh was first-born, how could it be that Ephraim should take the birthright? And if the second born was set before him, how much rather shall the Lord and Creator prevent all in His Resurrection!
8. Lo! John as a herald declares that he is later, though he was elder-born; for he said, Behold a man comes after me, and yet He was before me. For how could he be before Him, that Power in Whom he preached? For everything that comes to pass because of another thing, is after that other even though it seem to be before. For the cause which called it into being, is elder than it and before it in all things.
9. The cause of Adam was elder than all creatures, which were made for him, for to him even to Adam He had respect continually, the Creator even while he was creating. Thus though Adam as yet was not, he was elder than all creatures. How much more then, my Lord, must this Your manhood be elder, which in Your Godhead is, from eternity with Him that begot You! To You be praise and through You to Your Father from us all!
10. To You be praise for You are the first, in Your Godhead and in Your manhood! For even though Elijah was first to go up, he was not able to prevent Him, for whose sake he was taken up. For his type depended on Your verity: and even though the types apparently are before Your fulfilment, it is before them secretly. Creatures were before Adam; he was before them because for his sake they were made.
11. O my Lord, work for me this resurrection, not of Your compulsion but of Your love. For Your compulsion gives life to sinners also: Iscariot would rather again choose for himself the death of Sheol, than the life of Gehenna. Work for me then the resurrection that is of Your mercy; and even though Your justice permits not, let there be occasion for Your grace. This only let it remember for me, that in it I have sought refuge.
Hymn 39.
1. There have come to me ransomers from among the saints, but none has plundered me like the Son of Mary. For lo! Elijah brought a dead man to life; and even though he himself escaped from my hands, yet had I consolation after him, for the dead man whom he quickened, I carried off from him. By Elisha son of Shaphat, I was beaten as with rods, for he brought two dead men to life. By one staff I in turn bore away both the prophet and the dead whom he had raised. R., Blessed is He Who cleft the tombs of Sheol by His voice!
2. I feared him even Gehazi when I saw, him lay the staff upon the youth. The thief took the staff away and returned; Elisha came and bowed himself; laid himself low as the child and raised himself up, and walked hither and there. I marvelled at the new mysteries which I saw there, which restored but one youth to life. It was well with me then when those were but mysteries, and not now when the dead have rebelled and conquered me.
3. Moses when I saw the mighty splendour upon his face, I feared him: yet not according to what I feared befell it me. Nisan in Sheol he caused to spring for me; for a pasture, a pasture of corpses, of six hundred thousand fell.— This lowly and despised whom I contemned, has healed the sick and the diseased: to others He has multiplied bread, but our bread even ours from our mouths He snatches.
4. A mighty feast there was in Sheol, when I swallowed up Korah and his company. A great delight Satan made for me, when he made strife among the Levites. A fount of milk and honey, made he flow for me in a dry place, when the congregation of transgressors went down to Sheol.— Lo! The righteous have lived and come forth: Moses sent down the living there, but Jesus has revived and brought up the dead.
5. It was well with me then, in the day of the zealous, those in whose swords I had delight. Phinehas the zealous pierced and gave me, on the head of his spear for my delight, Zimri and Cozbi both together; on the head of his lance he presented them to me. To whom then were there ever two fatted oxen, offered on the head of a spear?— But instead of Cozbi, daughter of princes, the daughter of Jairus has Jesus rescued from my hands.
6. The censer of Aaron caused me to fear, for he stood between the dead and the living and conquered me. The Cross causes me to fear more exceedingly, which has rent open the graves of Sheol. The Crucified Whom on it I slew, now by Him am I slain. Not very great is his reproach, who is overcome by a warrior in arms. Worse to me is my reproach than my torment, in that by a crucified man my strength has been overcome.
7. The lance of Phinehas again has caused me to fear, for by the slaughter he wrought with it he hindered the pestilence. The lance guarded the tree of life, it made me glad and made me sad; it hindered Adam from life, and it hindered death from the people. But the lance that pierced Jesus, by it I have suffered; He is pierced and I groan. There came out from Him water and blood; Adam washed and lived and returned to Paradise.
8. The Sadducees were as a mouth for me, and disputed with Him after my mind, that there is no rising of the dead at all. Jesus answered them in a saying, which I alone understood; He spoke aloud the hateful word and saddened me, I am the God of him even of Abraham, and God is not the God of the dead. It was well with me then these were but words, and He had not yet showed me the life of the dead indeed.
9. Jesus son of Nun, slew thirty kings, and filled the graves and pits for me; he laid waste Jericho and filled Sheol. But this Jesus who has come, has wasted the graves of their dead, and has filled the cities of the upper world. Wherefore thus when lo! They are like in their names, are they unlike in their doings? That gave me the body of Achor, but this snatched from me the body of Lazarus.
10. Moses trod down that Egyptian, with his meekness he mingled justice. Whence has this new law sprung for me, If one smite you on your cheek, turn to him your other cheek, and see that you hate him not? Instead of the strong man of zeal who trod down and slew, a new man of mercy has risen for us. Samuel hewed Agag in pieces, but Jesus healed the paralytic.
11. Tender mercy which had as it were waxed less, lo! In this time has waxed great. And moreover it was then detested, lest through it one should transgress the commandment; for without mercy Saul and Ahab, were slain because they desired, to have mercy on the evil ones, and they were not slain who were deserving of punishment. In my time Jesus has changed this, by giving life to all men and having compassion on His slayers.
12. I remember Samson that lion's cub, who broke and gave me the pillars of Philistia; also that mighty man of valor Abner son of Ner, took for me that fleet wild roe, Asahel son of Zeruiah, and smote him and cast him on the ground. Benaiah in the holy temple slew Jacob, justly as it is written.— Because justice has restrained her sword, henceforth penitents shall rejoice in grace.
13. David measured the Edomites, by line and line and destroyed them. How merciful then are You, O Son of David! David's justice was twofold, when he put to death two lines, and saved one full line alive.— Lo! The Son of David teaches us, Forgive your brother even unto seventy times seven. There justice was measured; but here clemency is without measure.
14. Of zeal and strength David was possessed; the lion and the bear he slew together. He left that mighty lion and hasted, to meet the strong giant. With a stone he quenched his light, and his soul left him and he perished. But Jesus cried to the young man that was dead Young man! Even the dead to Him are sleepers. That young man He brought to life and rescued from me. The despised swine He drowned for me in the sea.
15. The Levites slew because of the calf, their fathers and their brethren. Jephthah by his own hands was ready to slay his daughter. The King of Moab on the wall, was sacrificing his first-born son: In presence of his sword I rejoice.— By Jesus the sword was blunted; yea the fever was rebuked, the sister of Sheol: the mother-in-law of Simeon was healed, but the fame of her healing smote Sheol with pain.
16. This Jesus though he be the Son of the Just One, all that He preaches is grace. But to me this His grace is torment. Envy is the cause of pleasure to us, for Envy at the beginning mixed for me the first shedding of blood. Why is it guilty in the sight of the Son of Mary Who has come commanding, You shall not be angry against your brother? He has taken away the sword from between brethren; while in the sword of Cain I had pleasure from the beginning.
17. An honeycomb in the midst of the skeleton, Samson found— was it then a mystery? This Jesus has multiplied for us mysteries. Amid billows of mysteries have I fallen, which show me in parable the life of the dead, in all mysteries and in all types. Out of the eater came forth meat was Samson's parable. But to me it has befallen contrariwise; for the eater has come forth to me out of the meat, for out of Adam lo! has come the Son of Adam Who has destroyed me.
18. Just men likewise have robbed me manifold, when by them was preached the rising of the dead: but they mingled with my sorrows great consolation. By the prayer of Asa and Hezekiah, I was fed upon the dead, yea I feasted upon corpses. Elijah slew the prophets of Baal and gave them to me, who on the bread of Jezebel had waxed fat. The righteous has constrained me to devour, but Jesus has compelled me to disgorge all that I had eaten.
19. I was afraid because of the sprinkled blood, which Moses sprinkled on every door; for though the blood of the slain, it was that which saved the living. Blood from of old I feared not, save that blood that was on the doors, and this moreover that was on the Tree. The blood of the slain is a delight, and is as sweet perfume: but the blood of Jesus is to me a terror; for whenever I come and smell His blood, the savour of life that lurks therein terrifies me.
20. Priests and pontiffs, anointed men and kings, who foreshow types of the rising of the dead, have never triumphed through their crosses. Crowns and diadems were set on them; and when I engaged in struggles with them, I was smitten sometimes and sometimes also I smote. But this carpenter's son with his crown of thorns, has humbled and cast down my pride, in His shame and His dying: Sheol has seen Him, yea, and fled from before Him.
21. When the sea saw Moses and fled, it feared because of his rod, and likewise because of his glory. His splendour and his rod and his power, the rock also saw which was cleft. But Sheol when her graves were rent, what saw she in Him even in Jesus?— Instead of splendour He put on the paleness of the dead and made her tremble. And if His paleness when slain slew her, how shall she be able to endure, when He comes to raise the dead, in His Glory!
Hymn 40.
1. The Evil One perceived his great humiliation, and boasted himself in the presence of his servants: he spoke great words to persuade them and said: The knowledge which I possess, little of it is by nature; and much of it, yea all of it, is by learning. I to myself have been master, and have exercised my understanding. Without a teacher I have learned all; I have armed myself with every weapon, and have won by it the crown which I desired among mankind. R., Blessed is He that has come and undone the snares of sin!
2. Among the Pharisees I clothed myself in hatred, that I might contend with Him, even the Son of Mary. Wrath like a bow rained shafts; boldness railed upon Him; fury rebelled against Him; ingratitude slandered Him; envy and jealousy in their wrath, strove with Him; and blasphemy took up stones. The Healer came in and stood among the sick, and I stirred up the diseased in contention against Him.
3. Because He fell not under reproach, it was in questions that I took refuge. Many times did I stir up occasions, but I saw that my falsehood was rebuked, and my impudence was made known, and my vain babbling was despised. To the windings of contention I betook myself. Everywhere that I disputed with Him, all my labor was as chaff, and the word of truth scattered it on every side.
4. I saw that there is a warrior and a mighty lord, in cunning within man: [and the snake that is without makes it fear.] His lusts within him is coiled continually; his jealousy hisses like a serpent. Deadly desires he begets, and of a fever he is in dread. Command as a drug, is able to quell derision, which smites unto destruction. It is love that avails to break the sting secret and bitter of the tongue.
5. Who is more foolish than men, who rather than for himself cares for his dwelling! The garments that are in his chest he examines daily, and a worm is lurking in his members. The rents that are in his clothes he mends, but a rent is made in his soul. His house is lighted up but his heart is dark. He shuts up his senses but opens his windows. He closes his door and guards his money; his mouth is open and the treasure of his thought is stolen.
6. The fool makes more of his beasts than of himself, for he cares for his possessions rather than for his soul. Good seed he sows in his ground; in his heart he sows tares. His understanding is thrown open and cast down; but at the fences of his vineyard he labours. He chooses and plants vine-plants; while his mind is a vine of the vines of Sodom. He keeps off the wild ass from his sowing; but the wild boar of the wood devours his thoughts.
7. I am a furnace to the sons of men, and in me are tried their counsels. Therefore is it lawful to me to weave deceit. I teach the Chaldean art: by reason of the true things that befall, the false things are believed. In the midst of Egypt I closed men's eyes; I showed insects, men thought they were though they were not. By closing men's eyes I teach the signs of the Zodiac, though they are not in the heavens.
8. By reason of my swiftness I fly and see, and I show beforehand to the soothsayer; they who err concerning me count me a prophet. But sometimes I make bold; and I ask that for an hour, secret things be revealed to me, that true men may be proved by me even as Job, likewise deceivers as Saul. For the one I revealed his sorcery; and for the other I purged his truth and he was praised.
Hymn 41.
1. The Evil One said, I fear Him, even Jesus, lest He destroy my arts. For lo! I am thousands of years old, and never have I had repose. I have seen nothing established, that I have turned from and left. There has come One making the unchaste pure: there is sorrow since He has destroyed all that I had built. Many have been my labours and my teachings, that I might cover all creation with all evils. R., Blessed is He Who came and laid bare the wiles of the Crafty One!
2. I matched my speed with the swift, and I outstripped them: I waged war; the tumult of multitudes was armour to me. In the tumult of the people I rejoiced, because it gave me ready room, for grievous is the onslaught of multitudes. By the strength of multitudes I raised a great mountain, a tower I stretched unto heaven. If they waged war with the Height, how much more shall they conquer Him whose warfare is on earth?
3. As time serves and as help offers, I wage war, but cautiously. The people used to hear that God is one; they made for themselves a multitude of gods. And when they saw the Son of God, they made haste to the One God, that as though confessing God they might deny Him, and as though in zeal might flee from Him; so that they in all times perverse shall be found to be without God.
4. Lo! I am ancient of many years, and no infant have I ever rejected. The burden of children have I ofttimes borne, so that from the beginning I might make them acquire habits that are not goodly, that their faults might grow up with them. But there are foolish fathers, who do not crush the seed that I have sown in their sons; and there are some who like good husbandmen, root up faults from the mind of their children.
5. As with a chain I have bound men with sloth, and they sat in idleness. I have drawn away their senses from all good things; their eyes from reading, their mouths from singing praise, their understanding from doctrine. For hurtful and vain fables how eager are they; for empty talk how ready! If the word of life fell among them, they either thrust it from them, or rose and went forth from its presence.
6. How many Satans are there among men! And me even me alone every man curses. For lo! The anger of men— it is a devil that grinds him every day. Demons are like wayfarers, who depart if they are compelled: but against anger though all righteous men adjure, it is not rooted out from its place. Instead of pernicious envy, every one hates a weak and wretched demon.
7. The enchanter is put to shame with the wizard, who every day tames serpents. The viper that is within him is out of his power; for the lust that is within him he tames not. Secret sin like an asp, when it breathes on him he is scorched. Even when he takes the viper through his cunning, delusion smites him secretly. He lulls the snake by his incantations: he wakens against himself mighty wrath by his incantations.
8. I set my stings and I sat and waited: who is long-enduring as I with all? Beside the patient-spirited I sat, and step by step I bewitched him, so that he came unto despair. Him who was ashamed of his transgressions, habits subdued him: little by little I mastered him, till he became under the yoke, till he came in to it and was used to it and did not even wish to go forth.
9. I perceived and saw that the long-enduring is he that can subdue all. At the time when I conquered Adam, he was but one. I left him till he had begotten children, and I sought for myself another task, for idleness is not to my taste. I counted the sands of the sea, that thereby I might make my spirit patient, and might prove my memory whether it would suffice, for the sons of men when they were multiplied. Before they were multiplied, I proved them in many things.
10. The servants of the Evil One disputed with him, and they refuted his words with their rejoinder. But lo! Elisha brought the dead to life, and conquered death in the upper chamber, and brought to life the widow's son. Lo! now is he in bondage in Sheol. But because the reasoning of the Evil One was very powerful, with their own words he refuted their words. How has Elisha been overcome? Lo! In Sheol he brought the dead to life by his bones.
11. If Elisha, who was of small power, was great in might in the midst of Sheol, and if so be he brought one dead to life therein, how many dead then will be raised therein, by the death of Jesus the mighty! Hence even from this consider how much greater therefore is Jesus, than we my comrades. For lo! By His craftiness He deceived you, and you sufficed not to determine His greatness when you compared Him to the prophets.
12. Your consolations are of small power, said the Evil One to them of his company. For He Who brought Lazarus to life though dead, how can Death suffice against Him? And if Death conquers Him, it is that He wills to be subdued unto him; and if so be He wills to be subdued, fear greatly, for He dies not in vain. He has wrought in us great terror, lest when dying He may enter in to raise Adam to life.
13. Death looked forth from within his den, and marvelled when he saw our Lord crucified, and he said O raiser of the dead to life where are you! You shall be to me for meat, instead of the sweet Lazarus, whose savour lo! It is still in my mouth. Jairus' daughter shall come and see this Your cross. The widow's son gazes on You. A tree caught Adam for me: blessed be the Cross which has caught for me the Son of David!
14. Death opened his mouth and said, Have You not heard, O Son of Mary, how Moses was great and excellent above all? Became a God and wrought the works of God? slew the first-born and saved the first-born? Turned aside the pestilence from the living? To the mount I went up with Moses, and He Whose glory be blessed gave him to me from hand to hand. For however great the son of Adam becomes, dust he is and to his dust returns, because he is of the ground.
15. Satan came with his servants, that he might see our Lord cast into Sheol, and might rejoice with Death his Counsellor; and he saw Him sorrowful and mourning, because of the dead who at the voice of the Firstborn, lived and came forth thence even from Sheol. The Evil One arose to console Death his kinsman. You have not destroyed as much as you were able. Even as Jesus is in your midst, to your hand shall come they that have lived and that live.
16. Open for us to see Him, yea and mock Him: let us answer and say, 'Where is Your power? For lo! Three days have passed for Him, and let us say to Him, O You of three days, Who raised Lazarus, when he had lain four days, raise Your own self.' Death opened the gates of Sheol, and there shone from it the splendour of the face of our Lord; and like the men of Sodom they were smitten; they groped and sought the gate of Sheol, which they had lost.
Hymn 42.
1. The Evil One wailed Where now, is there a place for me to flee to from the righteous? I stirred up Death to slay the Apostles, that I might be safe from their blows. By their deaths now more exceedingly am I cruelly beaten. The Apostle whom I slew in India is before me in Edessa: he is here wholly and also there. I went there, there was he: here and there I have found him and been grieved. R., Blessed is the might that dwells in the hallowed bones!
2. The bones that merchantmen carried, or was it then that they carried him? For lo! They made gain each of the other. But for me what did they profit me? Yea they profited each by each, while to me from both of them there was damage. O that one would show me that bag of Iscariot, for by it I acquired strength! The bag of Thomas has slain me, for the secret strength that dwells in it tortures me.
3. Moses the chosen carried the bones, in faith as for gain. And if he a great prophet believed, that there is benefit in bones, the merchant did well to believe, and did well to call himself merchant. That merchant made gain, and waxed great and reigned. His storehouse has made me very poor: his storehouse has been opened in Edessa, and has enriched the great city with benefit.
4. At this storehouse of treasure I was amazed, for small was its treasure at first; and though no man took from it, poor was the spring of its wealth. But when multitudes have come round it, and plundered it and carried off its riches, according as it is plundered, so much the more does its wealth increase. For a pent-up spring, if one seeks it out, when deeply pierced it flows forth mightily and abounds.
5. It is evident that Elisha was a fountain in a thirsting people: and because they that thirsted sought him not out, his outflow was not great. But when Naaman sought him out, he abounded and poured forth healing. The fountain into the midst of a fountain, he took him and plunged him; for in the river he cleansed the leper. Jesus the Sea of benefits, into Siloam sent the blind man whose eyes were opened.
6. Gehazi, with the staff that brought to life the dead, was unable to raise the child. And how could the famous prophet have been brought up by the sorceress? We were they that mocked Saul, for instead of one demon whom he questioned, two demons came up and mocked him. From the bones of Elisha learn also of the bones of Samuel; for though Elisha's bones brought to life the dead, the sorcerers could not bring up the dead, the living and sacred bones.
7. And though I asked this petition, He who gives all gave it not to me. For though the demons were troubled, by the bones of some priest, or magician or wizard, of Chaldean or soothsayer, yet I was aware that this was but mockery. In two ways I cause men to err: either I make the Apostles to lie, or I make my Apostles like the Apostles.
8. The party of the demons lo! It is spoiled; the party of the devils endures stripes: though there be none that lifts the rod openly, the demons cry out with pain; though there be none that fetters and binds, the spirits hang bound. This silent judgment, which is calm and still, and works not even by questioning, the one power that is all sufficing, lo! It dwells in the bones of this second Elisha.
9. He gave judgment unto His Twelve, that they might judge the twelve Tribes. And if so be that they are to judge the sons of the great Abraham, this is then no great matter, that they shall judge demons now. And unless they make the crucifiers fulfil the judgment that is to be, by our judgment shall they be proved. For worse than we did they cry out, in presence of the Apostles the judges of the tribes.
10. For a wolf was Saul the Apostle, and on the blood of the sheep I reared him; and he waxed strong and became a singular wolf. But near to Damascus suddenly, the wolf was changed into a sheep. He said that the Apostles, are to judge Angels; for by the Angels he signified the priest as it is written. If so be then they are thus powerful, woe to the demons from the strokes of their bones!
Concerning Our Lord, and Concerning Death and Satan.
1. The Voice made proclamation: and they gathered and came; the hosts of the Evil One, together with his ministers. The army of the tares was gathered altogether, for they saw that Jesus had triumphed, to the grief of all them on the left hand, for there was none of them but had been tormented. They began one by one to relate all whatsoever they had endured. Sin and Hell were terrified: Death trembled and the dead rebelled; and Satan because sinners rebelled against him. R., To You be glory because the Evil One saw You and was troubled!
2. Sin cried aloud; she gave counsel to her sons, to the demons and the devils, and unto them she said, Legion the head of your ranks is not, the sea has swallowed him and his company; and likewise ye my sons if you despise, this Jesus will destroy you. You who in a snare took Solomon, it is therefore a reproach to you, that you should be overcome by his disciples, takers of fish and ignorant men; for lo! They have taken the draught of men, which had been taken by us.
3. This is great, above all evils (says the Evil One, concerning our Saviour); for this suffices Him not that He has spoiled us, but likewise on us He has begun retribution for Jonah son of Amittai. On Legion therefore He was avenging him when He seized and cast him into the sea. Jonah emerged, after three days and came up; but Legion yea not after a long season, for the depth of the sea closed upon him at the command.
4. I tempted Him, after his past, with pleasant bread, but He desired it not. To my grief I strove to learn a psalm, that by His psalm I might take Him as a prey: I paused and learned it a second time, but He made my second trial to be vain. I brought Him up to a mountain and showed Him all possessions; I gave them to Him and He was not moved. Better was it for me in the days of Adam, who gave me no great trouble in teaching him.
5. The Evil One ceased, from his activity and said, A cause of idleness to me, is this Jesus; for lo! The publicans and harlots take refuge in Him. What work shall I seek for myself? I who was master to all men, to whom shall I be a disciple? Sin again said, It must be, that I forsake, therefore, and change from that which I am; for this Son of Mary who has come, as a new creation, has created mankind.
6. Gluttonous Death, lamented and said, I have learned fasting, which I used not to know; lo! Jesus gathers multitudes, but as to me, in His feast a fast is proclaimed for me. One man has closed my mouth, mine who have closed the mouths of many. Hell said I will restrain my greed; hunger, therefore, is mine: this Man triumphs as at the marriage, when He changed the water into wine, so He changes the vesture of the dead into life.
7. And moreover, God made a flood, and washed the earth, and purged her crimes; fire and brimstone again He sent on her, that He might make white her stains. By fire He gave me the Sodomites, and by flood the Giants. He closed the mouth of the hosts of Sennacherib, and opened the mouth of Hell. These things and such as these, I loved. But now, in place of deadly visitations of justice, He has wrought in His Son, the quickening of the dead by grace.
8. Prophets and righteous men, said the Evil One, unto his companions, have been seen by me; and though their strength was exceeding mighty, there was in them a savour of that which is mine; for the stuff whereof the sons of man are made, is near akin to our heaven. This man has clothed Himself with the body of Adam, and is troubling us, for our leaven has no power on Him. He is man, therefore, and God; for His manhood in His Godhead is intermingled.
9. Adam was seen by me, that fountain from whence flowed all races of men; his children has been sought out by me, and proved one by one. Yet have I not seen from the beginning a man, of whom one part was of God, and the other half, man. Moses, who shone in his splendour, I tempted again, and in his tongue I made him to err; but this man, yea, not in His mind, for pure exceedingly is the fountain of His thoughts.
10. The lust of the body, is in all bodies; for even while they sleep, it wakes in them. Him, who in his waking hours keeps himself pure, by means of a dream, I disturb. The dregs of the body are stirred in him, by a shaking movement in secret inwardly. The sleeping and the waking besides, I trouble alike. This is He Who alone keeps Himself pure, Whom not even in a dream can I disturb, Who even in His sleep is pure and holy.
11. But separate was even His childhood, from that of the children who have been seen by me; for I have not seen in Him any part of that which is of me. I was afraid of His childhood; therefore, I stirred up Herod, that among the infants He might be slain. Because of this also that He escaped, I was greatly afraid, for our mystery how did He find out! He received the offerings of the Wise Men; He scorned us and departed and escaped from our sword.
12. Children have been seen by me, sons of righteous men; yea, also youths, sons of chaste women; and I have moved them from the womb, one by one, and I have seen in them our leaven. For they were wrathful men and revilers, yea, also furious and gluttonous; fruits were they that by instruction were to be ripened and sweetened. But this man from His first planting, was a good fruit that possessed sweetness, wherewith sinners were made sweet.
13. Even while He was an infant, He was a teacher of the sons of men, by the splendour that was upon Him. Even the priest as he carried Him was amazed at Him. In the prudence of old men was He clad. Joseph stood aloof from Him: His mother gloried in His presence. He was a help in His childhood, to every one that saw Him; He was a profit to them that knew Him from the day when He entered into the world, He was a helper of mankind by His excellencies.
14. From whence has it sprung up before me, this fruit of Mary, the grape whereof the wine is not according to nature? For lo! I stand between doubts. To turn away and leave Him, I am afraid, lest by His teaching, they should be sweetened, they, who have acquired by bitterness. But again to tread on Him and crush Him, is a terror to me, lest haply He turn and become new wine unto sinners, and when they are drunken therewith, lo! They forget their idols.
15. Lo! I am afraid of both things, as well His death, as also His life. Then unto the Evil One His ministers made answer and counselled Him. Though both these things be grievous, somewhat lighter to us is the trouble, that we should choose His death rather than his life. Let Death tell us whether any one from among the righteous, has ever from the first been aroused again. The sons of the Giants and the renowned ones, there is none that has issued forth from her, even Hell, the Devourer.
16. The blowing of the wind, a man may feel after; but the Son of Mary, who shall search him out? For when He wept, by His tears He robbed me; and again when I bid Him cast Himself, from the holy Temple, I thought, that it was through fear He cast Himself not: yet when they threw Him from the hill-top, He flew through the air. On the well again when He was weary He sat. His variableness I understand not, for on the dry land alike and on the water He walks.
17. I have seen Him that He hungered, as a Son of man; yet this was done away by the bread which He multiplied. From the beginning I proved Him and I came to Him; He questioned me as though He knew me not; but this, too, was done away, when He showed that He knew our secrets. Again He chose Iscariot, as though He knew him not; then He turned and showed that He knew him, though he was binding and loosing. I was mistaken in Him, for He was baptized and emerged and overwhelmed me.
18. But one token there is which I have seen in Him that heartens me exceedingly above all. For while He was praying I saw Him and was glad, because He changed colour and was afraid: His sweat was as drops of blood, because He felt that His day had come. This is pleasant to me, exceedingly above all, if it be not that deceiving He has deceived me therein. But if beguiling He has beguiled me, this is both for me and for you alike, my ministers.
19. Then shouted the host of devils and said, Hateful is the sign that we see in you, for never from the beginning has it thus happened to you. In prompt counsels you were excellent: the Son of Mary captures our cities, while you are prolonging your discourse. Arise, go forth, let us fight with Him, for this were to us a reproach, that we being many should be overcome by one. And if you are in pain or fear, give us counsel for the battle and stay behind.
20. This Jesus out of His own words it is, that I shall teach Him, and war with Him; for He said that he, even Satan, is divided, himself against himself, and that he cannot stand. Though He desires to fight with us, He has given us arms which are against Himself, gage and divide for me His disciples, for if you divide them, with these you will conquer them, even with Eve and the serpent, the weak powers, whereby I conquered the first Adam.
21. Death unto the Evil One, made answer and said to him, Wherefore do you not tarry according to your wont? For lo! It is those that are despised and least, that you ensnare after your custom: Jesus Who is great above all, wherewith have you sought to ensnare Him? The experience of His weapons moves you to fear, which He hurled against you when he was tempted of you. You and I with your followers, the host of us is too little for the battle with Him, the Son of Mary.
22. I counsel, then, if this our strife permits us to do anything: go into that disciple, let yourself loose, that head may speak with heads; and let loose all your host, let it go and stir up the Pharisees. And beware, lest you speak contentiously as you are wont. If you are a god, descend from hence, with fondness kiss them and betray Him; and, lo! We will bring on Him the envy and the sword of the Levites.
Hymn 36.
1. Our Lord subdued His might and constrained it, that His living death might give life to Adam. His hands He gave to the piercing of the nails, instead of the hand that plucked the fruit: He was smitten on the cheek in the judgment hall, instead of the mouth that ate it in Eden. And because his foot bore Adam thence, His feet were pierced. Our Lord was stripped, that He might make us modest: with the gall and vinegar He made sweet the bitterness of the serpent, which he had poured forth into mankind. R. Blessed is He Who gave me the victory and quickened the dead to His glory!
2. (Death.)— If You are God show Your power; and if You are man, feel our power. And if it is Adam that You seek, go away! Because of his transgressions he is shut up here; Cherubim and Seraphim await not, in his stead to pay his debt. There is none among them mortal, so as to give his life in his stead. Who can open the mouth of hell, and plunge and bring him up from her, who has swallowed him and keeps a hold on him, and that forever!
3. I am He who has conquered all the wise men; and lo! In the corners they are heaped for me in hell. Come, enter, son of Joseph, and see terrible things; the limbs of the giants, the mighty corpse of Samson, and the skeleton of the stubborn Goliath; Og, moreover, the son of the giants, who made for himself a bed of iron and lay thereon, from whence I hurled him and cast him down; that cedar I laid low to the gate of hell.
4. I by myself alone have conquered multitudes, and one may single-handed seek to conquer me. Prophets and priests and men of renown have I carried off; I have conquered kings in their armies, and mighty men in their hunts, and righteous men in their excellencies. Streams of corpses are hurled by me into hell, and though they pour into her she is thirsty. Though one be near or though he be far off, the end brings him to the gate of hell.
5. Silver I despised at the hand of the rich, and their offerings corrupted me not. The lords of slaves never once persuaded me, to take a slave instead of his lord, and a poor man instead of a rich man, or an old man instead of a child. As for wise that are able to charm wild beasts, their charms enter not into my ears. Hater of persuasion all men call me; and I the thing that is commanded me that I do.
6. Who is this, or whose son is He, or what His lineage who has conquered me? The book of families is by me; lo! I went in and read and studied the names from Adam till now, and not one of the dead do I forget. Family by family, lo! They are written, upon my limbs. Because of You, O Jesus, I went in and made a reckoning, that I might show You that there is none that escapes my hands.
7. Yet were there two men (that I lie not) whose names have escaped me in Hell. For Enoch and Elijah came not to me. In all the world I have sought them; yea there where Jonah descended, I descended and sought and they were not. And though I suppose that into Paradise, they have entered and escaped, a mighty Cherub guards it. The ladder Jacob saw, what if haply by it they have entered into Heaven!
8. Who is there that has measured the sand of the sea, and has spilt only two grains? This harvest wherein every day there labour, diseases as harvesters, I alone carry the handfuls and gather them up; other gatherers in making haste, drop handfuls. Vintagers overlook clusters; but two grapes have escaped me, in that great vintage which I alone have plucked.
9. I am He that has taken (said Death), on sea and on dry land, all prey in chase. Eagles of the air come to me; yea and dragons of the deep: creeping things and fowl and cattle; old men, youths and children. These will convince You, O Son of Mary, that this my power rules over all. Your Cross how shall it conquer me, who by a tree lo! I have prevailed and conquered from old time?
10. But I was desirous to speak yet farther, for I am not wanting in words; yea words are not to be sought by me, for lo! deeds call on me close at hand. Not as you do I make promise, to the simple of secret things, that forsooth there is to be a resurrection at some time or other. If then You are very powerful, give a present pledge, that Your distant promise also may be believed.
11. Death ended his speech of derision: and the voice of our Lord sounded into Hell, and He cried aloud and burst the graves one by one. Tremblings took hold on Death; Hell that never of old had been lighted up, into it there flashed splendours, from the Watchers who entered in and brought out the dead to meet Him, who was dead and gives life to all. The dead came forth, and the living were ashamed, they who thought that they had conquered the Life Giver of all.
12. But who gave me the day of Moses, (said Death) who made a feast for me? For that lamb that was slain in Egypt gave me, from every house the first fruit: heaps and heaps of the first born, at the gate of Hell he piled me them. But this Lamb of the festival, has robbed Hell; of the dead He has taken title and carried them off from me. That lamb filled the graves for me; but this has emptied the graves that were full.
13. The death of Jesus to me is a torment; I prefer for myself His life rather than His death. This is the Dead whose death (lo!) is hateful to me; in the death of all men else I rejoice, but His Death, even His, I detest; that He may come back to life I hope. While He was living He brought to life and restored three that were dead; but now by His death, at the gate of Hell they have trampled on me, the dead who have come to life, whom I was going to shut in.
14. I will haste and will close the gates of Hell, before this Dead, Whose death has spoiled me. Whoso hears will wonder at my humiliation, that by a dead man who is without I am overcome. All the dead seek to go forth, but this one presses to enter in. A medicine of life has entered into Hell, and has restored life to its dead. Who then has brought in and hidden from me, that living fire wherein have reposed, the cold and dark recesses of Hell?
15. Death has seen the Watchers in Hell; the immortal instead of the mortal; and he said Confusion has entered our abode, for in these two things is torment to me: That the dead have come forth out of Hell, and the Watchers that die not have entered therein. Lo! One at the pillow in this tomb, has entered and sat down by it, and a second his companion at His feet. I will entreat of Him and will persuade Him, with His pledge to ascend and go to His Kingdom.
16. Be not angry against me, gracious Jesus, for the words that my pride has spoken before You! Who is there that when seeing Your Cross, shall have doubted that You are man? Who is there that shall have seen Your Power, and shall not believe that You are also God? Lo! Thus by these two things I have learned to confess that You are man and likewise art God! For as much as the dead in Hell repent not, go up among the living, O Lord, and preach repentance.
17. O Jesus King, receive my supplication, and with my supplication take to Yourself a pledge, even Adam the great pledge accept for Yourself, him in whom are buried all the dead; even as when I received him, in him were hidden all the living. The first pledge I have given You, the body of Adam; go up therefore and reign over all; and when I shall hear Your trumpet, I with mine own hand will lead forth the dead at Your Coming.
18. Our King living has gone forth and gone up, out of Hell, as Conqueror. Woe He has doubled to them that are of the left hand; to evil spirits and demons He is sorrow, to Satan and to Death He is pain, to Sin and Hell mourning. Joy to them that are of the right hand, has come today. On this great day therefore, great glory let us give to Him, who died and is alive that, unto all He may, give life and resurrection!
Hymn 37.
1. Death was weeping for her, even for Sheol, when he saw her treasury that it was emptied. And he said, Who, then, has plundered your riches? Gehazi stole and was discovered; I am stealing every day, but theft has not been laid to my charge. I am sent to Kings, in their sicknesses, their guards are set around them, guards are also at their gate. The soul of kings I snatch and I go forth. R., Blessed is He Who has broken the sting of Death by His Cross!
2. All women grieve that are barren; Sheol rejoices because of her barrenness; she is desolate if so be that she brings forth. The all-compelling Power constrained it, even the bosom that was barren and cold, and it rendered back though wont to deny its debts. Rebekah, when the two babes afflicted her, asked for death. How great then the pain of Sheol, when there smote her strange pangs; the dead were roused and broke forth and came out from her bowels.
3. Is this then perchance that saying, which was heard by me from Isaiah? (but I despised it) when he arose and said, Who has heard such a thing as this? That the earth should travail in one day, and bring forth a nation in one hour. Is it this that has come to pass? Or else, is it reserved for us hereafter? And if it be this it is a vain shadow that I thought I am a king; I knew not it was but a deposit I was keeping.
4. Two utterances that were different, have I heard from him, even this Isaiah. For he said that a virgin should conceive and bring forth; and he said again that the earth should bring forth. But lo! The Virgin has brought Him forth, and Sheol the barren has brought Him forth; two wombs that contrary to nature, have been changed by Him; the Virgin and Sheol both of them. The Virgin in her bringing forth He made glad; but Sheol He grieved and made sad in His Resurrection.
5. I saw in the valley that Ezekiel, who quickened the dead when he was questioned; and I saw the bones that were in heaps and they moved. There was a tumult of bones in Sheol, bone seeking for his fellow, and joint for her mate. There was there none that questioned, or that was questioned, whether those bones lived. Unquestioned, the voice of Jesus, the Master of all creatures quickened them.
6. Sheol was made sorrowful when she saw them, even the sorrowful dead made to rejoice. She wept for Lazarus when he went forth, Go in peace you dead that live, bewailed by two houses of mourning. Within and without were lamentations for him; for his sisters wept for him when he came into the grave unto me, and I wept for him as he went forth. In his death there was weeping among the living; likewise in Sheol is great mourning at his resurrection.
7. Now it is that I have tasted the taste of his sorrow, even of him who weeps over his beloved. The dead that are thus beloved of Sheol, how dear were they to their fathers! The limbs which I severed and carried away, lo! They are shorn away and carried off from me. If I thus suffer for the departure of him, the youth who was restored to life, blessed is He Who had compassion on the widow; in her only son He gave peace to her dwelling that had been made desolate.
8. Lo! This suffering which I cause men to suffer in their beloved ones, in the end on me it gathers itself altogether. For when the dead shall have left Sheol, for every man there will be resurrection, and for me alone torment. And who is he then that shall bear for me all these things, that I shall see Sheol left alone, because this voice which has rent the graves, makes her desolate and sends forth the dead that were in her midst?
9. If a man reads in the Prophets, he hears there of righteous wars. But if a man meditate in the story of Jesus, he learns of grace and tender mercy. And if a man think of Jesus, that He is a strange God it is a reproach against me. No other strange key into the gate of Sheol could ever be fitted. One is the key of the Creator, that which has opened it, yea, is to open it at His Coming.
10. Who is he that is able to join the bones, save that Power which created them? What is it that shall reunite the shreds of the body, save the hand of the Maker? What is it that shall restore the forms, save the finger of the Creator? He, who created and turned and destroyed, is He that is able also to renew and raise up. Another God is unable to enter in and restore creatures not his own.
11. But were he another Power, I should be very joyful that He is coming to me. Into the bosom of Sheol He would descend and learn that One alone is God. Mortals that have erred and preached that there are Gods many, lo! They are bound for me in Sheol, and their Gods have never grieved because of them. One God do I know, and His Prophets and His Apostles do I acknowledge.
Hymn 38.
1. My throne was set for me in Sheol: and one arose that was dead, and hurled me from it. Every man feared me alone, and I feared no man. Terror and trouble were among the living, rest and peace among the dead. In a man that was slain lo! There has entered into Sheol He that takes her captive. I used to take all men captive: the Son of Captivity Whom I took captive has taken me captive. He Whom I took captive has led her away and is gone to Paradise. R., Blessed is He Who has quickened the dead of Sheol by His Cross!
2. All men complain much against me; and I against one only have complained. Who is there among men so just as I? Has corruption touched my integrity? I held all men in affection, and whoso hates me knows it; I know not all my days what a bribe is. The person of a king have I not accepted. By me is preached equality, for bondman and his lord in Sheol I make equal.
3. Before God it is that I minister, with Whom is no acceptance of persons. What other is there that endures as I do, I that am cursed when I do good? Perversely are requited to me the benefits I have rendered. Though my deeds are goodly, my name is not goodly. Yet my mind rests in its integrity: in God it is that I comfort myself; for though He is good He is denied every day and endures it.
4. The old I remove from all sufferings, likewise the young from all sins. Secret contention I quell in Sheol; in our land there is no iniquity: it is Sheol and Heaven alone, that are removed from all sins; this earth that lies between, in her iniquity dwells. He therefore that is prudent will either go up into Heaven, or, if that be too hard, will go down to Sheol which is easy.
5. To one man because of one that is dead, every man hastes to comfort him. But for me though many of my dead have come to life, there is none that comes in and comforts me. Satan came in, against Whom, had been proclaimed seven woes even against him; though mightily the Son of Mary had trodden on him, yet uplifted is his spirit; for he is the serpent that strives though bruised. Better is it for me to fall and worship, before this Jesus Who has conquered me by His Cross.
6. When He enters at the gate of Sheol, in place of John who preached before His coming, then will I cry Lo! He that quickens the dead has come; Your servant am I from henceforth, Jesu! Because of The Body I reviled You, for it covered Your Godhead. Be not angry, O Son of the King, against Your treasury; at Your command I have opened and closed. Though my wings be very swift it is at your nod I haste to every quarter.
7. All that have been raised were not first born; for our Lord is the First-born of Sheol. How can any that is dead go before Him, that power whereby he was raised? There are last that are first, and younger that have become first-born. For though Manasseh was first-born, how could it be that Ephraim should take the birthright? And if the second born was set before him, how much rather shall the Lord and Creator prevent all in His Resurrection!
8. Lo! John as a herald declares that he is later, though he was elder-born; for he said, Behold a man comes after me, and yet He was before me. For how could he be before Him, that Power in Whom he preached? For everything that comes to pass because of another thing, is after that other even though it seem to be before. For the cause which called it into being, is elder than it and before it in all things.
9. The cause of Adam was elder than all creatures, which were made for him, for to him even to Adam He had respect continually, the Creator even while he was creating. Thus though Adam as yet was not, he was elder than all creatures. How much more then, my Lord, must this Your manhood be elder, which in Your Godhead is, from eternity with Him that begot You! To You be praise and through You to Your Father from us all!
10. To You be praise for You are the first, in Your Godhead and in Your manhood! For even though Elijah was first to go up, he was not able to prevent Him, for whose sake he was taken up. For his type depended on Your verity: and even though the types apparently are before Your fulfilment, it is before them secretly. Creatures were before Adam; he was before them because for his sake they were made.
11. O my Lord, work for me this resurrection, not of Your compulsion but of Your love. For Your compulsion gives life to sinners also: Iscariot would rather again choose for himself the death of Sheol, than the life of Gehenna. Work for me then the resurrection that is of Your mercy; and even though Your justice permits not, let there be occasion for Your grace. This only let it remember for me, that in it I have sought refuge.
Hymn 39.
1. There have come to me ransomers from among the saints, but none has plundered me like the Son of Mary. For lo! Elijah brought a dead man to life; and even though he himself escaped from my hands, yet had I consolation after him, for the dead man whom he quickened, I carried off from him. By Elisha son of Shaphat, I was beaten as with rods, for he brought two dead men to life. By one staff I in turn bore away both the prophet and the dead whom he had raised. R., Blessed is He Who cleft the tombs of Sheol by His voice!
2. I feared him even Gehazi when I saw, him lay the staff upon the youth. The thief took the staff away and returned; Elisha came and bowed himself; laid himself low as the child and raised himself up, and walked hither and there. I marvelled at the new mysteries which I saw there, which restored but one youth to life. It was well with me then when those were but mysteries, and not now when the dead have rebelled and conquered me.
3. Moses when I saw the mighty splendour upon his face, I feared him: yet not according to what I feared befell it me. Nisan in Sheol he caused to spring for me; for a pasture, a pasture of corpses, of six hundred thousand fell.— This lowly and despised whom I contemned, has healed the sick and the diseased: to others He has multiplied bread, but our bread even ours from our mouths He snatches.
4. A mighty feast there was in Sheol, when I swallowed up Korah and his company. A great delight Satan made for me, when he made strife among the Levites. A fount of milk and honey, made he flow for me in a dry place, when the congregation of transgressors went down to Sheol.— Lo! The righteous have lived and come forth: Moses sent down the living there, but Jesus has revived and brought up the dead.
5. It was well with me then, in the day of the zealous, those in whose swords I had delight. Phinehas the zealous pierced and gave me, on the head of his spear for my delight, Zimri and Cozbi both together; on the head of his lance he presented them to me. To whom then were there ever two fatted oxen, offered on the head of a spear?— But instead of Cozbi, daughter of princes, the daughter of Jairus has Jesus rescued from my hands.
6. The censer of Aaron caused me to fear, for he stood between the dead and the living and conquered me. The Cross causes me to fear more exceedingly, which has rent open the graves of Sheol. The Crucified Whom on it I slew, now by Him am I slain. Not very great is his reproach, who is overcome by a warrior in arms. Worse to me is my reproach than my torment, in that by a crucified man my strength has been overcome.
7. The lance of Phinehas again has caused me to fear, for by the slaughter he wrought with it he hindered the pestilence. The lance guarded the tree of life, it made me glad and made me sad; it hindered Adam from life, and it hindered death from the people. But the lance that pierced Jesus, by it I have suffered; He is pierced and I groan. There came out from Him water and blood; Adam washed and lived and returned to Paradise.
8. The Sadducees were as a mouth for me, and disputed with Him after my mind, that there is no rising of the dead at all. Jesus answered them in a saying, which I alone understood; He spoke aloud the hateful word and saddened me, I am the God of him even of Abraham, and God is not the God of the dead. It was well with me then these were but words, and He had not yet showed me the life of the dead indeed.
9. Jesus son of Nun, slew thirty kings, and filled the graves and pits for me; he laid waste Jericho and filled Sheol. But this Jesus who has come, has wasted the graves of their dead, and has filled the cities of the upper world. Wherefore thus when lo! They are like in their names, are they unlike in their doings? That gave me the body of Achor, but this snatched from me the body of Lazarus.
10. Moses trod down that Egyptian, with his meekness he mingled justice. Whence has this new law sprung for me, If one smite you on your cheek, turn to him your other cheek, and see that you hate him not? Instead of the strong man of zeal who trod down and slew, a new man of mercy has risen for us. Samuel hewed Agag in pieces, but Jesus healed the paralytic.
11. Tender mercy which had as it were waxed less, lo! In this time has waxed great. And moreover it was then detested, lest through it one should transgress the commandment; for without mercy Saul and Ahab, were slain because they desired, to have mercy on the evil ones, and they were not slain who were deserving of punishment. In my time Jesus has changed this, by giving life to all men and having compassion on His slayers.
12. I remember Samson that lion's cub, who broke and gave me the pillars of Philistia; also that mighty man of valor Abner son of Ner, took for me that fleet wild roe, Asahel son of Zeruiah, and smote him and cast him on the ground. Benaiah in the holy temple slew Jacob, justly as it is written.— Because justice has restrained her sword, henceforth penitents shall rejoice in grace.
13. David measured the Edomites, by line and line and destroyed them. How merciful then are You, O Son of David! David's justice was twofold, when he put to death two lines, and saved one full line alive.— Lo! The Son of David teaches us, Forgive your brother even unto seventy times seven. There justice was measured; but here clemency is without measure.
14. Of zeal and strength David was possessed; the lion and the bear he slew together. He left that mighty lion and hasted, to meet the strong giant. With a stone he quenched his light, and his soul left him and he perished. But Jesus cried to the young man that was dead Young man! Even the dead to Him are sleepers. That young man He brought to life and rescued from me. The despised swine He drowned for me in the sea.
15. The Levites slew because of the calf, their fathers and their brethren. Jephthah by his own hands was ready to slay his daughter. The King of Moab on the wall, was sacrificing his first-born son: In presence of his sword I rejoice.— By Jesus the sword was blunted; yea the fever was rebuked, the sister of Sheol: the mother-in-law of Simeon was healed, but the fame of her healing smote Sheol with pain.
16. This Jesus though he be the Son of the Just One, all that He preaches is grace. But to me this His grace is torment. Envy is the cause of pleasure to us, for Envy at the beginning mixed for me the first shedding of blood. Why is it guilty in the sight of the Son of Mary Who has come commanding, You shall not be angry against your brother? He has taken away the sword from between brethren; while in the sword of Cain I had pleasure from the beginning.
17. An honeycomb in the midst of the skeleton, Samson found— was it then a mystery? This Jesus has multiplied for us mysteries. Amid billows of mysteries have I fallen, which show me in parable the life of the dead, in all mysteries and in all types. Out of the eater came forth meat was Samson's parable. But to me it has befallen contrariwise; for the eater has come forth to me out of the meat, for out of Adam lo! has come the Son of Adam Who has destroyed me.
18. Just men likewise have robbed me manifold, when by them was preached the rising of the dead: but they mingled with my sorrows great consolation. By the prayer of Asa and Hezekiah, I was fed upon the dead, yea I feasted upon corpses. Elijah slew the prophets of Baal and gave them to me, who on the bread of Jezebel had waxed fat. The righteous has constrained me to devour, but Jesus has compelled me to disgorge all that I had eaten.
19. I was afraid because of the sprinkled blood, which Moses sprinkled on every door; for though the blood of the slain, it was that which saved the living. Blood from of old I feared not, save that blood that was on the doors, and this moreover that was on the Tree. The blood of the slain is a delight, and is as sweet perfume: but the blood of Jesus is to me a terror; for whenever I come and smell His blood, the savour of life that lurks therein terrifies me.
20. Priests and pontiffs, anointed men and kings, who foreshow types of the rising of the dead, have never triumphed through their crosses. Crowns and diadems were set on them; and when I engaged in struggles with them, I was smitten sometimes and sometimes also I smote. But this carpenter's son with his crown of thorns, has humbled and cast down my pride, in His shame and His dying: Sheol has seen Him, yea, and fled from before Him.
21. When the sea saw Moses and fled, it feared because of his rod, and likewise because of his glory. His splendour and his rod and his power, the rock also saw which was cleft. But Sheol when her graves were rent, what saw she in Him even in Jesus?— Instead of splendour He put on the paleness of the dead and made her tremble. And if His paleness when slain slew her, how shall she be able to endure, when He comes to raise the dead, in His Glory!
Hymn 40.
1. The Evil One perceived his great humiliation, and boasted himself in the presence of his servants: he spoke great words to persuade them and said: The knowledge which I possess, little of it is by nature; and much of it, yea all of it, is by learning. I to myself have been master, and have exercised my understanding. Without a teacher I have learned all; I have armed myself with every weapon, and have won by it the crown which I desired among mankind. R., Blessed is He that has come and undone the snares of sin!
2. Among the Pharisees I clothed myself in hatred, that I might contend with Him, even the Son of Mary. Wrath like a bow rained shafts; boldness railed upon Him; fury rebelled against Him; ingratitude slandered Him; envy and jealousy in their wrath, strove with Him; and blasphemy took up stones. The Healer came in and stood among the sick, and I stirred up the diseased in contention against Him.
3. Because He fell not under reproach, it was in questions that I took refuge. Many times did I stir up occasions, but I saw that my falsehood was rebuked, and my impudence was made known, and my vain babbling was despised. To the windings of contention I betook myself. Everywhere that I disputed with Him, all my labor was as chaff, and the word of truth scattered it on every side.
4. I saw that there is a warrior and a mighty lord, in cunning within man: [and the snake that is without makes it fear.] His lusts within him is coiled continually; his jealousy hisses like a serpent. Deadly desires he begets, and of a fever he is in dread. Command as a drug, is able to quell derision, which smites unto destruction. It is love that avails to break the sting secret and bitter of the tongue.
5. Who is more foolish than men, who rather than for himself cares for his dwelling! The garments that are in his chest he examines daily, and a worm is lurking in his members. The rents that are in his clothes he mends, but a rent is made in his soul. His house is lighted up but his heart is dark. He shuts up his senses but opens his windows. He closes his door and guards his money; his mouth is open and the treasure of his thought is stolen.
6. The fool makes more of his beasts than of himself, for he cares for his possessions rather than for his soul. Good seed he sows in his ground; in his heart he sows tares. His understanding is thrown open and cast down; but at the fences of his vineyard he labours. He chooses and plants vine-plants; while his mind is a vine of the vines of Sodom. He keeps off the wild ass from his sowing; but the wild boar of the wood devours his thoughts.
7. I am a furnace to the sons of men, and in me are tried their counsels. Therefore is it lawful to me to weave deceit. I teach the Chaldean art: by reason of the true things that befall, the false things are believed. In the midst of Egypt I closed men's eyes; I showed insects, men thought they were though they were not. By closing men's eyes I teach the signs of the Zodiac, though they are not in the heavens.
8. By reason of my swiftness I fly and see, and I show beforehand to the soothsayer; they who err concerning me count me a prophet. But sometimes I make bold; and I ask that for an hour, secret things be revealed to me, that true men may be proved by me even as Job, likewise deceivers as Saul. For the one I revealed his sorcery; and for the other I purged his truth and he was praised.
Hymn 41.
1. The Evil One said, I fear Him, even Jesus, lest He destroy my arts. For lo! I am thousands of years old, and never have I had repose. I have seen nothing established, that I have turned from and left. There has come One making the unchaste pure: there is sorrow since He has destroyed all that I had built. Many have been my labours and my teachings, that I might cover all creation with all evils. R., Blessed is He Who came and laid bare the wiles of the Crafty One!
2. I matched my speed with the swift, and I outstripped them: I waged war; the tumult of multitudes was armour to me. In the tumult of the people I rejoiced, because it gave me ready room, for grievous is the onslaught of multitudes. By the strength of multitudes I raised a great mountain, a tower I stretched unto heaven. If they waged war with the Height, how much more shall they conquer Him whose warfare is on earth?
3. As time serves and as help offers, I wage war, but cautiously. The people used to hear that God is one; they made for themselves a multitude of gods. And when they saw the Son of God, they made haste to the One God, that as though confessing God they might deny Him, and as though in zeal might flee from Him; so that they in all times perverse shall be found to be without God.
4. Lo! I am ancient of many years, and no infant have I ever rejected. The burden of children have I ofttimes borne, so that from the beginning I might make them acquire habits that are not goodly, that their faults might grow up with them. But there are foolish fathers, who do not crush the seed that I have sown in their sons; and there are some who like good husbandmen, root up faults from the mind of their children.
5. As with a chain I have bound men with sloth, and they sat in idleness. I have drawn away their senses from all good things; their eyes from reading, their mouths from singing praise, their understanding from doctrine. For hurtful and vain fables how eager are they; for empty talk how ready! If the word of life fell among them, they either thrust it from them, or rose and went forth from its presence.
6. How many Satans are there among men! And me even me alone every man curses. For lo! The anger of men— it is a devil that grinds him every day. Demons are like wayfarers, who depart if they are compelled: but against anger though all righteous men adjure, it is not rooted out from its place. Instead of pernicious envy, every one hates a weak and wretched demon.
7. The enchanter is put to shame with the wizard, who every day tames serpents. The viper that is within him is out of his power; for the lust that is within him he tames not. Secret sin like an asp, when it breathes on him he is scorched. Even when he takes the viper through his cunning, delusion smites him secretly. He lulls the snake by his incantations: he wakens against himself mighty wrath by his incantations.
8. I set my stings and I sat and waited: who is long-enduring as I with all? Beside the patient-spirited I sat, and step by step I bewitched him, so that he came unto despair. Him who was ashamed of his transgressions, habits subdued him: little by little I mastered him, till he became under the yoke, till he came in to it and was used to it and did not even wish to go forth.
9. I perceived and saw that the long-enduring is he that can subdue all. At the time when I conquered Adam, he was but one. I left him till he had begotten children, and I sought for myself another task, for idleness is not to my taste. I counted the sands of the sea, that thereby I might make my spirit patient, and might prove my memory whether it would suffice, for the sons of men when they were multiplied. Before they were multiplied, I proved them in many things.
10. The servants of the Evil One disputed with him, and they refuted his words with their rejoinder. But lo! Elisha brought the dead to life, and conquered death in the upper chamber, and brought to life the widow's son. Lo! now is he in bondage in Sheol. But because the reasoning of the Evil One was very powerful, with their own words he refuted their words. How has Elisha been overcome? Lo! In Sheol he brought the dead to life by his bones.
11. If Elisha, who was of small power, was great in might in the midst of Sheol, and if so be he brought one dead to life therein, how many dead then will be raised therein, by the death of Jesus the mighty! Hence even from this consider how much greater therefore is Jesus, than we my comrades. For lo! By His craftiness He deceived you, and you sufficed not to determine His greatness when you compared Him to the prophets.
12. Your consolations are of small power, said the Evil One to them of his company. For He Who brought Lazarus to life though dead, how can Death suffice against Him? And if Death conquers Him, it is that He wills to be subdued unto him; and if so be He wills to be subdued, fear greatly, for He dies not in vain. He has wrought in us great terror, lest when dying He may enter in to raise Adam to life.
13. Death looked forth from within his den, and marvelled when he saw our Lord crucified, and he said O raiser of the dead to life where are you! You shall be to me for meat, instead of the sweet Lazarus, whose savour lo! It is still in my mouth. Jairus' daughter shall come and see this Your cross. The widow's son gazes on You. A tree caught Adam for me: blessed be the Cross which has caught for me the Son of David!
14. Death opened his mouth and said, Have You not heard, O Son of Mary, how Moses was great and excellent above all? Became a God and wrought the works of God? slew the first-born and saved the first-born? Turned aside the pestilence from the living? To the mount I went up with Moses, and He Whose glory be blessed gave him to me from hand to hand. For however great the son of Adam becomes, dust he is and to his dust returns, because he is of the ground.
15. Satan came with his servants, that he might see our Lord cast into Sheol, and might rejoice with Death his Counsellor; and he saw Him sorrowful and mourning, because of the dead who at the voice of the Firstborn, lived and came forth thence even from Sheol. The Evil One arose to console Death his kinsman. You have not destroyed as much as you were able. Even as Jesus is in your midst, to your hand shall come they that have lived and that live.
16. Open for us to see Him, yea and mock Him: let us answer and say, 'Where is Your power? For lo! Three days have passed for Him, and let us say to Him, O You of three days, Who raised Lazarus, when he had lain four days, raise Your own self.' Death opened the gates of Sheol, and there shone from it the splendour of the face of our Lord; and like the men of Sodom they were smitten; they groped and sought the gate of Sheol, which they had lost.
Hymn 42.
1. The Evil One wailed Where now, is there a place for me to flee to from the righteous? I stirred up Death to slay the Apostles, that I might be safe from their blows. By their deaths now more exceedingly am I cruelly beaten. The Apostle whom I slew in India is before me in Edessa: he is here wholly and also there. I went there, there was he: here and there I have found him and been grieved. R., Blessed is the might that dwells in the hallowed bones!
2. The bones that merchantmen carried, or was it then that they carried him? For lo! They made gain each of the other. But for me what did they profit me? Yea they profited each by each, while to me from both of them there was damage. O that one would show me that bag of Iscariot, for by it I acquired strength! The bag of Thomas has slain me, for the secret strength that dwells in it tortures me.
3. Moses the chosen carried the bones, in faith as for gain. And if he a great prophet believed, that there is benefit in bones, the merchant did well to believe, and did well to call himself merchant. That merchant made gain, and waxed great and reigned. His storehouse has made me very poor: his storehouse has been opened in Edessa, and has enriched the great city with benefit.
4. At this storehouse of treasure I was amazed, for small was its treasure at first; and though no man took from it, poor was the spring of its wealth. But when multitudes have come round it, and plundered it and carried off its riches, according as it is plundered, so much the more does its wealth increase. For a pent-up spring, if one seeks it out, when deeply pierced it flows forth mightily and abounds.
5. It is evident that Elisha was a fountain in a thirsting people: and because they that thirsted sought him not out, his outflow was not great. But when Naaman sought him out, he abounded and poured forth healing. The fountain into the midst of a fountain, he took him and plunged him; for in the river he cleansed the leper. Jesus the Sea of benefits, into Siloam sent the blind man whose eyes were opened.
6. Gehazi, with the staff that brought to life the dead, was unable to raise the child. And how could the famous prophet have been brought up by the sorceress? We were they that mocked Saul, for instead of one demon whom he questioned, two demons came up and mocked him. From the bones of Elisha learn also of the bones of Samuel; for though Elisha's bones brought to life the dead, the sorcerers could not bring up the dead, the living and sacred bones.
7. And though I asked this petition, He who gives all gave it not to me. For though the demons were troubled, by the bones of some priest, or magician or wizard, of Chaldean or soothsayer, yet I was aware that this was but mockery. In two ways I cause men to err: either I make the Apostles to lie, or I make my Apostles like the Apostles.
8. The party of the demons lo! It is spoiled; the party of the devils endures stripes: though there be none that lifts the rod openly, the demons cry out with pain; though there be none that fetters and binds, the spirits hang bound. This silent judgment, which is calm and still, and works not even by questioning, the one power that is all sufficing, lo! It dwells in the bones of this second Elisha.
9. He gave judgment unto His Twelve, that they might judge the twelve Tribes. And if so be that they are to judge the sons of the great Abraham, this is then no great matter, that they shall judge demons now. And unless they make the crucifiers fulfil the judgment that is to be, by our judgment shall they be proved. For worse than we did they cry out, in presence of the Apostles the judges of the tribes.
10. For a wolf was Saul the Apostle, and on the blood of the sheep I reared him; and he waxed strong and became a singular wolf. But near to Damascus suddenly, the wolf was changed into a sheep. He said that the Apostles, are to judge Angels; for by the Angels he signified the priest as it is written. If so be then they are thus powerful, woe to the demons from the strokes of their bones!
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Hymn 52.
Concerning Satan and Death.
1. I heard Death and Satan, as they disputed, which was the more powerful, among men. R., To You be glory, Son of the Shepherd of All, Who delivered His flock from the secret wolves that devoured it, the Evil One and Death!— 2. Death showed his power, that he conquers all; Satan showed his guile, that he makes all to sin.— 3. Death, To you, O Evil One, none hearkens save he that wills: to me he that wills and he that wills not, even to me they come.— 4. Satan, Yours, O Death, is but the force of tyranny: mine are snares and nets of subtlety.— 5. D., Hear, O Evil One, that who so is subtle breaks off your yoke: but none is there that is able to escape my yoke.— 6. S., You, Death, on him that is sick provest your might: but I over them that are whole, am exceeding powerful.— 7. D., The Evil One prevails not over all those that revile him: but for me he that has cursed me and he that curses me, come into my hands.— 8. S., You, Death, from God, hast gotten your might: I alone by none am I helped, when I lead men to sin.— 9. D., You, O Evil-One, like a weakling: while like a king I exercise my dominion.— 10. S., You are a fool, O Death, not to know how great am I: who suffice to capture free will, the sovereign power.— 11. D., You, O Evil One, like a thief, lo! You go round: I like a lion break in pieces and fear not.— 12. S., To you, O Death, none does service or worship: to me kings do service of sacrifice as to God.— 13. D., On Death there are many that call, as on a kind Power: on you, O Evil One, none has called or calls.— 14. S., Do you not mark this, O Death, how many there are: who in sundry fashions call on me and make oblation?— 15. D. Hated is your name, O Satan, nor can you clear it: your name every one curses, hide your reproach.— 16. S., Your ear, O Death, has waxed dull, that you hear not: how against you all men groan, conceal yourself.— 17. D., My face is shown to the world, for I am guileless: not like you who without guile canst not abide.— 18. S., You have not in anything surpassed me for it is true: that you are hateful as I to the sons of men.— 19. D., Of me all men are afraid as of a lord: but as for you they hate you as the Evil One.— 20. S., For you, O Death, they hate your name, and also your work: my name they hate but my delights they greatly love.— 21. D., To bitterness of teeth is turned, this your sweetness: penitence of soul cleaves ever unto your lusts.— 22. S., Sheol is hated because in her is no repentance: a pit that swallows and closes on all movements.— 23. D., Sheol is a gulf wherein whoso falls shall rise again: sin is hated because it cuts off the hope of man.— 24. S., Though I mislike penitents, I give place for repentance: you cut off hope from the sinner who dies in his sin.— 25. D., It was of you that at first his hope was cut off: for he whom you have not caused to sin dies happily.— 26. Blessed is He who raised against each other those cursed servants: that we might see them as they have seen us and mocked at us.— 27. This that we have seen of them is a pledge, my brethren: of what we shall see of them hereafter when we rise again.
Hymn 53.
1. Come, let us hear how they contend for victory: the guilty ones who never have conquered, nor will conquer.— 2. Death said unto the Evil One, In the end the victory is mine: for Death is master of the close, as a conqueror.— 3. Satan, This were to be Death indeed, were you able: to bring to death a living man, by means of lusts.— 4. D., Lo! I who behold the dead, both good and bad: the righteous who despise you, O Evil One, me they despise not.— 5. S., This dying of the body, is sleep for a time: think not, O Death, that you are Death, who art as a shadow.— 6. D., You, O Evil One, the just have conquered, yea will conquer: but these that have conquered you, lo! I conquer.— 7. S., Even this that you bring to death the just, is not of yourself: because of Adam whom I conquered, they drink this cup.— 8. D., Lo! Sheol is full of the men of Sodom, and the Assyrians: and the giants who were in the flood, who is like me?— 9. S., These, O Death, all of them, by me were slain: I am he that caused them to sin so that they perished.— 10. D., Joseph who conquered you I conquered, O Satan: in the chamber he conquered you but I conquered, and cast him into the tomb.— 11. S., Moses who conquered you, O Death, by sprinkling of blood: he conquered you in Egypt, but at the rock, who conquered him?— 12. D., Elijah who feared you not, O Satan: fled before Jezebel's face, because he feared me.— 13. S., Aaron who withstood you, O Death, with smoke of incense: to him I gave earrings of gold: and he fashioned a calf.— 14. D., You went down to contend with Job, and he conquered you and came up: but I, after he had conquered you, then conquered him.— 15. S., David who by his sackcloth stayed that pestilence: him on the house-top I conquered, who had conquered Goliath.— 16. D., Jehu who destroyed the house of Baal, the temple of the Evil One: was unable to destroy Sheol, the stronghold of my realm.— 17. S., Solomon who snatched from your mouth, a child by his judgment: him in his old age I made a builder of idol-altars.— 18. D., Samuel who in respect of gold scorned you, O Satan: him I conquered, the conqueror, who conquered bribes.— 19. S., Samson who in respect of the lion's cub, scorned you, O Death: through Delilah, frail vessel, I yoked him to the mill.— 20. D., Josiah from his childhood despised you, Evil One: but me not even in his old age, could he withstand.— 21. S., Hezekiah withstood you, Death, when he overcame the bound of life: I misled him and he neglected the miracle, and showed his treasures.— 22. D., John who conquered you, Evil One, and absolved and baptized: I extinguished that torch, which had disclosed you.— 23. S., Simon overcame you, when he brought to life that blessed woman: in a woman he overcame you and by a woman I overcame him and made him deny.— 24. S., Apostles and prophets with one voice, curse you, O Death: Where is the victory of Death, and the sting of Sheol?— 25. Your Lord in Sheol you have shut up, O cursed servant: God hates you and also man, hold then your peace.— 26. S., It was the will of Him who gives life to all, that shut him in Sheol: it was you that called Him to this, when you made Adam sin.— 27. O comrade of Nabal who in the wilderness reproached his lord: abhorred be your mouth which said to Him, Fall down and worship me!
Hymn 54.
1. Hear, O Freedom, the dispute of two servants: how they are convicted by each other, that they are powerless.— 2. R., To You be glory by Whose humiliation Adam was exalted: and by Whose death he was raised, and regained Eden!— 3. If then the Evil One overcome you, great is the shame: Death his comrade has convicted him, as being weak.— 4. And if again Death subdue you, lo! What reproach: for the Evil One his comrade derides him, as but a shadow.— 5. Their dispute is for you a mirror, wherein you may see: that they both are but as chaff, before your breath.— 6. Yea and Prophets and Apostles, in their promises: assure you that they like flowers, shall fade at the rising.— 7. S., You, Death, art he whom they hate, the quick and dead: for every combination you dissolve, and destroy.— 8. D., It is not open death that kills, O Satan: your death which is secret kills the sons of men.— 9. S., My name is not hateful as yours, for the angel: showed himself in Satan's likeness to Balaam on the way.— 10. D., How fit is this your name, O Satan: who has erred and made unwary Adam err, from the way!— 11. S., Wander not like one ignorant, and lose your cause: dispute, O Death, if you are competent, for replying.— 12. D., I know that you are wily, O Satan: so that you out of sand can twist a snare.— 13. S., Your disputing, Death, is ended: for he who is worsted: when his words fail and are ended, begins to rail.— 14. D., Among all I am conqueror, and by you am I worsted? Let Adam persuade you whom I have overcome, O Satan!— 15. S., I am he who bound Adam, and cast him before you: the mighty man whom my wiles had bound, you came and subdue.— 16. D., I am he who have been crowned anew, with a diadem in the world: for Adam, chief of the mighty, I hold captive in Sheol.— 17. S., I killed him by secret death, even Adam when he sinned: you, Death, hast slain one that was dead, killed by me.— 18. D., In your desire to conquer, Evil One, you have made yourself hated: for you are Death as well as Satan, and this seems a little thing to you.— 19. S., You have then been silenced, Death, as a weakling: for neither in words nor in deeds, have you strength to stand.— 20. D., It is for your evil you conquer, O Evil One, if you discern, your crown is wholly of shame, if you perceive.— 21. I shall be defeated and you shall be cursed, O Satan: it is well for me to be ignorant, and not mischievous.— 22. Blessed be the Just One who divided them, though they were quite of one mind: Blessed be the Good One who made us of one mind, when we were divided.— 23. I will overcome the Evil One through Your forgiveness, O All-Merciful: and I shall overcome death through Your Resurrection, O All-Life-giver!
Hymn 55.
1. Lo! The Evil One reproached Death, and was in turn reproached: from each and to each and against each, were their taunts.— 2. R., To You be glory, Son of the Lord of All, Who died for all: for He was raised to give life to all, in the day of His Coming!— 3. S., Jonah who conquered you, and returned back from Sheol, became my advocate in asking, why sinners were spared?— 4. D., Slander not, O Evil One, the son of Amittai: he showed a face of anger, that they might praise you more.— 5. S., Quite powerless is all your persuasion, O tyrant Death: for there pleases me nothing, of all you have said.— 6. D., For when was the word of truth pleasing to you? A gulf is between you and truthfulness, O lying one.— 7. I am righteous all my days, with nought to repent: I am he that rescues from you the sons of men.— 8. S., Proclaim your repentance, Death, you are well come: lo! Saul also among the prophets, great cause of scorn.— 9. If you, Death, be justified, then for myself: I cut not off hope, likewise, of repentance.— 10. D., No idol with my Lord have I made, O hater of your Lord! lo! You by dead idols, slay the living.— 11. S., That you, Death, art half of me, I know, and I half of you: if half of me repents, it repents, but I marvel.— 12. D., Your partner am I in share, but not in sin: mine are the slain and yours the slayers, whom you made sin.— 13. S., My craftiness weeps for itself, when I dispute with you: my wiles mourn over me, when I meet you.— 14. D., Workers of witchcraft and soothsayers, with all their offenses: the fire that you kindled in the world, in Sheol I have quenched.— 15. S., You penitent who strainest out gnats, and swallowest the just: the chaste shall rend you, who cry, from within your belly.— 16. D., It is the treasure-house where I keep all the righteous: their resurrection threatens ill to you, who persecuted them.— 17. S., The greedy one who carries all creatures, in his bowels: lo! He casts up to me that I am robbed, of my possessions.— 18. D., Before the stroke lament not, for it has not yet reached you: the day will come when you shall cry out, and I shall hear and rejoice.— 19. The fire will come that shall strip off you your very skin: as by the potsherd you stripped the skin of Job.— 20. D., The savour of sloth begins, as if to hover on me; it is then a dream that I ceased, for a short space.— 21. It was not that words failed me, and therefore I was silent: it is for the time I grieve, that has passed idly.— 22. The hurt done by your speech is very great: would I had not heard it! For my whole mind is intent upon my work.— 23. This humankind that is lost, was undone by wandering thought: slothfulness, with negligence, brought it under yoke.— 24. The madness of desire bid for wealth, and bought it: contention with boastfulness, were the sureties.— 25. With persistence for strength, I wage my war: and if I neglect but a little, my sway is naught.— 26. By continual dropping, I clean the rocks: for continual dropping can dissolve even a mountain.— 27. Habit even over nature, becomes master: it trains and leads even lions, as beasts of burden.— 28. Habit, repose, and increase, with persistence; by these is freedom conquered, though stubborn above all.— 29. If its will be firmly set, it breaks the fetters; but if lax, a fragile net, can capture it.— 30. If so be that Freedom shouts, we are scattered: but if she be silent we gather together, to mock at her.— 31. Let us cease from much speaking, lest it lead to much sloth: with one mind let us assail the wall, and lo! It is broken down.— 32. S., Go and see to diseases, and I to snares: for to me sins and to you pestilences, are great solace.— 33. And even though I have paused, I have not paused from my cares: for my will at no time rests, but is ready.
Hymn 56.
1. With Freedom is your struggle, O Evil One: it can cast on you a muzzle, if it so please.— 2. R., To You be glory in whose victory we have gained strength: and in whose resurrection we defy even Death itself!— 3. Lo! Again these two exposed each other, how weak both are: Death reminded the Evil One of your mightiness (O Freedom).— 4. Your fire is in your nest, O Death, and you perceive not: the fate of the departed, to you is overthrow.— 5. Lo! Death and the Evil One proclaim your mightiness (O Freedom): yea, the Evil One calls to mind your faith.— 6. If then these that were against you are on your side: this is a great thing that your persecutors have become your heralds—7. D., I confess, O Evil One, that as usury: I lay up the King's treasures, till His Coming.— 8. S., I, O Death, rather deny that this belongs to God: this treasure of subtlety, which I have stored.— 9. D., Your coinage is fraudulent, then, O Satan: that into the treasuries of God, is not received.— 10. S., A new coinage do I coin, in kingly wise: lo! My merchantmen bring loss, into the world.— 11. God created everything out of nothing: and I created great sin out of nothing— 12. D., Closed and bound be your mouth, Evil One, who art thus bold: to set yourself, lo! In comparison with the Creator.— 13. S., To me, O Death, it is lawful to dare and speak: your tongue, even yours, is a slave, and under fear.— 14. D., A gulf is henceforth between us, O Satan: for madly against your Lord, lo! You assail.— 15. S., Wherefore do you doubt, O Death, of our concord? Be to us comrade and member: and lo! We reign.— 16. Come, draw we our pair of swords, against mankind: I secretly, you openly, and lo! We end them.— 17. Sin and Sheol they too gave counsel to those two: saying If you be divided, you are undone.— 18. See the waters how if dispersed, they run low: but if gathered they gain strength, and thus you likewise.— 19. If divided you perish, as the feeble: but yoked together you reign, as the mighty.— 20. Love melts down many, as in a furnace: and makes one powerful mass, that overcomes all.— 21. In it are wisdom and cunning, and force and power: it is greater far than an image of sixty cubits.— 22. Be reconciled, let us assemble and go, against that party: which if it be at one can never be defeated.— 23. These things the troublers discoursed, and gathered and came: Your day, Lord, will gather them, into Gehenna.— 24. Through Your mercy, Lord, will I worship You, when I have risen: at Your trumpet I will praise Your Son, when I am purged.
Hymn 57.
1. Listen, my brethren, to Death, mocking the Evil One: that caused the head of our race to sin, and its mother.— 2. R., To You be glory that by Your humiliation, Satan is subdued: and that Your abasement has exalted Adam, who was abased.— 3. D., Your great nakedness shall be seen, by the sons of Adam; as you mocked his nakedness, when you made him sin.— 4. Eve will cease from that serpent, and rail at you: for you, O Dragon, wast he that beguiled her simpleness.— 5. Abel will see him, even, Cain, who has come to you: the disciple of his wrath will blame his cursed master.— 6. S., Noah who conquered the flood, as it were death: by the mouth of Ham I laughed at, when wine overcame him.— 7. D., Noah was not harmed, but your garment, wherewith you clothed him: even cursings, he put on, and became a slave.— 8. S., Lot who overcame anger which is, your likeness, Death: to his daughters I gave such counsels, as were pleasing to me.— 9. D., And Lot's wife who was your vessel hearkened, to your counsel: may half of you be dried up, as your whole vessel was dried up!— 10. Gehenna be overturned, upon your head: as your malice overturned Sodom, its dwellers!— 11. Floods of fire be stirred against you, in the resurrection: who against Moses and Elijah, stirred the people!— 12. Let the just mock you at the last, and Joseph rejoice! Whose brethren mocked him, set on by you!— 13. Let vapour of smoke come in, and choke your senses: as the waters of the sea choked, the senses of the wicked! — 14. Let chaste women also mock you, by whose counsel: the daughters of Midian mocked, the foolish people!— 15. Flame be kindled on your head, for Samson's sake: for by a woman you shaved his locks, that lion of strength!— 16. S., Saul whom I conquered by envy, by witchcraft conquered you: for he asked for and brought up Samuel, out of his grave.— 17. D., Slander not the living dead, for he came not up: you were he that came up in the phantom for you were worthy.— 18. Let the commandment hang you over the flame, you Evil One! For by you they hanged Absalom, upon a tree.— 19. In the fire may you see yourself humbled, among vile women! For Solomon by you was degraded, among profane women.— 20. Justice be measured to you, as you inflamed her! even Jezebel who devoured the prophets, you kindled her.— 21. In fire may you justly burn, who made them drunken! The two whom Elijah burnt up, when they went up and assailed him.— 22. On you also be coals heaped! May he see and rejoice: that Naboth in whom you heaped a pile of stones!— 23. Be clad in scorn in the day of judgment, before all beholders! Who clothed Gehasi in a leprosy, by means of your theft.— 24. With lightning for a dart be pierced, O Satan! Who in the heart of Josiah, fixed your darts.— 25. Sink in the dregs of Gehenna, O Satan! Who sank Jeremiah in the mire of the pit.— 26. Daniel escaped from the pit, whither you cast him: may he have comfort in seeing you, in the furnace for ever!— 27. Be your wickedness returned on your head, Hater of man: as his wickedness was returned on the head, of Haman your fellow! — 28. May the King's Bride mock you, as did Esther: when you beseech her in the judgment-day, to plead for you!— 29. Fire released the righteous ones, whom you had bound: a mighty bond be to you, the flame of fire!— 30. Be torn in sunder, and may the seven brothers, see your defeat: the sons of Shemuni who by your wolves, were torn in sunder!— 31. May fire triumph over your pate, as you mocked: the two heads of Nazarites, sons of the barren!— 32. May fire make mock of your head, for mother and daughter: triumphed over John's head, when you maddened them!— 33. Flame triumphed over your head, O Evil One: for on the charges you triumphed, over John's head!
Hymn 58.
1. Lo! Death was prompt beforehand, to mock Satan: him who was doomed to become a mockery at the last.— 2. R., Glory to You Who by Your crucifixion, conquered the Evil One: and by Your resurrection gain victory, likewise over Death!— 3. And for our Lord's sake Death spoke curses on him: who was the cause of His shame, and crucifixion.— 4. D., The fiery pit be your grave, O Satan: who blasphemed the Voice from the grave, that rent the graves— 5. My Lord I know, and the Son of my Lord, O you Satan! You have denied your Lord, and crucified the Son of your Lord.— 6. This is the name that fits you, Slayer of your Lord: when He appears Whom you slew, He shall slay you.— 7. At you shall every one shake the head, for by you the chiefs: shook their heads at Him, the Lord of life.— 8. A bruised reed under the feet, of the just shall you be: for through you they put a reed in His hand, Who upholds all.— 9. With a crown of thorns was He crowned, to signify: that He took the diadem of the kingdom, of the house of David.— 10. With a crown of thorns was He crowned, the King of kings: but He took the diadem of the king, of those that shamed him.— 11. In the robes of mockery that they gave him, in those He mocked them: for He took the raiment of glory, of priests and kings.— 12. To vinegar is your memory akin, O you Satan: who offered vinegar for the thirst, of the Fount of Life.— 13. The hand shall every man lift against you who strengthened the hand that smote Him by Whose hand, all creatures stand.— 14. He was smitten by the hand and He cut off the hand, of Caiaphas: the hand of the priesthood is cut off, in the cutting off of the unction.— 15. On the pillar again they stretched Him, as for scourging: Him Whose pillar went before, to guide their tribes.— 16. The pillar on the pillar, He was scourged: He removed Himself from out of Zion, and its fall came.— 17. When they put two beams together, to form the Cross: He broke them, even the two staves, the guardians of them.— 18. Ezekiel put together the sticks, the two in one: in the two beams of the Cross, their staves have ceased.— 19. The two sticks, as it were wings, bore the people: lo! His two staves were broken, even as his wings.— 20. The bosom and wings of the Cross, He opened in mercy: its pinions bowed and bore the nations, to go to Eden.— 21. It is akin to the Tree of Life, and unto the son of its stock: it leads its beloved that on its boughs, they may feed on its fruits.— 22. Go howl and weep, Evil One, for me and for you: for not one of us shall enter the Garden of Life.— 23. S., Now that you have confessed O Death, come let me tell you: that all this discourse of yours, to me is idle talk.— 24. I will go and watch the snares, which I have set: you too, Death, fly and look after, all that are sick.— 25. Our Lord has brought both to nought, on either hand: the Evil One shall be brought to nought here, and Death hereafter there.
Hymn 59.
1. Lo! Death for us on Satan, inflicts vengeance: come let us hear his shame and rejoice, for he rejoiced in our shame.— 2. R., To You be glory from Your flock, from You: are subdued both Death and Satan, under Your Feet!— 3. D., Evil ones shall be hung upright, but you, head downward: for, reversely, you crucified Simon on the tree.— 4. S., Touching all else I am silent, Death, for my time wanes: Simon himself conjured me, Crucify me thus.— 5. Were it the just that cursed me, I had not grieved: the curse of Death unto me, is worse than hell.— 6. D., The shame of our Lord I have not spoken of, it is too great for my mouth: that I should weigh and compare His Passion, with Your torment.— 7. Twelve judgment thrones shall He set, for His Twelve: for by the twelve tribes you, even you, shall be condemned.— 8. A halter unbought shall you hang you, O you Satan: as that Your disciple hung him, a halter for a price.— 9. Haply yon hell in mercy, shall be emptied: and you shall dwell there alone, with Your ministers.— 10. Manifold are Your curses, and how shall I count them? Lo! The sum of all your curses, is on your members.— 11. The evil in the fire shall stab you, who made them evil: they shall upbraid you why did you bring us here?— 12. Sinners shall rail against you, and haply their threats: shall be worse to you than the torment, of yonder hell.— 13. These shall be unto you there, all of them Satans: as you have been to them here, the one Satan.— 14. The Watchers shall seize and hurl you down, calling to mind: how through you men hurled their Lord, from the height to the depth.— 15. All men will run to stone you, not forgetting that through you the maddened people ran, to stone their Maker.— 16. On you, Evil One, from all mouths shall be, the spitting of wrath: for through you they spat on Him Whose spittle, gave sight to the blind.— 17. On you, Evil One, from all tongues, shall be all curses: for through you men blasphemed Him, Who opened dumb mouths.— 18. Blessed is He Who avenged our wrong, though in silence: and stirred up Death against the Evil One, to fall upon him!— 19. Sound we Hosannas, my brethren, as did Gideon: Judges 7:18-22 who when he sounded, the oppressors, fell on one another!
Hymn 60.
1. O what amazement befell the Evil One, of a sudden, my brethren: when the sinful woman was corrected, and gained Wisdom!— 2. R., Glory to the One Who alone, conquered the Evil One; and to Him yea Him be also confession, Who vanquished Death!— 3. The Evil One marvelled Where is her laughter? Where her perfumes? Where her dancing and outward ornament, and inward wickedness?— 4. Instead of that light laughter, she is given up to tears: She has cut off her hair to wipe the dust, off the feet of Jesus.— 5. Naught lasts in her of any doctrine, nor abides in her: from our instruction she has escaped and cast away, all that I taught her.— 6. She has denied us and our acquaintance, and even as though: she had never seen me she has blotted my image, out of her mind.— 7. The living leaven of Jesus flew to her, Jesus was silent: but she made bold to press and enter, though none called her.— 8. She forgot our love of many years, and in the twinkling of an eye: from between me and her she removed it, and set Death there.— 9. For instead of laughter weeping delights her, and instead of paint: a shower of tears, and instead of ornament, a sad countenance.— 10. Zaccheus I made chief of extortioners, and her I made: chief of wantons; my two wings, Jesus has broken.— 11. If so be Zaccheus becomes his disciple, and if so be she: becomes his hearer, henceforth they fetter, my craftiness.— 12. Carved images henceforth are a mockery and the carvers: a derision, and the worshippers a laughing-stock.— 13. I shut men's eyes that they might not perceive, that they are carved images: Jesus opens their eyes to see that they are the works of men's hands.— 14. If Jesus has chosen for Himself preachers, then our preaching: whereof the whole world is full, is put to silence.— 15. For lo! The Chaldeans with the soothsayers, and lo! The wizards: with the diviners they are smitten and the priests, with all evil ones!— 16. You priests are ended and have given up the Ghost from henceforth, depart you diviners! Become husbandmen, the Chaldeans likewise, shall close their books.— 17. If the Hebrews have become His disciples, who by all miracles: were not subdued, who of the nations, shall not obey him?— 18. If he begins to set straight the reverse, He brings to naught our speech: henceforth He will not hesitate against us, He who rebukes all men.— 19. In that I was worshipped in all temples, our disgrace is greater: than our honour was, for all men spit, upon our altars.— 20. Flesh of sacrifice becomes abhorred, into fragments: idols are broken, and carven images burn, under their pots.— 21. All our work becomes a laughing-stock, and a ruin: all that we have built, and a mockery, all that we have taught.— 22. The secret mysteries that I taught them, laboriously: are about to be spread abroad, on the housetops.— 23. Of the Egyptians I was more proud, than of any nation: for they used to worship even, the onions and garlic.— 24. Lo! I fear lest even here, where delusion was so great: truth shall prevail that there exceedingly, Jesus may reign.— 25. And if when He was an infant, and fled and went down, Egypt marvelled: yea lulled him— this strangler of babes, loved their Babe.— 26. Was it a pledge He went down to give her, as a betrother: giving assurance that when of full age, He will also take her to wife?— 27. Pharaoh cannot set his foot firm, for this is no stammerer: that he should deceive Him, and no bondman, that he should lie unto Him.— 28. Moses smote and the Egyptians rebelled, and he chastised the people: and the Hebrews rebelled— Jesus is smitten, and gives life to all.— 29. This is hard to understand that not by force; lays He His yoke: on the rebellious: He was rebuked, and He instructs others.— 30. The spittle of His mouth, wiped off and took away, the shame of Adam: by the smiting of His cheeks, He rooted out our wrathfulness, from His disciples.— 31. By the nails which he received, He made me to suffer. I rejoiced when I crucified Him: and I knew not that He was crucifying me, in His crucifixion.
Hymn 61.
1. In wisdom let us hearken to Death, O my beloved: how he accuses us for our weeping, and for our mourning.— 2. R., To you be praise Who came down, to follow Adam: and foundest Adam and also in the children of Adam.— 3. And rightly perhaps he says, You slay: without mercy and lo! You weep, as though merciful.— 4. You have made me as a cruel one, O you murderers: for you slay one another, without my help!— 5. While Death was but desiring to come, the sword came before him: let us see then against whom cries out, the blood of the slain.— 6. Against you cry out the strangled, who were suffocated: for it shames me of the rope, of their strangulations.— 7. They take away from me even my rest, for without me: how could the strangled and the slain, enter Sheol?— 8. Lo! Your infants are cast out, as those in Egypt: your sons have you sacrificed to demons, O demoniacs!— 9. While Death was but desiring to taste, of your corpses: Cain refreshed me beforehand, with blood of man.— 10. While I was but desiring to wait patiently, till Adam should die: before I had power you gave me power, over your bodies.— 11. Cain with his sword overthrew, the gate of Sheol: for it was closed and before the time, he first opened it.— 12. He by treading made the way of Sheol, without my help: for in the way you have trodden out for me, lo! I walk therein.— 13. Nine hundred years I sat and waited, for Adam to die: but Cain not even a day, endured his brother.— 14. Robbers upon the highways, are worse than I: I am slumbering while they, are watching to slay.— 15. Lo! Your slaughtered in the graves, and your murdered in your ways; and your strangled upon your stakes!— 16. If I rebelled against my lord, yea and slew him: who was he that slew these here, said Jehu.— 17. And if I Death have taken, your departed: the strangled, the slain, and the slaughtered, who was it slew them?— 18. You are Satan to each other, and the Evil One is abhorred: you are pestilence to each other, and Death is blamed!— 19. Your own will to you is Satan, yea and a murderer: but of Death and of Satan, all men complain.— 20. Poison of Death you give also to drink, each to other: lo! How many Deaths have you, beside me.— 21. Wiles, stratagems, yea and snares, sword and poison: how many Deaths from you and in you, lo! Are there born.— 22. The judge in the judgment-hall, is a second Death: he slays for secret reward, but I for naught.— 23. I have seen bribery and marvelled at it, that ran and outran me: how many slain does bribery, slay, and none perceives!— 24. I am ashamed that so unskilfully, I conduct myself: if I take even one corpse, all men perceive it.— 25. In the houses weeping and in the streets, also wailing: and even unto the gates of Sheol, they groan over me.— 26. Groan over yourselves that you are thus hateful, and you hate me: Sheol henceforth shall groan over you, O murderers!— 27. With torture, scourging and fire, yea with stoning: you put to death the sons of men, and you are proud!— 28. I am more modest than you and merciful, also reverent: for with reverence I bear away, your departed.— 29. On the bed I deal gently, with him that is sick: and quietly I lay him to sleep, for but a while.
Hymn 62.
1. Lo! Death, the King of silence, complains, my brethren: that we have filled his abode with the wailing, of Hope cut off.— 2. R., To Him be great praise Who came down to us here below: and suffered and rose again and in His Body, raises our bodies!— 3. While we weep like madmen, at the gates of Sheol: hearken what Death says, reproaching us.— 4. It shames me, says Death, that you, have overcome me: the half of Sheol suffices not, to contain your slain.— 5. For alien corpses together, lie heaped in Sheol: there are two divisions there, the dead, the slain.— 6. Whereas I should complain that you have wronged me, lo! You are weeping: you have burst the gate of Sheol, and done me hurt.— 7. For you are like an infant, which while yet weeping: laughs again as you also, over your dead.— 8. For there is no discretion in your mourning, and no understanding: in your laughter— for to me you seem like, to a weaned babe.— 9. One hour weeping and wailing, and after a little: both jesting and wantonness, as of children.— 10. For you are unable to become, perfect men: that weep not yea and laugh not, as the discreet.— 11. Touching your books we are grieved, that they have toiled over them: who should read them unto you, even the divine Scriptures.— 12. The readers are crying aloud, for you are deaf: this their crying proves concerning you, that you are as stocks.— 13. For since the reader and the interpreter, are crying aloud: your ears therefore are heavy, or else your hearts.— 14. For if there were with you an ear, open to persuasion: it were meet to hear little, and to do much.— 15. But because its hearing is closed, whoso knocks at it: the voice returns back to him, who sent it forth.— 16. There is no crying with me of mine, I am not deaf: none that reads or interprets for me, I am not dull.— 17. The breath that is from Him commands me, sons the God of truth: and with the command there follows, also the fulfilment.— 18. With me is no holding back, no turnings aside: I know no arrow even, could outstrip me.— 19. But your voices are scorned by me, when you are weeping: over the graves of your departed, in the cutting off of hope.— 20. Were it possible or permitted, when you are weeping: I would go forth and tell you, to your faces.— 21. I am endeavouring to give, an account of the death: and your voices disturb me, that I err in my count.— 22. You nations, let not your understanding, become childish: like that nation whose intelligence, was never great.— 23. In which prudence bestows not itself, as in a fool: for its thoughts are darkness, without discernment.— 24. For your infants and your sons, in the resurrection: they shall be foremost to come forth, as the first fruits— 25. Then after them shall come the just, as victorious: last shall come forth the sinner, as put to shame.— 26. For although in the twinkling of an eye, they be quickened: yet is it in order that their ranks, come forth from Sheol.— 27. Prophets come forth and Apostles, and holy Fathers: following them in due array, according to command.— 28. Lo! That which now is sown, in random mixture: is yielded back in great order, as garden-herbs.— 29. For though one in the sowing, should mix all seeds: that which is earlier than its fellow, prevents its fellow—30. And not as their going down was confused, so disordered shall be: their coming up from the earth, for its order is fixed.— 31. Lo! I have been against myself, in what I have said: for secret things which you comprehended not, from me you have learned.— 32. Instead of the tears that profit not, which are at the tomb: pour them forth in your prayer, in the midst of the Church.— 33. For to the dead there is profit in these, and likewise to the living: weep not with a weeping that afflicts, both dead and living!
Hymn 63.
1. Who shall weigh the recompense of Abraham? Whom I marvelled at when he bound, his only son.— 2. R., To you be glory, Voice that bringest to life the dead in Sheol: and they have come up as preachers, of His Son Who quickens all!— 3. At that time I came forth in haste, to see the marvel: how that his knife was drawn out, against his beloved.— 4. I gathered my manifold memories, from all quarters: and I collected my spirit to marvel, at that illustrious one.— 5. How therefore can you read, that great story? You have despised the reading of it, in your very ears.— 6. The sword of Jephthah rebukes, him that laments: his daughter was to him a mirror of life from the dead.— 7. She gave herself for her father, so commend ye: your life to the Father of all, in the hope of your end.— 8. In the womb then did you not make trial, of a mystery of Sheol? Yet in Sheol you had more rest, than in the womb.— 9. It is stubborn in you to stand up against, my mighty will: for lo! To succour them I take away, your departed.— 10. By the king of Moab who slew, his son with his hands: he is put to shame who laments, for the departed one.— 11. He was a profane man, lo! According, to what you read: but you are doctors and teachers, as you suppose.— 12. He endured, but you are furious, in your mourning: against the will of the Lord of all, while you are weeping.— 13. I fear however to let pass, the story of Job: through this feeble mouth of mine, for I am unworthy.— 14. So in like manner I turn aside, from mention of their bones: though I praise Him who granted, that they should come to me.— 15. Dishonour not your members, by your sins: for in Sheol the bones are despised, of evildoers.— 16. Whenever I see the body of one of the evil: I trample on it and curse, even his memory.— 17. But wherever I see a bone, of one of the just; I set it apart and honour it, and do it worship.— 18. You feeble ones understand not, all my ordinances: with you orders are confused, for you are blind.— 19. It is Moses alone that I know, to have honoured like me: the bones of that Joseph whom I magnify.— 20. But Moses did such honour, to one pure body: but I to the body and the bones, of all the righteous.— 21. Brightly shine the bones of Prophets, and of Apostles: a lamp to me in darkness, are all the righteous.— 22. I worship Him Who lightens for me, the darkness of Sheol: the splendour of Moses who was so great, was as the sun to me.
Hymn 64.
1. O feeble ones, why do you weep over your dead: who in death are at rest from sorrows and sins?— 2. R., Glory to Him Who endured all, for the sake of all men: yea tasted death for the sake of all, to bring all to life— 3. I reveal unto you, that even Satan, though much content: at your weeping, yet laughs much, at your mourning.— 4. In mockery he winks at me and nods to me, as a jester: Come let us laugh at sinners, for lo! They are mad.— 5. Truly they have given up remembrance of that fire, which I have hidden for them: and lo! The fools are drunken with weeping, for their departed.— 6. Instead of weeping as though, without provision: I had plundered and sent forth their dead, lo! They are mad.— 7. The souls of the evil are to be afflicted, till the judgment day: and these weep over the graves, like to madmen.— 8. They care not for their own sins, that haply tomorrow: they must go in shame of face, to join their dead.— 9. And thus shall all be put to shame alike, family by family: in Sheol the wretches shall repent without avail.— 10. Leave the drunken and the madman, until that day: wherein each shall shake off his wine wherewith he was maddened.— 11. I will go to gather them, like children: that they may play the wanton and the madman, until they perish.— 12. Lo! I have revealed to you the mystery, the secret of my comrade: go forth therefore, depart, amend, in repentance.— 13. Leave me, I too will depart, I will see to my affairs: that with open face I may give my account to my Lord.— 14. I know that the wind as it blew, has borne away my words: for you are the same whom I, ofttimes have proved.— 15. I remember Jeremiah how he, compared boldness: to the Indian who changes not his skin, though it is of freedom.— 16. For this too belongs to it, even to freedom: that it binds itself by the will, as though by nature.— 17. For so powerful is the will, in them that are free: that it may be likened to nature, through its workings.
Hymn 65.
1. Man, O Death, despise it not, that image of Adam: which like a seed is committed to earth, till the Resurrection.— 2. R., To you be glory Who descended and plunge, after Adam: and draw him out from the depths of Sheol, and bring him into Eden!— 3. Death, I marvel at this seed, and at your words: for lo! After five thousand years, it springs not yet.— 4. M., Its present state passes away, as winter does: and as a handful of grain it comes in the resurrection, to the garner of life.— 5. D., That there is vintage-time, lo! I know, but I have not seen: the dead at any time sown, or yet reaped.— 6. M., There is coming a reaping, O Death, that will leave you bare: and the Watchers shall go forth as reapers, and make you desolate.— 7. D., When did I become husbandman, instead of vine-dresser? Who has turned Sheol the wine-press, into a tilled field?— 8. M., Does not the seed then teach you, which decays and dies: and is cut off from hope, yet from the rain, recovers hope?— 9. D., A dream have you seen you feeble ones, of life from the dead: for in waking time the resurrection, you do not see.— 10. M., Your drowsiness hinders you, that you see not: the multitudes of mysteries which cry aloud, of the resurrection.— 11. D., I know that seeds come to life, but I have not seen: bones that grew in Sheol, and sprang and came up.— 12. M., All your discourse is like yourself, for lo! Ezekiel: has taught you how in the valley, the dead come to life.— 13. D., Trees have I seen how in summer, they put on their garments: but bones in their nakedness, are cast into Sheol.— 14. M., Moses broke by his splendour, your heart, O Death: the son of Adam has regained and put on, the glory of Adam.— 15. D., Our law in Sheol is this, to keep silence: for you are words and for me deeds, O feeble ones.— 16. M., How are the aged passed over if you be vinedresser? He Who hindered you from taking their lives, the same quickens all.— 17. The babe in the womb confutes you, which is as buried there: to me it proclaims life from the dead, but to you despoiling.— 18. The despised flower despises you, for it is shut up and passed over: yet though lost it is not lost, but blossoms again.— 19. The chick cries out from the egg, wherein it is buried: and the graves are rent by a Voice, and the body arises.— 20. For a body too is the chick, that is in the egg: lo! Its body to our body proclaims, the life from the dead.— 21. With the locust your plea is overthrown, and ended, O Death: for in coming forth from the dust it teaches, the life from the dead.— 22. D., I had been content if already, the resurrection had been: for the day of resurrection had disturbed me less, than your judgments.— 23. Merciful is the Son of the Highest, yea good and just: and will not harshly avenge on me, the death of Adam.— 24. Have you then no understanding, to perceive this: that your father laid on you, this retribution?
Hymn 66.
1. Hold your peace, O mortals (said Death), a little while: and be like me who am so silent, in the midst of Sheol.— 2. R., To You be glory, Watcher, that came down, after them that slept: and utter the voice from the Tree, and waken them!— 3. You are grieving, yea, weeping, for him that has gone: as though he came to grind for me, the mill in Sheol.— 4. Great is the peace I give, unto the wearied: I wax not weary as you, nor weary them.— 5. I hear all manner of curses, from thankless men: the sons of Adam are like Adam, who was thankless to his Lord.— 6. Contrary one to the other are your voices, and your doings: with your voices you weep and in your doings, you fight daily.— 7. I heard weeping and I thought to myself, that none labours: I saw toiling and I thought to myself, that no man dies.— 8. The struggles of man made me think, that he is not mortal: his great weeping made me think, that tomorrow he is not.— 9. Hear and let me be your counsellor, if you be willing: for these two, these burdens, are very bitter.— 10. Cease a little while from this toil, and from this weeping: toil and weep as mortals, who tomorrow vanish.— 11. You are frantic with weeping, for your departed: and you struggle in toiling, for your possessions.— 12. It is well with the infants that die, and blessed are they: for they are freed from the misery, whereunto you are cast.— 13. Allow me to go to Sheol, and there to say: Happy are you silent dead, how tranquil are you!— 14. Hear the conclusion of our own words, If there be a resurrection: weep not, neither labour as though strangers.— 15. You straggle as one who was to live, here forever: and you weep as one who never, should rise again.— 16. Hear my words, if there be with you place for hearing: and prepare you provision that when I call you may answer.— 17. For I hearken even I, to Him that calls me: and will restore your bodies, with your treasures.— 18. Let there be peace between us, until that day: and when you come forth I will cry and say, Depart in peace!— 19. Come, you and I even now, shall give glory: to Him that brings to death and to life, that He may give aid.— 20. Praise from us all be to you, O Lord, the living Sacrifice! Who by the sacrifice of Your Body hast given life to quick and dead.— 21. Praise to Him Who clothed Himself in our body, and died and rose again: He died in us and we live in Him, blessed be He Who sent Him!
Hymn 67.
1. Come, let us hear how Death convicts the People: that harsher than Death was their sword, against the just.— 2. R., To You be glory, Who by Your sacrifice, hast redeemed our disgrace: and Whose death was instead of all deaths, that You might raise all!— 3. It was not Death indeed that crucified Jesus, but it was the People: how hateful then the People, that are yet more hateful than I!— 4. Into the pit they cast Jeremiah, the miry pit: but I in Sheol allotted, honour to his bones.— 5. Naboth they bruised to death with stones, as though he were a dog: how good am I who have never stoned, even a dog!— 6. The Hebrew women in famine, ate their children: Sheol is good who delivers and gives them up, without difficulty.— 7. To the widow I gave her son, by the hand of Elijah: to the Shunamite her beloved, by the hand of Elisha.— 8. The Hebrew women in greed, ate their children: Sheol gave up the dead and learned, to fast soberly.— 9. Sheol was not indeed Sheol, but its semblance: Jezebel was the true Sheol, who devoured the just.— 10. The sons of the prophets and the prophets, she slew and cast down: to heaven Elijah escaped, from her fury.— 11. How many deaths instead of one Death, were among the People! And how many Sheols instead of one, were there also!— 12. Samaria and Jezrael her daughters, in Israel: and Zion and Jerusalem her sister, in Judea.— 13. Prophets and just men in Judea, and in Israel: in these two abysses, they were drowned.— 14. Why then is Sheol hated, and she alone: though there be many that are hateful, rather than she?— 15. The dead of the men of Judah, to me are right hateful: yea, abhorred by me are their bones, in the midst of Sheol.— 16. Would that then I had a way to cast them out: to cast their bones thence from Sheol, for they cause her to rot.— 17. I wonder at the Holy Spirit, that He thus dwelt: in the midst of a People whose savour stank, as their conversation.— 18. Onions and garlic are the heralds of their doings: as is the food so is the understanding, of this defiled people.— 19. Through the supplication of all that bow, and worship Your Father: have mercy on Your worshipper, who is thankless for Your love.— 20. From Hebrews and Aramæans, and also from the Watchers: to You be praise and through You to Your Father, be also glory!— 21. For that I have a mouth to Death, who is without mouth: may the Son Who is all mouths, hold back my offense from His Father!
Hymn 68.
1. Man., O, Death, be not boastful, over the just: the sons of your Lord who at His command, come to dwell with you.— 2. R., To you be glory that by Your command, Death has reigned: and by Your Resurrection has been humbled to low estate!— 3. Death., Herein am I exceeding great, according to your saying: that though I be bond-man I trample on them that are free.— 4. M., Adam was chosen and ruler, and under his yoke: you, Death, and the Evil One, your fellow, became bondmen.— 5. D., This is our pride that lo! The slaves have become lords: Death, and Satan, his fellow, have trampled on Adam.— 6. M., Lo! The humbling of you and your fellow, accurst servants! How Enoch trampled on you both, and rose aloft and reigned.— 7. D., If so be Enoch made me grieve, yet have I comfort for on Noah's dust in Sheol, lo! I trample.— 8. M., Tremble, O Death, before man, for though a servant, the yoke of his dominion reigns on all creatures.— 9. D., I rejoice then that they are no mean foes that I have overcome: for according to the greatness of the vanquished, he is great that overcomes.— 10. M., Well does your voice sing triumph, O Death, over the just: for Enoch and Elijah have broken your pair of wings.— 11. D., I know how to weigh my sorrows with my comforts: in place of two, lo! Many have come and coming.— 12. M., All that have come and coming to you dwell as sojourners, and depart from your abode as Lazarus.— 13. D., This your saying hurts me not, rather it heals me: for Lazarus who rebelled against me, I again subdued.— 14. M., Make answer, O Death, and argue what constrained him, to be raised unless it were a mystery, showing forth his resurrection.— 15. D., You are famous in arguing as idle ones, while I labour in my task to discern and perform— 16. M., You were well prepared for argument, what has checked you? The truth of our resurrection has constrained you by its reputations.— 17. D., You have made me hated by you, though I be not hateful: I am he that gives rest to your aged, and your afflicted.— 18. You have made me as one that troubles, O you mortals: Adam brought death upon you, and I bear the blame.— 19. Gently will I expose you, for I am a slave, and you are they that by your sins have made me king.— 20. The will of Adam roused me for I was at rest: I was dead and you quickened me, that you might die by me.— 21. I accuse the lying ones, who slew and denied it: for Adam slew himself and charges me.— 22. The beginning of strife was the accursed serpent which has rightly been crippled: which crept, entered, and set enmity between me and you.— 23. Satan is passed by and it is against me that you are roused: go, strive with the Evil One who made you transgress.— 24. He is my comrade and I deny it not, but though he be much hated, what need that I be blamed for him. I deny him henceforth.— 25. Hearken to my words, O mortals, and I will console you: I have afflicted you and I confess the life from the dead.— 26. For there begins to steal into my ears a voice of preparation: of the trumpet that holds itself ready to sound.— 27. Hear my words and put much oil into your lamps: for hindrance from my part there is none for you.— 28. Yet, Know that even although I have said these things, dear is the sound of your voice in the solitude of Sheol.— 29. For man has been weighed by me, and great is his peace: for snakes and fishes and birds come to meet him.— 30. But it is a marvel that to the Watchers, too, his converse is dear: yea, the Evil One in Gehenna, desires his presence.— 31. You shall have life from the dead, O you mortals, and I who am bereft shall be bereft in the midst of Sheol.— 32. Let praise ascend from all to You Who quickenest all, and from every quarter gatherest the dust of Adam!
Hymn 52.
Concerning Satan and Death.
1. I heard Death and Satan, as they disputed, which was the more powerful, among men. R., To You be glory, Son of the Shepherd of All, Who delivered His flock from the secret wolves that devoured it, the Evil One and Death!— 2. Death showed his power, that he conquers all; Satan showed his guile, that he makes all to sin.— 3. Death, To you, O Evil One, none hearkens save he that wills: to me he that wills and he that wills not, even to me they come.— 4. Satan, Yours, O Death, is but the force of tyranny: mine are snares and nets of subtlety.— 5. D., Hear, O Evil One, that who so is subtle breaks off your yoke: but none is there that is able to escape my yoke.— 6. S., You, Death, on him that is sick provest your might: but I over them that are whole, am exceeding powerful.— 7. D., The Evil One prevails not over all those that revile him: but for me he that has cursed me and he that curses me, come into my hands.— 8. S., You, Death, from God, hast gotten your might: I alone by none am I helped, when I lead men to sin.— 9. D., You, O Evil-One, like a weakling: while like a king I exercise my dominion.— 10. S., You are a fool, O Death, not to know how great am I: who suffice to capture free will, the sovereign power.— 11. D., You, O Evil One, like a thief, lo! You go round: I like a lion break in pieces and fear not.— 12. S., To you, O Death, none does service or worship: to me kings do service of sacrifice as to God.— 13. D., On Death there are many that call, as on a kind Power: on you, O Evil One, none has called or calls.— 14. S., Do you not mark this, O Death, how many there are: who in sundry fashions call on me and make oblation?— 15. D. Hated is your name, O Satan, nor can you clear it: your name every one curses, hide your reproach.— 16. S., Your ear, O Death, has waxed dull, that you hear not: how against you all men groan, conceal yourself.— 17. D., My face is shown to the world, for I am guileless: not like you who without guile canst not abide.— 18. S., You have not in anything surpassed me for it is true: that you are hateful as I to the sons of men.— 19. D., Of me all men are afraid as of a lord: but as for you they hate you as the Evil One.— 20. S., For you, O Death, they hate your name, and also your work: my name they hate but my delights they greatly love.— 21. D., To bitterness of teeth is turned, this your sweetness: penitence of soul cleaves ever unto your lusts.— 22. S., Sheol is hated because in her is no repentance: a pit that swallows and closes on all movements.— 23. D., Sheol is a gulf wherein whoso falls shall rise again: sin is hated because it cuts off the hope of man.— 24. S., Though I mislike penitents, I give place for repentance: you cut off hope from the sinner who dies in his sin.— 25. D., It was of you that at first his hope was cut off: for he whom you have not caused to sin dies happily.— 26. Blessed is He who raised against each other those cursed servants: that we might see them as they have seen us and mocked at us.— 27. This that we have seen of them is a pledge, my brethren: of what we shall see of them hereafter when we rise again.
Hymn 53.
1. Come, let us hear how they contend for victory: the guilty ones who never have conquered, nor will conquer.— 2. Death said unto the Evil One, In the end the victory is mine: for Death is master of the close, as a conqueror.— 3. Satan, This were to be Death indeed, were you able: to bring to death a living man, by means of lusts.— 4. D., Lo! I who behold the dead, both good and bad: the righteous who despise you, O Evil One, me they despise not.— 5. S., This dying of the body, is sleep for a time: think not, O Death, that you are Death, who art as a shadow.— 6. D., You, O Evil One, the just have conquered, yea will conquer: but these that have conquered you, lo! I conquer.— 7. S., Even this that you bring to death the just, is not of yourself: because of Adam whom I conquered, they drink this cup.— 8. D., Lo! Sheol is full of the men of Sodom, and the Assyrians: and the giants who were in the flood, who is like me?— 9. S., These, O Death, all of them, by me were slain: I am he that caused them to sin so that they perished.— 10. D., Joseph who conquered you I conquered, O Satan: in the chamber he conquered you but I conquered, and cast him into the tomb.— 11. S., Moses who conquered you, O Death, by sprinkling of blood: he conquered you in Egypt, but at the rock, who conquered him?— 12. D., Elijah who feared you not, O Satan: fled before Jezebel's face, because he feared me.— 13. S., Aaron who withstood you, O Death, with smoke of incense: to him I gave earrings of gold: and he fashioned a calf.— 14. D., You went down to contend with Job, and he conquered you and came up: but I, after he had conquered you, then conquered him.— 15. S., David who by his sackcloth stayed that pestilence: him on the house-top I conquered, who had conquered Goliath.— 16. D., Jehu who destroyed the house of Baal, the temple of the Evil One: was unable to destroy Sheol, the stronghold of my realm.— 17. S., Solomon who snatched from your mouth, a child by his judgment: him in his old age I made a builder of idol-altars.— 18. D., Samuel who in respect of gold scorned you, O Satan: him I conquered, the conqueror, who conquered bribes.— 19. S., Samson who in respect of the lion's cub, scorned you, O Death: through Delilah, frail vessel, I yoked him to the mill.— 20. D., Josiah from his childhood despised you, Evil One: but me not even in his old age, could he withstand.— 21. S., Hezekiah withstood you, Death, when he overcame the bound of life: I misled him and he neglected the miracle, and showed his treasures.— 22. D., John who conquered you, Evil One, and absolved and baptized: I extinguished that torch, which had disclosed you.— 23. S., Simon overcame you, when he brought to life that blessed woman: in a woman he overcame you and by a woman I overcame him and made him deny.— 24. S., Apostles and prophets with one voice, curse you, O Death: Where is the victory of Death, and the sting of Sheol?— 25. Your Lord in Sheol you have shut up, O cursed servant: God hates you and also man, hold then your peace.— 26. S., It was the will of Him who gives life to all, that shut him in Sheol: it was you that called Him to this, when you made Adam sin.— 27. O comrade of Nabal who in the wilderness reproached his lord: abhorred be your mouth which said to Him, Fall down and worship me!
Hymn 54.
1. Hear, O Freedom, the dispute of two servants: how they are convicted by each other, that they are powerless.— 2. R., To You be glory by Whose humiliation Adam was exalted: and by Whose death he was raised, and regained Eden!— 3. If then the Evil One overcome you, great is the shame: Death his comrade has convicted him, as being weak.— 4. And if again Death subdue you, lo! What reproach: for the Evil One his comrade derides him, as but a shadow.— 5. Their dispute is for you a mirror, wherein you may see: that they both are but as chaff, before your breath.— 6. Yea and Prophets and Apostles, in their promises: assure you that they like flowers, shall fade at the rising.— 7. S., You, Death, art he whom they hate, the quick and dead: for every combination you dissolve, and destroy.— 8. D., It is not open death that kills, O Satan: your death which is secret kills the sons of men.— 9. S., My name is not hateful as yours, for the angel: showed himself in Satan's likeness to Balaam on the way.— 10. D., How fit is this your name, O Satan: who has erred and made unwary Adam err, from the way!— 11. S., Wander not like one ignorant, and lose your cause: dispute, O Death, if you are competent, for replying.— 12. D., I know that you are wily, O Satan: so that you out of sand can twist a snare.— 13. S., Your disputing, Death, is ended: for he who is worsted: when his words fail and are ended, begins to rail.— 14. D., Among all I am conqueror, and by you am I worsted? Let Adam persuade you whom I have overcome, O Satan!— 15. S., I am he who bound Adam, and cast him before you: the mighty man whom my wiles had bound, you came and subdue.— 16. D., I am he who have been crowned anew, with a diadem in the world: for Adam, chief of the mighty, I hold captive in Sheol.— 17. S., I killed him by secret death, even Adam when he sinned: you, Death, hast slain one that was dead, killed by me.— 18. D., In your desire to conquer, Evil One, you have made yourself hated: for you are Death as well as Satan, and this seems a little thing to you.— 19. S., You have then been silenced, Death, as a weakling: for neither in words nor in deeds, have you strength to stand.— 20. D., It is for your evil you conquer, O Evil One, if you discern, your crown is wholly of shame, if you perceive.— 21. I shall be defeated and you shall be cursed, O Satan: it is well for me to be ignorant, and not mischievous.— 22. Blessed be the Just One who divided them, though they were quite of one mind: Blessed be the Good One who made us of one mind, when we were divided.— 23. I will overcome the Evil One through Your forgiveness, O All-Merciful: and I shall overcome death through Your Resurrection, O All-Life-giver!
Hymn 55.
1. Lo! The Evil One reproached Death, and was in turn reproached: from each and to each and against each, were their taunts.— 2. R., To You be glory, Son of the Lord of All, Who died for all: for He was raised to give life to all, in the day of His Coming!— 3. S., Jonah who conquered you, and returned back from Sheol, became my advocate in asking, why sinners were spared?— 4. D., Slander not, O Evil One, the son of Amittai: he showed a face of anger, that they might praise you more.— 5. S., Quite powerless is all your persuasion, O tyrant Death: for there pleases me nothing, of all you have said.— 6. D., For when was the word of truth pleasing to you? A gulf is between you and truthfulness, O lying one.— 7. I am righteous all my days, with nought to repent: I am he that rescues from you the sons of men.— 8. S., Proclaim your repentance, Death, you are well come: lo! Saul also among the prophets, great cause of scorn.— 9. If you, Death, be justified, then for myself: I cut not off hope, likewise, of repentance.— 10. D., No idol with my Lord have I made, O hater of your Lord! lo! You by dead idols, slay the living.— 11. S., That you, Death, art half of me, I know, and I half of you: if half of me repents, it repents, but I marvel.— 12. D., Your partner am I in share, but not in sin: mine are the slain and yours the slayers, whom you made sin.— 13. S., My craftiness weeps for itself, when I dispute with you: my wiles mourn over me, when I meet you.— 14. D., Workers of witchcraft and soothsayers, with all their offenses: the fire that you kindled in the world, in Sheol I have quenched.— 15. S., You penitent who strainest out gnats, and swallowest the just: the chaste shall rend you, who cry, from within your belly.— 16. D., It is the treasure-house where I keep all the righteous: their resurrection threatens ill to you, who persecuted them.— 17. S., The greedy one who carries all creatures, in his bowels: lo! He casts up to me that I am robbed, of my possessions.— 18. D., Before the stroke lament not, for it has not yet reached you: the day will come when you shall cry out, and I shall hear and rejoice.— 19. The fire will come that shall strip off you your very skin: as by the potsherd you stripped the skin of Job.— 20. D., The savour of sloth begins, as if to hover on me; it is then a dream that I ceased, for a short space.— 21. It was not that words failed me, and therefore I was silent: it is for the time I grieve, that has passed idly.— 22. The hurt done by your speech is very great: would I had not heard it! For my whole mind is intent upon my work.— 23. This humankind that is lost, was undone by wandering thought: slothfulness, with negligence, brought it under yoke.— 24. The madness of desire bid for wealth, and bought it: contention with boastfulness, were the sureties.— 25. With persistence for strength, I wage my war: and if I neglect but a little, my sway is naught.— 26. By continual dropping, I clean the rocks: for continual dropping can dissolve even a mountain.— 27. Habit even over nature, becomes master: it trains and leads even lions, as beasts of burden.— 28. Habit, repose, and increase, with persistence; by these is freedom conquered, though stubborn above all.— 29. If its will be firmly set, it breaks the fetters; but if lax, a fragile net, can capture it.— 30. If so be that Freedom shouts, we are scattered: but if she be silent we gather together, to mock at her.— 31. Let us cease from much speaking, lest it lead to much sloth: with one mind let us assail the wall, and lo! It is broken down.— 32. S., Go and see to diseases, and I to snares: for to me sins and to you pestilences, are great solace.— 33. And even though I have paused, I have not paused from my cares: for my will at no time rests, but is ready.
Hymn 56.
1. With Freedom is your struggle, O Evil One: it can cast on you a muzzle, if it so please.— 2. R., To You be glory in whose victory we have gained strength: and in whose resurrection we defy even Death itself!— 3. Lo! Again these two exposed each other, how weak both are: Death reminded the Evil One of your mightiness (O Freedom).— 4. Your fire is in your nest, O Death, and you perceive not: the fate of the departed, to you is overthrow.— 5. Lo! Death and the Evil One proclaim your mightiness (O Freedom): yea, the Evil One calls to mind your faith.— 6. If then these that were against you are on your side: this is a great thing that your persecutors have become your heralds—7. D., I confess, O Evil One, that as usury: I lay up the King's treasures, till His Coming.— 8. S., I, O Death, rather deny that this belongs to God: this treasure of subtlety, which I have stored.— 9. D., Your coinage is fraudulent, then, O Satan: that into the treasuries of God, is not received.— 10. S., A new coinage do I coin, in kingly wise: lo! My merchantmen bring loss, into the world.— 11. God created everything out of nothing: and I created great sin out of nothing— 12. D., Closed and bound be your mouth, Evil One, who art thus bold: to set yourself, lo! In comparison with the Creator.— 13. S., To me, O Death, it is lawful to dare and speak: your tongue, even yours, is a slave, and under fear.— 14. D., A gulf is henceforth between us, O Satan: for madly against your Lord, lo! You assail.— 15. S., Wherefore do you doubt, O Death, of our concord? Be to us comrade and member: and lo! We reign.— 16. Come, draw we our pair of swords, against mankind: I secretly, you openly, and lo! We end them.— 17. Sin and Sheol they too gave counsel to those two: saying If you be divided, you are undone.— 18. See the waters how if dispersed, they run low: but if gathered they gain strength, and thus you likewise.— 19. If divided you perish, as the feeble: but yoked together you reign, as the mighty.— 20. Love melts down many, as in a furnace: and makes one powerful mass, that overcomes all.— 21. In it are wisdom and cunning, and force and power: it is greater far than an image of sixty cubits.— 22. Be reconciled, let us assemble and go, against that party: which if it be at one can never be defeated.— 23. These things the troublers discoursed, and gathered and came: Your day, Lord, will gather them, into Gehenna.— 24. Through Your mercy, Lord, will I worship You, when I have risen: at Your trumpet I will praise Your Son, when I am purged.
Hymn 57.
1. Listen, my brethren, to Death, mocking the Evil One: that caused the head of our race to sin, and its mother.— 2. R., To You be glory that by Your humiliation, Satan is subdued: and that Your abasement has exalted Adam, who was abased.— 3. D., Your great nakedness shall be seen, by the sons of Adam; as you mocked his nakedness, when you made him sin.— 4. Eve will cease from that serpent, and rail at you: for you, O Dragon, wast he that beguiled her simpleness.— 5. Abel will see him, even, Cain, who has come to you: the disciple of his wrath will blame his cursed master.— 6. S., Noah who conquered the flood, as it were death: by the mouth of Ham I laughed at, when wine overcame him.— 7. D., Noah was not harmed, but your garment, wherewith you clothed him: even cursings, he put on, and became a slave.— 8. S., Lot who overcame anger which is, your likeness, Death: to his daughters I gave such counsels, as were pleasing to me.— 9. D., And Lot's wife who was your vessel hearkened, to your counsel: may half of you be dried up, as your whole vessel was dried up!— 10. Gehenna be overturned, upon your head: as your malice overturned Sodom, its dwellers!— 11. Floods of fire be stirred against you, in the resurrection: who against Moses and Elijah, stirred the people!— 12. Let the just mock you at the last, and Joseph rejoice! Whose brethren mocked him, set on by you!— 13. Let vapour of smoke come in, and choke your senses: as the waters of the sea choked, the senses of the wicked! — 14. Let chaste women also mock you, by whose counsel: the daughters of Midian mocked, the foolish people!— 15. Flame be kindled on your head, for Samson's sake: for by a woman you shaved his locks, that lion of strength!— 16. S., Saul whom I conquered by envy, by witchcraft conquered you: for he asked for and brought up Samuel, out of his grave.— 17. D., Slander not the living dead, for he came not up: you were he that came up in the phantom for you were worthy.— 18. Let the commandment hang you over the flame, you Evil One! For by you they hanged Absalom, upon a tree.— 19. In the fire may you see yourself humbled, among vile women! For Solomon by you was degraded, among profane women.— 20. Justice be measured to you, as you inflamed her! even Jezebel who devoured the prophets, you kindled her.— 21. In fire may you justly burn, who made them drunken! The two whom Elijah burnt up, when they went up and assailed him.— 22. On you also be coals heaped! May he see and rejoice: that Naboth in whom you heaped a pile of stones!— 23. Be clad in scorn in the day of judgment, before all beholders! Who clothed Gehasi in a leprosy, by means of your theft.— 24. With lightning for a dart be pierced, O Satan! Who in the heart of Josiah, fixed your darts.— 25. Sink in the dregs of Gehenna, O Satan! Who sank Jeremiah in the mire of the pit.— 26. Daniel escaped from the pit, whither you cast him: may he have comfort in seeing you, in the furnace for ever!— 27. Be your wickedness returned on your head, Hater of man: as his wickedness was returned on the head, of Haman your fellow! — 28. May the King's Bride mock you, as did Esther: when you beseech her in the judgment-day, to plead for you!— 29. Fire released the righteous ones, whom you had bound: a mighty bond be to you, the flame of fire!— 30. Be torn in sunder, and may the seven brothers, see your defeat: the sons of Shemuni who by your wolves, were torn in sunder!— 31. May fire triumph over your pate, as you mocked: the two heads of Nazarites, sons of the barren!— 32. May fire make mock of your head, for mother and daughter: triumphed over John's head, when you maddened them!— 33. Flame triumphed over your head, O Evil One: for on the charges you triumphed, over John's head!
Hymn 58.
1. Lo! Death was prompt beforehand, to mock Satan: him who was doomed to become a mockery at the last.— 2. R., Glory to You Who by Your crucifixion, conquered the Evil One: and by Your resurrection gain victory, likewise over Death!— 3. And for our Lord's sake Death spoke curses on him: who was the cause of His shame, and crucifixion.— 4. D., The fiery pit be your grave, O Satan: who blasphemed the Voice from the grave, that rent the graves— 5. My Lord I know, and the Son of my Lord, O you Satan! You have denied your Lord, and crucified the Son of your Lord.— 6. This is the name that fits you, Slayer of your Lord: when He appears Whom you slew, He shall slay you.— 7. At you shall every one shake the head, for by you the chiefs: shook their heads at Him, the Lord of life.— 8. A bruised reed under the feet, of the just shall you be: for through you they put a reed in His hand, Who upholds all.— 9. With a crown of thorns was He crowned, to signify: that He took the diadem of the kingdom, of the house of David.— 10. With a crown of thorns was He crowned, the King of kings: but He took the diadem of the king, of those that shamed him.— 11. In the robes of mockery that they gave him, in those He mocked them: for He took the raiment of glory, of priests and kings.— 12. To vinegar is your memory akin, O you Satan: who offered vinegar for the thirst, of the Fount of Life.— 13. The hand shall every man lift against you who strengthened the hand that smote Him by Whose hand, all creatures stand.— 14. He was smitten by the hand and He cut off the hand, of Caiaphas: the hand of the priesthood is cut off, in the cutting off of the unction.— 15. On the pillar again they stretched Him, as for scourging: Him Whose pillar went before, to guide their tribes.— 16. The pillar on the pillar, He was scourged: He removed Himself from out of Zion, and its fall came.— 17. When they put two beams together, to form the Cross: He broke them, even the two staves, the guardians of them.— 18. Ezekiel put together the sticks, the two in one: in the two beams of the Cross, their staves have ceased.— 19. The two sticks, as it were wings, bore the people: lo! His two staves were broken, even as his wings.— 20. The bosom and wings of the Cross, He opened in mercy: its pinions bowed and bore the nations, to go to Eden.— 21. It is akin to the Tree of Life, and unto the son of its stock: it leads its beloved that on its boughs, they may feed on its fruits.— 22. Go howl and weep, Evil One, for me and for you: for not one of us shall enter the Garden of Life.— 23. S., Now that you have confessed O Death, come let me tell you: that all this discourse of yours, to me is idle talk.— 24. I will go and watch the snares, which I have set: you too, Death, fly and look after, all that are sick.— 25. Our Lord has brought both to nought, on either hand: the Evil One shall be brought to nought here, and Death hereafter there.
Hymn 59.
1. Lo! Death for us on Satan, inflicts vengeance: come let us hear his shame and rejoice, for he rejoiced in our shame.— 2. R., To You be glory from Your flock, from You: are subdued both Death and Satan, under Your Feet!— 3. D., Evil ones shall be hung upright, but you, head downward: for, reversely, you crucified Simon on the tree.— 4. S., Touching all else I am silent, Death, for my time wanes: Simon himself conjured me, Crucify me thus.— 5. Were it the just that cursed me, I had not grieved: the curse of Death unto me, is worse than hell.— 6. D., The shame of our Lord I have not spoken of, it is too great for my mouth: that I should weigh and compare His Passion, with Your torment.— 7. Twelve judgment thrones shall He set, for His Twelve: for by the twelve tribes you, even you, shall be condemned.— 8. A halter unbought shall you hang you, O you Satan: as that Your disciple hung him, a halter for a price.— 9. Haply yon hell in mercy, shall be emptied: and you shall dwell there alone, with Your ministers.— 10. Manifold are Your curses, and how shall I count them? Lo! The sum of all your curses, is on your members.— 11. The evil in the fire shall stab you, who made them evil: they shall upbraid you why did you bring us here?— 12. Sinners shall rail against you, and haply their threats: shall be worse to you than the torment, of yonder hell.— 13. These shall be unto you there, all of them Satans: as you have been to them here, the one Satan.— 14. The Watchers shall seize and hurl you down, calling to mind: how through you men hurled their Lord, from the height to the depth.— 15. All men will run to stone you, not forgetting that through you the maddened people ran, to stone their Maker.— 16. On you, Evil One, from all mouths shall be, the spitting of wrath: for through you they spat on Him Whose spittle, gave sight to the blind.— 17. On you, Evil One, from all tongues, shall be all curses: for through you men blasphemed Him, Who opened dumb mouths.— 18. Blessed is He Who avenged our wrong, though in silence: and stirred up Death against the Evil One, to fall upon him!— 19. Sound we Hosannas, my brethren, as did Gideon: Judges 7:18-22 who when he sounded, the oppressors, fell on one another!
Hymn 60.
1. O what amazement befell the Evil One, of a sudden, my brethren: when the sinful woman was corrected, and gained Wisdom!— 2. R., Glory to the One Who alone, conquered the Evil One; and to Him yea Him be also confession, Who vanquished Death!— 3. The Evil One marvelled Where is her laughter? Where her perfumes? Where her dancing and outward ornament, and inward wickedness?— 4. Instead of that light laughter, she is given up to tears: She has cut off her hair to wipe the dust, off the feet of Jesus.— 5. Naught lasts in her of any doctrine, nor abides in her: from our instruction she has escaped and cast away, all that I taught her.— 6. She has denied us and our acquaintance, and even as though: she had never seen me she has blotted my image, out of her mind.— 7. The living leaven of Jesus flew to her, Jesus was silent: but she made bold to press and enter, though none called her.— 8. She forgot our love of many years, and in the twinkling of an eye: from between me and her she removed it, and set Death there.— 9. For instead of laughter weeping delights her, and instead of paint: a shower of tears, and instead of ornament, a sad countenance.— 10. Zaccheus I made chief of extortioners, and her I made: chief of wantons; my two wings, Jesus has broken.— 11. If so be Zaccheus becomes his disciple, and if so be she: becomes his hearer, henceforth they fetter, my craftiness.— 12. Carved images henceforth are a mockery and the carvers: a derision, and the worshippers a laughing-stock.— 13. I shut men's eyes that they might not perceive, that they are carved images: Jesus opens their eyes to see that they are the works of men's hands.— 14. If Jesus has chosen for Himself preachers, then our preaching: whereof the whole world is full, is put to silence.— 15. For lo! The Chaldeans with the soothsayers, and lo! The wizards: with the diviners they are smitten and the priests, with all evil ones!— 16. You priests are ended and have given up the Ghost from henceforth, depart you diviners! Become husbandmen, the Chaldeans likewise, shall close their books.— 17. If the Hebrews have become His disciples, who by all miracles: were not subdued, who of the nations, shall not obey him?— 18. If he begins to set straight the reverse, He brings to naught our speech: henceforth He will not hesitate against us, He who rebukes all men.— 19. In that I was worshipped in all temples, our disgrace is greater: than our honour was, for all men spit, upon our altars.— 20. Flesh of sacrifice becomes abhorred, into fragments: idols are broken, and carven images burn, under their pots.— 21. All our work becomes a laughing-stock, and a ruin: all that we have built, and a mockery, all that we have taught.— 22. The secret mysteries that I taught them, laboriously: are about to be spread abroad, on the housetops.— 23. Of the Egyptians I was more proud, than of any nation: for they used to worship even, the onions and garlic.— 24. Lo! I fear lest even here, where delusion was so great: truth shall prevail that there exceedingly, Jesus may reign.— 25. And if when He was an infant, and fled and went down, Egypt marvelled: yea lulled him— this strangler of babes, loved their Babe.— 26. Was it a pledge He went down to give her, as a betrother: giving assurance that when of full age, He will also take her to wife?— 27. Pharaoh cannot set his foot firm, for this is no stammerer: that he should deceive Him, and no bondman, that he should lie unto Him.— 28. Moses smote and the Egyptians rebelled, and he chastised the people: and the Hebrews rebelled— Jesus is smitten, and gives life to all.— 29. This is hard to understand that not by force; lays He His yoke: on the rebellious: He was rebuked, and He instructs others.— 30. The spittle of His mouth, wiped off and took away, the shame of Adam: by the smiting of His cheeks, He rooted out our wrathfulness, from His disciples.— 31. By the nails which he received, He made me to suffer. I rejoiced when I crucified Him: and I knew not that He was crucifying me, in His crucifixion.
Hymn 61.
1. In wisdom let us hearken to Death, O my beloved: how he accuses us for our weeping, and for our mourning.— 2. R., To you be praise Who came down, to follow Adam: and foundest Adam and also in the children of Adam.— 3. And rightly perhaps he says, You slay: without mercy and lo! You weep, as though merciful.— 4. You have made me as a cruel one, O you murderers: for you slay one another, without my help!— 5. While Death was but desiring to come, the sword came before him: let us see then against whom cries out, the blood of the slain.— 6. Against you cry out the strangled, who were suffocated: for it shames me of the rope, of their strangulations.— 7. They take away from me even my rest, for without me: how could the strangled and the slain, enter Sheol?— 8. Lo! Your infants are cast out, as those in Egypt: your sons have you sacrificed to demons, O demoniacs!— 9. While Death was but desiring to taste, of your corpses: Cain refreshed me beforehand, with blood of man.— 10. While I was but desiring to wait patiently, till Adam should die: before I had power you gave me power, over your bodies.— 11. Cain with his sword overthrew, the gate of Sheol: for it was closed and before the time, he first opened it.— 12. He by treading made the way of Sheol, without my help: for in the way you have trodden out for me, lo! I walk therein.— 13. Nine hundred years I sat and waited, for Adam to die: but Cain not even a day, endured his brother.— 14. Robbers upon the highways, are worse than I: I am slumbering while they, are watching to slay.— 15. Lo! Your slaughtered in the graves, and your murdered in your ways; and your strangled upon your stakes!— 16. If I rebelled against my lord, yea and slew him: who was he that slew these here, said Jehu.— 17. And if I Death have taken, your departed: the strangled, the slain, and the slaughtered, who was it slew them?— 18. You are Satan to each other, and the Evil One is abhorred: you are pestilence to each other, and Death is blamed!— 19. Your own will to you is Satan, yea and a murderer: but of Death and of Satan, all men complain.— 20. Poison of Death you give also to drink, each to other: lo! How many Deaths have you, beside me.— 21. Wiles, stratagems, yea and snares, sword and poison: how many Deaths from you and in you, lo! Are there born.— 22. The judge in the judgment-hall, is a second Death: he slays for secret reward, but I for naught.— 23. I have seen bribery and marvelled at it, that ran and outran me: how many slain does bribery, slay, and none perceives!— 24. I am ashamed that so unskilfully, I conduct myself: if I take even one corpse, all men perceive it.— 25. In the houses weeping and in the streets, also wailing: and even unto the gates of Sheol, they groan over me.— 26. Groan over yourselves that you are thus hateful, and you hate me: Sheol henceforth shall groan over you, O murderers!— 27. With torture, scourging and fire, yea with stoning: you put to death the sons of men, and you are proud!— 28. I am more modest than you and merciful, also reverent: for with reverence I bear away, your departed.— 29. On the bed I deal gently, with him that is sick: and quietly I lay him to sleep, for but a while.
Hymn 62.
1. Lo! Death, the King of silence, complains, my brethren: that we have filled his abode with the wailing, of Hope cut off.— 2. R., To Him be great praise Who came down to us here below: and suffered and rose again and in His Body, raises our bodies!— 3. While we weep like madmen, at the gates of Sheol: hearken what Death says, reproaching us.— 4. It shames me, says Death, that you, have overcome me: the half of Sheol suffices not, to contain your slain.— 5. For alien corpses together, lie heaped in Sheol: there are two divisions there, the dead, the slain.— 6. Whereas I should complain that you have wronged me, lo! You are weeping: you have burst the gate of Sheol, and done me hurt.— 7. For you are like an infant, which while yet weeping: laughs again as you also, over your dead.— 8. For there is no discretion in your mourning, and no understanding: in your laughter— for to me you seem like, to a weaned babe.— 9. One hour weeping and wailing, and after a little: both jesting and wantonness, as of children.— 10. For you are unable to become, perfect men: that weep not yea and laugh not, as the discreet.— 11. Touching your books we are grieved, that they have toiled over them: who should read them unto you, even the divine Scriptures.— 12. The readers are crying aloud, for you are deaf: this their crying proves concerning you, that you are as stocks.— 13. For since the reader and the interpreter, are crying aloud: your ears therefore are heavy, or else your hearts.— 14. For if there were with you an ear, open to persuasion: it were meet to hear little, and to do much.— 15. But because its hearing is closed, whoso knocks at it: the voice returns back to him, who sent it forth.— 16. There is no crying with me of mine, I am not deaf: none that reads or interprets for me, I am not dull.— 17. The breath that is from Him commands me, sons the God of truth: and with the command there follows, also the fulfilment.— 18. With me is no holding back, no turnings aside: I know no arrow even, could outstrip me.— 19. But your voices are scorned by me, when you are weeping: over the graves of your departed, in the cutting off of hope.— 20. Were it possible or permitted, when you are weeping: I would go forth and tell you, to your faces.— 21. I am endeavouring to give, an account of the death: and your voices disturb me, that I err in my count.— 22. You nations, let not your understanding, become childish: like that nation whose intelligence, was never great.— 23. In which prudence bestows not itself, as in a fool: for its thoughts are darkness, without discernment.— 24. For your infants and your sons, in the resurrection: they shall be foremost to come forth, as the first fruits— 25. Then after them shall come the just, as victorious: last shall come forth the sinner, as put to shame.— 26. For although in the twinkling of an eye, they be quickened: yet is it in order that their ranks, come forth from Sheol.— 27. Prophets come forth and Apostles, and holy Fathers: following them in due array, according to command.— 28. Lo! That which now is sown, in random mixture: is yielded back in great order, as garden-herbs.— 29. For though one in the sowing, should mix all seeds: that which is earlier than its fellow, prevents its fellow—30. And not as their going down was confused, so disordered shall be: their coming up from the earth, for its order is fixed.— 31. Lo! I have been against myself, in what I have said: for secret things which you comprehended not, from me you have learned.— 32. Instead of the tears that profit not, which are at the tomb: pour them forth in your prayer, in the midst of the Church.— 33. For to the dead there is profit in these, and likewise to the living: weep not with a weeping that afflicts, both dead and living!
Hymn 63.
1. Who shall weigh the recompense of Abraham? Whom I marvelled at when he bound, his only son.— 2. R., To you be glory, Voice that bringest to life the dead in Sheol: and they have come up as preachers, of His Son Who quickens all!— 3. At that time I came forth in haste, to see the marvel: how that his knife was drawn out, against his beloved.— 4. I gathered my manifold memories, from all quarters: and I collected my spirit to marvel, at that illustrious one.— 5. How therefore can you read, that great story? You have despised the reading of it, in your very ears.— 6. The sword of Jephthah rebukes, him that laments: his daughter was to him a mirror of life from the dead.— 7. She gave herself for her father, so commend ye: your life to the Father of all, in the hope of your end.— 8. In the womb then did you not make trial, of a mystery of Sheol? Yet in Sheol you had more rest, than in the womb.— 9. It is stubborn in you to stand up against, my mighty will: for lo! To succour them I take away, your departed.— 10. By the king of Moab who slew, his son with his hands: he is put to shame who laments, for the departed one.— 11. He was a profane man, lo! According, to what you read: but you are doctors and teachers, as you suppose.— 12. He endured, but you are furious, in your mourning: against the will of the Lord of all, while you are weeping.— 13. I fear however to let pass, the story of Job: through this feeble mouth of mine, for I am unworthy.— 14. So in like manner I turn aside, from mention of their bones: though I praise Him who granted, that they should come to me.— 15. Dishonour not your members, by your sins: for in Sheol the bones are despised, of evildoers.— 16. Whenever I see the body of one of the evil: I trample on it and curse, even his memory.— 17. But wherever I see a bone, of one of the just; I set it apart and honour it, and do it worship.— 18. You feeble ones understand not, all my ordinances: with you orders are confused, for you are blind.— 19. It is Moses alone that I know, to have honoured like me: the bones of that Joseph whom I magnify.— 20. But Moses did such honour, to one pure body: but I to the body and the bones, of all the righteous.— 21. Brightly shine the bones of Prophets, and of Apostles: a lamp to me in darkness, are all the righteous.— 22. I worship Him Who lightens for me, the darkness of Sheol: the splendour of Moses who was so great, was as the sun to me.
Hymn 64.
1. O feeble ones, why do you weep over your dead: who in death are at rest from sorrows and sins?— 2. R., Glory to Him Who endured all, for the sake of all men: yea tasted death for the sake of all, to bring all to life— 3. I reveal unto you, that even Satan, though much content: at your weeping, yet laughs much, at your mourning.— 4. In mockery he winks at me and nods to me, as a jester: Come let us laugh at sinners, for lo! They are mad.— 5. Truly they have given up remembrance of that fire, which I have hidden for them: and lo! The fools are drunken with weeping, for their departed.— 6. Instead of weeping as though, without provision: I had plundered and sent forth their dead, lo! They are mad.— 7. The souls of the evil are to be afflicted, till the judgment day: and these weep over the graves, like to madmen.— 8. They care not for their own sins, that haply tomorrow: they must go in shame of face, to join their dead.— 9. And thus shall all be put to shame alike, family by family: in Sheol the wretches shall repent without avail.— 10. Leave the drunken and the madman, until that day: wherein each shall shake off his wine wherewith he was maddened.— 11. I will go to gather them, like children: that they may play the wanton and the madman, until they perish.— 12. Lo! I have revealed to you the mystery, the secret of my comrade: go forth therefore, depart, amend, in repentance.— 13. Leave me, I too will depart, I will see to my affairs: that with open face I may give my account to my Lord.— 14. I know that the wind as it blew, has borne away my words: for you are the same whom I, ofttimes have proved.— 15. I remember Jeremiah how he, compared boldness: to the Indian who changes not his skin, though it is of freedom.— 16. For this too belongs to it, even to freedom: that it binds itself by the will, as though by nature.— 17. For so powerful is the will, in them that are free: that it may be likened to nature, through its workings.
Hymn 65.
1. Man, O Death, despise it not, that image of Adam: which like a seed is committed to earth, till the Resurrection.— 2. R., To you be glory Who descended and plunge, after Adam: and draw him out from the depths of Sheol, and bring him into Eden!— 3. Death, I marvel at this seed, and at your words: for lo! After five thousand years, it springs not yet.— 4. M., Its present state passes away, as winter does: and as a handful of grain it comes in the resurrection, to the garner of life.— 5. D., That there is vintage-time, lo! I know, but I have not seen: the dead at any time sown, or yet reaped.— 6. M., There is coming a reaping, O Death, that will leave you bare: and the Watchers shall go forth as reapers, and make you desolate.— 7. D., When did I become husbandman, instead of vine-dresser? Who has turned Sheol the wine-press, into a tilled field?— 8. M., Does not the seed then teach you, which decays and dies: and is cut off from hope, yet from the rain, recovers hope?— 9. D., A dream have you seen you feeble ones, of life from the dead: for in waking time the resurrection, you do not see.— 10. M., Your drowsiness hinders you, that you see not: the multitudes of mysteries which cry aloud, of the resurrection.— 11. D., I know that seeds come to life, but I have not seen: bones that grew in Sheol, and sprang and came up.— 12. M., All your discourse is like yourself, for lo! Ezekiel: has taught you how in the valley, the dead come to life.— 13. D., Trees have I seen how in summer, they put on their garments: but bones in their nakedness, are cast into Sheol.— 14. M., Moses broke by his splendour, your heart, O Death: the son of Adam has regained and put on, the glory of Adam.— 15. D., Our law in Sheol is this, to keep silence: for you are words and for me deeds, O feeble ones.— 16. M., How are the aged passed over if you be vinedresser? He Who hindered you from taking their lives, the same quickens all.— 17. The babe in the womb confutes you, which is as buried there: to me it proclaims life from the dead, but to you despoiling.— 18. The despised flower despises you, for it is shut up and passed over: yet though lost it is not lost, but blossoms again.— 19. The chick cries out from the egg, wherein it is buried: and the graves are rent by a Voice, and the body arises.— 20. For a body too is the chick, that is in the egg: lo! Its body to our body proclaims, the life from the dead.— 21. With the locust your plea is overthrown, and ended, O Death: for in coming forth from the dust it teaches, the life from the dead.— 22. D., I had been content if already, the resurrection had been: for the day of resurrection had disturbed me less, than your judgments.— 23. Merciful is the Son of the Highest, yea good and just: and will not harshly avenge on me, the death of Adam.— 24. Have you then no understanding, to perceive this: that your father laid on you, this retribution?
Hymn 66.
1. Hold your peace, O mortals (said Death), a little while: and be like me who am so silent, in the midst of Sheol.— 2. R., To You be glory, Watcher, that came down, after them that slept: and utter the voice from the Tree, and waken them!— 3. You are grieving, yea, weeping, for him that has gone: as though he came to grind for me, the mill in Sheol.— 4. Great is the peace I give, unto the wearied: I wax not weary as you, nor weary them.— 5. I hear all manner of curses, from thankless men: the sons of Adam are like Adam, who was thankless to his Lord.— 6. Contrary one to the other are your voices, and your doings: with your voices you weep and in your doings, you fight daily.— 7. I heard weeping and I thought to myself, that none labours: I saw toiling and I thought to myself, that no man dies.— 8. The struggles of man made me think, that he is not mortal: his great weeping made me think, that tomorrow he is not.— 9. Hear and let me be your counsellor, if you be willing: for these two, these burdens, are very bitter.— 10. Cease a little while from this toil, and from this weeping: toil and weep as mortals, who tomorrow vanish.— 11. You are frantic with weeping, for your departed: and you struggle in toiling, for your possessions.— 12. It is well with the infants that die, and blessed are they: for they are freed from the misery, whereunto you are cast.— 13. Allow me to go to Sheol, and there to say: Happy are you silent dead, how tranquil are you!— 14. Hear the conclusion of our own words, If there be a resurrection: weep not, neither labour as though strangers.— 15. You straggle as one who was to live, here forever: and you weep as one who never, should rise again.— 16. Hear my words, if there be with you place for hearing: and prepare you provision that when I call you may answer.— 17. For I hearken even I, to Him that calls me: and will restore your bodies, with your treasures.— 18. Let there be peace between us, until that day: and when you come forth I will cry and say, Depart in peace!— 19. Come, you and I even now, shall give glory: to Him that brings to death and to life, that He may give aid.— 20. Praise from us all be to you, O Lord, the living Sacrifice! Who by the sacrifice of Your Body hast given life to quick and dead.— 21. Praise to Him Who clothed Himself in our body, and died and rose again: He died in us and we live in Him, blessed be He Who sent Him!
Hymn 67.
1. Come, let us hear how Death convicts the People: that harsher than Death was their sword, against the just.— 2. R., To You be glory, Who by Your sacrifice, hast redeemed our disgrace: and Whose death was instead of all deaths, that You might raise all!— 3. It was not Death indeed that crucified Jesus, but it was the People: how hateful then the People, that are yet more hateful than I!— 4. Into the pit they cast Jeremiah, the miry pit: but I in Sheol allotted, honour to his bones.— 5. Naboth they bruised to death with stones, as though he were a dog: how good am I who have never stoned, even a dog!— 6. The Hebrew women in famine, ate their children: Sheol is good who delivers and gives them up, without difficulty.— 7. To the widow I gave her son, by the hand of Elijah: to the Shunamite her beloved, by the hand of Elisha.— 8. The Hebrew women in greed, ate their children: Sheol gave up the dead and learned, to fast soberly.— 9. Sheol was not indeed Sheol, but its semblance: Jezebel was the true Sheol, who devoured the just.— 10. The sons of the prophets and the prophets, she slew and cast down: to heaven Elijah escaped, from her fury.— 11. How many deaths instead of one Death, were among the People! And how many Sheols instead of one, were there also!— 12. Samaria and Jezrael her daughters, in Israel: and Zion and Jerusalem her sister, in Judea.— 13. Prophets and just men in Judea, and in Israel: in these two abysses, they were drowned.— 14. Why then is Sheol hated, and she alone: though there be many that are hateful, rather than she?— 15. The dead of the men of Judah, to me are right hateful: yea, abhorred by me are their bones, in the midst of Sheol.— 16. Would that then I had a way to cast them out: to cast their bones thence from Sheol, for they cause her to rot.— 17. I wonder at the Holy Spirit, that He thus dwelt: in the midst of a People whose savour stank, as their conversation.— 18. Onions and garlic are the heralds of their doings: as is the food so is the understanding, of this defiled people.— 19. Through the supplication of all that bow, and worship Your Father: have mercy on Your worshipper, who is thankless for Your love.— 20. From Hebrews and Aramæans, and also from the Watchers: to You be praise and through You to Your Father, be also glory!— 21. For that I have a mouth to Death, who is without mouth: may the Son Who is all mouths, hold back my offense from His Father!
Hymn 68.
1. Man., O, Death, be not boastful, over the just: the sons of your Lord who at His command, come to dwell with you.— 2. R., To you be glory that by Your command, Death has reigned: and by Your Resurrection has been humbled to low estate!— 3. Death., Herein am I exceeding great, according to your saying: that though I be bond-man I trample on them that are free.— 4. M., Adam was chosen and ruler, and under his yoke: you, Death, and the Evil One, your fellow, became bondmen.— 5. D., This is our pride that lo! The slaves have become lords: Death, and Satan, his fellow, have trampled on Adam.— 6. M., Lo! The humbling of you and your fellow, accurst servants! How Enoch trampled on you both, and rose aloft and reigned.— 7. D., If so be Enoch made me grieve, yet have I comfort for on Noah's dust in Sheol, lo! I trample.— 8. M., Tremble, O Death, before man, for though a servant, the yoke of his dominion reigns on all creatures.— 9. D., I rejoice then that they are no mean foes that I have overcome: for according to the greatness of the vanquished, he is great that overcomes.— 10. M., Well does your voice sing triumph, O Death, over the just: for Enoch and Elijah have broken your pair of wings.— 11. D., I know how to weigh my sorrows with my comforts: in place of two, lo! Many have come and coming.— 12. M., All that have come and coming to you dwell as sojourners, and depart from your abode as Lazarus.— 13. D., This your saying hurts me not, rather it heals me: for Lazarus who rebelled against me, I again subdued.— 14. M., Make answer, O Death, and argue what constrained him, to be raised unless it were a mystery, showing forth his resurrection.— 15. D., You are famous in arguing as idle ones, while I labour in my task to discern and perform— 16. M., You were well prepared for argument, what has checked you? The truth of our resurrection has constrained you by its reputations.— 17. D., You have made me hated by you, though I be not hateful: I am he that gives rest to your aged, and your afflicted.— 18. You have made me as one that troubles, O you mortals: Adam brought death upon you, and I bear the blame.— 19. Gently will I expose you, for I am a slave, and you are they that by your sins have made me king.— 20. The will of Adam roused me for I was at rest: I was dead and you quickened me, that you might die by me.— 21. I accuse the lying ones, who slew and denied it: for Adam slew himself and charges me.— 22. The beginning of strife was the accursed serpent which has rightly been crippled: which crept, entered, and set enmity between me and you.— 23. Satan is passed by and it is against me that you are roused: go, strive with the Evil One who made you transgress.— 24. He is my comrade and I deny it not, but though he be much hated, what need that I be blamed for him. I deny him henceforth.— 25. Hearken to my words, O mortals, and I will console you: I have afflicted you and I confess the life from the dead.— 26. For there begins to steal into my ears a voice of preparation: of the trumpet that holds itself ready to sound.— 27. Hear my words and put much oil into your lamps: for hindrance from my part there is none for you.— 28. Yet, Know that even although I have said these things, dear is the sound of your voice in the solitude of Sheol.— 29. For man has been weighed by me, and great is his peace: for snakes and fishes and birds come to meet him.— 30. But it is a marvel that to the Watchers, too, his converse is dear: yea, the Evil One in Gehenna, desires his presence.— 31. You shall have life from the dead, O you mortals, and I who am bereft shall be bereft in the midst of Sheol.— 32. Let praise ascend from all to You Who quickenest all, and from every quarter gatherest the dust of Adam!
Hymns for the Feast of Epiphany
Hymn 1
Resp.— To You be praise from Your flock in the day of Your Epiphany!
1. The heavens He has renewed, for that fools worshipped all the luminaries:— He has renewed the earth, for that in Adam it was wasted. — That which He fashioned has become new by His spittle:— and the All-Sufficing has restored bodies with souls.
2. Gather yourselves again— sheep and without labour receive cleansing!— for one needs not as Elisha— to bathe seven times in the river, nor again to be wearied as the priests are wearied with sprinklings.
3. Seven times Elisha purified himself in a mystery of the seven spirits;— and the hyssop and blood are a mighty symbol.— There is no room for division— He is not divided from the Lord of all Who is Son of the Lord of all.
4. Moses sweetened in Marah the waters that were bitter—because the People complained and murmured:— Thus he gave a sign of baptism—wherein the Lord of life makes sweet them that were bitter.
5. The cloud overshadowed and kept off the burning heat from the camp—it showed a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which overshadows you in baptism— tempering the flaming fire that it harm not your bodies.
6. Through the sea the People then passed, and showed a symbol— of the baptism wherein you were washed. The People passed through that and believed not:— the Gentiles were baptized in this and believed and received the Holy Ghost.
7. The Word sent the Voice to proclaim before His Coming,— to prepare for Him the way by which He came—and to betroth the Bride till He should come—that she might be ready when He should come and take her from the water.
8. The voice of prophecy stirred the son of the barren woman—and he went forth wandering in the desert and crying—Lo! The Son of the Kingdom comes!— prepare the way that He may enter and abide in your dwellings!
9. John cried, Who comes after me, He is before me:— I am the Voice but not the Word;— I am the torch but not the Light—the Star that rises before the Sun of Righteousness.
10. In the wilderness this John had cried and had said—Repent you sinners of your evils—and offer the fruits of repentance;— for lo! He comes that winnows the wheat from the tares.
11. The Lightgiver has prevailed and marked a mystery, by the degrees he ascended:— Lo! There are twelve days since he ascended,— and today this is the thirteenth:— a perfect mystery of Him, the Son, and His twelve!
12. Darkness was overcome to make it manifest that Satan was overcome—and the Light prevailed that he should proclaim— that the Firstborn triumphs: darkness was overcome— with the Dark Spirit, and our Light prevailed with the Lightgiver.
13. In the Height and the Depth the Son had two heralds.— The star of light proclaimed Him from above—John likewise preached Him from beneath:— two heralds, the earthly and the heavenly.
14. The star of light, contrary to nature, shone forth of a sudden—less than the sun yet greater than the sun.— Less was it than he in manifest light—and greater than he in secret might because of its mystery.
15. The star of light shed its rays among them that were in darkness—and guided them as though they were blind—so that they came and met the great Light:— they gave offerings and received life and adored and departed.
16. The herald from above showed His Nature to be from the Most High;— likewise he that was from beneath showed His Body to be from humankind, mighty marvel!— that His Godhead and His Manhood by them were proclaimed!
17. Thus whoso reckons Him as of earth, the star of light— will convince him that He is of Heaven: and whoso reckons Him as of spirit,— this John will convince him that He is also bodily.
18. John drew near with his parents and worshipped the Sun—and brightness rested on His Face.— He was not moved as when in the womb.— Mighty marvel! That here he worships and there he leaped!
19. The whole creation became for Him as one mouth and cried out concerning Him.— The Magi cry out in their gifts;— the barren cry out with their children—the star of light, lo! It cries out in the air, Behold the Son of the King!
20. The heavens are opened, the waters break forth, the dove is in glory!— The voice of the Father is stronger than thunder—as it utters the word, This is My Beloved;— the Watchers brought the tidings, the children acclaimed Him in their Hosannas.
Hymn 2
(Nearly identical with Hymn XIII. On the Nativity.)
(Resp.— To You be praise Who in this feast makest all to exult!)
1. In the time of the King whom they called by the name Semha — our Lord was manifested among the Hebrews.— Thus Semha and Denha reigned together—the King on earth and the Son on high— blessed be His power!
2. In the days of the King who wrote down men in the taxing,— our Saviour came down and wrote down men in the Book of Life; He wrote and was written—on high He wrote us, on earth He was written; glory to His Name!
3. His Birth was in the days of the King whose name was Semha.— Symbol and truth met one another—King and King, Semha and Denha.— That kingdom bore His Cross; blessed be He Who took it up!
4. Thirty years abode He on earth in poverty.— Voices of praise in all measures—let us weave my brethren for our Lord's years—thirty crowns for thirty years; Blessed be His number!
5. In the first year, mistress of treasure and filled with blessings,— let the Cherubin give thanks with us, they who bear— the Son in glory Who gave up His glorious state—and toiled and found the sheep that was lost—to Him be thanksgiving!
6. In the second year let the Seraphin multiply thanksgiving with us—they who cried Holy to the Son, and turned and saw Him— among unbelievers put to shame.— He endured scorn and taught us glory; to Him be glory given!
7. In the third year let Michael and his hosts give thanks with us—they who were wont to serve the Son on high— and saw Him on earth doing service.— He washed men's feet and cleansed men's souls; blessed be His meekness!
8. In the fourth year let all the heavens give thanks with us! Too narrow for the Son it shall burst to see— how He lay on the couch of despised Zaccheus.— He filled the couch and had filled the heavens;— to Him be thanksgiving!
9. In the fifth year let the Sun that burns the earth with its heat— give thanks to our Sun that He straitened His largeness,— and tempered His force that the eye might endure to see Him—the inward eye of a pure soul; blessed be His radiance!
10. In the sixth year again let all the air give thanks with us—in the vastness whereof all things exult.— It saw its great Lord that He became— a little babe in a lowly bosom; blessed be His honour!
11. In the seventh year let the clouds and winds sound the trumpet with us—they whose dew sprinkles the faces of the flowers—yet saw they the Son that He subdued His brightness—and endured scorn and shameful spitting—blessed be His salvation!
12. Yet again in the eighth year let Creation give glory—from whose fountain the fruits draw nurture.— She adored when she saw the Son at the breast—pure babe nurtured by pure milk; blessed be His good pleasure!
13. In the ninth year let the earth give glory, which when her lap is watered then brings forth the root.— She saw Mary an unwatered soil— whose fruit that she yielded is a mighty sea; to Him be exultation!
R., To You be glory, Son of the Lord of all, Who gives life to all!
14. In the tenth year let Mount Sinai give glory, which melted— before its Lord! It saw against its Lord— stones taken up: but He took stones— to build the Church upon the Rock; blessed be His building!
15. In the eleventh year let the great sea give thanks— to the hand of the Son Who measured it! And it wondered to see how He came down and was washed— in humble waters, He that cleanses Creation; blessed be His triumph!
16. In the twelfth year let the holy Temple give thanks— which beheld the Child as He sat— among the elders: the doctors were silenced— as the Lamb of the feast bleated in the feast; blessed be His atonement!
17. In the thirteenth year let diadems with us give thanks— to the King Who triumphed and was crowned— with a crown of thorns: He wove for man— a mighty diadem at His right hand; blessed be He That sent Him!
18. In the fourteenth year let the Passover of Egypt give thanks— to the Passover that came and made passover for all—and instead of Pharaoh overwhelmed Legion—and instead of horsemen drowned demons; blessed be His retribution!
19. In the fifteenth year let the lamb of the flock give thanks—that our Lord slew it not as did Moses—but redeemed by His Blood mankind.— He the Shepherd of all died for all; blessed be He That begot Him!
20. In the sixteenth year let the seed-grain in mystery give thanks— to that Husbandman Who gave His Body for seed— in a barren soil that corrupts all things.— It proved fertile and yielded new bread; blessed be He that is pure!
21. In the seventeenth year let the Vine give thanks to our Lord,— the Vineyard of truth, wherein souls were— as the scions. He gave peace to this vineyard, but laid waste that vineyard which bare wild grapes; blessed be the Uprooter!
22. In the eighteenth year let our leaven give thanks— to the leaven of truth that penetrates and draws— all minds and makes them to become— one mind in one doctrine; blessed be His doctrine!
23. In the nineteenth year let the Salt give thanks for Your Body.— O blessed Babe it is the soul— that is the salt of the Body, and Faith— the salt of the soul whereby it is preserved; blessed be Your preservation!
R., Glory to Your Epiphany, O God and Man!
24. In the twentieth year let temporal wealth with us give thanks—which men that are perfect have cast off and abandoned— because of the Woe; and have gone and loved— poverty because of its beatitude; blessed be He Who desired it!
25. In the one-and-twentieth year let the waters give thanks that were sweetened— in a mystery of the Son. In the honey of Samson— the nations tasted bitterness therein that destroyed them:— they had life in the Cross that redeemed them; blessed be its pleasantness!
26. In the two-and-twentieth year let arms and the sword give thanks—for they could not slay our Adversary.— You are He Who slew him as You are He Who restored— the ear that Simon's sword cut off; blessed be Your healing!
27. In the three-and-twentieth year let the ass likewise give thanks—that gave the colt whereon He should ride—He opens likewise the mouth of wild asses—the offspring gave Him praise; blessed be the praise of You!
28. In the four-and-twentieth year let wealth give thanks to the Son!— Treasures were amazed at the Lord of treasures—how He grew up among the poor.— He made Himself poor that He might make all rich; blessed be His participation!
29. In the five-and-twentieth year let Isaac give thanks to the Son— Who in the mount saved him from the knife—and became in his stead the lamb to be slain.— The mortal escaped, and He died Who gives life to all; blessed be His offering!
30. In the six-and-twentieth year let Moses with us give thanks—who feared and fled from the slayers;— let him give thanks to the Son, for He it was Who on His feet— entered Sheol and spoiled it and came forth; blessed be His Resurrection!
[31. In the seven-and-twentieth year let the eloquent Orators— give thanks to the Son, for they could not find— means whereby we should prevail in our judgment:— He was silent in judgment and made our judgment prevail; to Him be applause!]
32. In the seven and twentieth year let all Judges give thanks—who as being just have put to death illdoers;— let them give thanks to the Son Who instead of the evil— died as being good, though He was Son of the Just One; blessed be His mercies!
33. In the eight-and-twentieth year let them give thanks to the Son—all the mighty men who saved us not— from the captors. One is to be worshipped,— Who was slain and laid hold and saved us; blessed be His deliverance!
34. In the nine-and-twentieth year let Job with us give thanks—who bare sufferings in his own behalf:— but our Lord bare on our behalf— the spitting and the stripes, the thorns and the nails; blessed is His compassion!
35. In the year that is the thirtieth let them give thanks with us—the dead that have lived through His dying—the living that were converted in His Crucifixion,— and the height and the depth that have been reconciled in Him! Blessed be He and His Father!
Hymn 3
(Resp.— Christ with chrism, lo! He is sealing the newborn lambs in His flock!)
1. Christ and chrism are conjoined; the secret with the visible is mingled: the chrism anoints visibly—Christ seals secretly, the lambs newborn and spiritual, the prize of His twofold victory; for He engendered it of the chrism, and He gave it birth of the water.
2. How exalted are your Orders! For she that was a sinner anointed, as a handmaid, the feet of her Lord. But for you, as though His minister, Christ by the hand of His servants, seals and anoints your bodies. It befits Him the Lord of the flock, that in His own person He seal His sheep.
3. Since then she, that sinner, stood in need of forgiveness, the anointing was for her an offering, and by it her love reconciled her Lord. But you who are the flock, among the profane and unbelievers, the Truth by the chrism is your seal, to separate you from the strayed.
4. From the peoples he separated the People, by the former seal of circumcision; but by the seal of anointing, the peoples He separates from the People. When the peoples were in error, the People He separated from the peoples; now when the People has erred from Him, He separates the peoples from thence.
5. Of the dust of the pure soil, Naaman bore away and returned to his place; that he by this holy dust, might be separated and known from the unclean. The chrism of Christ separates, the sons of the mystery from strangers: and by it they that are within are separated, and known from them that are without.
6. The oil which Elijah multiplied, might be tasted with the mouth; for the cruse was that of the widow, it was not that of the chrism. The oil of our Lord that is in the cruse, it is not food for the mouth: the sinner that was a wolf without, it makes him a lamb in the flock.
7. The chrism of the meek and lowly One, changes the stubborn to be like its Lord. The Gentiles were wolves and feared, the severe rod of Moses. Lo! The chrism seals them and makes, a flock of sheep out of the wolves! And the wolves that had fled from the rod, lo! They have taken refuge in the Cross!
8. The leaf of olive arrived, brought as a figure of the anointing; the sons of the Ark rejoiced to greet it, for it bore good tidings of deliverance. Thus also you rejoiced to greet it, even this holy anointing. The bodies of sinners were glad in it, for it brought good tidings of deliverance.
9. The oil again that Jacob poured, upon the stone when he sealed it, that it should be between him and God, and that he might offer there his tithes; lo! In it is a symbol of your bodies, how by chrism they are sealed as holy, and become temples for God, where He shall be served by your sacrifices.
10. When Moses had sealed and anointed, the sons of Aaron the Levite, the fire consumed their bodies; the fire spared their vestments. But you my brethren blessed are you, for the fire of grace has come down, has consumed utterly your offenses, and cleansed and hallowed your bodies!
11. As for the anointing of Aaron my brethren, it was the vile blood of beasts, that it sprinkled in the horns of the altar. The anointing of truth is this; wherein the living and all-lifegiving Blood, is sprinkled inwardly in your bodies, is mingled in your understandings, is infused through your inmost chambers.
12. The anointed priests used to offer, the slain bodies of beasts; You, O anointed and excelling, your offerings are your own bodies. The anointed Levites offered, the inward parts taken, from beasts: you have excelled the Levites, for your hearts you have Consecrated.
13. The anointing of the People was— a foreshadowing of Christ; their rod a mystery of the Cross; their lamb a type of the Only begotten; their tabernacle a mystery of your Churches; their circumcision a sign of your sealing. Under the shadow of your goodly thing, sat the People of old.
14. Thus the truth is likened, to a great shadowing tree: it cast its shade on the People; it struck its root among the peoples. The People abode under its shadows, whose shadows were its mysteries; but the Gentiles lodged on its bough, and plucked and ate of its fruits.
15. As for the anointing of Saul to be king; the sweeter was its savour, so much fouler was the savour of his heart. The Spirit struck him and fled. Your anointing which you have is greater; for your minds are censers, in your temples the Spirit exults, a chamber forever shall you be unto Him.
16. As for the anointing of David my brethren; the Spirit came down and made sweet savour, in the heart of the man wherein He delighted; the savour of his heart was as the savour of his action. The Spirit dwelt in him and made song in him. Your anointing which you have is greater, for Father and Son and Holy Ghost, have moved and come down to dwell in you.
17. When the leper of old was cleansed, the priest used to seal him with oil, and to lead him to the waterspring. The type has passed and the truth has come; lo! With chrism have you been sealed, in baptism you are perfected, in the flock you are intermixed, from the Body you are nourished.
18. What leper when he has been cleansed, turns again and desires his leprosy? You have put off transgressions— forsake it! None puts on the leprosy he had put off. It has fallen and sunk— let it not be drawn out! It is wasted and worn— let it not be renewed! Let not corruption come out upon you, whom the chrism of Christ has anointed!
19. The vessel moulded of clay, gains beauty from the water, receives strength from the fire; but if it slips it is ruined, it cannot be afresh renewed. You are vessels of grace; beware of it, even of justice, for it grants not two renewals.
20. How like are you in comparison, with the Prophet whom the fish yielded up! The Devourer has given you back for he was constrained, by the Power Which constrained the fish. Jonah was for you as a mirror, since not again did the fish swallow him, let not again the Devourer swallow you: being yielded up be like Jonah!
21. Goodly ointment on the head of our Lord did Mary pour; its savour was fragrant through all the house. Likewise the savour of your anointing, has been fragrant and perfumed the heavens, to the Watchers on high; doing pleasure to Satan its savour is overpowering; to God its odour is sweet.
22. The crowds in the desert were like sheep that have no shepherd. The Merciful became their shepherd, and multiplied to them the pasture of bread. Yea, blessed are you that are perfect, that are sealed as lambs of Christ, that of His Body and Blood are made worthy; the Pastor Himself has become pasture for you!
23. Out of water He made the wine, He gave it for drink to the youths in the feast. For you who are keeping the fast, better is the unction than drink. In His wine the betrothed are wedded, by His oil the wedded are sanctified. By His wine is union; by His oil sanctification.
24. The sheep of Christ leaped for joy, to receive the seal of life, that ensign of kings which has ever put sin to flight. The Wicked by Your ensign is routed, iniquities by Your sign are scattered. Come, you sheep, receive your seal, which puts to flight them that devour you!
25. Come, you lambs, receive your seal, for it is truth that is your seal! This is the seal that separates, them of the household from strangers. The steel circumcised alike, the gainsayers and the sons of Hagar. If circumcision be the sign of the sheep, lo! By it the goats are signed.
26. But you, who are the new flock, have put off the doings of wolves, and as lambs are made like to the Lamb. One by changing has changed all; the Lamb to the wolves gave Himself to be slain; the wolves rushed and devoured Him and became lambs; for the Shepherd was changed into a Lamb; likewise the wolf forgot his nature.
27. Look on me also in Your mercy! Be not branded on me the seal, of the goats the sons of the left hand! let not Your sheep become a goat! For though to justify myself I sufficed not, yet to be a sinner I willed not. Turn your eyes, O my Lord, from what I have done, and seek not only what I have willed.
28. From them that write and them that preach, from them that hear and them that are sealed, let glory go up to Christ, and through Him to His Father be exaltation! He Who gives words to them that speak, and gives voice to them that preach, has given understanding to them that hear, and consecrates chrism for him that is sealed.
Hymn 4
(Resp.— Blessed be He that blots out in water misdeeds that are without measure!)
1. Descend my sealed brethren, put on our Lord,— and be rejoined to His lineage, for He is son of a great lineage,— as He has said in His Word.
2. From on high is His Nature, and from beneath His Vesture.— Each that puts off his vesture, commingled is that vesture, with His Vesture forever.
3. You too in the water, receive from him the vesture—that wastes not or is lost for it is the vesture that vests— them that are vested in it forever.
4. But the blessed Priest, is daysman between two:— the covenant shall be made before Him, He is daysman of his Lord,— and surety on our part.
5. The Godhead in the water, lo! Has mingled His leaven—for the creatures of dust, that leaven raises up—and the Godhead joins them.
6. For it is the leaven of the Lord, that can glide into the bondman,— and raise him to freedom; it has joined the bondman to the lineage,— of Him the Lord of all.
7. For the bondman who has put on Him, Who makes all free in the waters—though bondman he be on earth, is son of the free on high—for freedom he has put on.
8. The freeman who has put on, that Angel in the waters—is as the fellow of servants, that he may be made like to the Lord,— Who became bondman unto bondmen.
9. He Who enriches all came down, and put on poverty,— that He might divide to the poor, the stores that were hidden—out of the treasure-house of the water.
10. The lowly one again that has put on, the Giver of all greatness, in the water—even though he be base in the sight of fools, yet is great in the sight of the Watchers,— for that he is clad in greatness.
11. For like as He Who is great, Who became lowly in His love—by the unbelievers was persecuted, and by the Watchers was worshipped,— was made lowly and makes the lowly great.
12. Thus let him be lowly who is great, that in him the lowly may be great:— Let us be like to Him Who is greater than all, Who became less than all:— He was made lowly, and makes all men great.
13. The meek man who has put on Him Who is great, in the water—though humble be his countenance, very great is his discernment,— for He Who is exalted above all dwells in him.
14. For who could be found to despise the bush of thorn—the despised and humble, wherein the Majesty in fire—made its dwelling within?
15. Who again could be found, to despise Moses—the meek and slow of speech—when that excelling glory— dwelt upon his meekness?
16. They that despised him despised his Lord; the wicked that despised him— the earth swallowed up in anger; the Levites who scorned Him—the fire devoured in fury.
17. Of Him Christ commanded, You shall not call him Raca, who is baptized and has put Him on; for whoso despises the despised, despises with him the Mighty.
18. In Eden and in the world, are parables of our Lord;— and what tongue can gather, the similitudes of His mysteries?— for He is figured all of Him in all things.
19. In the Scriptures He is written of; on Nature He is impressed—His crown is figured in kings, in prophets His truth, His atonement in priests.
20. In the rod was He of Moses, and in the hyssops of Aaron—and in the crown of David: to the prophets pertains His similitude, to the Apostles His Gospel.
21. Revelations beheld You, proverbs looked for You—mysteries expected You, similitudes saluted You, parables showed types of You.
22. The Covenant of Moses looked forward to the Gospel:— all things of old time, flew on and alighted thereon, in the new Covenant.
23. Lo! The prophets have poured out on Him, their glorious mysteries—the priests and kings have poured out upon Him, their wonderful types:— they all have poured them out on all of Him.
24. Christ overcame and surpassed, by His teachings the mysteries—by His interpretations the parables; as the sea into its midst— receives all streams.
25. For Christ is the sea, and He can receive— the fountains and brooks, the rivers and streams, that flow from the midst of the Scriptures.
Hymn 5
(Resp.— Blessed be He that ordained baptism, for the atonement of the sons of Adam!)
1. Descend, my brethren, put on from the waters of baptism the Holy Spirit—be joined with the spirits that minister to the Godhead!
2. For lo! He is the fire that secretly, seals also His flock—by the Three spiritual Names, wherein the Evil One is put to flight.
3. John when he cried and said This is the Lamb of God,— thereby showed concerning the Gentiles that they are Abraham's children.
4. This is he that testified of our Saviour, that with fire and the Spirit He should baptize.— Lo! The fire and the Spirit, my brethren, in the baptism of truth.
5. For greater is Baptism than Jordan that little river—for that in streams of water and oil, the misdeeds of all men are washed out.
6. Elisha by seven times washing, cleansed Naaman's leprosy:— in Baptism are cleansed the secret misdeeds in the soul.
7. Moses baptized the People in the midst of the sea, yet availed not— to wash their heart within, that was full of the defilements of misdeeds.
8. Lo! The priest in the likeness of Moses purges the defilements of the soul—and with oil of anointing, lo! He seals new lambs for the Kingdom.
9. Samuel anointed David to be king among the People:— but lo! The priest anoints you to be heirs in the Kingdom.
10. For with the armour that David put on, after the anointing he fought— and laid low the giant who sought to subdue Israel.
11. Lo! Again in the chrism of Christ, and in the armour that is from the water— the haughtiness of the Evil One is humbled, who sought to subdue the Gentiles.
12. By the water that flowed from the rock, the thirst of the People was quenched. Lo! In the fountain of Christ, the thirst of the peoples is quenched.
13. The rod of Moses opened the rock, and the streams flowed forth; and they were refreshed by its draught, who had grown faint with thirst.
14. Lo! From the side of Christ flowed the stream that bestowed life.— The Gentiles drank that were weary, and in it forgot their pains.
15. With Your dew besprinkle my vileness, and my crimes in Your blood shall be atoned!— And I shall be, O my Lord, at Your right hand, and with Your Saints I shall be joined!
Hymn 6
(Resp.— Blessed be He Who was baptized that He might baptize you, that you should be absolved from your offenses.)
1. The Spirit came down from on high—and hallowed the waters by His brooding.— In the baptism of John,— He passed by the rest and abode on One:— but now He has descended and abode—on all that are born of the water.
2. Out of all that John baptized—on One it was that the Spirit dwelt:— but now He has flown and come down—that He may dwell on the many—and as each after each comes up—He loves him and abides on him.
3. A marvel it is that surpasses all!— To the water He went down and was baptized.— The seas declared it blessed,— that river wherein You were baptized:— even the waters that were in heaven envied,— because they were not worthy to be Your bath.
4. A marvel it is, O my Lord, now also—that while the fountains are full of water—it is the water of baptism—that alone is able to atone.— Mighty is the water in the seas—yet is it too weak for atonement.
5. Your might, O my Lord, if it abides—within the humble it exalts him—like as royalty if it abide— within the desert gives it peace.— Water by Your might has triumphed— over sin, for Life has encompassed it.
6. The sheep exulted when they saw— the hand draw near to baptize them.— Receive, O you sheep, your sealing; enter and be mingled in the flock!— for more than over all the flock—over you rejoice the Watchers today.
7. The Angels and the Watchers rejoice— over that which is born of the Spirit and of water:— they rejoice that by fire and by the Spirit—the corporeal have become spiritual.— The Seraphins who sing Holy rejoice—that they who are made holy have been increased.
8. For lo! The Angels rejoice— over one sinner if he repent:— how much more do they now rejoice— that in all churches and congregations,— lo! Baptism is bringing forth— the heavenly from the earthly!
9. The baptized when they come up are sanctified;— the sealed when they go down are pardoned.— They who come up have put on glory—they who go down have cast off sin.— Adam put off his glory in a moment—you have been clothed with glory in a moment.
10. A house that is of dust when it has fallen—by means of water can be renewed:— the body of Adam that was of dust—which had fallen by water has been renewed.— Lo! The priests as builders— afresh renew your bodies.
11. A great marvel is this of the wool—that it can take every dye,— as the mind takes every discourse.— By the name of its dye it is called—as you who were— baptized when Hearers,— have gained the name of Recipients.
12. The common waters he sanctified— even Elisha through the Name that is secret.— In them washed the leper openly—and was cleansed by the Power that is secret:— the leprosy was done away in the water, as transgressions in Baptism.
13. Today, lo! Your offenses are blotted out—and your names are written down.— The priest blots out in the water—and Christ writes down in Heaven.— By the blotting out and the writing down— lo! Doubled is your rejoicing.
14. Lo! Mercy has dawned today—and from bound to bound it stretches:— the sun has sunk and mercy has dawned.— Justice has drawn in her wrath; Grace has spread forth her love—lo! she pardons and quickens freely.
15. The sheep that beforetime were in the fold— lo! They hasten forth to greet— the new lambs that have been added to it.— They are white and are clad in white—within and without white are your bodies as your vestments.
16. From every mouth Blessed are you,— on every side Blessed are you.— Sin from you is driven out—and the Holy Spirit on you is dwelling.— The Evil One has become sad of countenance;— the Good God makes glad your countenance.
17. The gift that you have received freely—cease not from watching over it:— this pearl if it shall be lost— cannot again be sought out—for it is like to virginity— which if it be lost is not to be found.
18. May you from all defilement— be kept by the power of your white robes!— and he whose freedom has defiled itself— may it be able to wash itself clean by his weeping!— For me who am servant of the community— may the supplication of the community win pardon!
19. To the author who has toiled in words—be reconciliation in rest!— to the teacher who has toiled with voice—be forgiveness through grace!— to the priest who has toiled in baptizing—let there come the crown of righteousness!
20. From every mouth with one consent,— of those beneath and those above—Watchers, Cherubin, and Seraphin,— the baptized, the sealed, and the hearers—let each of us cry aloud and say—Glory to the Lord of our feasts!
Hymn 7
(Resp.— Blessed is He Who atoned your sins, that you might receive His Body worthily!)
1. The flock of Jacob came down— and stood round the well of water.— In the water they put on the similitude of the wood that was covered by it.— Mysteries these and types of the Cross,— wherein the parables are interpreted.
2. There are shown in these rods similitudes—and in the sheep, parables.— The Cross in the rods is figured, and in the sheep the souls of men.— His wood was a mystery of our Wood;— likewise his sheep a mystery of our flock.
3. The sheep of Christ rejoice—and stand round the laver of baptism—in the water they put on the likeness— of the living and goodly Cross— whereon gaze all things created,— and all of it is stamped on them all.
4. At the well Rebecca received— in her ears and hands the jewels.— The Spouse of Christ has put on— precious things that are from the water:— on her hand the living Body,— and in her ears the promises.
5. Moses drew water and watered the sheep— of Jethro the priest of sin.— But our Shepherd has baptized His sheep— Who is the high priest of truth.— At the well the flocks were dumb—but here the sheep have speech.
6. The People passed through the water and were baptized:— the People came up on dry land and became as heathen.— The Commandment was savourless in their ears—the manna corrupted in their vessels.— Eat the living Body,— the medicine of life that gives life to all!
7. To the sons of Lot Moses said—Give us water for money—let us only pass by through your border.— They refused the way, and the temporal water.— Lo! The living water freely given—and the path that leads to Eden!
8. From the water Gideon chose for himself— the men who were victorious in the battle.— You have gone down to the victorious waters:— come up and triumph in the fight!— receive from the water atonement,— and from the fight the crowning!
9. You baptized, receive your lamps—like the lamps of the house of Gideon;— conquer the darkness by your lamps—and the silence by your hosannas!— Gideon likewise in the battle— triumphed by the shout and the flame.
10. David the King longed after— the water of the well, and they brought it him—but he drank it not, for he saw that with blood of men it was bought.— In the midst of the water you have revelled— that was bought with the blood of God.
11. Out of Edom the prophet saw— God coming as one that presses the grapes.— He made ready the winepress of wrath—He trod down the peoples and delivered the People.— He has turned and ordained Baptism;— the peoples live, the People has come to nought.
12. In the river Jeremiah buried— the linen girdle that was marred—and [the People] waxed old and decayed.— ...— The peoples that were decayed and marred—by the waters have been clad in newness.
13. In Siloam, the blessed stream— the priests anointed Solomon.— His youth was had in honour—his old age was despised.— Through the pure waters you have been clad— in the purity of Heaven.
14. The fleece that was dry from the dew—Jerusalem was figured in it:— the bason that was filled with water—Baptism was figured in it.— That was dry after the manner of its type;— this was full after the manner of its symbol.
15. The wearied body in water— washes and is refreshed from its toil.— Lo! The laver in which are hidden— refreshing and life and delights.— In it wearied Adam had rest— who brought labour into the creation.
16. The fountain of sweat in the body— is set to protect against fever:— the fountain of Baptism— is set to protect against the Flame.— This is the water that avails— for the quenching of Gehenna.
17. He who journeys through the desert—as armour takes to himself water— against all-conquering thirst.— Go down to the fountain of Christ—receive life in your members—as armour against death.
18. Again, the diver brings up— out of the sea the pearl.— Be baptized and bring up from the water— purity that therein is hidden—the pearl that is set as a jewel— in the crown of the Godhead.
19. Sweet water in his vessel— the seaman lays up as a store—in the midst of the sea he lays up and keeps it, the sweet in the midst of the bitter.— So amidst the floods of sin—keep the water of Baptism.
20. The woman of Samaria said to our Lord,— Lo! verily the well is deep.— Baptism though it be high—in its mercy has stooped down with us:— for the atonement is from above— that has come down unto sinners.
21. He that drinks the water that I shall give him—verily never again shall he thirst.— For this holy Baptism,— for it be ye thirsty, my beloved—never again shall you be thirsty—so that you should come to another baptism.
22. In the baptism of Siloam— the blind man washed, and his eyeballs— were opened and enlightened by the water—he cast off the darkness that was on them.— The hidden darkness you have cast off—from the water you have been clad in light.
23. His hands Pilate washed— that he might not be of them that slew.— You have bathed your bodies—your hands together with your mouths.— Go in and be of them that eat—for this medicine of life gives life to all.
24. Come after Me and verily I will make you— fishers of men.— For instead of a draught of that which perishes—they fished for the draught that is forever.— They who had taken fishes for death—baptized and gave life to them that were to die.
25. An hundred and fifty fishes were taken— by Simon's net from the water—but there were taken by his preaching—out of the bosom of Baptism,— ten thousands and thousands of men—a draught of the sons of the Kingdom.
26. Lo! Our priest as a fisher— over the scanty water is standing—he has taken thence a great draught— of every shape and of every kind—he has drawn up the draught to bring it near— to the King of kings, most high.
27. Simon took the fishes and drew them up—and they were brought near before our Lord:— Our priest has taken from out of the water—by the Hand which he received from Simon,— virgins and chaste men who are brought near— in the festival of the Lord of feasts.
28. In Your mercy I adjure You pardon me—for in mercy You too have sworn—Rabboni, In the death of him that dies—I have no pleasure, but in his life.— You have sworn and I have adjured:— O You Who hast sworn, pardon him who has adjured!
Hymn 8
(Resp.— Happy are you whose bodies have been made to shine!)
1. God in His mercy stooped and came down—to mingle His compassion with the water—and to blend the nature of His majesty— with the wretched bodies of men.— He made occasion by the water— to come down and to dwell in us:— like to the occasion of mercy— when He came down and dwelt in the womb:— O the mercies of God— Who seeks for Himself all occasions to dwell in us!
2. To the cave in Horeb He stooped and came down—and on Moses He caused His majesty to dwell—He imparted His glorious splendour to mortals.— There was therein a figure of Baptism:— He Who came down and dwelt in it—tempers within the water— the might of His majesty—that He may dwell in the feeble.— On Moses dwelt the Breath,— and on you the Perfecting of Christ.
3. That might then none could endure—not Moses chief of deliverers,— nor Elijah chief of zealots;— and the Seraphin too veil their faces—for it is the might that subdues all.— His mercy mingled gentleness— in the water and by the oil—that mankind in its weakness— might be able to stand before Him— when covered by the water and the oil.
4. The captive priests again in the well— hid and concealed the fire of the sanctuary, 1 Maccabbees 1:19 — a mystery of that glorified fire— which the Highpriest mingles in Baptism.— The priests took up of the mire—and on the altar they sprinkled it—for its fire, the fire of that well—with the mire had been mingled—a mystery of our bodies which in the water— with the fire of the Holy Spirit have been mingled.
5. The famous Three in Babylon— in the furnace of fire were baptized, and came forth—they went in and bathed in the flood of flame, they were buffeted by the blazing billows.— There was sprinkled on them there— the dew that fell from heaven;— it loosed from off them there— the bonds of the earthly king.— Lo! The famous Three went in and found a fourth in the furnace.
6. That visible fire that triumphed outwardly—pointed to the fire of the Holy Ghost—which is mingled, lo! And hidden in the water.— In the flame Baptism is figured,— in that blaze of the furnace.— Come, enter, be baptized, my brethren,— for lo! It looses the bonds;— for in it there dwells and is hidden— the Daysman of God—Who in the furnace was the fourth.
7. Two words again our Lord spoke— which in one voice agree in unison:— He said, I have come to send fire,— and again, I have a baptism to be baptized with.— By the fire of Baptism is quenched the fire—that which the Evil One had kindled:— and the water of Baptism has overcome— those waters of contention— by which he had made trial— of Joseph who conquered and was crowned.
8. Lo! The pure fire of our Redeemer— which he kindled in mankind of His mercy!— Through His fire He quenched that fire— which had been kindled in the defiled and sinful.— This is the fire wherein the thorns— are burnt up and the tares.— But happy are your bodies— that have been baptized in the fire— which has consumed your thickets—and by it your seeds have sprung up to heaven!
9. Jeremiah in the womb He sanctified and taught.— But if the lowly bosom of wedlock— was sanctified in conceiving and bringing him forth—how much more shall Baptism sanctify— its conception and its bringing forth— of them that are pure and spiritual!— For there, within the womb— is the conception of all men—but here, out of the water—is the birth whereof the spiritual are worthy.
10. For Jeremiah though sanctified in the womb—they took up nails and cast him into the pit.— Holy was the prophet in his befoulment,— for clean was his heart though he was in the mire.— Be afraid, my brethren— for lo! Today is washed away— your secret befoulment,— and the abomination of your sins.— Turn not again to uncleanness,— for there is but one cleansing of your bodies!
11. The presumptuous who is baptized and again sins—is as the serpent that casts its slough and again puts it on, that is renewed and made young, and turns again— — putting on anew its skin of old—for the serpent does not— cast off its nature.— Cast off the tempter— the corrupter of souls—even the old man—let it not make old— the newness you have put on!
12. Elisha cast the wood into the water, and made the heavy float and the light sink:— their natures were exchanged in the water.— There a new thing came to pass not according to nature.— How much easier then, O Lord,— is this for Your grace; that in the water should sink— transgression which is heavy—but that the soul which is light— should be drawn forth and raised up on high!
13. Joshua, son of Nun, on Jericho— laid a curse on its walls and a doom on its fountains.— They whom Joshua cursed to their destruction—again in the mystery of Jesus have been blessed.— There was cast into them salt—and they were healed and sweetened:— a mystery of this salt—the sweet salt that came from Mary,— that was mingled in the water—whereby was healed the noisomeness of our plagues.
14. Lo! quiet waters are before you—holy and tranquil and pleasant—for they are not the waters of contention— that cast Joseph into the dungeon—nor yet are they the waters—those waters of strife—beside which the people strove—and gainsaid in the wilderness.— There are waters whereby— there is reconciliation made with Heaven.
15. Hagar saw the spring of water—and from it she gave drink to her forward son, him who became as a wild ass in the wilderness.— Instead of that fountain of water is Baptism.— In it are baptized the sons of Hagar,— and have become gentle and peaceful. Who has seen rams like these—that are yoked, lo! And labour— along with tame bullocks—and the seed of their tillage is reaped an hundredfold!
16. In the beginning the Spirit that brooded— moved on the waters; they conceived and gave birth— to serpents and fishes and birds.— The Holy Spirit has brooded in Baptism,— and in mystery has given birth to eagles—Virgins and Prelates;— and in mystery has given birth to fishes—celibates and intercessors; and in mystery of serpents,— lo! The subtle have become simple as doves!
17. Lo! The sword of our Lord in the waters!— that which divides sons and fathers:— for it is the living sword that makes— division, lo! Of the living from the dying.— Lo! They are baptized and they become— Virgins and saints—who have gone down, been baptized, and put on— the One Only begotten.— Lo! Many have come boldly to Him!
18. For whoso have been baptized and put on Him— the Only begotten the Lord of the many—has filled thereby the place of many—for to him Christ has become a great treasure:— for He became in the wilderness— a table of good meats—and He became at the marriage feast— a fountain of choice wines.— He has become such to all in all things—by helps and healings and promises.
19. Elisha was the equal of the Watchers— in his doings, glorious and holy.— The camp of the Watchers was round about him—thus let Baptism be unto you—a camp of guardians,— for by means of it there dwells in the heart— the hope of them that are below— and the Lord of them that are above.— Sanctify for Him your bodies—for where He abides, corruption comes not near.
20. They are no more, the waters of that sea— which by its billows preserved the People—and by its billows laid low the peoples.— Of contrary effect are the waters in Baptism.— In them, lo! The people have life—in them, lo! The People perishes:— for all that are not baptized—in the waters that give life to all—they are dead invisibly.
21. They are no more, the waters of that sea— which were tempestuous, and boiled against Jonah,— and plunged into the depths the Son of Amittai.— Though he fled he was bound in the prison-house— God cast him in and bound him— in dungeon within dungeon—for he bound him in the sea.— and He bound him in the fish.— For him Grace stood surety—and she opened the prison and brought forth the preacher.
22. The Prophets have called the Most High a fire—a devouring fire, and who can dwell with it? Isaiah 30:27 — The People were not able to dwell in it—its might crushed the peoples and they were confounded.— In it, with the unction you have been anointed;— you have put Him on in the water—in the bread you have eaten Him—in the wine you have drunk Him—in the voice you have heard Him—and in the eye of the mind you have seen Him!
Hymn 9
(Resp., Blessed is He Who came down, and sanctified water for the remission of the sins of the children of Adam!)
1. O John, who saw the Spirit—that abode on the head of the Son—to show how the Head of the Highest— went down and was baptized— and came up to be Head on earth!— Children of the Spirit you have thus become—and Christ has become for you the Head:— you also have become His members.
2. Consider and see how exalted you are—how instead of the river Jordan— you have glorious Baptism, wherein is peace—spreading her wings to shade your bodies.— In the wilderness John baptized:— in Her pure flood of Baptism,— purely are you baptized therein.
3. Infants think when they see its glory—that by its pomp its might is enhanced.— But it is the same, and within itself— is not divided.— But the might which never waxes less or greater— in us is little or again great—and he in whom is great understanding—great in him is Baptism.
4. A man's knowledge, if it be exalted—exalted also is his degree above his brethren;— and he whose faith is great— so also is his promise—and as is his wisdom, so also his crowning.— As is the light, which though it be all goodly— and equal all of it with itself— yet goodlier is one eye than another.
5. Jesus mingled His might in the water:— put Him on my brethren as discerning men!— For there are that in the water merely— perceive that they are washed. With our body be our soul washed!— The manifest water let the body perceive—and the soul the secret might—that both to the manifest and to the secret you may be made like!
6. How beautiful is Baptism— in the eye of the heart; come, let us gaze on it!— Like as by a seal you have been moulded;— receive its image—that nought may be lacking to us of our image!— For the sheep that are white of heart— gaze on the glory that is in the water:— in your souls reflect it!
7. Water is by nature as a mirror—for one who in it examines himself.— Stir up your soul, you that discern — and be like it!— For it in its midst reflects your image—from it, on it, find an example—gaze in it on Baptism—and put on the beauty that is hidden therein!
8. What profits it him that hears— a voice and knows not its significance?— Whoso hears a voice and is devoid— of the understanding thereof—his ear is filled but his soul is empty.— Lo! since the gift is abundant—with discernment receive it.
9. Baptism that is with understanding— is the conjunction of two lights—and rich are the fountains of its rays.— ......— And the darkness that is on the mind departs—and the soul beholds Him in beauty—the hidden Christ of glory—and grieves when the glory fails.
10. Baptism without understanding— is a treasure full yet empty—since he that receives it is poor in it—for he understands not— how great are its riches into which he enters and dwells.— For great is the gift within it—though the mean man perceives not— that he is exalted even as it.
11. Open wide your minds and see, my brethren,— the secret column in the air, whose base is fixed from the midst of the water— unto the door of the Highest Place, like the ladder that Jacob saw.— Lo! By it came down the light unto Baptism,— and by it the soul goes up to Heaven—that in one love we may be mingled.
12. Our Lord when he was baptized by John— sent forth twelve fountains—and they issued forth and cleansed by their streams— the defilement of the peoples.— His worshippers are made white like His garments—the garments in Tabor and the body in the water.— Instead of the garments the peoples are made white—and have become for Him a clothing of glory.
13. From your garments learn, my brethren,— how your members should be kept.— For if the garment, which ever so many times— may be made clean—is duly kept for the sake of its comeliness—the body which has but one baptism— manifold more exceeding is the care of its keeping—for manifold are its dangers.
14. Again the sun in a house that is strait—is straitened therein though he be great:— but in a house that is goodly and large—when he rises thereon— far and wide in it he spreads his rays—and though the sun is one and the same in his nature,— in various houses he undergoes changes:— Even so our Lord in various men.
Hymn 10
(Resp.— Glory to Him Who came and restored it!)
1. Adam sinned and earned all sorrows—likewise the world after His example, all guilt.— And instead of considering how it should be restored— considered how its fall should be pleasant for it.— Glory to Him Who came and restored it!
2. This cause summoned Him that is pure—that He should come and be baptized, even He with the defiled—Heaven for His glory was rent asunder.— That the purifier of all might be baptized with all—He came down and sanctified the water for our baptism.
3. For that cause for which He entered into the womb—for the same cause He went down into the river.— For that cause for which He entered into the grave—for the same cause He makes us enter into His chamber.— He perfected mankind for every cause.
4. His Conception is the store of our blessings;— His Birth is the treasury of our joys;— His Baptism is the cause of our pardon—His Death is the cause of our life.— Death He alone has overcome in His Resurrection.
5. At His Birth a star of light shone in the air—when He was baptized light flashed from the water—at His Death the sun was darkened in the firmament;— at His Passion the luminaries set along with Him—at His Epiphany the luminaries arose with Him.
6. Revealed was His Glory because of His Majesty;— revealed was His Passion because of His Manhood;— revealed was His Love because of His Graciousness;— revealed was His Judgment because of His Justice.— He has poured forth His attributes, on them that were His.
7. That whoso has looked on His Glory and despised Him—may look again on His Glory and worship Him—and whoso has scorned to taste of His Graciousness,— may fear lest he be made to feel His justice—He has poured forth His helps on His worshippers.
8. Lo! The East in the morning was made light!— lo! The South at noonday was made dark!— The West again in turn at eventide was made light.— The three quarters represent the one Birth;— His Death and His Life they declare.
9. His Birth flowed on and was joined to His Baptism;— and His Baptism again flowed on even to His Death—His Death led and reached to His Resurrection,— a fourfold bridge unto His Kingdom; and lo! His sheep pass over in His footsteps.
10. And like as, save by the door of birth—none can enter into creation;— so, save by the door of resurrection,— none can enter into the Kingdom,— and whoso has cut off his bridge, has brought to nought his hope.
11. He put on His armour and conquered and was crowned—He left His armour on earth and ascended,— that if any man desires the crown—he may resort to the armour and win by it— the crown of victory which he yearns after.
12. He fulfilled righteousness on earth, and ascended.— But if He, the All-cleanser, was baptized—What man is there that shall not be baptized?— for grace has come to baptism— to wash away the foulness of our wound.
13. The compulsion of God is an all-prevailing force—[but that is not pleasing to Him which is of compulsion,] — as that which is of discerning will.— Therefore in our fruits He calls us— who live not as under compulsion, by persuasion.
14. Good is He, for lo! He labours in these two things—He wills not to constrain our freedom— nor again does He suffer us to abuse it.— For had he constrained it, He had taken away its power—and had He let it go, He had deprived it of help.
15. He knows that if He constrains He deprives us—He knows that if He casts off He destroys us—He knows that if He teaches He wins us.— He has not constrained and He has not cast off, as the Evil One does:— He has taught, chastened, and won us, as being the good God.
16. He knows that His treasuries abound:— the keys of His treasuries He has put into our hands.— He has made the Cross our treasurer— to open for us the gates of Paradise,— as Adam opened the gate of Gehenna.
Hymn 11
(Resp.— Let the bodies rejoice which the Evil One had made naked, that in the water they have put on their glory!)
1. Give thanks, O daughter, that your crownings have been doubled—for lo! Your temples and your sons rejoice.— The dedication of your temples is in the ministration—The dedication of your sons is in the anointing.— Blessed are you that at once......— ......the tabernacle for them that dwell in you—and the Spirit has abode upon your sons!
2. Our Lord opened up Baptism— in the midst of Jordan the blessed river.— The height and the depth rejoiced in Him—He brings forth the first fruits of His peace from the water—for they are first fruits, the fruits of Baptism.— The good God in His compassion will bring to pass— that His peace shall be first fruits on earth.
3. Moses stretched out the temporal Tabernacle;— the priests bathed themselves in water—and went in and ministered; and were stricken and punished—because their heart within was not cleansed.— Blessed are you that in the Passover of the great Passion,— the priests by the savour of their oblations,— lo! Are cleansing souls in you!
4. Great was the mystery that the Prophet saw—the torrent that was mighty.— Into its depths he gazed and beheld— your beauty instead of himself; you it was he saw, for your faith passes not away—you whose flood unseen shall overwhelm— the subtleties of idolatry.
5. Though John was great among them that are born of women—yet he that is little is greater than he—in this that his baptized were again baptized—in the baptism that was of the Apostles.— Blessed art you that your priest is greater than he— in this alone that forever— abides his baptism.
6. The baptism that was of Siloam— did not bring mercy to the man that was laid there— who for thirty and eight years awaited it—for he was a respecter of the persons of the Levites.— Blessed art you that your healing is in you for all men—and your priests are devoted and ready— for all that are in need of your help.
7. The Prophet healed the waters that were unwholesome,— and cured the disease of the land that was barren—so that its death was done away and its region resounded, for its offspring increased and its bosom was filled.— Greater is Your grace, Lord, than Elisha's!— Multiply my lambs and my flocks— at the great stream of my fountain! Ezekiel 47:1, sq
8. Great is the marvel that is within your abode—the flocks together with the Shepherds,— those at the stream of the waters—two unseen with one manifest who baptizes.— Blessed is he who is baptized in their fountains!— for three arms have upheld him—and three Names have preserved him!
Hymn 12
(Resp.— Blessed is He Who went down and was baptized in Jordan, and turned back the People from error!)
1. In Baptism Adam found again— that glory that was among the trees of Eden.— He went down, and received it out of the water—he put it on, and went up and was adorned therein.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
2. Man fell in the midst of Paradise,— and in baptism compassion restored him:— he lost his comeliness through Satan's envy—and found it again by God's grace.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
3. The wedded pair were adorned in Eden—but the serpent stole their crowns:— yet mercy crushed down the accursed one—and made the wedded pair goodly in their raiment.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
4. They clothed themselves with leaves of necessity;— but the Merciful had pity on their beauty—and instead of leaves of trees—He clothed them with glory in the water.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
5. Baptism is the well-spring of life—which the Son of God opened by His Life—and from His Side it has brought forth streams.— Come, all that thirst, come, rejoice!— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
6. The Father has sealed Baptism, to exalt it—and the Son has espoused it to glorify it—and the Spirit with threefold seal— has stamped it, and it has shone in holiness.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
7. The Trinity that is unsearchable— has laid up treasures in baptism.— Descend, you poor, to its fountain!— and be enriched from it, you needy!— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
Hymn 13
Hymn of the Baptized.
(Resp .— Brethren, sing praises, to the Son of the Lord of all; Who has bound for you crowns, such as kings long for!)
1. Your garments glisten, my brethren, as snow—and fair is your shining in the likeness of Angels!
2. In the likeness of Angels, you have come up, beloved—from Jordan's river, in the armour of the Holy Ghost.
3. The bridal chamber that fails not, my brethren, you have received:— and the glory of Adam's house today you have put on.
4. The judgment that came of the fruit, was Adam's condemnation:— but for you victory, has arisen this day.
5. Your vesture is shining, and goodly your crowns:— which the Firstborn has bound for you, by the priest's hand this day.
6. Woe in Paradise, did Adam receive:— but you have received, glory this day.
7. The armour of victory, you put on, my beloved:— in the hour when the priest, invoked the Holy Ghost.
8. The Angels rejoice, men here below exult:— in your feast, my brethren, wherein is no foulness.
9. The good things of Heaven, my brethren, you have received:— beware of the Evil One, lest he despoil you.
10. The day when He dawned, the Heavenly King:— opens for you His door, and bids you enter Eden.
11. Crowns that fade not away, are set on your heads:— hymns of praise hourly, let your mouths sing.
12. Adam by means of the fruit, God cast forth in sorrow:— but you He makes glad, in the bride-chamber of joy.
13. Who would not rejoice, in your bridechamber, my brethren?— for the Father with His Son, and the Spirit rejoice in you.
14. Unto you shall the Father, be a wall of strength:— and the Son a Redeemer, and the Spirit a guard.
15. Martyrs by their blood, glorify their crowns:— but you our Redeemer, by His Blood glorifies.
16. Watchers and Angels, joy over the repentant:— they shall joy over you my brethren, that unto them you are made like.
17. The fruit which Adam, tasted not in Paradise:— this day in your mouths, has been placed with joy.
18. Our Redeemer figured, His Body by the tree:— whereof Adam tasted not, because he had sinned.
19. The Evil One made war, and subdued Adam's house:— through your baptism, my brethren, lo! He is subdued this day.
20. Great is the victory, but today you have won:— if so be ye neglect not, you shall not perish, my brethren.
21. Glory to them that are robed, glory to Adam's house!— in the birth that is from the water, let them rejoice and be blessed!
22. Praise to Him Who has robed, His Churches in glory!— glory to Him Who has magnified, the race of Adam's house.
Hymn 14
Hymn concerning our Lord and John.
(Resp .— Glory to You, my Lord, for You — with joy Heaven and earth worship!)
1. My thought bore me to Jordan,— and I saw a marvel when there was revealed— the glorious Bridegroom who to the Bride— shall bring freedom and holiness.
2. I saw John filled with wonder—and the multitudes standing about him—and the glorious Bridegroom bowed down— to the Son of the barren that he might baptize Him.
3. At the Word and the Voice my thought marvelled:— for lo! John was the Voice;— our Lord was manifested as the Word, that what was hidden should become revealed.
4. The Bride was espoused but knew not— who was the Bridegroom on whom she gazed:— the guests were assembled, the desert was filled—and our Lord was hidden among them.
5. Then the Bridegroom revealed Himself—and to John at the voice He drew near:— and the Forerunner was moved and said of Him— This is the Bridegroom Whom I proclaimed.
6. He came to baptism Who baptizes all—and He showed Himself at Jordan.— John saw Him and drew back—deprecating, and thus he spoke:—
7. How, my Lord, do You will to be baptized—You Who in Your baptism atones all?— Baptism looks unto You — do You shed on it holiness and perfection?
8. Our Lord said I will it so—draw near, baptize Me that My Will may be done.— Resist My Will you can not:— I shall be baptized of you, for thus I will it.
9. I entreat, my Lord, that I be not compelled—for this is hard that You have said to me—'I need you to baptize Me;'— for it is You that with Your hyssop purifies all.
10. I have asked it, and it pleases Me that thus it should be—and you, John, why do you gainsay?— Allow righteousness to be fulfilled—and come, baptize Me; why are you standing there?
11. How can one openly grasp— in his hands the fire that burns?— O You that are fire have mercy on me—and bid me not come near You, for it is hard for me!
12. I have revealed to You My Will; what do you question?— Draw near, baptize Me, and you shall not be burned.— The bridechamber is ready; keep Me not back— from the wedding-feast that has been made ready.
13. The Watchers fear and dare not— gaze on You lest they be blinded—and I, how, O my Lord, shall I baptize You?— I am too weak to draw near; blame me not!
14. You fear; therefore gainsay not— against My Will in what I desire:— and Baptism has respect unto Me.— Accomplish the work to which you have been called!
15. Lo! I proclaimed You at Jordan— in the ears of the people that believed not and if they shall see You baptized of me—they will doubt that You are the Lord.
16. Lo! I am to be baptized in their sight—and the Father Who sent Me bears witness of Me— that I am His Son and in Me He is well pleased—to reconcile Adam who was under His wrath.
17. It becomes, me, O my Lord, to know my nature— that I am moulded out of the ground—and You the moulder Who forms all things:— I, then, why should I baptize You in water?
18. It becomes you to know why I have come—and for what cause I have desired that you should baptize Me.— It is the middle of the way wherein I have walked—withhold not Baptism.
19. Small is the river whereto You have come—that You should lodge therein and it should cleanse You.— The heavens suffice not for Your mightiness;— how much less shall Baptism contain You!
20. The womb is smaller than Jordan;— yet was I willing to lodge in the Virgin:— and as I was born from woman—so too am I to be baptized in Jordan.
21. Lo! The hosts are standing!— the ranks of Watchers, lo! They worship!— And if I draw near, my Lord, to baptize You—I tremble for myself with quaking.
22. The hosts and multitudes call you happy—all of them, for that you baptize Me.— For this I have chosen you from the womb:— fear not, for I have willed it.
23. I have prepared the way as I was sent:— I have betrothed the Bride as I was commanded.— May Your Epiphany be spread over the world— now that You have come, and let me not baptize You!
24. This is My preparation, for so have I willed;— I will go down and be baptized in Jordan,— and make bright the armour for them that are baptized—that they may be white in Me and I not be conquered.
25. Son of the Father, why should I baptize You?— for lo! You are in Your Father and Your Father in You.— Holiness unto the priests You give — why do You ask for water that is common?
26. The children of Adam look unto Me—that I should work for them the new birth.— A way in the waters I will search out for them—and if I be not baptized this cannot be.
27. Pontiffs of You are consecrated—priests by Your hyssop are purified—the anointed and the kings You make.— Baptism, how shall it profit You?
28. The Bride you betrothed to Me awaits Me—that I should go down, be baptized, and sanctify her.— Friend of the Bridegroom withhold Me not— from the washing that awaits Me.
29. I am not able, for I am weak—Your blaze in my hands to grasp.— Lo! Your legions are as flame—bid one of the Watchers baptize You!
30. Not from the Watchers was My Body assumed,— that I should summon a Watcher to baptize Me.— The body of Adam, lo! I have put on—and you, son of Adam, art to baptize Me.
31. The waters saw You, and greatly feared;— the waters saw You, and lo! They tremble!— The river foams in its terror—and I that am weak, how shall I baptize You?
32. The waters in My Baptism are sanctified,— and fire and the Spirit from Me shall they receive—and if I be not baptized they are not made perfect— to be fruitful of children that shall not die.
33. Fire, if to Your fire it draw near—shall be burnt up of it as stubble.— The mountains of Sinai endured You not—and I that am weak, wherein shall I baptize You?
34. I am the flaming fire—yet for man's sake I became a babe— in the virgin womb of the maiden.— And now I am to be baptized in Jordan.
35. It is very meet that You should baptize me—for You have holiness to purify all.— In You it is that the defiled are made holy; but You that art holy, why are You to be baptized?
36. It is very right that you should baptize Me—as I bid, and should not gainsay.— Lo! I baptized you within the womb—baptize me in Jordan!
37. I am a bondman and I am weak.— You that frees all have mercy on me! Your latchets to unloose I am not able—Your exalted head who will make me worthy to touch?
38. Bondmen in My Baptism are set free—handwritings in My washing are blotted out—manumissions in the water are sealed;— and if I be not baptized all these come to nought.
39. A mantle of fire the air wears—and waits for You, above Jordan;— and if You consent to it and will to be baptized—You shall baptize Yourself and fulfil all.
40. This is meet, that you should baptize Me—that none may err and say concerning Me—'Had He not been alien from the Father's house—why feared the Levite to baptize Him?'
41. The prayer, then, when You are baptized—how shall I complete over Jordan?— When the Father and the Spirit are seen over You—Whom shall I call on, as priest?
42. The prayer in silence is to be completed:— come, your hand alone lay on Me.— and the Father shall utter in the priest's stead— that which is meet concerning His Son.
43. They that are bidden, lo! All of them stand—the Bridegroom's guests, lo! They bear witness— that day by day I said among them—'I am the Voice and not the Word.'
44. Voice of him that cries in the wilderness—fulfil the work for which you came—that the desert whereunto you went out may resound— with the mighty peace you preached therein.
45. The shout of the Watchers has come to my ears—lo! I hear from the Father's house— the hosts that sound forth the cry—'In Your Epiphany, O Bridegroom, the worlds have life.'
46. The time hastes on, and the marriage guests— look to Me to see what is doing.— Come, baptize Me, that they may give praise— to the Voice of the Father when it is heard!
47. I hearken, my Lord, according to Your Word:— come to Baptism as Your love constrains You!— The dust worships that whereunto he has attained—that on Him Who fashioned him he should lay his hand.
48. The heavenly ranks were silent as they stood—and the Bridegroom went down into Jordan;— the Holy One was baptized and straightway went up—and His Light shone forth on the world.
49. The doors of the highest were opened above—and the voice of the Father was heard—This is my Beloved in Whom I am well pleased.— All you peoples, come and worship Him.
50. They that saw were amazed as they stood, at the Spirit Who came down and bore witness to Him.— Praise to Your Epiphany that gladdens all—You in Whose revelation the worlds are lightened!
Hymn 15
1. In the Birth of the Son light dawned,— and darkness fled from the world—and the earth was enlightened; then let it give glory— to the brightness of the Father Who has enlightened it!
2. He dawned from the womb of the Virgin,— and the shadows passed away when He was seen—and the darkness of error was strangled by Him—and the ends of the earth were enlightened that they should give glory.
3. Among the peoples there was great tumult—and in the darkness the light dawned,— and the nations rejoiced to give glory— to Him in Whose Birth they all were enlightened.
4. His light shone out over the east—Persia was enlightened by the star:— His Epiphany gave good tidings to her and invited her—He has come for the sacrifice that brings joy to all.
5. The star of light hasted and came and dawned— through the darkness, and summoned them— that the peoples should come and exult— in the great Light that has come down to earth.
6. One envoy from among the stars— the firmament sent to proclaim to them—to the sons of Persia, that they might make ready— to meet the King and to worship Him.
7. Great Assyria when she perceived it— called to the Magi and said to them—Take gifts and go, honour Him— the great King Who in Judea has dawned.
8. The princes of Persia, exulting,— carried gifts from their region—and they brought to the Son of the Virgin— gold and myrrh and frankincense.
9. They entered and found Him as a child— as He dwelt in the house of the lowly woman—and they drew near and worshipped with gladness—and brought near before Him their treasures.
10. Mary said, For whom are these?— and for what purpose? And what is the cause— that has called you to come from your country— to the Child with your treasures?
11. They said, Your Son is a King,— and He binds crowns and is King of all—and great is His power over the world—and to His Kingdom shall all be obedient.
12. At what time did this come to pass—that a lowly woman should bring forth a King? I who am in need and in want—how then could a king come forth from me?
13. In you alone has this come to pass— that a mighty King from you should appear—you in whom poverty shall be magnified—and to your Son shall crowns be made subject.
14. Treasures of Kings I have not—riches have never fallen to my lot.— My house is lowly and my dwelling needy;— why then do you proclaim that my Son is King?
15. Great treasure is in your Son,— and wealth that suffices to make all rich;— for the treasures of kings are impoverished—but He fails not nor can be measured.
16. Whether haply some other be for you— the King that is born, enquire concerning Him.— This is the son of a lowly woman—of one who is not meet to look on a King.
17. Can it be that light should ever miss— the way whereon it has been sent? It was not darkness that summoned and led us—in light we walked, and your Son is King.
18. Lo! You see a babe without speech—and the house of His mother empty and needy,— and of that which pertains to a king nought is in it:— how then in it is a king to be seen?
19. Lo! We see that without speech and at rest— is the King, and lowly as you have said:— but again we see that the stars— in the highest He bids haste to proclaim Him.
20. It were meet, O men, that you should enquire— who is the King, and then adore him—lest haply your way has been mistaken—and another is the King that is born.
21. It were meet, O maiden, that you should receive it—that we have learned that your Son is King—from the star of light that errs not—and plain is the way, and he has led us.
22. The Child is a little one, and lo! He has not— the diadem of a king and of a throne—and what have you seen that you should pay honour to Him—as to a king, with your treasures?
23. A little one, because He willed it for quietness' sake—and meek now until He be revealed.— A time shall be for Him when all diadems— shall bow down and worship Him.
24. Armies he has none—nor has my Son legions and troops:— in the poverty of His mother He dwells—why then King is He called by you?
25. The armies of your Son are above—they ride on high, and they flame—and one of them it was that came and summoned us—and all our country was dismayed.
26. The Child is a babe, and how is it possible— He should be King, unknown to the world?— And they that are mighty and of renown—how can a babe be their ruler?
27. Your babe is aged, O Virgin—and Ancient of Days and exalted above all and Adam beside Him is very babe—and in Him all created things are made new.
28. It is very seemly that you should expound— all the mystery and explain it—who it is that reveals to you the mystery of my Son,— that He is a King in your region.
29. It is likewise seemly for you to accept this—that unless the truth had led us we had not wandered hither from the ends of the earth—nor come for the sake of your Son.
30. All the mystery as it was wrought— among you there in your country—reveal to me now as friends.— Who was He that called you to come to me?
31. A mighty Star appeared to us— that was glorious exceedingly above the stars—and our land by its fire was kindled—that this King had appeared it bore tidings to us.
32. Do not, I beseech you, speak of— these things in our land lest they rage,— and the kings of the earth join together— against the Child in their envy.
33. Be not dismayed, O Virgin!— Your Son shall bring to nought all diadems, and set them underneath his heel—and they shall not subdue Him Whom they envy.
34. Because of Herod I am afraid,— that unclean wolf, lest he assail me—and draw his sword and with it cut off— the sweet cluster before it be ripe.
35. Because of Herod fear not—for in the hands of your Son is his throne placed:— and as soon as He shall reign it shall be laid low—and his diadem shall fall on the earth beneath.
36. A torrent of blood is Jerusalem,— wherein the excellent ones are slain;— and if she perceives Him she will assail Him.— In mystery speak, and noise it not abroad.
37. All torrents, and likewise swords—by the hands of your Son shall be appeased—and the sword of Jerusalem shall be blunted—and shall not desire at all to kill.
38. The scribes of the priests of Jerusalem— pour forth blood and heed not.— They will arouse murderous strife— against me and against the Child; O Magi, be silent!
39. The scribes and the priests will be unable— to hurt your son in their envy—for by Him their priesthood shall be dissolved—and their festivals brought to nought.
40. A Watcher revealed to me, when I received— conception of the Babe, that my Son is a King;— that His diadem is from on high and is not dissolved—he declared to me even as you do.
41. The Watcher, therefore, of whom you have spoken— is he who came as a star—and was shown to us and brought us good tidings— that He is great and glorious above the stars.
42. That Angel declared to me— in his good tidings, when he appeared to me—that to His Kingdom no end shall be— and the mystery is kept and shall not be revealed.
43. The Star also declared again to us— that your Son is He that shall keep the diadem.— His aspect was something changed—and he was the Angel and made it not known to us.
44. Before me when the Watcher showed himself—he called Him his Lord before He was conceived—and as the Son of the Highest announced Him to me:— but where His Father is he made not known to me.
45. Before us he proclaimed in the form of a star— that the Lord of the Highest is He Who is born—and over the stars of light your Son is ruler—and unless He commands they rise not.
46. In your presence, lo! There are revealed— other mysteries, that you may learn the truth—how in virginity I bare my Son,— and He is Son of God; go, proclaim Him!
47. In our presence the Star taught us— that His Birth is exalted above the world and above all beings is your Son,— and is Son of God according to your saying.
48. The world on high and the world below bear witness to Him—all the Watchers and the stars—that He is Son of God and Lord.— Bear His fame to your lands!
49. All the world on high, in one star—has stirred up Persia and she has learned the truth—that your Son is Son of God—and to Him shall all peoples be subject.
50. Peace bear to your lands:— peace be multiplied in your borders!— As apostles of truth may you be believed— in all the way that you shall pass through.
51. The peace of your Son, it shall bear us— in tranquillity to our land, as it has led us hither—and when His power shall have grasped the worlds—may He visit our land and bless it!
52. May Persia rejoice in your glad tidings!— may Assyria exult in your coming— And when my Son's Kingdom shall arise—may He plant His standard in your country!
53. Let the Church sing with rejoicing—Glory in the Birth of the Highest,— by Whom the world above and the world below are illumined!— Blessed be He in Whose Birth all are made glad!
Hymn 1
Resp.— To You be praise from Your flock in the day of Your Epiphany!
1. The heavens He has renewed, for that fools worshipped all the luminaries:— He has renewed the earth, for that in Adam it was wasted. — That which He fashioned has become new by His spittle:— and the All-Sufficing has restored bodies with souls.
2. Gather yourselves again— sheep and without labour receive cleansing!— for one needs not as Elisha— to bathe seven times in the river, nor again to be wearied as the priests are wearied with sprinklings.
3. Seven times Elisha purified himself in a mystery of the seven spirits;— and the hyssop and blood are a mighty symbol.— There is no room for division— He is not divided from the Lord of all Who is Son of the Lord of all.
4. Moses sweetened in Marah the waters that were bitter—because the People complained and murmured:— Thus he gave a sign of baptism—wherein the Lord of life makes sweet them that were bitter.
5. The cloud overshadowed and kept off the burning heat from the camp—it showed a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which overshadows you in baptism— tempering the flaming fire that it harm not your bodies.
6. Through the sea the People then passed, and showed a symbol— of the baptism wherein you were washed. The People passed through that and believed not:— the Gentiles were baptized in this and believed and received the Holy Ghost.
7. The Word sent the Voice to proclaim before His Coming,— to prepare for Him the way by which He came—and to betroth the Bride till He should come—that she might be ready when He should come and take her from the water.
8. The voice of prophecy stirred the son of the barren woman—and he went forth wandering in the desert and crying—Lo! The Son of the Kingdom comes!— prepare the way that He may enter and abide in your dwellings!
9. John cried, Who comes after me, He is before me:— I am the Voice but not the Word;— I am the torch but not the Light—the Star that rises before the Sun of Righteousness.
10. In the wilderness this John had cried and had said—Repent you sinners of your evils—and offer the fruits of repentance;— for lo! He comes that winnows the wheat from the tares.
11. The Lightgiver has prevailed and marked a mystery, by the degrees he ascended:— Lo! There are twelve days since he ascended,— and today this is the thirteenth:— a perfect mystery of Him, the Son, and His twelve!
12. Darkness was overcome to make it manifest that Satan was overcome—and the Light prevailed that he should proclaim— that the Firstborn triumphs: darkness was overcome— with the Dark Spirit, and our Light prevailed with the Lightgiver.
13. In the Height and the Depth the Son had two heralds.— The star of light proclaimed Him from above—John likewise preached Him from beneath:— two heralds, the earthly and the heavenly.
14. The star of light, contrary to nature, shone forth of a sudden—less than the sun yet greater than the sun.— Less was it than he in manifest light—and greater than he in secret might because of its mystery.
15. The star of light shed its rays among them that were in darkness—and guided them as though they were blind—so that they came and met the great Light:— they gave offerings and received life and adored and departed.
16. The herald from above showed His Nature to be from the Most High;— likewise he that was from beneath showed His Body to be from humankind, mighty marvel!— that His Godhead and His Manhood by them were proclaimed!
17. Thus whoso reckons Him as of earth, the star of light— will convince him that He is of Heaven: and whoso reckons Him as of spirit,— this John will convince him that He is also bodily.
18. John drew near with his parents and worshipped the Sun—and brightness rested on His Face.— He was not moved as when in the womb.— Mighty marvel! That here he worships and there he leaped!
19. The whole creation became for Him as one mouth and cried out concerning Him.— The Magi cry out in their gifts;— the barren cry out with their children—the star of light, lo! It cries out in the air, Behold the Son of the King!
20. The heavens are opened, the waters break forth, the dove is in glory!— The voice of the Father is stronger than thunder—as it utters the word, This is My Beloved;— the Watchers brought the tidings, the children acclaimed Him in their Hosannas.
Hymn 2
(Nearly identical with Hymn XIII. On the Nativity.)
(Resp.— To You be praise Who in this feast makest all to exult!)
1. In the time of the King whom they called by the name Semha — our Lord was manifested among the Hebrews.— Thus Semha and Denha reigned together—the King on earth and the Son on high— blessed be His power!
2. In the days of the King who wrote down men in the taxing,— our Saviour came down and wrote down men in the Book of Life; He wrote and was written—on high He wrote us, on earth He was written; glory to His Name!
3. His Birth was in the days of the King whose name was Semha.— Symbol and truth met one another—King and King, Semha and Denha.— That kingdom bore His Cross; blessed be He Who took it up!
4. Thirty years abode He on earth in poverty.— Voices of praise in all measures—let us weave my brethren for our Lord's years—thirty crowns for thirty years; Blessed be His number!
5. In the first year, mistress of treasure and filled with blessings,— let the Cherubin give thanks with us, they who bear— the Son in glory Who gave up His glorious state—and toiled and found the sheep that was lost—to Him be thanksgiving!
6. In the second year let the Seraphin multiply thanksgiving with us—they who cried Holy to the Son, and turned and saw Him— among unbelievers put to shame.— He endured scorn and taught us glory; to Him be glory given!
7. In the third year let Michael and his hosts give thanks with us—they who were wont to serve the Son on high— and saw Him on earth doing service.— He washed men's feet and cleansed men's souls; blessed be His meekness!
8. In the fourth year let all the heavens give thanks with us! Too narrow for the Son it shall burst to see— how He lay on the couch of despised Zaccheus.— He filled the couch and had filled the heavens;— to Him be thanksgiving!
9. In the fifth year let the Sun that burns the earth with its heat— give thanks to our Sun that He straitened His largeness,— and tempered His force that the eye might endure to see Him—the inward eye of a pure soul; blessed be His radiance!
10. In the sixth year again let all the air give thanks with us—in the vastness whereof all things exult.— It saw its great Lord that He became— a little babe in a lowly bosom; blessed be His honour!
11. In the seventh year let the clouds and winds sound the trumpet with us—they whose dew sprinkles the faces of the flowers—yet saw they the Son that He subdued His brightness—and endured scorn and shameful spitting—blessed be His salvation!
12. Yet again in the eighth year let Creation give glory—from whose fountain the fruits draw nurture.— She adored when she saw the Son at the breast—pure babe nurtured by pure milk; blessed be His good pleasure!
13. In the ninth year let the earth give glory, which when her lap is watered then brings forth the root.— She saw Mary an unwatered soil— whose fruit that she yielded is a mighty sea; to Him be exultation!
R., To You be glory, Son of the Lord of all, Who gives life to all!
14. In the tenth year let Mount Sinai give glory, which melted— before its Lord! It saw against its Lord— stones taken up: but He took stones— to build the Church upon the Rock; blessed be His building!
15. In the eleventh year let the great sea give thanks— to the hand of the Son Who measured it! And it wondered to see how He came down and was washed— in humble waters, He that cleanses Creation; blessed be His triumph!
16. In the twelfth year let the holy Temple give thanks— which beheld the Child as He sat— among the elders: the doctors were silenced— as the Lamb of the feast bleated in the feast; blessed be His atonement!
17. In the thirteenth year let diadems with us give thanks— to the King Who triumphed and was crowned— with a crown of thorns: He wove for man— a mighty diadem at His right hand; blessed be He That sent Him!
18. In the fourteenth year let the Passover of Egypt give thanks— to the Passover that came and made passover for all—and instead of Pharaoh overwhelmed Legion—and instead of horsemen drowned demons; blessed be His retribution!
19. In the fifteenth year let the lamb of the flock give thanks—that our Lord slew it not as did Moses—but redeemed by His Blood mankind.— He the Shepherd of all died for all; blessed be He That begot Him!
20. In the sixteenth year let the seed-grain in mystery give thanks— to that Husbandman Who gave His Body for seed— in a barren soil that corrupts all things.— It proved fertile and yielded new bread; blessed be He that is pure!
21. In the seventeenth year let the Vine give thanks to our Lord,— the Vineyard of truth, wherein souls were— as the scions. He gave peace to this vineyard, but laid waste that vineyard which bare wild grapes; blessed be the Uprooter!
22. In the eighteenth year let our leaven give thanks— to the leaven of truth that penetrates and draws— all minds and makes them to become— one mind in one doctrine; blessed be His doctrine!
23. In the nineteenth year let the Salt give thanks for Your Body.— O blessed Babe it is the soul— that is the salt of the Body, and Faith— the salt of the soul whereby it is preserved; blessed be Your preservation!
R., Glory to Your Epiphany, O God and Man!
24. In the twentieth year let temporal wealth with us give thanks—which men that are perfect have cast off and abandoned— because of the Woe; and have gone and loved— poverty because of its beatitude; blessed be He Who desired it!
25. In the one-and-twentieth year let the waters give thanks that were sweetened— in a mystery of the Son. In the honey of Samson— the nations tasted bitterness therein that destroyed them:— they had life in the Cross that redeemed them; blessed be its pleasantness!
26. In the two-and-twentieth year let arms and the sword give thanks—for they could not slay our Adversary.— You are He Who slew him as You are He Who restored— the ear that Simon's sword cut off; blessed be Your healing!
27. In the three-and-twentieth year let the ass likewise give thanks—that gave the colt whereon He should ride—He opens likewise the mouth of wild asses—the offspring gave Him praise; blessed be the praise of You!
28. In the four-and-twentieth year let wealth give thanks to the Son!— Treasures were amazed at the Lord of treasures—how He grew up among the poor.— He made Himself poor that He might make all rich; blessed be His participation!
29. In the five-and-twentieth year let Isaac give thanks to the Son— Who in the mount saved him from the knife—and became in his stead the lamb to be slain.— The mortal escaped, and He died Who gives life to all; blessed be His offering!
30. In the six-and-twentieth year let Moses with us give thanks—who feared and fled from the slayers;— let him give thanks to the Son, for He it was Who on His feet— entered Sheol and spoiled it and came forth; blessed be His Resurrection!
[31. In the seven-and-twentieth year let the eloquent Orators— give thanks to the Son, for they could not find— means whereby we should prevail in our judgment:— He was silent in judgment and made our judgment prevail; to Him be applause!]
32. In the seven and twentieth year let all Judges give thanks—who as being just have put to death illdoers;— let them give thanks to the Son Who instead of the evil— died as being good, though He was Son of the Just One; blessed be His mercies!
33. In the eight-and-twentieth year let them give thanks to the Son—all the mighty men who saved us not— from the captors. One is to be worshipped,— Who was slain and laid hold and saved us; blessed be His deliverance!
34. In the nine-and-twentieth year let Job with us give thanks—who bare sufferings in his own behalf:— but our Lord bare on our behalf— the spitting and the stripes, the thorns and the nails; blessed is His compassion!
35. In the year that is the thirtieth let them give thanks with us—the dead that have lived through His dying—the living that were converted in His Crucifixion,— and the height and the depth that have been reconciled in Him! Blessed be He and His Father!
Hymn 3
(Resp.— Christ with chrism, lo! He is sealing the newborn lambs in His flock!)
1. Christ and chrism are conjoined; the secret with the visible is mingled: the chrism anoints visibly—Christ seals secretly, the lambs newborn and spiritual, the prize of His twofold victory; for He engendered it of the chrism, and He gave it birth of the water.
2. How exalted are your Orders! For she that was a sinner anointed, as a handmaid, the feet of her Lord. But for you, as though His minister, Christ by the hand of His servants, seals and anoints your bodies. It befits Him the Lord of the flock, that in His own person He seal His sheep.
3. Since then she, that sinner, stood in need of forgiveness, the anointing was for her an offering, and by it her love reconciled her Lord. But you who are the flock, among the profane and unbelievers, the Truth by the chrism is your seal, to separate you from the strayed.
4. From the peoples he separated the People, by the former seal of circumcision; but by the seal of anointing, the peoples He separates from the People. When the peoples were in error, the People He separated from the peoples; now when the People has erred from Him, He separates the peoples from thence.
5. Of the dust of the pure soil, Naaman bore away and returned to his place; that he by this holy dust, might be separated and known from the unclean. The chrism of Christ separates, the sons of the mystery from strangers: and by it they that are within are separated, and known from them that are without.
6. The oil which Elijah multiplied, might be tasted with the mouth; for the cruse was that of the widow, it was not that of the chrism. The oil of our Lord that is in the cruse, it is not food for the mouth: the sinner that was a wolf without, it makes him a lamb in the flock.
7. The chrism of the meek and lowly One, changes the stubborn to be like its Lord. The Gentiles were wolves and feared, the severe rod of Moses. Lo! The chrism seals them and makes, a flock of sheep out of the wolves! And the wolves that had fled from the rod, lo! They have taken refuge in the Cross!
8. The leaf of olive arrived, brought as a figure of the anointing; the sons of the Ark rejoiced to greet it, for it bore good tidings of deliverance. Thus also you rejoiced to greet it, even this holy anointing. The bodies of sinners were glad in it, for it brought good tidings of deliverance.
9. The oil again that Jacob poured, upon the stone when he sealed it, that it should be between him and God, and that he might offer there his tithes; lo! In it is a symbol of your bodies, how by chrism they are sealed as holy, and become temples for God, where He shall be served by your sacrifices.
10. When Moses had sealed and anointed, the sons of Aaron the Levite, the fire consumed their bodies; the fire spared their vestments. But you my brethren blessed are you, for the fire of grace has come down, has consumed utterly your offenses, and cleansed and hallowed your bodies!
11. As for the anointing of Aaron my brethren, it was the vile blood of beasts, that it sprinkled in the horns of the altar. The anointing of truth is this; wherein the living and all-lifegiving Blood, is sprinkled inwardly in your bodies, is mingled in your understandings, is infused through your inmost chambers.
12. The anointed priests used to offer, the slain bodies of beasts; You, O anointed and excelling, your offerings are your own bodies. The anointed Levites offered, the inward parts taken, from beasts: you have excelled the Levites, for your hearts you have Consecrated.
13. The anointing of the People was— a foreshadowing of Christ; their rod a mystery of the Cross; their lamb a type of the Only begotten; their tabernacle a mystery of your Churches; their circumcision a sign of your sealing. Under the shadow of your goodly thing, sat the People of old.
14. Thus the truth is likened, to a great shadowing tree: it cast its shade on the People; it struck its root among the peoples. The People abode under its shadows, whose shadows were its mysteries; but the Gentiles lodged on its bough, and plucked and ate of its fruits.
15. As for the anointing of Saul to be king; the sweeter was its savour, so much fouler was the savour of his heart. The Spirit struck him and fled. Your anointing which you have is greater; for your minds are censers, in your temples the Spirit exults, a chamber forever shall you be unto Him.
16. As for the anointing of David my brethren; the Spirit came down and made sweet savour, in the heart of the man wherein He delighted; the savour of his heart was as the savour of his action. The Spirit dwelt in him and made song in him. Your anointing which you have is greater, for Father and Son and Holy Ghost, have moved and come down to dwell in you.
17. When the leper of old was cleansed, the priest used to seal him with oil, and to lead him to the waterspring. The type has passed and the truth has come; lo! With chrism have you been sealed, in baptism you are perfected, in the flock you are intermixed, from the Body you are nourished.
18. What leper when he has been cleansed, turns again and desires his leprosy? You have put off transgressions— forsake it! None puts on the leprosy he had put off. It has fallen and sunk— let it not be drawn out! It is wasted and worn— let it not be renewed! Let not corruption come out upon you, whom the chrism of Christ has anointed!
19. The vessel moulded of clay, gains beauty from the water, receives strength from the fire; but if it slips it is ruined, it cannot be afresh renewed. You are vessels of grace; beware of it, even of justice, for it grants not two renewals.
20. How like are you in comparison, with the Prophet whom the fish yielded up! The Devourer has given you back for he was constrained, by the Power Which constrained the fish. Jonah was for you as a mirror, since not again did the fish swallow him, let not again the Devourer swallow you: being yielded up be like Jonah!
21. Goodly ointment on the head of our Lord did Mary pour; its savour was fragrant through all the house. Likewise the savour of your anointing, has been fragrant and perfumed the heavens, to the Watchers on high; doing pleasure to Satan its savour is overpowering; to God its odour is sweet.
22. The crowds in the desert were like sheep that have no shepherd. The Merciful became their shepherd, and multiplied to them the pasture of bread. Yea, blessed are you that are perfect, that are sealed as lambs of Christ, that of His Body and Blood are made worthy; the Pastor Himself has become pasture for you!
23. Out of water He made the wine, He gave it for drink to the youths in the feast. For you who are keeping the fast, better is the unction than drink. In His wine the betrothed are wedded, by His oil the wedded are sanctified. By His wine is union; by His oil sanctification.
24. The sheep of Christ leaped for joy, to receive the seal of life, that ensign of kings which has ever put sin to flight. The Wicked by Your ensign is routed, iniquities by Your sign are scattered. Come, you sheep, receive your seal, which puts to flight them that devour you!
25. Come, you lambs, receive your seal, for it is truth that is your seal! This is the seal that separates, them of the household from strangers. The steel circumcised alike, the gainsayers and the sons of Hagar. If circumcision be the sign of the sheep, lo! By it the goats are signed.
26. But you, who are the new flock, have put off the doings of wolves, and as lambs are made like to the Lamb. One by changing has changed all; the Lamb to the wolves gave Himself to be slain; the wolves rushed and devoured Him and became lambs; for the Shepherd was changed into a Lamb; likewise the wolf forgot his nature.
27. Look on me also in Your mercy! Be not branded on me the seal, of the goats the sons of the left hand! let not Your sheep become a goat! For though to justify myself I sufficed not, yet to be a sinner I willed not. Turn your eyes, O my Lord, from what I have done, and seek not only what I have willed.
28. From them that write and them that preach, from them that hear and them that are sealed, let glory go up to Christ, and through Him to His Father be exaltation! He Who gives words to them that speak, and gives voice to them that preach, has given understanding to them that hear, and consecrates chrism for him that is sealed.
Hymn 4
(Resp.— Blessed be He that blots out in water misdeeds that are without measure!)
1. Descend my sealed brethren, put on our Lord,— and be rejoined to His lineage, for He is son of a great lineage,— as He has said in His Word.
2. From on high is His Nature, and from beneath His Vesture.— Each that puts off his vesture, commingled is that vesture, with His Vesture forever.
3. You too in the water, receive from him the vesture—that wastes not or is lost for it is the vesture that vests— them that are vested in it forever.
4. But the blessed Priest, is daysman between two:— the covenant shall be made before Him, He is daysman of his Lord,— and surety on our part.
5. The Godhead in the water, lo! Has mingled His leaven—for the creatures of dust, that leaven raises up—and the Godhead joins them.
6. For it is the leaven of the Lord, that can glide into the bondman,— and raise him to freedom; it has joined the bondman to the lineage,— of Him the Lord of all.
7. For the bondman who has put on Him, Who makes all free in the waters—though bondman he be on earth, is son of the free on high—for freedom he has put on.
8. The freeman who has put on, that Angel in the waters—is as the fellow of servants, that he may be made like to the Lord,— Who became bondman unto bondmen.
9. He Who enriches all came down, and put on poverty,— that He might divide to the poor, the stores that were hidden—out of the treasure-house of the water.
10. The lowly one again that has put on, the Giver of all greatness, in the water—even though he be base in the sight of fools, yet is great in the sight of the Watchers,— for that he is clad in greatness.
11. For like as He Who is great, Who became lowly in His love—by the unbelievers was persecuted, and by the Watchers was worshipped,— was made lowly and makes the lowly great.
12. Thus let him be lowly who is great, that in him the lowly may be great:— Let us be like to Him Who is greater than all, Who became less than all:— He was made lowly, and makes all men great.
13. The meek man who has put on Him Who is great, in the water—though humble be his countenance, very great is his discernment,— for He Who is exalted above all dwells in him.
14. For who could be found to despise the bush of thorn—the despised and humble, wherein the Majesty in fire—made its dwelling within?
15. Who again could be found, to despise Moses—the meek and slow of speech—when that excelling glory— dwelt upon his meekness?
16. They that despised him despised his Lord; the wicked that despised him— the earth swallowed up in anger; the Levites who scorned Him—the fire devoured in fury.
17. Of Him Christ commanded, You shall not call him Raca, who is baptized and has put Him on; for whoso despises the despised, despises with him the Mighty.
18. In Eden and in the world, are parables of our Lord;— and what tongue can gather, the similitudes of His mysteries?— for He is figured all of Him in all things.
19. In the Scriptures He is written of; on Nature He is impressed—His crown is figured in kings, in prophets His truth, His atonement in priests.
20. In the rod was He of Moses, and in the hyssops of Aaron—and in the crown of David: to the prophets pertains His similitude, to the Apostles His Gospel.
21. Revelations beheld You, proverbs looked for You—mysteries expected You, similitudes saluted You, parables showed types of You.
22. The Covenant of Moses looked forward to the Gospel:— all things of old time, flew on and alighted thereon, in the new Covenant.
23. Lo! The prophets have poured out on Him, their glorious mysteries—the priests and kings have poured out upon Him, their wonderful types:— they all have poured them out on all of Him.
24. Christ overcame and surpassed, by His teachings the mysteries—by His interpretations the parables; as the sea into its midst— receives all streams.
25. For Christ is the sea, and He can receive— the fountains and brooks, the rivers and streams, that flow from the midst of the Scriptures.
Hymn 5
(Resp.— Blessed be He that ordained baptism, for the atonement of the sons of Adam!)
1. Descend, my brethren, put on from the waters of baptism the Holy Spirit—be joined with the spirits that minister to the Godhead!
2. For lo! He is the fire that secretly, seals also His flock—by the Three spiritual Names, wherein the Evil One is put to flight.
3. John when he cried and said This is the Lamb of God,— thereby showed concerning the Gentiles that they are Abraham's children.
4. This is he that testified of our Saviour, that with fire and the Spirit He should baptize.— Lo! The fire and the Spirit, my brethren, in the baptism of truth.
5. For greater is Baptism than Jordan that little river—for that in streams of water and oil, the misdeeds of all men are washed out.
6. Elisha by seven times washing, cleansed Naaman's leprosy:— in Baptism are cleansed the secret misdeeds in the soul.
7. Moses baptized the People in the midst of the sea, yet availed not— to wash their heart within, that was full of the defilements of misdeeds.
8. Lo! The priest in the likeness of Moses purges the defilements of the soul—and with oil of anointing, lo! He seals new lambs for the Kingdom.
9. Samuel anointed David to be king among the People:— but lo! The priest anoints you to be heirs in the Kingdom.
10. For with the armour that David put on, after the anointing he fought— and laid low the giant who sought to subdue Israel.
11. Lo! Again in the chrism of Christ, and in the armour that is from the water— the haughtiness of the Evil One is humbled, who sought to subdue the Gentiles.
12. By the water that flowed from the rock, the thirst of the People was quenched. Lo! In the fountain of Christ, the thirst of the peoples is quenched.
13. The rod of Moses opened the rock, and the streams flowed forth; and they were refreshed by its draught, who had grown faint with thirst.
14. Lo! From the side of Christ flowed the stream that bestowed life.— The Gentiles drank that were weary, and in it forgot their pains.
15. With Your dew besprinkle my vileness, and my crimes in Your blood shall be atoned!— And I shall be, O my Lord, at Your right hand, and with Your Saints I shall be joined!
Hymn 6
(Resp.— Blessed be He Who was baptized that He might baptize you, that you should be absolved from your offenses.)
1. The Spirit came down from on high—and hallowed the waters by His brooding.— In the baptism of John,— He passed by the rest and abode on One:— but now He has descended and abode—on all that are born of the water.
2. Out of all that John baptized—on One it was that the Spirit dwelt:— but now He has flown and come down—that He may dwell on the many—and as each after each comes up—He loves him and abides on him.
3. A marvel it is that surpasses all!— To the water He went down and was baptized.— The seas declared it blessed,— that river wherein You were baptized:— even the waters that were in heaven envied,— because they were not worthy to be Your bath.
4. A marvel it is, O my Lord, now also—that while the fountains are full of water—it is the water of baptism—that alone is able to atone.— Mighty is the water in the seas—yet is it too weak for atonement.
5. Your might, O my Lord, if it abides—within the humble it exalts him—like as royalty if it abide— within the desert gives it peace.— Water by Your might has triumphed— over sin, for Life has encompassed it.
6. The sheep exulted when they saw— the hand draw near to baptize them.— Receive, O you sheep, your sealing; enter and be mingled in the flock!— for more than over all the flock—over you rejoice the Watchers today.
7. The Angels and the Watchers rejoice— over that which is born of the Spirit and of water:— they rejoice that by fire and by the Spirit—the corporeal have become spiritual.— The Seraphins who sing Holy rejoice—that they who are made holy have been increased.
8. For lo! The Angels rejoice— over one sinner if he repent:— how much more do they now rejoice— that in all churches and congregations,— lo! Baptism is bringing forth— the heavenly from the earthly!
9. The baptized when they come up are sanctified;— the sealed when they go down are pardoned.— They who come up have put on glory—they who go down have cast off sin.— Adam put off his glory in a moment—you have been clothed with glory in a moment.
10. A house that is of dust when it has fallen—by means of water can be renewed:— the body of Adam that was of dust—which had fallen by water has been renewed.— Lo! The priests as builders— afresh renew your bodies.
11. A great marvel is this of the wool—that it can take every dye,— as the mind takes every discourse.— By the name of its dye it is called—as you who were— baptized when Hearers,— have gained the name of Recipients.
12. The common waters he sanctified— even Elisha through the Name that is secret.— In them washed the leper openly—and was cleansed by the Power that is secret:— the leprosy was done away in the water, as transgressions in Baptism.
13. Today, lo! Your offenses are blotted out—and your names are written down.— The priest blots out in the water—and Christ writes down in Heaven.— By the blotting out and the writing down— lo! Doubled is your rejoicing.
14. Lo! Mercy has dawned today—and from bound to bound it stretches:— the sun has sunk and mercy has dawned.— Justice has drawn in her wrath; Grace has spread forth her love—lo! she pardons and quickens freely.
15. The sheep that beforetime were in the fold— lo! They hasten forth to greet— the new lambs that have been added to it.— They are white and are clad in white—within and without white are your bodies as your vestments.
16. From every mouth Blessed are you,— on every side Blessed are you.— Sin from you is driven out—and the Holy Spirit on you is dwelling.— The Evil One has become sad of countenance;— the Good God makes glad your countenance.
17. The gift that you have received freely—cease not from watching over it:— this pearl if it shall be lost— cannot again be sought out—for it is like to virginity— which if it be lost is not to be found.
18. May you from all defilement— be kept by the power of your white robes!— and he whose freedom has defiled itself— may it be able to wash itself clean by his weeping!— For me who am servant of the community— may the supplication of the community win pardon!
19. To the author who has toiled in words—be reconciliation in rest!— to the teacher who has toiled with voice—be forgiveness through grace!— to the priest who has toiled in baptizing—let there come the crown of righteousness!
20. From every mouth with one consent,— of those beneath and those above—Watchers, Cherubin, and Seraphin,— the baptized, the sealed, and the hearers—let each of us cry aloud and say—Glory to the Lord of our feasts!
Hymn 7
(Resp.— Blessed is He Who atoned your sins, that you might receive His Body worthily!)
1. The flock of Jacob came down— and stood round the well of water.— In the water they put on the similitude of the wood that was covered by it.— Mysteries these and types of the Cross,— wherein the parables are interpreted.
2. There are shown in these rods similitudes—and in the sheep, parables.— The Cross in the rods is figured, and in the sheep the souls of men.— His wood was a mystery of our Wood;— likewise his sheep a mystery of our flock.
3. The sheep of Christ rejoice—and stand round the laver of baptism—in the water they put on the likeness— of the living and goodly Cross— whereon gaze all things created,— and all of it is stamped on them all.
4. At the well Rebecca received— in her ears and hands the jewels.— The Spouse of Christ has put on— precious things that are from the water:— on her hand the living Body,— and in her ears the promises.
5. Moses drew water and watered the sheep— of Jethro the priest of sin.— But our Shepherd has baptized His sheep— Who is the high priest of truth.— At the well the flocks were dumb—but here the sheep have speech.
6. The People passed through the water and were baptized:— the People came up on dry land and became as heathen.— The Commandment was savourless in their ears—the manna corrupted in their vessels.— Eat the living Body,— the medicine of life that gives life to all!
7. To the sons of Lot Moses said—Give us water for money—let us only pass by through your border.— They refused the way, and the temporal water.— Lo! The living water freely given—and the path that leads to Eden!
8. From the water Gideon chose for himself— the men who were victorious in the battle.— You have gone down to the victorious waters:— come up and triumph in the fight!— receive from the water atonement,— and from the fight the crowning!
9. You baptized, receive your lamps—like the lamps of the house of Gideon;— conquer the darkness by your lamps—and the silence by your hosannas!— Gideon likewise in the battle— triumphed by the shout and the flame.
10. David the King longed after— the water of the well, and they brought it him—but he drank it not, for he saw that with blood of men it was bought.— In the midst of the water you have revelled— that was bought with the blood of God.
11. Out of Edom the prophet saw— God coming as one that presses the grapes.— He made ready the winepress of wrath—He trod down the peoples and delivered the People.— He has turned and ordained Baptism;— the peoples live, the People has come to nought.
12. In the river Jeremiah buried— the linen girdle that was marred—and [the People] waxed old and decayed.— ...— The peoples that were decayed and marred—by the waters have been clad in newness.
13. In Siloam, the blessed stream— the priests anointed Solomon.— His youth was had in honour—his old age was despised.— Through the pure waters you have been clad— in the purity of Heaven.
14. The fleece that was dry from the dew—Jerusalem was figured in it:— the bason that was filled with water—Baptism was figured in it.— That was dry after the manner of its type;— this was full after the manner of its symbol.
15. The wearied body in water— washes and is refreshed from its toil.— Lo! The laver in which are hidden— refreshing and life and delights.— In it wearied Adam had rest— who brought labour into the creation.
16. The fountain of sweat in the body— is set to protect against fever:— the fountain of Baptism— is set to protect against the Flame.— This is the water that avails— for the quenching of Gehenna.
17. He who journeys through the desert—as armour takes to himself water— against all-conquering thirst.— Go down to the fountain of Christ—receive life in your members—as armour against death.
18. Again, the diver brings up— out of the sea the pearl.— Be baptized and bring up from the water— purity that therein is hidden—the pearl that is set as a jewel— in the crown of the Godhead.
19. Sweet water in his vessel— the seaman lays up as a store—in the midst of the sea he lays up and keeps it, the sweet in the midst of the bitter.— So amidst the floods of sin—keep the water of Baptism.
20. The woman of Samaria said to our Lord,— Lo! verily the well is deep.— Baptism though it be high—in its mercy has stooped down with us:— for the atonement is from above— that has come down unto sinners.
21. He that drinks the water that I shall give him—verily never again shall he thirst.— For this holy Baptism,— for it be ye thirsty, my beloved—never again shall you be thirsty—so that you should come to another baptism.
22. In the baptism of Siloam— the blind man washed, and his eyeballs— were opened and enlightened by the water—he cast off the darkness that was on them.— The hidden darkness you have cast off—from the water you have been clad in light.
23. His hands Pilate washed— that he might not be of them that slew.— You have bathed your bodies—your hands together with your mouths.— Go in and be of them that eat—for this medicine of life gives life to all.
24. Come after Me and verily I will make you— fishers of men.— For instead of a draught of that which perishes—they fished for the draught that is forever.— They who had taken fishes for death—baptized and gave life to them that were to die.
25. An hundred and fifty fishes were taken— by Simon's net from the water—but there were taken by his preaching—out of the bosom of Baptism,— ten thousands and thousands of men—a draught of the sons of the Kingdom.
26. Lo! Our priest as a fisher— over the scanty water is standing—he has taken thence a great draught— of every shape and of every kind—he has drawn up the draught to bring it near— to the King of kings, most high.
27. Simon took the fishes and drew them up—and they were brought near before our Lord:— Our priest has taken from out of the water—by the Hand which he received from Simon,— virgins and chaste men who are brought near— in the festival of the Lord of feasts.
28. In Your mercy I adjure You pardon me—for in mercy You too have sworn—Rabboni, In the death of him that dies—I have no pleasure, but in his life.— You have sworn and I have adjured:— O You Who hast sworn, pardon him who has adjured!
Hymn 8
(Resp.— Happy are you whose bodies have been made to shine!)
1. God in His mercy stooped and came down—to mingle His compassion with the water—and to blend the nature of His majesty— with the wretched bodies of men.— He made occasion by the water— to come down and to dwell in us:— like to the occasion of mercy— when He came down and dwelt in the womb:— O the mercies of God— Who seeks for Himself all occasions to dwell in us!
2. To the cave in Horeb He stooped and came down—and on Moses He caused His majesty to dwell—He imparted His glorious splendour to mortals.— There was therein a figure of Baptism:— He Who came down and dwelt in it—tempers within the water— the might of His majesty—that He may dwell in the feeble.— On Moses dwelt the Breath,— and on you the Perfecting of Christ.
3. That might then none could endure—not Moses chief of deliverers,— nor Elijah chief of zealots;— and the Seraphin too veil their faces—for it is the might that subdues all.— His mercy mingled gentleness— in the water and by the oil—that mankind in its weakness— might be able to stand before Him— when covered by the water and the oil.
4. The captive priests again in the well— hid and concealed the fire of the sanctuary, 1 Maccabbees 1:19 — a mystery of that glorified fire— which the Highpriest mingles in Baptism.— The priests took up of the mire—and on the altar they sprinkled it—for its fire, the fire of that well—with the mire had been mingled—a mystery of our bodies which in the water— with the fire of the Holy Spirit have been mingled.
5. The famous Three in Babylon— in the furnace of fire were baptized, and came forth—they went in and bathed in the flood of flame, they were buffeted by the blazing billows.— There was sprinkled on them there— the dew that fell from heaven;— it loosed from off them there— the bonds of the earthly king.— Lo! The famous Three went in and found a fourth in the furnace.
6. That visible fire that triumphed outwardly—pointed to the fire of the Holy Ghost—which is mingled, lo! And hidden in the water.— In the flame Baptism is figured,— in that blaze of the furnace.— Come, enter, be baptized, my brethren,— for lo! It looses the bonds;— for in it there dwells and is hidden— the Daysman of God—Who in the furnace was the fourth.
7. Two words again our Lord spoke— which in one voice agree in unison:— He said, I have come to send fire,— and again, I have a baptism to be baptized with.— By the fire of Baptism is quenched the fire—that which the Evil One had kindled:— and the water of Baptism has overcome— those waters of contention— by which he had made trial— of Joseph who conquered and was crowned.
8. Lo! The pure fire of our Redeemer— which he kindled in mankind of His mercy!— Through His fire He quenched that fire— which had been kindled in the defiled and sinful.— This is the fire wherein the thorns— are burnt up and the tares.— But happy are your bodies— that have been baptized in the fire— which has consumed your thickets—and by it your seeds have sprung up to heaven!
9. Jeremiah in the womb He sanctified and taught.— But if the lowly bosom of wedlock— was sanctified in conceiving and bringing him forth—how much more shall Baptism sanctify— its conception and its bringing forth— of them that are pure and spiritual!— For there, within the womb— is the conception of all men—but here, out of the water—is the birth whereof the spiritual are worthy.
10. For Jeremiah though sanctified in the womb—they took up nails and cast him into the pit.— Holy was the prophet in his befoulment,— for clean was his heart though he was in the mire.— Be afraid, my brethren— for lo! Today is washed away— your secret befoulment,— and the abomination of your sins.— Turn not again to uncleanness,— for there is but one cleansing of your bodies!
11. The presumptuous who is baptized and again sins—is as the serpent that casts its slough and again puts it on, that is renewed and made young, and turns again— — putting on anew its skin of old—for the serpent does not— cast off its nature.— Cast off the tempter— the corrupter of souls—even the old man—let it not make old— the newness you have put on!
12. Elisha cast the wood into the water, and made the heavy float and the light sink:— their natures were exchanged in the water.— There a new thing came to pass not according to nature.— How much easier then, O Lord,— is this for Your grace; that in the water should sink— transgression which is heavy—but that the soul which is light— should be drawn forth and raised up on high!
13. Joshua, son of Nun, on Jericho— laid a curse on its walls and a doom on its fountains.— They whom Joshua cursed to their destruction—again in the mystery of Jesus have been blessed.— There was cast into them salt—and they were healed and sweetened:— a mystery of this salt—the sweet salt that came from Mary,— that was mingled in the water—whereby was healed the noisomeness of our plagues.
14. Lo! quiet waters are before you—holy and tranquil and pleasant—for they are not the waters of contention— that cast Joseph into the dungeon—nor yet are they the waters—those waters of strife—beside which the people strove—and gainsaid in the wilderness.— There are waters whereby— there is reconciliation made with Heaven.
15. Hagar saw the spring of water—and from it she gave drink to her forward son, him who became as a wild ass in the wilderness.— Instead of that fountain of water is Baptism.— In it are baptized the sons of Hagar,— and have become gentle and peaceful. Who has seen rams like these—that are yoked, lo! And labour— along with tame bullocks—and the seed of their tillage is reaped an hundredfold!
16. In the beginning the Spirit that brooded— moved on the waters; they conceived and gave birth— to serpents and fishes and birds.— The Holy Spirit has brooded in Baptism,— and in mystery has given birth to eagles—Virgins and Prelates;— and in mystery has given birth to fishes—celibates and intercessors; and in mystery of serpents,— lo! The subtle have become simple as doves!
17. Lo! The sword of our Lord in the waters!— that which divides sons and fathers:— for it is the living sword that makes— division, lo! Of the living from the dying.— Lo! They are baptized and they become— Virgins and saints—who have gone down, been baptized, and put on— the One Only begotten.— Lo! Many have come boldly to Him!
18. For whoso have been baptized and put on Him— the Only begotten the Lord of the many—has filled thereby the place of many—for to him Christ has become a great treasure:— for He became in the wilderness— a table of good meats—and He became at the marriage feast— a fountain of choice wines.— He has become such to all in all things—by helps and healings and promises.
19. Elisha was the equal of the Watchers— in his doings, glorious and holy.— The camp of the Watchers was round about him—thus let Baptism be unto you—a camp of guardians,— for by means of it there dwells in the heart— the hope of them that are below— and the Lord of them that are above.— Sanctify for Him your bodies—for where He abides, corruption comes not near.
20. They are no more, the waters of that sea— which by its billows preserved the People—and by its billows laid low the peoples.— Of contrary effect are the waters in Baptism.— In them, lo! The people have life—in them, lo! The People perishes:— for all that are not baptized—in the waters that give life to all—they are dead invisibly.
21. They are no more, the waters of that sea— which were tempestuous, and boiled against Jonah,— and plunged into the depths the Son of Amittai.— Though he fled he was bound in the prison-house— God cast him in and bound him— in dungeon within dungeon—for he bound him in the sea.— and He bound him in the fish.— For him Grace stood surety—and she opened the prison and brought forth the preacher.
22. The Prophets have called the Most High a fire—a devouring fire, and who can dwell with it? Isaiah 30:27 — The People were not able to dwell in it—its might crushed the peoples and they were confounded.— In it, with the unction you have been anointed;— you have put Him on in the water—in the bread you have eaten Him—in the wine you have drunk Him—in the voice you have heard Him—and in the eye of the mind you have seen Him!
Hymn 9
(Resp., Blessed is He Who came down, and sanctified water for the remission of the sins of the children of Adam!)
1. O John, who saw the Spirit—that abode on the head of the Son—to show how the Head of the Highest— went down and was baptized— and came up to be Head on earth!— Children of the Spirit you have thus become—and Christ has become for you the Head:— you also have become His members.
2. Consider and see how exalted you are—how instead of the river Jordan— you have glorious Baptism, wherein is peace—spreading her wings to shade your bodies.— In the wilderness John baptized:— in Her pure flood of Baptism,— purely are you baptized therein.
3. Infants think when they see its glory—that by its pomp its might is enhanced.— But it is the same, and within itself— is not divided.— But the might which never waxes less or greater— in us is little or again great—and he in whom is great understanding—great in him is Baptism.
4. A man's knowledge, if it be exalted—exalted also is his degree above his brethren;— and he whose faith is great— so also is his promise—and as is his wisdom, so also his crowning.— As is the light, which though it be all goodly— and equal all of it with itself— yet goodlier is one eye than another.
5. Jesus mingled His might in the water:— put Him on my brethren as discerning men!— For there are that in the water merely— perceive that they are washed. With our body be our soul washed!— The manifest water let the body perceive—and the soul the secret might—that both to the manifest and to the secret you may be made like!
6. How beautiful is Baptism— in the eye of the heart; come, let us gaze on it!— Like as by a seal you have been moulded;— receive its image—that nought may be lacking to us of our image!— For the sheep that are white of heart— gaze on the glory that is in the water:— in your souls reflect it!
7. Water is by nature as a mirror—for one who in it examines himself.— Stir up your soul, you that discern — and be like it!— For it in its midst reflects your image—from it, on it, find an example—gaze in it on Baptism—and put on the beauty that is hidden therein!
8. What profits it him that hears— a voice and knows not its significance?— Whoso hears a voice and is devoid— of the understanding thereof—his ear is filled but his soul is empty.— Lo! since the gift is abundant—with discernment receive it.
9. Baptism that is with understanding— is the conjunction of two lights—and rich are the fountains of its rays.— ......— And the darkness that is on the mind departs—and the soul beholds Him in beauty—the hidden Christ of glory—and grieves when the glory fails.
10. Baptism without understanding— is a treasure full yet empty—since he that receives it is poor in it—for he understands not— how great are its riches into which he enters and dwells.— For great is the gift within it—though the mean man perceives not— that he is exalted even as it.
11. Open wide your minds and see, my brethren,— the secret column in the air, whose base is fixed from the midst of the water— unto the door of the Highest Place, like the ladder that Jacob saw.— Lo! By it came down the light unto Baptism,— and by it the soul goes up to Heaven—that in one love we may be mingled.
12. Our Lord when he was baptized by John— sent forth twelve fountains—and they issued forth and cleansed by their streams— the defilement of the peoples.— His worshippers are made white like His garments—the garments in Tabor and the body in the water.— Instead of the garments the peoples are made white—and have become for Him a clothing of glory.
13. From your garments learn, my brethren,— how your members should be kept.— For if the garment, which ever so many times— may be made clean—is duly kept for the sake of its comeliness—the body which has but one baptism— manifold more exceeding is the care of its keeping—for manifold are its dangers.
14. Again the sun in a house that is strait—is straitened therein though he be great:— but in a house that is goodly and large—when he rises thereon— far and wide in it he spreads his rays—and though the sun is one and the same in his nature,— in various houses he undergoes changes:— Even so our Lord in various men.
Hymn 10
(Resp.— Glory to Him Who came and restored it!)
1. Adam sinned and earned all sorrows—likewise the world after His example, all guilt.— And instead of considering how it should be restored— considered how its fall should be pleasant for it.— Glory to Him Who came and restored it!
2. This cause summoned Him that is pure—that He should come and be baptized, even He with the defiled—Heaven for His glory was rent asunder.— That the purifier of all might be baptized with all—He came down and sanctified the water for our baptism.
3. For that cause for which He entered into the womb—for the same cause He went down into the river.— For that cause for which He entered into the grave—for the same cause He makes us enter into His chamber.— He perfected mankind for every cause.
4. His Conception is the store of our blessings;— His Birth is the treasury of our joys;— His Baptism is the cause of our pardon—His Death is the cause of our life.— Death He alone has overcome in His Resurrection.
5. At His Birth a star of light shone in the air—when He was baptized light flashed from the water—at His Death the sun was darkened in the firmament;— at His Passion the luminaries set along with Him—at His Epiphany the luminaries arose with Him.
6. Revealed was His Glory because of His Majesty;— revealed was His Passion because of His Manhood;— revealed was His Love because of His Graciousness;— revealed was His Judgment because of His Justice.— He has poured forth His attributes, on them that were His.
7. That whoso has looked on His Glory and despised Him—may look again on His Glory and worship Him—and whoso has scorned to taste of His Graciousness,— may fear lest he be made to feel His justice—He has poured forth His helps on His worshippers.
8. Lo! The East in the morning was made light!— lo! The South at noonday was made dark!— The West again in turn at eventide was made light.— The three quarters represent the one Birth;— His Death and His Life they declare.
9. His Birth flowed on and was joined to His Baptism;— and His Baptism again flowed on even to His Death—His Death led and reached to His Resurrection,— a fourfold bridge unto His Kingdom; and lo! His sheep pass over in His footsteps.
10. And like as, save by the door of birth—none can enter into creation;— so, save by the door of resurrection,— none can enter into the Kingdom,— and whoso has cut off his bridge, has brought to nought his hope.
11. He put on His armour and conquered and was crowned—He left His armour on earth and ascended,— that if any man desires the crown—he may resort to the armour and win by it— the crown of victory which he yearns after.
12. He fulfilled righteousness on earth, and ascended.— But if He, the All-cleanser, was baptized—What man is there that shall not be baptized?— for grace has come to baptism— to wash away the foulness of our wound.
13. The compulsion of God is an all-prevailing force—[but that is not pleasing to Him which is of compulsion,] — as that which is of discerning will.— Therefore in our fruits He calls us— who live not as under compulsion, by persuasion.
14. Good is He, for lo! He labours in these two things—He wills not to constrain our freedom— nor again does He suffer us to abuse it.— For had he constrained it, He had taken away its power—and had He let it go, He had deprived it of help.
15. He knows that if He constrains He deprives us—He knows that if He casts off He destroys us—He knows that if He teaches He wins us.— He has not constrained and He has not cast off, as the Evil One does:— He has taught, chastened, and won us, as being the good God.
16. He knows that His treasuries abound:— the keys of His treasuries He has put into our hands.— He has made the Cross our treasurer— to open for us the gates of Paradise,— as Adam opened the gate of Gehenna.
Hymn 11
(Resp.— Let the bodies rejoice which the Evil One had made naked, that in the water they have put on their glory!)
1. Give thanks, O daughter, that your crownings have been doubled—for lo! Your temples and your sons rejoice.— The dedication of your temples is in the ministration—The dedication of your sons is in the anointing.— Blessed are you that at once......— ......the tabernacle for them that dwell in you—and the Spirit has abode upon your sons!
2. Our Lord opened up Baptism— in the midst of Jordan the blessed river.— The height and the depth rejoiced in Him—He brings forth the first fruits of His peace from the water—for they are first fruits, the fruits of Baptism.— The good God in His compassion will bring to pass— that His peace shall be first fruits on earth.
3. Moses stretched out the temporal Tabernacle;— the priests bathed themselves in water—and went in and ministered; and were stricken and punished—because their heart within was not cleansed.— Blessed are you that in the Passover of the great Passion,— the priests by the savour of their oblations,— lo! Are cleansing souls in you!
4. Great was the mystery that the Prophet saw—the torrent that was mighty.— Into its depths he gazed and beheld— your beauty instead of himself; you it was he saw, for your faith passes not away—you whose flood unseen shall overwhelm— the subtleties of idolatry.
5. Though John was great among them that are born of women—yet he that is little is greater than he—in this that his baptized were again baptized—in the baptism that was of the Apostles.— Blessed art you that your priest is greater than he— in this alone that forever— abides his baptism.
6. The baptism that was of Siloam— did not bring mercy to the man that was laid there— who for thirty and eight years awaited it—for he was a respecter of the persons of the Levites.— Blessed art you that your healing is in you for all men—and your priests are devoted and ready— for all that are in need of your help.
7. The Prophet healed the waters that were unwholesome,— and cured the disease of the land that was barren—so that its death was done away and its region resounded, for its offspring increased and its bosom was filled.— Greater is Your grace, Lord, than Elisha's!— Multiply my lambs and my flocks— at the great stream of my fountain! Ezekiel 47:1, sq
8. Great is the marvel that is within your abode—the flocks together with the Shepherds,— those at the stream of the waters—two unseen with one manifest who baptizes.— Blessed is he who is baptized in their fountains!— for three arms have upheld him—and three Names have preserved him!
Hymn 12
(Resp.— Blessed is He Who went down and was baptized in Jordan, and turned back the People from error!)
1. In Baptism Adam found again— that glory that was among the trees of Eden.— He went down, and received it out of the water—he put it on, and went up and was adorned therein.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
2. Man fell in the midst of Paradise,— and in baptism compassion restored him:— he lost his comeliness through Satan's envy—and found it again by God's grace.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
3. The wedded pair were adorned in Eden—but the serpent stole their crowns:— yet mercy crushed down the accursed one—and made the wedded pair goodly in their raiment.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
4. They clothed themselves with leaves of necessity;— but the Merciful had pity on their beauty—and instead of leaves of trees—He clothed them with glory in the water.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
5. Baptism is the well-spring of life—which the Son of God opened by His Life—and from His Side it has brought forth streams.— Come, all that thirst, come, rejoice!— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
6. The Father has sealed Baptism, to exalt it—and the Son has espoused it to glorify it—and the Spirit with threefold seal— has stamped it, and it has shone in holiness.— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
7. The Trinity that is unsearchable— has laid up treasures in baptism.— Descend, you poor, to its fountain!— and be enriched from it, you needy!— Blessed be He that has mercy on all!
Hymn 13
Hymn of the Baptized.
(Resp .— Brethren, sing praises, to the Son of the Lord of all; Who has bound for you crowns, such as kings long for!)
1. Your garments glisten, my brethren, as snow—and fair is your shining in the likeness of Angels!
2. In the likeness of Angels, you have come up, beloved—from Jordan's river, in the armour of the Holy Ghost.
3. The bridal chamber that fails not, my brethren, you have received:— and the glory of Adam's house today you have put on.
4. The judgment that came of the fruit, was Adam's condemnation:— but for you victory, has arisen this day.
5. Your vesture is shining, and goodly your crowns:— which the Firstborn has bound for you, by the priest's hand this day.
6. Woe in Paradise, did Adam receive:— but you have received, glory this day.
7. The armour of victory, you put on, my beloved:— in the hour when the priest, invoked the Holy Ghost.
8. The Angels rejoice, men here below exult:— in your feast, my brethren, wherein is no foulness.
9. The good things of Heaven, my brethren, you have received:— beware of the Evil One, lest he despoil you.
10. The day when He dawned, the Heavenly King:— opens for you His door, and bids you enter Eden.
11. Crowns that fade not away, are set on your heads:— hymns of praise hourly, let your mouths sing.
12. Adam by means of the fruit, God cast forth in sorrow:— but you He makes glad, in the bride-chamber of joy.
13. Who would not rejoice, in your bridechamber, my brethren?— for the Father with His Son, and the Spirit rejoice in you.
14. Unto you shall the Father, be a wall of strength:— and the Son a Redeemer, and the Spirit a guard.
15. Martyrs by their blood, glorify their crowns:— but you our Redeemer, by His Blood glorifies.
16. Watchers and Angels, joy over the repentant:— they shall joy over you my brethren, that unto them you are made like.
17. The fruit which Adam, tasted not in Paradise:— this day in your mouths, has been placed with joy.
18. Our Redeemer figured, His Body by the tree:— whereof Adam tasted not, because he had sinned.
19. The Evil One made war, and subdued Adam's house:— through your baptism, my brethren, lo! He is subdued this day.
20. Great is the victory, but today you have won:— if so be ye neglect not, you shall not perish, my brethren.
21. Glory to them that are robed, glory to Adam's house!— in the birth that is from the water, let them rejoice and be blessed!
22. Praise to Him Who has robed, His Churches in glory!— glory to Him Who has magnified, the race of Adam's house.
Hymn 14
Hymn concerning our Lord and John.
(Resp .— Glory to You, my Lord, for You — with joy Heaven and earth worship!)
1. My thought bore me to Jordan,— and I saw a marvel when there was revealed— the glorious Bridegroom who to the Bride— shall bring freedom and holiness.
2. I saw John filled with wonder—and the multitudes standing about him—and the glorious Bridegroom bowed down— to the Son of the barren that he might baptize Him.
3. At the Word and the Voice my thought marvelled:— for lo! John was the Voice;— our Lord was manifested as the Word, that what was hidden should become revealed.
4. The Bride was espoused but knew not— who was the Bridegroom on whom she gazed:— the guests were assembled, the desert was filled—and our Lord was hidden among them.
5. Then the Bridegroom revealed Himself—and to John at the voice He drew near:— and the Forerunner was moved and said of Him— This is the Bridegroom Whom I proclaimed.
6. He came to baptism Who baptizes all—and He showed Himself at Jordan.— John saw Him and drew back—deprecating, and thus he spoke:—
7. How, my Lord, do You will to be baptized—You Who in Your baptism atones all?— Baptism looks unto You — do You shed on it holiness and perfection?
8. Our Lord said I will it so—draw near, baptize Me that My Will may be done.— Resist My Will you can not:— I shall be baptized of you, for thus I will it.
9. I entreat, my Lord, that I be not compelled—for this is hard that You have said to me—'I need you to baptize Me;'— for it is You that with Your hyssop purifies all.
10. I have asked it, and it pleases Me that thus it should be—and you, John, why do you gainsay?— Allow righteousness to be fulfilled—and come, baptize Me; why are you standing there?
11. How can one openly grasp— in his hands the fire that burns?— O You that are fire have mercy on me—and bid me not come near You, for it is hard for me!
12. I have revealed to You My Will; what do you question?— Draw near, baptize Me, and you shall not be burned.— The bridechamber is ready; keep Me not back— from the wedding-feast that has been made ready.
13. The Watchers fear and dare not— gaze on You lest they be blinded—and I, how, O my Lord, shall I baptize You?— I am too weak to draw near; blame me not!
14. You fear; therefore gainsay not— against My Will in what I desire:— and Baptism has respect unto Me.— Accomplish the work to which you have been called!
15. Lo! I proclaimed You at Jordan— in the ears of the people that believed not and if they shall see You baptized of me—they will doubt that You are the Lord.
16. Lo! I am to be baptized in their sight—and the Father Who sent Me bears witness of Me— that I am His Son and in Me He is well pleased—to reconcile Adam who was under His wrath.
17. It becomes, me, O my Lord, to know my nature— that I am moulded out of the ground—and You the moulder Who forms all things:— I, then, why should I baptize You in water?
18. It becomes you to know why I have come—and for what cause I have desired that you should baptize Me.— It is the middle of the way wherein I have walked—withhold not Baptism.
19. Small is the river whereto You have come—that You should lodge therein and it should cleanse You.— The heavens suffice not for Your mightiness;— how much less shall Baptism contain You!
20. The womb is smaller than Jordan;— yet was I willing to lodge in the Virgin:— and as I was born from woman—so too am I to be baptized in Jordan.
21. Lo! The hosts are standing!— the ranks of Watchers, lo! They worship!— And if I draw near, my Lord, to baptize You—I tremble for myself with quaking.
22. The hosts and multitudes call you happy—all of them, for that you baptize Me.— For this I have chosen you from the womb:— fear not, for I have willed it.
23. I have prepared the way as I was sent:— I have betrothed the Bride as I was commanded.— May Your Epiphany be spread over the world— now that You have come, and let me not baptize You!
24. This is My preparation, for so have I willed;— I will go down and be baptized in Jordan,— and make bright the armour for them that are baptized—that they may be white in Me and I not be conquered.
25. Son of the Father, why should I baptize You?— for lo! You are in Your Father and Your Father in You.— Holiness unto the priests You give — why do You ask for water that is common?
26. The children of Adam look unto Me—that I should work for them the new birth.— A way in the waters I will search out for them—and if I be not baptized this cannot be.
27. Pontiffs of You are consecrated—priests by Your hyssop are purified—the anointed and the kings You make.— Baptism, how shall it profit You?
28. The Bride you betrothed to Me awaits Me—that I should go down, be baptized, and sanctify her.— Friend of the Bridegroom withhold Me not— from the washing that awaits Me.
29. I am not able, for I am weak—Your blaze in my hands to grasp.— Lo! Your legions are as flame—bid one of the Watchers baptize You!
30. Not from the Watchers was My Body assumed,— that I should summon a Watcher to baptize Me.— The body of Adam, lo! I have put on—and you, son of Adam, art to baptize Me.
31. The waters saw You, and greatly feared;— the waters saw You, and lo! They tremble!— The river foams in its terror—and I that am weak, how shall I baptize You?
32. The waters in My Baptism are sanctified,— and fire and the Spirit from Me shall they receive—and if I be not baptized they are not made perfect— to be fruitful of children that shall not die.
33. Fire, if to Your fire it draw near—shall be burnt up of it as stubble.— The mountains of Sinai endured You not—and I that am weak, wherein shall I baptize You?
34. I am the flaming fire—yet for man's sake I became a babe— in the virgin womb of the maiden.— And now I am to be baptized in Jordan.
35. It is very meet that You should baptize me—for You have holiness to purify all.— In You it is that the defiled are made holy; but You that art holy, why are You to be baptized?
36. It is very right that you should baptize Me—as I bid, and should not gainsay.— Lo! I baptized you within the womb—baptize me in Jordan!
37. I am a bondman and I am weak.— You that frees all have mercy on me! Your latchets to unloose I am not able—Your exalted head who will make me worthy to touch?
38. Bondmen in My Baptism are set free—handwritings in My washing are blotted out—manumissions in the water are sealed;— and if I be not baptized all these come to nought.
39. A mantle of fire the air wears—and waits for You, above Jordan;— and if You consent to it and will to be baptized—You shall baptize Yourself and fulfil all.
40. This is meet, that you should baptize Me—that none may err and say concerning Me—'Had He not been alien from the Father's house—why feared the Levite to baptize Him?'
41. The prayer, then, when You are baptized—how shall I complete over Jordan?— When the Father and the Spirit are seen over You—Whom shall I call on, as priest?
42. The prayer in silence is to be completed:— come, your hand alone lay on Me.— and the Father shall utter in the priest's stead— that which is meet concerning His Son.
43. They that are bidden, lo! All of them stand—the Bridegroom's guests, lo! They bear witness— that day by day I said among them—'I am the Voice and not the Word.'
44. Voice of him that cries in the wilderness—fulfil the work for which you came—that the desert whereunto you went out may resound— with the mighty peace you preached therein.
45. The shout of the Watchers has come to my ears—lo! I hear from the Father's house— the hosts that sound forth the cry—'In Your Epiphany, O Bridegroom, the worlds have life.'
46. The time hastes on, and the marriage guests— look to Me to see what is doing.— Come, baptize Me, that they may give praise— to the Voice of the Father when it is heard!
47. I hearken, my Lord, according to Your Word:— come to Baptism as Your love constrains You!— The dust worships that whereunto he has attained—that on Him Who fashioned him he should lay his hand.
48. The heavenly ranks were silent as they stood—and the Bridegroom went down into Jordan;— the Holy One was baptized and straightway went up—and His Light shone forth on the world.
49. The doors of the highest were opened above—and the voice of the Father was heard—This is my Beloved in Whom I am well pleased.— All you peoples, come and worship Him.
50. They that saw were amazed as they stood, at the Spirit Who came down and bore witness to Him.— Praise to Your Epiphany that gladdens all—You in Whose revelation the worlds are lightened!
Hymn 15
1. In the Birth of the Son light dawned,— and darkness fled from the world—and the earth was enlightened; then let it give glory— to the brightness of the Father Who has enlightened it!
2. He dawned from the womb of the Virgin,— and the shadows passed away when He was seen—and the darkness of error was strangled by Him—and the ends of the earth were enlightened that they should give glory.
3. Among the peoples there was great tumult—and in the darkness the light dawned,— and the nations rejoiced to give glory— to Him in Whose Birth they all were enlightened.
4. His light shone out over the east—Persia was enlightened by the star:— His Epiphany gave good tidings to her and invited her—He has come for the sacrifice that brings joy to all.
5. The star of light hasted and came and dawned— through the darkness, and summoned them— that the peoples should come and exult— in the great Light that has come down to earth.
6. One envoy from among the stars— the firmament sent to proclaim to them—to the sons of Persia, that they might make ready— to meet the King and to worship Him.
7. Great Assyria when she perceived it— called to the Magi and said to them—Take gifts and go, honour Him— the great King Who in Judea has dawned.
8. The princes of Persia, exulting,— carried gifts from their region—and they brought to the Son of the Virgin— gold and myrrh and frankincense.
9. They entered and found Him as a child— as He dwelt in the house of the lowly woman—and they drew near and worshipped with gladness—and brought near before Him their treasures.
10. Mary said, For whom are these?— and for what purpose? And what is the cause— that has called you to come from your country— to the Child with your treasures?
11. They said, Your Son is a King,— and He binds crowns and is King of all—and great is His power over the world—and to His Kingdom shall all be obedient.
12. At what time did this come to pass—that a lowly woman should bring forth a King? I who am in need and in want—how then could a king come forth from me?
13. In you alone has this come to pass— that a mighty King from you should appear—you in whom poverty shall be magnified—and to your Son shall crowns be made subject.
14. Treasures of Kings I have not—riches have never fallen to my lot.— My house is lowly and my dwelling needy;— why then do you proclaim that my Son is King?
15. Great treasure is in your Son,— and wealth that suffices to make all rich;— for the treasures of kings are impoverished—but He fails not nor can be measured.
16. Whether haply some other be for you— the King that is born, enquire concerning Him.— This is the son of a lowly woman—of one who is not meet to look on a King.
17. Can it be that light should ever miss— the way whereon it has been sent? It was not darkness that summoned and led us—in light we walked, and your Son is King.
18. Lo! You see a babe without speech—and the house of His mother empty and needy,— and of that which pertains to a king nought is in it:— how then in it is a king to be seen?
19. Lo! We see that without speech and at rest— is the King, and lowly as you have said:— but again we see that the stars— in the highest He bids haste to proclaim Him.
20. It were meet, O men, that you should enquire— who is the King, and then adore him—lest haply your way has been mistaken—and another is the King that is born.
21. It were meet, O maiden, that you should receive it—that we have learned that your Son is King—from the star of light that errs not—and plain is the way, and he has led us.
22. The Child is a little one, and lo! He has not— the diadem of a king and of a throne—and what have you seen that you should pay honour to Him—as to a king, with your treasures?
23. A little one, because He willed it for quietness' sake—and meek now until He be revealed.— A time shall be for Him when all diadems— shall bow down and worship Him.
24. Armies he has none—nor has my Son legions and troops:— in the poverty of His mother He dwells—why then King is He called by you?
25. The armies of your Son are above—they ride on high, and they flame—and one of them it was that came and summoned us—and all our country was dismayed.
26. The Child is a babe, and how is it possible— He should be King, unknown to the world?— And they that are mighty and of renown—how can a babe be their ruler?
27. Your babe is aged, O Virgin—and Ancient of Days and exalted above all and Adam beside Him is very babe—and in Him all created things are made new.
28. It is very seemly that you should expound— all the mystery and explain it—who it is that reveals to you the mystery of my Son,— that He is a King in your region.
29. It is likewise seemly for you to accept this—that unless the truth had led us we had not wandered hither from the ends of the earth—nor come for the sake of your Son.
30. All the mystery as it was wrought— among you there in your country—reveal to me now as friends.— Who was He that called you to come to me?
31. A mighty Star appeared to us— that was glorious exceedingly above the stars—and our land by its fire was kindled—that this King had appeared it bore tidings to us.
32. Do not, I beseech you, speak of— these things in our land lest they rage,— and the kings of the earth join together— against the Child in their envy.
33. Be not dismayed, O Virgin!— Your Son shall bring to nought all diadems, and set them underneath his heel—and they shall not subdue Him Whom they envy.
34. Because of Herod I am afraid,— that unclean wolf, lest he assail me—and draw his sword and with it cut off— the sweet cluster before it be ripe.
35. Because of Herod fear not—for in the hands of your Son is his throne placed:— and as soon as He shall reign it shall be laid low—and his diadem shall fall on the earth beneath.
36. A torrent of blood is Jerusalem,— wherein the excellent ones are slain;— and if she perceives Him she will assail Him.— In mystery speak, and noise it not abroad.
37. All torrents, and likewise swords—by the hands of your Son shall be appeased—and the sword of Jerusalem shall be blunted—and shall not desire at all to kill.
38. The scribes of the priests of Jerusalem— pour forth blood and heed not.— They will arouse murderous strife— against me and against the Child; O Magi, be silent!
39. The scribes and the priests will be unable— to hurt your son in their envy—for by Him their priesthood shall be dissolved—and their festivals brought to nought.
40. A Watcher revealed to me, when I received— conception of the Babe, that my Son is a King;— that His diadem is from on high and is not dissolved—he declared to me even as you do.
41. The Watcher, therefore, of whom you have spoken— is he who came as a star—and was shown to us and brought us good tidings— that He is great and glorious above the stars.
42. That Angel declared to me— in his good tidings, when he appeared to me—that to His Kingdom no end shall be— and the mystery is kept and shall not be revealed.
43. The Star also declared again to us— that your Son is He that shall keep the diadem.— His aspect was something changed—and he was the Angel and made it not known to us.
44. Before me when the Watcher showed himself—he called Him his Lord before He was conceived—and as the Son of the Highest announced Him to me:— but where His Father is he made not known to me.
45. Before us he proclaimed in the form of a star— that the Lord of the Highest is He Who is born—and over the stars of light your Son is ruler—and unless He commands they rise not.
46. In your presence, lo! There are revealed— other mysteries, that you may learn the truth—how in virginity I bare my Son,— and He is Son of God; go, proclaim Him!
47. In our presence the Star taught us— that His Birth is exalted above the world and above all beings is your Son,— and is Son of God according to your saying.
48. The world on high and the world below bear witness to Him—all the Watchers and the stars—that He is Son of God and Lord.— Bear His fame to your lands!
49. All the world on high, in one star—has stirred up Persia and she has learned the truth—that your Son is Son of God—and to Him shall all peoples be subject.
50. Peace bear to your lands:— peace be multiplied in your borders!— As apostles of truth may you be believed— in all the way that you shall pass through.
51. The peace of your Son, it shall bear us— in tranquillity to our land, as it has led us hither—and when His power shall have grasped the worlds—may He visit our land and bless it!
52. May Persia rejoice in your glad tidings!— may Assyria exult in your coming— And when my Son's Kingdom shall arise—may He plant His standard in your country!
53. Let the Church sing with rejoicing—Glory in the Birth of the Highest,— by Whom the world above and the world below are illumined!— Blessed be He in Whose Birth all are made glad!
Homily on Our Lord
Therefore let all mouths render praise to Him Who has removed from them blasphemous speech. Glory to You Who departed from one dwelling to take up your abode in another! That He might come and make us a dwelling-place for His Sender, the only-begotten departed from [being] with Deity and took up His abode in the Virgin; that by a common manner of birth, though only-begotten, He might become the brother of many. And He departed from Sheol and took up His abode in the Kingdom; that He might seek out a path from Sheol which oppresses all, to the Kingdom which requites all. For our Lord gave His resurrection as a pledge to mortals, that He would remove them from Sheol, which receives the departed without distinction, to the Kingdom which admits the invited with distinction; so that, from [the plan] which makes equal the bodies of all men within it, we may come to [the plan] which distinguishes the works of all men within it. This is He Who descended to Sheol and ascended, that from [the place] which corrupts its sojourners, He might bring us to the place which nourishes with its blessings its dwellers; even those dwellers who, with the possessions, the fruits, and the flowers, of this world, that pass away, have crowned and adorned for themselves there, tabernacles that pass not away. That Firstborn Who was begotten according to His nature, was born in another birth that was external to His nature; that we might know that after our natural birth we must have another birth which is outside our nature. For He, since He was spiritual, until He came to the corporeal birth, could not be corporeal; in like manner also the corporeal, unless they are born in another birth, cannot be spiritual. But the Son Whose generation is unsearchable, was born in another generation that may be searched out; that by the one we might learn that His Majesty is without limit, and by the other might be taught that His grace is without measure. For great is His Majesty without measure, Whose first generation cannot be imagined in any of our thoughts. And His grace is abundant without limit, Whose second birth is proclaimed by all mouths.
2. This is He Who was begotten from the Godhead according to His nature, and from manhood not after His nature, and from baptism not after His custom; that we might be begotten from manhood according to our nature, and from Godhead not after our nature, and by the Spirit not after our custom. He then was begotten from the Godhead, He that came to a second birth; in order to bring us to the birth that is discoursed of, even His generation from the Father:— not that it should be searched out, but that it should be believed—and His birth from the woman, not that it should be despised, but that it should be exalted. Now His death on the cross witnesses to His birth from the woman. For He that died was also born. And the Annunciation of Gabriel declares His generation by the Father, namely [the power of the Highest shall overshadow you]. Luke 1:35 If then it was the power of the Highest, it is plain that it was not the seed of mortal man. So then His conception in the womb is bound up with His death on the cross; and His first generation is bound up with the declaration of the Angel; in order that whoso denies His birth may be confuted by His crucifixion, and whoso supposes that His beginning was from Mary, may be admonished that His Godhead is before all; so that whoever has concluded His beginning to be corporeal, [may be proved to err hereby that His issuing forth from the Father is narrated]. The Father begot Him, and through Him created the creatures. Flesh bare Him and through Him slew lusts. Baptism brought him forth, that through Him it might wash away stains. Sheol brought Him forth, that through Him its treasures might be emptied out. He came to us from beside His Father by the way of them that are born: and by the way of them that die, He went forth to go to His Father; so that by His coming through birth, His advent might be seen; and by His returning through resurrection, His departure might be confirmed.
3. But our Lord was trampled on by Death; and in His turn trod out a way over Death. This is He Who made Himself subject to and endured death of His own will, that He might cast down death against his will. For our Lord bare His cross and went forth according to the will of Death: but He cried upon the cross Matthew 27:50-52 and brought forth the dead from within Sheol against the will of Death. For in that very thing by which Death had slain Him [i.e., the body], in that as armour He bore off the victory over Death. But the Godhead concealed itself in the manhood and fought against Death, Death slew and was slain. Death slew the natural life; and the supernatural life slew Him. And because Death was not able to devour Him without the body, nor Sheol to swallow Him up without the flesh, He came unto the Virgin, that from thence He might obtain that which should bear Him to Sheol; as from beside the ass they brought for Him the colt whereon He entered Jerusalem, and proclaimed concealing her overthrow and the destruction of her children. With the body then that [was] from the Virgin, He entered Sheol and plundered its storehouses and emptied its treasures. He came then to Eve the Mother of all living. This is the vine whose fence Death laid open by her own hands, and caused her to taste of his fruits. So Eve the Mother of all living became the well-spring of death to all living. But Mary budded forth, a new shoot from Eve the ancient vine; and new life dwelt in her, that when Death should come confidently after his custom to feed upon mortal fruits, the life that is slayer of death might be stored up [therein] against him; that when Death should have swallowed [the fruits] without fear, he might vomit them forth and with them many. For [He Who is] the Medicine of life flew down from heaven, and was mingled in the body, the mortal fruit. And when Death came to feed after his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up Death. This is the food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one fruit which Death swallowed hungrily, he vomited up many lives which he had swallowed greedily. The hunger then which hurried him against one, emptied out his greed which had hurried him against many. Thus Death was diligent to swallow one, but was in haste to set many free. For while One was dying on the cross, many that were buried from within Sheol were coming forth at His cry. Matthew 27:50-53 This is the fruit that cleft asunder Death who had swallowed it, and brought out from within it the Life in quest of which it was sent. For Sheol hid away all that she had devoured. But through One that was not devoured, all that she had devoured were restored from within her. He, whose stomach is disordered, vomits forth both that which is sweet to him and that which is not sweet. So the stomach of Death was disordered, and as he was vomiting forth the medicine of life which had sickened it, he vomited forth along with it also those lives that had been swallowed by him with pleasure.
4. This is the Son of the carpenter, Who skilfully made His cross a bridge over Sheol that swallows up all, and brought over mankind into the dwelling of life. And because it was through the tree that mankind had fallen into Sheol, so upon the tree they passed over into the dwelling of life. Through the tree then wherein bitterness was tasted, through it also sweetness was tasted; that we might learn of Him that among the creatures nothing resists Him. Glory be to You, Who laid Your cross as a bridge over death, that souls might pass over upon it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life!
5. The Gentiles praise You that Your Word has become a mirror before them, that in it they might see death, secretly swallowing up their lives. But graven images were being adorned by their artificers; and by their adornments were disfiguring their adorners. But You drew them to Your cross; and while the beauties of the body were disfigured upon it, the beauties of the mind shone forth upon it. Then, as for the Gentiles who used to go after gods which were no gods, He Who was God went after them, and by His words, as by a bridle, turned them from many gods to the One. This is that Mighty One, Whose preaching became a bridle in the jaws of the Gentiles, and led them away from idols to Him that sent Him. But the dead idols, with their closed mouths, used to feed on the life of their worshippers. On this account You mingled in their flesh that blood of Yours, by which death was enfeebled and laid low; that the mouths of their devourers might be driven away from their lives. Also because Israel slew You and was defiled by Your blood, that idolatry, that had been engrafted upon him was driven away from him on account of Your blood. For he was weaned from that heathenism through Your blood; because that from it, he had never before been weaned.
6. But Israel crucified our Lord, on the plea that verily He was seducing us from the One God. But they themselves used constantly to wander away from the One God through their many idols. While then they imagine they crucify Him Who seduces them from the One God, they are found to be led away by Him from all idols to the One God; to the end that because they did not voluntarily learn of Him that He is God, they might by compulsion learn of Him that He is God; when the good which had accrued to them through Him should accuse them concerning the evil which their hands had done. Thus even though the tongue of the oppressors denied, yet the help with which they were helped convicted them. For grace loaded them beyond their power, so that they should be ashamed, while laden with Your blessings, to deny Your person. And also You had mercy on those, whose lives had been made food for dead idols. For the one calf which they made in the desert, Exodus 32:4 pastured on their lives as on grass in the desert. For that idolatry which they had stolen and brought out in their hearts from Egypt, when it was made manifest, slew openly those in whom it was dwelling secretly. For it was like fire concealed in wood, which when it is gendered from within it, burns it. For Moses ground to powder the calf and caused them to drink it in the water of ordeal; Exodus 32:20 that by drinking of the calf all those who were living for its worship might die. For the sons of Levi ran upon them, those who ran to [help] Moses and girded on their swords. For the sons of Levi did not know whom they should slay, because those that worshipped were mingled with those that worshipped not. But He, for Whom it was easy to distinguish, distinguished those who were defiled from those who were not defiled; so that the innocent might give thanks that their innocence had not passed [unseen by] the Just One; and the guilty might be convicted that their offense had not escaped [the eye of] the Judge. But the sons of Levi were the open avengers. Accordingly Moses set a mark upon the offenders, that it might be easy for the avengers to avenge. For the draught of the calf entered those in whom the love of the calf was dwelling, and displayed in them a manifest sign, that the drawn sword might rush upon them. The congregation therefore which had committed fornication in [the worship of] the calf, he caused to drink of the water of ordeal, that the mark of adulteresses might appear in it. From hence was derived that law about women, Numbers 5:17-27 that they should drink the water of ordeal, that by the mark that came on adulteresses, the congregation might be reminded of its fornication that was in the worship of the calf, and be on its guard with fear against another [fornication]; and remember the former [fornication] with penitence of soul; and that when they were judging their women, if they played the harlot against them, they might condemn themselves, who were playing the harlot against their God.
7. To You be glory who by Your cross hast taken away the heathenism in which both circumcised and uncircumcised were caused to stumble! To You be praise, the medicine of life, Who hast converted all that are baptised, to Him Who is life of all, and Lord of all! The lost that are found bless You; for by the finding of the lost, You have given joy to the angels that are found and were not lost. The uncircumcised praise You, for in Your peace the enmity that was between is swallowed up, for You received in Your flesh the outward sign of circumcision, through which the uncircumcised that were Yours, used to be accounted as not Yours. For You made as Your sign the circumcision of the heart; by which the circumcised were made known, that they were not Yours. For You came to Your own John 1:2 and Your own received You not; and by this they were made known that they were not Yours. But they to whom You did not come, through Your mercy cry out after You, that You would satisfy them with the crumbs which fall from the children's table.
8. God was sent from the Godhead, to come and convict the graven images that they were no gods. And when He took away from them the name of God which decked them out, then appeared the blemishes of their persons. And their blemishes were these—They have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not. Your preaching persuaded their many worshippers to change their many gods for the One. For in that You took away the name of godhead from the idols, worship also along with the name was withdrawn; that, namely, which is bound up with the name; for worship also attends on the Name of God. Because, then, worship also was rendered to the Name, by all the Gentiles, at the last the worshipful Name shall be gathered in entirely to its Lord. Therefore at the last worship, also shall be gathered in completely to its Lord, that it may be fulfilled that all things shall be subjected to Him. Then, He in His turn shall be subjected to Him Who subjected all things to Him. 1 Corinthians 15:27-28 So that that Name, rising from degree to degree, shall be bound up with its root. For when all creatures shall be bound by their love to the Son through Whom they were created, and the Son shall be bound by the love of that Father by Whom He was begotten, all creatures shall give thanks at the last to the Son, through Whom they received all blessings; and in Him and with Him they shall give thanks also to His Father, from Whose treasure He distributes all riches to us.
9. Glory be to You Who clothed Yourself in the body of mortal Adam, and made it a fountain of life for all mortals. You are He that livest, for Your slayers were as husbandmen to Your life, for that they sowed it as wheat in the depth [of the earth], that it may rise and raise up many with it. Come, let us make our love the great censer of the community, and offer on it as incense our hymns and our prayers to Him Who made His cross a censer for the Godhead, and offered from it on behalf of us all. He that was above stooped down to those who were beneath, to distribute His treasures to them. Accordingly, though the needy drew near to His manhood, yet they used to receive the gift from His Godhead. Therefore He made the body which He put on, the treasurer of His riches, that He, O Lord, might bring them out of Your storehouse, and distribute them to the needy, the sons of His kindred.
10. Glory be to Him Who received from us that He might give to us; that through that which is ours we might more abundantly receive of that which is His! Yea through that Mediator, mankind was able to receive life from its helper, as through a Mediator it had received in the beginning death from its slayer. You are He Who made for Yourself the body as a servant, that through it You might give to them that desire You, all that they desire. Moreover in You were made visible the hidden wishes of them that slew [You] and buried [You]; through this, that You clothed Yourself in a body. For taking occasion by that body of Yours, Your slayers slew You, and were slain by You; and taking occasion by Your body, Your buriers buried You, and were raised up with You. That Power Which may not be handled came down and clothed itself in members that may be touched; that the needy may draw near to Him, that in touching His manhood they may discern His Godhead. For that dumb man [whom the Lord healed] with the fingers of the body, discerned that He had approached his ears and touched his tongue; Mark 7:32-37 nay, with his fingers that may be touched, he touched Godhead, that may not be touched; when it was loosing the string of his tongue, and opening the clogged doors of his ears. For the Architect of the body and Artificer of the flesh came to him, and with His gentle voice pierced without pain his thickened ears. And his mouth which was closed up, that it could not give birth to a word, gave birth to praise to Him Who made its barrenness fruitful in the birth of words. He, then, Who gave to Adam that he should speak at once without teaching, Himself gave to the dumb that they should speak easily, tongues that are learned with difficulty.
11. Lo, again, another question is made clear:— We enquire in what tongues our Lord gave the power of speaking to the dumb, who from all tongues came unto Him? And although this be easy to know, yet our soul impels us to that knowledge which is greater than this. That [knowledge] then is, to know that through the Son the first man was made. For in this fact, that through Him speech was given to the dumb, the sons of Adam, we may learn that through Him speech was given to Adam their first father. And here also defective nature was supplied by our Lord. He, then, Who was able to supply the defect of nature,— it is manifest that through Him is established the supplying of nature. But there is no greater defect than this, when a man is born without speech. For since it is in this, in speech, that we excel all the creatures, the defect of it is greater than all [other] defects. He, then, through Whom all this defect was supplied—it is manifest that through Him all fullness is established. But because through Him the members receive all fullness in the womb secretly, through Him their defect was supplied openly; that we might learn that through Him in the beginning the whole frame was constituted. He spat then on His fingers and placed them in the ears of that deaf man; and He mixed clay of His spittle, and spread it upon the eyes of the blind man; John 9:6 that we might learn that as there was defect in the eyeballs of that man who was blind from his mother's womb, so there was defect in the ears of this [man]. So then, by leaven from the body of Him Who completes, the defect of our formation is supplied. For it was not meet that our Lord should have cut off anything from His body to supply the deficiency of other bodies; but with that which could be taken away from Him, He supplied the deficiency of them that lacked; just as in that which can be eaten, mortals eat Him. He supplied then the deficiency, and gave life to mortality, that we may know that from the body in which fullness dwelt, the deficiency of them that lacked was supplied; and from the body in which life dwelt, Colossians 2:9 life was given to mortals.
12. Now the Prophets performed all [other] signs; but on no occasion supplied the deficiency of members. But the deficiency of the body was reserved, that it should be supplied through our Lord; that souls might perceive that it is through Him that every deficiency must be supplied. It is meet, then, that the prudent should perceive that He Who supplies the deficiencies of the creatures, is Master of the formative power of the Creator. But when He was upon earth, our Lord gave to the deaf [and dumb], [the power] of hearing and of speaking tongues which they had not learned; that after He had ascended, [men] might understand that He gave to His disciples [the power] of speaking in every tongue.
13. Now the crucifiers supposed when our Lord was dead that His signs had died with Him. But His signs manifestly continued to live through His disciples; that the murderers might know that the Lord of the signs was living. Beforehand His murderers made trouble, crying out that His disciples had stolen His corpse. But, afterwards, His signs performed through His disciples, filled them with trouble. For His disciples, who were supposed to have stolen the dead corpse, were found to be raising to life the dead corpses of others. But the ungodly were terrified and said—His disciples have stolen His body; that they might be held in contempt when it should be discovered. But the disciples, who [they said] stole the dead body from the living guards, were found to be assailing Death in the name of Him Who was stolen; that [Death] might not steal the life of the living. So then, before He was crucified, He gave the deaf the power of hearing, that after He was crucified, all ears should hear and believe in His resurrection. For beforehand He confirmed our hearing by [the word] of the dumb whose mouth was opened, that it should not doubt concerning the preaching of the Word. Our Redeemer was in every way equipped, that in every way He might rescue us from our captor. For our Lord did not merely clothe Himself in a body, but also arrayed Himself in members and in garments; that through His members and His garments, they that were afflicted with plagues might be encouraged to approach the treasury of healing, that they who were encouraged by His mercy might approach His body and they who were dismayed by His terror might approach His vesture. For with one woman her fear suffered her merely to approach the hem of His raiment; Matthew 9:20 but with another, her love impelled her even to approach His flesh. Now by her who received healing by His garments, those were put to shame who did not receive healing from His words; and by her who kissed His feet, he was rebuked who did not desire to kiss His lips.
14. Now our Lord bestowed great gifts through small means; that He might teach us of what they are deprived who have scorned great things. For if from the hem of His garment, healing like this was secretly stolen, could He not assuredly heal when His word distinctly granted healing? And if defiled lips were sanctified by kissing His feet, how much more should not pure lips be sanctified by kissing His mouth? For the sinful woman by her kisses received the grace of His sacred feet, which had come with toil to bring her remission of her sins. She was refreshing the feet of her Healer with oil freely, for freely had He brought her the treasure of healing for her sickness. For it was not for the sake of his stomach that He Who satisfies the hungry was a guest; but for the sake of the sinful woman's repentance He Who justifies sinners made Himself a guest.
15. For it was not for the dainties of the Pharisees that our Lord hungered, but for the tears of the sinful woman He was an hungered. For when He was satisfied and refreshed by the tears for which He hungered, He turned and rebuked him who had bidden Him to the food that passes away, that He might show that it was not for the sake of food for the body that He had become a guest, but for the sake of help to the soul. For it was not for the sake of pleasure that our Lord mingled with gluttonous men and winebibbers, as the Pharisee supposed; but that in their food as mortals He might mingle for them His teaching as the medicine of life. For even as it was in the matter of eating that the Evil One gave his deadly counsel to Adam and his helpmeet, so in the matter of eating the Good Lord gave His life-giving counsel to the sons of Adam. For He was the fisherman Who came down to fish for the lives of the lost. He saw the publicans and harlots rushing into prodigality and drunkenness; and He hastened to spread His nets among their places of assembly, that He might capture them from food that fattens bodies, to fasting that fattens souls.
16. Now the Pharisee made great preparations for our Lord in His banquet; and the sinful woman did but little things for Him there. Yet he by his great dainties displayed the smallness of his love to our Lord; but she by her tears displayed the greatness of her love to our Lord. Thus he that had invited Him to the great banquet was rebuked because of the smallness of his love; but she by her few tears atoned for the many follies of her offenses. Simon the Pharisee received our Lord as a prophet; because of the signs, and not because of faith. For he was a son of Israel, who when signs drew near, himself also drew near to the Lord of the signs; and when the signs ceased, he also stood naked without faith. This man also when he saw our Lord with signs, esteemed Him as a prophet; but when our Lord ceased from signs, the doubting mind of the sons of his people entered him. This man if He had been a prophet, He would have known that this woman is a sinner. But our Lord for Whom in every place all things are easy, here also did not cease from His signs. For He saw that because He had ceased a little from signs, the blind mind of the Pharisee had turned away from Him. For he had said in error, This man, had He been a prophet, He would have known. In this reflection therefore the Pharisee doubted concerning our Lord, whether He were a prophet or no; but by this very reflection he learned that He is Lord of the prophets; so that from the source from which error entered him, from that source our Lord might bring help to Him.
17. Our Lord then told him the parable of the two debtors; and made him judge; that by his tongue He might catch him in whose heart the truth was not. One owed five hundred dinars. Here then our Lord showed to the Pharisee the multitude of the offenses of the sinful woman. He then who imagined concerning our Lord that He did not know that she was a sinner, in the result heard from Him how great was the debt of her sins. The Pharisee, then, who imagined that our Lord did not know who she was, and what was the reputation of the sinful woman, was found himself not to know who our Lord was, and what was His reputation. Thus he was reproved in his error, who did not even perceive his error. For the knowledge that he was assuredly erring eluded him in his error. But he received a reminder from Him Who came to remind them that err. The Pharisee had seen great signs done by our Lord, as Israel by Moses; but because there was not faith in him, that those prodigies which he saw might be conjoined with that faith, a little cause hindered and annulled them. Had this man been a prophet, he would have known that this woman is a sinner. For he let slip the wonders that he had seen, and blindness readily entered into him. For he was of the sons of Israel, whom terrible signs accompanied up to the sea, that they might fear; and blessed miracles surrounded in the waste desert, that they might be reconciled; but through lack of faith, for a slight cause, they rejected them [saying]; As for this Moses who brought us up, we know not what has become of him. Exodus 32:1 For they ceased to regard the mighty works that had been surrounding them. They perceived that Moses was not near them; so that for this cause that had come near, they drew [near] to the heathenism of Egypt. For Moses was for a little removed from before them, that the calf that was before them might appear, that they might worship it openly also; for they had been secretly worshipping it in their hearts.
18. But when their heathenism from being inward became open, then Moses also from being hidden openly appeared; that he might openly punish those whose heathenism had revelled beneath the holy cloud which had overshadowed them. But God removed the Shepherd of the flock from it for forty days, that the flock might show that its trust was fixed upon the calf. While God was feeding the flock with all delights, it chose for itself as its Shepherd the calf, which was not able even to eat. Moses who kept them in awe was removed from them, that the idolatry might cry aloud in their mouths, which the restraint of Moses had kept down in their hearts. For they cried: Make us gods, to go before us. Exodus 32:1
19. But when Moses came down, he saw their heathenism revelling in the wide plain with drums and cymbals. Speedily, he put their madness to shame by means of the Levites and drawn swords. So likewise here, our Lord concealed His knowledge for a little when the sinful woman approached Him, that the Pharisee might form into shape his thought, as his fathers had shaped the pernicious calf. But when the Pharisee's error came to a head within him, then the knowledge of our Lord was manifested against it and dispelled it; I entered into your house; you gave Me no water for My feet: But she has moistened them with her tears. Therefore her sins which are many are forgiven her. Luke 7:44-47 But the Pharisee when he heard our Lord naming the sins of the woman, many sins, was greatly put to shame because he had greatly erred. For he had supposed that our Lord did not even know that she was a sinner. Our Lord had before shown Himself as though not knowing her for a sinner. For He allowed him who had seen His signs, to show the doubt of his mind, that it might become manifest that his mind was bound in the ungodliness of his fathers. But the physician, who by his medicines brings out the hidden disease, is not the helper of the disease but its destroyer. For while the disease is hidden, it rules in the members, but when it is made manifest by medicines, it is rooted out. So then the Pharisee saw great things and doubted about small things. But when our Lord saw that his littleness made little of great things in his mind, He speedily showed him not only that she was a sinner, but even the multitude of her sins; that he might be put to shame by little things—he who had not believed in wonders.
20. God gave room to Israel to enlarge its heathenism in the wide desert; whom God cut short with whetted sword, that their idolatry might not be spread abroad among the Gentiles. So our Lord allowed the Pharisee to imagine perverse things, that He might in turn duly reprove his pride. For concerning those things which the sinful woman was doing rightly, the Pharisee was thinking wrongly. But our Lord in His turn rebuked him, concerning the right things which he had wrongly withheld: I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet. Behold the withholding of that which was due! But she has moistened them with her tears. Behold the payment of what was due! You did not anoint Me with oil. Behold the token of neglect! But she has anointed My feel with sweet ointment. Behold the sign of zeal! You did not kiss Me. Behold the testimony of enmity! But she has not ceased to kiss My feet. Behold the sign of love! So then, by this enumeration our Lord showed that the Pharisee owed Him all those things and had withheld them; but that the sinful woman had come in and rendered all those things which he had withheld. Because then she had paid the debts of him who wrongfully withheld them, the Just One forgave her, her own debt, even her sins.
21. Now the Pharisee, while he was doubting concerning our Lord, that He was not a prophet, pledged himself to the truth unawares, in saying— Had this man been a prophet, he would have known that this woman is a sinner. Therefore, if it should be found that our Lord knew that she was a sinner, He is, according to your word, O Pharisee, a prophet. Our Lord, therefore, hastened to show both that she was a sinner, and that her sins were many; that the testimony of his own mouth might confute him as a liar. For he was companion of those that said: Who is able to forgive sins, but God only? Mark 2:7 For from them our Lord received testimony, that, therefore, He Who is able to forgive sins, is God. Thenceforth, then, the contention was this, that our Lord should show them whether He was able to forgive sins or no. So He speedily healed the members that were visible, that it might be made sure that He had forgiven the sins that were invisible. For our Lord cast before them the word which was expected to catch him that said it; so that when they should rush forward to catch Him by it, according to their wish, they might be caught by Him according to His wish. Fear not, My son, your sins are forgiven you. Matthew 9:2 While they were hastening to catch Him on the charge of blasphemy, they pledged themselves unawares to the truth. For Who is able forgive sins but God only? Accordingly, our Lord confuted them [as though saying]: If I shall have shown that I am able to forgive sins, even though you do not believe in Me that I am God; yet abide by your word, which determined that whoso forgives sins is God. Therefore that our Lord might teach them that He forgives sins, He forgave that man his hidden sin, and caused him to carry his bed openly; that by the carrying of the bed which carries [those that lie on it], they might believe in the slaying of the sin that slays.
This is a wonderful thing, that while our Lord there called Himself the Son of man, His adversaries, unawares, made Him to be God as forgiving sins. Accordingly, while they supposed that they had ensnared Him by their craftiness, He entangled them in their craftiness; He made it a testimony to His truth. So their evil thoughts became unto them as bitter bonds; and that they might not free themselves from their bonds, our Lord strengthened them by giving strength to him [to whom He said]— Arise, take up your bed and go into your house. Matthew 9:6 For the testimony could not again be undone, as though He were not God; inasmuch as He forgave sins. Nor yet could it be falsely affirmed that He had not forgiven sins; for lo! He had healed [men's] limbs. For our Lord bound up His hidden testimonies in those which were manifest; that their own testimony might choke the infidels. Accordingly our Lord made their thoughts to war against them, because they had warred with the Good One, who by His healing power warred against their diseases. For that which Simon the Pharisee imagined, and that which the scribes his companions imagined, they imagined in their hearts secretly; but our Lord spread it forth openly. Our Lord represented their hidden imaginations before them, that they might learn that His knowledge reveals and shows their secret things(;) so that though they had not recognized Him by His open signs, they might recognize Him when He represented their secret imaginations; and that if only but by this—that He searched out their hearts—their hearts might perceive that He was God—that at least when they saw that their imaginations could not be hidden from Him, they might cease from imagining evil against Him. For they had imagined evil in their heart; but He exposed it openly, by this [word] Why are you imagining evil in your heart? So that by this, that our Lord perceived their hidden imagination, they should recognize His hidden Godhead. For that Godhead, by this very thing that they in their error were reviling it, was by that reviling made known to them. For they reviled our Lord in the body, and supposed that He was not God, and cast Him down below from on high; but by the body He was made known to them as being God, by that body which was found passing to and fro among them. For they, by casting Him down to the depth, attempted to show this, that God Who is above, cannot in bodily wise be born below. But He by His passage up to the height, taught them this; that for the body also that is sent down below, it is not its nature to pass up to the height rather than down to the depths; so that by the body which from below passed on high upwards in the air, they might learn of God that by His grace He descended down below from on high.
22. But why instead of a stern reproof did our Lord speak a parable of persuasion to that Pharisee? He spoke the parable to him tenderly, that he, though froward, might unawares be enticed to correct his perversities. For the waters that are congealed by the force of a cold wind, the heat of the sun gently dissolves. So our Lord did not at once oppose him harshly, that he might not give occasion to the rebellious to rebel again. But by blandishment He brought him under the yoke, that when he had been yoked, He might work with him, though rebellious, according to His will. Now, because Simon was proudly minded, our Lord began humbly with him, that He might not be to him a teacher according to his folly. For if that Pharisee retained the Pharisees' pride, how could our Lord cause him to acquire humility, when the treasure of humility was not under his hand? But since our Lord was teaching humility to all men, He showed that His treasury was free from every form of pride. But this was for our sakes, that He might teach us, that whatever treasuries pride enters into, it is by boastfulness that it gains access to them. On this account let not your left hand know what your right hand does. Matthew 2:3 Our Lord then did not employ harsh reproof, because His coming was of grace: He did not refrain from reproof, because His later coming will be of retribution. For He put men to fear in His coming of humility; because it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands Hebrews 10:31 when He shall come in flaming fire. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 But our Lord bestowed the most part of His helps rather by persuasion than by reproof. For the gentle shower softens the earth and penetrates all through it: but violent rain binds and hardens the face of the earth, so that it does not receive it. For a harsh word excites wrath, and with it are bound up wrongs. And when a harsh word has opened the door, wrath enters in, and at the heels of wrath, along with it enter in wrongs.
23. But because all helps attend on humble speech, He who came to render help employed it. Observe how mighty is the power of a humble word; for lo! By it vehement wrath is put down, and by it the billows of a swelling mind are calmed. But hear whence this was. That Pharisee thought, had this man been a prophet, he would have known. Contempt as well as blasphemy can be discerned here. Hear how our Lord in reply encountered this: Simon, I have somewhat to say unto you. Love and reproof can be discerned here. For this is a word of love such as friends use with their friends. For when an adversary reproaches his adversary, he speaks not to him like this; for the madness of anger does not allow enemies to speak reasonably one to another. But He Who prayed for them that crucified Him, that He might show that the fury of anger had no power over Him, was about to put to the question those that crucified Him, that He might show that He was governed by reason and not by anger.
24. Accordingly, our Lord placed a word of conciliation at the beginning of His speech, that by conciliation He might pacify the Pharisee, into whose mind discord and division had entered. He was the physician who ranged His cures against the things hurtful [to men]. Our Lord then shot forth this word as an arrow, and set in the head of it conciliation as the barb. And He anointed it with love, that soothes the members; so that when it flew into him who was full of discord, he was at once changed from discord to harmony. For straightway upon hearing that humble voice of our Lord, saying— Simon, I have somewhat to say unto you, that secret despiser returned his answer, Say on, Lord. For the sweet voice entered his bitter mind, and begot of it pleasant fruit. For he who before this voice was one that secretly despised, after this voice became one that openly honoured. For humility, by its sweet utterance, subdues even its adversaries into rendering it honour. For it is not over its friends that humility tests its power, but over its enemies it exhibits its victories.
25. Thus the heavenly King arrayed Himself in armour of humility, and so conquered the bitter one, and drew from him a good answer as a sure pledge [of victory]. This is the armour concerning which Paul said, that by it we humble the loftiness that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians 10:5 For Paul had received the proof of it in himself. For as he had been warring in pride, but was conquered in humility, so is to be conquered every lofty thing which exalts itself against this humility. For Saul was journeying to subdue the disciples with hard words, but the Master of the disciples subdued him with a humble word. For when He to whom all things are possible manifested Himself to him, giving up all things else, He spoke to him in humility alone, that He might teach us that a soft tongue is more effectual than all things else against hard thoughts. For neither threats nor words of terror were heard by Paul, but weak words not able to avenge themselves: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Acts 9:4 But the words which were thought not even capable of avenging themselves, were found to be taking vengeance by drawing him away from the Jews and making him a goodly vessel. He who was full of the bitter will of the Jews, was then filled with the sweet preaching of the cross. When he was filled with the bitterness of the crucifiers, in his bitterness he made havoc of the churches. But when he was filled with the sweetness of the Crucified, he embittered the synagogues of the crucifiers. Our Lord then strove with humble voice with him, who had been warring against His churches with hard bonds. Thus Saul, who had been binding the disciples with bitter chains, was bound with pleasant persuasions; that he might not again cast the disciples into bonds; since he was bound by the Crucified, Who puts to silence evil voices, whom all they that were set against Him could not bind or injure. But when Paul ceased from binding the disciples, he himself was bound with chains by the persecutors. But when he was bound with chains, he loosed the bonds of idolatry by his bonds.
26. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? He who had conquered His persecutors in the world below, and ruled over the angels in the world above, spoke from above with humble voice. And He Who while He was upon earth had denounced ten woes against His crucifiers, when He was in heaven, did not denounce even one woe against Saul, His persecutor. Now, our Lord denounced woe to His crucifiers, that He might teach His disciples not to be dismayed by His murderers. But our Lord spoke in humility from heaven, that in humility the heads of His church might speak. And if any one should say, Wherein did our Lord speak humbly with Paul? For lo! The eyes of Paul were grievously smitten; let him know that it was not from our merciful Lord that this chastisement proceeded, who spoke those words in humility; but from the vehement light that vehemently shone forth there. And this light did not strike Paul by way of retribution on account of his deeds, but on account of the vehemence of its rays it hurt him, as he also said: When I arose, I could discern nothing for the glory of the light. Acts 22:11 But if that light was glorious, O Paul, how did the glorious light become a blinding light to you yourself? The light was that which, according to its nature, illuminates above, but contrary to its nature, it shone forth below. When it illumined above, it was delightful; but when it shone forth below, it was blinding. For the light was both grievous and pleasant. It was grievous and violent towards the eyes of the flesh; and it was pleasant and lightful to those who are fire and spirit. Matthew 4:11
27. For I saw a light from heaven that excelled the sun, and its light shone upon me. Acts 26:13 So then mighty rays streamed forth without moderation, and were poured upon feeble eyes, which moderate rays refresh. For, lo! The sun also in measure assists the eyes, but beyond measure and out of measure it injures the eyes. And it is not by way of vengeance in wrath that it smites them. For lo! It is the friend of the eyes and beloved of the eyeballs. And this is a marvel; while with its gentle lustre it befriends and assists the eyes; yet by its vehement rays it is hostile to and injures the eyeballs. But if the sun which is here below, and of kindred nature with the eyes that are here below, yet injures them, in vehemence and not in anger, in its proper force and not in wrath; how much more should the light that is from above, akin to the things that are above, by its vehemence injure a man here below who has suddenly gazed upon that which is not akin to his nature? For since Paul might have been injured by the vehemence of this sun to which he was accustomed, if he gazed upon it not according to custom, how much more should he be injured by the glory of that light to which his eyes never had been accustomed? For behold, Daniel also Daniel 10:5-6 was melted and poured out on every side before the glory of the angel, whose vehement brightness suddenly shone upon him! And it was not because of the angel's wrath that his human weakness was melted, just as it is not on account of the wrath or hostility of fire that wax is melted before it; but on account of the weakness of the wax it cannot keep firm and stand in presence of fire. When then the two approach one another, the power of the fire by its quality prevails; but the weakness of the wax on the other hand is brought lower even than its former weakness.
28. But the majesty of the angel was manifested in itself; the weakness of flesh in itself could not endure. For my inward parts were turned into corruption. Daniel 10:8 But yet men see men, their fellows, and faint before them: Yet it is not by their bright splendour that they are moved, but by their harsh will. For servants are terrified by the wrath of their masters, and those that are judged tremble through fear of their judges. But this did not befall Daniel on account of threatening or anger from the angel; but on account of his terrible nature and prevailing brightness. For it was not with threatening, the angel came to him. For if he had come with threatening, how could a mouth full of threatening become full of peace, when it came, saying, Peace be unto you, you man of desire? Thus that mouth that was a fountain of thunderings— for the voice of his words was like the voice of many hosts, Daniel 10:6 that voice became to him a fountain teeming with and containing peace. And when [the voice] reached the terrified ears which were thirsty for the encouraging greeting of peace, there was opened and poured out [for Daniel] a draught of peace. And by the angel's later [word of] peace, those ears were encouraged, which had been terrified by his former voice first. For [he said], Let my Lord speak because I have been strengthened. Daniel 10:19 But because in that heart-moving vision the fiery angel was about to announce nothing concerning Him, [the Lord], on this account that majesty [of the angel] was forward to give the salutation of peace to the lowliness [of the prophet]; that by the gladdening salutation which that awful majesty gave, the dread should be removed which lay on the mind of the lowliness and that was terrified.
29. But what shall we say about the Lord of the Angel, Who said to Moses— No man shall see Me and live? Exodus 33:20 Is it on account of the fury of His anger, that whoso shall see Him shall die? Or on account of the splendour of His Being? For that Being was not made and was not created: so that eyes which have been made and created cannot look upon it. For if it is on account of His fury that whoso shall look upon Him shall not live, lo! He would have granted to Moses to see Him because of His great love to him. Accordingly, the Self-Existent by His vision slays them that look upon Him; but He slays, not because of harsh fury but because of His potent splendour. Because of this He in His great love granted to Moses to see His glory; yet in the same great love He restrained him from seeing His glory. But it was not that the glory of His majesty would have been at all diminished, but that weak eyes could not suffice to bear the overpowering billows of His glory. Therefore God, Who in His love desired that the vision of Moses should be directed upon the goodly brightness of His glory, in His love did not desire that the vision of Moses should be blinded amidst the potent rays of His glory. Therefore Moses saw and saw not. He saw, that he might be exalted; he saw not, that he might not be injured. For by that which he saw, his lowliness was exalted; and by that which he saw not, his weakness was not blinded. As also our eyes look upon the sun and look not upon it; and by what they see are assisted; and by what they see not, are uninjured. Thus the eye sees, that it may be benefited; but it ventures not [to look], that it may not be injured. So then through love God hindered Moses from seeing that glory that was too hard for his eyes: As also Moses through his love prevented the children of his people from seeing the brightness that was too strong for their eyes. For he learned from Him Who covered him, and spread His hand, and hid from him the splendour of the glory, that it might not injure him; so that he also should spread the veil and conceal from the feeble ones the overpowering splendour, that it might not hurt them. Now when Moses saw that the sons of perishable flesh could not gaze upon the borrowed glory that was on his face, his heart failed within him; for that he had sought to dare to gaze upon the glory of the Eternal Being; in whose floods, lo! Those above and those below are plunged and spring forth; the depths whereof none can fathom; the shores whereof none can reach; whereof no end or limit can be found.
30. Now if any one should say, Was it not then possible for God [to bring it to pass] that Moses should look upon that glory and not be injured; and that Paul likewise should look upon the light and take no hurt? Let him that says this understand that though it is possible for the power and overruling force of God, that the eyes should change their nature; yet it is inconsistent with the wisdom and nature of God that the order of nature should be confused. For, lo! It is also easy for the arm of the artificer to destroy [his fabrics]; but it is inconsistent with the good sense of the artificer to ruin goodly ornaments. And if any one wishes to say, concerning something which to himself seems meet—It were meet for God to do this; let him know that it is meet for himself not to speak thus concerning God. For the chief of all things meet is this: that a man should not teach God what is meet. For it becomes not man to become God's instructor. For this is a great wickedness, that we should become teachers to Him, of Whom these created mouths of ours are unable to tell, in the formation of His handiwork. For it is an unpardonable iniquity, that the mouth in its boldness should teach what is proper to that God by Whose grace it learned to speak at all. If any one then shall say, It had been meet for God to do this, I also, because I have a mouth and a tongue, may say, It had been meet for God not to give to man freedom by which he thus reproaches Him Who is not to be reproached. But I do not dare to say that it was not meet for Him to give it; lest I also make myself an instructor of Him Who is not to be instructed. For because He is just, He would have been reproached by Himself, had He not given freedom to men, as though through grudging He had withheld from lowly man the gift that makes great. Therefore He gave it betimes by His grace, that He might not be justly reproached by Himself; even though through freedom, His own gift, lo! blasphemers wickedly reproach Him.
31. Now why were the eyes of Moses made to shine because of the glory which he saw, while on the contrary [the eyes of] Paul, instead of being made to shine, were made utterly blind? Yet we may be sure that the eyes of Moses were not stronger than those of Paul; for they were akin in one brotherhood of blood and flesh. But another power through grace sustained the eyes of Moses; whereas no power was added in mercy to the eyes of Paul, beyond their natural power, which in wrath was taken from them. But if we say that their natural power was taken away from them, and that [it was] on this account he was defeated and overcome by the overpowering light—for had their natural power remained, they would have been able to endure that supernatural light. Yet let us be sure of this, that as often as anything transcendent is revealed, that surpasses and transcends our nature, our natural power is not able to stand before it. But if on the other hand another power beyond our natural one is added to us, then by that power received by us in excess of and beyond nature, we shall be able to stand before any strange thing which comes upon us supernaturally.
32. For, lo! The power of our ears and eyes is in us and is formed in us in its natural manner; and yet our sight and hearing cannot stand before mighty thunder and lightning; first, because they come with vehemence; and secondly, because their potency suddenly surprises and astounds our feebleness. This is what happened to Paul. For the potency of the light suddenly surprised his feeble eyes and injured them. But the greatness of the voice brought low his strength and entered his ears and opened them. For they had been closed up by Jewish contentiousness as by wax. For the voice did not plough up the ears, as the light injured the eyeballs. Why? But because it was meet that he should hear, but not that he should see. Therefore the doors of hearing were opened by the voice as by a key: but the doors of sight were shut by the light that should open them. Why then was it meet that he should hear? Clearly because by that voice our Lord was able to reveal Himself as being persecuted by Saul. For He was not able to show Himself by sight as being persecuted; for there was no way whereby this should be, that the son of David should be seen fleeing and Saul pursuing after Him. For this happened in very deed with that first Saul and with the first David. The one was pursuing; the other was being persecuted; they both of them saw and were seen, each by the other. But here the ear alone could hear of the persecution of the Son of David; the eye could not see that He was being persecuted. For it was in [the person of] others He was being persecuted, while He was Himself in heaven;— He Who beforetime had been persecuted in His own person while He was upon earth. Therefore the ears [of Saul] were opened and his eyes were closed. And He Who by sight could not represent Himself before Saul as persecuted, represented Himself by word before him as persecuted; when he cried and said— Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Accordingly, his eyes were closed, because they could not see the persecution of Christ; but his ears were opened, because they could hear of His persecution. So then although the eyes of Moses were bodily eyes, as those of Paul, yet his inward eyes were Christian; for Moses wrote of Me, John 5:46 but the outward eyes of Paul were open, while the inward [eyes] were shut. Then because the inward eyes of Moses shone clear, his outward eyes also were made to shine clearly. But the outward eyes of Paul were closed, that by the closing of those that were outward, there might come to pass the opening of those that were inward. For he who by the outward eyes was not able to see the Lord in His signs, he when those bodily eyes were closed, saw with those within. And because he had received the proof in his own person, he wrote to those who had their bodily eyes full of light— May He illumine the eyes of your hearts. Ephesians 1:18 Therefore the signs manifested to the external eyes of the Jews, profited them not at all; but faith of the heart opened the eyes of the heart of the Gentiles. But because, had Moses come down in his accustomed aspect from the mountain, without that shining of countenance, and said, I saw there the glory of God, the faithless fathers would not have believed him; so also, had Paul, without suffering blindness of his eyes, said, I heard the voice of Christ, the sons who crucified Christ would not have received it as true. Therefore He set on Moses as in love, an excelling sign of splendour, that the deceivers might believe that he had seen the Divine glory; but on Saul, as on a persecutor, He set the hateful sign of blindness, that the liars might believe that he had heard the words of Christ; that so you might not again speak against Moses, and that these might not doubt concerning Paul. For God set signs on the bodies of the blind, and sent them to those who were in error, who used to make signs upon the borders of their garments. But they remembered not the signs on their garments, and in the signs of the body they greatly erred. The fathers who saw the glory of Moses, did not obey Moses; nor did the sons who saw the blindness of Paul believe Paul. But three times in the desert they threatened to stone Moses and his house with stones as dogs. For all congregation bade stone them with stones. Numbers 14:10 And thrice they scourged Paul with rods as a dog on his body. [?] Thrice was I beaten with rods. 2 Corinthians 11:25 These are the lions who through their love for their Lord were beaten as dogs and were torn as flocks of sheep, those flocks that used to stone their guardian shepherds, in order that ravening wolves might rule over them.
33. But the crucifiers who corrupted the soldiers with a bribe, they perhaps said concerning Paul—The disciples have bribed him with a bribe; therefore he associates with the disciples. For those who by the giving of a bribe strove that the resurrection of our Lord might not be preached, slandered Paul with the name of a bribe, that his revelation might not be believed. Therefore the voice astonished him, and the light blinded him, that his astonishment might pacify his violence, and his blindness might put to shame his slanderers. For the voice astounded his hearing in this, that it said meekly to him—(Saul, why do you persecute Me?): and the light blinded his sight, that when the slanderers should have said that he had received a bribe, and thereby was suborned to lie, his blindness which had been brought about by that light might confute them, showing that it was through it that he had been driven to speak what was true. So that those who supposed that his hands had received a bribe, and that because of it his lips lied, might know that his eyes had given up their light and because of this his lips proclaimed the truth. But again for another reason the meek voice accompanied the overpowering light; namely, that as it were from meekness unto exaltation our Lord might produce help for the persecutor; in like manner as also all His helps were produced, from lowliness unto greatness. For our Lord's meekness continued from the womb to the tomb. And observe that greatness comes close upon His lowliness, and exaltation on His meekness. For whereas His greatness was observed in various things, His Divinity was revealed by glorious signs; that it might be known that the One Who stood among them, was not one but two. For His nature is not humble nature alone, nor is it an exalted nature alone; but there are two natures that are mingled, the one with the other; the exalted and the humble.
Therefore these two natures show forth their qualities; so that by the quality of each of the two, mankind might distinguish between the two; that it might not be supposed that He was merely one—He Who was two by commingling: but that it might be known that He was two in respect of the blending, though He was one in respect of His Being. These things our Lord, through His humility and exaltation, taught to Paul also in the way to Damascus.
34. For our Lord appeared to Saul in meekness, since meekness was close to His greatness; that because of His greatness it might be known Who He is Who spoke meekly. For even as His disciples preached on earth of our Lord in meekness and in exaltation—in the meekness of His persecution, and in the exaltation of His signs,— so also our Lord preached of Himself in meekness and in exaltation in Paul's presence— in the exaltation of the potency of the light which flashed, and in the meekness of that meek voice which said; Saul, why do you persecute Me?— so that the preaching of Him which His disciples preached concerning Him in presence of many, should be like to that preaching which He preached concerning Himself. But even as, if He had not spoken meekly, it would not have been made known there that He was meek, so, had He not appeared there as an overpowering light, it would not have been made known there that He was exalted.
35. And if you should say; What necessity was there that He should speak humbly? Could He not have convinced him also through the greatness of the light? Know, you that questionest, that this rejoinder may be returned to you; that because it was necessary that He should speak humbly, He therefore spoke humbly. For by Him Who is wise in all things, there was done there nothing that was not meet to be done. For He Who has given knowledge to artificers to do each thing severally with the instrument meet for it, does He not Himself know that which He gives others the power of knowing? Therefore whatsoever has been wrought or is being wrought by the Godhead, that very thing that is wrought by Him at that time, is for the furtherance of [God's] working at that time, even though to the blind the Divine orderings seem contrariwise. But that we may not restrain by constraint of words a wise enquirer, one that wishes to grow by true persuasion as the seed by the rain-drops; know, O enquirer, that because Saul was a persecutor, but our Lord was endeavouring to make him persecuted instead of persecutor, therefore He of His wisdom made haste to cry— Saul, why do you persecute Me?— in order that, when Saul who was being made a disciple, heard Him Who was making him a disciple, saying, Why do you persecute Me? he might know that the Master Whose servant he was becoming, was a persecuted Master, and so might quickly cast away the persecution of his former masters, and might clothe himself in the persecuted state of his persecuted Master. Now any master who wishes to teach a man anything, teaches him either by deeds or by words. But if he teach him neither by words nor by deeds, the man cannot be instructed in his craft. So that, even though our Lord did not teach Paul humility by deeds, yet by voice He taught him endurance of persecution which He could not teach him by deed. For before our Lord was crucified, He taught His disciples humble endurance of persecution by deed. But after He had finished His persecution by crucifixion, as He said, Lo! All things are finished. John 19:30 He could not vainly return and begin again anything which once for all had been wisely finished. Or why again do you seek for the crucifixion and shame of the Son of God?
36. For even though our Lord in His grace had beforetime brought the majesty of His Godhead into humility, yet afterwards in His justice He willed not again to bring back to humiliation the littleness of manhood which had been made great. But because it was necessary that the persecuting disciple should learn endurance of persecution, while yet it was impossible that the Master should again come down and be persecuted afresh; He taught him by voice that which could not be taught by deeds. Saul, why do you persecute Me? The explanation of which utterance is this—Saul, why are you not persecuted in Me? But in order that Saul might not suppose that it was because of His weakness our Lord was persecuted, the strength of the overpowering light which shone upon him, convinced him. For if the eyes of Saul could not endure the shining of that light, how could the hands of Saul bind and fetter the disciples of the Lord of that light? But his hands had fettered the disciples, that he might learn their power in their bonds; while his eyes could not endure the beams, that by their strength he might learn his own weakness. But had not the power of that light shone upon him, when the Lord said to him; Saul, why do you persecute Me? Then because of the madness of the pride wherein Paul was set up at that time, he would perhaps have said this to Him, I am persecuting You for this reason, because You have said, Why do you persecute Me? For who is there that would not persecute You, when You, with such strength, troublest Your persecutor with these feeble cries. But the humility of our Lord was heard in the voice, and the power of the light shone forth in the beams. So Paul could not despise the humility of the voice, because of the glory of the light.
37. Thus were his ears brought into discipleship to the voice which he heard, because his eyes sufficed not to endure the beams which they saw. That marvel of the dawning of the light was shed forth upon his eyeballs and did them hurt; and the voice of the Lord of the light entered his ears, but did them no harm. But between the light and the Lord of the light, which ought to have been the stronger? For if the light which was created by Him was so overpowering, how much more overpowering He by Whom this very light was created! But if the Lord of the light was overpowering, as indeed He is overpowering, how did His voice enter the hearing and not harm it? Even as that light which hurt the sight? But hear the wonder and the marvel which our Lord wrought by His grace. For our Lord willed not to humble that light which is His; but He being Lord of the light humbled Himself. But as the Lord of the light is greater than the light which is His, so great is the glory that the Lord of the light should humble Himself rather than humble the light.
38. As also in the night, while He was praying, it is written— There appeared to Him an angel strengthening Him. Luke 22:43 But here all mouths, celestial and terrestrial, are insufficient to give thanks to Him by Whose hand the angels were created; that He was strengthened for the sake of sinners by that angel who was created by His hand. As then the angel from above stood in glory and in brightness, while the Lord of the angel, that He might exalt man who was degraded, stood in degradation and humility; so also here that light flashed forth in manifestation; but the Lord of the light, for the sake of helping one persecutor, spoke with humble voice and lowly words.
39. For this cause therefore that light which was overpowering, because it was not diminished, entered the eyeballs with overpowering manifestation and injured them. But the Lord of the light, because He had lowered Himself in order to help, His lowly voice entered the ears that had need and helped them. But in order that the help of that voice which had become lowly, might not fail Him, therefore the strength of that light was not lowered, in order that because of that light, which was not lowered, the help of that voice which was lowered, might be believed. But this is a marvel, that until our Lord made Himself lowly in voice, Paul was not made lowly in deed; for even as, before He came down and clothed Himself in a body, our Lord was in exaltation with His Father; yet in His exaltation men did not learn humility; but when He humbled Himself and came down from His exaltation, then by His humbleness humility was soon among men; so again after His resurrection and ascension He was in glory at the right hand of God His Father, but by that His exaltation, Paul did not learn humility. Therefore He that was exalted and sat at the right hand of His Father, ceased from glorious and lofty speech, and He cried as one wronged and oppressed, with feeble and meek words, saying— Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Thus, humble words prevailed over harsh bridles. For by humble words, as by bridles, the persecuted led the persecutor from the broad way of the persecutors into the narrow way of the persecuted. And since all the signs that were done in the Name of our Lord did not convince Paul, our Lord made haste to meet with humility him who was hastening on the way to Damascus in the vehemence of pride. Thus by His humble words, the harsh vehemence of pride was checked.
40. He then Who used humble words with Paul His persecutor, He also used humble sayings with the Pharisee. For so great is the power of humility that even God Who overcomes all did not overcome without it. Humility was able also in the wilderness to bear the burden of the stiff-necked people. For against the people who were more stubborn than all men, was set Moses who was more meek than all men. For God Who needs not anything, when He had set free the people, afterwards had need of the humility of Moses, that this humility might endure the wrath and murmuring of the People that provoked him. For humility alone could endure the gainsayings of that people, which the signs of Egypt and the prodigies (wrought) in the desert could not subdue. For when pride had wrought divisions among the people, humility by its prayer used to close up their divisions. If then the humility of the Stammerer endured six hundred thousand, how much more exceedingly did the humility of Him, Who gave speech to the Stammerer endure? For the humility of Moses is a shadow of the humility of our Lord.
41. Our Lord then saw that Simon the Pharisee did not believe the signs and wonders which he had seen. He came to him to persuade him with humble words; and humble utterances overcame him, whom mighty wonders had not overcome. What then are the wonders which that Pharisee had seen? He had seen the dead raised to life, the lepers cleansed, the blind with eyes opened. These signs compelled that Pharisee to entertain our Lord as a prophet. But he who entertained Him as a prophet, changed so as to despise Him for one who had not knowledge, saying (namely);— Had this man been a prophet, He would have known that this woman— who had approached Him— is a sinner. But we may despise the Pharisee and say, Had he been a man of discernment, he would have learned from that sinful woman, who approached our Lord, not that He was a prophet, but the Lord of the Prophets. For the tears of the sinful woman testified, that it was not a prophet they were propitiating, but Him, Who, as God, was angry with her sins. For, because the prophets sufficed not to raise sinners to life, the Lord of the prophets came down to heal those who were in evil case. But what physician is there who hinders the smitten, that they should not come to him, O blind Pharisee, as it befell that she came to our Physician! For why did the smitten woman approach Him—she, whose wounds were healed by her tears? He Who had come down to be a fountain of healing among the diseased, was proclaiming this— Let every one that is thirsty, come and drink. John 7:37 But when the Pharisees, this man's companions, murmured at the healing of sinners, the Physician taught concerning His art, that the door is opened for the diseased and not for the whole, for they that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick. Matthew 9:12 Therefore the praise of the physician is the healing of the diseased—that the shame of the Pharisee who reproved the praise of our physician may be greater. But our Lord used to show signs in the streets; and also when He entered into the house of the Pharisee, He showed signs which were greater than those He had shown outside. For in the street He made whole the bodies that were sick, but within He healed the souls that were diseased. Outside, He raised to life the mortality of Lazarus: but within, He raised to life the mortality of the sinful woman. He restored the living soul to the corpse from which it had gone out; and He expelled from the sinful woman the deadly sin which dwelt within her. But the blind (Pharisee) who was insufficient for great things, because of the great things which he saw not, belied those small things which he had seen. For he was a son of Israel who attributed weakness to his God, and not to himself. For (Israel said), Though He smote the rock and the waters flowed, can He also give us bread? But when our Lord saw his weakness, that it missed the great things and, because of them, the small things also, He hasted to put forward a simple word, as though for a babe that was being reared on milk, and was not capable of solid food.
42. For by that wherein you knew, O Pharisee, that our Lord was not a prophet, by that very thing it was proved that you did not know the prophets. For by this that you said— Had this man been a prophet, he would have known, you show herein that (in your esteem) whoever is a prophet knows all things. But lo! some matters were hidden from the prophets; how then do you attribute the revelation of all hidden things to the prophets? But this unwise teacher who perverted the scriptures of the Prophets, did not even understand what he read in the scriptures. For it was not only that the greatness of the Lord was not discerned by that Pharisee, but he did not even discern the weakness of the prophets. For our Lord, as knowing all things, allowed that sinful woman to come in and receive His peace. But Elisha, as one ignorant, said to the Shunamite;— Peace to you and peace be to the child. 2 Kings 4:26 Accordingly he who supposed that our Lord was proved not to be a prophet, was himself proved not to know the Prophets. When the mind contains malice and cannot refrain, then that malice which is in it, is cunning in finding a pretext for opening a door; but in case that pretext, in which the deceiver takes refuge is confuted, he knows that within this there is another concealed which he may employ.
Now observe this son of Israel, how he was like Israel in stubbornness. For heathenism was bound up in the mind of the People; therefore Moses was taken away from them, that the wickedness that was within them might become manifest. But that they might not be put to shame, and that it might not be known how they were seeking idols, they first sought for Moses, and then for idols. As for this Moses, we know not what has become of him. Exodus 32:1 And if God, Who cannot die, brought you out of Egypt, why do you seek for a man, who at some time must die? Yet they did not desire Moses, that he should become a god to them; because Moses could hear and see and reprove; but they sought for a god who could neither hear nor see nor reprove. But whenever Moses shall have died, what shall remain of him? For behold, your God is a living God, and lo! He has revealed Himself to you by living testimonies. For the bright cloud was at that time overshadowing them, and they had the pillar of light in the night-time. Water flowed for them from the rock, and they drank its streams. They were delighted every day by tasting that manna, the fame of which we have heard. How was Moses far from you? Behold the signs of Moses surround you. Or how does the person of Moses profit you, when you have such a guide as this? If your garments wear not old, and a temperate air refreshes you, if the heat and the cold do not hurt you, and you have rest from war, and art far removed from the fear of Egypt—what thing then was lacking to Israel that he sought for Moses? Open heathenism was lacking to him. For it was not for Moses that he sought, but on the pretext of Moses' absence he followed after the calf. Thus briefly have we showed, that when the mind is full of anything, but an opposing reason meets it, then it forces it by violence to open for it a door to that which it desires.
43. You too, O Pharisee, thirsty for blasphemy, what did you see in our Lord, to show that He was not a prophet? For lo! The things that belong to the Lord of the Prophets were seen in Him. For the gushing tears made haste to proclaim that they were shed as before God. The sorrowing kisses testified that they sought to win over the creditor to tear up the debt-bonds. The goodly ointment of the sinful woman proclaimed that it was a bribe of penitence. These medicines the sinful woman offered to her Physician, that by her tears He might wash away her stains, by her kisses He might heal her wounds, by her sweet ointment He might make her evil name sweet as the odour of her ointment. This is the Physician who heals men by the medicines which they bring to Him. These marvels were shown at that time; but to the Pharisee instead of these there appeared blasphemy. For what could be established in the weeping of the sinful woman, but that He can justify sinners? Else, judge in your mind, O blind teacher, why was that mournful weeping in the joyful feast, so that, while they were making merry with food, she was in bitterness with her tears? Because she was a sinner, her deeds were unchaste, and these (deeds) she was wont to do. But if at that time, from the wantonness of sinners she was turned to chastity, then acknowledge, you who said He is not a prophet, that He is One who makes those chaste that have been wanton. For by this, that you know that she is a sinner, and by this, that you see her now penitent, search out where is the power that changed her. For he ought to have fallen down and worshipped Him Who, while silent, in His silence turned to chastity those sinners whom the Prophets by their vehement utterances could not turn to chastity. A wonderful and marvellous thing was seen in the house of the Pharisee; a sinful woman that sat and wept, and she who wept said not wherefore she wept; nor did He at Whose feet she sat say to her, Why do you weep? The sinner did not need with her lips to petition our Lord, because she believed that He knew, as God, the petitions that were hidden in her tears. Nor did our Lord ask her, What have you done? For He knew that by her pure kisses she was atoning for her transgressions. So then she, because she believed that He knew the things that were hidden, offered to Him her prayers in her heart; for knowing secret things He had no need of the outward lips. If then the sinner, because she knew that our Lord was God, sought not to persuade Him with her lips; and our Lord, because as God He discerned her thoughts, therefore questioned her not; do you not, O tyrant Pharisee, from the silence of both understand the position of both; that she was praying as to God in her heart, and that He as God was in silence searching out her thoughts? But the Pharisee could not see and understand these things, because he was a son of Israel who though perceiving, saw not, and though he heard, understood not. Though then our Lord knew that that Pharisee thought evil thoughts concerning Him, He confuted him gently and not harshly. For sweetness came down from on high to break down the bitterness with which the Evil One had stamped us. Therefore our Lord taught that Pharisee of Himself and in Himself, as though saying, Even as I, though I knew the evil things in your heart, yet gently persuaded you, so though I knew the evil things of this woman, I mercifully received her.
But let us hear how long-suffering was drawn after the hasty thought, so as to draw it from haste to understanding. A certain creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred dinars, and the other fifty dinars.— (Be not wearied, O hearer, at the length of the repetition of the parable, lest you be contrary to Him Who in the parable was long-suffering for the sake of giving help.)— At length, when neither of them had wherewithal to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them do you think would love him more? Simon said to Him, I suppose that he, to whom more was forgiven. Our Lord said to him, You have rightly judged. Our Lord in His justice commended the perverse (Pharisee), because of the right judgment, which he had judged, though he in his wickedness had answered the good Lord concerning the mercy He had wrought. Now many things are laid up in this parable; for it is a treasury full of many helps. Why then did our Lord require that the Pharisee should pass judgment for Him between the two debtors? Was it not that the greatness, coming after the littleness, might show itself that nothing of the littleness was drawn after the greatness? For our Lord, since He knew the secret things, was long-suffering and questioned Simon, that those might be put to shame who, though not knowing, were hasty to blame, but not to enquire. For if, O man, before I heard your judgment passed, I judged not of it, why did you, before you heard from Me, the case of the sinful woman, hastily blame? Now this was done for our instruction, that we might be swift to enquire, but slow to pass our sentence. For had that Pharisee been long-suffering, lo! That pardon which our Lord in the end gave to the sinful woman, would have taught him everything. Long-suffering is wont to acquire all things for those that acquire it.
44. But again; through the forgiveness of the two debtors, our Lord led into forgiveness him who was in need of forgiveness, yet in whose eyes the forgiveness of debts was hateful. For though the debts of the Pharisee himself needed forgiveness, yet the forgiveness of the debts of the sinful woman was hateful in his eyes. For had there been this forgiveness of debts in the mind of the Pharisee, it would not have been in his eyes disgraceful that that sinful woman should have come for forgiveness of her debts to God and not to the priests; for the priests could not forgive sins such as those. But this sinful woman from the glorious works which our Lord did, believed that He could also forgive sins. For she knew that whoso is able to restore the members of the body, is able also to cleanse away the spots of the soul. But the Pharisee, though he was a teacher, did not know this. For the teachers of Israel were wont to be fools, put to shame by the despised and vile. For they were put to shame by that blind man to whom they said— We know that this man is a sinner. John 9:24-31 But he said to them:— How did He open my eyes? Lo! God hears not sinners. John 9:24-31 These are the blind teachers who were made guides to others; and their perverse path was made straight by a blind man.
45. But hear the marvel that our Lord wrought. Because that Pharisee supposed that our Lord did not know that the woman who touched Him was a sinner; our Lord made the lips of the Pharisee like the strings of a harp; and by his very lips He sang how she was trampling under foot his sins, though he knew it not. And he who as though he knew had blamed, was found to be a harp, whereto another could sing of that which he knew. For our Lord compared the sins of the sinful woman to five hundred dinars, and caused them to pass into the hearing of the Pharisee by the parable which he heard; and again brought them forth from his mouth in the judgment he gave; though Simon knew not, when he was judging, that those five hundred dinars denoted the sins of the sinful woman. And (the Pharisee) who thought concerning our Lord that He had not knowledge of her sins, was himself found not to have knowledge of them, when he heard of those debts in the parable, and gave judgment concerning them with his voice. But when it was explained to him at last by our Lord, then the Pharisee knew that alike his ears and also his lips were, as it were, instruments for our Lord, through which He might sing the glories of His knowledge.
For this Pharisee was the fellow of those scribes, whose sentence by their own mouths our Lord gave against them— What then will the Lord of the vineyard do to those husbandmen? Matthew 21:40-44 They say unto Him, against themselves:— He will terribly destroy them, and will hire out the vineyard to husbandmen who will render unto Him the fruit in its season. This is the Godhead to which all things are easy, which by the mouths, the very mouths that blasphemed it, pronounced the sentence of those very mouths against them.
46. Glory then be to Him the Invisible, who clothed Himself in invisibility, that sinners might he able to draw near to Him. For our Lord did not repel the sinful woman as the Pharisee expected; inasmuch as He descended from the height which no man can reach unto, altogether in order that lowly publicans, like Zaccheus, might reach unto Him. And the Nature which none can handle, clothed Itself in a body, altogether in order that all lips Isaiah 6:7 might kiss His feet as the sinful woman did. For the sacred soul was hidden within the veil of flesh, and so touched all unclean lips and sanctified them. Thus He Whom His appetite was supposed to invite to feasting, His feet invited to tears; He was the good Physician, who came forth to go to the sinful woman who was seeking Him in her soul. She then anointed the feet of our Lord, who (anointed) not His head—she who was trodden down in the dust by all. For those Pharisees who justified themselves and despised all (else), trod her down. But He the Merciful, Whose pure body sanctified her uncleanness, had pity on her.
47. But Mary anointed the head of our Lord's body, Matthew 26:7 as a token of the better part which she had chosen. And Christ prophesied concerning that which her soul had chosen. While Martha was cumbered with serving, Mary was hungering to be satisfied with spiritual things by Him Who also satisfies us with bodily things. So Mary refreshed Him with precious ointment, as He had refreshed her with His exalted teaching. Mary by the oil showed forth the mystery of His mortality, Who by His teaching mortified the concupiscence of her flesh. Thus the sinful woman by the flood of her tears, in full assurance was rewarded with remission of sins from beside His feet; and she who had the issue of blood, stole healing from the hem of His garment. But Mary received blessing openly from His mouth, as a reward of the service of her hands upon His head. For she poured out on His head the precious ointment, and received from His mouth a wonderful promise. This is the ointment which was sown above and yielded fruit below. For she sowed it on His head and gathered its fruit from between His lips— She shall have a name and this memorial in every place where My Gospel shall be preached. Matthew 26:13 Accordingly, what she then received of Him, He is able to cause to pass unto all generations: and in no generation can any hinder it. For the ointment which she poured upon His head, gave its odour in presence of all the guests and refreshed Him; so also the goodly name which He gave her, passes down through all generations and brings honour to her. Even as all who were at the feast were sensible of her ointment; it was meet that all who come into the world should be sensible of her triumph. This is a loan whereof the increase is exacted in all generations.
48. Now Simeon the priest, when he took Him up in his arms to present Him before God, Luke 2:28 understood as he saw [Him] that He was not presenting Him, but was being himself presented. For the Son was not presented by the servant to His Father, but the servant was presented by the Son to his Lord. For it is not possible that He, by Whom every offering is presented, should be presented by another. For the offering does not present him that offers it; but by them that offer are offerings presented. So then He Who receives offerings gave Himself to be offered by another, that those who presented Him, while offering Him, might themselves be presented by Him. For as He gave His body to be eaten, that when eaten It might quicken to life them that ate Him; so He gave Himself to be offered, that by His Cross the hands of them that offered Him might be sanctified. So, then, though the arms of Simeon seemed to be presenting the Son, yet the words of Simeon testified that he was presented by the Son. Therefore we can have no dispute concerning this, because that which was said put an end to dispute— Now let Your servant depart in peace. Luke 2:29 He then who is let depart to go in peace to God, is presented as an offering to God. And in order to make known by whom he was presented, he said— For lo! My eyes have seen Your mercy. Luke 2:30 If there was no grace wrought on him, why then did he give thanks? But rightly did he give thanks, that he was thought worthy to receive in his arms Him, Whom angels and prophets greatly desired to see. For lo! my eyes have seen Your mercy. Let us understand then and see. Is mercy that which shows mercy to another, or is it that which receives mercy from another? But if mercy is that which shows mercy to all, well did Simeon call our Lord by the name of the mercy that showed mercy to him—Him Who freed him from the world which is full of snares, that he might go to Eden which is full of pleasures; for he who was priest said and testified that he was offered as an offering, that from the midst of the perishing world he should go and be stored up in the treasure-house which is kept safe. For one for whom it may be that what he has found should be lost, to him it belongs to be diligent that it should be kept safe. But for our Lord it could not be that He should be lost; but by Him the lost were found. So then, through the Son Who could not be lost, the servant who was very desirous not to be lost, was presented. Lo! My eyes have seen Your mercy. It is evident Simeon received grace from that Child Whom he was carrying. For inwardly he received grace from that Infant, Whom openly he received in his arms. For through Him Who was glorious, even when He was carried, being small and feeble, he that carried Him was made great.
49. But inasmuch as Simeon endured to carry on his weak arms that Majesty which the creatures could not endure, it is evident that his weakness was made strong by the strength which he carried. For at that time Simeon also along with all creatures was secretly upheld by the almighty strength of the Son. Now this is a marvel, that outwardly it was he that was strengthened that carried Him Who strengthened him; but inwardly it was the strength that bore its bearer. For the Majesty straitened itself, that they who carried it might endure it; in order that as far as that Majesty stooped to our littleness, so far should our love be raised up from all desires to reach that Majesty.
50. So likewise the ship that carried our Lord; it was He that bare it, in that He stayed from it the wind that would have sunk it. Peace, for you are shut up. While He was on the sea, His arm reached even to the fountain of the wind, Mark 4:39 to shut it up. The ship bare His manhood, but the power of His Godhead bare the ship and all that was therein. But that He might show that even His manhood needed not the ship, instead of the planks which a shipwright puts together and fastens, He like the Architect of creation, made the waters solid and joined them together and laid them under His feet. So the Lord strengthened the hands of Simeon the Priest, that his arms might bear up in the Temple the strength that was bearing up all; as He strengthened the feet of Simeon the Apostle, that they might bear themselves up on the water. And so that name which bore the first-begotten in the Temple was afterwards borne up by the first-begotten in the sea; that He might show that as in the sea the drowning was borne up by Him, He did not need to be borne by Simeon on the dry ground. But our Lord bare Simeon up openly in the midst of the sea to teach that also on the dry land He supported him secretly.
51. Accordingly, the Son came to the servant; not that the Son might be presented by the servant, but that by the Son the servant might present to His Lord Priesthood and Prophecy, to be laid up with Him. For prophecy and priesthood, which were given through Moses, were handed down, both of them, and reached to Simeon. For he was a pure vessel, who sanctified himself that he might be like Moses, capable for both of them. There are small vessels which are capable for great gifts. There are gifts for which one is capable, by reason of their grace; yet many are not capable for them, by reason of their greatness. Thus, then, Simeon presented our Lord, and in Him offered both these things; so that that which was given to Moses in the wilderness, was received from Simeon in the Temple. But seeing that our Lord is the vessel wherein all fullness dwells, when Simeon was offering Him before God, he poured over Him (as a drink-offering) those two (gifts), priesthood from His hands and prophecy from His lips. Priesthood continued on the hands of Simeon, because of his purifications; and prophecy dwelt in operation upon his lips, because of revelations. When then these two powers saw Him who was Lord of both, they two united together and poured themselves into the vessel that was capable of both; that could contain priesthood and kingdom and prophecy. That Infant then, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes, because of His graciousness, clothed Himself in priesthood and prophecy because of His Majesty. For Simeon clothed Him in these, and gave Him to her who had wrapped Him in swaddling clothes. For when he gave Him to His mother, he gave along with Him the priesthood; and when he prophesied to her concerning Him, This (child) is set for the fall and rising again, Luke 2:34 he gave prophecy also with Him.
52. Then Mary received her firstborn and went forth. He was outwardly wrapped in swaddling clothes, but secretly He was clothed with prophecy and priesthood. Whatsoever then was handed down from Moses, was received from Simeon, but continued and was possessed by the Lord of both. So then the steward first, and the treasurer lastly, handed over the keys of priesthood and prophecy to Him who has authority over the treasurer of them both. Therefore, His Father gave Him the spirit not by measure, John 3:34 because all measures of the spirit are under his hand. And that our Lord might show that He received the keys from the former stewards, He said to Simeon: To you I will give the keys of the doors. Matthew 16:19 But how should He have given them to another, had He not received them from another? So, then, the keys which He had received from Simeon the priest, them He gave to another Simeon the Apostle; that even though the People had not hearkened to the former Simeon, the Gentiles might hearken to the latter Simeon.
53. But because John also was the treasurer of baptism, the Lord of the stewardship came to him to receive from him the keys of the house of reconciliation. For John used to wash away in common water the blemishes of sins; that bodies might become meet for the garment of the Spirit, given by our Lord. Therefore, because the Spirit was with the Son, He came to John to receive from him baptism, that He might mingle with the visible waters the invisible Spirit; that they whose bodies should feel the moistening of the water, their souls should feel the gift of the Spirit; that even as the bodies outwardly feel the pouring of the water upon them, so the souls inwardly may feel the pouring of the Spirit upon them. Accordingly, even us our Lord when He was baptised, was clothed in baptism and carried baptism with Him, so also when He was presented in the Temple, He put on prophecy and priesthood, and went forth bearing the purity of the priesthood upon His pure members, and bearing the words of prophecy in His wondrous ears. For when Simeon was sanctifying the body of the Child who sanctifies all, that body received the priesthood in its sanctification. And again, when Simeon was prophesying over Him, prophecy quickly entered the hearing of the Child. For if John leaped in the womb and perceived the voice of the Mother of our Lord, Luke 1:41 how much more should our Lord have heard in the Temple? For lo! It was because of Him that John knew (so as) to hear in the womb.
54. Accordingly, each one of the gifts that was stored up for the Son, He gathered from their true tree. For He received baptism from the Jordan, even though John still after Him used to baptise. And He received priesthood from the Temple, even though Annas the High Priest exercised it. And again, He received prophecy which had been handed down among the righteous, even though by it Caiaphas in mockery platted a crown for our Lord, and He received the kingdom from the house of David, even though Herod held the place and exercised it.
55. This is He Who flew and came down from on high; and when all those gifts which He had given to those of old time saw Him, they came flying from every quarter and rested on Him their Giver. For they gathered themselves together from every side, to come and be grafted into their natural tree. For they had been grafted into bitter trees, namely into wicked kings and priests. Therefore they hastened to come to their sweet parent-stock; namely to the Godhead Who in sufficiency came down to the people of Israel, that the parts of Him might be gathered to Him. And when He received of them that which was His own, that which was not His own was rejected; since for the sake of His own He had borne also with that which was not His own. For He bore with the idolatry of Israel, for the sake of His priesthood; and He bore with its diviners, for the sake of His prophets; and He bore with its wicked dominion, for the sake of His holy crown.
56. But when our Lord took to Himself Priesthood from them, He sanctified by it all the Gentiles. And again, when He took to Himself prophecy, He revealed by it His counsels to all nations. And when he wove His crown, He bound the strong One who takes all men captive, and divides his spoils. These gifts were barren, with the fig-tree, which while it was barren of fruit made barren such glorious powers as these. Therefore as being without fruit, it was cut off, that these gifts might pass forth from it and bring forth fruit abundantly among all the Gentiles.
57. So He, Who came to make our bodies abodes for His indwelling, passed by all those dwelling-places. Let each one of us then be a dwelling-place for Him Who loves me. Let us come to Him and make our abode with Him. This is the Godhead Whom though all creation cannot contain, yet a lowly and humble soul suffices to receive Him.
Therefore let all mouths render praise to Him Who has removed from them blasphemous speech. Glory to You Who departed from one dwelling to take up your abode in another! That He might come and make us a dwelling-place for His Sender, the only-begotten departed from [being] with Deity and took up His abode in the Virgin; that by a common manner of birth, though only-begotten, He might become the brother of many. And He departed from Sheol and took up His abode in the Kingdom; that He might seek out a path from Sheol which oppresses all, to the Kingdom which requites all. For our Lord gave His resurrection as a pledge to mortals, that He would remove them from Sheol, which receives the departed without distinction, to the Kingdom which admits the invited with distinction; so that, from [the plan] which makes equal the bodies of all men within it, we may come to [the plan] which distinguishes the works of all men within it. This is He Who descended to Sheol and ascended, that from [the place] which corrupts its sojourners, He might bring us to the place which nourishes with its blessings its dwellers; even those dwellers who, with the possessions, the fruits, and the flowers, of this world, that pass away, have crowned and adorned for themselves there, tabernacles that pass not away. That Firstborn Who was begotten according to His nature, was born in another birth that was external to His nature; that we might know that after our natural birth we must have another birth which is outside our nature. For He, since He was spiritual, until He came to the corporeal birth, could not be corporeal; in like manner also the corporeal, unless they are born in another birth, cannot be spiritual. But the Son Whose generation is unsearchable, was born in another generation that may be searched out; that by the one we might learn that His Majesty is without limit, and by the other might be taught that His grace is without measure. For great is His Majesty without measure, Whose first generation cannot be imagined in any of our thoughts. And His grace is abundant without limit, Whose second birth is proclaimed by all mouths.
2. This is He Who was begotten from the Godhead according to His nature, and from manhood not after His nature, and from baptism not after His custom; that we might be begotten from manhood according to our nature, and from Godhead not after our nature, and by the Spirit not after our custom. He then was begotten from the Godhead, He that came to a second birth; in order to bring us to the birth that is discoursed of, even His generation from the Father:— not that it should be searched out, but that it should be believed—and His birth from the woman, not that it should be despised, but that it should be exalted. Now His death on the cross witnesses to His birth from the woman. For He that died was also born. And the Annunciation of Gabriel declares His generation by the Father, namely [the power of the Highest shall overshadow you]. Luke 1:35 If then it was the power of the Highest, it is plain that it was not the seed of mortal man. So then His conception in the womb is bound up with His death on the cross; and His first generation is bound up with the declaration of the Angel; in order that whoso denies His birth may be confuted by His crucifixion, and whoso supposes that His beginning was from Mary, may be admonished that His Godhead is before all; so that whoever has concluded His beginning to be corporeal, [may be proved to err hereby that His issuing forth from the Father is narrated]. The Father begot Him, and through Him created the creatures. Flesh bare Him and through Him slew lusts. Baptism brought him forth, that through Him it might wash away stains. Sheol brought Him forth, that through Him its treasures might be emptied out. He came to us from beside His Father by the way of them that are born: and by the way of them that die, He went forth to go to His Father; so that by His coming through birth, His advent might be seen; and by His returning through resurrection, His departure might be confirmed.
3. But our Lord was trampled on by Death; and in His turn trod out a way over Death. This is He Who made Himself subject to and endured death of His own will, that He might cast down death against his will. For our Lord bare His cross and went forth according to the will of Death: but He cried upon the cross Matthew 27:50-52 and brought forth the dead from within Sheol against the will of Death. For in that very thing by which Death had slain Him [i.e., the body], in that as armour He bore off the victory over Death. But the Godhead concealed itself in the manhood and fought against Death, Death slew and was slain. Death slew the natural life; and the supernatural life slew Him. And because Death was not able to devour Him without the body, nor Sheol to swallow Him up without the flesh, He came unto the Virgin, that from thence He might obtain that which should bear Him to Sheol; as from beside the ass they brought for Him the colt whereon He entered Jerusalem, and proclaimed concealing her overthrow and the destruction of her children. With the body then that [was] from the Virgin, He entered Sheol and plundered its storehouses and emptied its treasures. He came then to Eve the Mother of all living. This is the vine whose fence Death laid open by her own hands, and caused her to taste of his fruits. So Eve the Mother of all living became the well-spring of death to all living. But Mary budded forth, a new shoot from Eve the ancient vine; and new life dwelt in her, that when Death should come confidently after his custom to feed upon mortal fruits, the life that is slayer of death might be stored up [therein] against him; that when Death should have swallowed [the fruits] without fear, he might vomit them forth and with them many. For [He Who is] the Medicine of life flew down from heaven, and was mingled in the body, the mortal fruit. And when Death came to feed after his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up Death. This is the food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one fruit which Death swallowed hungrily, he vomited up many lives which he had swallowed greedily. The hunger then which hurried him against one, emptied out his greed which had hurried him against many. Thus Death was diligent to swallow one, but was in haste to set many free. For while One was dying on the cross, many that were buried from within Sheol were coming forth at His cry. Matthew 27:50-53 This is the fruit that cleft asunder Death who had swallowed it, and brought out from within it the Life in quest of which it was sent. For Sheol hid away all that she had devoured. But through One that was not devoured, all that she had devoured were restored from within her. He, whose stomach is disordered, vomits forth both that which is sweet to him and that which is not sweet. So the stomach of Death was disordered, and as he was vomiting forth the medicine of life which had sickened it, he vomited forth along with it also those lives that had been swallowed by him with pleasure.
4. This is the Son of the carpenter, Who skilfully made His cross a bridge over Sheol that swallows up all, and brought over mankind into the dwelling of life. And because it was through the tree that mankind had fallen into Sheol, so upon the tree they passed over into the dwelling of life. Through the tree then wherein bitterness was tasted, through it also sweetness was tasted; that we might learn of Him that among the creatures nothing resists Him. Glory be to You, Who laid Your cross as a bridge over death, that souls might pass over upon it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life!
5. The Gentiles praise You that Your Word has become a mirror before them, that in it they might see death, secretly swallowing up their lives. But graven images were being adorned by their artificers; and by their adornments were disfiguring their adorners. But You drew them to Your cross; and while the beauties of the body were disfigured upon it, the beauties of the mind shone forth upon it. Then, as for the Gentiles who used to go after gods which were no gods, He Who was God went after them, and by His words, as by a bridle, turned them from many gods to the One. This is that Mighty One, Whose preaching became a bridle in the jaws of the Gentiles, and led them away from idols to Him that sent Him. But the dead idols, with their closed mouths, used to feed on the life of their worshippers. On this account You mingled in their flesh that blood of Yours, by which death was enfeebled and laid low; that the mouths of their devourers might be driven away from their lives. Also because Israel slew You and was defiled by Your blood, that idolatry, that had been engrafted upon him was driven away from him on account of Your blood. For he was weaned from that heathenism through Your blood; because that from it, he had never before been weaned.
6. But Israel crucified our Lord, on the plea that verily He was seducing us from the One God. But they themselves used constantly to wander away from the One God through their many idols. While then they imagine they crucify Him Who seduces them from the One God, they are found to be led away by Him from all idols to the One God; to the end that because they did not voluntarily learn of Him that He is God, they might by compulsion learn of Him that He is God; when the good which had accrued to them through Him should accuse them concerning the evil which their hands had done. Thus even though the tongue of the oppressors denied, yet the help with which they were helped convicted them. For grace loaded them beyond their power, so that they should be ashamed, while laden with Your blessings, to deny Your person. And also You had mercy on those, whose lives had been made food for dead idols. For the one calf which they made in the desert, Exodus 32:4 pastured on their lives as on grass in the desert. For that idolatry which they had stolen and brought out in their hearts from Egypt, when it was made manifest, slew openly those in whom it was dwelling secretly. For it was like fire concealed in wood, which when it is gendered from within it, burns it. For Moses ground to powder the calf and caused them to drink it in the water of ordeal; Exodus 32:20 that by drinking of the calf all those who were living for its worship might die. For the sons of Levi ran upon them, those who ran to [help] Moses and girded on their swords. For the sons of Levi did not know whom they should slay, because those that worshipped were mingled with those that worshipped not. But He, for Whom it was easy to distinguish, distinguished those who were defiled from those who were not defiled; so that the innocent might give thanks that their innocence had not passed [unseen by] the Just One; and the guilty might be convicted that their offense had not escaped [the eye of] the Judge. But the sons of Levi were the open avengers. Accordingly Moses set a mark upon the offenders, that it might be easy for the avengers to avenge. For the draught of the calf entered those in whom the love of the calf was dwelling, and displayed in them a manifest sign, that the drawn sword might rush upon them. The congregation therefore which had committed fornication in [the worship of] the calf, he caused to drink of the water of ordeal, that the mark of adulteresses might appear in it. From hence was derived that law about women, Numbers 5:17-27 that they should drink the water of ordeal, that by the mark that came on adulteresses, the congregation might be reminded of its fornication that was in the worship of the calf, and be on its guard with fear against another [fornication]; and remember the former [fornication] with penitence of soul; and that when they were judging their women, if they played the harlot against them, they might condemn themselves, who were playing the harlot against their God.
7. To You be glory who by Your cross hast taken away the heathenism in which both circumcised and uncircumcised were caused to stumble! To You be praise, the medicine of life, Who hast converted all that are baptised, to Him Who is life of all, and Lord of all! The lost that are found bless You; for by the finding of the lost, You have given joy to the angels that are found and were not lost. The uncircumcised praise You, for in Your peace the enmity that was between is swallowed up, for You received in Your flesh the outward sign of circumcision, through which the uncircumcised that were Yours, used to be accounted as not Yours. For You made as Your sign the circumcision of the heart; by which the circumcised were made known, that they were not Yours. For You came to Your own John 1:2 and Your own received You not; and by this they were made known that they were not Yours. But they to whom You did not come, through Your mercy cry out after You, that You would satisfy them with the crumbs which fall from the children's table.
8. God was sent from the Godhead, to come and convict the graven images that they were no gods. And when He took away from them the name of God which decked them out, then appeared the blemishes of their persons. And their blemishes were these—They have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not. Your preaching persuaded their many worshippers to change their many gods for the One. For in that You took away the name of godhead from the idols, worship also along with the name was withdrawn; that, namely, which is bound up with the name; for worship also attends on the Name of God. Because, then, worship also was rendered to the Name, by all the Gentiles, at the last the worshipful Name shall be gathered in entirely to its Lord. Therefore at the last worship, also shall be gathered in completely to its Lord, that it may be fulfilled that all things shall be subjected to Him. Then, He in His turn shall be subjected to Him Who subjected all things to Him. 1 Corinthians 15:27-28 So that that Name, rising from degree to degree, shall be bound up with its root. For when all creatures shall be bound by their love to the Son through Whom they were created, and the Son shall be bound by the love of that Father by Whom He was begotten, all creatures shall give thanks at the last to the Son, through Whom they received all blessings; and in Him and with Him they shall give thanks also to His Father, from Whose treasure He distributes all riches to us.
9. Glory be to You Who clothed Yourself in the body of mortal Adam, and made it a fountain of life for all mortals. You are He that livest, for Your slayers were as husbandmen to Your life, for that they sowed it as wheat in the depth [of the earth], that it may rise and raise up many with it. Come, let us make our love the great censer of the community, and offer on it as incense our hymns and our prayers to Him Who made His cross a censer for the Godhead, and offered from it on behalf of us all. He that was above stooped down to those who were beneath, to distribute His treasures to them. Accordingly, though the needy drew near to His manhood, yet they used to receive the gift from His Godhead. Therefore He made the body which He put on, the treasurer of His riches, that He, O Lord, might bring them out of Your storehouse, and distribute them to the needy, the sons of His kindred.
10. Glory be to Him Who received from us that He might give to us; that through that which is ours we might more abundantly receive of that which is His! Yea through that Mediator, mankind was able to receive life from its helper, as through a Mediator it had received in the beginning death from its slayer. You are He Who made for Yourself the body as a servant, that through it You might give to them that desire You, all that they desire. Moreover in You were made visible the hidden wishes of them that slew [You] and buried [You]; through this, that You clothed Yourself in a body. For taking occasion by that body of Yours, Your slayers slew You, and were slain by You; and taking occasion by Your body, Your buriers buried You, and were raised up with You. That Power Which may not be handled came down and clothed itself in members that may be touched; that the needy may draw near to Him, that in touching His manhood they may discern His Godhead. For that dumb man [whom the Lord healed] with the fingers of the body, discerned that He had approached his ears and touched his tongue; Mark 7:32-37 nay, with his fingers that may be touched, he touched Godhead, that may not be touched; when it was loosing the string of his tongue, and opening the clogged doors of his ears. For the Architect of the body and Artificer of the flesh came to him, and with His gentle voice pierced without pain his thickened ears. And his mouth which was closed up, that it could not give birth to a word, gave birth to praise to Him Who made its barrenness fruitful in the birth of words. He, then, Who gave to Adam that he should speak at once without teaching, Himself gave to the dumb that they should speak easily, tongues that are learned with difficulty.
11. Lo, again, another question is made clear:— We enquire in what tongues our Lord gave the power of speaking to the dumb, who from all tongues came unto Him? And although this be easy to know, yet our soul impels us to that knowledge which is greater than this. That [knowledge] then is, to know that through the Son the first man was made. For in this fact, that through Him speech was given to the dumb, the sons of Adam, we may learn that through Him speech was given to Adam their first father. And here also defective nature was supplied by our Lord. He, then, Who was able to supply the defect of nature,— it is manifest that through Him is established the supplying of nature. But there is no greater defect than this, when a man is born without speech. For since it is in this, in speech, that we excel all the creatures, the defect of it is greater than all [other] defects. He, then, through Whom all this defect was supplied—it is manifest that through Him all fullness is established. But because through Him the members receive all fullness in the womb secretly, through Him their defect was supplied openly; that we might learn that through Him in the beginning the whole frame was constituted. He spat then on His fingers and placed them in the ears of that deaf man; and He mixed clay of His spittle, and spread it upon the eyes of the blind man; John 9:6 that we might learn that as there was defect in the eyeballs of that man who was blind from his mother's womb, so there was defect in the ears of this [man]. So then, by leaven from the body of Him Who completes, the defect of our formation is supplied. For it was not meet that our Lord should have cut off anything from His body to supply the deficiency of other bodies; but with that which could be taken away from Him, He supplied the deficiency of them that lacked; just as in that which can be eaten, mortals eat Him. He supplied then the deficiency, and gave life to mortality, that we may know that from the body in which fullness dwelt, the deficiency of them that lacked was supplied; and from the body in which life dwelt, Colossians 2:9 life was given to mortals.
12. Now the Prophets performed all [other] signs; but on no occasion supplied the deficiency of members. But the deficiency of the body was reserved, that it should be supplied through our Lord; that souls might perceive that it is through Him that every deficiency must be supplied. It is meet, then, that the prudent should perceive that He Who supplies the deficiencies of the creatures, is Master of the formative power of the Creator. But when He was upon earth, our Lord gave to the deaf [and dumb], [the power] of hearing and of speaking tongues which they had not learned; that after He had ascended, [men] might understand that He gave to His disciples [the power] of speaking in every tongue.
13. Now the crucifiers supposed when our Lord was dead that His signs had died with Him. But His signs manifestly continued to live through His disciples; that the murderers might know that the Lord of the signs was living. Beforehand His murderers made trouble, crying out that His disciples had stolen His corpse. But, afterwards, His signs performed through His disciples, filled them with trouble. For His disciples, who were supposed to have stolen the dead corpse, were found to be raising to life the dead corpses of others. But the ungodly were terrified and said—His disciples have stolen His body; that they might be held in contempt when it should be discovered. But the disciples, who [they said] stole the dead body from the living guards, were found to be assailing Death in the name of Him Who was stolen; that [Death] might not steal the life of the living. So then, before He was crucified, He gave the deaf the power of hearing, that after He was crucified, all ears should hear and believe in His resurrection. For beforehand He confirmed our hearing by [the word] of the dumb whose mouth was opened, that it should not doubt concerning the preaching of the Word. Our Redeemer was in every way equipped, that in every way He might rescue us from our captor. For our Lord did not merely clothe Himself in a body, but also arrayed Himself in members and in garments; that through His members and His garments, they that were afflicted with plagues might be encouraged to approach the treasury of healing, that they who were encouraged by His mercy might approach His body and they who were dismayed by His terror might approach His vesture. For with one woman her fear suffered her merely to approach the hem of His raiment; Matthew 9:20 but with another, her love impelled her even to approach His flesh. Now by her who received healing by His garments, those were put to shame who did not receive healing from His words; and by her who kissed His feet, he was rebuked who did not desire to kiss His lips.
14. Now our Lord bestowed great gifts through small means; that He might teach us of what they are deprived who have scorned great things. For if from the hem of His garment, healing like this was secretly stolen, could He not assuredly heal when His word distinctly granted healing? And if defiled lips were sanctified by kissing His feet, how much more should not pure lips be sanctified by kissing His mouth? For the sinful woman by her kisses received the grace of His sacred feet, which had come with toil to bring her remission of her sins. She was refreshing the feet of her Healer with oil freely, for freely had He brought her the treasure of healing for her sickness. For it was not for the sake of his stomach that He Who satisfies the hungry was a guest; but for the sake of the sinful woman's repentance He Who justifies sinners made Himself a guest.
15. For it was not for the dainties of the Pharisees that our Lord hungered, but for the tears of the sinful woman He was an hungered. For when He was satisfied and refreshed by the tears for which He hungered, He turned and rebuked him who had bidden Him to the food that passes away, that He might show that it was not for the sake of food for the body that He had become a guest, but for the sake of help to the soul. For it was not for the sake of pleasure that our Lord mingled with gluttonous men and winebibbers, as the Pharisee supposed; but that in their food as mortals He might mingle for them His teaching as the medicine of life. For even as it was in the matter of eating that the Evil One gave his deadly counsel to Adam and his helpmeet, so in the matter of eating the Good Lord gave His life-giving counsel to the sons of Adam. For He was the fisherman Who came down to fish for the lives of the lost. He saw the publicans and harlots rushing into prodigality and drunkenness; and He hastened to spread His nets among their places of assembly, that He might capture them from food that fattens bodies, to fasting that fattens souls.
16. Now the Pharisee made great preparations for our Lord in His banquet; and the sinful woman did but little things for Him there. Yet he by his great dainties displayed the smallness of his love to our Lord; but she by her tears displayed the greatness of her love to our Lord. Thus he that had invited Him to the great banquet was rebuked because of the smallness of his love; but she by her few tears atoned for the many follies of her offenses. Simon the Pharisee received our Lord as a prophet; because of the signs, and not because of faith. For he was a son of Israel, who when signs drew near, himself also drew near to the Lord of the signs; and when the signs ceased, he also stood naked without faith. This man also when he saw our Lord with signs, esteemed Him as a prophet; but when our Lord ceased from signs, the doubting mind of the sons of his people entered him. This man if He had been a prophet, He would have known that this woman is a sinner. But our Lord for Whom in every place all things are easy, here also did not cease from His signs. For He saw that because He had ceased a little from signs, the blind mind of the Pharisee had turned away from Him. For he had said in error, This man, had He been a prophet, He would have known. In this reflection therefore the Pharisee doubted concerning our Lord, whether He were a prophet or no; but by this very reflection he learned that He is Lord of the prophets; so that from the source from which error entered him, from that source our Lord might bring help to Him.
17. Our Lord then told him the parable of the two debtors; and made him judge; that by his tongue He might catch him in whose heart the truth was not. One owed five hundred dinars. Here then our Lord showed to the Pharisee the multitude of the offenses of the sinful woman. He then who imagined concerning our Lord that He did not know that she was a sinner, in the result heard from Him how great was the debt of her sins. The Pharisee, then, who imagined that our Lord did not know who she was, and what was the reputation of the sinful woman, was found himself not to know who our Lord was, and what was His reputation. Thus he was reproved in his error, who did not even perceive his error. For the knowledge that he was assuredly erring eluded him in his error. But he received a reminder from Him Who came to remind them that err. The Pharisee had seen great signs done by our Lord, as Israel by Moses; but because there was not faith in him, that those prodigies which he saw might be conjoined with that faith, a little cause hindered and annulled them. Had this man been a prophet, he would have known that this woman is a sinner. For he let slip the wonders that he had seen, and blindness readily entered into him. For he was of the sons of Israel, whom terrible signs accompanied up to the sea, that they might fear; and blessed miracles surrounded in the waste desert, that they might be reconciled; but through lack of faith, for a slight cause, they rejected them [saying]; As for this Moses who brought us up, we know not what has become of him. Exodus 32:1 For they ceased to regard the mighty works that had been surrounding them. They perceived that Moses was not near them; so that for this cause that had come near, they drew [near] to the heathenism of Egypt. For Moses was for a little removed from before them, that the calf that was before them might appear, that they might worship it openly also; for they had been secretly worshipping it in their hearts.
18. But when their heathenism from being inward became open, then Moses also from being hidden openly appeared; that he might openly punish those whose heathenism had revelled beneath the holy cloud which had overshadowed them. But God removed the Shepherd of the flock from it for forty days, that the flock might show that its trust was fixed upon the calf. While God was feeding the flock with all delights, it chose for itself as its Shepherd the calf, which was not able even to eat. Moses who kept them in awe was removed from them, that the idolatry might cry aloud in their mouths, which the restraint of Moses had kept down in their hearts. For they cried: Make us gods, to go before us. Exodus 32:1
19. But when Moses came down, he saw their heathenism revelling in the wide plain with drums and cymbals. Speedily, he put their madness to shame by means of the Levites and drawn swords. So likewise here, our Lord concealed His knowledge for a little when the sinful woman approached Him, that the Pharisee might form into shape his thought, as his fathers had shaped the pernicious calf. But when the Pharisee's error came to a head within him, then the knowledge of our Lord was manifested against it and dispelled it; I entered into your house; you gave Me no water for My feet: But she has moistened them with her tears. Therefore her sins which are many are forgiven her. Luke 7:44-47 But the Pharisee when he heard our Lord naming the sins of the woman, many sins, was greatly put to shame because he had greatly erred. For he had supposed that our Lord did not even know that she was a sinner. Our Lord had before shown Himself as though not knowing her for a sinner. For He allowed him who had seen His signs, to show the doubt of his mind, that it might become manifest that his mind was bound in the ungodliness of his fathers. But the physician, who by his medicines brings out the hidden disease, is not the helper of the disease but its destroyer. For while the disease is hidden, it rules in the members, but when it is made manifest by medicines, it is rooted out. So then the Pharisee saw great things and doubted about small things. But when our Lord saw that his littleness made little of great things in his mind, He speedily showed him not only that she was a sinner, but even the multitude of her sins; that he might be put to shame by little things—he who had not believed in wonders.
20. God gave room to Israel to enlarge its heathenism in the wide desert; whom God cut short with whetted sword, that their idolatry might not be spread abroad among the Gentiles. So our Lord allowed the Pharisee to imagine perverse things, that He might in turn duly reprove his pride. For concerning those things which the sinful woman was doing rightly, the Pharisee was thinking wrongly. But our Lord in His turn rebuked him, concerning the right things which he had wrongly withheld: I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet. Behold the withholding of that which was due! But she has moistened them with her tears. Behold the payment of what was due! You did not anoint Me with oil. Behold the token of neglect! But she has anointed My feel with sweet ointment. Behold the sign of zeal! You did not kiss Me. Behold the testimony of enmity! But she has not ceased to kiss My feet. Behold the sign of love! So then, by this enumeration our Lord showed that the Pharisee owed Him all those things and had withheld them; but that the sinful woman had come in and rendered all those things which he had withheld. Because then she had paid the debts of him who wrongfully withheld them, the Just One forgave her, her own debt, even her sins.
21. Now the Pharisee, while he was doubting concerning our Lord, that He was not a prophet, pledged himself to the truth unawares, in saying— Had this man been a prophet, he would have known that this woman is a sinner. Therefore, if it should be found that our Lord knew that she was a sinner, He is, according to your word, O Pharisee, a prophet. Our Lord, therefore, hastened to show both that she was a sinner, and that her sins were many; that the testimony of his own mouth might confute him as a liar. For he was companion of those that said: Who is able to forgive sins, but God only? Mark 2:7 For from them our Lord received testimony, that, therefore, He Who is able to forgive sins, is God. Thenceforth, then, the contention was this, that our Lord should show them whether He was able to forgive sins or no. So He speedily healed the members that were visible, that it might be made sure that He had forgiven the sins that were invisible. For our Lord cast before them the word which was expected to catch him that said it; so that when they should rush forward to catch Him by it, according to their wish, they might be caught by Him according to His wish. Fear not, My son, your sins are forgiven you. Matthew 9:2 While they were hastening to catch Him on the charge of blasphemy, they pledged themselves unawares to the truth. For Who is able forgive sins but God only? Accordingly, our Lord confuted them [as though saying]: If I shall have shown that I am able to forgive sins, even though you do not believe in Me that I am God; yet abide by your word, which determined that whoso forgives sins is God. Therefore that our Lord might teach them that He forgives sins, He forgave that man his hidden sin, and caused him to carry his bed openly; that by the carrying of the bed which carries [those that lie on it], they might believe in the slaying of the sin that slays.
This is a wonderful thing, that while our Lord there called Himself the Son of man, His adversaries, unawares, made Him to be God as forgiving sins. Accordingly, while they supposed that they had ensnared Him by their craftiness, He entangled them in their craftiness; He made it a testimony to His truth. So their evil thoughts became unto them as bitter bonds; and that they might not free themselves from their bonds, our Lord strengthened them by giving strength to him [to whom He said]— Arise, take up your bed and go into your house. Matthew 9:6 For the testimony could not again be undone, as though He were not God; inasmuch as He forgave sins. Nor yet could it be falsely affirmed that He had not forgiven sins; for lo! He had healed [men's] limbs. For our Lord bound up His hidden testimonies in those which were manifest; that their own testimony might choke the infidels. Accordingly our Lord made their thoughts to war against them, because they had warred with the Good One, who by His healing power warred against their diseases. For that which Simon the Pharisee imagined, and that which the scribes his companions imagined, they imagined in their hearts secretly; but our Lord spread it forth openly. Our Lord represented their hidden imaginations before them, that they might learn that His knowledge reveals and shows their secret things(;) so that though they had not recognized Him by His open signs, they might recognize Him when He represented their secret imaginations; and that if only but by this—that He searched out their hearts—their hearts might perceive that He was God—that at least when they saw that their imaginations could not be hidden from Him, they might cease from imagining evil against Him. For they had imagined evil in their heart; but He exposed it openly, by this [word] Why are you imagining evil in your heart? So that by this, that our Lord perceived their hidden imagination, they should recognize His hidden Godhead. For that Godhead, by this very thing that they in their error were reviling it, was by that reviling made known to them. For they reviled our Lord in the body, and supposed that He was not God, and cast Him down below from on high; but by the body He was made known to them as being God, by that body which was found passing to and fro among them. For they, by casting Him down to the depth, attempted to show this, that God Who is above, cannot in bodily wise be born below. But He by His passage up to the height, taught them this; that for the body also that is sent down below, it is not its nature to pass up to the height rather than down to the depths; so that by the body which from below passed on high upwards in the air, they might learn of God that by His grace He descended down below from on high.
22. But why instead of a stern reproof did our Lord speak a parable of persuasion to that Pharisee? He spoke the parable to him tenderly, that he, though froward, might unawares be enticed to correct his perversities. For the waters that are congealed by the force of a cold wind, the heat of the sun gently dissolves. So our Lord did not at once oppose him harshly, that he might not give occasion to the rebellious to rebel again. But by blandishment He brought him under the yoke, that when he had been yoked, He might work with him, though rebellious, according to His will. Now, because Simon was proudly minded, our Lord began humbly with him, that He might not be to him a teacher according to his folly. For if that Pharisee retained the Pharisees' pride, how could our Lord cause him to acquire humility, when the treasure of humility was not under his hand? But since our Lord was teaching humility to all men, He showed that His treasury was free from every form of pride. But this was for our sakes, that He might teach us, that whatever treasuries pride enters into, it is by boastfulness that it gains access to them. On this account let not your left hand know what your right hand does. Matthew 2:3 Our Lord then did not employ harsh reproof, because His coming was of grace: He did not refrain from reproof, because His later coming will be of retribution. For He put men to fear in His coming of humility; because it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands Hebrews 10:31 when He shall come in flaming fire. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 But our Lord bestowed the most part of His helps rather by persuasion than by reproof. For the gentle shower softens the earth and penetrates all through it: but violent rain binds and hardens the face of the earth, so that it does not receive it. For a harsh word excites wrath, and with it are bound up wrongs. And when a harsh word has opened the door, wrath enters in, and at the heels of wrath, along with it enter in wrongs.
23. But because all helps attend on humble speech, He who came to render help employed it. Observe how mighty is the power of a humble word; for lo! By it vehement wrath is put down, and by it the billows of a swelling mind are calmed. But hear whence this was. That Pharisee thought, had this man been a prophet, he would have known. Contempt as well as blasphemy can be discerned here. Hear how our Lord in reply encountered this: Simon, I have somewhat to say unto you. Love and reproof can be discerned here. For this is a word of love such as friends use with their friends. For when an adversary reproaches his adversary, he speaks not to him like this; for the madness of anger does not allow enemies to speak reasonably one to another. But He Who prayed for them that crucified Him, that He might show that the fury of anger had no power over Him, was about to put to the question those that crucified Him, that He might show that He was governed by reason and not by anger.
24. Accordingly, our Lord placed a word of conciliation at the beginning of His speech, that by conciliation He might pacify the Pharisee, into whose mind discord and division had entered. He was the physician who ranged His cures against the things hurtful [to men]. Our Lord then shot forth this word as an arrow, and set in the head of it conciliation as the barb. And He anointed it with love, that soothes the members; so that when it flew into him who was full of discord, he was at once changed from discord to harmony. For straightway upon hearing that humble voice of our Lord, saying— Simon, I have somewhat to say unto you, that secret despiser returned his answer, Say on, Lord. For the sweet voice entered his bitter mind, and begot of it pleasant fruit. For he who before this voice was one that secretly despised, after this voice became one that openly honoured. For humility, by its sweet utterance, subdues even its adversaries into rendering it honour. For it is not over its friends that humility tests its power, but over its enemies it exhibits its victories.
25. Thus the heavenly King arrayed Himself in armour of humility, and so conquered the bitter one, and drew from him a good answer as a sure pledge [of victory]. This is the armour concerning which Paul said, that by it we humble the loftiness that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians 10:5 For Paul had received the proof of it in himself. For as he had been warring in pride, but was conquered in humility, so is to be conquered every lofty thing which exalts itself against this humility. For Saul was journeying to subdue the disciples with hard words, but the Master of the disciples subdued him with a humble word. For when He to whom all things are possible manifested Himself to him, giving up all things else, He spoke to him in humility alone, that He might teach us that a soft tongue is more effectual than all things else against hard thoughts. For neither threats nor words of terror were heard by Paul, but weak words not able to avenge themselves: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Acts 9:4 But the words which were thought not even capable of avenging themselves, were found to be taking vengeance by drawing him away from the Jews and making him a goodly vessel. He who was full of the bitter will of the Jews, was then filled with the sweet preaching of the cross. When he was filled with the bitterness of the crucifiers, in his bitterness he made havoc of the churches. But when he was filled with the sweetness of the Crucified, he embittered the synagogues of the crucifiers. Our Lord then strove with humble voice with him, who had been warring against His churches with hard bonds. Thus Saul, who had been binding the disciples with bitter chains, was bound with pleasant persuasions; that he might not again cast the disciples into bonds; since he was bound by the Crucified, Who puts to silence evil voices, whom all they that were set against Him could not bind or injure. But when Paul ceased from binding the disciples, he himself was bound with chains by the persecutors. But when he was bound with chains, he loosed the bonds of idolatry by his bonds.
26. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? He who had conquered His persecutors in the world below, and ruled over the angels in the world above, spoke from above with humble voice. And He Who while He was upon earth had denounced ten woes against His crucifiers, when He was in heaven, did not denounce even one woe against Saul, His persecutor. Now, our Lord denounced woe to His crucifiers, that He might teach His disciples not to be dismayed by His murderers. But our Lord spoke in humility from heaven, that in humility the heads of His church might speak. And if any one should say, Wherein did our Lord speak humbly with Paul? For lo! The eyes of Paul were grievously smitten; let him know that it was not from our merciful Lord that this chastisement proceeded, who spoke those words in humility; but from the vehement light that vehemently shone forth there. And this light did not strike Paul by way of retribution on account of his deeds, but on account of the vehemence of its rays it hurt him, as he also said: When I arose, I could discern nothing for the glory of the light. Acts 22:11 But if that light was glorious, O Paul, how did the glorious light become a blinding light to you yourself? The light was that which, according to its nature, illuminates above, but contrary to its nature, it shone forth below. When it illumined above, it was delightful; but when it shone forth below, it was blinding. For the light was both grievous and pleasant. It was grievous and violent towards the eyes of the flesh; and it was pleasant and lightful to those who are fire and spirit. Matthew 4:11
27. For I saw a light from heaven that excelled the sun, and its light shone upon me. Acts 26:13 So then mighty rays streamed forth without moderation, and were poured upon feeble eyes, which moderate rays refresh. For, lo! The sun also in measure assists the eyes, but beyond measure and out of measure it injures the eyes. And it is not by way of vengeance in wrath that it smites them. For lo! It is the friend of the eyes and beloved of the eyeballs. And this is a marvel; while with its gentle lustre it befriends and assists the eyes; yet by its vehement rays it is hostile to and injures the eyeballs. But if the sun which is here below, and of kindred nature with the eyes that are here below, yet injures them, in vehemence and not in anger, in its proper force and not in wrath; how much more should the light that is from above, akin to the things that are above, by its vehemence injure a man here below who has suddenly gazed upon that which is not akin to his nature? For since Paul might have been injured by the vehemence of this sun to which he was accustomed, if he gazed upon it not according to custom, how much more should he be injured by the glory of that light to which his eyes never had been accustomed? For behold, Daniel also Daniel 10:5-6 was melted and poured out on every side before the glory of the angel, whose vehement brightness suddenly shone upon him! And it was not because of the angel's wrath that his human weakness was melted, just as it is not on account of the wrath or hostility of fire that wax is melted before it; but on account of the weakness of the wax it cannot keep firm and stand in presence of fire. When then the two approach one another, the power of the fire by its quality prevails; but the weakness of the wax on the other hand is brought lower even than its former weakness.
28. But the majesty of the angel was manifested in itself; the weakness of flesh in itself could not endure. For my inward parts were turned into corruption. Daniel 10:8 But yet men see men, their fellows, and faint before them: Yet it is not by their bright splendour that they are moved, but by their harsh will. For servants are terrified by the wrath of their masters, and those that are judged tremble through fear of their judges. But this did not befall Daniel on account of threatening or anger from the angel; but on account of his terrible nature and prevailing brightness. For it was not with threatening, the angel came to him. For if he had come with threatening, how could a mouth full of threatening become full of peace, when it came, saying, Peace be unto you, you man of desire? Thus that mouth that was a fountain of thunderings— for the voice of his words was like the voice of many hosts, Daniel 10:6 that voice became to him a fountain teeming with and containing peace. And when [the voice] reached the terrified ears which were thirsty for the encouraging greeting of peace, there was opened and poured out [for Daniel] a draught of peace. And by the angel's later [word of] peace, those ears were encouraged, which had been terrified by his former voice first. For [he said], Let my Lord speak because I have been strengthened. Daniel 10:19 But because in that heart-moving vision the fiery angel was about to announce nothing concerning Him, [the Lord], on this account that majesty [of the angel] was forward to give the salutation of peace to the lowliness [of the prophet]; that by the gladdening salutation which that awful majesty gave, the dread should be removed which lay on the mind of the lowliness and that was terrified.
29. But what shall we say about the Lord of the Angel, Who said to Moses— No man shall see Me and live? Exodus 33:20 Is it on account of the fury of His anger, that whoso shall see Him shall die? Or on account of the splendour of His Being? For that Being was not made and was not created: so that eyes which have been made and created cannot look upon it. For if it is on account of His fury that whoso shall look upon Him shall not live, lo! He would have granted to Moses to see Him because of His great love to him. Accordingly, the Self-Existent by His vision slays them that look upon Him; but He slays, not because of harsh fury but because of His potent splendour. Because of this He in His great love granted to Moses to see His glory; yet in the same great love He restrained him from seeing His glory. But it was not that the glory of His majesty would have been at all diminished, but that weak eyes could not suffice to bear the overpowering billows of His glory. Therefore God, Who in His love desired that the vision of Moses should be directed upon the goodly brightness of His glory, in His love did not desire that the vision of Moses should be blinded amidst the potent rays of His glory. Therefore Moses saw and saw not. He saw, that he might be exalted; he saw not, that he might not be injured. For by that which he saw, his lowliness was exalted; and by that which he saw not, his weakness was not blinded. As also our eyes look upon the sun and look not upon it; and by what they see are assisted; and by what they see not, are uninjured. Thus the eye sees, that it may be benefited; but it ventures not [to look], that it may not be injured. So then through love God hindered Moses from seeing that glory that was too hard for his eyes: As also Moses through his love prevented the children of his people from seeing the brightness that was too strong for their eyes. For he learned from Him Who covered him, and spread His hand, and hid from him the splendour of the glory, that it might not injure him; so that he also should spread the veil and conceal from the feeble ones the overpowering splendour, that it might not hurt them. Now when Moses saw that the sons of perishable flesh could not gaze upon the borrowed glory that was on his face, his heart failed within him; for that he had sought to dare to gaze upon the glory of the Eternal Being; in whose floods, lo! Those above and those below are plunged and spring forth; the depths whereof none can fathom; the shores whereof none can reach; whereof no end or limit can be found.
30. Now if any one should say, Was it not then possible for God [to bring it to pass] that Moses should look upon that glory and not be injured; and that Paul likewise should look upon the light and take no hurt? Let him that says this understand that though it is possible for the power and overruling force of God, that the eyes should change their nature; yet it is inconsistent with the wisdom and nature of God that the order of nature should be confused. For, lo! It is also easy for the arm of the artificer to destroy [his fabrics]; but it is inconsistent with the good sense of the artificer to ruin goodly ornaments. And if any one wishes to say, concerning something which to himself seems meet—It were meet for God to do this; let him know that it is meet for himself not to speak thus concerning God. For the chief of all things meet is this: that a man should not teach God what is meet. For it becomes not man to become God's instructor. For this is a great wickedness, that we should become teachers to Him, of Whom these created mouths of ours are unable to tell, in the formation of His handiwork. For it is an unpardonable iniquity, that the mouth in its boldness should teach what is proper to that God by Whose grace it learned to speak at all. If any one then shall say, It had been meet for God to do this, I also, because I have a mouth and a tongue, may say, It had been meet for God not to give to man freedom by which he thus reproaches Him Who is not to be reproached. But I do not dare to say that it was not meet for Him to give it; lest I also make myself an instructor of Him Who is not to be instructed. For because He is just, He would have been reproached by Himself, had He not given freedom to men, as though through grudging He had withheld from lowly man the gift that makes great. Therefore He gave it betimes by His grace, that He might not be justly reproached by Himself; even though through freedom, His own gift, lo! blasphemers wickedly reproach Him.
31. Now why were the eyes of Moses made to shine because of the glory which he saw, while on the contrary [the eyes of] Paul, instead of being made to shine, were made utterly blind? Yet we may be sure that the eyes of Moses were not stronger than those of Paul; for they were akin in one brotherhood of blood and flesh. But another power through grace sustained the eyes of Moses; whereas no power was added in mercy to the eyes of Paul, beyond their natural power, which in wrath was taken from them. But if we say that their natural power was taken away from them, and that [it was] on this account he was defeated and overcome by the overpowering light—for had their natural power remained, they would have been able to endure that supernatural light. Yet let us be sure of this, that as often as anything transcendent is revealed, that surpasses and transcends our nature, our natural power is not able to stand before it. But if on the other hand another power beyond our natural one is added to us, then by that power received by us in excess of and beyond nature, we shall be able to stand before any strange thing which comes upon us supernaturally.
32. For, lo! The power of our ears and eyes is in us and is formed in us in its natural manner; and yet our sight and hearing cannot stand before mighty thunder and lightning; first, because they come with vehemence; and secondly, because their potency suddenly surprises and astounds our feebleness. This is what happened to Paul. For the potency of the light suddenly surprised his feeble eyes and injured them. But the greatness of the voice brought low his strength and entered his ears and opened them. For they had been closed up by Jewish contentiousness as by wax. For the voice did not plough up the ears, as the light injured the eyeballs. Why? But because it was meet that he should hear, but not that he should see. Therefore the doors of hearing were opened by the voice as by a key: but the doors of sight were shut by the light that should open them. Why then was it meet that he should hear? Clearly because by that voice our Lord was able to reveal Himself as being persecuted by Saul. For He was not able to show Himself by sight as being persecuted; for there was no way whereby this should be, that the son of David should be seen fleeing and Saul pursuing after Him. For this happened in very deed with that first Saul and with the first David. The one was pursuing; the other was being persecuted; they both of them saw and were seen, each by the other. But here the ear alone could hear of the persecution of the Son of David; the eye could not see that He was being persecuted. For it was in [the person of] others He was being persecuted, while He was Himself in heaven;— He Who beforetime had been persecuted in His own person while He was upon earth. Therefore the ears [of Saul] were opened and his eyes were closed. And He Who by sight could not represent Himself before Saul as persecuted, represented Himself by word before him as persecuted; when he cried and said— Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Accordingly, his eyes were closed, because they could not see the persecution of Christ; but his ears were opened, because they could hear of His persecution. So then although the eyes of Moses were bodily eyes, as those of Paul, yet his inward eyes were Christian; for Moses wrote of Me, John 5:46 but the outward eyes of Paul were open, while the inward [eyes] were shut. Then because the inward eyes of Moses shone clear, his outward eyes also were made to shine clearly. But the outward eyes of Paul were closed, that by the closing of those that were outward, there might come to pass the opening of those that were inward. For he who by the outward eyes was not able to see the Lord in His signs, he when those bodily eyes were closed, saw with those within. And because he had received the proof in his own person, he wrote to those who had their bodily eyes full of light— May He illumine the eyes of your hearts. Ephesians 1:18 Therefore the signs manifested to the external eyes of the Jews, profited them not at all; but faith of the heart opened the eyes of the heart of the Gentiles. But because, had Moses come down in his accustomed aspect from the mountain, without that shining of countenance, and said, I saw there the glory of God, the faithless fathers would not have believed him; so also, had Paul, without suffering blindness of his eyes, said, I heard the voice of Christ, the sons who crucified Christ would not have received it as true. Therefore He set on Moses as in love, an excelling sign of splendour, that the deceivers might believe that he had seen the Divine glory; but on Saul, as on a persecutor, He set the hateful sign of blindness, that the liars might believe that he had heard the words of Christ; that so you might not again speak against Moses, and that these might not doubt concerning Paul. For God set signs on the bodies of the blind, and sent them to those who were in error, who used to make signs upon the borders of their garments. But they remembered not the signs on their garments, and in the signs of the body they greatly erred. The fathers who saw the glory of Moses, did not obey Moses; nor did the sons who saw the blindness of Paul believe Paul. But three times in the desert they threatened to stone Moses and his house with stones as dogs. For all congregation bade stone them with stones. Numbers 14:10 And thrice they scourged Paul with rods as a dog on his body. [?] Thrice was I beaten with rods. 2 Corinthians 11:25 These are the lions who through their love for their Lord were beaten as dogs and were torn as flocks of sheep, those flocks that used to stone their guardian shepherds, in order that ravening wolves might rule over them.
33. But the crucifiers who corrupted the soldiers with a bribe, they perhaps said concerning Paul—The disciples have bribed him with a bribe; therefore he associates with the disciples. For those who by the giving of a bribe strove that the resurrection of our Lord might not be preached, slandered Paul with the name of a bribe, that his revelation might not be believed. Therefore the voice astonished him, and the light blinded him, that his astonishment might pacify his violence, and his blindness might put to shame his slanderers. For the voice astounded his hearing in this, that it said meekly to him—(Saul, why do you persecute Me?): and the light blinded his sight, that when the slanderers should have said that he had received a bribe, and thereby was suborned to lie, his blindness which had been brought about by that light might confute them, showing that it was through it that he had been driven to speak what was true. So that those who supposed that his hands had received a bribe, and that because of it his lips lied, might know that his eyes had given up their light and because of this his lips proclaimed the truth. But again for another reason the meek voice accompanied the overpowering light; namely, that as it were from meekness unto exaltation our Lord might produce help for the persecutor; in like manner as also all His helps were produced, from lowliness unto greatness. For our Lord's meekness continued from the womb to the tomb. And observe that greatness comes close upon His lowliness, and exaltation on His meekness. For whereas His greatness was observed in various things, His Divinity was revealed by glorious signs; that it might be known that the One Who stood among them, was not one but two. For His nature is not humble nature alone, nor is it an exalted nature alone; but there are two natures that are mingled, the one with the other; the exalted and the humble.
Therefore these two natures show forth their qualities; so that by the quality of each of the two, mankind might distinguish between the two; that it might not be supposed that He was merely one—He Who was two by commingling: but that it might be known that He was two in respect of the blending, though He was one in respect of His Being. These things our Lord, through His humility and exaltation, taught to Paul also in the way to Damascus.
34. For our Lord appeared to Saul in meekness, since meekness was close to His greatness; that because of His greatness it might be known Who He is Who spoke meekly. For even as His disciples preached on earth of our Lord in meekness and in exaltation—in the meekness of His persecution, and in the exaltation of His signs,— so also our Lord preached of Himself in meekness and in exaltation in Paul's presence— in the exaltation of the potency of the light which flashed, and in the meekness of that meek voice which said; Saul, why do you persecute Me?— so that the preaching of Him which His disciples preached concerning Him in presence of many, should be like to that preaching which He preached concerning Himself. But even as, if He had not spoken meekly, it would not have been made known there that He was meek, so, had He not appeared there as an overpowering light, it would not have been made known there that He was exalted.
35. And if you should say; What necessity was there that He should speak humbly? Could He not have convinced him also through the greatness of the light? Know, you that questionest, that this rejoinder may be returned to you; that because it was necessary that He should speak humbly, He therefore spoke humbly. For by Him Who is wise in all things, there was done there nothing that was not meet to be done. For He Who has given knowledge to artificers to do each thing severally with the instrument meet for it, does He not Himself know that which He gives others the power of knowing? Therefore whatsoever has been wrought or is being wrought by the Godhead, that very thing that is wrought by Him at that time, is for the furtherance of [God's] working at that time, even though to the blind the Divine orderings seem contrariwise. But that we may not restrain by constraint of words a wise enquirer, one that wishes to grow by true persuasion as the seed by the rain-drops; know, O enquirer, that because Saul was a persecutor, but our Lord was endeavouring to make him persecuted instead of persecutor, therefore He of His wisdom made haste to cry— Saul, why do you persecute Me?— in order that, when Saul who was being made a disciple, heard Him Who was making him a disciple, saying, Why do you persecute Me? he might know that the Master Whose servant he was becoming, was a persecuted Master, and so might quickly cast away the persecution of his former masters, and might clothe himself in the persecuted state of his persecuted Master. Now any master who wishes to teach a man anything, teaches him either by deeds or by words. But if he teach him neither by words nor by deeds, the man cannot be instructed in his craft. So that, even though our Lord did not teach Paul humility by deeds, yet by voice He taught him endurance of persecution which He could not teach him by deed. For before our Lord was crucified, He taught His disciples humble endurance of persecution by deed. But after He had finished His persecution by crucifixion, as He said, Lo! All things are finished. John 19:30 He could not vainly return and begin again anything which once for all had been wisely finished. Or why again do you seek for the crucifixion and shame of the Son of God?
36. For even though our Lord in His grace had beforetime brought the majesty of His Godhead into humility, yet afterwards in His justice He willed not again to bring back to humiliation the littleness of manhood which had been made great. But because it was necessary that the persecuting disciple should learn endurance of persecution, while yet it was impossible that the Master should again come down and be persecuted afresh; He taught him by voice that which could not be taught by deeds. Saul, why do you persecute Me? The explanation of which utterance is this—Saul, why are you not persecuted in Me? But in order that Saul might not suppose that it was because of His weakness our Lord was persecuted, the strength of the overpowering light which shone upon him, convinced him. For if the eyes of Saul could not endure the shining of that light, how could the hands of Saul bind and fetter the disciples of the Lord of that light? But his hands had fettered the disciples, that he might learn their power in their bonds; while his eyes could not endure the beams, that by their strength he might learn his own weakness. But had not the power of that light shone upon him, when the Lord said to him; Saul, why do you persecute Me? Then because of the madness of the pride wherein Paul was set up at that time, he would perhaps have said this to Him, I am persecuting You for this reason, because You have said, Why do you persecute Me? For who is there that would not persecute You, when You, with such strength, troublest Your persecutor with these feeble cries. But the humility of our Lord was heard in the voice, and the power of the light shone forth in the beams. So Paul could not despise the humility of the voice, because of the glory of the light.
37. Thus were his ears brought into discipleship to the voice which he heard, because his eyes sufficed not to endure the beams which they saw. That marvel of the dawning of the light was shed forth upon his eyeballs and did them hurt; and the voice of the Lord of the light entered his ears, but did them no harm. But between the light and the Lord of the light, which ought to have been the stronger? For if the light which was created by Him was so overpowering, how much more overpowering He by Whom this very light was created! But if the Lord of the light was overpowering, as indeed He is overpowering, how did His voice enter the hearing and not harm it? Even as that light which hurt the sight? But hear the wonder and the marvel which our Lord wrought by His grace. For our Lord willed not to humble that light which is His; but He being Lord of the light humbled Himself. But as the Lord of the light is greater than the light which is His, so great is the glory that the Lord of the light should humble Himself rather than humble the light.
38. As also in the night, while He was praying, it is written— There appeared to Him an angel strengthening Him. Luke 22:43 But here all mouths, celestial and terrestrial, are insufficient to give thanks to Him by Whose hand the angels were created; that He was strengthened for the sake of sinners by that angel who was created by His hand. As then the angel from above stood in glory and in brightness, while the Lord of the angel, that He might exalt man who was degraded, stood in degradation and humility; so also here that light flashed forth in manifestation; but the Lord of the light, for the sake of helping one persecutor, spoke with humble voice and lowly words.
39. For this cause therefore that light which was overpowering, because it was not diminished, entered the eyeballs with overpowering manifestation and injured them. But the Lord of the light, because He had lowered Himself in order to help, His lowly voice entered the ears that had need and helped them. But in order that the help of that voice which had become lowly, might not fail Him, therefore the strength of that light was not lowered, in order that because of that light, which was not lowered, the help of that voice which was lowered, might be believed. But this is a marvel, that until our Lord made Himself lowly in voice, Paul was not made lowly in deed; for even as, before He came down and clothed Himself in a body, our Lord was in exaltation with His Father; yet in His exaltation men did not learn humility; but when He humbled Himself and came down from His exaltation, then by His humbleness humility was soon among men; so again after His resurrection and ascension He was in glory at the right hand of God His Father, but by that His exaltation, Paul did not learn humility. Therefore He that was exalted and sat at the right hand of His Father, ceased from glorious and lofty speech, and He cried as one wronged and oppressed, with feeble and meek words, saying— Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Thus, humble words prevailed over harsh bridles. For by humble words, as by bridles, the persecuted led the persecutor from the broad way of the persecutors into the narrow way of the persecuted. And since all the signs that were done in the Name of our Lord did not convince Paul, our Lord made haste to meet with humility him who was hastening on the way to Damascus in the vehemence of pride. Thus by His humble words, the harsh vehemence of pride was checked.
40. He then Who used humble words with Paul His persecutor, He also used humble sayings with the Pharisee. For so great is the power of humility that even God Who overcomes all did not overcome without it. Humility was able also in the wilderness to bear the burden of the stiff-necked people. For against the people who were more stubborn than all men, was set Moses who was more meek than all men. For God Who needs not anything, when He had set free the people, afterwards had need of the humility of Moses, that this humility might endure the wrath and murmuring of the People that provoked him. For humility alone could endure the gainsayings of that people, which the signs of Egypt and the prodigies (wrought) in the desert could not subdue. For when pride had wrought divisions among the people, humility by its prayer used to close up their divisions. If then the humility of the Stammerer endured six hundred thousand, how much more exceedingly did the humility of Him, Who gave speech to the Stammerer endure? For the humility of Moses is a shadow of the humility of our Lord.
41. Our Lord then saw that Simon the Pharisee did not believe the signs and wonders which he had seen. He came to him to persuade him with humble words; and humble utterances overcame him, whom mighty wonders had not overcome. What then are the wonders which that Pharisee had seen? He had seen the dead raised to life, the lepers cleansed, the blind with eyes opened. These signs compelled that Pharisee to entertain our Lord as a prophet. But he who entertained Him as a prophet, changed so as to despise Him for one who had not knowledge, saying (namely);— Had this man been a prophet, He would have known that this woman— who had approached Him— is a sinner. But we may despise the Pharisee and say, Had he been a man of discernment, he would have learned from that sinful woman, who approached our Lord, not that He was a prophet, but the Lord of the Prophets. For the tears of the sinful woman testified, that it was not a prophet they were propitiating, but Him, Who, as God, was angry with her sins. For, because the prophets sufficed not to raise sinners to life, the Lord of the prophets came down to heal those who were in evil case. But what physician is there who hinders the smitten, that they should not come to him, O blind Pharisee, as it befell that she came to our Physician! For why did the smitten woman approach Him—she, whose wounds were healed by her tears? He Who had come down to be a fountain of healing among the diseased, was proclaiming this— Let every one that is thirsty, come and drink. John 7:37 But when the Pharisees, this man's companions, murmured at the healing of sinners, the Physician taught concerning His art, that the door is opened for the diseased and not for the whole, for they that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick. Matthew 9:12 Therefore the praise of the physician is the healing of the diseased—that the shame of the Pharisee who reproved the praise of our physician may be greater. But our Lord used to show signs in the streets; and also when He entered into the house of the Pharisee, He showed signs which were greater than those He had shown outside. For in the street He made whole the bodies that were sick, but within He healed the souls that were diseased. Outside, He raised to life the mortality of Lazarus: but within, He raised to life the mortality of the sinful woman. He restored the living soul to the corpse from which it had gone out; and He expelled from the sinful woman the deadly sin which dwelt within her. But the blind (Pharisee) who was insufficient for great things, because of the great things which he saw not, belied those small things which he had seen. For he was a son of Israel who attributed weakness to his God, and not to himself. For (Israel said), Though He smote the rock and the waters flowed, can He also give us bread? But when our Lord saw his weakness, that it missed the great things and, because of them, the small things also, He hasted to put forward a simple word, as though for a babe that was being reared on milk, and was not capable of solid food.
42. For by that wherein you knew, O Pharisee, that our Lord was not a prophet, by that very thing it was proved that you did not know the prophets. For by this that you said— Had this man been a prophet, he would have known, you show herein that (in your esteem) whoever is a prophet knows all things. But lo! some matters were hidden from the prophets; how then do you attribute the revelation of all hidden things to the prophets? But this unwise teacher who perverted the scriptures of the Prophets, did not even understand what he read in the scriptures. For it was not only that the greatness of the Lord was not discerned by that Pharisee, but he did not even discern the weakness of the prophets. For our Lord, as knowing all things, allowed that sinful woman to come in and receive His peace. But Elisha, as one ignorant, said to the Shunamite;— Peace to you and peace be to the child. 2 Kings 4:26 Accordingly he who supposed that our Lord was proved not to be a prophet, was himself proved not to know the Prophets. When the mind contains malice and cannot refrain, then that malice which is in it, is cunning in finding a pretext for opening a door; but in case that pretext, in which the deceiver takes refuge is confuted, he knows that within this there is another concealed which he may employ.
Now observe this son of Israel, how he was like Israel in stubbornness. For heathenism was bound up in the mind of the People; therefore Moses was taken away from them, that the wickedness that was within them might become manifest. But that they might not be put to shame, and that it might not be known how they were seeking idols, they first sought for Moses, and then for idols. As for this Moses, we know not what has become of him. Exodus 32:1 And if God, Who cannot die, brought you out of Egypt, why do you seek for a man, who at some time must die? Yet they did not desire Moses, that he should become a god to them; because Moses could hear and see and reprove; but they sought for a god who could neither hear nor see nor reprove. But whenever Moses shall have died, what shall remain of him? For behold, your God is a living God, and lo! He has revealed Himself to you by living testimonies. For the bright cloud was at that time overshadowing them, and they had the pillar of light in the night-time. Water flowed for them from the rock, and they drank its streams. They were delighted every day by tasting that manna, the fame of which we have heard. How was Moses far from you? Behold the signs of Moses surround you. Or how does the person of Moses profit you, when you have such a guide as this? If your garments wear not old, and a temperate air refreshes you, if the heat and the cold do not hurt you, and you have rest from war, and art far removed from the fear of Egypt—what thing then was lacking to Israel that he sought for Moses? Open heathenism was lacking to him. For it was not for Moses that he sought, but on the pretext of Moses' absence he followed after the calf. Thus briefly have we showed, that when the mind is full of anything, but an opposing reason meets it, then it forces it by violence to open for it a door to that which it desires.
43. You too, O Pharisee, thirsty for blasphemy, what did you see in our Lord, to show that He was not a prophet? For lo! The things that belong to the Lord of the Prophets were seen in Him. For the gushing tears made haste to proclaim that they were shed as before God. The sorrowing kisses testified that they sought to win over the creditor to tear up the debt-bonds. The goodly ointment of the sinful woman proclaimed that it was a bribe of penitence. These medicines the sinful woman offered to her Physician, that by her tears He might wash away her stains, by her kisses He might heal her wounds, by her sweet ointment He might make her evil name sweet as the odour of her ointment. This is the Physician who heals men by the medicines which they bring to Him. These marvels were shown at that time; but to the Pharisee instead of these there appeared blasphemy. For what could be established in the weeping of the sinful woman, but that He can justify sinners? Else, judge in your mind, O blind teacher, why was that mournful weeping in the joyful feast, so that, while they were making merry with food, she was in bitterness with her tears? Because she was a sinner, her deeds were unchaste, and these (deeds) she was wont to do. But if at that time, from the wantonness of sinners she was turned to chastity, then acknowledge, you who said He is not a prophet, that He is One who makes those chaste that have been wanton. For by this, that you know that she is a sinner, and by this, that you see her now penitent, search out where is the power that changed her. For he ought to have fallen down and worshipped Him Who, while silent, in His silence turned to chastity those sinners whom the Prophets by their vehement utterances could not turn to chastity. A wonderful and marvellous thing was seen in the house of the Pharisee; a sinful woman that sat and wept, and she who wept said not wherefore she wept; nor did He at Whose feet she sat say to her, Why do you weep? The sinner did not need with her lips to petition our Lord, because she believed that He knew, as God, the petitions that were hidden in her tears. Nor did our Lord ask her, What have you done? For He knew that by her pure kisses she was atoning for her transgressions. So then she, because she believed that He knew the things that were hidden, offered to Him her prayers in her heart; for knowing secret things He had no need of the outward lips. If then the sinner, because she knew that our Lord was God, sought not to persuade Him with her lips; and our Lord, because as God He discerned her thoughts, therefore questioned her not; do you not, O tyrant Pharisee, from the silence of both understand the position of both; that she was praying as to God in her heart, and that He as God was in silence searching out her thoughts? But the Pharisee could not see and understand these things, because he was a son of Israel who though perceiving, saw not, and though he heard, understood not. Though then our Lord knew that that Pharisee thought evil thoughts concerning Him, He confuted him gently and not harshly. For sweetness came down from on high to break down the bitterness with which the Evil One had stamped us. Therefore our Lord taught that Pharisee of Himself and in Himself, as though saying, Even as I, though I knew the evil things in your heart, yet gently persuaded you, so though I knew the evil things of this woman, I mercifully received her.
But let us hear how long-suffering was drawn after the hasty thought, so as to draw it from haste to understanding. A certain creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred dinars, and the other fifty dinars.— (Be not wearied, O hearer, at the length of the repetition of the parable, lest you be contrary to Him Who in the parable was long-suffering for the sake of giving help.)— At length, when neither of them had wherewithal to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them do you think would love him more? Simon said to Him, I suppose that he, to whom more was forgiven. Our Lord said to him, You have rightly judged. Our Lord in His justice commended the perverse (Pharisee), because of the right judgment, which he had judged, though he in his wickedness had answered the good Lord concerning the mercy He had wrought. Now many things are laid up in this parable; for it is a treasury full of many helps. Why then did our Lord require that the Pharisee should pass judgment for Him between the two debtors? Was it not that the greatness, coming after the littleness, might show itself that nothing of the littleness was drawn after the greatness? For our Lord, since He knew the secret things, was long-suffering and questioned Simon, that those might be put to shame who, though not knowing, were hasty to blame, but not to enquire. For if, O man, before I heard your judgment passed, I judged not of it, why did you, before you heard from Me, the case of the sinful woman, hastily blame? Now this was done for our instruction, that we might be swift to enquire, but slow to pass our sentence. For had that Pharisee been long-suffering, lo! That pardon which our Lord in the end gave to the sinful woman, would have taught him everything. Long-suffering is wont to acquire all things for those that acquire it.
44. But again; through the forgiveness of the two debtors, our Lord led into forgiveness him who was in need of forgiveness, yet in whose eyes the forgiveness of debts was hateful. For though the debts of the Pharisee himself needed forgiveness, yet the forgiveness of the debts of the sinful woman was hateful in his eyes. For had there been this forgiveness of debts in the mind of the Pharisee, it would not have been in his eyes disgraceful that that sinful woman should have come for forgiveness of her debts to God and not to the priests; for the priests could not forgive sins such as those. But this sinful woman from the glorious works which our Lord did, believed that He could also forgive sins. For she knew that whoso is able to restore the members of the body, is able also to cleanse away the spots of the soul. But the Pharisee, though he was a teacher, did not know this. For the teachers of Israel were wont to be fools, put to shame by the despised and vile. For they were put to shame by that blind man to whom they said— We know that this man is a sinner. John 9:24-31 But he said to them:— How did He open my eyes? Lo! God hears not sinners. John 9:24-31 These are the blind teachers who were made guides to others; and their perverse path was made straight by a blind man.
45. But hear the marvel that our Lord wrought. Because that Pharisee supposed that our Lord did not know that the woman who touched Him was a sinner; our Lord made the lips of the Pharisee like the strings of a harp; and by his very lips He sang how she was trampling under foot his sins, though he knew it not. And he who as though he knew had blamed, was found to be a harp, whereto another could sing of that which he knew. For our Lord compared the sins of the sinful woman to five hundred dinars, and caused them to pass into the hearing of the Pharisee by the parable which he heard; and again brought them forth from his mouth in the judgment he gave; though Simon knew not, when he was judging, that those five hundred dinars denoted the sins of the sinful woman. And (the Pharisee) who thought concerning our Lord that He had not knowledge of her sins, was himself found not to have knowledge of them, when he heard of those debts in the parable, and gave judgment concerning them with his voice. But when it was explained to him at last by our Lord, then the Pharisee knew that alike his ears and also his lips were, as it were, instruments for our Lord, through which He might sing the glories of His knowledge.
For this Pharisee was the fellow of those scribes, whose sentence by their own mouths our Lord gave against them— What then will the Lord of the vineyard do to those husbandmen? Matthew 21:40-44 They say unto Him, against themselves:— He will terribly destroy them, and will hire out the vineyard to husbandmen who will render unto Him the fruit in its season. This is the Godhead to which all things are easy, which by the mouths, the very mouths that blasphemed it, pronounced the sentence of those very mouths against them.
46. Glory then be to Him the Invisible, who clothed Himself in invisibility, that sinners might he able to draw near to Him. For our Lord did not repel the sinful woman as the Pharisee expected; inasmuch as He descended from the height which no man can reach unto, altogether in order that lowly publicans, like Zaccheus, might reach unto Him. And the Nature which none can handle, clothed Itself in a body, altogether in order that all lips Isaiah 6:7 might kiss His feet as the sinful woman did. For the sacred soul was hidden within the veil of flesh, and so touched all unclean lips and sanctified them. Thus He Whom His appetite was supposed to invite to feasting, His feet invited to tears; He was the good Physician, who came forth to go to the sinful woman who was seeking Him in her soul. She then anointed the feet of our Lord, who (anointed) not His head—she who was trodden down in the dust by all. For those Pharisees who justified themselves and despised all (else), trod her down. But He the Merciful, Whose pure body sanctified her uncleanness, had pity on her.
47. But Mary anointed the head of our Lord's body, Matthew 26:7 as a token of the better part which she had chosen. And Christ prophesied concerning that which her soul had chosen. While Martha was cumbered with serving, Mary was hungering to be satisfied with spiritual things by Him Who also satisfies us with bodily things. So Mary refreshed Him with precious ointment, as He had refreshed her with His exalted teaching. Mary by the oil showed forth the mystery of His mortality, Who by His teaching mortified the concupiscence of her flesh. Thus the sinful woman by the flood of her tears, in full assurance was rewarded with remission of sins from beside His feet; and she who had the issue of blood, stole healing from the hem of His garment. But Mary received blessing openly from His mouth, as a reward of the service of her hands upon His head. For she poured out on His head the precious ointment, and received from His mouth a wonderful promise. This is the ointment which was sown above and yielded fruit below. For she sowed it on His head and gathered its fruit from between His lips— She shall have a name and this memorial in every place where My Gospel shall be preached. Matthew 26:13 Accordingly, what she then received of Him, He is able to cause to pass unto all generations: and in no generation can any hinder it. For the ointment which she poured upon His head, gave its odour in presence of all the guests and refreshed Him; so also the goodly name which He gave her, passes down through all generations and brings honour to her. Even as all who were at the feast were sensible of her ointment; it was meet that all who come into the world should be sensible of her triumph. This is a loan whereof the increase is exacted in all generations.
48. Now Simeon the priest, when he took Him up in his arms to present Him before God, Luke 2:28 understood as he saw [Him] that He was not presenting Him, but was being himself presented. For the Son was not presented by the servant to His Father, but the servant was presented by the Son to his Lord. For it is not possible that He, by Whom every offering is presented, should be presented by another. For the offering does not present him that offers it; but by them that offer are offerings presented. So then He Who receives offerings gave Himself to be offered by another, that those who presented Him, while offering Him, might themselves be presented by Him. For as He gave His body to be eaten, that when eaten It might quicken to life them that ate Him; so He gave Himself to be offered, that by His Cross the hands of them that offered Him might be sanctified. So, then, though the arms of Simeon seemed to be presenting the Son, yet the words of Simeon testified that he was presented by the Son. Therefore we can have no dispute concerning this, because that which was said put an end to dispute— Now let Your servant depart in peace. Luke 2:29 He then who is let depart to go in peace to God, is presented as an offering to God. And in order to make known by whom he was presented, he said— For lo! My eyes have seen Your mercy. Luke 2:30 If there was no grace wrought on him, why then did he give thanks? But rightly did he give thanks, that he was thought worthy to receive in his arms Him, Whom angels and prophets greatly desired to see. For lo! my eyes have seen Your mercy. Let us understand then and see. Is mercy that which shows mercy to another, or is it that which receives mercy from another? But if mercy is that which shows mercy to all, well did Simeon call our Lord by the name of the mercy that showed mercy to him—Him Who freed him from the world which is full of snares, that he might go to Eden which is full of pleasures; for he who was priest said and testified that he was offered as an offering, that from the midst of the perishing world he should go and be stored up in the treasure-house which is kept safe. For one for whom it may be that what he has found should be lost, to him it belongs to be diligent that it should be kept safe. But for our Lord it could not be that He should be lost; but by Him the lost were found. So then, through the Son Who could not be lost, the servant who was very desirous not to be lost, was presented. Lo! My eyes have seen Your mercy. It is evident Simeon received grace from that Child Whom he was carrying. For inwardly he received grace from that Infant, Whom openly he received in his arms. For through Him Who was glorious, even when He was carried, being small and feeble, he that carried Him was made great.
49. But inasmuch as Simeon endured to carry on his weak arms that Majesty which the creatures could not endure, it is evident that his weakness was made strong by the strength which he carried. For at that time Simeon also along with all creatures was secretly upheld by the almighty strength of the Son. Now this is a marvel, that outwardly it was he that was strengthened that carried Him Who strengthened him; but inwardly it was the strength that bore its bearer. For the Majesty straitened itself, that they who carried it might endure it; in order that as far as that Majesty stooped to our littleness, so far should our love be raised up from all desires to reach that Majesty.
50. So likewise the ship that carried our Lord; it was He that bare it, in that He stayed from it the wind that would have sunk it. Peace, for you are shut up. While He was on the sea, His arm reached even to the fountain of the wind, Mark 4:39 to shut it up. The ship bare His manhood, but the power of His Godhead bare the ship and all that was therein. But that He might show that even His manhood needed not the ship, instead of the planks which a shipwright puts together and fastens, He like the Architect of creation, made the waters solid and joined them together and laid them under His feet. So the Lord strengthened the hands of Simeon the Priest, that his arms might bear up in the Temple the strength that was bearing up all; as He strengthened the feet of Simeon the Apostle, that they might bear themselves up on the water. And so that name which bore the first-begotten in the Temple was afterwards borne up by the first-begotten in the sea; that He might show that as in the sea the drowning was borne up by Him, He did not need to be borne by Simeon on the dry ground. But our Lord bare Simeon up openly in the midst of the sea to teach that also on the dry land He supported him secretly.
51. Accordingly, the Son came to the servant; not that the Son might be presented by the servant, but that by the Son the servant might present to His Lord Priesthood and Prophecy, to be laid up with Him. For prophecy and priesthood, which were given through Moses, were handed down, both of them, and reached to Simeon. For he was a pure vessel, who sanctified himself that he might be like Moses, capable for both of them. There are small vessels which are capable for great gifts. There are gifts for which one is capable, by reason of their grace; yet many are not capable for them, by reason of their greatness. Thus, then, Simeon presented our Lord, and in Him offered both these things; so that that which was given to Moses in the wilderness, was received from Simeon in the Temple. But seeing that our Lord is the vessel wherein all fullness dwells, when Simeon was offering Him before God, he poured over Him (as a drink-offering) those two (gifts), priesthood from His hands and prophecy from His lips. Priesthood continued on the hands of Simeon, because of his purifications; and prophecy dwelt in operation upon his lips, because of revelations. When then these two powers saw Him who was Lord of both, they two united together and poured themselves into the vessel that was capable of both; that could contain priesthood and kingdom and prophecy. That Infant then, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes, because of His graciousness, clothed Himself in priesthood and prophecy because of His Majesty. For Simeon clothed Him in these, and gave Him to her who had wrapped Him in swaddling clothes. For when he gave Him to His mother, he gave along with Him the priesthood; and when he prophesied to her concerning Him, This (child) is set for the fall and rising again, Luke 2:34 he gave prophecy also with Him.
52. Then Mary received her firstborn and went forth. He was outwardly wrapped in swaddling clothes, but secretly He was clothed with prophecy and priesthood. Whatsoever then was handed down from Moses, was received from Simeon, but continued and was possessed by the Lord of both. So then the steward first, and the treasurer lastly, handed over the keys of priesthood and prophecy to Him who has authority over the treasurer of them both. Therefore, His Father gave Him the spirit not by measure, John 3:34 because all measures of the spirit are under his hand. And that our Lord might show that He received the keys from the former stewards, He said to Simeon: To you I will give the keys of the doors. Matthew 16:19 But how should He have given them to another, had He not received them from another? So, then, the keys which He had received from Simeon the priest, them He gave to another Simeon the Apostle; that even though the People had not hearkened to the former Simeon, the Gentiles might hearken to the latter Simeon.
53. But because John also was the treasurer of baptism, the Lord of the stewardship came to him to receive from him the keys of the house of reconciliation. For John used to wash away in common water the blemishes of sins; that bodies might become meet for the garment of the Spirit, given by our Lord. Therefore, because the Spirit was with the Son, He came to John to receive from him baptism, that He might mingle with the visible waters the invisible Spirit; that they whose bodies should feel the moistening of the water, their souls should feel the gift of the Spirit; that even as the bodies outwardly feel the pouring of the water upon them, so the souls inwardly may feel the pouring of the Spirit upon them. Accordingly, even us our Lord when He was baptised, was clothed in baptism and carried baptism with Him, so also when He was presented in the Temple, He put on prophecy and priesthood, and went forth bearing the purity of the priesthood upon His pure members, and bearing the words of prophecy in His wondrous ears. For when Simeon was sanctifying the body of the Child who sanctifies all, that body received the priesthood in its sanctification. And again, when Simeon was prophesying over Him, prophecy quickly entered the hearing of the Child. For if John leaped in the womb and perceived the voice of the Mother of our Lord, Luke 1:41 how much more should our Lord have heard in the Temple? For lo! It was because of Him that John knew (so as) to hear in the womb.
54. Accordingly, each one of the gifts that was stored up for the Son, He gathered from their true tree. For He received baptism from the Jordan, even though John still after Him used to baptise. And He received priesthood from the Temple, even though Annas the High Priest exercised it. And again, He received prophecy which had been handed down among the righteous, even though by it Caiaphas in mockery platted a crown for our Lord, and He received the kingdom from the house of David, even though Herod held the place and exercised it.
55. This is He Who flew and came down from on high; and when all those gifts which He had given to those of old time saw Him, they came flying from every quarter and rested on Him their Giver. For they gathered themselves together from every side, to come and be grafted into their natural tree. For they had been grafted into bitter trees, namely into wicked kings and priests. Therefore they hastened to come to their sweet parent-stock; namely to the Godhead Who in sufficiency came down to the people of Israel, that the parts of Him might be gathered to Him. And when He received of them that which was His own, that which was not His own was rejected; since for the sake of His own He had borne also with that which was not His own. For He bore with the idolatry of Israel, for the sake of His priesthood; and He bore with its diviners, for the sake of His prophets; and He bore with its wicked dominion, for the sake of His holy crown.
56. But when our Lord took to Himself Priesthood from them, He sanctified by it all the Gentiles. And again, when He took to Himself prophecy, He revealed by it His counsels to all nations. And when he wove His crown, He bound the strong One who takes all men captive, and divides his spoils. These gifts were barren, with the fig-tree, which while it was barren of fruit made barren such glorious powers as these. Therefore as being without fruit, it was cut off, that these gifts might pass forth from it and bring forth fruit abundantly among all the Gentiles.
57. So He, Who came to make our bodies abodes for His indwelling, passed by all those dwelling-places. Let each one of us then be a dwelling-place for Him Who loves me. Let us come to Him and make our abode with Him. This is the Godhead Whom though all creation cannot contain, yet a lowly and humble soul suffices to receive Him.
Homily on Admonition and Repentance
1. Not of compulsion is the doctrine; of free-will is the word of life. Whoso is willing to hear the doctrine, let him cleanse the field of his will that the good seed fall not among the thorns of vain enquirings. If you would heed the word of life, cut yourself off from evil things; the hearing of the word profits nothing to the man that is busied with sins. If you will to be good, love not dissolute customs. First of all, trust in God, and then hearken to His law.
2. You can not hear His words, while you do not know yourself; and if you keep His judgments while your understanding is aloof from Him, who will give you your reward? Who will keep for you your recompense? You were baptised in His Name; confess His Name! In the Persons and in the naming, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, three Names and Persons, these three shall be a wall to you, against divisions and wranglings. Doubt not of the truth, lest you perish through the truth. You were baptised from the water; you have put on Christ in His naming; the seat of the Lord is on your person and His stamp on your forehead. See that you become not another's, for other Lord have you none. One is He Who formed us in His mercy; one is He Who redeemed us on His cross. He it is Who guides our life; He it is Who has power over our feebleness; He it is Who brings to pass our Resurrection. He rewards us according to our works. Blessed is he that confesses Him, and hears and keeps His commandments! You, O man, are a son of God Who is high over all. See that you vex not by your works the Father Who is good and gracious.
3. If you are angry against your neighbour, you are angry against God; and if you bear anger in your heart, against your Lord is your boldness uplifted. If in envy you rebuke, wicked is all your reproof. But if charity dwell in you, you have on earth no enemy. And if you are a true son of peace, you will stir up wrath in no man. If you are just and upright, you will not do wrong to your fellow. And if you love to be angry, be angry with the wicked and it will become you; if to wage war you seek, lo! Satan is your adversary; if you desire to revile, against the demons display your curses. If you should insult the King's image, you shall pay the penalty of murder; and if you revile a man, you revile the image of God. Do honour to your neighbour, and lo! You have honoured God. But if you would dishonour Him, in wrath assail your neighbour!
4. This is the first Commandment,— You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and your soul, and with your might according as you are able. The sign that you love God, is this, that you love your fellow; and if you hate your fellow, your hatred is towards God. For it is blasphemy if you pray before God while you are angry. For your heart also convicts you, that in vain you multiply words: your conscience rightly judges that in your prayers you profit nought. Christ as He hung on the height of the tree, interceded for His murderers; and you (who art) dust, son of the clay, rage fills you at its will. You keep anger against your brother; and do you yet dare to pray? Even he that stands on your side, though he be not neighbour to your sins, the taint of iniquity reaches unto him, and his petition is not heard. Leave off rage and then pray; and unless you would further provoke, restrain anger and so shall you supplicate. And if he (the other) is not to encounter you in fury, banish rage from that body, because it is holden with lusts.
5. You have a spiritual nature; the soul is the image of the Creator; honour the image of God, by being in agreement with all men. Remember death, and be not angry, that your peace be not of constraint. As long as your life remains to you, cleanse your soul from wrath; for if it should go to Sheol with you, your road will be straight to Gehenna. Keep not anger in your heart; hold not fury in your soul; you have not power over your soul, save to do that which is good. You are bought with the blood of God; you are redeemed by the passion of Christ; for your sake He suffered death, that you might die to your sins. His face endured spitting, that you might not shrink from scorn. Vinegar and gall did He drink, that you might be set apart from wrath. He received stripes on His body, that you might not fear suffering. If you are in truth His servant, fear your holy Lord; if you are His true disciple, walk in your Master's footsteps. Endure scorn from your brother, that you may be the companion of Christ. Display not anger against man, that you be not set apart from your Redeemer.
6. You are a man, the dust of the earth, clay, kinsman of the clod; you are the son of the race of beasts. If you know not your honour; separate your soul from animals, by works and not by words. If you love derision, you are altogether as Satan; and if you mock at your fellow, you are the mouth of the Devil; if against defects and flaws, in (injurious) names you delight, Satan is not in creation but his place you have seized by force. Get you far, O man, from this; for it is altogether hurtful; and if you desire to live well, sit not with the scorner, lest you become the partner of his sin and of his punishment. Hate mockery which is altogether (the cause of weeping), and mirth which is (the cause of) cleansing. And if you should hear a mocker by chance, when you are not desiring it, sign yourself with the cross of light, and hasten from thence like an antelope. Where Satan lodges, Christ will in nowise dwell; a spacious dwelling for Satan is the man that mocks at his neighbour; a palace of the Enemy is the heart of the mocker. Satan does not desire to add any other evil to it. Mockery is sufficient for him to supply the place of all. Neither his belly nor yet his purse can (the sinner) fill with that sin of his. By his laughter is the wretch despoiled, and he knows not nor does he perceive it. For his wound, there is no cure; for his sickness, there is no healing; his pain, admits no remedy; and his sore, endures no medicine. I desire not with such a one to put forth my tongue to reprove him: enough for him is his own shame; sufficient for him is his boldness. Blessed is he that has not heard him; and blessed is he that has not known him. Be it far from you, O Church, that he should enter you, that evil leaven of Satan!
7. Narrow is the way of life, and broad the way of torment; prayer is able to bring a man to the house of the kingdom. This is the perfect work; prayer that is pure from iniquity. The righteousness of man is as nothing accounted. The work of men, what is it? His labour is altogether vanity. Of You, O Lord, of Your grace it is that in our nature we should become good. Of You is righteousness, that we from men should become righteous. Of You is the mercy and favour, that we from the dust should become Your image. Give power to our will, that we be not sunk in sin! Pour into our heart memory, that at every hour we may know Your honour! Plant truth in our minds, that we perish not among doubts! Occupy our understanding with Your law, that it wander not in vain thoughts! Order the motions of our members, that they bring no hurt upon us! Draw near to God, that Satan may flee from you. Cast out passions from your heart, and lo! You have put to flight the enemy. Hate sins and wickedness, and Satan at once will have fled. Whatsoever sins you serve, you are worshipping secret idols. Whatsoever transgressions you love, you are serving demons in your soul. Whenever you strive with your brother, Satan abides in peace. Whenever you envy your fellow, you give rest to Devils. Whenever you tell the shortcoming of others who are not present, your tongue has made a harp for the music of the devil. Whenever hatred is in your soul, great is the peace of the Deceiver. Whenever you love incantations, your labour is altogether of the left hand. If you love unseemly discourse, you prepare a feast for demons. For this is the worship of idols, the working of the lusts (of the flesh).
8. If so be you give a gift in pride, this is not of God. If you are lifted up by reason of your knowledge, you have denied the grace of God. If you are poor and proud, lo! Your end is in your torment. If you are haughty and needy, lo! Your need is toward your destruction. If you are sick and criest out, lo! Your trouble is full of harm. If you are in need of food, yet your mind longs for riches; your distress is with the poor, but your torment with the rich. If you shall look unchastely, and shall desire your neighbour's wife, lo! Your portion shall be with the adulterers, and your hell with the fornicators. Let your own fountain be for yourself, and drink waters from your well. Let your fountains be for yourself alone, and let not another drink with you. Require purity of your body as you require of your yoke-fellow. You would not have her commit lewdness, the wife of your youth, with another man; commit not lewdness with another woman, the wife of a different husband. Let the defilement of her be hateful in your eyes; keep aloof from it altogether. Chastity beseems the wife; purity is as her adornment; law becomes the husband; justice is the crown for his head. Desire not the bed of your neighbour lest another desire your bed. Preserve purity in your marriage, that your marriage may be holy. His conscience reproves the man, who corrupts the wife of his neighbour. He fears, and deceives through terror, whoso has engaged in fornication. Darkness is dearer to him than light, whose manner of life is not pure. Every hour he stands in dread, who commits adultery secretly. The adulterer is also a thief who breaks into houses in darkness. The very place reproves him, where he does the evil and wickedness. He enters the chamber and sins; in the darkness he does his will. The time will come when it shall be disclosed, when his secret deeds shall be manifested. With what eyes do you look towards God in prayer? What hands do you raise when you ask pardon? Be ashamed and dismayed for yourself, that you are void of understanding. If when your neighbour see you, you are ashamed and dismayed, how much more should you be ashamed before God Who sees all? You are like the sow, your companion, that wallows altogether in mire. Even in seeing, you may sin, if your mind is not watchful; and in hearing you may transgress, if you do not guard your hearing. The fornicator's heart waxes wanton through speech that is full of uncleanness. The passion hidden in the mind, sight and hearing awaken it.
9. He puts on garments of shame who desires to commit fornication, that from the lust of raiment, lewdness may enter and dwell in his heart. Make not snares of your garments for that which is openly wanton. Speak not a word in craftiness, nor dig your neighbour's well. Look not after the harlot; be not snared by the beauty of her face. She is even as the dog that is mad, yea, much more bold than it. Modesty is removed from her face, she knows not what shame is. With spitting accept her person; with reviling meet herself; with a rod pursue her like a dog, for she is like one, and to be compared with such. Reject the sweetness of her words lest you fall into her net. She empties purses and wallets, and her gains are without number. Flee from her, for she is the daughter of vipers, that she tear not in pieces your whole body.
10. You shall not slander any man, lest they call you Satan. If you hate the name, go not near to the act; but if you love the act, be not angry at the name. Count yourself rebuked first of all by the beasts and birds, how that every kind cleaves to its kind; and so agree with your yokefellow. Rejoice not in men's dishonour, that you become not a Satan yourself. If evil should happen to him that hates you, see that you rejoice not, lest you sin. If your adversary should fall, be in pain and mourning. Keep your heart with all diligence, that it sin not in secret; for there is to be a laying bare of thoughts and of actions. Employ your hands in labour, and let your heart meditate in prayer. Love not vain discourse, for discourse that shall be profitable alike to the soul and the body lightens the burden of your labour.
11. Does the poor man cry at your door? Arise and open for him gladly: refresh him when he is wearied; sustain his heart, for it is sad. You know by experience the affliction of poverty: receive not others in your house, and drive not out the beggar. Have you also a law, a comely law for your household. Establish an order that is wise, that the abjects laugh not at you. Be careful in all your doings, that you be not a sport for fools; be upright and prudent, and both simple and wise. Let your body be quiet and cheerful, your greeting seemly and simple; your discourse without fault, your speech brief and savoury; your words few and sound, full of savour and understanding. Speak not overmuch, not even words that are wise; for all things that are over many, though they be wise are wearisome.— To them of your household be as a father. Amongst your brethren esteem yourself least, and inferior among your fellows, and of little account with all men. With your friend keep a secret; to those that love you be true. See that there be no wrangling; the secrets of your friends reveal not, lest all that hear you hate you and esteem you a mischiefmaker. With those that hate you wrangle not, neither face to face nor yet in your heart. No enemy shall you have but Satan his very self. Give counsel to the wife you have wedded; give heed to her doings; as stronger you are answerable that you should sustain her weakness. For weak is womankind, and very ready to fall. Be as a hawk, when kindled (to anger), but when wrath departs from you, be gladsome and also firm, in the blending of diverse qualities. Keep silence among the aged; to the elders give due honour. Honour the priests with diligence, as good stewards of the household. Give due honour to their degree, and search not out their doings. In his degree the priest is an angel, but in his doings a man. By mercy he is made a mediator, between God and mankind.
12. Search not out the faults of men; reveal not the sin of your fellow; the shortcomings of your neighbours, in speech of the mouth repeat not. You are not judge in creation, you have not dominion over the earth. If you love righteousness, reprove your soul and yourself. Be judge unto your own sins, and chastener of your own transgressions. Make not inquiry maliciously, into the misdeeds of men. For if you do this, injuries will not be lacking to you. Trust not the hearing of the ear, for many are the deceivers. Vain reports believe not, for false rumours are not few.
13. Regard not spells and divinations, for that is communion with Satan. Love not idle prating, not even in behalf of righteousness. Discourse concerning yourself begin not, even in behalf of what is becoming. Flee and hide yourself from wrangling, as from a violent robber. See that you be not a surety in a loan, lest you sin. According as you have, assist him, (even) the man that is poorer than you. Mock not the foolish man; pray that you be not even as he. Him that sins blame not, lest you also be put to confusion. To him that repents of his sins be a helper and counsellor, and encourage him that is able to rise. Let him hold fast hope in God, and his sin shall be burned as stubble. Visit the sick and be not wearied, that you may be beloved of men. Be familiar with the house of mourning, but a stranger to the house of feasting. Be not constant in drinking wine, lest your shortcomings multiply. Cast a wall round your lips, and set a guard upon your mouth; endure suffering with your neighbour and share also in his tribulation. A good friend in tribulation is made known to him that loves him. In charity follow the deceased, with sorrow and with offerings, and pray that he may have rest in the hidden place whither he is going.
14. When you stand in prayer, cry in your soul: Have mercy on me, I am a sinner and weak; be gracious, O God, to my weakness, and grant strength to me to pray a prayer that shall be pleasing to Your Will. Punish not mine enemies, take not vengeance on them that hate me; but grant them in Your grace that they may become doers of Your Will. At the time of prayer and petition, continue in contemplations such as these continue. Bow your head before the Mighty One.
15. Do not resist evil, for he is evil from the Evil One, whoso resists evil. Keep not back anything from any man, that if he perishes you may not be blamed. Change not your respect for a man's person, according to goods and possessions. Make all things as though they were not and God alone were in being. If you shall ask of your neighbour and he shall not give you according to your wish, see that you say not in anger a word that is full of bitterness. Oppose not [fit] seasons, for many are the changes. Put sorrow far from your flesh, and sadness from your thoughts; save only that for your sins you should be constant in sadness. Cease not from labour, not even though you be rich, for the slothful man gains manifold guilt by his idleness.
16. Be a lover of poverty, and be desirous of neediness. If you have them both for your portion, you are an inheritor on high. Despise not the voice of the poor and give him not cause to curse you. For if he curse whose palate is bitter, the Lord will hear his petition. If his garments are foul, wash them in water, which freely is bought. Has a poor man entered into your house? God has entered into your house; God dwells within your abode. He, whom you have refreshed from his troubles, from troubles will deliver you. Have you washed the feet of the stranger? You have washed away the filth of your sins. Have you prepared a table before him? Behold God eating [at it], and Christ likewise drinking [at it], and the Holy Spirit resting [on it]: Is the poor satisfied at your table and refreshed? You have satisfied Christ your Lord. He is ready to be your rewarder; in presence of angels and men He will confess you have fed His hunger; He will give thanks unto you that you gave Him drink, and quenched His thirst.
17. O how gracious is the Lord! O how measureless are His mercies! Happy the race of mortals when God confesses it! Woe to the soul which He denies! Fire is stored up for its punishment. Be of good cheer, my son, in hope; sow good [seed] and faint not. The husbandman sows in hope, and the merchant journeys in hope, you also love good [seed]; in the hope look for the reward. Do nothing at all without the beginning of prayer. With the sign of the living cross, seal all your doings, my son. Go not forth from the door of your house till you have signed the cross. Whether in eating or in drinking, whether in sleeping or in waking, whether in your house or on the road, or again in the season of leisure, neglect not this sign; for there is no guardian like it. It shall be unto you as a wall, in the forefront of all your doings. And teach this to your children, that heedfully they be conformed to it.
18. Yoke yourself under the law, that you may be a freeman in very truth. Work not the desire of your soul apart from the law of God. How many commandments must I write, and how many laws must I engrave; which, if you desire your freedom, you can learn all from yourself? And if you love purity, you will teach it to others also. Let nature be your book, and all creation your tables; and learn from them the laws, and meditate things unwritten. The sun in his course teaches you that you rest from labour. The night in her silence cries to you that a limit is set to your works. The earth and the fruit of the tree cry that there is a season for all things. The seed you sow in the winter, in the summer you gather its harvest. Thus in the world sow seeds of righteousness, and in the Resurrection gather them in. The bird in its daily gleaning reproves the covetous and his greed, and rebukes the extortion that grasps the store of others. Death, the limit of all things, is itself the reprover of all things.
19. Take refuge in God Who passes not away nor is changed. Restrain laughter by suffering, and mirthfulness by sorrow. Console suffering by hope, and sadness by expectation. Believe and trust, you that are wise, for God is He Who guides you; and if His care leaves you not, there is nothing that can harm you. If one man by another man, the lowly by the great, can be saved, how much more shall the refuge of God preserve the man that believes? Fear not because of adversaries who with violence come upon you. He will watchfully guard your soul, and hurtful things become profitable. No one shall lead you by compulsion, save only where there is freedom. No one falls into temptation, that passes the measure of his strength. There is no evil in chastisement, if so be that freedom is willing. The doings are not perverse of freedom, its will is perverted.
20. To men that are just and upright, temptations become helps. Job, a man of discernment, was victorious in temptations. Sickness came upon him, and he complained not; disease afflicted him and he murmured not; his body failed and his strength departed, but his will was not weakened. He proved perfect in all by sufferings, for as much as temptations crushed him not. Abraham was a stranger, from his place, his race [and his kindred]. But by this he was not harmed; nay rather he triumphed greatly. So Joseph from the house of bondage was made to rule as king of Egypt. They of the company of Ananias and Daniel delivered others from bondage. See then, O you that are wise, the power that freedom possesses; that nothing can injure it unless the will is weakened. Israel with sumptuous living waxed fat, and kicked, and forgot his covenant. He worshipped vain gods, and forgot the nature of his creation. The bondage that was in Egypt he forgat in the repose of the desert. As often as he was afflicted, he acknowledged the Lord alone; but when he was dwelling in repose, he forgot God his Redeemer. Seek not here repose, for this is a world of toil. And if you can wisely discern, change not time for time; that which abides for that which abides not; that which ceases not for that which ceases; nor truth for lying; nor body for shadow; nor watching for slumber; nor that which is in season for that which is out of season; nor the Time for the times. Collect your mind, let it not wander among varieties which profit not.
21. No one in creation is rich but he that fears God; no one is truly poor but he that lacks the truth. How needy is he, and not rich, whose need witnesses against him that even from the abject and the beggars he needs to receive a gift. He is truly a bondman, and many are his masters: he renders service to money, to riches, and possessions. His lords are void of mercy, for they grant him no repose. Flee, and live in poverty; (as) a mother she pities her beloved. Seek refuge in indigence, who nourishes her children with choice things; her yoke is light and pleasant, and sweet to the palate her memory. The sick in conscience alone abhors the draught of poverty; the fainthearted dreads the yoke of indigence that is honourable. Who has granted to You, Son of man, in the world to find repose? Who has granted to you, thing of dust, to be rich amidst poverty? Be not through desires needy and looking to others. Sufficient for you is your daily bread, that comes of the sweat of your face. Let this be (the measure of your need, that which the day gives you; and if you find for yourself a feast, take of it that which you need. You shall not take in a day (the provision) of days, for the belly keeps no treasure. Praise and give thanks when you are satisfied, that therein you provoke not the Giver to anger. In purity strengthen yourself, that you may gain from it profit. In everything give thanks and praise unto God as the Redeemer, that He may grant you by His grace, that we may hear and do His Will.
You to whom I have given the counsel of life, be not negligent in it. From that which is other men's (doctrine) have I written to you; see that you despise not their words. And if I depart before you, in your prayer make mention of me. In every season pray and beseech that our love may continue true. But as for us, on behalf of these things let us offer up praise and honour to Father, to Son, and to Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
1. Not of compulsion is the doctrine; of free-will is the word of life. Whoso is willing to hear the doctrine, let him cleanse the field of his will that the good seed fall not among the thorns of vain enquirings. If you would heed the word of life, cut yourself off from evil things; the hearing of the word profits nothing to the man that is busied with sins. If you will to be good, love not dissolute customs. First of all, trust in God, and then hearken to His law.
2. You can not hear His words, while you do not know yourself; and if you keep His judgments while your understanding is aloof from Him, who will give you your reward? Who will keep for you your recompense? You were baptised in His Name; confess His Name! In the Persons and in the naming, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, three Names and Persons, these three shall be a wall to you, against divisions and wranglings. Doubt not of the truth, lest you perish through the truth. You were baptised from the water; you have put on Christ in His naming; the seat of the Lord is on your person and His stamp on your forehead. See that you become not another's, for other Lord have you none. One is He Who formed us in His mercy; one is He Who redeemed us on His cross. He it is Who guides our life; He it is Who has power over our feebleness; He it is Who brings to pass our Resurrection. He rewards us according to our works. Blessed is he that confesses Him, and hears and keeps His commandments! You, O man, are a son of God Who is high over all. See that you vex not by your works the Father Who is good and gracious.
3. If you are angry against your neighbour, you are angry against God; and if you bear anger in your heart, against your Lord is your boldness uplifted. If in envy you rebuke, wicked is all your reproof. But if charity dwell in you, you have on earth no enemy. And if you are a true son of peace, you will stir up wrath in no man. If you are just and upright, you will not do wrong to your fellow. And if you love to be angry, be angry with the wicked and it will become you; if to wage war you seek, lo! Satan is your adversary; if you desire to revile, against the demons display your curses. If you should insult the King's image, you shall pay the penalty of murder; and if you revile a man, you revile the image of God. Do honour to your neighbour, and lo! You have honoured God. But if you would dishonour Him, in wrath assail your neighbour!
4. This is the first Commandment,— You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and your soul, and with your might according as you are able. The sign that you love God, is this, that you love your fellow; and if you hate your fellow, your hatred is towards God. For it is blasphemy if you pray before God while you are angry. For your heart also convicts you, that in vain you multiply words: your conscience rightly judges that in your prayers you profit nought. Christ as He hung on the height of the tree, interceded for His murderers; and you (who art) dust, son of the clay, rage fills you at its will. You keep anger against your brother; and do you yet dare to pray? Even he that stands on your side, though he be not neighbour to your sins, the taint of iniquity reaches unto him, and his petition is not heard. Leave off rage and then pray; and unless you would further provoke, restrain anger and so shall you supplicate. And if he (the other) is not to encounter you in fury, banish rage from that body, because it is holden with lusts.
5. You have a spiritual nature; the soul is the image of the Creator; honour the image of God, by being in agreement with all men. Remember death, and be not angry, that your peace be not of constraint. As long as your life remains to you, cleanse your soul from wrath; for if it should go to Sheol with you, your road will be straight to Gehenna. Keep not anger in your heart; hold not fury in your soul; you have not power over your soul, save to do that which is good. You are bought with the blood of God; you are redeemed by the passion of Christ; for your sake He suffered death, that you might die to your sins. His face endured spitting, that you might not shrink from scorn. Vinegar and gall did He drink, that you might be set apart from wrath. He received stripes on His body, that you might not fear suffering. If you are in truth His servant, fear your holy Lord; if you are His true disciple, walk in your Master's footsteps. Endure scorn from your brother, that you may be the companion of Christ. Display not anger against man, that you be not set apart from your Redeemer.
6. You are a man, the dust of the earth, clay, kinsman of the clod; you are the son of the race of beasts. If you know not your honour; separate your soul from animals, by works and not by words. If you love derision, you are altogether as Satan; and if you mock at your fellow, you are the mouth of the Devil; if against defects and flaws, in (injurious) names you delight, Satan is not in creation but his place you have seized by force. Get you far, O man, from this; for it is altogether hurtful; and if you desire to live well, sit not with the scorner, lest you become the partner of his sin and of his punishment. Hate mockery which is altogether (the cause of weeping), and mirth which is (the cause of) cleansing. And if you should hear a mocker by chance, when you are not desiring it, sign yourself with the cross of light, and hasten from thence like an antelope. Where Satan lodges, Christ will in nowise dwell; a spacious dwelling for Satan is the man that mocks at his neighbour; a palace of the Enemy is the heart of the mocker. Satan does not desire to add any other evil to it. Mockery is sufficient for him to supply the place of all. Neither his belly nor yet his purse can (the sinner) fill with that sin of his. By his laughter is the wretch despoiled, and he knows not nor does he perceive it. For his wound, there is no cure; for his sickness, there is no healing; his pain, admits no remedy; and his sore, endures no medicine. I desire not with such a one to put forth my tongue to reprove him: enough for him is his own shame; sufficient for him is his boldness. Blessed is he that has not heard him; and blessed is he that has not known him. Be it far from you, O Church, that he should enter you, that evil leaven of Satan!
7. Narrow is the way of life, and broad the way of torment; prayer is able to bring a man to the house of the kingdom. This is the perfect work; prayer that is pure from iniquity. The righteousness of man is as nothing accounted. The work of men, what is it? His labour is altogether vanity. Of You, O Lord, of Your grace it is that in our nature we should become good. Of You is righteousness, that we from men should become righteous. Of You is the mercy and favour, that we from the dust should become Your image. Give power to our will, that we be not sunk in sin! Pour into our heart memory, that at every hour we may know Your honour! Plant truth in our minds, that we perish not among doubts! Occupy our understanding with Your law, that it wander not in vain thoughts! Order the motions of our members, that they bring no hurt upon us! Draw near to God, that Satan may flee from you. Cast out passions from your heart, and lo! You have put to flight the enemy. Hate sins and wickedness, and Satan at once will have fled. Whatsoever sins you serve, you are worshipping secret idols. Whatsoever transgressions you love, you are serving demons in your soul. Whenever you strive with your brother, Satan abides in peace. Whenever you envy your fellow, you give rest to Devils. Whenever you tell the shortcoming of others who are not present, your tongue has made a harp for the music of the devil. Whenever hatred is in your soul, great is the peace of the Deceiver. Whenever you love incantations, your labour is altogether of the left hand. If you love unseemly discourse, you prepare a feast for demons. For this is the worship of idols, the working of the lusts (of the flesh).
8. If so be you give a gift in pride, this is not of God. If you are lifted up by reason of your knowledge, you have denied the grace of God. If you are poor and proud, lo! Your end is in your torment. If you are haughty and needy, lo! Your need is toward your destruction. If you are sick and criest out, lo! Your trouble is full of harm. If you are in need of food, yet your mind longs for riches; your distress is with the poor, but your torment with the rich. If you shall look unchastely, and shall desire your neighbour's wife, lo! Your portion shall be with the adulterers, and your hell with the fornicators. Let your own fountain be for yourself, and drink waters from your well. Let your fountains be for yourself alone, and let not another drink with you. Require purity of your body as you require of your yoke-fellow. You would not have her commit lewdness, the wife of your youth, with another man; commit not lewdness with another woman, the wife of a different husband. Let the defilement of her be hateful in your eyes; keep aloof from it altogether. Chastity beseems the wife; purity is as her adornment; law becomes the husband; justice is the crown for his head. Desire not the bed of your neighbour lest another desire your bed. Preserve purity in your marriage, that your marriage may be holy. His conscience reproves the man, who corrupts the wife of his neighbour. He fears, and deceives through terror, whoso has engaged in fornication. Darkness is dearer to him than light, whose manner of life is not pure. Every hour he stands in dread, who commits adultery secretly. The adulterer is also a thief who breaks into houses in darkness. The very place reproves him, where he does the evil and wickedness. He enters the chamber and sins; in the darkness he does his will. The time will come when it shall be disclosed, when his secret deeds shall be manifested. With what eyes do you look towards God in prayer? What hands do you raise when you ask pardon? Be ashamed and dismayed for yourself, that you are void of understanding. If when your neighbour see you, you are ashamed and dismayed, how much more should you be ashamed before God Who sees all? You are like the sow, your companion, that wallows altogether in mire. Even in seeing, you may sin, if your mind is not watchful; and in hearing you may transgress, if you do not guard your hearing. The fornicator's heart waxes wanton through speech that is full of uncleanness. The passion hidden in the mind, sight and hearing awaken it.
9. He puts on garments of shame who desires to commit fornication, that from the lust of raiment, lewdness may enter and dwell in his heart. Make not snares of your garments for that which is openly wanton. Speak not a word in craftiness, nor dig your neighbour's well. Look not after the harlot; be not snared by the beauty of her face. She is even as the dog that is mad, yea, much more bold than it. Modesty is removed from her face, she knows not what shame is. With spitting accept her person; with reviling meet herself; with a rod pursue her like a dog, for she is like one, and to be compared with such. Reject the sweetness of her words lest you fall into her net. She empties purses and wallets, and her gains are without number. Flee from her, for she is the daughter of vipers, that she tear not in pieces your whole body.
10. You shall not slander any man, lest they call you Satan. If you hate the name, go not near to the act; but if you love the act, be not angry at the name. Count yourself rebuked first of all by the beasts and birds, how that every kind cleaves to its kind; and so agree with your yokefellow. Rejoice not in men's dishonour, that you become not a Satan yourself. If evil should happen to him that hates you, see that you rejoice not, lest you sin. If your adversary should fall, be in pain and mourning. Keep your heart with all diligence, that it sin not in secret; for there is to be a laying bare of thoughts and of actions. Employ your hands in labour, and let your heart meditate in prayer. Love not vain discourse, for discourse that shall be profitable alike to the soul and the body lightens the burden of your labour.
11. Does the poor man cry at your door? Arise and open for him gladly: refresh him when he is wearied; sustain his heart, for it is sad. You know by experience the affliction of poverty: receive not others in your house, and drive not out the beggar. Have you also a law, a comely law for your household. Establish an order that is wise, that the abjects laugh not at you. Be careful in all your doings, that you be not a sport for fools; be upright and prudent, and both simple and wise. Let your body be quiet and cheerful, your greeting seemly and simple; your discourse without fault, your speech brief and savoury; your words few and sound, full of savour and understanding. Speak not overmuch, not even words that are wise; for all things that are over many, though they be wise are wearisome.— To them of your household be as a father. Amongst your brethren esteem yourself least, and inferior among your fellows, and of little account with all men. With your friend keep a secret; to those that love you be true. See that there be no wrangling; the secrets of your friends reveal not, lest all that hear you hate you and esteem you a mischiefmaker. With those that hate you wrangle not, neither face to face nor yet in your heart. No enemy shall you have but Satan his very self. Give counsel to the wife you have wedded; give heed to her doings; as stronger you are answerable that you should sustain her weakness. For weak is womankind, and very ready to fall. Be as a hawk, when kindled (to anger), but when wrath departs from you, be gladsome and also firm, in the blending of diverse qualities. Keep silence among the aged; to the elders give due honour. Honour the priests with diligence, as good stewards of the household. Give due honour to their degree, and search not out their doings. In his degree the priest is an angel, but in his doings a man. By mercy he is made a mediator, between God and mankind.
12. Search not out the faults of men; reveal not the sin of your fellow; the shortcomings of your neighbours, in speech of the mouth repeat not. You are not judge in creation, you have not dominion over the earth. If you love righteousness, reprove your soul and yourself. Be judge unto your own sins, and chastener of your own transgressions. Make not inquiry maliciously, into the misdeeds of men. For if you do this, injuries will not be lacking to you. Trust not the hearing of the ear, for many are the deceivers. Vain reports believe not, for false rumours are not few.
13. Regard not spells and divinations, for that is communion with Satan. Love not idle prating, not even in behalf of righteousness. Discourse concerning yourself begin not, even in behalf of what is becoming. Flee and hide yourself from wrangling, as from a violent robber. See that you be not a surety in a loan, lest you sin. According as you have, assist him, (even) the man that is poorer than you. Mock not the foolish man; pray that you be not even as he. Him that sins blame not, lest you also be put to confusion. To him that repents of his sins be a helper and counsellor, and encourage him that is able to rise. Let him hold fast hope in God, and his sin shall be burned as stubble. Visit the sick and be not wearied, that you may be beloved of men. Be familiar with the house of mourning, but a stranger to the house of feasting. Be not constant in drinking wine, lest your shortcomings multiply. Cast a wall round your lips, and set a guard upon your mouth; endure suffering with your neighbour and share also in his tribulation. A good friend in tribulation is made known to him that loves him. In charity follow the deceased, with sorrow and with offerings, and pray that he may have rest in the hidden place whither he is going.
14. When you stand in prayer, cry in your soul: Have mercy on me, I am a sinner and weak; be gracious, O God, to my weakness, and grant strength to me to pray a prayer that shall be pleasing to Your Will. Punish not mine enemies, take not vengeance on them that hate me; but grant them in Your grace that they may become doers of Your Will. At the time of prayer and petition, continue in contemplations such as these continue. Bow your head before the Mighty One.
15. Do not resist evil, for he is evil from the Evil One, whoso resists evil. Keep not back anything from any man, that if he perishes you may not be blamed. Change not your respect for a man's person, according to goods and possessions. Make all things as though they were not and God alone were in being. If you shall ask of your neighbour and he shall not give you according to your wish, see that you say not in anger a word that is full of bitterness. Oppose not [fit] seasons, for many are the changes. Put sorrow far from your flesh, and sadness from your thoughts; save only that for your sins you should be constant in sadness. Cease not from labour, not even though you be rich, for the slothful man gains manifold guilt by his idleness.
16. Be a lover of poverty, and be desirous of neediness. If you have them both for your portion, you are an inheritor on high. Despise not the voice of the poor and give him not cause to curse you. For if he curse whose palate is bitter, the Lord will hear his petition. If his garments are foul, wash them in water, which freely is bought. Has a poor man entered into your house? God has entered into your house; God dwells within your abode. He, whom you have refreshed from his troubles, from troubles will deliver you. Have you washed the feet of the stranger? You have washed away the filth of your sins. Have you prepared a table before him? Behold God eating [at it], and Christ likewise drinking [at it], and the Holy Spirit resting [on it]: Is the poor satisfied at your table and refreshed? You have satisfied Christ your Lord. He is ready to be your rewarder; in presence of angels and men He will confess you have fed His hunger; He will give thanks unto you that you gave Him drink, and quenched His thirst.
17. O how gracious is the Lord! O how measureless are His mercies! Happy the race of mortals when God confesses it! Woe to the soul which He denies! Fire is stored up for its punishment. Be of good cheer, my son, in hope; sow good [seed] and faint not. The husbandman sows in hope, and the merchant journeys in hope, you also love good [seed]; in the hope look for the reward. Do nothing at all without the beginning of prayer. With the sign of the living cross, seal all your doings, my son. Go not forth from the door of your house till you have signed the cross. Whether in eating or in drinking, whether in sleeping or in waking, whether in your house or on the road, or again in the season of leisure, neglect not this sign; for there is no guardian like it. It shall be unto you as a wall, in the forefront of all your doings. And teach this to your children, that heedfully they be conformed to it.
18. Yoke yourself under the law, that you may be a freeman in very truth. Work not the desire of your soul apart from the law of God. How many commandments must I write, and how many laws must I engrave; which, if you desire your freedom, you can learn all from yourself? And if you love purity, you will teach it to others also. Let nature be your book, and all creation your tables; and learn from them the laws, and meditate things unwritten. The sun in his course teaches you that you rest from labour. The night in her silence cries to you that a limit is set to your works. The earth and the fruit of the tree cry that there is a season for all things. The seed you sow in the winter, in the summer you gather its harvest. Thus in the world sow seeds of righteousness, and in the Resurrection gather them in. The bird in its daily gleaning reproves the covetous and his greed, and rebukes the extortion that grasps the store of others. Death, the limit of all things, is itself the reprover of all things.
19. Take refuge in God Who passes not away nor is changed. Restrain laughter by suffering, and mirthfulness by sorrow. Console suffering by hope, and sadness by expectation. Believe and trust, you that are wise, for God is He Who guides you; and if His care leaves you not, there is nothing that can harm you. If one man by another man, the lowly by the great, can be saved, how much more shall the refuge of God preserve the man that believes? Fear not because of adversaries who with violence come upon you. He will watchfully guard your soul, and hurtful things become profitable. No one shall lead you by compulsion, save only where there is freedom. No one falls into temptation, that passes the measure of his strength. There is no evil in chastisement, if so be that freedom is willing. The doings are not perverse of freedom, its will is perverted.
20. To men that are just and upright, temptations become helps. Job, a man of discernment, was victorious in temptations. Sickness came upon him, and he complained not; disease afflicted him and he murmured not; his body failed and his strength departed, but his will was not weakened. He proved perfect in all by sufferings, for as much as temptations crushed him not. Abraham was a stranger, from his place, his race [and his kindred]. But by this he was not harmed; nay rather he triumphed greatly. So Joseph from the house of bondage was made to rule as king of Egypt. They of the company of Ananias and Daniel delivered others from bondage. See then, O you that are wise, the power that freedom possesses; that nothing can injure it unless the will is weakened. Israel with sumptuous living waxed fat, and kicked, and forgot his covenant. He worshipped vain gods, and forgot the nature of his creation. The bondage that was in Egypt he forgat in the repose of the desert. As often as he was afflicted, he acknowledged the Lord alone; but when he was dwelling in repose, he forgot God his Redeemer. Seek not here repose, for this is a world of toil. And if you can wisely discern, change not time for time; that which abides for that which abides not; that which ceases not for that which ceases; nor truth for lying; nor body for shadow; nor watching for slumber; nor that which is in season for that which is out of season; nor the Time for the times. Collect your mind, let it not wander among varieties which profit not.
21. No one in creation is rich but he that fears God; no one is truly poor but he that lacks the truth. How needy is he, and not rich, whose need witnesses against him that even from the abject and the beggars he needs to receive a gift. He is truly a bondman, and many are his masters: he renders service to money, to riches, and possessions. His lords are void of mercy, for they grant him no repose. Flee, and live in poverty; (as) a mother she pities her beloved. Seek refuge in indigence, who nourishes her children with choice things; her yoke is light and pleasant, and sweet to the palate her memory. The sick in conscience alone abhors the draught of poverty; the fainthearted dreads the yoke of indigence that is honourable. Who has granted to You, Son of man, in the world to find repose? Who has granted to you, thing of dust, to be rich amidst poverty? Be not through desires needy and looking to others. Sufficient for you is your daily bread, that comes of the sweat of your face. Let this be (the measure of your need, that which the day gives you; and if you find for yourself a feast, take of it that which you need. You shall not take in a day (the provision) of days, for the belly keeps no treasure. Praise and give thanks when you are satisfied, that therein you provoke not the Giver to anger. In purity strengthen yourself, that you may gain from it profit. In everything give thanks and praise unto God as the Redeemer, that He may grant you by His grace, that we may hear and do His Will.
You to whom I have given the counsel of life, be not negligent in it. From that which is other men's (doctrine) have I written to you; see that you despise not their words. And if I depart before you, in your prayer make mention of me. In every season pray and beseech that our love may continue true. But as for us, on behalf of these things let us offer up praise and honour to Father, to Son, and to Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
Homily on the Sinful Woman
1. Hear and be comforted, beloved, how merciful is God. To the sinful woman He forgave her offenses; yea, He upheld her when she was afflicted. With clay He opened the eyes of the blind, so that the eyeballs beheld the light. To the palsied He granted healing, who arose and walked and carried his bed. And to us He has given the pearls; His holy Body and Blood. He brought His medicines secretly; and with them He heals openly. And He wandered round in the land of Judea, like a physician, bearing his medicines. Simon invited Him to the feast, to eat bread in his house. The sinful woman rejoiced when she heard that He sat and was feasting in Simon's house; her thoughts gathered together like the sea, and like the billows her love surged. She beheld the Sea of Grace, how it had forced itself into one place; and she resolved to go and drown all her wickedness in its billows.
2. She bound her heart, because it had offended, with chains and tears of suffering; and she began weeping (with herself): What avails me this fornication? What avails this lewdness? I have defiled the innocent ones without shame; I have corrupted the orphan; and without fear I have robbed the merchants of merchandise, and my rapacity was not satisfied. I have been as a bow in war, and have slain the good and the bad. I have been as a storm on the sea, and have sunk the ships of many. Why did I not win me one man, who might have corrected my lewdness? For one man is of God, but many are of Satan.
3. These things she inwardly said; then began she to do outwardly. She washed and put away from her eyes the dye that blinded them that saw it. And tears gushed forth from her eyes over that deadly eyepaint. She drew off and cast from her hands the enticing bracelets of her youth. She put off and cast away from her body the tunic of fine linen of whoredom, and resolved to go and attire herself in the tunic the garment of reconciliation. She drew off and cast from her feet the adorned sandals of lewdness; and directed the steps of her going in the path of the heavenly Eagle. She took up her gold in her palm and held it up to the face of heaven, and began to cry secretly, to Him who hears openly: This, O Lord, that I have gained from iniquity, with it will I purchase to myself redemption. This which was gathered from orphans, with it will I win the Lord of orphans.
4. These things she said secretly; then began to do openly. She took up the gold in her palm, and carried the alabaster box in her hands. Then hastily went she forth in sadness to the perfumer. The perfumer saw her and wondered, and fell into questioning with her; and thus he began to say to the harlot in the first words he spoke: Was it not enough for you, harlot, that you have corrupted all our town? What means this fashion that you show today to your lovers— that you have put off your wantonness and hast clothed yourself in modesty? Heretofore, when you came to me, your aspect was different from today's. You were clothed in goodly raiment, and brought little gold; and asked for precious ointment, to make your lewdness pleasant. But lo! Today your vesture is mean, and you have brought much gold. Your change I understand not; wherefore is this fashion of yours? Either clothe you in raiment according to your ability, or buy ointment according to your clothing. For this ointment becomes not or is suited to this attire. Can it be that a merchant has met you, and brings great wealth; and you have seen that he loves it not, the fashion of your lewdness? So you have put off your lewdness and hast clothed yourself in meekness, that by various fashions you may capture much wealth. But if he loves this fashion because he is a chaste man in truth, then woe to him! Into what has he fallen? Into a gulf that has swallowed up his merchandise. But I give you advice, as a man that desires your welfare, that you send away your many lovers who have helped you nought from your youth, and henceforth seek out one husband who may correct your lewdness.
5. These things spoke the perfumer, in wisdom, to the harlot. The sinful woman answered and said to him, to the perfumer after his discourse, Hinder me not, O man, and stop me not by your questioning. I have asked of you ointment, not freely, but I will pay you its value not grudgingly. Take you the gold, as much as you demand, and give me the precious ointment; take you that which endures not and give me that which endures; and I will go to Him who endures, and will buy that which endures. And as to that you said, about a merchant; a Man has met me today Who bears riches in abundance. He has robbed me and I have robbed Him; He has robbed me of my transgressions and sins, and I have robbed Him of His wealth. And as to that you said of a husband; I have won me a Husband in heaven, Whose dominion stands for ever, and His kingdom shall not be dissolved. She took up the ointment and went forth.
6. In haste went she forth; as Satan saw her and was enraged; and was greatly grieved in his mind. At one time he rejoiced, and again at another he was grieved. That she carried the perfumed oil, he rejoiced in his inward mind; but that she was clad in mean raiment— at this doing of hers he was afraid. He clave then to her and followed her, as a robber follows a merchant. He listened to the murmurs of her lips, to hear the voice of her words. He closely watched her eyeballs (to mark) whither the glance of her eyes was directed; and as he went he moved by her feet (to mark) whither her goings were directed. Very full of craft is Satan, from our words to learn our aim. Therefore our Lord has taught us not to raise our voice when we pray, that the Devil may not hear our words and draw near and become our adversary. So then, when Satan saw that he could not change her mind, he clothed himself in the fashion of a man, and drew to himself a crowd of youths, like her lovers of former times; and then began he thus to address her: By your life, O woman, tell me whither are your footsteps directed? What means this haste? For you hastes more than other days. What means this your meekness, for your soul is meek like a handmaid's? Instead of garments of fine linen, lo! You are clothed in sordid weeds; instead of bracelets of gold and silver, there are not even rings on your fingers; instead of goodly sandals for your feet, not even worn shoes are on your feet. Disclose to me all your doing, for I understand not your change. Is it that some one of your lovers has died, and you go to bury him? We will go with you to the funeral, and with you will (take part with you) in sorrow.
7. The sinful woman answered and said to him, (even) to Satan, after his speech: Well have you said that I go to inter the dead, one that has died to me. The sin of my thoughts has died, and I go to bury it. Satan answered and said to her, (even) to the sinful woman after her words: Go to, O woman, I tell you that I am the first of your lovers. I am not such as you, and I place my hands upon you. I will give you again more gold than before.
8. The sinful woman answered and said to him, even to Satan after his discourse: I am wearied of you, O man, and you are no more my lover. I have won me a husband in heaven, Who is God, that is over all, and His dominion stands for ever, and His kingdom shall not be dissolved. For lo! In your presence I say; I say it again and I lie not. I was a handmaid to Satan from my childhood unto this day. I was a bridge, and he trode upon me, and I destroyed thousands of men. The eyepaint blinded my eyes, and (I was) blind among many whom I blinded. I became sightless and knew not that there is One Who gives light to the sightless. Lo! I go to get light for my eyes, and by that light to give light to many. I was fast bound, and knew not that there is One Who overthrows idols. Lo! I go to have my idols destroyed, and so to destroy the follies of many. I was wounded and knew not that there is One Who binds up wounds; and lo! I go to have my wounds bound. These things the harlot spoke to Satan in her wisdom; and he groaned and was grieved and wept; and he cried aloud and thus he spoke:— I am conquered by you, O woman, and what I shall do I know not.
9. As soon as Satan perceived that he could not change her mind, he began to weep for himself and thus it was that he spoke: Henceforth is my boasting perished, and the pride of all my days. How shall I lay for her a snare, for her who is ascending on high? How shall I shoot arrows at her, (even) at her whose wall is unshaken? Therefore I go into Jesus' presence; lo! she is about to enter His presence; and I shall say to Him thus: This woman is an harlot. Perchance He may reject and not receive her. And I shall say to Him thus: This woman who comes into Your presence is a woman that is an harlot. She has led captive men by her whoredom; she is polluted from her youth. But You, O Lord, are righteous; all men throng to see You. And if mankind see You that You have speech with the harlot, they all will flee from Your presence, and no man will salute You.
10. These things Satan spoke within himself, nor was he moved. Then he changed the course of his thought, and thus it was that he spoke. How shall I enter into Jesus' presence, for to Him the secret things are manifest? He knows me, who I am, that no good office is my purpose. If haply He rebuke me I am undone, and all my wiles will be wasted. I will go to the house of Simon, for secret things are not manifest to him. And into his heart I will put it; perchance on that hook he may be caught. And thus will I say unto him: By your life, O Simon, tell me; this man that sojourns in your house is he a man that is righteous, or a friend of the doers of wickedness? I am a wealthy man, and a man that has possessions, and I wish like you to invite him that he may come in and bless my possessions.
11. Simon answered and thus he said to the Evil One after his words: From the day that (first) I saw Him I have seen no lewdness in Him, but rather quietness and peace, humility and seemliness. The sick He heals without reward, the diseased He freely cures. He approaches and stands by the grave, and calls, and the dead arise. Jairus called Him to raise his daughter to life, trusting that He could raise her to life. And as He went with him in the way, He gave healing to the woman diseased, who laid hold of the hem of His garment and stole healing from Him, and her pain which was hard and bitter at once departed from her. He went forth to the desert and saw the hungry, how they were fainting with famine. He made them sit down on the grass, and fed them in His mercy. In the ship He slept as He willed, and the sea swelled against the disciples. He arose and rebuked the billows, and there was a great calm. The widow, the desolate one who was following her only son, on the way to the grave He consoled her. He gave him to her and gladdened her heart. To one man who was dumb and blind, by His voice He brought healing. The lepers He cleansed by His word; to the limbs of the palsied He restored strength. For the blind man, afflicted and weary, He opened his eyes and he saw the light. And for two others who besought Him, at once He opened their eyes. As for me, thus have I heard the fame of the man from afar; and I called Him to bless my possessions, and to bless all my flocks and herds.
12. Satan answered and said to him, to Simon after his words: Praise not a man at his beginning, until you learn his end; hitherto this man is sober and his soul takes not pleasure in wine. If he shall go forth from your house, and holds not converse with an harlot, then he is a righteous man and no friend of them that do wickedness. Such things did Satan speak in his craftiness to Simon. Then he approached and stood afar off, to see what should come to pass.
13. The sinful woman full of transgressions stood clinging by the door. She clasped her arms in prayer, and thus she spoke beseeching:— Blessed Son Who hast descended to earth for the sake of man's redemption, close not Your door in my face; for You have called me and lo! I come. I know that You have not rejected me; open for me the door of Your mercy, that I may come in, O my Lord, and find refuge in You, from the Evil One and his hosts! I was a sparrow, and the hawk pursued me, and I have fled and taken refuge in Your nest. I was a heifer, and the yoke galled me, and I will turn back my wanderings to You. Lay upon me the shoulder of Your yoke that I may take it on me, and work with Your oxen. Thus did the harlot speak at the door with much weeping. The master of the house looked and saw her, and the colour of his visage was changed; and he began thus to address her, (even) the harlot, in the opening of his words:— Depart hence, O harlot, for this man who abides in our house is a man that is righteous, and they that are of his companions are blameless. Is it not enough for you, harlot, that you have corrupted the whole town? You have corrupted the chaste without shame; you have robbed the orphans, and have not blushed, and have plundered the merchants' wares, and your countenance is not abashed. From him your heart [and soul] labour [to take]. But from him your net takes no spoil. For this man is righteous indeed, and they of his company are blameless.
14. The sinful woman answered and said to him, even to Simon when he had ceased: You surely are the guardian of the door, O you that know things that are secret! I will propose the matter in the feast, and you shall be free from blame. And if there be any that wills me to come in, he will bid me and I will come in. Simon ran and closed the door, and approached and stood afar off. And he tarried a long time and proposed not the matter in the feast. But He, Who knows what is secret, beckoned to Simon and said to him:— Come hither, Simon, I bid you; does any one stand at the door? Whosoever he be, open to him that he may come in; let him receive what he needs, and go. If he be hungry and hunger for bread, lo! In your house is the table of life; and if he be thirsty, and thirst for water, lo! The blessed fountain is in your dwelling. And if he be sick and ask for healing, lo! The great Physician is in your house. Allow sinners to look upon Me, for their sakes have I abased Myself. I will not ascend to heaven, to the dwelling whence I came down, until I bear back the sheep that has wandered from its Father's house, and lift it up on My shoulders and bear it aloft to heaven. Simon answered and thus he said to Jesus, when He had done speaking:— My Lord, this woman that stands in the doorway is a harlot: she is lewd and not free-born, polluted from her childhood. And You, my Lord, are a righteous man, and all are eager to see You; and if men see You having speech with the harlot, all men will flee from beside You, and no man will salute You. Jesus answered, and thus He said to Simon when he was done speaking:— Whosoever it be, open for him to come in, and you shall be free from blame; and though his offenses be many, without rebuke I bid you [receive him].
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15. Simon approached and opened the door, and began thus to speak:— Come, enter, fulfil that you will, to him who is even as you. The sinful woman, full of transgressions, passed forward and stood by His feet, and clasped her arms in prayer, and with these words she spoke:— My eyes have become watercourses that cease not from [watering] the fields, and today they wash the feet of Him Who follows after sinners. This hair, abundant in locks from my childhood till this day, let it not grieve You that it should wipe this holy body. The mouth that has kissed the lewd, forbid it not to kiss the body that remits transgressions and sins. These things the harlot spoke to Jesus, with much weeping. And Simon stood afar off to see what He would do to her. But He Who knows the things that are secret, beckoned to Simon and said to him:— Lo! I will tell you, O Simon, what your meditation is, concerning the harlot. Within your mind you imagine and within your soul you said, ‘I have called this man righteous, but lo! The harlot kisses Him. I have called Him to bless my possessions, and lo! The harlot embraces Him.' O Simon, there were two debtors, whose creditor was one only; one owed him five-hundred [pence], and the other owed fifty. And when the creditor saw that neither of these two had anything, the creditor pardoned and forgave them both their debt. Which of them ought to render the greater thanks? He who was forgiven five hundred, or he who was forgiven fifty? Simon answered, and thus he said to Jesus, when He had done speaking:— He who was forgiven five hundred ought to render the greater thanks. Jesus answered and thus He said: You are he that owes five hundred, and this woman owes fifty. Lo! I came into your house, O Simon; and water for My feet you brought not; and this woman, of whom you said that she was an harlot, one from her childhood defiled, has washed My feet with her tears, and with her hair she has wiped them. Ought I to send her away, O Simon, without receiving forgiveness? Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will write of her in the Gospel. Go, O woman, your sins are forgiven you and all your transgression is covered; henceforth and to the end of the world.
May our Lord account us worthy of hearing this word of His:— Come, enter, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom made ready for all who shall do My will, and observe all My commandments. To Him be glory; on us be mercy; at all times. Amen! Amen!
1. Hear and be comforted, beloved, how merciful is God. To the sinful woman He forgave her offenses; yea, He upheld her when she was afflicted. With clay He opened the eyes of the blind, so that the eyeballs beheld the light. To the palsied He granted healing, who arose and walked and carried his bed. And to us He has given the pearls; His holy Body and Blood. He brought His medicines secretly; and with them He heals openly. And He wandered round in the land of Judea, like a physician, bearing his medicines. Simon invited Him to the feast, to eat bread in his house. The sinful woman rejoiced when she heard that He sat and was feasting in Simon's house; her thoughts gathered together like the sea, and like the billows her love surged. She beheld the Sea of Grace, how it had forced itself into one place; and she resolved to go and drown all her wickedness in its billows.
2. She bound her heart, because it had offended, with chains and tears of suffering; and she began weeping (with herself): What avails me this fornication? What avails this lewdness? I have defiled the innocent ones without shame; I have corrupted the orphan; and without fear I have robbed the merchants of merchandise, and my rapacity was not satisfied. I have been as a bow in war, and have slain the good and the bad. I have been as a storm on the sea, and have sunk the ships of many. Why did I not win me one man, who might have corrected my lewdness? For one man is of God, but many are of Satan.
3. These things she inwardly said; then began she to do outwardly. She washed and put away from her eyes the dye that blinded them that saw it. And tears gushed forth from her eyes over that deadly eyepaint. She drew off and cast from her hands the enticing bracelets of her youth. She put off and cast away from her body the tunic of fine linen of whoredom, and resolved to go and attire herself in the tunic the garment of reconciliation. She drew off and cast from her feet the adorned sandals of lewdness; and directed the steps of her going in the path of the heavenly Eagle. She took up her gold in her palm and held it up to the face of heaven, and began to cry secretly, to Him who hears openly: This, O Lord, that I have gained from iniquity, with it will I purchase to myself redemption. This which was gathered from orphans, with it will I win the Lord of orphans.
4. These things she said secretly; then began to do openly. She took up the gold in her palm, and carried the alabaster box in her hands. Then hastily went she forth in sadness to the perfumer. The perfumer saw her and wondered, and fell into questioning with her; and thus he began to say to the harlot in the first words he spoke: Was it not enough for you, harlot, that you have corrupted all our town? What means this fashion that you show today to your lovers— that you have put off your wantonness and hast clothed yourself in modesty? Heretofore, when you came to me, your aspect was different from today's. You were clothed in goodly raiment, and brought little gold; and asked for precious ointment, to make your lewdness pleasant. But lo! Today your vesture is mean, and you have brought much gold. Your change I understand not; wherefore is this fashion of yours? Either clothe you in raiment according to your ability, or buy ointment according to your clothing. For this ointment becomes not or is suited to this attire. Can it be that a merchant has met you, and brings great wealth; and you have seen that he loves it not, the fashion of your lewdness? So you have put off your lewdness and hast clothed yourself in meekness, that by various fashions you may capture much wealth. But if he loves this fashion because he is a chaste man in truth, then woe to him! Into what has he fallen? Into a gulf that has swallowed up his merchandise. But I give you advice, as a man that desires your welfare, that you send away your many lovers who have helped you nought from your youth, and henceforth seek out one husband who may correct your lewdness.
5. These things spoke the perfumer, in wisdom, to the harlot. The sinful woman answered and said to him, to the perfumer after his discourse, Hinder me not, O man, and stop me not by your questioning. I have asked of you ointment, not freely, but I will pay you its value not grudgingly. Take you the gold, as much as you demand, and give me the precious ointment; take you that which endures not and give me that which endures; and I will go to Him who endures, and will buy that which endures. And as to that you said, about a merchant; a Man has met me today Who bears riches in abundance. He has robbed me and I have robbed Him; He has robbed me of my transgressions and sins, and I have robbed Him of His wealth. And as to that you said of a husband; I have won me a Husband in heaven, Whose dominion stands for ever, and His kingdom shall not be dissolved. She took up the ointment and went forth.
6. In haste went she forth; as Satan saw her and was enraged; and was greatly grieved in his mind. At one time he rejoiced, and again at another he was grieved. That she carried the perfumed oil, he rejoiced in his inward mind; but that she was clad in mean raiment— at this doing of hers he was afraid. He clave then to her and followed her, as a robber follows a merchant. He listened to the murmurs of her lips, to hear the voice of her words. He closely watched her eyeballs (to mark) whither the glance of her eyes was directed; and as he went he moved by her feet (to mark) whither her goings were directed. Very full of craft is Satan, from our words to learn our aim. Therefore our Lord has taught us not to raise our voice when we pray, that the Devil may not hear our words and draw near and become our adversary. So then, when Satan saw that he could not change her mind, he clothed himself in the fashion of a man, and drew to himself a crowd of youths, like her lovers of former times; and then began he thus to address her: By your life, O woman, tell me whither are your footsteps directed? What means this haste? For you hastes more than other days. What means this your meekness, for your soul is meek like a handmaid's? Instead of garments of fine linen, lo! You are clothed in sordid weeds; instead of bracelets of gold and silver, there are not even rings on your fingers; instead of goodly sandals for your feet, not even worn shoes are on your feet. Disclose to me all your doing, for I understand not your change. Is it that some one of your lovers has died, and you go to bury him? We will go with you to the funeral, and with you will (take part with you) in sorrow.
7. The sinful woman answered and said to him, (even) to Satan, after his speech: Well have you said that I go to inter the dead, one that has died to me. The sin of my thoughts has died, and I go to bury it. Satan answered and said to her, (even) to the sinful woman after her words: Go to, O woman, I tell you that I am the first of your lovers. I am not such as you, and I place my hands upon you. I will give you again more gold than before.
8. The sinful woman answered and said to him, even to Satan after his discourse: I am wearied of you, O man, and you are no more my lover. I have won me a husband in heaven, Who is God, that is over all, and His dominion stands for ever, and His kingdom shall not be dissolved. For lo! In your presence I say; I say it again and I lie not. I was a handmaid to Satan from my childhood unto this day. I was a bridge, and he trode upon me, and I destroyed thousands of men. The eyepaint blinded my eyes, and (I was) blind among many whom I blinded. I became sightless and knew not that there is One Who gives light to the sightless. Lo! I go to get light for my eyes, and by that light to give light to many. I was fast bound, and knew not that there is One Who overthrows idols. Lo! I go to have my idols destroyed, and so to destroy the follies of many. I was wounded and knew not that there is One Who binds up wounds; and lo! I go to have my wounds bound. These things the harlot spoke to Satan in her wisdom; and he groaned and was grieved and wept; and he cried aloud and thus he spoke:— I am conquered by you, O woman, and what I shall do I know not.
9. As soon as Satan perceived that he could not change her mind, he began to weep for himself and thus it was that he spoke: Henceforth is my boasting perished, and the pride of all my days. How shall I lay for her a snare, for her who is ascending on high? How shall I shoot arrows at her, (even) at her whose wall is unshaken? Therefore I go into Jesus' presence; lo! she is about to enter His presence; and I shall say to Him thus: This woman is an harlot. Perchance He may reject and not receive her. And I shall say to Him thus: This woman who comes into Your presence is a woman that is an harlot. She has led captive men by her whoredom; she is polluted from her youth. But You, O Lord, are righteous; all men throng to see You. And if mankind see You that You have speech with the harlot, they all will flee from Your presence, and no man will salute You.
10. These things Satan spoke within himself, nor was he moved. Then he changed the course of his thought, and thus it was that he spoke. How shall I enter into Jesus' presence, for to Him the secret things are manifest? He knows me, who I am, that no good office is my purpose. If haply He rebuke me I am undone, and all my wiles will be wasted. I will go to the house of Simon, for secret things are not manifest to him. And into his heart I will put it; perchance on that hook he may be caught. And thus will I say unto him: By your life, O Simon, tell me; this man that sojourns in your house is he a man that is righteous, or a friend of the doers of wickedness? I am a wealthy man, and a man that has possessions, and I wish like you to invite him that he may come in and bless my possessions.
11. Simon answered and thus he said to the Evil One after his words: From the day that (first) I saw Him I have seen no lewdness in Him, but rather quietness and peace, humility and seemliness. The sick He heals without reward, the diseased He freely cures. He approaches and stands by the grave, and calls, and the dead arise. Jairus called Him to raise his daughter to life, trusting that He could raise her to life. And as He went with him in the way, He gave healing to the woman diseased, who laid hold of the hem of His garment and stole healing from Him, and her pain which was hard and bitter at once departed from her. He went forth to the desert and saw the hungry, how they were fainting with famine. He made them sit down on the grass, and fed them in His mercy. In the ship He slept as He willed, and the sea swelled against the disciples. He arose and rebuked the billows, and there was a great calm. The widow, the desolate one who was following her only son, on the way to the grave He consoled her. He gave him to her and gladdened her heart. To one man who was dumb and blind, by His voice He brought healing. The lepers He cleansed by His word; to the limbs of the palsied He restored strength. For the blind man, afflicted and weary, He opened his eyes and he saw the light. And for two others who besought Him, at once He opened their eyes. As for me, thus have I heard the fame of the man from afar; and I called Him to bless my possessions, and to bless all my flocks and herds.
12. Satan answered and said to him, to Simon after his words: Praise not a man at his beginning, until you learn his end; hitherto this man is sober and his soul takes not pleasure in wine. If he shall go forth from your house, and holds not converse with an harlot, then he is a righteous man and no friend of them that do wickedness. Such things did Satan speak in his craftiness to Simon. Then he approached and stood afar off, to see what should come to pass.
13. The sinful woman full of transgressions stood clinging by the door. She clasped her arms in prayer, and thus she spoke beseeching:— Blessed Son Who hast descended to earth for the sake of man's redemption, close not Your door in my face; for You have called me and lo! I come. I know that You have not rejected me; open for me the door of Your mercy, that I may come in, O my Lord, and find refuge in You, from the Evil One and his hosts! I was a sparrow, and the hawk pursued me, and I have fled and taken refuge in Your nest. I was a heifer, and the yoke galled me, and I will turn back my wanderings to You. Lay upon me the shoulder of Your yoke that I may take it on me, and work with Your oxen. Thus did the harlot speak at the door with much weeping. The master of the house looked and saw her, and the colour of his visage was changed; and he began thus to address her, (even) the harlot, in the opening of his words:— Depart hence, O harlot, for this man who abides in our house is a man that is righteous, and they that are of his companions are blameless. Is it not enough for you, harlot, that you have corrupted the whole town? You have corrupted the chaste without shame; you have robbed the orphans, and have not blushed, and have plundered the merchants' wares, and your countenance is not abashed. From him your heart [and soul] labour [to take]. But from him your net takes no spoil. For this man is righteous indeed, and they of his company are blameless.
14. The sinful woman answered and said to him, even to Simon when he had ceased: You surely are the guardian of the door, O you that know things that are secret! I will propose the matter in the feast, and you shall be free from blame. And if there be any that wills me to come in, he will bid me and I will come in. Simon ran and closed the door, and approached and stood afar off. And he tarried a long time and proposed not the matter in the feast. But He, Who knows what is secret, beckoned to Simon and said to him:— Come hither, Simon, I bid you; does any one stand at the door? Whosoever he be, open to him that he may come in; let him receive what he needs, and go. If he be hungry and hunger for bread, lo! In your house is the table of life; and if he be thirsty, and thirst for water, lo! The blessed fountain is in your dwelling. And if he be sick and ask for healing, lo! The great Physician is in your house. Allow sinners to look upon Me, for their sakes have I abased Myself. I will not ascend to heaven, to the dwelling whence I came down, until I bear back the sheep that has wandered from its Father's house, and lift it up on My shoulders and bear it aloft to heaven. Simon answered and thus he said to Jesus, when He had done speaking:— My Lord, this woman that stands in the doorway is a harlot: she is lewd and not free-born, polluted from her childhood. And You, my Lord, are a righteous man, and all are eager to see You; and if men see You having speech with the harlot, all men will flee from beside You, and no man will salute You. Jesus answered, and thus He said to Simon when he was done speaking:— Whosoever it be, open for him to come in, and you shall be free from blame; and though his offenses be many, without rebuke I bid you [receive him].
* * * * * * * * * * *
15. Simon approached and opened the door, and began thus to speak:— Come, enter, fulfil that you will, to him who is even as you. The sinful woman, full of transgressions, passed forward and stood by His feet, and clasped her arms in prayer, and with these words she spoke:— My eyes have become watercourses that cease not from [watering] the fields, and today they wash the feet of Him Who follows after sinners. This hair, abundant in locks from my childhood till this day, let it not grieve You that it should wipe this holy body. The mouth that has kissed the lewd, forbid it not to kiss the body that remits transgressions and sins. These things the harlot spoke to Jesus, with much weeping. And Simon stood afar off to see what He would do to her. But He Who knows the things that are secret, beckoned to Simon and said to him:— Lo! I will tell you, O Simon, what your meditation is, concerning the harlot. Within your mind you imagine and within your soul you said, ‘I have called this man righteous, but lo! The harlot kisses Him. I have called Him to bless my possessions, and lo! The harlot embraces Him.' O Simon, there were two debtors, whose creditor was one only; one owed him five-hundred [pence], and the other owed fifty. And when the creditor saw that neither of these two had anything, the creditor pardoned and forgave them both their debt. Which of them ought to render the greater thanks? He who was forgiven five hundred, or he who was forgiven fifty? Simon answered, and thus he said to Jesus, when He had done speaking:— He who was forgiven five hundred ought to render the greater thanks. Jesus answered and thus He said: You are he that owes five hundred, and this woman owes fifty. Lo! I came into your house, O Simon; and water for My feet you brought not; and this woman, of whom you said that she was an harlot, one from her childhood defiled, has washed My feet with her tears, and with her hair she has wiped them. Ought I to send her away, O Simon, without receiving forgiveness? Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will write of her in the Gospel. Go, O woman, your sins are forgiven you and all your transgression is covered; henceforth and to the end of the world.
May our Lord account us worthy of hearing this word of His:— Come, enter, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom made ready for all who shall do My will, and observe all My commandments. To Him be glory; on us be mercy; at all times. Amen! Amen!
Discourse On the Passion of the Saviour
by Our Venerable Father Ephrem the Syrian
I am afraid to speak
and touch with my tongue
this fearful narrative
concerning the Saviour.
For truly it is fearful
to narrate all this.
Our Lord
was given up today
into the hands of sinners!
For what reason then
was one who is holy
and without sin given up?
For having done no sin
he was given up today.
Come, let us examine closely
why Christ our Saviour
was given up.
For us, the ungodly,
the Master was given up.
Who would not marvel?
Who would not give glory?
When the slaves had sinned
the Master was given up.
The sons of perdition
and the children of darkness
went out in the darkness
to arrest the sun
who had the power
to consume them in an instant.
But the Master, knowing
their effrontery
and the force of their anger,
with gentleness,
by his own authority,
gave himself up
into the hands of the ungodly.
And lawless men, having bound
the most pure Master,
mocked the one
who had bound the strong one
with unbreakable bonds,
and set us free
from the bonds of sins.
They plaited a crown
of their own thorns,
the fruit borne
by the vine of the Jews.
In mockery
they called him ‘King’.
The lawless spat
in the face of the most pure,
at whose glance
all the Powers of heaven
and the ranks of Angels
quake with fear.
See, once again grief and tears
grip hold of my heart,
as I contemplate the Master
enduring outrage and insults,
scourgings, spitting
from slaves, and blows.
Come, observe well
the abundance of compassion,
the forbearance and mercy
of our sweet Master.
He had a useful slave
in the Paradise of delight,
and when he sinned
he was given to the torturers.
But when the Good One
saw his weakness of soul
he took compassion on the slave
and had mercy on him
and presented himself
to be scourged by him.
I wished to remain silent
because my mind
was utterly amazed;
but then again I was afraid
lest I reject
by my silence
my Saviour’s grace.
For my bones tremble
when I think of it.
The fashioner of all things,
our Lord himself,
was today arraigned
before Caiaphas,
like one of the condemned;
and one of the servants
struck him a blow.
My heart trembles
as I think on these things:
the slave is seated,
the Master stands,
and one full of iniquities
passes sentence
on the one who is sinless.
The heavens trembled,
earth’s foundations shuddered;
Angels and Archangels
all quailed with terror.
Gabriel and Michael
covered their faces
with their wings.
The Cherubim at the throne
were hidden beneath the wheels;
The Seraphim struck their wings
one with the other
at that moment,
when a servant gave
a blow to the Master.
How did earth’s foundations
endure the earthquake
and the tremor
at that moment,
when the Master was outraged?
I observe and I tremble
and again I am stunned,
when I see the long-suffering
of the loving Master.
For see my inward parts
tremble as I speak,
because the Creator,
who by grace fashioned
humanity from dust,
he the Fashioner is struck.
Let us fear, my brethren
and not simply listen.
The Saviour endured
all these things for us.
Wretched servant,
tell us why
you struck the Master?
All servants,
when they are set free,
receive a blow,
that they may obtain
freedom that perishes;
but you, miserable wretch,
unjustly gave a blow
to the liberator of all.
Did you perhaps expect
to receive from Caiaphas
a reward for your blow?
Had you perhaps not heard,
had you perhaps not learned
that Jesus is
the heavenly Master?
You gave a blow
to the Master of all things,
but became slave of slaves
to age on age,
a disgrace and abomination,
and condemned for ever
in unquenchable fire.
A great marvel, brethren,
it is to see the gentleness
of Christ the King!
Struck by a slave
he answered patiently,
with gentleness
and all reverence.
A servant is indignant,
the Master endures;
a servant is enraged,
the Master is kind.
At a time of anger,
who could endure
rage and disturbance?
But our Lord
submitted to all this
by his goodness.
Who can express
your long-suffering,
Master?
You that are longed for
and loved by Christ,
draw near, with compunction
and longing for the Saviour.
Come, let us learn
what took place today
in Sion, David’s city.
The longed-for and chosen
offspring of Abraham,
what did they do today?
They gave up to death
the most pure Master
on this day.
Christ our Saviour
was unjustly hanged
on the tree of the Cross
through lawless hands.
Come, let us all
wash our bodies
with tears and groans,
because our Lord,
the King of glory,
for us ungodly people
was given up to death.
If someone suddenly hears
of one truly beloved
having died,
or again, suddenly sees
the beloved himself
lying a dead corpse
before their eyes,
their appearance is altered,
and the brightness
of their sight is darkened.
So, in heaven’s height,
when it saw
the outrage to the Master
on the tree of the Cross,
the bright sun’s
appearance was altered;
it withdrew the rays
of its own brightness,
and unable to look on
the outrage to the Master,
clothed itself
in grief and darkness.
Likewise the Holy Spirit,
who is in the Father,
when he saw
the beloved Son
on the tree of the Cross,
rending the veil,
the temple’s adornment,
suddenly came forth
in the form of a dove.
All creation was
in fear and trembling
when the King of heaven,
the Saviour suffered;
while we sinners
for whom the only immortal
was given up
ever treat this with contempt.
We laugh each day
when we hear of the Saviour’s
sufferings and outrage.
We enjoy ourselves daily
filled with great zeal
to deck ourselves in fine clothing.
The sun in the sky
because of the outrage to its Master
changed its radiance
into darkness,
so that we, when we saw it,
might follow its example.
The Master on the Cross
was outraged for your sake,
while you, miserable wretch,
ever deck yourself
in splendid raiment.
Does your heart not tremble,
does your mind not quail,
when you hear such things?
The One who alone is sinless
was for you given over
to a shameful death,
to outrages and revilings,
while you hear all this
with lofty indifference.
The whole rational flock
should look intently
on its shepherd,
and ever long for him
and respect him,
because for its sake
he suffered, he
the dispassionate and all pure.
Nor should it deck itself
in corruptible garments,
nor yet indulge in pleasure
and worldly nourishment,
but should give its Maker pleasure
by ascesis and true reverence.
Let us not become
imitators of the Jews;
a people harsh and disobedient
and that ever rejects the blessings
and benefactions of God.
God Most High
for the sake of Abraham
and his covenant
from the beginning bore
the stubbornness of the people.
From heaven he gave
them Manna to eat;
but they, the unworthy,
longed for garlic,
evil-smelling foods.
Again, he gave them water
from the rock in the desert,
while they in place of these
gave him vinegar
when they hanged him on a Cross.
Let us be careful, brethren,
not to be found
as fellows of the Jews
who crucified the Master,
their own Creator.
Let us always be fearful,
keeping before our eyes
the Saviour’s sufferings.
Let us always keep in mind
his sufferings,
because it was for us he suffered,
the dispassionate Master;
for us he was crucified,
the only sinless One.
What return can we make
for all this, brethren?
Let us be attentive to ourselves
and not despise his sufferings.
Draw near all of you,
children of the Church,
bought with the precious
and holy blood
of the most pure Master.
Come, let us meditate
on his sufferings with tears,
thinking on fear,
meditating with trembling,
saying to ourselves,
‘Christ our Saviour
for us the impious
was given over to death’.
Learn well, brother,
what it is you hear:
God who is without sin,
Son of the Most High,
for you was given up.
Open your heart,
learn in detail
his sufferings
and say to yourself:
God who is without sin
today was given up,
today was mocked,
today was abused,
today was struck,
today was scourged,
today wore
a crown of thorns,
today was crucified,
he, the heavenly Lamb.
Your heart will tremble,
your soul will shudder.
Shed tears every day
by this meditation
on the Master’s sufferings.
Tears become sweet,
the soul is enlightened
that always meditates
on Christ’s sufferings.
Always meditating thus,
shedding tears every day,
giving thanks to the Master
for the sufferings
that he suffered for you,
so that in the day
of his Coming
your tears may become
your boast and exaltation
before the judgement seat.
Endure as you meditate
on the loving Master’s
sufferings,
endure temptations,
give thanks from your soul.
Blessed is the one
who has before his eyes
the heavenly Master
and his sufferings,
and has crucified himself
from all the passions
and earthly deeds,
who has become an imitator
of his own Master.
This is understanding,
this is the attitude
of servants who love God,
when they become ever
imitators of their Master
by good works.
Shameless man, do you watch
the most pure Master
hanging on the Cross,
while you pass the time
that you have to live on earth
in pleasure and laughter?
Don’t you know, miserable wretch,
that the crucified Lord
will demand an account
of all your disdainful deeds,
for which, when you hear of them, you show no concern,
and as you take your pleasure
you laugh
and enjoy yourself with indifference?
The day will come,
that fearful day,
for you to weep unceasingly
and cry out in the fire
from your pains,
and there will be no one at all
to answer
and have mercy on your soul.
I worship you, Master,
I bless you, O Good One,
I entreat you, O Holy One,
I fall down before you, Lover of humankind,
and I glorify you, O Christ,
because you, only-begotten
Master of all,
alone without sin,
for me the unworthy sinner
were given over to death,
death on a Cross,
that you might free
the sinner’s soul
from the bonds of sins.
And what shall I give you
in return for this, Master?
Glory to you, Lover of humankind!
Glory to you, O Merciful!
Glory to you, O Long-suffering!
Glory to you, who pardon
every fault!
Glory to you, who came down
to save our souls!
Glory to you, incarnate
in the Virgin’s womb!
Glory to you, who were bound!
Glory to you, who were scourged!
Glory to you, who were crucified!
Glory to you, who were buried!
Glory to you, who were raised!
Glory to you, who were proclaimed!
Glory to you, who were believed!
Glory to you, who were taken up!
Glory to you, who were enthroned
with great glory
at the Father’s right hand,
and are coming again
with the glory of the Father
and the holy Angels
to judge every soul
that has despised
your holy sufferings
in that dread
and fearful hour,
when the powers of heaven
will be shaken;
when Angels, Archangels,
Cherubim and Seraphim
will come all together
with fear and trembling
before your glory;
when all the foundations
of the earth will tremble,
and everything that has breath
will shudder at your great
and unendurable glory.
In that hour
your hand will hide me
under its wings
and my soul be delivered
from the fearful fire,
the gnashing of teeth,
the outer darkness
and unending weeping,
that blessing you, I may say,
‘Glory to the One, who wished
to save the sinner
through the many acts of pity
of his compassion.
by Our Venerable Father Ephrem the Syrian
I am afraid to speak
and touch with my tongue
this fearful narrative
concerning the Saviour.
For truly it is fearful
to narrate all this.
Our Lord
was given up today
into the hands of sinners!
For what reason then
was one who is holy
and without sin given up?
For having done no sin
he was given up today.
Come, let us examine closely
why Christ our Saviour
was given up.
For us, the ungodly,
the Master was given up.
Who would not marvel?
Who would not give glory?
When the slaves had sinned
the Master was given up.
The sons of perdition
and the children of darkness
went out in the darkness
to arrest the sun
who had the power
to consume them in an instant.
But the Master, knowing
their effrontery
and the force of their anger,
with gentleness,
by his own authority,
gave himself up
into the hands of the ungodly.
And lawless men, having bound
the most pure Master,
mocked the one
who had bound the strong one
with unbreakable bonds,
and set us free
from the bonds of sins.
They plaited a crown
of their own thorns,
the fruit borne
by the vine of the Jews.
In mockery
they called him ‘King’.
The lawless spat
in the face of the most pure,
at whose glance
all the Powers of heaven
and the ranks of Angels
quake with fear.
See, once again grief and tears
grip hold of my heart,
as I contemplate the Master
enduring outrage and insults,
scourgings, spitting
from slaves, and blows.
Come, observe well
the abundance of compassion,
the forbearance and mercy
of our sweet Master.
He had a useful slave
in the Paradise of delight,
and when he sinned
he was given to the torturers.
But when the Good One
saw his weakness of soul
he took compassion on the slave
and had mercy on him
and presented himself
to be scourged by him.
I wished to remain silent
because my mind
was utterly amazed;
but then again I was afraid
lest I reject
by my silence
my Saviour’s grace.
For my bones tremble
when I think of it.
The fashioner of all things,
our Lord himself,
was today arraigned
before Caiaphas,
like one of the condemned;
and one of the servants
struck him a blow.
My heart trembles
as I think on these things:
the slave is seated,
the Master stands,
and one full of iniquities
passes sentence
on the one who is sinless.
The heavens trembled,
earth’s foundations shuddered;
Angels and Archangels
all quailed with terror.
Gabriel and Michael
covered their faces
with their wings.
The Cherubim at the throne
were hidden beneath the wheels;
The Seraphim struck their wings
one with the other
at that moment,
when a servant gave
a blow to the Master.
How did earth’s foundations
endure the earthquake
and the tremor
at that moment,
when the Master was outraged?
I observe and I tremble
and again I am stunned,
when I see the long-suffering
of the loving Master.
For see my inward parts
tremble as I speak,
because the Creator,
who by grace fashioned
humanity from dust,
he the Fashioner is struck.
Let us fear, my brethren
and not simply listen.
The Saviour endured
all these things for us.
Wretched servant,
tell us why
you struck the Master?
All servants,
when they are set free,
receive a blow,
that they may obtain
freedom that perishes;
but you, miserable wretch,
unjustly gave a blow
to the liberator of all.
Did you perhaps expect
to receive from Caiaphas
a reward for your blow?
Had you perhaps not heard,
had you perhaps not learned
that Jesus is
the heavenly Master?
You gave a blow
to the Master of all things,
but became slave of slaves
to age on age,
a disgrace and abomination,
and condemned for ever
in unquenchable fire.
A great marvel, brethren,
it is to see the gentleness
of Christ the King!
Struck by a slave
he answered patiently,
with gentleness
and all reverence.
A servant is indignant,
the Master endures;
a servant is enraged,
the Master is kind.
At a time of anger,
who could endure
rage and disturbance?
But our Lord
submitted to all this
by his goodness.
Who can express
your long-suffering,
Master?
You that are longed for
and loved by Christ,
draw near, with compunction
and longing for the Saviour.
Come, let us learn
what took place today
in Sion, David’s city.
The longed-for and chosen
offspring of Abraham,
what did they do today?
They gave up to death
the most pure Master
on this day.
Christ our Saviour
was unjustly hanged
on the tree of the Cross
through lawless hands.
Come, let us all
wash our bodies
with tears and groans,
because our Lord,
the King of glory,
for us ungodly people
was given up to death.
If someone suddenly hears
of one truly beloved
having died,
or again, suddenly sees
the beloved himself
lying a dead corpse
before their eyes,
their appearance is altered,
and the brightness
of their sight is darkened.
So, in heaven’s height,
when it saw
the outrage to the Master
on the tree of the Cross,
the bright sun’s
appearance was altered;
it withdrew the rays
of its own brightness,
and unable to look on
the outrage to the Master,
clothed itself
in grief and darkness.
Likewise the Holy Spirit,
who is in the Father,
when he saw
the beloved Son
on the tree of the Cross,
rending the veil,
the temple’s adornment,
suddenly came forth
in the form of a dove.
All creation was
in fear and trembling
when the King of heaven,
the Saviour suffered;
while we sinners
for whom the only immortal
was given up
ever treat this with contempt.
We laugh each day
when we hear of the Saviour’s
sufferings and outrage.
We enjoy ourselves daily
filled with great zeal
to deck ourselves in fine clothing.
The sun in the sky
because of the outrage to its Master
changed its radiance
into darkness,
so that we, when we saw it,
might follow its example.
The Master on the Cross
was outraged for your sake,
while you, miserable wretch,
ever deck yourself
in splendid raiment.
Does your heart not tremble,
does your mind not quail,
when you hear such things?
The One who alone is sinless
was for you given over
to a shameful death,
to outrages and revilings,
while you hear all this
with lofty indifference.
The whole rational flock
should look intently
on its shepherd,
and ever long for him
and respect him,
because for its sake
he suffered, he
the dispassionate and all pure.
Nor should it deck itself
in corruptible garments,
nor yet indulge in pleasure
and worldly nourishment,
but should give its Maker pleasure
by ascesis and true reverence.
Let us not become
imitators of the Jews;
a people harsh and disobedient
and that ever rejects the blessings
and benefactions of God.
God Most High
for the sake of Abraham
and his covenant
from the beginning bore
the stubbornness of the people.
From heaven he gave
them Manna to eat;
but they, the unworthy,
longed for garlic,
evil-smelling foods.
Again, he gave them water
from the rock in the desert,
while they in place of these
gave him vinegar
when they hanged him on a Cross.
Let us be careful, brethren,
not to be found
as fellows of the Jews
who crucified the Master,
their own Creator.
Let us always be fearful,
keeping before our eyes
the Saviour’s sufferings.
Let us always keep in mind
his sufferings,
because it was for us he suffered,
the dispassionate Master;
for us he was crucified,
the only sinless One.
What return can we make
for all this, brethren?
Let us be attentive to ourselves
and not despise his sufferings.
Draw near all of you,
children of the Church,
bought with the precious
and holy blood
of the most pure Master.
Come, let us meditate
on his sufferings with tears,
thinking on fear,
meditating with trembling,
saying to ourselves,
‘Christ our Saviour
for us the impious
was given over to death’.
Learn well, brother,
what it is you hear:
God who is without sin,
Son of the Most High,
for you was given up.
Open your heart,
learn in detail
his sufferings
and say to yourself:
God who is without sin
today was given up,
today was mocked,
today was abused,
today was struck,
today was scourged,
today wore
a crown of thorns,
today was crucified,
he, the heavenly Lamb.
Your heart will tremble,
your soul will shudder.
Shed tears every day
by this meditation
on the Master’s sufferings.
Tears become sweet,
the soul is enlightened
that always meditates
on Christ’s sufferings.
Always meditating thus,
shedding tears every day,
giving thanks to the Master
for the sufferings
that he suffered for you,
so that in the day
of his Coming
your tears may become
your boast and exaltation
before the judgement seat.
Endure as you meditate
on the loving Master’s
sufferings,
endure temptations,
give thanks from your soul.
Blessed is the one
who has before his eyes
the heavenly Master
and his sufferings,
and has crucified himself
from all the passions
and earthly deeds,
who has become an imitator
of his own Master.
This is understanding,
this is the attitude
of servants who love God,
when they become ever
imitators of their Master
by good works.
Shameless man, do you watch
the most pure Master
hanging on the Cross,
while you pass the time
that you have to live on earth
in pleasure and laughter?
Don’t you know, miserable wretch,
that the crucified Lord
will demand an account
of all your disdainful deeds,
for which, when you hear of them, you show no concern,
and as you take your pleasure
you laugh
and enjoy yourself with indifference?
The day will come,
that fearful day,
for you to weep unceasingly
and cry out in the fire
from your pains,
and there will be no one at all
to answer
and have mercy on your soul.
I worship you, Master,
I bless you, O Good One,
I entreat you, O Holy One,
I fall down before you, Lover of humankind,
and I glorify you, O Christ,
because you, only-begotten
Master of all,
alone without sin,
for me the unworthy sinner
were given over to death,
death on a Cross,
that you might free
the sinner’s soul
from the bonds of sins.
And what shall I give you
in return for this, Master?
Glory to you, Lover of humankind!
Glory to you, O Merciful!
Glory to you, O Long-suffering!
Glory to you, who pardon
every fault!
Glory to you, who came down
to save our souls!
Glory to you, incarnate
in the Virgin’s womb!
Glory to you, who were bound!
Glory to you, who were scourged!
Glory to you, who were crucified!
Glory to you, who were buried!
Glory to you, who were raised!
Glory to you, who were proclaimed!
Glory to you, who were believed!
Glory to you, who were taken up!
Glory to you, who were enthroned
with great glory
at the Father’s right hand,
and are coming again
with the glory of the Father
and the holy Angels
to judge every soul
that has despised
your holy sufferings
in that dread
and fearful hour,
when the powers of heaven
will be shaken;
when Angels, Archangels,
Cherubim and Seraphim
will come all together
with fear and trembling
before your glory;
when all the foundations
of the earth will tremble,
and everything that has breath
will shudder at your great
and unendurable glory.
In that hour
your hand will hide me
under its wings
and my soul be delivered
from the fearful fire,
the gnashing of teeth,
the outer darkness
and unending weeping,
that blessing you, I may say,
‘Glory to the One, who wished
to save the sinner
through the many acts of pity
of his compassion.
Sermon on the Transfiguration of our Lord and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
1. From the land comes the joy of harvest, from the vineyard fruits that give food, and from the Scriptures teaching that gives life. The land has one season for the harvest, and the vineyard has one season for the vintage, but the Scripture when read always overflows with teaching that gives life. The land when it has been harvested lies fallow and the vineyard when the grapes have been picked is unproductive, but when Scripture is harvested the grapes of those who expound it are not lacking in it. It is picked every day and the grape clusters of the hope in it are never exhausted. Let us then draw near to this land and enjoy its life-giving furrows; and let us harvest from it grapes of life, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said to his Disciples, ‘There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his glory’.[1]
2. ‘And after six days he took Simon Peter and James and John his brother to a very high mountain and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white like light’.[2] Men whom he said would not taste death until they saw the image of his coming, are those whom he took and led up the mountain and showed them how he was going to come on the last day in the glory of his divinity and in the body of his humanity.
3. He led them up the mountain to show them who the Son is and whose he is. Because when he asked them, ‘Whom do men say the Son of man is?’[3] They said to him, some Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the Prophets. This is why he leads them up the mountain and shows them that he is not Elias, but the God of Elias; again, that he is not Jeremias, but the one who sanctified Jeremias in his mother’s womb;[4] not one of the Prophets, but the Lord of the Prophets, who also sent them. And he shows them that he is the maker of heaven and earth, and that he is Lord of living and dead. For he gave orders to heaven and brought down Elias, and made a sign to the earth and raised up Moses.
4. He led them up the mountain to show them that he is the Son of God, born from the Father before the ages and in the last times incarnate from the Virgin, as he knows how, born ineffably and without seed, preserving her virginity incorrupt; for wherever God wills it, the order of nature is overcome.[5] For God the Word dwelt in the Virgin’s womb, and the fire of his divinity did not consume the members of the Virgin’s body, but protected them carefully by its nine month presence. He dwelt in the Virgin’s womb, not abhorring the unpleasant smell of nature, and God incarnate came forth from her to save us.
5. He led them up the mountain to show them the glory of the godhead and to make known to them that he is the redeemer of Israel, as he had shown through the Prophets, and they should not be scandalised in him when they saw his voluntary sufferings, which as man he was about to suffer for us. For they knew him as a man, but did not know that he was God. They knew him as son of Mary, going about with them in the world[6], and he made known to them on the mountain that he was Son of God and God. They saw that he ate and drank, toiled and rested, dozed and slept, things which did not accord with his divine nature, but only with his humanity, and so he took them to the mountain that the Father might call him Son[7] and show that he is truly his Son and that he is God.
6. He led them up the mountain and showed them his kingship before his passion, and his power before his death, and his glory before his disgrace, and his honour before his dishonour, so that, when he was arrested and crucified by the Jews, they might know that he was not crucified through weakness, but willingly by his good pleasure for the salvation of the world.
7. He led them up the mountain and showed the glory of his divinity before the resurrection, so that when he rose from the dead in the glory of his divine nature, they might know that it was not because of his harsh toil that he accepted glory, as if he lacked it, but it was his before the ages with the Father and together with the Father, as he said as he was coming to his voluntary passion,[8] ‘Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world existed’.[9]
8. And so on the mountain he showed his Apostles the glory of his divinity, concealed and hidden by his humanity. For they saw his face bright as lightning and his garments white as light. They saw two suns; one in the sky, as usual, and one unusually; one visible in the firmament and lighting the world, and one, his face, visible to them alone. His garments white as light showed that the glory of his divinity flooded from his whole body, and his light shone from all his members. For his flesh did not shine with splendour from without, like Moses,[10] but the glory of his divinity flooded from him. His light dawned and was drawn together in him. Nor did depart somewhere else and leave him, because it did come from another place and adorn him, nor was it for his use. And he did not display the whole depth of his glory, but only as much as the limits of their eyes could encompass.[11]
9. ‘And there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him’.[12] And the words that they said to him were such as these: they were thanking him that their words and those of all their fellow Prophets had been fulfilled by his coming. They offered him worship for the salvation which he had wrought for the world for the human race; and that he had fulfilled in reality the mystery they had only sketched. There was joy for the Prophets and the Apostles by this ascent of the mountain. The Prophets rejoiced when they saw his humanity, which they had not known. The Apostles also rejoiced when they saw the glory of his divinity, which they had not known, and heard the voice of the Father bearing witness to his Son; and through this they recognised his incarnation, which was concealed from them. And the witness of the three was sealed by the Father’s voice and by Moses and Elias, who stood by him like servants, and they looked to one another: the Prophets to the Apostles and the Apostles to the Prophets. There the authors of the old covenant saw the authors of the new. Holy Moses saw Simon the sanctified; the steward of the Father saw the administrator of the Son. The former divided the sea for the people to walk in the middle of the waves; the latter raised a tent for the building of the Church. The virgin of the old covenant saw the virgin of the new:[13] [Elias and John;] the one who mounted on the chariot of fire and the one who leaned on the breast of the flame. And the mountain became a type of the Church, and on it Jesus united the two covenants, which the Church received, and made known to us that he is the giver of the two. The one received his mysteries; the other revealed the glory of his works.
10. Simon said, “It is good for us to be here, Lord”.[14] “Simon, what are you saying? If we remain here, who fulfils the word of the Prophets? Who seals the sayings of the heralds? Who brings to perfection the mysteries of the just? If we remain here, in whom are the words, ‘They dug my hands and my feet’[15] fulfilled? To whom do the words, ‘They parted my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing’[16] apply? To whom does, ‘They gave me gall as my food, and with vinegar they quenched my thirst’[17] relate? Who confirms, ‘Free among the dead?’[18] If we remain here, who will tear up the record of Adam’s debt?[19] And who will pay his debt in full? And who will restore to him the garment of glory?[20] If we remain here, how will all that I have said to you come to pass? How will the Church be built?[21] How will you take the keys of the kingdom of heaven from me?[22] What will you bind? What will you loose? If we remain here, everything that was said through the Prophets will come to nothing.”
11. He then said, “Let us make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elias”.[23] Simon was sent to build the Church in the world, and he is making tents on the mountain; for he was still looking at Jesus in human terms, and placed him with Moses and Elias. And besides this he showed him that he did not need his tent, for it was he who had made for his fathers a tent of cloud in the desert for forty years.[24] “For while he was still speaking, a cloud of light overshadowed them”. [25] “Do you see a tent made without toil, Simon? A tent that prevents heat and contains no darkness? A tent that blazes and shines?”[26]
12. And while the Disciples were marvelling, out of the cloud a voice was heard from the Father, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him.”[27] At the voice of the Father, Moses returned to his place and Elias returned to his country, and the Apostles fell on their faces to the ground, and Jesus stood alone, because the voice was fulfilled in him alone. The Prophets left and the Apostles fell to the ground, because the Father’s voice in witness, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him”, was not fulfilled in them. The Father taught them that Moses’ dispensation was fulfilled, and that they should listen to the Son, “For Moses, as a servant, spoke what he was ordered to, and he proclaimed what he had been told, and so did all the Prophets, until the one to whom it belongs has come,[28] that is Jesus, who is Son, not servant, Lord and not slave, who is master and not subject, lawgiver and not subject to the law. By divine nature, ‘This is my beloved Son’”. On the mountain the Father made known to the Apostles what was hidden from them. The One Who Is[29] reveals the One Who Is. The Father makes known the Son.
13. At that voice the Apostles fell on their faces to the ground; for there was a fearsome thunder, so that the earth shook at his voice, and they fell to the ground.[30] It showed them that the Father had drawn near; and the Son called them with his voice and raised them up.[31] For as the voice of the Father had thrown them down, so too the voice of the Son, raised them up by the strength of his divinity, which dwelt in his flesh and was united in it without change, both remain indivisibly and unconfusedly in one hypostasis and one person. He did not, like Moses, become resplendent from without, but as God he blazed with glory. For Moses was anointed with splendour by the appearance of his face, while Jesus in his whole body blazed, like the sun with its rays, with the glory of his divinity.
14. And the Father cried out, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him”. The Son was not separated from the glory of the godhead, for the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit are one nature, one power and once essence and one kingship. And he cried out to one with a simple name[32] and with fearsome glory. And Mary called him ‘son’, not separated from the glory of his divinity by his human nature; for he is one, God who appeared in a body to the world. His glory revealed the divine nature that was from the Father, and his body revealed his human nature that was from Mary; both natures coming together and being united in one hypostasis. Only begotten from the Father, and only begotten from Mary. And anyone who parts him will be parted from his kingdom, and anyone who confounds his natures will perish from his life. May anyone who denies that Mary gave birth to God not see the glory of his divinity; and anyone who denies that he bore a sinless body will be cast out from salvation and from the life that has been given through his body.
15. The facts themselves bear witness and his divine acts of power teach those who doubt that he is true God, and his sufferings show that he is true man.[33] And if those who are feeble in understanding are not fully assured, they will pay the penalty on his dread day. If he was not flesh, why was Mary introduced at all? And if he was not God, whom was Gabriel calling Lord? If he was not flesh, who was lying in the manger? And if he was not God, whom did the Angels come down and glorify? If he was not flesh, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes? And if he was not God, whom did the shepherds worship? If he was not flesh, whom did Joseph circumcise? And if he was not God, in whose honour did the star speed through the heavens? If he was not flesh, whom did Mary suckle? And if he was not God, to whom did the Magi offer gifts? If he was not flesh, whom did Symeon carry in his arms? And if he was not God, to whom did he say, “Let me depart in peace”?[34] If he was not flesh, whom did Joseph take and flee into Egypt? And if he was not God, in whom were words “Out of Egypt I have called my Son” fulfilled?[35] If he was not flesh, whom did John baptise? And if he was not God, to whom did the Father from heaven say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased”? If he was not flesh, who fasted and hungered in the desert? And if he was not God, whom did the Angels come down and serve? If he was not flesh, who was invited to the wedding in Cana of Galilee? And if he was not God, who turned the water into wine? If he was not flesh, in whose hands were the loaves? And if he was not God, who satisfied crowds and thousands in the desert, not counting women and children, from five loaves and two fishes? If he was not flesh, who fell asleep in the boat? And if he was not God, who rebuked the winds and the sea? If he was not flesh, with whom did Simon the Pharisee eat? And if he was not God, who pardoned the offences of the sinful woman? If he was not flesh, who sat by the well, worn out by the journey? And if he was not God, who gave living water to the woman of Samaria and reprehended her because she had had five husbands? If he was not flesh, who wore human garments? And if he was not God, who did acts of power and wonders?[36] If he was not flesh, who spat on the ground and made clay? And if he was not God, who through the clay compelled the eyes to see? If he was not flesh, who wept at Lazarus’ grave? And if he was not God, who by his command brought out one four days dead? If he was not flesh, who sat on the foal? And if he was not God, whom did the crowds go out to meet with glory? If he was not flesh, whom did the Jews arrest? And if he was not God, who gave an order to the earth and threw them onto their faces.[37] If he was not flesh, who was struck with a blow? And if he was not God, who cured the ear that had been cut off by Peter and restored it to its place? If he was not flesh, who received spittings on his face? And if he was not God, who breathed the Holy Spirit into the faces of his Apostles? If he was not flesh, who stood before Pilate at the judgement seat? And if he was not God, who made Pilate’s wife afraid by a dream? If he was not flesh, whose garments did the soldiers strip off and divide? And if he was not God, how was the sun darkened at the cross? If he was not flesh, who was hung on the cross? And if he was not God, who shook the earth from its foundations? If he was not flesh, whose hands and feet were transfixed by nails? And if he was not God, how was the veil of the temple rent, the rocks broken and the graves opened? If he was not flesh, who cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me”? And if he was not God, who said “Father, forgive them”? If he was not flesh, who was hung on a cross with the thieves? And if he was not God, how did he say to the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise”? If he was not flesh, to whom did they offer vinegar and gall? And if he was not God, on hearing whose voice did Hades tremble? If he was not flesh, whose side did the lance pierce, and blood and water came out? And if he was not God, who smashed to gates of Hades and tear apart it bonds? And at whose command did the imprisoned dead come out? If he was not flesh, whom did the Apostles see in the upper room? And if he was not God, how did he enter when the doors were shut? If he was not flesh, the marks of the nails and the lance in whose hands and side did Thomas handle? And if he was not God, to whom did he cry out, “My Lord and my God”? If he was not flesh, who ate by the sea of Tiberias? And if he was not God, at whose command was the net filled? If he was not flesh, whom did the Apostles and Angels see being taken up into heaven? And if he was not God, to whom was heaven opened, whom did the Powers worship in fear and whom did the Father invite to “Sit at my right hand”. As David said, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, etc.” If he was not God and man, our salvation is a lie, and the words of the Prophets are lies.
16. But the Prophets spoke the truth, and their testimonies were not lies. The Holy Spirit spoke through them what they had been commanded. So too John the pure, who leant on the breast of flame,[38] reinforcing the voices of the Prophets, speaking of God in Gospels, taught us when he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him nothing that was made, was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.[39] God the Word from God and only begotten Son from the Father, consubstantial with the Father; the One who is from the One who is, preeternal Word, ineffably born, without a mother, from the Father before all the ages. The same is born, without a father, in the last times from a daughter of man, from Mary the virgin, as God incarnate, bearing flesh from her, and becoming man, which he was not, while remaining God, which he was, that he might save the world. And he is the Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten from the Father, and only begotten from a mother.
17. I confess[40] the same to be perfect God and perfect man, acknowledged in the two natures united hypostatically, or in person, indivisibly, unconfusedly and unchangeably; having put on flesh that is animated by a rational and intelligent soul, in all things becoming passible like us, sin alone excepted. He is both earthly and heavenly, temporary and eternal, starting and without beginning, timeless and subject to time, created and uncreated, passible and impassible, God and man, perfect in both, one in two and in two one. One person of the Father, one person of the Son, and one person of the Holy Spirit. One godhead, one power, one kingship in three persons or hypostases. So we glorify the Holy Unity in Trinity, and the Holy Trinity in Unity. In this the Father cried out, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him”.
18. All this the holy Catholic Church of God has received. In this Holy Trinity it baptises for eternal life. Into this Trinity it sanctifies with equal honour, confesses it without separation, without division; worships it without error, confesses and glorifies it. To this Unity in three persons belong glory, thanksgiving, honour, might, majesty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
1. From the land comes the joy of harvest, from the vineyard fruits that give food, and from the Scriptures teaching that gives life. The land has one season for the harvest, and the vineyard has one season for the vintage, but the Scripture when read always overflows with teaching that gives life. The land when it has been harvested lies fallow and the vineyard when the grapes have been picked is unproductive, but when Scripture is harvested the grapes of those who expound it are not lacking in it. It is picked every day and the grape clusters of the hope in it are never exhausted. Let us then draw near to this land and enjoy its life-giving furrows; and let us harvest from it grapes of life, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said to his Disciples, ‘There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his glory’.[1]
2. ‘And after six days he took Simon Peter and James and John his brother to a very high mountain and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white like light’.[2] Men whom he said would not taste death until they saw the image of his coming, are those whom he took and led up the mountain and showed them how he was going to come on the last day in the glory of his divinity and in the body of his humanity.
3. He led them up the mountain to show them who the Son is and whose he is. Because when he asked them, ‘Whom do men say the Son of man is?’[3] They said to him, some Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the Prophets. This is why he leads them up the mountain and shows them that he is not Elias, but the God of Elias; again, that he is not Jeremias, but the one who sanctified Jeremias in his mother’s womb;[4] not one of the Prophets, but the Lord of the Prophets, who also sent them. And he shows them that he is the maker of heaven and earth, and that he is Lord of living and dead. For he gave orders to heaven and brought down Elias, and made a sign to the earth and raised up Moses.
4. He led them up the mountain to show them that he is the Son of God, born from the Father before the ages and in the last times incarnate from the Virgin, as he knows how, born ineffably and without seed, preserving her virginity incorrupt; for wherever God wills it, the order of nature is overcome.[5] For God the Word dwelt in the Virgin’s womb, and the fire of his divinity did not consume the members of the Virgin’s body, but protected them carefully by its nine month presence. He dwelt in the Virgin’s womb, not abhorring the unpleasant smell of nature, and God incarnate came forth from her to save us.
5. He led them up the mountain to show them the glory of the godhead and to make known to them that he is the redeemer of Israel, as he had shown through the Prophets, and they should not be scandalised in him when they saw his voluntary sufferings, which as man he was about to suffer for us. For they knew him as a man, but did not know that he was God. They knew him as son of Mary, going about with them in the world[6], and he made known to them on the mountain that he was Son of God and God. They saw that he ate and drank, toiled and rested, dozed and slept, things which did not accord with his divine nature, but only with his humanity, and so he took them to the mountain that the Father might call him Son[7] and show that he is truly his Son and that he is God.
6. He led them up the mountain and showed them his kingship before his passion, and his power before his death, and his glory before his disgrace, and his honour before his dishonour, so that, when he was arrested and crucified by the Jews, they might know that he was not crucified through weakness, but willingly by his good pleasure for the salvation of the world.
7. He led them up the mountain and showed the glory of his divinity before the resurrection, so that when he rose from the dead in the glory of his divine nature, they might know that it was not because of his harsh toil that he accepted glory, as if he lacked it, but it was his before the ages with the Father and together with the Father, as he said as he was coming to his voluntary passion,[8] ‘Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world existed’.[9]
8. And so on the mountain he showed his Apostles the glory of his divinity, concealed and hidden by his humanity. For they saw his face bright as lightning and his garments white as light. They saw two suns; one in the sky, as usual, and one unusually; one visible in the firmament and lighting the world, and one, his face, visible to them alone. His garments white as light showed that the glory of his divinity flooded from his whole body, and his light shone from all his members. For his flesh did not shine with splendour from without, like Moses,[10] but the glory of his divinity flooded from him. His light dawned and was drawn together in him. Nor did depart somewhere else and leave him, because it did come from another place and adorn him, nor was it for his use. And he did not display the whole depth of his glory, but only as much as the limits of their eyes could encompass.[11]
9. ‘And there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him’.[12] And the words that they said to him were such as these: they were thanking him that their words and those of all their fellow Prophets had been fulfilled by his coming. They offered him worship for the salvation which he had wrought for the world for the human race; and that he had fulfilled in reality the mystery they had only sketched. There was joy for the Prophets and the Apostles by this ascent of the mountain. The Prophets rejoiced when they saw his humanity, which they had not known. The Apostles also rejoiced when they saw the glory of his divinity, which they had not known, and heard the voice of the Father bearing witness to his Son; and through this they recognised his incarnation, which was concealed from them. And the witness of the three was sealed by the Father’s voice and by Moses and Elias, who stood by him like servants, and they looked to one another: the Prophets to the Apostles and the Apostles to the Prophets. There the authors of the old covenant saw the authors of the new. Holy Moses saw Simon the sanctified; the steward of the Father saw the administrator of the Son. The former divided the sea for the people to walk in the middle of the waves; the latter raised a tent for the building of the Church. The virgin of the old covenant saw the virgin of the new:[13] [Elias and John;] the one who mounted on the chariot of fire and the one who leaned on the breast of the flame. And the mountain became a type of the Church, and on it Jesus united the two covenants, which the Church received, and made known to us that he is the giver of the two. The one received his mysteries; the other revealed the glory of his works.
10. Simon said, “It is good for us to be here, Lord”.[14] “Simon, what are you saying? If we remain here, who fulfils the word of the Prophets? Who seals the sayings of the heralds? Who brings to perfection the mysteries of the just? If we remain here, in whom are the words, ‘They dug my hands and my feet’[15] fulfilled? To whom do the words, ‘They parted my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing’[16] apply? To whom does, ‘They gave me gall as my food, and with vinegar they quenched my thirst’[17] relate? Who confirms, ‘Free among the dead?’[18] If we remain here, who will tear up the record of Adam’s debt?[19] And who will pay his debt in full? And who will restore to him the garment of glory?[20] If we remain here, how will all that I have said to you come to pass? How will the Church be built?[21] How will you take the keys of the kingdom of heaven from me?[22] What will you bind? What will you loose? If we remain here, everything that was said through the Prophets will come to nothing.”
11. He then said, “Let us make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elias”.[23] Simon was sent to build the Church in the world, and he is making tents on the mountain; for he was still looking at Jesus in human terms, and placed him with Moses and Elias. And besides this he showed him that he did not need his tent, for it was he who had made for his fathers a tent of cloud in the desert for forty years.[24] “For while he was still speaking, a cloud of light overshadowed them”. [25] “Do you see a tent made without toil, Simon? A tent that prevents heat and contains no darkness? A tent that blazes and shines?”[26]
12. And while the Disciples were marvelling, out of the cloud a voice was heard from the Father, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him.”[27] At the voice of the Father, Moses returned to his place and Elias returned to his country, and the Apostles fell on their faces to the ground, and Jesus stood alone, because the voice was fulfilled in him alone. The Prophets left and the Apostles fell to the ground, because the Father’s voice in witness, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him”, was not fulfilled in them. The Father taught them that Moses’ dispensation was fulfilled, and that they should listen to the Son, “For Moses, as a servant, spoke what he was ordered to, and he proclaimed what he had been told, and so did all the Prophets, until the one to whom it belongs has come,[28] that is Jesus, who is Son, not servant, Lord and not slave, who is master and not subject, lawgiver and not subject to the law. By divine nature, ‘This is my beloved Son’”. On the mountain the Father made known to the Apostles what was hidden from them. The One Who Is[29] reveals the One Who Is. The Father makes known the Son.
13. At that voice the Apostles fell on their faces to the ground; for there was a fearsome thunder, so that the earth shook at his voice, and they fell to the ground.[30] It showed them that the Father had drawn near; and the Son called them with his voice and raised them up.[31] For as the voice of the Father had thrown them down, so too the voice of the Son, raised them up by the strength of his divinity, which dwelt in his flesh and was united in it without change, both remain indivisibly and unconfusedly in one hypostasis and one person. He did not, like Moses, become resplendent from without, but as God he blazed with glory. For Moses was anointed with splendour by the appearance of his face, while Jesus in his whole body blazed, like the sun with its rays, with the glory of his divinity.
14. And the Father cried out, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him”. The Son was not separated from the glory of the godhead, for the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit are one nature, one power and once essence and one kingship. And he cried out to one with a simple name[32] and with fearsome glory. And Mary called him ‘son’, not separated from the glory of his divinity by his human nature; for he is one, God who appeared in a body to the world. His glory revealed the divine nature that was from the Father, and his body revealed his human nature that was from Mary; both natures coming together and being united in one hypostasis. Only begotten from the Father, and only begotten from Mary. And anyone who parts him will be parted from his kingdom, and anyone who confounds his natures will perish from his life. May anyone who denies that Mary gave birth to God not see the glory of his divinity; and anyone who denies that he bore a sinless body will be cast out from salvation and from the life that has been given through his body.
15. The facts themselves bear witness and his divine acts of power teach those who doubt that he is true God, and his sufferings show that he is true man.[33] And if those who are feeble in understanding are not fully assured, they will pay the penalty on his dread day. If he was not flesh, why was Mary introduced at all? And if he was not God, whom was Gabriel calling Lord? If he was not flesh, who was lying in the manger? And if he was not God, whom did the Angels come down and glorify? If he was not flesh, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes? And if he was not God, whom did the shepherds worship? If he was not flesh, whom did Joseph circumcise? And if he was not God, in whose honour did the star speed through the heavens? If he was not flesh, whom did Mary suckle? And if he was not God, to whom did the Magi offer gifts? If he was not flesh, whom did Symeon carry in his arms? And if he was not God, to whom did he say, “Let me depart in peace”?[34] If he was not flesh, whom did Joseph take and flee into Egypt? And if he was not God, in whom were words “Out of Egypt I have called my Son” fulfilled?[35] If he was not flesh, whom did John baptise? And if he was not God, to whom did the Father from heaven say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased”? If he was not flesh, who fasted and hungered in the desert? And if he was not God, whom did the Angels come down and serve? If he was not flesh, who was invited to the wedding in Cana of Galilee? And if he was not God, who turned the water into wine? If he was not flesh, in whose hands were the loaves? And if he was not God, who satisfied crowds and thousands in the desert, not counting women and children, from five loaves and two fishes? If he was not flesh, who fell asleep in the boat? And if he was not God, who rebuked the winds and the sea? If he was not flesh, with whom did Simon the Pharisee eat? And if he was not God, who pardoned the offences of the sinful woman? If he was not flesh, who sat by the well, worn out by the journey? And if he was not God, who gave living water to the woman of Samaria and reprehended her because she had had five husbands? If he was not flesh, who wore human garments? And if he was not God, who did acts of power and wonders?[36] If he was not flesh, who spat on the ground and made clay? And if he was not God, who through the clay compelled the eyes to see? If he was not flesh, who wept at Lazarus’ grave? And if he was not God, who by his command brought out one four days dead? If he was not flesh, who sat on the foal? And if he was not God, whom did the crowds go out to meet with glory? If he was not flesh, whom did the Jews arrest? And if he was not God, who gave an order to the earth and threw them onto their faces.[37] If he was not flesh, who was struck with a blow? And if he was not God, who cured the ear that had been cut off by Peter and restored it to its place? If he was not flesh, who received spittings on his face? And if he was not God, who breathed the Holy Spirit into the faces of his Apostles? If he was not flesh, who stood before Pilate at the judgement seat? And if he was not God, who made Pilate’s wife afraid by a dream? If he was not flesh, whose garments did the soldiers strip off and divide? And if he was not God, how was the sun darkened at the cross? If he was not flesh, who was hung on the cross? And if he was not God, who shook the earth from its foundations? If he was not flesh, whose hands and feet were transfixed by nails? And if he was not God, how was the veil of the temple rent, the rocks broken and the graves opened? If he was not flesh, who cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me”? And if he was not God, who said “Father, forgive them”? If he was not flesh, who was hung on a cross with the thieves? And if he was not God, how did he say to the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise”? If he was not flesh, to whom did they offer vinegar and gall? And if he was not God, on hearing whose voice did Hades tremble? If he was not flesh, whose side did the lance pierce, and blood and water came out? And if he was not God, who smashed to gates of Hades and tear apart it bonds? And at whose command did the imprisoned dead come out? If he was not flesh, whom did the Apostles see in the upper room? And if he was not God, how did he enter when the doors were shut? If he was not flesh, the marks of the nails and the lance in whose hands and side did Thomas handle? And if he was not God, to whom did he cry out, “My Lord and my God”? If he was not flesh, who ate by the sea of Tiberias? And if he was not God, at whose command was the net filled? If he was not flesh, whom did the Apostles and Angels see being taken up into heaven? And if he was not God, to whom was heaven opened, whom did the Powers worship in fear and whom did the Father invite to “Sit at my right hand”. As David said, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, etc.” If he was not God and man, our salvation is a lie, and the words of the Prophets are lies.
16. But the Prophets spoke the truth, and their testimonies were not lies. The Holy Spirit spoke through them what they had been commanded. So too John the pure, who leant on the breast of flame,[38] reinforcing the voices of the Prophets, speaking of God in Gospels, taught us when he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him nothing that was made, was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.[39] God the Word from God and only begotten Son from the Father, consubstantial with the Father; the One who is from the One who is, preeternal Word, ineffably born, without a mother, from the Father before all the ages. The same is born, without a father, in the last times from a daughter of man, from Mary the virgin, as God incarnate, bearing flesh from her, and becoming man, which he was not, while remaining God, which he was, that he might save the world. And he is the Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten from the Father, and only begotten from a mother.
17. I confess[40] the same to be perfect God and perfect man, acknowledged in the two natures united hypostatically, or in person, indivisibly, unconfusedly and unchangeably; having put on flesh that is animated by a rational and intelligent soul, in all things becoming passible like us, sin alone excepted. He is both earthly and heavenly, temporary and eternal, starting and without beginning, timeless and subject to time, created and uncreated, passible and impassible, God and man, perfect in both, one in two and in two one. One person of the Father, one person of the Son, and one person of the Holy Spirit. One godhead, one power, one kingship in three persons or hypostases. So we glorify the Holy Unity in Trinity, and the Holy Trinity in Unity. In this the Father cried out, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him”.
18. All this the holy Catholic Church of God has received. In this Holy Trinity it baptises for eternal life. Into this Trinity it sanctifies with equal honour, confesses it without separation, without division; worships it without error, confesses and glorifies it. To this Unity in three persons belong glory, thanksgiving, honour, might, majesty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
FIFTY FIVE BEATITUDES
Blessed the one who has become wholly free in the Lord from all the earthly things of this vain life and loved God alone, the good and compassionate.
Blessed the one who has become a good ploughman of the virtues and raised a harvest of fruits of life in the Lord, like a ploughed field bearing wheat.
Blessed the one who has become a good husbandman of the virtues and planted a spiritual vine, plucked the grapes and filled his presses with fruits of life in the Lord.
Blessed the one who has made his fellow servants glad with spiritual gladness from the fruit of the virtues, which he planted by toiling to give back the fruit of life in the Lord.
Blessed the one who stands in the assembly and prays like an Angel from heaven, keeping his thoughts pure day by day, and has given no entrance to the Evil One to make his soul a prisoner, far from God his Saviour.
Blessed the one who with understanding has loved weeping and with compunction rained tears upon the ground, like fair pearls before the Lord.
Blessed the one who loves holiness like the light and has not defiled his body with dark deeds of the Evil One in the sight of the Lord.
Blessed the one who keeps his body for holiness for the Saviour and has not shamed his soul by unnatural deeds, but remained well-pleasing to the Lord.
Blessed the one who has hated evil-doing that is full of shame and presented himself as a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to the Lord.
Blessed the one who always keeps the memory of God in himself, he will be wholly like an Angel from heaven upon earth, ministering to the Lord with fear and love.
Blessed the one who loves repentance that saves sinners and has not thought of doing ill, like someone ungrateful before God our Saviour.
Blessed the one who seated in his cell, like a noble warrior, guards the treasure of the kingdom, that is his body with his soul, blameless in the Lord.
Blessed the one who seated in his cell like Angels in heaven keeps his thoughts pure and with his mouth sings praise to the One who has authority over everything that breath.
Blessed the one who has become like the Seraphim and the Cherubim and never wearied in his spiritual ministry, unceasingly giving glory to the Lord.
Blessed the one who is always full of spiritual joy and has not grown slack in bearing the Lord’s good yoke, for he will be crowned with glory.
Blessed the one who has cleansed himself of every stain of sins, so that with boldness he may receive into his own house the King of glory, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed the one who draws near with fear and trembling and dread to the spotless Mysteries of the Saviour and has realised that he has received in himself eternal life.
Blessed the one who meditates on death each day and destroys the base passions lurking in the hearts of the vines, for he will be consoled in the moment of separation.
Blessed the one who continually remembers the fear of Gehenna and hastens with tears and groans to repent sincerely in the Lord, for he will be delivered from the great tribulation.
Blessed the one who continually humbles himself willingly; he will be crowned by the One who willingly humbled himself for our sake.
Blessed the one who sits in his cell with all devotion, as Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, and hastens, like Martha, to receive him, the Lord and Saviour.
Blessed the one who is fired by the fear of God, ever having in himself the fervour of the Holy Spirit, and who has burned up the thorns and thistles of the thoughts.
Blessed the one who has not defiled his hands with unseemly deeds like one accursed, for about this there will be a judgement in the dread day in the presence of the Lord.
Blessed the one who farms fair and good thoughts each day and by hope conquers the wicked passion of despondency, by which the Lord’s ascetics are warred upon.
Blessed the one who has become like a noble warrior in the Lord’s work, rousing the idle, encouraging the faint-hearted in the way of the Lord.
Blessed the one who has become fruitful in the Lord, that he may have the holy Angels as guardians, as a fruitful tree has its own husbandman as guardian.
Blessed the one who loves gentleness with spiritual understanding and is not tripped up by the wicked Serpent, for he has as his hope the good and compassionate Lord.
Blessed the one who honours the Saints and loves his neighbour and has banished envy from his own soul; envy through which Cain became his brother’s murderer.
Blessed the one who has rebuked the tyrant and not quailed at the flame of the pleasures, for his soul will be refreshed with dew by the dew of the Holy Spirit.
Blessed the one whose mind the dark diabolical cloud has not been able to invade and deprive of the sweet light and joy of the just.
Blessed the one the eyes of whose heart have been enlightened as he ever mirrors the Lord, for such a one has been unburdened of the passions and evil thoughts.
Blessed the one who loves good and fair words and hates base and destructive speech, because he will not become a prisoner of the Evil One.
Blessed the one who rebukes his neighbour with fear of God and has not deceived his soul, fearing each day the iron rod of the great Shepherd.
Blessed the one who in accordance with God’s will obeys his neighbour and while enduring afflictions gives thanks. Such a one will be crowned, for he will become a confessor for the Lord.
Blessed the one who has not been worsted by the passion of despondency like a coward, but has found perfect endurance, by which all the Saints received their crowns.
Blessed the one who in accordance with God’s will loves self-mastery and has not been condemned, thanks to his stomach, as a pleasure seeker and defiled, for such a one will be magnified by the Lord.
Blessed the one who has not been made drunk by wine like a prodigal, but has been made glad each day by the memory of the Lord, in whom all the Saints rejoice continually.
Blessed the one who manages his possessions in accordance with God’s will and has not been condemned by God the Saviour as a lover of money without compassion for his neighbour.
Blessed the one who keeps vigil in prayers and reading and good work, such a one will become enlightened so that he does not sleep in death.
Blessed the one who has become a good spiritual net and caught many for the good Lord, such a one will greatly praised by the Lord.
Blessed the one who has become a good example to his neighbour and not scandalized the conscience of his fellow servant by acting lawlessly, such a one will be eulogized by the Lord.
Blessed the one who has become long-suffering and compassionate and not become the slave of the barbarian, I mean anger and evil wrath, for such a one will be exalted by the Lord.
Blessed the one who, exalted by love, has become a city founded upon a mountain, from which the enemy, when he saw it, withdrew in fear, trembling at its security in the Lord.
Blessed the one who has shone by the light of faith of the Lord, like a radiant lamp on a tall lampstand, and has enlightened souls that are darkened, for they followed the heresy of the faithless and impious.
Blessed the one who loves truth continually and has not lent his mouth as an instrument of impiety by lying, for he fears the commandment about idle speech.
Blessed the one who, like one unwise, does not judge his neighbour, but as understanding and spiritual has struggled to throw the plank out of his own eye.
Blessed the one who heart has blossomed like a palm tree by rightness of faith and has not been thrust out, as by thorns, by the heresy of the faithless and impious.
Blessed the one who has kept the mastery of his eyelids and has not deceived himself with either mind or senses with regard to the skin of the flesh that after a little while oozes putrefaction.
Blessed the one who has before his eyes the day of departure and has hated pride, before the weakness our nature has been proved as it rots in the tomb.
Blessed the one who considers those who sleep in their coffins in graves and has rejected every foul smelling desire, for he will rise in glory when the heavenly trumpet sounds, rousing all the children of humankind from sleep.
Blessed the one who observes with spiritual understanding the choirs of stars shining with glory and the beauty of the heavens and longs to contemplate the Maker of all things.
Blessed the one who keeps in mind the fire that came down on Mount Sinai and the sounds of the trumpets and Moses standing there with fear and trembling and who does not neglect his own salvation.
Blessed the one who does not set his hope on man, but on the Lord, who is coming again in great glory to judge the universe with justice, for he will be like a tree planted by waters and will not fail to bear fruit.
Blessed the one whose thought has been with grace, like a cloud filled with rain, and which waters souls for the increase of fruits of life; his praise will be for everlasting glory.
Blessed are those who watch according to God continually, for they will be overshadowed by God in the day of judgement, becoming sons of the bridal chamber, in joy and gladness they will see the Bridegroom. But I and my like, idle and pleasure-loving, will weep and lament as we watch our brothers in everlasting glory, while we are in torments.
On a Fragment of a Coptic Version of Saint Ephraim's Discourse on the Transfiguration of our Lord.1
The manuscript from which the Coptic version of S. Ephraim's discourse on the Transfiguration of our Lord is taken, is in the possession of Lord Zouche, and has been already described 2 and partly published. 3 I am not able to say when the Coptic version was made, but it is very probably of a fair antiquity; and from the fact of its occupying a place of honour in the manuscript, it must have been much esteemed by the Copts. The translator from the |318 Greek contented himself with turning into Coptic only such portions of S. Ephraim's discourse as agreed generally with the views of the Copts; and having used his arguments up to the point where S. Ephraim discusses the double nature of our Lord, he interpolates without any scruple the Coptic belief that Christ has one nature only. To attribute to S. Ephraim views so different to those which he really held, is, to say the least of it, a "pious fraud." Judging from the Coptic text which we have in Lord Zouche's MS., the translator did not know his Greek very well; for besides the clerical errors which are found in it, there are some mistakes which show that he did not understand many of the passages which he tried to translate. The order, too, of the passages which he has rendered into Coptic differs in his version from that of the Greek. I suspect that the Greek text is a translation from the Syriac, for many of the sentences appear in form to be imitations of a metrical original.
Translation.
The discourse of Saint Ephraim on the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor, in which He appeared to His disciples with Saint Elijah the Prophet, which is read on the sixth day of the month Mechir, (4) in the peace of God, Amen. (5)
From the joy of the gladness of the field shall there be pleasure; (6) from the fruit of the vineyard shall there be joy, and from the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures of the Spirit of God shall there be light to those who believe. The fields have, however, one period (of harvest) according to their stated time; but in the Scriptures there bubbles up at all times the knowledge of vivifying life. When the fields have been reaped into their sheaves, they dry up straightway; and when a vine has been stripped of fruit, it becomes of no account; but if the Scriptures are stripped daily the fine ears which are in it, and which abound in interpretations, never fail, and if the Scriptures are reaped daily the sweet grass of our |325 grains of hope never, never comes to an end. Let us draw near then to this field and life-giving furrow that we may enjoy them, and that we may reap therein the vivifying ears which are the words of life of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "There are some among those who stand here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His glory." (7) And after six days He took Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up on to an exceedingly high mountain, and was changed in form before them. And His face shone like the sun, and His clothing was white as snow (8). Now the men to whom He said that they should . not taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in His glory, were the three apostles unto whom He showed His glory upon the mountain. (9) The prophets and those who prophesied concerning Him rejoiced, and the apostles who proclaimed Him at all times were glad when they heard the voice of the Father testifying concerning His Son, saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him." (10) And these three apostles and the two prophets, which were Moses and Elias, were thus sealed in the testimony of the Father concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord; for by the testimony of two or three witnesses shall every truth stand. (11) So these (apostles) who were standing by Him like servants looked upon this only Son of God, and knew in truth by (the words) from heaven, "Thou art My beloved Son," and from the presence of the manifestation of these two mighty prophets who spake with Him, that He was God who had changed them, and that it was He who had commanded and made them appear in glory. (12) Then Peter answered and said to the Lord, "Lord, it is good for us to be here." (13) "What sayest thou, Peter? If we stand here, who shall fulfil the things which the prophets have foretold? Who shall seal the things which the preachers have spoken? And who shall manifest or fulfil the mysteries of the saints? By whom shall the saying, 'They pierce My hands and My feet, they count all My bones,' (14) be fulfilled? To whom do (the words), ' The division of my clothes among them, they cast lots for My raiment,' (15) apply? To whom do (the words), 'They put gall into My food, and they made Me drink vinegar in My thirst,' (16) apply? And who shall establish the saying, ' Free among the dead?' (17) If we stand here, who shall tear asunder the handwriting which I have written against Adam?(18) Who shall discharge his debt? and who shall obtain |326 for him the garment of his glory? If we stand here, how shall all the things which I have spoken come to pass? How shall the Church be built upon thee? and what is the need of the keys (19) of the Kingdom of Heaven which thou hast received? Whom wilt thou bind? Whom wilt thou loose? If we stand here, all things which have been said will become of none effect." And again Peter said to the Lord, "If Thou wishest we will make three tabernacles here, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." (20) Peter had been sent to build a Church in the world, and he thought that he ought to make tabernacles upon the mountain. Hitherto he had considered Jesus after the manner of a man, and had numbered Him with Moses and Elias. But in order that He might show them that He had no need of a tabernacle, He told him that it was He that had made to his fathers of old a tabernacle in the clouds forty years in the desert. (21)
And while they were talking, behold, a cloud of light overshadowed them (22). Behold, Peter, a tabernacle built for thee without trouble! Behold a tabernacle which keeps away the heat from thee and which has no darkness in it! Behold a tabernacle which shines and throws out lightnings! And while the disciples were marvelling, behold, they heard a voice from the cloud, saying "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him." (23) And after this voice of the Father from heaven, which testified concerning His beloved Son, saying, "This is My Son," Moses returned to his place, and Elijah to his country, and the apostles fell upon their faces, and Jesus remained standing alone, for it was to Him that the voice alone had descended and was fulfilled in Him. The prophets fled and the apostles fell upon their faces, because the voice which said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him," was (not) fulfilled in them.
By these words He taught them that the dispensation had been fulfilled by Moses and Elijah, and He commanded them to hear the Lord Jesus, and did not say, "These are the things which Moses spake," or, "these are the things which Elijah spake;" for these (prophets) were servants, and spake according to what had been commanded them, and they preached according to what had been told them. For the Lord is the only-begotten Son of God the Father, and is neither a house-born child nor a servant; but is Lord and God |327 together from the Father, and is the ruler of all things, and there is no one who is lord over Him (24), the Only Son of God. He was not two in birth neither had He two natures, but one nature of the Word that became flesh. Therefore we confess that He whom Mary the holy mother of God bore for us is God, perfect God and perfect man in this Only Son. He has not two natures according to the error of those who believe in the mere appearance of Christ, and the heretical believers in this mere physical form who say, "There are two natures in the Son of God." And if He were two natures according to their tongues, which ought to be cut out, why is it that we call her who bore Him " God bearer" and not "Man bearer?" And if He be not God who took flesh (upon Himself), why did Gabriel (25) call Him "God?" for he said, "There is born to you this day in the city of David, a Saviour who is the Lord God". We believe then according to the exhortation of the Apostles and Evangelists who preached that we should believe in One God the Father Almighty (26), and in one Lord Jesus; Christ the only begotten Son of God, and the Holy Vivifying Spirit proceeding from the Father and resting upon the Son; this is the Holy and Undividable Trinity for ever and ever. In this wise has the Catholic Church of the believers accepted the orthodox faith, being baptized in it unto everlasting life. God brought the apostles up on to a mountain (27) that He might show them who was the Son of God. When He asked them, " Who do men say that I am?" (28) They answered, "Some (say) John, and some (say) Elias, and others (say) Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." Therefore He took them up on to this mountain of Tabor that He might show them that He was neither Elias, nor John, nor Jeremiah, but that He was in truth the God of Elias, and the God of John, and the God of Jeremiah, and that He was the God Who had sanctified Jeremiah in the womb, and that He was not one of the prophets, but the God of the prophets, for whose sake He had sent them, when as yet He, God the Word, had not taken the flesh full of salvation. May we all then obtain the blessing of the holy mountain Tabor through Jesus Christ our Lord, through Whom be all glory, honour, and adoration, meet for Him with the Father and the holy, vivifying, and consubstantial Spirit, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen. God have mercy upon him that wrote (this). Amen.
Blessed the one who has become wholly free in the Lord from all the earthly things of this vain life and loved God alone, the good and compassionate.
Blessed the one who has become a good ploughman of the virtues and raised a harvest of fruits of life in the Lord, like a ploughed field bearing wheat.
Blessed the one who has become a good husbandman of the virtues and planted a spiritual vine, plucked the grapes and filled his presses with fruits of life in the Lord.
Blessed the one who has made his fellow servants glad with spiritual gladness from the fruit of the virtues, which he planted by toiling to give back the fruit of life in the Lord.
Blessed the one who stands in the assembly and prays like an Angel from heaven, keeping his thoughts pure day by day, and has given no entrance to the Evil One to make his soul a prisoner, far from God his Saviour.
Blessed the one who with understanding has loved weeping and with compunction rained tears upon the ground, like fair pearls before the Lord.
Blessed the one who loves holiness like the light and has not defiled his body with dark deeds of the Evil One in the sight of the Lord.
Blessed the one who keeps his body for holiness for the Saviour and has not shamed his soul by unnatural deeds, but remained well-pleasing to the Lord.
Blessed the one who has hated evil-doing that is full of shame and presented himself as a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to the Lord.
Blessed the one who always keeps the memory of God in himself, he will be wholly like an Angel from heaven upon earth, ministering to the Lord with fear and love.
Blessed the one who loves repentance that saves sinners and has not thought of doing ill, like someone ungrateful before God our Saviour.
Blessed the one who seated in his cell, like a noble warrior, guards the treasure of the kingdom, that is his body with his soul, blameless in the Lord.
Blessed the one who seated in his cell like Angels in heaven keeps his thoughts pure and with his mouth sings praise to the One who has authority over everything that breath.
Blessed the one who has become like the Seraphim and the Cherubim and never wearied in his spiritual ministry, unceasingly giving glory to the Lord.
Blessed the one who is always full of spiritual joy and has not grown slack in bearing the Lord’s good yoke, for he will be crowned with glory.
Blessed the one who has cleansed himself of every stain of sins, so that with boldness he may receive into his own house the King of glory, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed the one who draws near with fear and trembling and dread to the spotless Mysteries of the Saviour and has realised that he has received in himself eternal life.
Blessed the one who meditates on death each day and destroys the base passions lurking in the hearts of the vines, for he will be consoled in the moment of separation.
Blessed the one who continually remembers the fear of Gehenna and hastens with tears and groans to repent sincerely in the Lord, for he will be delivered from the great tribulation.
Blessed the one who continually humbles himself willingly; he will be crowned by the One who willingly humbled himself for our sake.
Blessed the one who sits in his cell with all devotion, as Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, and hastens, like Martha, to receive him, the Lord and Saviour.
Blessed the one who is fired by the fear of God, ever having in himself the fervour of the Holy Spirit, and who has burned up the thorns and thistles of the thoughts.
Blessed the one who has not defiled his hands with unseemly deeds like one accursed, for about this there will be a judgement in the dread day in the presence of the Lord.
Blessed the one who farms fair and good thoughts each day and by hope conquers the wicked passion of despondency, by which the Lord’s ascetics are warred upon.
Blessed the one who has become like a noble warrior in the Lord’s work, rousing the idle, encouraging the faint-hearted in the way of the Lord.
Blessed the one who has become fruitful in the Lord, that he may have the holy Angels as guardians, as a fruitful tree has its own husbandman as guardian.
Blessed the one who loves gentleness with spiritual understanding and is not tripped up by the wicked Serpent, for he has as his hope the good and compassionate Lord.
Blessed the one who honours the Saints and loves his neighbour and has banished envy from his own soul; envy through which Cain became his brother’s murderer.
Blessed the one who has rebuked the tyrant and not quailed at the flame of the pleasures, for his soul will be refreshed with dew by the dew of the Holy Spirit.
Blessed the one whose mind the dark diabolical cloud has not been able to invade and deprive of the sweet light and joy of the just.
Blessed the one the eyes of whose heart have been enlightened as he ever mirrors the Lord, for such a one has been unburdened of the passions and evil thoughts.
Blessed the one who loves good and fair words and hates base and destructive speech, because he will not become a prisoner of the Evil One.
Blessed the one who rebukes his neighbour with fear of God and has not deceived his soul, fearing each day the iron rod of the great Shepherd.
Blessed the one who in accordance with God’s will obeys his neighbour and while enduring afflictions gives thanks. Such a one will be crowned, for he will become a confessor for the Lord.
Blessed the one who has not been worsted by the passion of despondency like a coward, but has found perfect endurance, by which all the Saints received their crowns.
Blessed the one who in accordance with God’s will loves self-mastery and has not been condemned, thanks to his stomach, as a pleasure seeker and defiled, for such a one will be magnified by the Lord.
Blessed the one who has not been made drunk by wine like a prodigal, but has been made glad each day by the memory of the Lord, in whom all the Saints rejoice continually.
Blessed the one who manages his possessions in accordance with God’s will and has not been condemned by God the Saviour as a lover of money without compassion for his neighbour.
Blessed the one who keeps vigil in prayers and reading and good work, such a one will become enlightened so that he does not sleep in death.
Blessed the one who has become a good spiritual net and caught many for the good Lord, such a one will greatly praised by the Lord.
Blessed the one who has become a good example to his neighbour and not scandalized the conscience of his fellow servant by acting lawlessly, such a one will be eulogized by the Lord.
Blessed the one who has become long-suffering and compassionate and not become the slave of the barbarian, I mean anger and evil wrath, for such a one will be exalted by the Lord.
Blessed the one who, exalted by love, has become a city founded upon a mountain, from which the enemy, when he saw it, withdrew in fear, trembling at its security in the Lord.
Blessed the one who has shone by the light of faith of the Lord, like a radiant lamp on a tall lampstand, and has enlightened souls that are darkened, for they followed the heresy of the faithless and impious.
Blessed the one who loves truth continually and has not lent his mouth as an instrument of impiety by lying, for he fears the commandment about idle speech.
Blessed the one who, like one unwise, does not judge his neighbour, but as understanding and spiritual has struggled to throw the plank out of his own eye.
Blessed the one who heart has blossomed like a palm tree by rightness of faith and has not been thrust out, as by thorns, by the heresy of the faithless and impious.
Blessed the one who has kept the mastery of his eyelids and has not deceived himself with either mind or senses with regard to the skin of the flesh that after a little while oozes putrefaction.
Blessed the one who has before his eyes the day of departure and has hated pride, before the weakness our nature has been proved as it rots in the tomb.
Blessed the one who considers those who sleep in their coffins in graves and has rejected every foul smelling desire, for he will rise in glory when the heavenly trumpet sounds, rousing all the children of humankind from sleep.
Blessed the one who observes with spiritual understanding the choirs of stars shining with glory and the beauty of the heavens and longs to contemplate the Maker of all things.
Blessed the one who keeps in mind the fire that came down on Mount Sinai and the sounds of the trumpets and Moses standing there with fear and trembling and who does not neglect his own salvation.
Blessed the one who does not set his hope on man, but on the Lord, who is coming again in great glory to judge the universe with justice, for he will be like a tree planted by waters and will not fail to bear fruit.
Blessed the one whose thought has been with grace, like a cloud filled with rain, and which waters souls for the increase of fruits of life; his praise will be for everlasting glory.
Blessed are those who watch according to God continually, for they will be overshadowed by God in the day of judgement, becoming sons of the bridal chamber, in joy and gladness they will see the Bridegroom. But I and my like, idle and pleasure-loving, will weep and lament as we watch our brothers in everlasting glory, while we are in torments.
On a Fragment of a Coptic Version of Saint Ephraim's Discourse on the Transfiguration of our Lord.1
The manuscript from which the Coptic version of S. Ephraim's discourse on the Transfiguration of our Lord is taken, is in the possession of Lord Zouche, and has been already described 2 and partly published. 3 I am not able to say when the Coptic version was made, but it is very probably of a fair antiquity; and from the fact of its occupying a place of honour in the manuscript, it must have been much esteemed by the Copts. The translator from the |318 Greek contented himself with turning into Coptic only such portions of S. Ephraim's discourse as agreed generally with the views of the Copts; and having used his arguments up to the point where S. Ephraim discusses the double nature of our Lord, he interpolates without any scruple the Coptic belief that Christ has one nature only. To attribute to S. Ephraim views so different to those which he really held, is, to say the least of it, a "pious fraud." Judging from the Coptic text which we have in Lord Zouche's MS., the translator did not know his Greek very well; for besides the clerical errors which are found in it, there are some mistakes which show that he did not understand many of the passages which he tried to translate. The order, too, of the passages which he has rendered into Coptic differs in his version from that of the Greek. I suspect that the Greek text is a translation from the Syriac, for many of the sentences appear in form to be imitations of a metrical original.
Translation.
The discourse of Saint Ephraim on the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor, in which He appeared to His disciples with Saint Elijah the Prophet, which is read on the sixth day of the month Mechir, (4) in the peace of God, Amen. (5)
From the joy of the gladness of the field shall there be pleasure; (6) from the fruit of the vineyard shall there be joy, and from the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures of the Spirit of God shall there be light to those who believe. The fields have, however, one period (of harvest) according to their stated time; but in the Scriptures there bubbles up at all times the knowledge of vivifying life. When the fields have been reaped into their sheaves, they dry up straightway; and when a vine has been stripped of fruit, it becomes of no account; but if the Scriptures are stripped daily the fine ears which are in it, and which abound in interpretations, never fail, and if the Scriptures are reaped daily the sweet grass of our |325 grains of hope never, never comes to an end. Let us draw near then to this field and life-giving furrow that we may enjoy them, and that we may reap therein the vivifying ears which are the words of life of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "There are some among those who stand here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His glory." (7) And after six days He took Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up on to an exceedingly high mountain, and was changed in form before them. And His face shone like the sun, and His clothing was white as snow (8). Now the men to whom He said that they should . not taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in His glory, were the three apostles unto whom He showed His glory upon the mountain. (9) The prophets and those who prophesied concerning Him rejoiced, and the apostles who proclaimed Him at all times were glad when they heard the voice of the Father testifying concerning His Son, saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him." (10) And these three apostles and the two prophets, which were Moses and Elias, were thus sealed in the testimony of the Father concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord; for by the testimony of two or three witnesses shall every truth stand. (11) So these (apostles) who were standing by Him like servants looked upon this only Son of God, and knew in truth by (the words) from heaven, "Thou art My beloved Son," and from the presence of the manifestation of these two mighty prophets who spake with Him, that He was God who had changed them, and that it was He who had commanded and made them appear in glory. (12) Then Peter answered and said to the Lord, "Lord, it is good for us to be here." (13) "What sayest thou, Peter? If we stand here, who shall fulfil the things which the prophets have foretold? Who shall seal the things which the preachers have spoken? And who shall manifest or fulfil the mysteries of the saints? By whom shall the saying, 'They pierce My hands and My feet, they count all My bones,' (14) be fulfilled? To whom do (the words), ' The division of my clothes among them, they cast lots for My raiment,' (15) apply? To whom do (the words), 'They put gall into My food, and they made Me drink vinegar in My thirst,' (16) apply? And who shall establish the saying, ' Free among the dead?' (17) If we stand here, who shall tear asunder the handwriting which I have written against Adam?(18) Who shall discharge his debt? and who shall obtain |326 for him the garment of his glory? If we stand here, how shall all the things which I have spoken come to pass? How shall the Church be built upon thee? and what is the need of the keys (19) of the Kingdom of Heaven which thou hast received? Whom wilt thou bind? Whom wilt thou loose? If we stand here, all things which have been said will become of none effect." And again Peter said to the Lord, "If Thou wishest we will make three tabernacles here, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." (20) Peter had been sent to build a Church in the world, and he thought that he ought to make tabernacles upon the mountain. Hitherto he had considered Jesus after the manner of a man, and had numbered Him with Moses and Elias. But in order that He might show them that He had no need of a tabernacle, He told him that it was He that had made to his fathers of old a tabernacle in the clouds forty years in the desert. (21)
And while they were talking, behold, a cloud of light overshadowed them (22). Behold, Peter, a tabernacle built for thee without trouble! Behold a tabernacle which keeps away the heat from thee and which has no darkness in it! Behold a tabernacle which shines and throws out lightnings! And while the disciples were marvelling, behold, they heard a voice from the cloud, saying "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him." (23) And after this voice of the Father from heaven, which testified concerning His beloved Son, saying, "This is My Son," Moses returned to his place, and Elijah to his country, and the apostles fell upon their faces, and Jesus remained standing alone, for it was to Him that the voice alone had descended and was fulfilled in Him. The prophets fled and the apostles fell upon their faces, because the voice which said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him," was (not) fulfilled in them.
By these words He taught them that the dispensation had been fulfilled by Moses and Elijah, and He commanded them to hear the Lord Jesus, and did not say, "These are the things which Moses spake," or, "these are the things which Elijah spake;" for these (prophets) were servants, and spake according to what had been commanded them, and they preached according to what had been told them. For the Lord is the only-begotten Son of God the Father, and is neither a house-born child nor a servant; but is Lord and God |327 together from the Father, and is the ruler of all things, and there is no one who is lord over Him (24), the Only Son of God. He was not two in birth neither had He two natures, but one nature of the Word that became flesh. Therefore we confess that He whom Mary the holy mother of God bore for us is God, perfect God and perfect man in this Only Son. He has not two natures according to the error of those who believe in the mere appearance of Christ, and the heretical believers in this mere physical form who say, "There are two natures in the Son of God." And if He were two natures according to their tongues, which ought to be cut out, why is it that we call her who bore Him " God bearer" and not "Man bearer?" And if He be not God who took flesh (upon Himself), why did Gabriel (25) call Him "God?" for he said, "There is born to you this day in the city of David, a Saviour who is the Lord God". We believe then according to the exhortation of the Apostles and Evangelists who preached that we should believe in One God the Father Almighty (26), and in one Lord Jesus; Christ the only begotten Son of God, and the Holy Vivifying Spirit proceeding from the Father and resting upon the Son; this is the Holy and Undividable Trinity for ever and ever. In this wise has the Catholic Church of the believers accepted the orthodox faith, being baptized in it unto everlasting life. God brought the apostles up on to a mountain (27) that He might show them who was the Son of God. When He asked them, " Who do men say that I am?" (28) They answered, "Some (say) John, and some (say) Elias, and others (say) Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." Therefore He took them up on to this mountain of Tabor that He might show them that He was neither Elias, nor John, nor Jeremiah, but that He was in truth the God of Elias, and the God of John, and the God of Jeremiah, and that He was the God Who had sanctified Jeremiah in the womb, and that He was not one of the prophets, but the God of the prophets, for whose sake He had sent them, when as yet He, God the Word, had not taken the flesh full of salvation. May we all then obtain the blessing of the holy mountain Tabor through Jesus Christ our Lord, through Whom be all glory, honour, and adoration, meet for Him with the Father and the holy, vivifying, and consubstantial Spirit, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen. God have mercy upon him that wrote (this). Amen.
A HYMN AGAINST BAR-DAISAN
By St. Ephraim of Syria
By St. Ephraim of Syria
Translated by A. S. Duncan Jones, 1904
(from India Office Ethiopian and Syrian Library No. 9)
(from India Office Ethiopian and Syrian Library No. 9)
Again, a hymn of Mar Ephraim against Bar-Daisan.
There is One Being, who knows Himself and sees Himself.
He dwells in Himself,
And from Himself sets forth.
Glory to His Name.
This is a Being who by His own will is in every place,
Who is invisible and visible,
Manifest and secret.
He is above and below.
Mingling and condescending by His grace among the lower;
Loftier and more exalted, as befits His glory, than the higher.
The swift cannot exceed His swiftness,
Nor the slow outlast His patience.
Loftier and more exalted, as befits His glory, than the higher.
The swift cannot exceed His swiftness,
Nor the slow outlast His patience.
He is before all and after all,
And in the midst of all.
He is like the sea,
In that all creation moves in Him.
As the waters beset the fish in all their movements,
The Creator is clad with everything which is made,
Both great and small.
And as the fish are hidden in the water,
There is hidden in God height and depth,
Far and near,
And the inhabitants thereof.
And as the water meets the fishes everywhere it goes,
So God meets everyone who walks.
And as the water touches the fish at every turn it makes,
God accompanies and sees every man in all his deeds.
And in the midst of all.
He is like the sea,
In that all creation moves in Him.
As the waters beset the fish in all their movements,
The Creator is clad with everything which is made,
Both great and small.
And as the fish are hidden in the water,
There is hidden in God height and depth,
Far and near,
And the inhabitants thereof.
And as the water meets the fishes everywhere it goes,
So God meets everyone who walks.
And as the water touches the fish at every turn it makes,
God accompanies and sees every man in all his deeds.
Men cannot move the earth which is their chariot,
Neither does anyone go far from the Just One who is his associate.
The Good One is united to the body,
And light to the eyes.
A man is not able to flee from his soul,
For it is with him.
Nor is a man hid from the Good,
For He besets him.
As the water surrounds the fish and it feels it,
So also do all natures feel God.
Neither does anyone go far from the Just One who is his associate.
The Good One is united to the body,
And light to the eyes.
A man is not able to flee from his soul,
For it is with him.
Nor is a man hid from the Good,
For He besets him.
As the water surrounds the fish and it feels it,
So also do all natures feel God.
He is diffused through the air,
And with thy breath enters into thy midst.
He is mingled with the light,
And enters, when thou seest, into thy eyes.
He is mingled with thy spirit,
And examines thee from within, as to what thou art.
In thy soul He dwells,
And nothing which is in thy heart is hid from Him.
As the mind precedes the body in every place,
So He examines thy soul before thou dost examine it.
And as the thought greatly precedes the deed,
So His thought knows beforehand what thou wilt plan.
And with thy breath enters into thy midst.
He is mingled with the light,
And enters, when thou seest, into thy eyes.
He is mingled with thy spirit,
And examines thee from within, as to what thou art.
In thy soul He dwells,
And nothing which is in thy heart is hid from Him.
As the mind precedes the body in every place,
So He examines thy soul before thou dost examine it.
And as the thought greatly precedes the deed,
So His thought knows beforehand what thou wilt plan.
Compared with His impalpability,
Thy soul is body and thy spirit flesh.
Soul of thy soul,
Spirit of thy spirit,
Is He who created thee,
Far from all,
And mingled with all,
And manifest above all,
A great wonder and a hidden marvel unfathomable.
He is the Being concerning whose essence no man is able to explain.
This is the Power whose depth is inexpressible.
Among things seen and among things hidden
There is none to be compared to Him.
This is He who created and formed from nothing
Everything which is.
Thy soul is body and thy spirit flesh.
Soul of thy soul,
Spirit of thy spirit,
Is He who created thee,
Far from all,
And mingled with all,
And manifest above all,
A great wonder and a hidden marvel unfathomable.
He is the Being concerning whose essence no man is able to explain.
This is the Power whose depth is inexpressible.
Among things seen and among things hidden
There is none to be compared to Him.
This is He who created and formed from nothing
Everything which is.
God said:
Let there be light! --
A created thing.
He made darkness and it became night.
Observe: a made thing.
Fire in stones,
Water in rocks:
The Being created them.
There is one Power who raised them from nothing.
Let there be light! --
A created thing.
He made darkness and it became night.
Observe: a made thing.
Fire in stones,
Water in rocks:
The Being created them.
There is one Power who raised them from nothing.
Behold,
Even today, fire is not in a store-house in the earth.
For lo! it is continually created
By means of flints.
It is the Being who ordains its existence
By means of Him who holds it.
When He wishes He lights it,
When He wishes He quenches it
By way of appeal against the obstinate.
Even today, fire is not in a store-house in the earth.
For lo! it is continually created
By means of flints.
It is the Being who ordains its existence
By means of Him who holds it.
When He wishes He lights it,
When He wishes He quenches it
By way of appeal against the obstinate.
In a great grove by the rubbing of a stick fire is kindled.
The flame devours,
It grows strong,
At last sinks down.
The flame devours,
It grows strong,
At last sinks down.
If fire and water are Beings and not creatures,
Then before the earth was,
Where were their roots hid?
Then before the earth was,
Where were their roots hid?
Whoso would destroy his life,
Opens his mouth to speak concerning everything.
Whoso hateth himself,
And would not circumscribe God,
Holds it great impiety that one should think himself
Over-wise.
Opens his mouth to speak concerning everything.
Whoso hateth himself,
And would not circumscribe God,
Holds it great impiety that one should think himself
Over-wise.
And if he thinks he has said the last thing
He has reached heathenism,
O Bar-Daisan,
Son of the River Daisan,
Whose mind is liquid like his name!
He has reached heathenism,
O Bar-Daisan,
Son of the River Daisan,
Whose mind is liquid like his name!
THE PEARL:
SEVEN HYMNS ON THE FAITH
by
St. Ephraim of Syria
Translated by J.B. Morris
re-edited by John Gwynn
re-edited by John Gwynn
HYMN I.
** 1. ** On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren;
I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom;
Semblances and types of the Majesty;
It became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.
I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand,
That I might examine it:
I went to look at it on one side,
And it proved faces on all sides.
I found out that the Son was incomprehensible,
Since He is wholly Light.
In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded,
And in its pureness a great mystery,
Even the Body of Our Lord which is well-refined:
In its undivideness I saw the Truth
Which is undivided.
It was so that I saw there its pure conception,
The Church, and the Son within her.
The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him,
And her type the heaven,
Since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.
I saw therein his Trophies, and His victories, and His crowns.
I saw His helpful and overflowing graces,
And His hidden things with His revealed things.
** 2. ** It was greater to me than the ark,
For I was astonied thereat:
I saw therein folds without shadow to them
Because it was a daughter of light,
Types vocal without tongues,
Utterances of mystery without lips,
A silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.
The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters;
Be not thou daring then;
Leave things hidden, take things revealed.
Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower;
The clefts of thine ears,
As from the clouds,
They are filled with interpretations.
And as that manna which alone filled the people,
In the place of pleasant meats,
With its pleasantnesses,
So does this pearl fill me in the place of books,
And the reading thereof,
And the explanations thereof.
And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries,
It had no mouth for me that I might hear from,
Neither any ears wherewith it might hear me.
O Thou thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!
** 3. ** It answered me and said,
"The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea!
And from that sea whence I came up it is
That there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom!
Search thou out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!
"I have seen the divers who came down after me, when astonied,
So that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground;
For a few moments they sustained it not.
Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?
"The waves of the Son are full of blessing,
And with mischiefs too.
Have ye not seen, then, the waves of the sea,
Which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces,
And if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them,
Then she is preserved?
In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not,
And, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land,
And how shall ye be kept alive?
And the men of Sodom were licked up by the fire,
And how shall ye prevail?
"At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved,
And Leviathan also.
Have ye then a heart of stone
That ye read these things and run into these errors?
O great fear that justice also should be so long silent!"
** 4. ** "Searching is mingled with thanksgiving,
And whether of the two will prevail?
From the tongue
The incense of praise riseth
Along with the fume of disputation
And unto which shall we hearken?
Prayer and prying from one mouth,
And which shall we listen to?
"For three days was Jonah a neighbour in the sea:
The living things that were in the sea were affrighted,
Saying, 'Who shall flee from God?
Jonah fled,
And ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!'"
HYMN II.
** 1. ** Whereunto art thou like?
Let thy stillness speak to one that hears;
With silent mouth speak with us:
For whoso hears the stammerings of thy silence,
to him thy type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer.
Thy mother is a virgin of the sea, though he took her not:
She fell into his bosom, though he knew her not;
She conceived thee near him, though he did not know her.
Do thou, that art a type, reporach the Jewish women
That have thee hung upon them.
Thou art the only progeny of all forms
Which art like to the Word on High,
Whom singly the Most High begot.
The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above.
This visible offspring of the invisible womb
Is a type of great things.
Thy goodly conception was without seed,
And without wedlock was thy pure generation,
And without brethren was thy single birth.
Our Lord had brethren and yet not brethren,
Since He was an Only-Begotten.
O solitary one, thou type exact of the Only-Begotten!
There is a type of thine in the crown of kings,
Wherein thou hast brothers and sisters.
Goodly gems are thy brethren,
With beryls and unions as thy companions:
May gold be as it were thy kinsman,
May there be unto the King of kings
A crown from thy well-beloved ones!
When thou camest up from the sea, that living tomb,
Thou didst cry out,
Let me have a goodly assmblage of brethren, relatives and kinsmen.
As the wheat is in the stalk,
So thou art in the crown with princes:
And it is a just restoration to thee, as if of a pledge,
That from the depth thou shouldest be exalted to a goodly eminence.
Wheat the stalk bears in the field;
Thee the head of the king upon his chariot carries about.
O daughter of the water,
Who hast left the sea, wherein thou wert born,
And art gone up to the dry land, wherein thou art beloved:
For men have loved and seized and adorned themselves with thee,
Like as they did that Offspring Whom the Gentiles loved
And crowned themselves withal.
It is by the mystery of truth that Leviathan is trodden down of mortals:
The divers put him off, and put on Christ.
In the sacrament of oil did the Apostles steal Thee away, and came up.
They snatched their souls from his mouth, bitter as it was.
Thy Nature is like a silent lamb in its sweetness,
Of which if a man is to lay hold,
He lifts it in a crucial form by its ears, as it was on Golgotha.
He cast out abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Him.
** 2. ** Shadowed forth in thy beauty is the beauty of the Son,
Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him.
The awl passed in thee since they handled thee roughly,
As they did His hands;
And because He suffered He reigned,
As by they sufferings thy beauty increased.
And if they showed no pity upon thee,
Neither did they love thee:
Still suffer as thou mightest,
Thou has come to reign! Simon Peter showed pity on the Rock;
Whoso hath smitten it, is himself thereby overcome;
It is by reason of Its suffering
That Its beauty hath adorned the height and the depth.
HYMN III.
** 1. ** Thou dost not hide thyself in thy bareness, O pearl!
With the love of thee is the merchant ravished also,
For he strips off his garments;
Not to cover thee --
(thy clothing is thy light, thy garment is thy brightness,
O thou that art bared!)
Thou art like Eve who was clothed with nakedness.
Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her.
The serpent cannot strip off thy glory.
In the mysteries whose type thou art,
Women are clothed with Light in Eden.
** 2. ** Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written,
Who gave thee to Ethiopia of black men.
He that gave light to the Gentiles,
Both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.
The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip:
The Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water.
While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptised
And shone with joy, and journeyed on!
He made disciples and taught,
And out of black men he made men white.
And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son;
He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the
Ethiopians.
** 3. ** The Queen of Sheba
Was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves;
The lamp of truth did Solomon give her,
Who also married her when he fell away.
She was enlightened and went away,
But they were dark, as their manner was.
The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen],
Held on its shining amid the darkness,
Till the new Day-spring came.
The bright spark met with this shining,
And illumined the place.
** 4. ** There are in the sea divers fishes of many cubits,
And with all their greatness they are very small;
But by thy littleness the crown is made great,
Like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great.
For the head is thy crown intended:
For the eye thy beauty,
For the ear thy goodliness.
Come up from the sea, thou neighbour to the dry land,
And come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing.
Let the ear love the word of life as it loveth thee!
In the ear is the word,
And without it is the pearl.
Let it as being warned by thee,
By thee get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth.
Be thou its mirror:
The beauty of the Word in thine own beauty shall it see:
In thee it shall learn how precious is the Word on High!
The ear is the leaf:
The flesh is the tree,
And thou in the midst of it are a fruit of light,
And to the womb that brings forth Light,
Thou art a type that points.
Thee He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl!
As He did the virgins that entered into it, five in number,
Clothed with the light of their lamps!
To thee are those bright ones like, thou that art clad in light!
** 5. ** Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor?
For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not.
Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men.
But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl.
It were a great disgrace
If thou shouldst throw thy pearl away into the mire for nought!
In the pearl of time
Let us behold that of eternity;
For it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury.
Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys.
Thy pearl hath the High One sealed up as taking account of all.
HYMN IV.
** 1. ** The thief gained the faith which gained him,
And brought him up and placed him in paradise.
He saw in the Cross a tree of life;
That was the fruit,
He was the eater in Adam's stead.
The fool, who goes astray,
Grazes the faith, as it were an eye,
By all manner of questions.
The probing of the finger blinds the eye,
And much more doth that prying blind the faith.
For even the diver pries not into his pearl.
In it do all merchants rejoice
Without prying into whence it came ;
Even the king who is crowned therewith
Does not explore it.
** 2. ** Because Balaam was foolish,
A foolish beast in the ass spoke with him,
Because he despised God Who spoke with him.
Thee too let the pearl reprove
In the ass's stead.
The people that had a heart of stone,
By a Stone He set at nought,
For lo, a stone hears words.
Witness its work that has reproved them ;
And you, ye deaf ones,
Let the pearl reprove to-day.
With the swallow and the crow did He put men to shame ;
With the ox, yea with the ass, did He put them to shame ;
Let the pearl reprove now,
O ye birds and things on earth and things below.
** 3. ** Not as the moon does thy light fill or wane ;
The Sun whose light is greater than all,
Lo! of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in thy little compass.
O type of the Son,
One spark of Whom is greater than the sun!
The pearl itself is full,
for its light is full ;
Neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it ;
For its wall is its own beauty,
Yea, its guard also!
It lacks not,
since it is entirely perfect.
And if a man would break thee
To take a part from thee,
Thou art like the faith which with the heretics perishes,
Seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it :
For is it any better than this
To have the faith scrutinized?
The faith is an entire nature
That may not be corrupted.
The spoiler gets himself mischief by it:
The heretic brings ruin on himself thereby.
He that chases the light from his pupils
Blinds himself.
Fire and air are divided when sundered.
Light alone, of all creatures,
As its Creator, is not divided;
It is not barren, for that it also begets
Without losing thereby.
** 4. ** And if a man thinks that thou art framed [by art]
He errs greatly;
Thy nature proclaims that thou, as all stones,
Art not the framing of art;
and so thou art a type of the Generation
Which no making framed.
Thy stone flees
From a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son.
For thy own generation is from the midst of the deep,
That of the Son of thy Creator is from the highest height;
He is not like thee,
In that He is like His Father.
And as they tell,
Two wombs bare thee also.
Thou camest down from on high a fluid nature;
Thou camest up from the sea a solid body.
By means of thy second birth
Thou didst show thy loveliness to the children of men.
Hands fixed thee, when thou wast embodied,
Into thy receptacles ;
For thou art in the crown as upon the cross,
And in a coronet as in a victory ;
Thou art upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking ;
Thou extendest over all.
HYMN V.
** 1. ** O gift that camest up without price for the diver!
Thou laidest hold upon this visible light,
That without price rises for the children of men:
A parable of the hidden One
That without price gives the hidden Dayspring!
And the painter too paints a likeness of thee with colours.
Yet by thee is faith painted in types and emblems for colours,
And in the place of the image
By thee and thy colours is thy Creator painted.
O thou frankincense without smell,
Who breathest types from out of thee!
Though art not to be eaten,
Yet thou givest a sweet smell unto them that hear thee!
Though art not to be drunk,
Yet by thy story, a fountain of types art thou made unto the ears!
** 2. ** It is thou which art great in thy littleness, O pearl!
Small is thy measure and little thy compass with thy weight;
But great is thy glory:
To that crown alone in which thou art placed, there is none like.
And Who hath not percieved of thy littleness, how great it is;
If one despises thee and throws thee away,
He would blame himself for his clownishness,
For when he saw thee in a king's crown he would be attracted to thee.
** 3. ** Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew thee out, O pearl!
It was not kings that put thee before men,
But those naked ones who were a type of the poor
And the fishers and the Galileans.
For clothed bodies were not able to come to thee;
They came that were stript as children;
They plunged their bodies and came down to thee;
And thou didst much desire them,
And thou didst aid them who thus loved thee.
Glad tidings did they give for thee:
Their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] open,
And produced and showed the new riches among the merchants:
Upon the wrists of men they put thee as a medicine for life.
** 4. ** The naked ones in a type saw thy rising again by the sea-shore;
And by the side of the lake they,
The Apostles of a truth,
Saw the rising again of the Son of thy Creator.
By thee and by thy Lord the sea and the lake were beautified.
The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing;
And from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming on his coat;
Clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two.
** 5. ** And since I have wandered in thee, pearl,
I will gather up my mind
And by having contemplated thee,
Would become like thee,
In that thou art all gathered up into thyself;
And as thou in all times art one,
One let me become by thee!
** 1. ** On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren;
I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom;
Semblances and types of the Majesty;
It became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.
I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand,
That I might examine it:
I went to look at it on one side,
And it proved faces on all sides.
I found out that the Son was incomprehensible,
Since He is wholly Light.
In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded,
And in its pureness a great mystery,
Even the Body of Our Lord which is well-refined:
In its undivideness I saw the Truth
Which is undivided.
It was so that I saw there its pure conception,
The Church, and the Son within her.
The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him,
And her type the heaven,
Since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.
I saw therein his Trophies, and His victories, and His crowns.
I saw His helpful and overflowing graces,
And His hidden things with His revealed things.
** 2. ** It was greater to me than the ark,
For I was astonied thereat:
I saw therein folds without shadow to them
Because it was a daughter of light,
Types vocal without tongues,
Utterances of mystery without lips,
A silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.
The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters;
Be not thou daring then;
Leave things hidden, take things revealed.
Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower;
The clefts of thine ears,
As from the clouds,
They are filled with interpretations.
And as that manna which alone filled the people,
In the place of pleasant meats,
With its pleasantnesses,
So does this pearl fill me in the place of books,
And the reading thereof,
And the explanations thereof.
And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries,
It had no mouth for me that I might hear from,
Neither any ears wherewith it might hear me.
O Thou thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!
** 3. ** It answered me and said,
"The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea!
And from that sea whence I came up it is
That there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom!
Search thou out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!
"I have seen the divers who came down after me, when astonied,
So that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground;
For a few moments they sustained it not.
Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?
"The waves of the Son are full of blessing,
And with mischiefs too.
Have ye not seen, then, the waves of the sea,
Which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces,
And if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them,
Then she is preserved?
In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not,
And, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land,
And how shall ye be kept alive?
And the men of Sodom were licked up by the fire,
And how shall ye prevail?
"At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved,
And Leviathan also.
Have ye then a heart of stone
That ye read these things and run into these errors?
O great fear that justice also should be so long silent!"
** 4. ** "Searching is mingled with thanksgiving,
And whether of the two will prevail?
From the tongue
The incense of praise riseth
Along with the fume of disputation
And unto which shall we hearken?
Prayer and prying from one mouth,
And which shall we listen to?
"For three days was Jonah a neighbour in the sea:
The living things that were in the sea were affrighted,
Saying, 'Who shall flee from God?
Jonah fled,
And ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!'"
HYMN II.
** 1. ** Whereunto art thou like?
Let thy stillness speak to one that hears;
With silent mouth speak with us:
For whoso hears the stammerings of thy silence,
to him thy type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer.
Thy mother is a virgin of the sea, though he took her not:
She fell into his bosom, though he knew her not;
She conceived thee near him, though he did not know her.
Do thou, that art a type, reporach the Jewish women
That have thee hung upon them.
Thou art the only progeny of all forms
Which art like to the Word on High,
Whom singly the Most High begot.
The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above.
This visible offspring of the invisible womb
Is a type of great things.
Thy goodly conception was without seed,
And without wedlock was thy pure generation,
And without brethren was thy single birth.
Our Lord had brethren and yet not brethren,
Since He was an Only-Begotten.
O solitary one, thou type exact of the Only-Begotten!
There is a type of thine in the crown of kings,
Wherein thou hast brothers and sisters.
Goodly gems are thy brethren,
With beryls and unions as thy companions:
May gold be as it were thy kinsman,
May there be unto the King of kings
A crown from thy well-beloved ones!
When thou camest up from the sea, that living tomb,
Thou didst cry out,
Let me have a goodly assmblage of brethren, relatives and kinsmen.
As the wheat is in the stalk,
So thou art in the crown with princes:
And it is a just restoration to thee, as if of a pledge,
That from the depth thou shouldest be exalted to a goodly eminence.
Wheat the stalk bears in the field;
Thee the head of the king upon his chariot carries about.
O daughter of the water,
Who hast left the sea, wherein thou wert born,
And art gone up to the dry land, wherein thou art beloved:
For men have loved and seized and adorned themselves with thee,
Like as they did that Offspring Whom the Gentiles loved
And crowned themselves withal.
It is by the mystery of truth that Leviathan is trodden down of mortals:
The divers put him off, and put on Christ.
In the sacrament of oil did the Apostles steal Thee away, and came up.
They snatched their souls from his mouth, bitter as it was.
Thy Nature is like a silent lamb in its sweetness,
Of which if a man is to lay hold,
He lifts it in a crucial form by its ears, as it was on Golgotha.
He cast out abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Him.
** 2. ** Shadowed forth in thy beauty is the beauty of the Son,
Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him.
The awl passed in thee since they handled thee roughly,
As they did His hands;
And because He suffered He reigned,
As by they sufferings thy beauty increased.
And if they showed no pity upon thee,
Neither did they love thee:
Still suffer as thou mightest,
Thou has come to reign! Simon Peter showed pity on the Rock;
Whoso hath smitten it, is himself thereby overcome;
It is by reason of Its suffering
That Its beauty hath adorned the height and the depth.
HYMN III.
** 1. ** Thou dost not hide thyself in thy bareness, O pearl!
With the love of thee is the merchant ravished also,
For he strips off his garments;
Not to cover thee --
(thy clothing is thy light, thy garment is thy brightness,
O thou that art bared!)
Thou art like Eve who was clothed with nakedness.
Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her.
The serpent cannot strip off thy glory.
In the mysteries whose type thou art,
Women are clothed with Light in Eden.
** 2. ** Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written,
Who gave thee to Ethiopia of black men.
He that gave light to the Gentiles,
Both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.
The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip:
The Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water.
While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptised
And shone with joy, and journeyed on!
He made disciples and taught,
And out of black men he made men white.
And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son;
He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the
Ethiopians.
** 3. ** The Queen of Sheba
Was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves;
The lamp of truth did Solomon give her,
Who also married her when he fell away.
She was enlightened and went away,
But they were dark, as their manner was.
The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen],
Held on its shining amid the darkness,
Till the new Day-spring came.
The bright spark met with this shining,
And illumined the place.
** 4. ** There are in the sea divers fishes of many cubits,
And with all their greatness they are very small;
But by thy littleness the crown is made great,
Like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great.
For the head is thy crown intended:
For the eye thy beauty,
For the ear thy goodliness.
Come up from the sea, thou neighbour to the dry land,
And come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing.
Let the ear love the word of life as it loveth thee!
In the ear is the word,
And without it is the pearl.
Let it as being warned by thee,
By thee get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth.
Be thou its mirror:
The beauty of the Word in thine own beauty shall it see:
In thee it shall learn how precious is the Word on High!
The ear is the leaf:
The flesh is the tree,
And thou in the midst of it are a fruit of light,
And to the womb that brings forth Light,
Thou art a type that points.
Thee He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl!
As He did the virgins that entered into it, five in number,
Clothed with the light of their lamps!
To thee are those bright ones like, thou that art clad in light!
** 5. ** Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor?
For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not.
Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men.
But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl.
It were a great disgrace
If thou shouldst throw thy pearl away into the mire for nought!
In the pearl of time
Let us behold that of eternity;
For it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury.
Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys.
Thy pearl hath the High One sealed up as taking account of all.
HYMN IV.
** 1. ** The thief gained the faith which gained him,
And brought him up and placed him in paradise.
He saw in the Cross a tree of life;
That was the fruit,
He was the eater in Adam's stead.
The fool, who goes astray,
Grazes the faith, as it were an eye,
By all manner of questions.
The probing of the finger blinds the eye,
And much more doth that prying blind the faith.
For even the diver pries not into his pearl.
In it do all merchants rejoice
Without prying into whence it came ;
Even the king who is crowned therewith
Does not explore it.
** 2. ** Because Balaam was foolish,
A foolish beast in the ass spoke with him,
Because he despised God Who spoke with him.
Thee too let the pearl reprove
In the ass's stead.
The people that had a heart of stone,
By a Stone He set at nought,
For lo, a stone hears words.
Witness its work that has reproved them ;
And you, ye deaf ones,
Let the pearl reprove to-day.
With the swallow and the crow did He put men to shame ;
With the ox, yea with the ass, did He put them to shame ;
Let the pearl reprove now,
O ye birds and things on earth and things below.
** 3. ** Not as the moon does thy light fill or wane ;
The Sun whose light is greater than all,
Lo! of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in thy little compass.
O type of the Son,
One spark of Whom is greater than the sun!
The pearl itself is full,
for its light is full ;
Neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it ;
For its wall is its own beauty,
Yea, its guard also!
It lacks not,
since it is entirely perfect.
And if a man would break thee
To take a part from thee,
Thou art like the faith which with the heretics perishes,
Seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it :
For is it any better than this
To have the faith scrutinized?
The faith is an entire nature
That may not be corrupted.
The spoiler gets himself mischief by it:
The heretic brings ruin on himself thereby.
He that chases the light from his pupils
Blinds himself.
Fire and air are divided when sundered.
Light alone, of all creatures,
As its Creator, is not divided;
It is not barren, for that it also begets
Without losing thereby.
** 4. ** And if a man thinks that thou art framed [by art]
He errs greatly;
Thy nature proclaims that thou, as all stones,
Art not the framing of art;
and so thou art a type of the Generation
Which no making framed.
Thy stone flees
From a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son.
For thy own generation is from the midst of the deep,
That of the Son of thy Creator is from the highest height;
He is not like thee,
In that He is like His Father.
And as they tell,
Two wombs bare thee also.
Thou camest down from on high a fluid nature;
Thou camest up from the sea a solid body.
By means of thy second birth
Thou didst show thy loveliness to the children of men.
Hands fixed thee, when thou wast embodied,
Into thy receptacles ;
For thou art in the crown as upon the cross,
And in a coronet as in a victory ;
Thou art upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking ;
Thou extendest over all.
HYMN V.
** 1. ** O gift that camest up without price for the diver!
Thou laidest hold upon this visible light,
That without price rises for the children of men:
A parable of the hidden One
That without price gives the hidden Dayspring!
And the painter too paints a likeness of thee with colours.
Yet by thee is faith painted in types and emblems for colours,
And in the place of the image
By thee and thy colours is thy Creator painted.
O thou frankincense without smell,
Who breathest types from out of thee!
Though art not to be eaten,
Yet thou givest a sweet smell unto them that hear thee!
Though art not to be drunk,
Yet by thy story, a fountain of types art thou made unto the ears!
** 2. ** It is thou which art great in thy littleness, O pearl!
Small is thy measure and little thy compass with thy weight;
But great is thy glory:
To that crown alone in which thou art placed, there is none like.
And Who hath not percieved of thy littleness, how great it is;
If one despises thee and throws thee away,
He would blame himself for his clownishness,
For when he saw thee in a king's crown he would be attracted to thee.
** 3. ** Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew thee out, O pearl!
It was not kings that put thee before men,
But those naked ones who were a type of the poor
And the fishers and the Galileans.
For clothed bodies were not able to come to thee;
They came that were stript as children;
They plunged their bodies and came down to thee;
And thou didst much desire them,
And thou didst aid them who thus loved thee.
Glad tidings did they give for thee:
Their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] open,
And produced and showed the new riches among the merchants:
Upon the wrists of men they put thee as a medicine for life.
** 4. ** The naked ones in a type saw thy rising again by the sea-shore;
And by the side of the lake they,
The Apostles of a truth,
Saw the rising again of the Son of thy Creator.
By thee and by thy Lord the sea and the lake were beautified.
The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing;
And from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming on his coat;
Clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two.
** 5. ** And since I have wandered in thee, pearl,
I will gather up my mind
And by having contemplated thee,
Would become like thee,
In that thou art all gathered up into thyself;
And as thou in all times art one,
One let me become by thee!
Pearls have I gathered together that I might make a crown for the Son
In the place of stains which are in my members.
Receive my offering, not that Thou art shortcoming;
It is because of mine own shortcoming that I have offered it to Thee.
Whiten my stains!
This crown is all spiritual pearls,
Which instead of gold are set in love,
And instead of ouches in faith;
And instead of hands, let praise offer it up to the highest!
HYMN VI.
** 1. ** Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs;
Who were very simple as being wise;
And reverend as believing.
They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path.
He gave the law;
The mountains melted away;
Fools broke through it.
By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream;
And moreover gave from the skelton honey unto Samson.
They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean,
Why clean.
** 2. ** And when He made void the sabbaths,
The feeble Gentiles were clothed with health.
Samson took the daughter of the aliens,
And there was no disputing among the righteous;
The prophet also took a harlot,
And the just held their peace.
He blamed the righteous,
And He held up and lifted up their delinquencies:
He pitied sinners,
And restored them without cost:
And made low the mountains of their sins:
He proved God is not to be arraigned by men,
And as Lord of Truth.
That His servants were His shadow;
And whatsoever way His will looked,
They directed also their own wills;
And because Light was in Him,
Their shadows were enlightened.
** 3. ** How stangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things!
For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testment
By that of the Prophets,
Those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep,
And shouted out and made a disturbance.
And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on,
And by their truths had gone forth therein,
That [Way] have these broken up, because they were besotted:
This they left and went out of;
Because they pried into it, it fell, and was lost.
Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it.
** 4. ** O Gift, which fools have made a poison!
The People were for separating Thy beauteous root from Thy fountain,
Though they separated it not:
Teachings estranged Thy beauty also from the stock thereof.
By Thee did they get themselves estranged,
Who wished to estrange Thee.
By Thee the tribes were cut off,
And scattered abroad from out of Sion,
And also the teachings of the seceders.
Bring Thyself within the compass of our littleness,
O Thou Gift of ours.
For if love cannot find Thee out on all sides,
It cannot be still and at rest.
Make Thyself small,
Thou Who art too great for all,
Who comest unto all!
** 5. ** By this would those who wrangle against our Pearl be reproved;
Because instead of love,
Strife has come in and dared to essay to unveil thy beauty.
It was not graven,
Since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted.
Thou didst show thy beauty among the abjects
To show whereto thou are like,
Thou Pearl that art all faces.
The beholders were astonied and perplexed at thee.
The separatists separated thee in two,
And were separated in two by thee,
Thou are of one substance throughout.
They saw not thy beauty,
Because there was not in them the eye of truth.
For the veil of prophecy,
Full as it was of the mysteries,
To them was a covering of thy glistering faces:
They thought that thou wast other [than thou art],
O thou mirror of ours!
And therefore these blind schismatics defiled thy fair beauty.
** 6. ** Since they have extolled thee too much,
Or have lowered thee too much,
Bring them to an even level.
Come down,
Descend a little that height of infidelity and heathendom;
And come up from the depth of Judaism, though thou art in Heaven.
Let our Lord be set between God and men!
Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds!
Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice!
That Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathen!
** 7. ** Come, Thou Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her!
The circumsized have troubled Thee,
In that they are vain babblers,
And so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious.
Blessed be He that gave Thee a good company which bears Thee about!
In the covenant of Moses is Thy brightness shadowed forth:
In the new covenant Thou dartest forth:
From those first Thy light shineth forth unto those last.
Blessed be He that gave us Thy gleam
As well as Thy bright rays.
HYMN VII.
** 1. ** As in a race saw I the disputers,
The children of strife,
[Trying]
To taste fire,
To see the air,
To handle the light:
They were troubled at the gleaming,
And struggled to make divisions.
The Son,
Who is too subtle for the mind,
Did they seek to feel:
And the Holy Ghost
Who cannot be explored,
They sought to explore with their questionings.
The Father,
Who never at any time was searched out,
Have they explained and disputed of.
The sound form of our faith is from Abraham,
And our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab,
And ours are the expectations of the Prophets,
Ours of the Apostles.
** 2. ** And envy is from Satan:
The evil usage of the evil calf is from the Egyptians.
The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces is from the Hittites.
Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks.
The bitter one read and saw orthodox teachings,
And subverted them;
He saw hateful things,
And sowed them;
He saw hope,
And he turned it upside down and cut it off.
The disputation that he planted,
Lo! it has yielded a fruit bitter to the tooth.
** 3. ** Satan saw that the Truth strangled him,
And united himself to the tares,
And secreted his frauds,
And spread his snares for the faith,
And cast upon the priests the darts of the love of pre-eminence.
They made contests for the throne,
To see which should first obtain it.
There was that meditated in secret and kept it close:
There was that openly combated for it:
And there was that with a bribe crept up to it:
And there was that with fraud dealt wisely to obtain it.
The paths differed,
Ths scope was one,
And they were alike.
Him that was young, and could not even think of it,
Because it was not time for him;
And him that was hoary and shaped out dreams
For time beyond;
All of them by his craftiness did the wicked one persuade and subdue.
Old men, youths, and even striplings, aim at rank!
** 4. ** His former books did Satan put aside,
And put on others:
The People who was grown old
Had the moth and the worm devoured and eaten and left and deserted:
The moth came into the new garment
Of the new peoples:
He saw the crucifiers who were rejected and cast forth as strangers:
He made of those of the household, pryers;
And of worshippers, they became disputants.
From that garment
The moth gendered
And wound it up and deposited it.
The worm gendered in the storehouse of wheat,
And sat and looked on:
And lo! the pure wheat was mildewed,
And devoured were the garments of glory!
He made a mockery of us,
And we of ourselves, since we were besotted!
He sowed tares,
And the bramble shot up in the pure vinyard!
He infected the flock,
And the leprosy broke out,
And the sheep became hired servants of his!
He began in the People,
And came unto the Gentiles, that he might finish.
** 5. ** Instead of the reed which the former people made the Son hold,
Others have dared with their reed to write in their tracts
That He is only a Son of man.
Reed for reed does the wicked one exchange against our Redeemer,
And instead of the coat of many colours, wherewith they clothed Him,
Titles has he dyed craftily.
With diversity of names he clothed Him;
Either that of creature or of a thing made, when He was the Maker.
And as he plaited for Him by silent men speechless thorns that cry out,
Thorns from the mind has he plaited [now] by the voice, as hymns;
And concealed the spikes amid melodies
That they might not be perceived.
** 6. ** When Satan saw that he was detected in his former [frauds];
That the spitting was discovered, and vinegar,
And thorns, nails and wood,
Garments and reed and spear,
Which smote him, and were hated and openly known;
He changed his frauds.
Instead of the blow with the hand, by which our Lord was overcome,
He brought in distractions;
And instead of the spitting,
Cavilling entered in;
And instead of garments,
Secret divisions;
And instead of the reed,
Came in strife to smite us on the face.
Haughtiness called for rage its sister,
And there answered and came envy,
And wrath, and pride, and fraud.
They have taken counsel against our Redeemer
As on that day when they took counsels at His Passion.
And instead of the cross,
A hidden wood hath strife become;
And instead of the nails,
Questionings have come in;
And instead of hell, apostasy:
The pattern of both Satan would renew again.
Instead of the sponge which was cankered with vinegar and wormwood,
He gave prying, the whole of which is cankered with death.
The gall which they gave Him did our Lord put away from Him;
The subtle questionings, which the rebellious one hath given,
To fools is sweet.
** 7. ** And at that time there were judges against them,
Lo, the judges are, as it were, against us,
And instead of a handwriting are their commands.
Priests that consecrate crowns,
Set snares for kings.
Instead of the priesthood praying for royalty
That wars may cease from among men,
They teach wars of overthrow,
Which set kings to combat with those round about.
O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful;
That in one Church priests may pray for their kings,
And kings spare those round about them;
And may the peace which is within Thee become ours, Lord,
Thou that art within and without all things!
In the place of stains which are in my members.
Receive my offering, not that Thou art shortcoming;
It is because of mine own shortcoming that I have offered it to Thee.
Whiten my stains!
This crown is all spiritual pearls,
Which instead of gold are set in love,
And instead of ouches in faith;
And instead of hands, let praise offer it up to the highest!
HYMN VI.
** 1. ** Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs;
Who were very simple as being wise;
And reverend as believing.
They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path.
He gave the law;
The mountains melted away;
Fools broke through it.
By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream;
And moreover gave from the skelton honey unto Samson.
They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean,
Why clean.
** 2. ** And when He made void the sabbaths,
The feeble Gentiles were clothed with health.
Samson took the daughter of the aliens,
And there was no disputing among the righteous;
The prophet also took a harlot,
And the just held their peace.
He blamed the righteous,
And He held up and lifted up their delinquencies:
He pitied sinners,
And restored them without cost:
And made low the mountains of their sins:
He proved God is not to be arraigned by men,
And as Lord of Truth.
That His servants were His shadow;
And whatsoever way His will looked,
They directed also their own wills;
And because Light was in Him,
Their shadows were enlightened.
** 3. ** How stangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things!
For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testment
By that of the Prophets,
Those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep,
And shouted out and made a disturbance.
And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on,
And by their truths had gone forth therein,
That [Way] have these broken up, because they were besotted:
This they left and went out of;
Because they pried into it, it fell, and was lost.
Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it.
** 4. ** O Gift, which fools have made a poison!
The People were for separating Thy beauteous root from Thy fountain,
Though they separated it not:
Teachings estranged Thy beauty also from the stock thereof.
By Thee did they get themselves estranged,
Who wished to estrange Thee.
By Thee the tribes were cut off,
And scattered abroad from out of Sion,
And also the teachings of the seceders.
Bring Thyself within the compass of our littleness,
O Thou Gift of ours.
For if love cannot find Thee out on all sides,
It cannot be still and at rest.
Make Thyself small,
Thou Who art too great for all,
Who comest unto all!
** 5. ** By this would those who wrangle against our Pearl be reproved;
Because instead of love,
Strife has come in and dared to essay to unveil thy beauty.
It was not graven,
Since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted.
Thou didst show thy beauty among the abjects
To show whereto thou are like,
Thou Pearl that art all faces.
The beholders were astonied and perplexed at thee.
The separatists separated thee in two,
And were separated in two by thee,
Thou are of one substance throughout.
They saw not thy beauty,
Because there was not in them the eye of truth.
For the veil of prophecy,
Full as it was of the mysteries,
To them was a covering of thy glistering faces:
They thought that thou wast other [than thou art],
O thou mirror of ours!
And therefore these blind schismatics defiled thy fair beauty.
** 6. ** Since they have extolled thee too much,
Or have lowered thee too much,
Bring them to an even level.
Come down,
Descend a little that height of infidelity and heathendom;
And come up from the depth of Judaism, though thou art in Heaven.
Let our Lord be set between God and men!
Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds!
Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice!
That Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathen!
** 7. ** Come, Thou Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her!
The circumsized have troubled Thee,
In that they are vain babblers,
And so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious.
Blessed be He that gave Thee a good company which bears Thee about!
In the covenant of Moses is Thy brightness shadowed forth:
In the new covenant Thou dartest forth:
From those first Thy light shineth forth unto those last.
Blessed be He that gave us Thy gleam
As well as Thy bright rays.
HYMN VII.
** 1. ** As in a race saw I the disputers,
The children of strife,
[Trying]
To taste fire,
To see the air,
To handle the light:
They were troubled at the gleaming,
And struggled to make divisions.
The Son,
Who is too subtle for the mind,
Did they seek to feel:
And the Holy Ghost
Who cannot be explored,
They sought to explore with their questionings.
The Father,
Who never at any time was searched out,
Have they explained and disputed of.
The sound form of our faith is from Abraham,
And our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab,
And ours are the expectations of the Prophets,
Ours of the Apostles.
** 2. ** And envy is from Satan:
The evil usage of the evil calf is from the Egyptians.
The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces is from the Hittites.
Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks.
The bitter one read and saw orthodox teachings,
And subverted them;
He saw hateful things,
And sowed them;
He saw hope,
And he turned it upside down and cut it off.
The disputation that he planted,
Lo! it has yielded a fruit bitter to the tooth.
** 3. ** Satan saw that the Truth strangled him,
And united himself to the tares,
And secreted his frauds,
And spread his snares for the faith,
And cast upon the priests the darts of the love of pre-eminence.
They made contests for the throne,
To see which should first obtain it.
There was that meditated in secret and kept it close:
There was that openly combated for it:
And there was that with a bribe crept up to it:
And there was that with fraud dealt wisely to obtain it.
The paths differed,
Ths scope was one,
And they were alike.
Him that was young, and could not even think of it,
Because it was not time for him;
And him that was hoary and shaped out dreams
For time beyond;
All of them by his craftiness did the wicked one persuade and subdue.
Old men, youths, and even striplings, aim at rank!
** 4. ** His former books did Satan put aside,
And put on others:
The People who was grown old
Had the moth and the worm devoured and eaten and left and deserted:
The moth came into the new garment
Of the new peoples:
He saw the crucifiers who were rejected and cast forth as strangers:
He made of those of the household, pryers;
And of worshippers, they became disputants.
From that garment
The moth gendered
And wound it up and deposited it.
The worm gendered in the storehouse of wheat,
And sat and looked on:
And lo! the pure wheat was mildewed,
And devoured were the garments of glory!
He made a mockery of us,
And we of ourselves, since we were besotted!
He sowed tares,
And the bramble shot up in the pure vinyard!
He infected the flock,
And the leprosy broke out,
And the sheep became hired servants of his!
He began in the People,
And came unto the Gentiles, that he might finish.
** 5. ** Instead of the reed which the former people made the Son hold,
Others have dared with their reed to write in their tracts
That He is only a Son of man.
Reed for reed does the wicked one exchange against our Redeemer,
And instead of the coat of many colours, wherewith they clothed Him,
Titles has he dyed craftily.
With diversity of names he clothed Him;
Either that of creature or of a thing made, when He was the Maker.
And as he plaited for Him by silent men speechless thorns that cry out,
Thorns from the mind has he plaited [now] by the voice, as hymns;
And concealed the spikes amid melodies
That they might not be perceived.
** 6. ** When Satan saw that he was detected in his former [frauds];
That the spitting was discovered, and vinegar,
And thorns, nails and wood,
Garments and reed and spear,
Which smote him, and were hated and openly known;
He changed his frauds.
Instead of the blow with the hand, by which our Lord was overcome,
He brought in distractions;
And instead of the spitting,
Cavilling entered in;
And instead of garments,
Secret divisions;
And instead of the reed,
Came in strife to smite us on the face.
Haughtiness called for rage its sister,
And there answered and came envy,
And wrath, and pride, and fraud.
They have taken counsel against our Redeemer
As on that day when they took counsels at His Passion.
And instead of the cross,
A hidden wood hath strife become;
And instead of the nails,
Questionings have come in;
And instead of hell, apostasy:
The pattern of both Satan would renew again.
Instead of the sponge which was cankered with vinegar and wormwood,
He gave prying, the whole of which is cankered with death.
The gall which they gave Him did our Lord put away from Him;
The subtle questionings, which the rebellious one hath given,
To fools is sweet.
** 7. ** And at that time there were judges against them,
Lo, the judges are, as it were, against us,
And instead of a handwriting are their commands.
Priests that consecrate crowns,
Set snares for kings.
Instead of the priesthood praying for royalty
That wars may cease from among men,
They teach wars of overthrow,
Which set kings to combat with those round about.
O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful;
That in one Church priests may pray for their kings,
And kings spare those round about them;
And may the peace which is within Thee become ours, Lord,
Thou that art within and without all things!
The St. Pachomius Orthodox Library, May 1995.
O Lord, remember Thy servants Rev. Morris and Rev. Gwynn, the translators,
and have mercy upon us the scribes Maurice, Jeff, Mark, William, the Reader
Herman, Steven, Clay-Edward, Christopher, Lawrence, and Norman.
O Lord, remember Thy servants Rev. Morris and Rev. Gwynn, the translators,
and have mercy upon us the scribes Maurice, Jeff, Mark, William, the Reader
Herman, Steven, Clay-Edward, Christopher, Lawrence, and Norman.
THE END, AND TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
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