Divine Liturgy of St. James
The Priest.
I O Sovereign Lord our God, contemn me not, defiled with a multitude of sins: for, behold, I have come to this Your divine and heavenly mystery, not as being worthy; but looking only to Your goodness, I direct my voice to You: God be merciful to me, a sinner; I have sinned against Heaven, and before You, and am unworthy to come into the presence of this Your holy and spiritual table, upon which Your only-begotten Son, and our Lord Jesus Christ, is mystically set forth as a sacrifice for me, a sinner, and stained with every spot. Wherefore I present to You this supplication and thanksgiving, that Your Spirit the Comforter may be sent down upon me, strengthening and fitting me for this service; and count me worthy to make known without condemnation the word, delivered from You by me to the people, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening, and consubstantial Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Prayer of the standing beside the altar.
II Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the triune light of the Godhead, which is unity subsisting in trinity, divided, yet indivisible: for the Trinity is the one God Almighty, whose glory the heavens declare, and the earth His dominion, and the sea His might, and every sentient and intellectual creature at all times proclaims His majesty: for all glory becomes Him, and honour and might, greatness and magnificence, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Prayer of the incense at the beginning.
III Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, O Word of God, who freely offered Yourself a blameless sacrifice upon the cross to God even the Father, the coal of double nature, that touched the lips of the prophet with the tongs, and took away his sins, touch also the hearts of us sinners, and purify us from every stain, and present us holy beside Your holy altar, that we may offer You a sacrifice of praise: and accept from us, Your unprofitable servants, this incense as an odour of a sweet smell, and make fragrant the evil odour of our soul and body, and purify us with the sanctifying power of Your all-holy Spirit: for You alone are holy, who sanctifies, and are communicated to the faithful; and glory becomes You, with Your eternal Father, and Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Prayer of the commencement.
IV O beneficent King eternal, and Creator of the universe, receive Your Church, coming unto You through Your Christ: fulfil to each what is profitable; lead all to perfection, and make us perfectly worthy of the grace of Your sanctification, gathering us together within Your holy Church, which You have purchased by the precious blood of Your only-begotten Son, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with whom You are blessed and glorified, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Deacon.
V Let us again pray to the Lord.
The Priest, prayer of the incense at the entrance of the congregation.
God, who accepted the gifts of Abel, the sacrifice of Noah and of Abram, the incense of Aaron and of Zacharias, accept also from the hand of us sinners this incense for an odour of a sweet smell, and for remission of our sins, and those of all Your people; for blessed are You, and glory becomes You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever.
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest prays.
Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, who through exceeding goodness and love not to be restrained was crucified, and did not refuse to be pierced by the spear and nails; who provided this mysterious and awful service as an everlasting memorial for us perpetually: bless Your ministry in Christ the God, and bless our entrance, and fully complete the presentation of this our service by Your unutterable compassion, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The responsive prayer from the Deacon.
VI. The Lord bless us, and make us worthy seraphically to offer gifts, and to sing the oft-sung hymn of the divine Trisagion, by the fullness and exceeding abundance of all the perfection of holiness, now and ever.
Then the Deacon begins to sing in the entrance.
You who art the only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal; who submitted for our salvation to become flesh of the holy God-mother, and ever-virgin Mary; who immutably became man and was crucified, O Christ our God, and by Your death trod death underfoot; who art one of the Holy Trinity glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us.
The Priest says this prayer from the gates to the altar.
VII God Almighty, Lord great in glory, who hast given to us an entrance into the Holy of Holies, through the sojourning among men of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord, and God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, we supplicate and invoke Your goodness, since we are fearful and trembling when about to stand at Your holy altar; send forth upon us, O God, Your good grace, and sanctify our souls, and bodies, and spirits, and turn our thoughts to piety, in order that with a pure conscience we may bring unto You gifts, offerings, and fruits for the remission of our transgressions, and for the propitiation of all Your people, by the grace and mercies and loving-kindness of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed to all eternity. Amen.
After the approach to the altar, the Priest says:—
VIII. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Priest.
The Lord bless us all, and sanctify us for the entrance and celebration of the divine and pure mysteries, giving rest to the blessed souls among the good and just, by His grace and loving-kindness, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Then the Deacon says the bidding prayer.
IX. In peace let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace that is from above, and for God’s love to man, and for the salvation of our souls, let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace of the whole world, for the unity of all the holy churches of God, let us beseech the Lord.
For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and distress, and from the uprising of our enemies, let us beseech the Lord.
Then the Singers sing the Trisagion Hymn.
Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.
Then the Priest prays, bowing.
X. O compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and very gracious and true God, look from Your prepared dwelling-place, and hear us Your suppliants, and deliver us from every temptation of the devil and of man; withhold not Your aid from us, nor bring on us chastisements too heavy for our strength: for we are unable to overcome what is opposed to us; but You are able, Lord, to save us from everything that is against us. Save us, O God, from the difficulties of this world, according to Your goodness, in order that, having drawn near with a pure conscience to Your holy altar, we may send up to You without condemnation the blessed hymn Trisagion, together with the heavenly powers, and that, having performed the service, well pleasing to You and divine, we may be counted worthy of eternal life.
(Aloud.)
Because You are holy, Lord our God, and dwell and abide in holy places, we send up the praise and the hymn Trisagion to You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XI. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Singers.
Alleluia.
Then there are read in order the holy oracles of the Old Testament, and of the prophets; and the incarnation of the Son of God is set forth, and His sufferings and resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and His second appearing with glory; and this takes place daily in the holy and divine service.
After the reading and instruction the Deacon says:—
XII. Let us all say, Lord, be merciful.
Lord Almighty, the God of our fathers;
We beseech You, hear us.
For the peace which is from above, and for the salvation of our souls;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace of the whole world, and the unity of all the holy churches of God;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the salvation and help of all the Christ-loving people;
We beseech You, hear us.
For our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, distress, from captivity, bitter death, and from our iniquities;
We beseech You, hear us.
For the people standing round, and waiting for the rich and plenteous mercy that is from You;
We beseech You, be merciful and gracious.
Save Your people, O Lord, and bless Your inheritance.
Visit Your world in mercy and compassion.
Exalt the horn of Christians by the power of the precious and quickening cross.
We beseech You, most merciful Lord, hear us praying to You, and have mercy upon us.
The People (thrice).
Lord, have mercy upon us.
The Deacon.
XIII. For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and distress, let us beseech the Lord.
Let us all entreat from the Lord, that we may pass the whole day, perfect, holy, peaceful, and without sin.
Let us entreat from the Lord a messenger of peace, a faithful guide, a guardian of our souls and bodies.
Let us entreat from the Lord forgiveness and remission of our sins and transgressions.
Let us entreat from the Lord the things which are good and proper for our souls, and peace for the world.
Let us entreat from the Lord, that we may spend the remaining period of our life in peace and health.
Let us entreat that the close of our lives may be Christian, without pain and without shame, and a good plea at the dread and awful judgment-seat of Christ.
The Priest.
XIV. For You are the gospel and the light, Saviour and keeper of our souls and bodies, God, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest
God, who hast taught us Your divine and saving oracles, enlighten the souls of us sinners for the comprehension of the things which have been before spoken, so that we may not only be seen to be hearers of spiritual things, but also doers of good deeds, striving after guileless faith, blameless life, and pure conversation.
(Aloud.)
In Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, good, and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XV. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to Your spirit.
The Deacon.
Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The People.
To You, Lord.
The Priest prays, saying:
O Sovereign giver of life, and provider of good things, who gave to mankind the blessed hope of eternal life, our Lord Jesus Christ, count us worthy in holiness, and perfect this Your divine service to the enjoyment of future blessedness.
(Aloud.)
So that, guarded by Your power at all times, and led into the light of truth, we may send up the praise and the thanksgiving to You, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Deacon.
XVI. Let none remain of the catechumens, none of the unbaptized, none of those who are unable to join with us in prayer. Look at one another. The door.
All erect: let us again pray to the Lord.
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The Priest says the prayer of incense.
Sovereign Almighty, King of Glory, who know all things before their creation, manifest Yourself to us calling upon You at this holy hour, and redeem us from the shame of our transgressions; cleanse our mind and our thoughts from impure desires, from worldly deceit, from all influence of the devil; and accept from the hands of us sinners this incense, as You accepted the offering of Abel, and Noah, and Aaron, and Samuel, and of all Your saints, guarding us from everything evil, and preserving us for continually pleasing, and worshipping, and glorifying You, the Father, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
And the Readers begin the Cherubic Hymn.
Let all mortal flesh be silent, and stand with fear and trembling, and meditate nothing earthly within itself:—
For the King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ our God, comes forward to be sacrificed, and to be given for food to the faithful; and the bands of angels go before Him with every power and dominion, the many-eyed cherubim, and the six-winged seraphim, covering their faces, and crying aloud the hymn, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
The Priest, bringing in the holy gifts, says this prayer:—
XVII. O God, our God, who sent forth the heavenly bread, the food of the whole world, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be a Saviour, and Redeemer, and Benefactor, blessing and sanctifying us, do You Yourself bless this offering, and graciously receive it to Your altar above the skies:
Remember in Your goodness and love those who have brought it, and those for whom they have brought it, and preserve us without condemnation in the service of Your divine mysteries: for hollowed and glorified is Your all-honoured and great name, Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
Blessed be God, who blesses and sanctifies us all at the presentation of the divine and pure mysteries, and gives rest to the blessed souls among the holy and just, now and always, and to all eternity.
The Deacon.
XVIII Let us attend in wisdom.
The Priest begins.
I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God: and the rest of the Creed.
Then he prays, bowing his neck.
XIX. God and Sovereign of all, make us, who are unworthy, worthy of this hour, lover of mankind; that being pure from all deceit and all hypocrisy, we may be united with one another by the bond of peace and love, being confirmed by the sanctification of Your divine knowledge through Your only-begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Deacon.
XX. Let us stand well, let us stand reverently, let us stand in the fear of God, and with compunction of heart. In peace let us pray to the Lord.
The Priest.
For God of peace, mercy, love, compassion, and loving-kindness are You, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
Let us salute one another with an holy kiss. Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The Priest bows, saying this prayer:—
XXI. Only Lord and merciful God, on those who are bowing their necks before Your holy altar, and seeking the spiritual gifts that come from You, send forth Your good grace; and bless us all with every spiritual blessing, that cannot be taken from us, You, who dwellest on high, and hast regard unto things that are lowly.
(Aloud.)
For worthy of praise and worship and most glorious is Your all-holy name, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and always, and to all eternity.
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
The Lord will bless us, and minister with us all by His grace and loving-kindness.
And again.
The Lord will bless us, and make us worthy to stand at His holy altar, at all times, now and always, and for ever.
And again.
Blessed be God, who blesses and sanctifies us all in our attendance upon, and service of, His pure mysteries, now and always, and for ever.
The Deacon makes the Universal Litany.
XXII In peace let us pray to the Lord.
The People.
O Lord, have mercy.
The Deacon.
Save us, have mercy upon us, pity and keep us, O God, by Your grace.
For the peace that is from above, and the loving-kindness of God, and the salvation of our souls;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace of the whole world, and the unity of all the holy churches of God;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For those who bear fruit, and labour honourably in the holy churches of God; for those who remember the poor, the widows and the orphans, the strangers and needy ones; and for those who have requested us to mention them in our prayers;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For those who are in old age and infirmity, for the sick and suffering, and those who are troubled by unclean spirits, for their speedy cure from God and their salvation;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For those who are passing their days in virginity, and celibacy, and discipline, and for those in holy matrimony; and for the holy fathers and brethren agonizing in mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For Christians sailing, travelling, living among strangers, and for our brethren in captivity, in exile, in prison, and in bitter slavery, their peaceful return;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and constraint, and uprising against us of enemies;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For favourable weather, peaceful showers, beneficent dews, abundance of fruits, the perfect close of a good season, and for the crown of the year;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For our fathers and brethren present, and praying with us in this holy hour, and at every season, their zeal, labour, and earnestness;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For every Christian soul in tribulation and distress, and needing the mercy and succour of God; for the return of the erring, the health of the sick, the deliverance of the captives, the rest of the fathers and brethren that have fallen asleep aforetime;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the hearing and acceptance of our prayer before God, and the sending down on us His rich mercies and compassion.
Let us beseech the Lord.
And for the offered, precious, heavenly, unutterable, pure, glorious, dread, awful, divine gifts, and the salvation of the priest who stands by and offers them;
Let us offer supplication to God the Lord.
The People.
O Lord, have mercy.
(Thrice.)
Then the Priest makes the sign of the cross on the gifts, and, standing, speaks separately thus:—
XXIII Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will among men, etc.
(Thrice.)
Lord, You will open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
(Thrice.)
Let my mouth be filled with Your praise, O Lord, that I may tell of Your glory, of Your majesty, all the day.
(Thrice.)
Of the Father. Amen. And of the Son. Amen. And of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Now and always, and to all eternity. Amen.
And bowing to this side and to that, he says:
XXIV. Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
And they answer, bowing:—
The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you.
Then the Priest, at great length:—
O Sovereign Lord, who hast visited us in compassion and mercies, and hast freely given to us, Your humble and sinful and unworthy servants, boldness to stand at Your holy altar, and to offer to You this dread and bloodless sacrifice for our sins, and for the errors of the people, look upon me Your unprofitable servant, and blot out my transgressions for Your compassion’s sake; and purify my lips and heart from all pollution of flesh and spirit; and remove from me every shameful and foolish thought, and fit me by the power of Your all-holy Spirit for this service; and receive me graciously by Your goodness as I draw near to Your altar.
And be pleased, O Lord, that these gifts brought by our hands may be acceptable, stooping to my weakness; and cast me not away from Your presence, and abhor not my unworthiness; but pity me according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your mercies pass by my transgressions, that, having come before Your glory without condemnation, I may be counted worthy of the protection of Your only-begotten Son, and of the illumination of Your all-holy Spirit, that I may not be as a slave of sin cast out, but as Your servant may find grace and mercy and forgiveness of sins before You, both in the world that now is and in that which is to come.
I beseech You, Almighty Sovereign, all-powerful Lord, hear my prayer; for You are He who work all in all, and we all seek in all things the help and succour that come from You and Your only-begotten Son, and the good and quickening and consubstantial Spirit, now and ever.
XXV. O God, who through Your great and unspeakable love sent forth Your only-begotten Son into the world, in order that He might turn back the lost sheep, turn not away us sinners, laying hold of You by this dread and bloodless sacrifice; for we trust not in our own righteousness, but in Your good mercy, by which You purchase our race.
We entreat and beseech Your goodness that it may not be for condemnation to Your people that this mystery for salvation has been administered by us, but for remission of sins, for renewal of souls and bodies, for the well-pleasing of You, God and Father, in the mercy and love of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy and good and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
XXVI. O Lord God, who created us, and bring us into life, who hast shown to us ways to salvation, who hast granted to us a revelation of heavenly mysteries, and hast appointed us to this ministry in the power of Your all-holy Spirit, grant, O Sovereign, that we may become servants of Your new testament, ministers of Your pure mysteries, and receive us as we draw near to Your holy altar, according to the greatness of Your mercy, that we may become worthy of offering to You gifts and sacrifices for our transgressions and for those of the people; and grant to us, O Lord, with all fear and a pure conscience to offer to You this spiritual and bloodless sacrifice, and graciously receiving it unto Your holy and spiritual altar above the skies for an odour of a sweet spiritual smell, send down in answer on us the grace of Your all-holy Spirit.
And, O God, look upon us, and have regard to this our reasonable service, and accept it, as You accepted the gifts of Abel, the sacrifices of Noah, the priestly offices of Moses and Aaron, the peace-offerings of Samuel, the repentance of David, the incense of Zacharias. As You accepted from the hand of Your apostles this true service, so accept also in Your goodness from the hands of us sinners these offered gifts; and grant that our offering may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, as a propitiation for our transgressions and the errors of the people; and for the rest of the souls that have fallen asleep aforetime; that we also, Your humble, sinful, and unworthy servants, being counted worthy without guile to serve Your holy altar, may receive the reward of faithful and wise stewards, and may find grace and mercy in the terrible day of Your just and good retribution.
Prayer of the veil.
XXVII. We thank You, O Lord our God, that You have given us boldness for the entrance of Your holy places, which You have renewed to us as a new and living way through the veil of the flesh of Your Christ. We therefore, being counted worthy to enter into the place of the tabernacle of Your glory, and to be within the veil, and to behold the Holy of Holies, cast ourselves down before Your goodness:
Lord, have mercy on us: since we are full of fear and trembling, when about to stand at Your holy altar, and to offer this dread and bloodless sacrifice for our own sins and for the errors of the people: send forth, O God, Your good grace, and sanctify our souls, and bodies, and spirits; and turn our thoughts to holiness, that with a pure conscience we may bring to You a peace-offering, the sacrifice of praise:
(Aloud.)
By the mercy and loving-kindness of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and always:
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The Deacon.
Let us stand reverently, let us stand in the fear of God, and with contrition: let us attend to the holy communion service, to offer peace to God.
The People.
The offering of peace, the sacrifice of praise.
The Priest [A veil is now withdrawn from the oblation of bread and wine.]
And reveal it clearly to us, uncovering the veils that darkly invest in symbol this sacred ceremonial. Fill our intellectual vision with absolute light, and having purified our poverty from every pollution of flesh and spirit, make it worthy of this dread and awful approach: for You are an all-merciful and gracious God, and we send up the praise and the thanksgiving to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, and always, and for ever.
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The Anaphora.
Then he says aloud:—
XXVIII. The love of the Lord and Father, the grace of the Lord and Son, and the fellowship and the gift of the Holy Spirit, be with us all.
The People.
And with your spirit.
The Priest.
Let us lift up our minds and our hearts.
The People.
It is becoming and right.
Then the Priest prays.
Verily it is becoming and right, proper and due to praise You, to sing of You, to bless You, to worship You, to glorify You, to give You thanks, Maker of every creature visible and invisible, the treasure of eternal good things, the fountain of life and immortality, God and Lord of all:
Whom the heavens of heavens praise, and all the host of them; the sun, and the moon, and all the choir of the stars; earth, sea, and all that is in them; Jerusalem, the heavenly assembly, and church of the first-born that are written in heaven; spirits of just men and of prophets; souls of martyrs and of apostles; angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and authorities, and dread powers; and the many-eyed cherubim, and the six-winged seraphim, which cover their faces with two wings, their feet with two, and with two they fly, crying one to another with unresting lips, with unceasing praises:
(Aloud.)
With loud voice singing the victorious hymn of Your majestic glory, crying aloud, praising, shouting, and saying:—
The People.
Holy, holy, holy, O Lord of Sabaoth, the heaven and the earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
The Priest, making the sign of the cross on the gifts, says:—
XXIX. Holy are You, King of eternity, and Lord and giver of all holiness; holy also Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom You have made all things; holy also Your Holy Spirit, which searches all things, even Your deep things, O God: holy are You, almighty, all-powerful, good, dread, merciful, most compassionate to Your creatures; who made man from earth after Your own image and likeness; who gave him the joy of paradise; and when he transgressed Your commandment, and fell away, did not disregard nor desert him, O Good One, but chastened him as at merciful father, call him by the law, instruct him by the prophets; and afterwards sent forth Your only-begotten Son Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world, that He by His coming might renew and restore Your image;
Who, having descended from heaven, and become flesh of the Holy Spirit and Virgin Godmother Mary, and having sojourned among men, fulfilled the dispensation for the salvation of our race; and being about to endure His voluntary and life-giving death by the cross, He the sinless for us the sinners, in the night in which He was betrayed, nay, rather delivered Himself up for the life and salvation of the world,
Then the Priest holds the bread in his hand, and says:—
XXX. Having taken the bread in His holy and pure and blameless and immortal hands, lifting up His eyes to heaven, and showing it to You, His God and Father, He gave thanks, and hallowed, and broke, and gave it to us, His disciples and apostles, saying:—
The Deacons say:
For the remission of sins and life everlasting.
Then he says aloud:—
Take, eat: this is my body, broken for you, and given for remission of sins.
The People.
Amen.
Then he takes the cup, and says:—
In like manner, after supper, He took the cup, and having mixed wine and water, lifting up His eyes to heaven, and presenting it to You, His God and Father, He gave thanks, and hollowed and blessed it, and filled it with the Holy Spirit, and gave it to us His disciples, saying, Drink all of it; this is my blood of the new testament shed for you and many, and distributed for the remission of sins.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
This do in remembrance of me; for as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show forth the Lord’s death, and confess His resurrection, till He come.
The Deacons say:—
We believe and confess:
The People.
We show forth Your death, O Lord, and confess Your resurrection.
The Priest (Oblation).
XXXI. Remembering, therefore, His life-giving sufferings, His saving cross, His death and His burial, and resurrection from the dead on the third day, and His ascension into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of You, our God and Father, and His second glorious and awful appearing, when He shall come with glory to judge the quick and the dead, and render to every one according to His works; even we, sinful men, offer unto You, O Lord, this dread and bloodless sacrifice, praying that You will not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities;
But that You, according to Your mercy and Your unspeakable loving-kindness, passing by and blotting out the handwriting against us Your suppliants, wilt grant to us Your heavenly and eternal gifts (which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man ) that you have prepared, O God, for those who love You; and reject not, O loving Lord, the people for my sake, or for my sin’s sake:
Then he says, thrice:—
For Your people and Your Church supplicate You.
The People.
Have mercy on us, O Lord our God, Father Almighty.
Again the Priest says (Invocation):—
XXXII. Have mercy upon us, O God Almighty.
Have mercy upon us, O God our Saviour.
Have mercy upon us, O God, according to Your great mercy, and send forth on us, and on these offered gifts, Your all-holy Spirit.
Then, bowing his neck, he says:—
The sovereign and quickening Spirit, that sits upon the throne with You, our God and Father, and with Your only-begotten Son, reigning with You; the consubstantial and co-eternal; that spoke in the law and in the prophets, and in Your New Testament; that descended in the form of a dove on our Lord Jesus Christ at the river Jordan, and abode on Him; that descended on Your apostles in the form of tongues of fire in the upper room of the holy and glorious Zion on the day of Pentecost: this Your all-holy Spirit, send down, O Lord, upon us, and upon these offered holy gifts;
And rising up, he says aloud:—
That coming, by His holy and good and glorious appearing, He may sanctify this bread, and make it the holy body of Your Christ.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
And this cup the precious blood of Your Christ.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest by himself standing.
XXXIII. That they may be to all that partake of them for remission of sins, and for life everlasting, for the sanctification of souls and of bodies, for bearing the fruit of good works, for the establishing of Your Holy Catholic Church, which You have founded on the Rock of Faith, that the gates of hell may not prevail against it; delivering it from all heresy and scandals, and from those who work iniquity, keeping it till the fullness of the time.
And having bowed, he says:—
XXXIV. We present them to You also, O Lord, for the holy places, which You have glorified by the divine appearing of Your Christ, and by the visitation of Your all-holy Spirit; especially for the glorious Zion, the mother of all the churches; and for Your Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church throughout the world: even now, O Lord, bestow upon her the rich gifts of Your all-holy Spirit.
Remember also, O Lord, our holy fathers and brethren in it, and the bishops in all the world, who rightly divide the word of Your truth.
Remember also, O Lord, every city and country, and those of the true faith dwelling in them, their peace and security.
Remember, O Lord, Christians sailing, travelling, sojourning in strange lands; our fathers and brethren, who are in bonds, prison, captivity, and exile; who are in mines, and under torture, and in bitter slavery. Remember, O Lord, the sick and afflicted, and those troubled by unclean spirits, their speedy healing from You, O God, and their salvation.
Remember, O Lord, every Christian soul in affliction and distress, needing Your mercy and succour, O God; and the return of the erring.
Remember, O Lord, our fathers and brethren, toiling hard, and ministering unto us, for Your holy name’s sake.
Remember all, O Lord, for good: have mercy on all, O Lord, be reconciled to us all: give peace to the multitudes of Your people: put away scandals: bring wars to an end: make the uprising of heresies to cease: grant Your peace and Your love to us, O God our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth.
Remember, O Lord, favourable weather, peaceful showers, beneficent dews, abundance of fruits, and to crown the year with Your goodness; for the eyes of all wait on You, and You give their food in due season: you open Your hand, and fill every living thing with gladness.
Remember, O Lord, those who bear fruit, and labour honourably in the holy of Your Church; and those who forget not the poor, the widows, the orphans, the strangers, and the needy; and all who have desired us to remember them in our prayers.
Moreover, O Lord, be pleased to remember those who have brought these offerings this day to Your holy altar, and for what each one has brought them or with what mind, and those persons who have just now been mentioned to You.
Remember, O Lord, according to the multitude of Your mercy and compassion, me also, Your humble and unprofitable servant; and the deacons who surround Your holy altar, and graciously give them a blameless life, keep their ministry undefiled, and purchase for them a good degree, that we may find mercy and grace, with all the saints that have been well pleasing to You since the world began, to generation and generation— grandsires, sires, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, teachers, saints, and every just spirit made perfect in the faith of Your Christ.
XXXV. Hail, Mary, highly favoured: the Lord is with You; blessed are you among women, and blessed the fruit of your womb, for you bore the Saviour of our souls.
The Deacons.
XXXVI. Remember us, O Lord God.
The Priest, bowing, says:—
Remember, O Lord God, the spirits and all flesh, of whom we have made mention, and of whom we have not made mention, who are of the true faith, from righteous Abel unto this day: unto them do You give rest there in the land of the living, in Your kingdom, in the joy of paradise, in the bosom of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, our holy fathers; whence pain, and grief, and lamentation have fled: there the light of Your countenance looks upon them, and enlightens them for ever.
Make the end of our lives Christian, acceptable, blameless, and peaceful, O Lord, gathering us together, O Lord, under the feet of Your elect, when You will, and as You will; only without shame and transgressions, through Your only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ: for He is the only sinless one who has appeared on the earth.
The Deacon.
And let us pray:—
For the peace and establishing of the whole world, and of the holy churches of God, and for the purposes for which each one made his offering, or according to the desire he has: and for the people standing round, and for all men, and all women:
The People.
And for all men and all women. (Amen.)
The Priest says aloud:—
Wherefore, both to them and to us, do You in Your goodness and love:
The People.
Forgive, remit, pardon, O God, our transgressions, voluntary and involuntary: in deed and in word: in knowledge and in ignorance: by night and by day: in thought and intent: in Your goodness and love, forgive us them all.
The Priest.
Through the grace and compassion and love of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed and glorified, together with the all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XXXVII. Peace be to all:
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
Again, and continually, in peace let us pray to the Lord.
For the gifts to the Lord God presented and sanctified, precious, heavenly, unspeakable, pure, glorious, dread, awful, divine;
Let us pray.
That the Lord our God, having graciously received them to His altar that is holy and above the heavens, rational and spiritual, for the odour of a sweet spiritual savour, may send down in answer upon us the divine grace and the gift of the all-holy Spirit;
Let us pray.
Having prayed for the unity of the faith, and the communion of His all-holy and adorable Spirit;
Let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life, to Christ our God:
The People.
Amen.
The Priest prays.
XXXVIII. God and Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, the glorious Lord, the blessed essence, the bounteous goodness, the God and Sovereign of all, who art blessed to all eternity, who sittest upon the cherubim, and art glorified by the seraphim, before whom stand thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand hosts of angels and archangels: You have accepted the gifts, offerings, and fruits brought unto You as an odour of a sweet spiritual smell, and hast been pleased to sanctify them, and make them perfect, O good One, by the grace of Your Christ, and by the presence of Your all-holy Spirit.
Sanctify also, O Lord, our souls, and bodies, and spirits, and touch our understandings, and search our consciences, and cast out from us every evil imagination, every impure feeling, every base desire, every unbecoming thought, all envy, and vanity, and hypocrisy, all lying, all deceit, every worldly affection, all covetousness, all vainglory, all indifference, all vice, all passion, all anger, all malice, all blasphemy, every motion of the flesh and spirit that is not in accordance with Your holy will:
(Aloud.)
And count us worthy, O loving Lord, with boldness, without condemnation, in a pure heart, with a contrite spirit, with unshamed face, with sanctified lips, to dare to call upon You, the holy God, Father in heaven, and to say,
The People.
Our Father, which art in heaven: hollowed be Your name; and so on to the doxology.
The Priest, bowing, says (the Embolism ):—
And lead us not into temptation, Lord, Lord of Hosts, who know our frailty, but deliver us from the evil one and his works, and from all his malice and craftiness, for the sake of Your holy name, which has been placed upon our humility:
(Aloud.)
For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XXXIX. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The People.
To You, O Lord.
The Priest prays, speaking thus:—
To You, O Lord, we Your servants have bowed our heads before Your holy altar, waiting for the rich mercies that are from You.
Send forth upon us, O Lord, Your plenteous grace and Your blessing; and sanctify our souls, bodies, and spirits, that we may become worthy communicants and partakers of Your holy mysteries, to the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting:
(Aloud.)
For adorable and glorified are You, our God, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest says aloud:—
And the grace and the mercies of the holy and consubstantial, and uncreated, and adorable Trinity, shall be with us all.
The People.
And with your spirit.
The Deacon.
In the fear of God, let us attend.
The Priest says secretly:—
O holy Lord, who abides in holy places, sanctify us by the word of Your grace, and by the visitation of Your all-holy Spirit: for You, O Lord, have said, You will be holy, for I am holy. O Lord our God, incomprehensible Word of God, one in substance with the Father and the Holy Spirit, co-eternal and indivisible, accept the pure hymn, in Your holy and bloodless sacrifices; with the cherubim, and seraphim, and from me, a sinful man, crying and saying:—
He takes up the gifts and says aloud:—
XL. The holy things unto holy.
The People.
One only is holy, one Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, to whom be glory to all eternity.
The Deacon.
XLI. For the remission of our sins, and the propitiation of our souls, and for every soul in tribulation and distress, needing the mercy and succour of God, and for the return of the erring, the healing of the sick, the deliverance of the captives, the rest of our fathers and brethren who have fallen asleep aforetime;
Let us all say fervently, Lord, have mercy:
The People (twelve times).
Lord, have mercy.
Then the Priest breaks the bread, and holds the half in his right hand, and the half in his left, and dips that in his right hand in the chalice, saying:—
The union of the all-holy body and precious blood of our Lord and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Then he makes the sign of the cross on that in his left hand: then with that which has been signed the other half: then immediately he begins to divide, and before all to give to each chalice a single piece, saying:—
It has been made one, and sanctified, and perfected, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever.
And when he makes the sign of the cross on the bread, he says:—
Behold the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, that takes away the sin of the world, sacrificed for the life and salvation of the world.
And when he gives a single piece to each chalice he says:—
A holy portion of Christ, full of grace and truth, of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, to whom be the glory and the power to all eternity.
Then he begins to divide, and to say:—
XLII. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. In green pastures, and so on.
Then,
I will bless the Lord at all times, and so on.
Then,
I will extol You, my God, O King, and so on .
Then,
O praise the Lord, all you nations, and so on .
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
The Lord will bless us, and keep us without condemnation for the communion of His pure gifts, now and always, and for ever.
And when they have filled, the Deacon says:—
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest says:—
The Lord will bless us, and make us worthy with the pure touchings of our fingers to take the live coal, and place it upon the mouths of the faithful for the purification and renewal of their souls and bodies, now and always.
Then,
O taste and see that the Lord is good; who is parted and not divided; distributed to the faithful and not expended; for the remission of sins, and the life everlasting; now and always, and for ever.
The Deacon.
In the peace of Christ, let us sing:
The Singers.
O taste and see that the Lord is good.
The Priest says the prayer before the communion.
O Lord our God, the heavenly bread, the life of the universe, I have sinned against Heaven, and before You, and am not worthy to partake of Your pure mysteries; but as a merciful God, make me worthy by Your grace, without condemnation to partake of Your holy body and precious blood, for the remission of sins, and life everlasting.
XLIII. Then he distributes to the clergy; and when the deacons take the disks and the chalices for distribution to the people, the Deacon, who takes the first disk, says:—
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest replies:—
Glory to God who has sanctified and is sanctifying us all.
The Deacon says:—
Be exalted, O God, over the heavens, and Your glory over all the earth, and Your kingdom endures to all eternity.
And when the Deacon is about to put it on the side-table the Priest says:—
Blessed be the name of the Lord our God for ever.
The Deacon.
In the fear of God, and in faith and love, draw near.
The People.
Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.
And again, when he sets down the disk upon the side-table, he says:—
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
Save Your people, O God, and bless Your inheritance.
The Priest again.
Glory to our God, who has sanctified us all.
And when he has put the chalice back on the holy table, the Priest says:—
Blessed be the name of the Lord to all eternity.
The Deacons and the People say:—
Fill our mouths with Your praise, O Lord, and fill our lips with joy, that we may sing of Your glory, of Your greatness all the day.
And again:—
We render thanks to You, Christ our God, that You have made us worthy to partake of Your body and blood, for the remission of sins, and for life everlasting. We pray You, in Your goodness and love, keep us without condemnation.
The prayer of incense at the last entrance.
XLIV. We render thanks to You, the Saviour and God of all, for all the good things You have given us, and for the participation of Your holy and pure mysteries, and we offer to You this incense, praying: Keep us under the shadow of Your wings, and count us worthy till our last breath to partake of Your holy rites for the sanctification of our souls and bodies, for the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven: for You, O God, are our sanctification, and we send up praise and thanksgiving to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Deacon begins in the entrance.
Glory to You, glory to You, glory to You, O Christ the King, only-begotten Word of the Father, that You have counted us, Your sinful and unworthy servants, worthy to enjoy your pure mysteries for the remission of sins, and for life everlasting: glory to You.
And when he has made the entrance, the Deacon begins to speak thus:—
XLV. Again and again, and at all times, in peace, let us beseech the Lord.
That the participation of His Holy rites may be to us for the turning away from every wicked thing, for our support on the journey to life everlasting, for the communion and gift of the Holy Spirit;
Let us pray.
The Priest prays.
Commemorating our all-holy, pure, most glorious, blessed Lady, the God-Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary, and all the saints that have been well-pleasing to You since the world began, let us devote ourselves, and one another, and our whole life, to Christ our God:
The People.
To You, O Lord.
The Priest.
XLVI. O God, who through Your great and unspeakable love condescended to the weakness of Your servants, and hast counted us worthy to partake of this heavenly table, condemn not us sinners for the participation of Your pure mysteries; but keep us, O good One, in the sanctification of Your Holy Spirit, that being made holy, we may find part and inheritance with all Your saints that have been well-pleasing to You since the world began, in the light of Your countenance, through the mercy of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit: for blessed and glorified is Your all-precious and glorious name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
XLVII. Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The Priest.
O God, great and marvellous, look upon Your servants, for we have bowed our heads to You. Stretch forth Your hand, strong and full of blessings, and bless Your people. Keep Your inheritance, that always and at all times we may glorify You, our only living and true God, the holy and consubstantial Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to all eternity.
(Aloud.)
For unto You is becoming and is due praise from us all, and honour, and adoration, and thanksgiving, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever.
The Deacon.
XLVIII. In the peace of Christ let us sing:
And again he says:—
In the peace of Christ let us go on:
The People.
In the name of the Lord. Sir, pronounce the blessing.
Dismission prayer, spoken by the Deacon.
Going on from glory to glory, we praise You, the Saviour of our souls. Glory to Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit now and ever, and to all eternity. We praise You, the Saviour of our souls.
The Priest says a prayer from the altar to the sacristy.
XLIX. Going on from strength to strength, and having fulfilled all the divine service in Your temple, even now we beseech You, O Lord our God, make us worthy of perfect loving-kindness; make straight our path: root us in Your fear, and make us worthy of the heavenly kingdom, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
The Deacon.
L. Again and again, and at all times, in peace let us beseech the Lord.
Prayer said in the sacristy after the dismissal.
You have given unto us, O Lord, sanctification in the communion of the all-holy body and precious blood of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; give unto us also the grace of Your good Spirit, and keep us blameless in the faith, lead us unto perfect adoption and redemption, and to the coming joys of eternity; for You are our sanctification and light, O God, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Deacon.
In the peace of Christ let us keep watch.
The Priest.
Blessed is God, who blesses and sanctifies through the communion of the holy, and quickening, and pure mysteries, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Then the prayer of propitiation.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Lamb and Shepherd, who takest away the sin of the world, who freely forgave their debt to the two debtors, and gavest remission of her sins to the woman that was a sinner, who gavest healing to the paralytic, with the remission of his sins; forgive, remit, pardon, O God, our offenses, voluntary and involuntary, in knowledge and in ignorance, by transgression and by disobedience, which Your all-holy Spirit knows better than Your servants do:
And if men, carnal and dwelling in this world, have in anything erred from Your commandments, either moved by the devil, whether in word or in deed, or if they have come under a curse, or by reason of some special vow, I entreat and beseech Your unspeakable loving-kindness, that they may be set free from their word, and released from the oath and the special vow, according to Your goodness.
Verily, O Sovereign Lord, hear my supplication on behalf of Your servants, and pass by all their errors, remembering them no more; forgive them every transgression, voluntary and involuntary; deliver them from everlasting punishment: for You are He that hast commanded us, saying, Whatsoever things you bind upon earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever things you loose upon earth, shall be loosed in heaven: for, you are our God, a God able to pity, and to save and to forgive sins; and glory is due unto You, with the eternal Father, and the quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Priest.
I O Sovereign Lord our God, contemn me not, defiled with a multitude of sins: for, behold, I have come to this Your divine and heavenly mystery, not as being worthy; but looking only to Your goodness, I direct my voice to You: God be merciful to me, a sinner; I have sinned against Heaven, and before You, and am unworthy to come into the presence of this Your holy and spiritual table, upon which Your only-begotten Son, and our Lord Jesus Christ, is mystically set forth as a sacrifice for me, a sinner, and stained with every spot. Wherefore I present to You this supplication and thanksgiving, that Your Spirit the Comforter may be sent down upon me, strengthening and fitting me for this service; and count me worthy to make known without condemnation the word, delivered from You by me to the people, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening, and consubstantial Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Prayer of the standing beside the altar.
II Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the triune light of the Godhead, which is unity subsisting in trinity, divided, yet indivisible: for the Trinity is the one God Almighty, whose glory the heavens declare, and the earth His dominion, and the sea His might, and every sentient and intellectual creature at all times proclaims His majesty: for all glory becomes Him, and honour and might, greatness and magnificence, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Prayer of the incense at the beginning.
III Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, O Word of God, who freely offered Yourself a blameless sacrifice upon the cross to God even the Father, the coal of double nature, that touched the lips of the prophet with the tongs, and took away his sins, touch also the hearts of us sinners, and purify us from every stain, and present us holy beside Your holy altar, that we may offer You a sacrifice of praise: and accept from us, Your unprofitable servants, this incense as an odour of a sweet smell, and make fragrant the evil odour of our soul and body, and purify us with the sanctifying power of Your all-holy Spirit: for You alone are holy, who sanctifies, and are communicated to the faithful; and glory becomes You, with Your eternal Father, and Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Prayer of the commencement.
IV O beneficent King eternal, and Creator of the universe, receive Your Church, coming unto You through Your Christ: fulfil to each what is profitable; lead all to perfection, and make us perfectly worthy of the grace of Your sanctification, gathering us together within Your holy Church, which You have purchased by the precious blood of Your only-begotten Son, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with whom You are blessed and glorified, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Deacon.
V Let us again pray to the Lord.
The Priest, prayer of the incense at the entrance of the congregation.
God, who accepted the gifts of Abel, the sacrifice of Noah and of Abram, the incense of Aaron and of Zacharias, accept also from the hand of us sinners this incense for an odour of a sweet smell, and for remission of our sins, and those of all Your people; for blessed are You, and glory becomes You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever.
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest prays.
Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, who through exceeding goodness and love not to be restrained was crucified, and did not refuse to be pierced by the spear and nails; who provided this mysterious and awful service as an everlasting memorial for us perpetually: bless Your ministry in Christ the God, and bless our entrance, and fully complete the presentation of this our service by Your unutterable compassion, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The responsive prayer from the Deacon.
VI. The Lord bless us, and make us worthy seraphically to offer gifts, and to sing the oft-sung hymn of the divine Trisagion, by the fullness and exceeding abundance of all the perfection of holiness, now and ever.
Then the Deacon begins to sing in the entrance.
You who art the only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal; who submitted for our salvation to become flesh of the holy God-mother, and ever-virgin Mary; who immutably became man and was crucified, O Christ our God, and by Your death trod death underfoot; who art one of the Holy Trinity glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us.
The Priest says this prayer from the gates to the altar.
VII God Almighty, Lord great in glory, who hast given to us an entrance into the Holy of Holies, through the sojourning among men of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord, and God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, we supplicate and invoke Your goodness, since we are fearful and trembling when about to stand at Your holy altar; send forth upon us, O God, Your good grace, and sanctify our souls, and bodies, and spirits, and turn our thoughts to piety, in order that with a pure conscience we may bring unto You gifts, offerings, and fruits for the remission of our transgressions, and for the propitiation of all Your people, by the grace and mercies and loving-kindness of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed to all eternity. Amen.
After the approach to the altar, the Priest says:—
VIII. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Priest.
The Lord bless us all, and sanctify us for the entrance and celebration of the divine and pure mysteries, giving rest to the blessed souls among the good and just, by His grace and loving-kindness, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Then the Deacon says the bidding prayer.
IX. In peace let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace that is from above, and for God’s love to man, and for the salvation of our souls, let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace of the whole world, for the unity of all the holy churches of God, let us beseech the Lord.
For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and distress, and from the uprising of our enemies, let us beseech the Lord.
Then the Singers sing the Trisagion Hymn.
Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.
Then the Priest prays, bowing.
X. O compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and very gracious and true God, look from Your prepared dwelling-place, and hear us Your suppliants, and deliver us from every temptation of the devil and of man; withhold not Your aid from us, nor bring on us chastisements too heavy for our strength: for we are unable to overcome what is opposed to us; but You are able, Lord, to save us from everything that is against us. Save us, O God, from the difficulties of this world, according to Your goodness, in order that, having drawn near with a pure conscience to Your holy altar, we may send up to You without condemnation the blessed hymn Trisagion, together with the heavenly powers, and that, having performed the service, well pleasing to You and divine, we may be counted worthy of eternal life.
(Aloud.)
Because You are holy, Lord our God, and dwell and abide in holy places, we send up the praise and the hymn Trisagion to You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XI. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Singers.
Alleluia.
Then there are read in order the holy oracles of the Old Testament, and of the prophets; and the incarnation of the Son of God is set forth, and His sufferings and resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and His second appearing with glory; and this takes place daily in the holy and divine service.
After the reading and instruction the Deacon says:—
XII. Let us all say, Lord, be merciful.
Lord Almighty, the God of our fathers;
We beseech You, hear us.
For the peace which is from above, and for the salvation of our souls;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace of the whole world, and the unity of all the holy churches of God;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the salvation and help of all the Christ-loving people;
We beseech You, hear us.
For our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, distress, from captivity, bitter death, and from our iniquities;
We beseech You, hear us.
For the people standing round, and waiting for the rich and plenteous mercy that is from You;
We beseech You, be merciful and gracious.
Save Your people, O Lord, and bless Your inheritance.
Visit Your world in mercy and compassion.
Exalt the horn of Christians by the power of the precious and quickening cross.
We beseech You, most merciful Lord, hear us praying to You, and have mercy upon us.
The People (thrice).
Lord, have mercy upon us.
The Deacon.
XIII. For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and distress, let us beseech the Lord.
Let us all entreat from the Lord, that we may pass the whole day, perfect, holy, peaceful, and without sin.
Let us entreat from the Lord a messenger of peace, a faithful guide, a guardian of our souls and bodies.
Let us entreat from the Lord forgiveness and remission of our sins and transgressions.
Let us entreat from the Lord the things which are good and proper for our souls, and peace for the world.
Let us entreat from the Lord, that we may spend the remaining period of our life in peace and health.
Let us entreat that the close of our lives may be Christian, without pain and without shame, and a good plea at the dread and awful judgment-seat of Christ.
The Priest.
XIV. For You are the gospel and the light, Saviour and keeper of our souls and bodies, God, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest
God, who hast taught us Your divine and saving oracles, enlighten the souls of us sinners for the comprehension of the things which have been before spoken, so that we may not only be seen to be hearers of spiritual things, but also doers of good deeds, striving after guileless faith, blameless life, and pure conversation.
(Aloud.)
In Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, good, and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XV. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to Your spirit.
The Deacon.
Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The People.
To You, Lord.
The Priest prays, saying:
O Sovereign giver of life, and provider of good things, who gave to mankind the blessed hope of eternal life, our Lord Jesus Christ, count us worthy in holiness, and perfect this Your divine service to the enjoyment of future blessedness.
(Aloud.)
So that, guarded by Your power at all times, and led into the light of truth, we may send up the praise and the thanksgiving to You, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Deacon.
XVI. Let none remain of the catechumens, none of the unbaptized, none of those who are unable to join with us in prayer. Look at one another. The door.
All erect: let us again pray to the Lord.
2
The Priest says the prayer of incense.
Sovereign Almighty, King of Glory, who know all things before their creation, manifest Yourself to us calling upon You at this holy hour, and redeem us from the shame of our transgressions; cleanse our mind and our thoughts from impure desires, from worldly deceit, from all influence of the devil; and accept from the hands of us sinners this incense, as You accepted the offering of Abel, and Noah, and Aaron, and Samuel, and of all Your saints, guarding us from everything evil, and preserving us for continually pleasing, and worshipping, and glorifying You, the Father, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
And the Readers begin the Cherubic Hymn.
Let all mortal flesh be silent, and stand with fear and trembling, and meditate nothing earthly within itself:—
For the King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ our God, comes forward to be sacrificed, and to be given for food to the faithful; and the bands of angels go before Him with every power and dominion, the many-eyed cherubim, and the six-winged seraphim, covering their faces, and crying aloud the hymn, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
The Priest, bringing in the holy gifts, says this prayer:—
XVII. O God, our God, who sent forth the heavenly bread, the food of the whole world, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be a Saviour, and Redeemer, and Benefactor, blessing and sanctifying us, do You Yourself bless this offering, and graciously receive it to Your altar above the skies:
Remember in Your goodness and love those who have brought it, and those for whom they have brought it, and preserve us without condemnation in the service of Your divine mysteries: for hollowed and glorified is Your all-honoured and great name, Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
Blessed be God, who blesses and sanctifies us all at the presentation of the divine and pure mysteries, and gives rest to the blessed souls among the holy and just, now and always, and to all eternity.
The Deacon.
XVIII Let us attend in wisdom.
The Priest begins.
I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God: and the rest of the Creed.
Then he prays, bowing his neck.
XIX. God and Sovereign of all, make us, who are unworthy, worthy of this hour, lover of mankind; that being pure from all deceit and all hypocrisy, we may be united with one another by the bond of peace and love, being confirmed by the sanctification of Your divine knowledge through Your only-begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Deacon.
XX. Let us stand well, let us stand reverently, let us stand in the fear of God, and with compunction of heart. In peace let us pray to the Lord.
The Priest.
For God of peace, mercy, love, compassion, and loving-kindness are You, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
Let us salute one another with an holy kiss. Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The Priest bows, saying this prayer:—
XXI. Only Lord and merciful God, on those who are bowing their necks before Your holy altar, and seeking the spiritual gifts that come from You, send forth Your good grace; and bless us all with every spiritual blessing, that cannot be taken from us, You, who dwellest on high, and hast regard unto things that are lowly.
(Aloud.)
For worthy of praise and worship and most glorious is Your all-holy name, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and always, and to all eternity.
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
The Lord will bless us, and minister with us all by His grace and loving-kindness.
And again.
The Lord will bless us, and make us worthy to stand at His holy altar, at all times, now and always, and for ever.
And again.
Blessed be God, who blesses and sanctifies us all in our attendance upon, and service of, His pure mysteries, now and always, and for ever.
The Deacon makes the Universal Litany.
XXII In peace let us pray to the Lord.
The People.
O Lord, have mercy.
The Deacon.
Save us, have mercy upon us, pity and keep us, O God, by Your grace.
For the peace that is from above, and the loving-kindness of God, and the salvation of our souls;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the peace of the whole world, and the unity of all the holy churches of God;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For those who bear fruit, and labour honourably in the holy churches of God; for those who remember the poor, the widows and the orphans, the strangers and needy ones; and for those who have requested us to mention them in our prayers;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For those who are in old age and infirmity, for the sick and suffering, and those who are troubled by unclean spirits, for their speedy cure from God and their salvation;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For those who are passing their days in virginity, and celibacy, and discipline, and for those in holy matrimony; and for the holy fathers and brethren agonizing in mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For Christians sailing, travelling, living among strangers, and for our brethren in captivity, in exile, in prison, and in bitter slavery, their peaceful return;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and constraint, and uprising against us of enemies;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For favourable weather, peaceful showers, beneficent dews, abundance of fruits, the perfect close of a good season, and for the crown of the year;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For our fathers and brethren present, and praying with us in this holy hour, and at every season, their zeal, labour, and earnestness;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For every Christian soul in tribulation and distress, and needing the mercy and succour of God; for the return of the erring, the health of the sick, the deliverance of the captives, the rest of the fathers and brethren that have fallen asleep aforetime;
Let us beseech the Lord.
For the hearing and acceptance of our prayer before God, and the sending down on us His rich mercies and compassion.
Let us beseech the Lord.
And for the offered, precious, heavenly, unutterable, pure, glorious, dread, awful, divine gifts, and the salvation of the priest who stands by and offers them;
Let us offer supplication to God the Lord.
The People.
O Lord, have mercy.
(Thrice.)
Then the Priest makes the sign of the cross on the gifts, and, standing, speaks separately thus:—
XXIII Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will among men, etc.
(Thrice.)
Lord, You will open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
(Thrice.)
Let my mouth be filled with Your praise, O Lord, that I may tell of Your glory, of Your majesty, all the day.
(Thrice.)
Of the Father. Amen. And of the Son. Amen. And of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Now and always, and to all eternity. Amen.
And bowing to this side and to that, he says:
XXIV. Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
And they answer, bowing:—
The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you.
Then the Priest, at great length:—
O Sovereign Lord, who hast visited us in compassion and mercies, and hast freely given to us, Your humble and sinful and unworthy servants, boldness to stand at Your holy altar, and to offer to You this dread and bloodless sacrifice for our sins, and for the errors of the people, look upon me Your unprofitable servant, and blot out my transgressions for Your compassion’s sake; and purify my lips and heart from all pollution of flesh and spirit; and remove from me every shameful and foolish thought, and fit me by the power of Your all-holy Spirit for this service; and receive me graciously by Your goodness as I draw near to Your altar.
And be pleased, O Lord, that these gifts brought by our hands may be acceptable, stooping to my weakness; and cast me not away from Your presence, and abhor not my unworthiness; but pity me according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your mercies pass by my transgressions, that, having come before Your glory without condemnation, I may be counted worthy of the protection of Your only-begotten Son, and of the illumination of Your all-holy Spirit, that I may not be as a slave of sin cast out, but as Your servant may find grace and mercy and forgiveness of sins before You, both in the world that now is and in that which is to come.
I beseech You, Almighty Sovereign, all-powerful Lord, hear my prayer; for You are He who work all in all, and we all seek in all things the help and succour that come from You and Your only-begotten Son, and the good and quickening and consubstantial Spirit, now and ever.
XXV. O God, who through Your great and unspeakable love sent forth Your only-begotten Son into the world, in order that He might turn back the lost sheep, turn not away us sinners, laying hold of You by this dread and bloodless sacrifice; for we trust not in our own righteousness, but in Your good mercy, by which You purchase our race.
We entreat and beseech Your goodness that it may not be for condemnation to Your people that this mystery for salvation has been administered by us, but for remission of sins, for renewal of souls and bodies, for the well-pleasing of You, God and Father, in the mercy and love of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy and good and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
XXVI. O Lord God, who created us, and bring us into life, who hast shown to us ways to salvation, who hast granted to us a revelation of heavenly mysteries, and hast appointed us to this ministry in the power of Your all-holy Spirit, grant, O Sovereign, that we may become servants of Your new testament, ministers of Your pure mysteries, and receive us as we draw near to Your holy altar, according to the greatness of Your mercy, that we may become worthy of offering to You gifts and sacrifices for our transgressions and for those of the people; and grant to us, O Lord, with all fear and a pure conscience to offer to You this spiritual and bloodless sacrifice, and graciously receiving it unto Your holy and spiritual altar above the skies for an odour of a sweet spiritual smell, send down in answer on us the grace of Your all-holy Spirit.
And, O God, look upon us, and have regard to this our reasonable service, and accept it, as You accepted the gifts of Abel, the sacrifices of Noah, the priestly offices of Moses and Aaron, the peace-offerings of Samuel, the repentance of David, the incense of Zacharias. As You accepted from the hand of Your apostles this true service, so accept also in Your goodness from the hands of us sinners these offered gifts; and grant that our offering may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, as a propitiation for our transgressions and the errors of the people; and for the rest of the souls that have fallen asleep aforetime; that we also, Your humble, sinful, and unworthy servants, being counted worthy without guile to serve Your holy altar, may receive the reward of faithful and wise stewards, and may find grace and mercy in the terrible day of Your just and good retribution.
Prayer of the veil.
XXVII. We thank You, O Lord our God, that You have given us boldness for the entrance of Your holy places, which You have renewed to us as a new and living way through the veil of the flesh of Your Christ. We therefore, being counted worthy to enter into the place of the tabernacle of Your glory, and to be within the veil, and to behold the Holy of Holies, cast ourselves down before Your goodness:
Lord, have mercy on us: since we are full of fear and trembling, when about to stand at Your holy altar, and to offer this dread and bloodless sacrifice for our own sins and for the errors of the people: send forth, O God, Your good grace, and sanctify our souls, and bodies, and spirits; and turn our thoughts to holiness, that with a pure conscience we may bring to You a peace-offering, the sacrifice of praise:
(Aloud.)
By the mercy and loving-kindness of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and always:
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The Deacon.
Let us stand reverently, let us stand in the fear of God, and with contrition: let us attend to the holy communion service, to offer peace to God.
The People.
The offering of peace, the sacrifice of praise.
The Priest [A veil is now withdrawn from the oblation of bread and wine.]
And reveal it clearly to us, uncovering the veils that darkly invest in symbol this sacred ceremonial. Fill our intellectual vision with absolute light, and having purified our poverty from every pollution of flesh and spirit, make it worthy of this dread and awful approach: for You are an all-merciful and gracious God, and we send up the praise and the thanksgiving to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, and always, and for ever.
3
The Anaphora.
Then he says aloud:—
XXVIII. The love of the Lord and Father, the grace of the Lord and Son, and the fellowship and the gift of the Holy Spirit, be with us all.
The People.
And with your spirit.
The Priest.
Let us lift up our minds and our hearts.
The People.
It is becoming and right.
Then the Priest prays.
Verily it is becoming and right, proper and due to praise You, to sing of You, to bless You, to worship You, to glorify You, to give You thanks, Maker of every creature visible and invisible, the treasure of eternal good things, the fountain of life and immortality, God and Lord of all:
Whom the heavens of heavens praise, and all the host of them; the sun, and the moon, and all the choir of the stars; earth, sea, and all that is in them; Jerusalem, the heavenly assembly, and church of the first-born that are written in heaven; spirits of just men and of prophets; souls of martyrs and of apostles; angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and authorities, and dread powers; and the many-eyed cherubim, and the six-winged seraphim, which cover their faces with two wings, their feet with two, and with two they fly, crying one to another with unresting lips, with unceasing praises:
(Aloud.)
With loud voice singing the victorious hymn of Your majestic glory, crying aloud, praising, shouting, and saying:—
The People.
Holy, holy, holy, O Lord of Sabaoth, the heaven and the earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
The Priest, making the sign of the cross on the gifts, says:—
XXIX. Holy are You, King of eternity, and Lord and giver of all holiness; holy also Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom You have made all things; holy also Your Holy Spirit, which searches all things, even Your deep things, O God: holy are You, almighty, all-powerful, good, dread, merciful, most compassionate to Your creatures; who made man from earth after Your own image and likeness; who gave him the joy of paradise; and when he transgressed Your commandment, and fell away, did not disregard nor desert him, O Good One, but chastened him as at merciful father, call him by the law, instruct him by the prophets; and afterwards sent forth Your only-begotten Son Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world, that He by His coming might renew and restore Your image;
Who, having descended from heaven, and become flesh of the Holy Spirit and Virgin Godmother Mary, and having sojourned among men, fulfilled the dispensation for the salvation of our race; and being about to endure His voluntary and life-giving death by the cross, He the sinless for us the sinners, in the night in which He was betrayed, nay, rather delivered Himself up for the life and salvation of the world,
Then the Priest holds the bread in his hand, and says:—
XXX. Having taken the bread in His holy and pure and blameless and immortal hands, lifting up His eyes to heaven, and showing it to You, His God and Father, He gave thanks, and hallowed, and broke, and gave it to us, His disciples and apostles, saying:—
The Deacons say:
For the remission of sins and life everlasting.
Then he says aloud:—
Take, eat: this is my body, broken for you, and given for remission of sins.
The People.
Amen.
Then he takes the cup, and says:—
In like manner, after supper, He took the cup, and having mixed wine and water, lifting up His eyes to heaven, and presenting it to You, His God and Father, He gave thanks, and hollowed and blessed it, and filled it with the Holy Spirit, and gave it to us His disciples, saying, Drink all of it; this is my blood of the new testament shed for you and many, and distributed for the remission of sins.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
This do in remembrance of me; for as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show forth the Lord’s death, and confess His resurrection, till He come.
The Deacons say:—
We believe and confess:
The People.
We show forth Your death, O Lord, and confess Your resurrection.
The Priest (Oblation).
XXXI. Remembering, therefore, His life-giving sufferings, His saving cross, His death and His burial, and resurrection from the dead on the third day, and His ascension into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of You, our God and Father, and His second glorious and awful appearing, when He shall come with glory to judge the quick and the dead, and render to every one according to His works; even we, sinful men, offer unto You, O Lord, this dread and bloodless sacrifice, praying that You will not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities;
But that You, according to Your mercy and Your unspeakable loving-kindness, passing by and blotting out the handwriting against us Your suppliants, wilt grant to us Your heavenly and eternal gifts (which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man ) that you have prepared, O God, for those who love You; and reject not, O loving Lord, the people for my sake, or for my sin’s sake:
Then he says, thrice:—
For Your people and Your Church supplicate You.
The People.
Have mercy on us, O Lord our God, Father Almighty.
Again the Priest says (Invocation):—
XXXII. Have mercy upon us, O God Almighty.
Have mercy upon us, O God our Saviour.
Have mercy upon us, O God, according to Your great mercy, and send forth on us, and on these offered gifts, Your all-holy Spirit.
Then, bowing his neck, he says:—
The sovereign and quickening Spirit, that sits upon the throne with You, our God and Father, and with Your only-begotten Son, reigning with You; the consubstantial and co-eternal; that spoke in the law and in the prophets, and in Your New Testament; that descended in the form of a dove on our Lord Jesus Christ at the river Jordan, and abode on Him; that descended on Your apostles in the form of tongues of fire in the upper room of the holy and glorious Zion on the day of Pentecost: this Your all-holy Spirit, send down, O Lord, upon us, and upon these offered holy gifts;
And rising up, he says aloud:—
That coming, by His holy and good and glorious appearing, He may sanctify this bread, and make it the holy body of Your Christ.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
And this cup the precious blood of Your Christ.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest by himself standing.
XXXIII. That they may be to all that partake of them for remission of sins, and for life everlasting, for the sanctification of souls and of bodies, for bearing the fruit of good works, for the establishing of Your Holy Catholic Church, which You have founded on the Rock of Faith, that the gates of hell may not prevail against it; delivering it from all heresy and scandals, and from those who work iniquity, keeping it till the fullness of the time.
And having bowed, he says:—
XXXIV. We present them to You also, O Lord, for the holy places, which You have glorified by the divine appearing of Your Christ, and by the visitation of Your all-holy Spirit; especially for the glorious Zion, the mother of all the churches; and for Your Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church throughout the world: even now, O Lord, bestow upon her the rich gifts of Your all-holy Spirit.
Remember also, O Lord, our holy fathers and brethren in it, and the bishops in all the world, who rightly divide the word of Your truth.
Remember also, O Lord, every city and country, and those of the true faith dwelling in them, their peace and security.
Remember, O Lord, Christians sailing, travelling, sojourning in strange lands; our fathers and brethren, who are in bonds, prison, captivity, and exile; who are in mines, and under torture, and in bitter slavery. Remember, O Lord, the sick and afflicted, and those troubled by unclean spirits, their speedy healing from You, O God, and their salvation.
Remember, O Lord, every Christian soul in affliction and distress, needing Your mercy and succour, O God; and the return of the erring.
Remember, O Lord, our fathers and brethren, toiling hard, and ministering unto us, for Your holy name’s sake.
Remember all, O Lord, for good: have mercy on all, O Lord, be reconciled to us all: give peace to the multitudes of Your people: put away scandals: bring wars to an end: make the uprising of heresies to cease: grant Your peace and Your love to us, O God our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth.
Remember, O Lord, favourable weather, peaceful showers, beneficent dews, abundance of fruits, and to crown the year with Your goodness; for the eyes of all wait on You, and You give their food in due season: you open Your hand, and fill every living thing with gladness.
Remember, O Lord, those who bear fruit, and labour honourably in the holy of Your Church; and those who forget not the poor, the widows, the orphans, the strangers, and the needy; and all who have desired us to remember them in our prayers.
Moreover, O Lord, be pleased to remember those who have brought these offerings this day to Your holy altar, and for what each one has brought them or with what mind, and those persons who have just now been mentioned to You.
Remember, O Lord, according to the multitude of Your mercy and compassion, me also, Your humble and unprofitable servant; and the deacons who surround Your holy altar, and graciously give them a blameless life, keep their ministry undefiled, and purchase for them a good degree, that we may find mercy and grace, with all the saints that have been well pleasing to You since the world began, to generation and generation— grandsires, sires, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, teachers, saints, and every just spirit made perfect in the faith of Your Christ.
XXXV. Hail, Mary, highly favoured: the Lord is with You; blessed are you among women, and blessed the fruit of your womb, for you bore the Saviour of our souls.
The Deacons.
XXXVI. Remember us, O Lord God.
The Priest, bowing, says:—
Remember, O Lord God, the spirits and all flesh, of whom we have made mention, and of whom we have not made mention, who are of the true faith, from righteous Abel unto this day: unto them do You give rest there in the land of the living, in Your kingdom, in the joy of paradise, in the bosom of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, our holy fathers; whence pain, and grief, and lamentation have fled: there the light of Your countenance looks upon them, and enlightens them for ever.
Make the end of our lives Christian, acceptable, blameless, and peaceful, O Lord, gathering us together, O Lord, under the feet of Your elect, when You will, and as You will; only without shame and transgressions, through Your only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ: for He is the only sinless one who has appeared on the earth.
The Deacon.
And let us pray:—
For the peace and establishing of the whole world, and of the holy churches of God, and for the purposes for which each one made his offering, or according to the desire he has: and for the people standing round, and for all men, and all women:
The People.
And for all men and all women. (Amen.)
The Priest says aloud:—
Wherefore, both to them and to us, do You in Your goodness and love:
The People.
Forgive, remit, pardon, O God, our transgressions, voluntary and involuntary: in deed and in word: in knowledge and in ignorance: by night and by day: in thought and intent: in Your goodness and love, forgive us them all.
The Priest.
Through the grace and compassion and love of Your only-begotten Son, with whom You are blessed and glorified, together with the all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XXXVII. Peace be to all:
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
Again, and continually, in peace let us pray to the Lord.
For the gifts to the Lord God presented and sanctified, precious, heavenly, unspeakable, pure, glorious, dread, awful, divine;
Let us pray.
That the Lord our God, having graciously received them to His altar that is holy and above the heavens, rational and spiritual, for the odour of a sweet spiritual savour, may send down in answer upon us the divine grace and the gift of the all-holy Spirit;
Let us pray.
Having prayed for the unity of the faith, and the communion of His all-holy and adorable Spirit;
Let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life, to Christ our God:
The People.
Amen.
The Priest prays.
XXXVIII. God and Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, the glorious Lord, the blessed essence, the bounteous goodness, the God and Sovereign of all, who art blessed to all eternity, who sittest upon the cherubim, and art glorified by the seraphim, before whom stand thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand hosts of angels and archangels: You have accepted the gifts, offerings, and fruits brought unto You as an odour of a sweet spiritual smell, and hast been pleased to sanctify them, and make them perfect, O good One, by the grace of Your Christ, and by the presence of Your all-holy Spirit.
Sanctify also, O Lord, our souls, and bodies, and spirits, and touch our understandings, and search our consciences, and cast out from us every evil imagination, every impure feeling, every base desire, every unbecoming thought, all envy, and vanity, and hypocrisy, all lying, all deceit, every worldly affection, all covetousness, all vainglory, all indifference, all vice, all passion, all anger, all malice, all blasphemy, every motion of the flesh and spirit that is not in accordance with Your holy will:
(Aloud.)
And count us worthy, O loving Lord, with boldness, without condemnation, in a pure heart, with a contrite spirit, with unshamed face, with sanctified lips, to dare to call upon You, the holy God, Father in heaven, and to say,
The People.
Our Father, which art in heaven: hollowed be Your name; and so on to the doxology.
The Priest, bowing, says (the Embolism ):—
And lead us not into temptation, Lord, Lord of Hosts, who know our frailty, but deliver us from the evil one and his works, and from all his malice and craftiness, for the sake of Your holy name, which has been placed upon our humility:
(Aloud.)
For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
XXXIX. Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The People.
To You, O Lord.
The Priest prays, speaking thus:—
To You, O Lord, we Your servants have bowed our heads before Your holy altar, waiting for the rich mercies that are from You.
Send forth upon us, O Lord, Your plenteous grace and Your blessing; and sanctify our souls, bodies, and spirits, that we may become worthy communicants and partakers of Your holy mysteries, to the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting:
(Aloud.)
For adorable and glorified are You, our God, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest says aloud:—
And the grace and the mercies of the holy and consubstantial, and uncreated, and adorable Trinity, shall be with us all.
The People.
And with your spirit.
The Deacon.
In the fear of God, let us attend.
The Priest says secretly:—
O holy Lord, who abides in holy places, sanctify us by the word of Your grace, and by the visitation of Your all-holy Spirit: for You, O Lord, have said, You will be holy, for I am holy. O Lord our God, incomprehensible Word of God, one in substance with the Father and the Holy Spirit, co-eternal and indivisible, accept the pure hymn, in Your holy and bloodless sacrifices; with the cherubim, and seraphim, and from me, a sinful man, crying and saying:—
He takes up the gifts and says aloud:—
XL. The holy things unto holy.
The People.
One only is holy, one Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, to whom be glory to all eternity.
The Deacon.
XLI. For the remission of our sins, and the propitiation of our souls, and for every soul in tribulation and distress, needing the mercy and succour of God, and for the return of the erring, the healing of the sick, the deliverance of the captives, the rest of our fathers and brethren who have fallen asleep aforetime;
Let us all say fervently, Lord, have mercy:
The People (twelve times).
Lord, have mercy.
Then the Priest breaks the bread, and holds the half in his right hand, and the half in his left, and dips that in his right hand in the chalice, saying:—
The union of the all-holy body and precious blood of our Lord and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Then he makes the sign of the cross on that in his left hand: then with that which has been signed the other half: then immediately he begins to divide, and before all to give to each chalice a single piece, saying:—
It has been made one, and sanctified, and perfected, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever.
And when he makes the sign of the cross on the bread, he says:—
Behold the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, that takes away the sin of the world, sacrificed for the life and salvation of the world.
And when he gives a single piece to each chalice he says:—
A holy portion of Christ, full of grace and truth, of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, to whom be the glory and the power to all eternity.
Then he begins to divide, and to say:—
XLII. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. In green pastures, and so on.
Then,
I will bless the Lord at all times, and so on.
Then,
I will extol You, my God, O King, and so on .
Then,
O praise the Lord, all you nations, and so on .
The Deacon.
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
The Lord will bless us, and keep us without condemnation for the communion of His pure gifts, now and always, and for ever.
And when they have filled, the Deacon says:—
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest says:—
The Lord will bless us, and make us worthy with the pure touchings of our fingers to take the live coal, and place it upon the mouths of the faithful for the purification and renewal of their souls and bodies, now and always.
Then,
O taste and see that the Lord is good; who is parted and not divided; distributed to the faithful and not expended; for the remission of sins, and the life everlasting; now and always, and for ever.
The Deacon.
In the peace of Christ, let us sing:
The Singers.
O taste and see that the Lord is good.
The Priest says the prayer before the communion.
O Lord our God, the heavenly bread, the life of the universe, I have sinned against Heaven, and before You, and am not worthy to partake of Your pure mysteries; but as a merciful God, make me worthy by Your grace, without condemnation to partake of Your holy body and precious blood, for the remission of sins, and life everlasting.
XLIII. Then he distributes to the clergy; and when the deacons take the disks and the chalices for distribution to the people, the Deacon, who takes the first disk, says:—
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest replies:—
Glory to God who has sanctified and is sanctifying us all.
The Deacon says:—
Be exalted, O God, over the heavens, and Your glory over all the earth, and Your kingdom endures to all eternity.
And when the Deacon is about to put it on the side-table the Priest says:—
Blessed be the name of the Lord our God for ever.
The Deacon.
In the fear of God, and in faith and love, draw near.
The People.
Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.
And again, when he sets down the disk upon the side-table, he says:—
Sir, pronounce the blessing.
The Priest.
Save Your people, O God, and bless Your inheritance.
The Priest again.
Glory to our God, who has sanctified us all.
And when he has put the chalice back on the holy table, the Priest says:—
Blessed be the name of the Lord to all eternity.
The Deacons and the People say:—
Fill our mouths with Your praise, O Lord, and fill our lips with joy, that we may sing of Your glory, of Your greatness all the day.
And again:—
We render thanks to You, Christ our God, that You have made us worthy to partake of Your body and blood, for the remission of sins, and for life everlasting. We pray You, in Your goodness and love, keep us without condemnation.
The prayer of incense at the last entrance.
XLIV. We render thanks to You, the Saviour and God of all, for all the good things You have given us, and for the participation of Your holy and pure mysteries, and we offer to You this incense, praying: Keep us under the shadow of Your wings, and count us worthy till our last breath to partake of Your holy rites for the sanctification of our souls and bodies, for the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven: for You, O God, are our sanctification, and we send up praise and thanksgiving to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Deacon begins in the entrance.
Glory to You, glory to You, glory to You, O Christ the King, only-begotten Word of the Father, that You have counted us, Your sinful and unworthy servants, worthy to enjoy your pure mysteries for the remission of sins, and for life everlasting: glory to You.
And when he has made the entrance, the Deacon begins to speak thus:—
XLV. Again and again, and at all times, in peace, let us beseech the Lord.
That the participation of His Holy rites may be to us for the turning away from every wicked thing, for our support on the journey to life everlasting, for the communion and gift of the Holy Spirit;
Let us pray.
The Priest prays.
Commemorating our all-holy, pure, most glorious, blessed Lady, the God-Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary, and all the saints that have been well-pleasing to You since the world began, let us devote ourselves, and one another, and our whole life, to Christ our God:
The People.
To You, O Lord.
The Priest.
XLVI. O God, who through Your great and unspeakable love condescended to the weakness of Your servants, and hast counted us worthy to partake of this heavenly table, condemn not us sinners for the participation of Your pure mysteries; but keep us, O good One, in the sanctification of Your Holy Spirit, that being made holy, we may find part and inheritance with all Your saints that have been well-pleasing to You since the world began, in the light of Your countenance, through the mercy of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit: for blessed and glorified is Your all-precious and glorious name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
The People.
Amen.
The Priest.
Peace be to all.
The People.
And to your spirit.
The Deacon.
XLVII. Let us bow our heads to the Lord.
The Priest.
O God, great and marvellous, look upon Your servants, for we have bowed our heads to You. Stretch forth Your hand, strong and full of blessings, and bless Your people. Keep Your inheritance, that always and at all times we may glorify You, our only living and true God, the holy and consubstantial Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to all eternity.
(Aloud.)
For unto You is becoming and is due praise from us all, and honour, and adoration, and thanksgiving, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever.
The Deacon.
XLVIII. In the peace of Christ let us sing:
And again he says:—
In the peace of Christ let us go on:
The People.
In the name of the Lord. Sir, pronounce the blessing.
Dismission prayer, spoken by the Deacon.
Going on from glory to glory, we praise You, the Saviour of our souls. Glory to Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit now and ever, and to all eternity. We praise You, the Saviour of our souls.
The Priest says a prayer from the altar to the sacristy.
XLIX. Going on from strength to strength, and having fulfilled all the divine service in Your temple, even now we beseech You, O Lord our God, make us worthy of perfect loving-kindness; make straight our path: root us in Your fear, and make us worthy of the heavenly kingdom, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom You are blessed, together with Your all-holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.
The Deacon.
L. Again and again, and at all times, in peace let us beseech the Lord.
Prayer said in the sacristy after the dismissal.
You have given unto us, O Lord, sanctification in the communion of the all-holy body and precious blood of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; give unto us also the grace of Your good Spirit, and keep us blameless in the faith, lead us unto perfect adoption and redemption, and to the coming joys of eternity; for You are our sanctification and light, O God, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Deacon.
In the peace of Christ let us keep watch.
The Priest.
Blessed is God, who blesses and sanctifies through the communion of the holy, and quickening, and pure mysteries, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
Then the prayer of propitiation.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Lamb and Shepherd, who takest away the sin of the world, who freely forgave their debt to the two debtors, and gavest remission of her sins to the woman that was a sinner, who gavest healing to the paralytic, with the remission of his sins; forgive, remit, pardon, O God, our offenses, voluntary and involuntary, in knowledge and in ignorance, by transgression and by disobedience, which Your all-holy Spirit knows better than Your servants do:
And if men, carnal and dwelling in this world, have in anything erred from Your commandments, either moved by the devil, whether in word or in deed, or if they have come under a curse, or by reason of some special vow, I entreat and beseech Your unspeakable loving-kindness, that they may be set free from their word, and released from the oath and the special vow, according to Your goodness.
Verily, O Sovereign Lord, hear my supplication on behalf of Your servants, and pass by all their errors, remembering them no more; forgive them every transgression, voluntary and involuntary; deliver them from everlasting punishment: for You are He that hast commanded us, saying, Whatsoever things you bind upon earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever things you loose upon earth, shall be loosed in heaven: for, you are our God, a God able to pity, and to save and to forgive sins; and glory is due unto You, with the eternal Father, and the quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity. Amen.
The Divine Liturgy of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark1
The Disciple of the Holy Peter.2
I.
I. The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Pray.
The People: Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest prays secretly:3 We give Thee thanks, yea, more than thanks, O Lord our God, the Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for all Thy goodness at all times and in all places, because Thou hast shielded, rescued, helped, and guided us all the days of our lives, and brought us unto this hour, permitting us gain to stand before Thee in Thy holy place, that we may implore forgiveness of our sins and propitiation to all Thy people. We pray and beseech Thee, merciful God, to grant in Thy goodness that we may spend this holy day4 and all the time of our lives without sin, in fulness of joy, health, safety, holiness, and reverence of Thee. But all envy, all fear, all temptation, all the influence of Satan, all the snares of wicked men, do Thou, O Lord, drive away from us, and from Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Bestow upon us, O Lord, what is good and meet. Whatever sin we commit in thought, word, or deed, do Thou in Thy goodness and mercy be pleased to pardon. Leave us not, O Lord, while we hope in Thee; nor lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one and from his works, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son.
(In a loud voice.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, in Thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: II. Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Pray for the king.5
The People: Lord, have mercy;6 Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest prays: O God, Sovereign Lord, the Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to grant that our king may enjoy peace, and be just and brave. Subdue under him, O God, all his adversaries and enemies. Gird on thy shield and armour, and rise to his aid. Give him the victory, O God, that his heart may be set on peace and the praise of Thy holy name, that we too7 in his peaceful reign8 may spend a calm and tranquil life in all reverence and godly fear, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:
(In a loud voice.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: III. Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Pray for the papas9 and the bishop.
The People: Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest: O Sovereign and Almighty God, the Father of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to defend in Thy good mercy our most holy and blessed high priest our Father in God D, and our most reverend Bishop D. Preserve them for us through many years in peace, while they according to Thy holy and blessed will fulfil the sacred priesthood committed to their care, and dispense aright the word of truth; with all the orthodox bishops, elders, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, and laity, with the entire body of the Holy and only Catholic Church. Graciously bestow upon them peace, health, and salvation. The prayers they offer up for us, and we for them, do Thou, O Lord, receive at Thy holy, heavenly, and reasonable altar. But all the enemies of Thy Holy Church put Thou speedily under their feet, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: IV. Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Stand10 and pray.
The People: Lord have mercy (thrice).
The Priest offers up the prayer of entrance, and for incense:
The Priest: O Sovereign Lord our God, who hast chosen the lamp of the twelve apostles with its twelve lights, and hast sent them forth to proclaim throughout the whole world and teach the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and to heal sickness and every weakness among the people, and hast breathed upon their faces and said unto them, Receive the Holy Spirit the Comforter: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained: Breathe also Thy Holy Spirit upon us Thy servants, who, standing around, are about to enter on Thy holy service,11 upon the bishops, elders, deacons, readers, singers, and laity, with the entire body of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.From the curse and execration, from condemnation, imprisonment, and banishment, and from the portion of the adversary;
O Lord, deliver us.
Purify our lives and cleanse our hearts from all pollution and from all wickedness, that with pure heart and conscience we may offer to Thee this incense for a sweet-smelling savour, and for the remission of our sins and the sins of all Thy people, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be the glory and the power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Deacon: V. Stand.
They sing:- Only-begotten Son and Word,12 etc.
The Gospel is carried in, and the Deacon says:- Let us pray.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Let us pray.
The People: Lord, have mercy.
The Priest says the prayer of the Trisagion: O Sovereign Lord Christ Jesus, the co-eternal Word of the eternal Father, who wast made in all things like as we are, but without sin, for the salvation of our race; who hast sent forth Thy holy disciples and apostles to proclaim and teach the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and to heal all disease, all sickness among Thy people, be pleased now, O Lord, to send forth Thy light and Thy truth. Enlighten the eyes of our minds, that we may understand Thy divine oracles. Fit us to become hearers, and not only hearers, but doers of Thy word, that we, becoming fruitful, and yielding good fruit from thirty to an hundred fold, may be deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven.
(Aloud.) Let Thy mercy speedily overtake us, O Lord. For Thou art the bringer of good tidings, the Saviour and Guardian of our souls and bodies and we offer glory, thanks, and the Trisagion to Thee, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen. Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal. Holy, holy, holy,13 etc.
VI. After the Trisagion the Priest makes the sign of the cross over the people, and says:- Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
Then follow the Let us attend;14 The Apostle and Prologue of the Hallelujah.15 The Deacons, after a prescribed form, say:- Lord, bless us.16
The Priest says:- May the Lord17 in His mercy bless and help us, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The Priest before the Gospel is read, offers incense,18 and says:- Accept at Thy holy, heavenly, and reasonable altar, O Lord, the incense we offer in presence of Thy sacred glory. Send down upon us in return the grace of Thy Holy Spirit, for Thou art blessed, and let Thy glory encircle us.VII.
The Deacon: when he is about to read the Gospel, says:-Lord, bless us.
The Priest: May the Lord, who is the blessed God, bless and strengthen us, and make us hearers of His holy Gospel, now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen.
The Deacon: Stand and let us hear the holy Gospel.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.VIII.
The Deacon: reads the Gospel, and the Priest says the prayer of the Collect.19 Look down in mercy and compassion, O Lord, and heal the sick among Thy people.May all our brethren who have gone or who are about to go abroad, safely reach their destination in due season.Send down the gracious rain upon the thirsty lands, and make the rivers20 flow in full stream, according to Thy grace.The fruits of the land do Thou, O Lord, fill with seed and make ripe for the harvest.In peace, courage, justice, and tranquillity preserve the kingdom of Thy servant, whom Thou hast deemed worthy to reign over this land.From evil days, from famine and pestilence, from the assault of barbarians, defend, O Lord, this Christ-loving city, lowly and worthy of Thy compassion, as Thou didst spare Nineveh of old.For Thou art full of mercy and compassion, and rememberest not the iniquities of men against them.Thou hast said through Thy prophet Isaiah,-I will defend this city, to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.Wherefore we pray and beseech Thee to defend in Thy good mercy this city, for the sake of the martyr and evangelist Mark, who has shown us the way of salvation through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son. (Aloud.)Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The Deacon: IX. Begin.
Then they say the verse.21 The Deacon says-The three.22
The Priest: O Sovereign and Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to fill our hearts with the peace of heaven, and to bestow moreover the peace of this life. Preserve for us through many years our most holy and blessed Papas D,23 and our most pious Bishop D, while they, according to Thy holy and blessed will, peacefully fulfil the holy priesthood committed to their care, and dispense aright the word of truth, with all the orthodox bishops, elders, deacons, sub-deacons,24 readers, singers, with the entire body of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Bless our meetings, O Lord. Grant that we may hold them without let or hindrance, according to Thy holy will. Be pleased to give to us, and Thy servants after us for ever, houses of praise and prayer. Rise, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered. Let all who hate Thy holy name be put to flight. Bless Thy faithful and orthodox people. Multiply them by thousands and tens of thousands.Let no deadly sin prevail against them, or against Thy holy people, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son.
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Take care that none of the catechumens25 -
II.
Then they sing the Cherubic hymn.26 X. The Priest offers incense at the entrance,27 and prays:- O Lord our God, who lackest nothing, accept this incense offered by an unworthy hand, and deem us all worthy of Thy blessing, for Thou art our sanctification, and we ascribe glory to Thee.
The holy things are carried to the altar, and the Priest prays thus:- O holy, highest, awe-inspiring God, who dwellest among the saints, sanctify us, and deem us worthy of Thy reverend priesthood. Bring us to Thy precious altar with a good conscience, and cleanse our hearts from all pollution. Drive away from us all unholy thoughts, and sanctify our souls and minds. Grant that, with reverence of Thee, we may perform the service of our holy fathers, and propitiate Thy presence through all time; for Thou art He who blesseth and sanctifieth all things, and to Thee we ascribe glory and thanks.
The Deacon: XI. Salute one another.
The Priest says the prayer of salutation: O Sovereign and Almighty Lord, look down from heaven on Thy Church, on all Thy people, and on all Thy flock. Save us all, Thy unworthy servants, the sheep of Thy fold. Give us Thy peace, Thy help, and Thy love, and send to us the gift of Thy Holy Spirit, that with a pure heart and a good conscience we may salute one another with an holy kiss, without hypocrisy, and with no hostile purpose, but guileless and pure in one spirit, in the bond of peace and love, one body and one spirit, in one faith, even as we have been called in one hope of our calling, that we may all meet in the divine and boundless love, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom Thou art blessed.
Then the Priest offers the incense, and says:- The incense is offered to Thy name. Let it ascend, we implore Thee, from the hands of Thy poor and sinful servants to Thy heavenly altar for a sweet-smelling savour, and the propitiation of all Thy people. For all glory, honour, adoration, and thanks are due unto Thee, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen.
After the Salutation,28 the Deacon in a loud voice says:- XII. Stand and make the offering duly.29
The Priest: making the sign of the cross over the disks and chalices, says in a loud voice (the Nicene Creed):-I believe in one God, etc.
The Deacon: Stand for prayer.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Pray for those who present the offering.
The Priest says the prayer of the Oblation.30 O Sovereign Lord, Christ Jesus the Word, who art equal in power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the great high priest; the bread that came down from heaven, and saved our souls from ruin; who gavest Thyself, a spotless Lamb, for the life of the world....
We pray and beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy, to let Thy presence rest upon this bread and these chalices31 on the all-holy table, while angels, archangels, and Thy holy priests stand round and minister for Thy glory and the renewing of our souls, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son, through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee.
And when the People say, And from the Holy Spirit was He made flesh;
The Priest makes the sign of the cross,32 and says:- And was crucified for us.
The Priest makes the sign of the cross again,33 and says:- And to the Holy Spirit.
III.
XIII.34 In like manner also, as after the Creed,35 he makes the sign of the cross upon the People, and says aloud:- The Lord be with all.
The People: And with thy spirit.
The Priest: Let us lift up our hearts.
The People: We lift them up to the Lord.
The Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord.
The People: It is meet and right.36
The Priest begins the Anaphoral prayer: O Lord God, Sovereign and Almighty Father, truly it is meet and right, holy and becoming, and good for our souls, to praise, bless, and thank Thee; to make open confession to Thee by day and night with voice, lips, and heart without ceasing;
To Thee who hast made the heaven, and all that is therein; the earth, and all that is therein; The sea, fountains, rivers, lakes, and all that is therein;
To Thee who, after Thine own image and likeness, hast made man, upon whom Thou didst also bestow the joys of Paradise;
And when he trespassed against Thee, Thou didst neither neglect nor forsake him, good Lord,
But didst recall him by Thy law, instruct him by Thy prophets, restore and renew him by this awful, life-giving, and heavenly mystery.
And all this Thou hast done by Thy Wisdom and the Light of truth, Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, Through whom, thanking Thee with Him and the Holy Spirit,
We offer this reasonable and bloodless sacrifice, which all nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun, from the north and the south, present to Thee, O Lord; for great is Thy name among all peoples, and in all places are incense, sacrifice, and oblation offered to Thy holy name.37
XIV. We pray and beseech Thee, O lover of men, O good Lord,38 remember in Thy good mercy the Holy and only Catholic and Apostolic Church throughout the whole world, and all Thy people, and all the sheep of this fold.39 Vouchsafe to the hearts of all of us the peace of heaven, but grant us also the peace of this life.
Guide and direct in all peace the king,40 army, magistrates, councils,41 peoples, and neighbour-hoods, and all our outgoings and incomings.
O King of Peace, grant us Thy peace in unity and love. May we be Thine, O Lord; for we know no other God but Thee, and name no other name but Thine. Give life unto the souls of all of us, and let no deadly sin prevail against us, or against all Thy people.
Look down in mercy and compassion, O Lord, and heal the sick among Thy people. Deliver them and us, O Lord, from sickness and disease, and drive away the spirit of weakness.
Raise up those who have been long afflicted, and heal those who are vexed with unclean spirits.
Have mercy on all who are in prison, or in mines, or on trial, or condemned, or in exile, or crushed by cruel bondage or tribute. Deliver them, O Lord, for Thou art our God, who settest the captives free; who raisest up the downtrodden; who givest hope to the hopeless, and help to the helpless; who liftest up the fallen; who givest refuge to the shipwrecked, and vengeance to the oppressed.
Pity, relieve, and restore every Christian soul that is afflicted or wandering.
But do Thou, O Lord, the physician of our souls and bodies, the guardian of all flesh, look down, and by Thy saving power heal all the diseases of soul and body.
Guide and prosper our brethren who have gone or who are about to go abroad. Whether they travel by land, or river, or lake, by public road, or in whatever way journeying, bring them everywhere to a safe and tranquil haven. Be pleased to be with them by land and sea, and restore them in health and joy to joyful and healthful homes.
Ever defend, O Lord, our journey through this life from trouble and storm.
Send down rich and copious showers on the dry and thirsty lands.
Gladden and revive the face of the earth, that it may spring forth and rejoice in the raindrops.
Make the waters of the river flow in full stream.
Gladden and revive the face of the earth with the swelling waters.
Fill all the channels of the streams, and multiply the fruits of the earth.
Bless, O Lord, the fruits of the earth, and keep them safe and unharmed. Fill them with seed, and make them ripe for the harvest.
Bless even now, O Lord, Thy yearly crown of blessing for the sake of the poor of Thy people, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, and for the sake of all of us who have our hope in Thee and call upon Thy holy name; for the eyes of all are upon Thee, and Thou givest them bread in due season.
O Thou who givest food to all flesh, fill our hearts with joy and gladness, that at all times, having all sufficiency, we may abound to every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord.
O King of kings and Lord of lords, defend the kingdom of Thy servant, our orthodox and Christ-loving sovereign,42 whom Thou hast deemed worthy to reign over this land in peace, courage, and justice.
Subdue under him, O Lord, every enemy and adversary, whether at home or abroad. Gird on Thy shield and armour, and rise to his aid. Draw Thy sword, and help him to fight against them that persecute him. Shield him in the day of battle, and grant that the fruit of his loins may sit upon his throne.
Be kind to him, O Lord, for the sake of Thy Holy and Apostolic Church, and all Thy Christ-loving people, that we too in his peaceful reign may live a calm and tranquil life, in all reverence and godliness.
O Lord our God, give peace to the souls of our fathers and brethren who have fallen asleep in Jesus, remembering our forefathers of old, our fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, and the souls of all the holy and just men who have died in the Lord.
Especially remember those whose memory we this day celebrate, and our holy father Mark,43 the apostle and evangelist, who has shown us the way of salvation.44
The Deacon: Lord, bless us.
The Priest: The Lord will bless thee in His grace, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The Deacon reads the record of the dead.45
The Priest bows and prays: XV. Give peace, O Sovereign Lord our God, to the souls of all who dwell in the tabernacles of Thy saints. Graciously bestow upon them in Thy kingdom Thy promised blessing, which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what Thou, O God, hast prepared for those who love Thy holy name. Give peace to their souls, and deem them worthy of the kingdom of heaven.46
Grant that we may end our lives as Christians, acceptable unto Thee and without sin, and be pleased to give us part and lot with all Thy saints.
Accept, O God, by Thy ministering archangels at Thy holy, heavenly, and reasonable altar in the spacious heavens, the thank-offerings of those who offer sacrifice and oblation, and of those who desire to offer much or little, in secret or openly, but have it not to give.
Accept the thank-offerings of those who have presented them this day, as Thou didst accept the gifts of Thy righteous Abel:
The Priest offers incense, and says:-47 -As Thou didst accept the sacrifice of our father Abraham, the incense of Zacharias, the alms of Cornelius, and the widow's two mites, accept also the thank-offerings of these, and give them for the things of time the things of eternity, and for the things of earth the things of heaven. Defend, O Lord, our most holy and blessed Papas48 D, whom Thou hast fore-ordained to rule over Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and our most pious Bishop D, that they through many years of peace may, according to Thy holy and blessed will, fulfil the sacred priesthood committed to their care, and dispense aright the word of truth.
Remember the orthodox bishops everywhere, the elders, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, monks,49 virgins, widows, and laity.
Remember, O Lord, the holy city50 of our God, Jesus Christ; and the imperial city;51 and this city of ours, and all cities and all lands, and the peace and safety of those who dwell therein in the orthodox faith of Christ.
Be mindful, O Lord, of the return of the back-sliding, and of every Christian soul that is afflicted and oppressed, and in need of Thy divine mercy and help.
Be mindful, O Lord, of our brethren in captivity. Grant that they may find mercy and compassion with those who have led them captive.
Be mindful also of us, O Lord, Thy sinful and unworthy servants, and blot out our sins in Thy goodness and mercy.
Be mindful also of me, Thy lowly, sinful, and unworthy servant, and in Thy mercy blot out my sins.Be with us, O Lord, who minister unto Thy holy name.
Bless our meetings, O Lord.
Utterly uproot idolatry from the world.52
Crush under our feet Satan, and all his wicked influence.
Humble now, as at all times, the enemies of Thy Church.
Lay bare their pride.
Speedily show them their weakness.
Bring to naught the wicked plots they contrive against us.
Arise, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let all who hate Thy holy name be put to flight.
Do Thou bless a thousand times ten thousand Thy faithful and orthodox people while they do Thy holy will.
The Deacon: Let those who are seated stand.
The Priest says the following prayer:- Deliver the captive; rescue the distressed feed the hungry; comfort the faint-hearted, convert the erring; enlighten the darkened; raise the fallen; confirm the wavering; heal the sick; and guide them all, good Lord, into the way of salvation, and into Thy sacred fold. Deliver us from our iniquities; protect and defend us at all times.
The Deacon: Turn to the east.
The Priest: bows and prays.For Thou art far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. Round Thee stand ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of holy angels and hosts of archangels; and Thy two most honoured creatures, the many-eyed cherubim and the six-winged seraphim. With twain they cover their faces, and with twain they cover their feet, and with twain they do fly; and they cry one to another for ever with the voice of praise, and glorify Thee, O Lord, singing aloud the triumphal and thrice-holy53 hymn to Thy great glory:-
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.
(Aloud.) Thou dost ever sanctify all men; but with all who glorify Thee, receive also, O Sovereign Lord, our sanctification, who with them celebrate Thy praise, and say:-
The People: Holy, holy, holy Lord.
The Priest makes the sign of the cross over the sacred mysteries: XVI. For truly heaven and earth are full of Thy glory, through the manifestation of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Fill, O God, this sacrifice with Thy blessing, through the inspiration of Thy all-holy Spirit. For the Lord Himself, our God and universal King, Christ Jesus, reclining at meat the same night on which He delivered Himself up for our sins and died in the flesh for all, took bread in His holy, pure, and immaculate hands, and lifting His eyes to His Father, our God, and the God of all, gave thanks; and when He had blessed, hallowed, and broken the bread, gave it to His holy and blessed disciples and apostles, saying:-
(Aloud.) Take, eat.
The Deacon: Pray earnestly.
The Priest (aloud): For this is my body, which is broken for you, and divided for the remission of sins.
The People: Amen.
The Priest prays: After the same manner also, when He had supped, He took the cup of wine mingled with water, and lifting His eyes to Thee, His Father, our God, and the God of all, gave thanks; and when He had blessed and filled it with the Holy Spirit, gave it to His holy and blessed disciples and apostles, saying:-(Aloud.)Drink ye all of it.
The Deacon: Pray earnestly again.
The Priest (aloud): For this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for you and for many, and distributed among you for the remission of sins.
The People: Amen.
The Priest prays thus:- This do ye in remembrance of me; for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth my death and acknowledge my resurrection and ascension until I come. O Sovereign and Almighty Lord, King of heaven, while we show forth54 the death of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, and acknowledge His blessed resurrection from the dead on the third day, we do also openly declare His ascension into heaven, and His sitting on the right hand of Thee, God and Father, and await His second terrible and dreadful coming, in which He will come to judge righteously the quick and the dead, and to render to each man according to his works.
XVII. O Lord our God, we have placed before Thee what is Thine from Thine own mercies. We pray and beseech Thee, O good and merciful God, to send down from Thy holy heaven, from the mansion Thou hast prepared, and from Thine infinite bosom, the Paraclete Himself,55 holy, powerful, and life-giving, the Spirit of truth, who spoke in the law, the apostles, and prophets; who is everywhere present, and filleth all things, freely working sanctification. in whom He will with Thy good pleasure; one in His nature; manifold in His working; the fountain of divine blessing; of like substance56 with Thee, and proceeding from Thee; sitting with Thee on the throne of Thy kingdom, and with Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Send down upon us also and upon this bread and upon these chalices Thy Holy Spirit, that by His all-powerful and divine influence He may sanctify and consecrate them, and make this bread the body.57
The People: Amen.
The Priest: (aloud).And this cup the blood of the new testament, of the very Lord, and God, and Saviour, and universal King Christ Jesus.
The Deacon: Deacons, come down.
The Priest (aloud): That to all of us who partake thereof they may tend unto faith, sobriety, healing, temperance, sanctification, the renewal of soul, body, and spirit, participation in the blessedness of eternal life and immortality, the glory of Thy most holy name, and the remission of sins, that Thy most holy, precious, and glorious name may be praised and glorified in this as in all things.
The People: As it was and is.
The Priest: XVIII. Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Pray.
The Priest prays in secret: O God of light, Father of life, Author of grace, Creator of worlds, Founder of knowledge, Giver of wisdom, Treasure of holiness, Teacher of pure prayers, Benefactor of our souls, who givest to the faint-hearted who put their trust in Thee those things into which the angels desire to look: O Sovereign Lord, who hast brought us up from the depths of darkness to light, who hast given us life from death, who hast graciously bestowed upon us freedom from slavery, who hast scattered the darkness of sin within us, through the presence of Thine only-begotten Son, do Thou now also, through the visitation of Thy all-holy Spirit, enlighten the eyes of our understanding, that we may partake without fear of condemnation of this heavenly and immortal food, and sanctify us wholly in soul, body, and spirit, that with Thy holy disciples and apostles we may say this prayer to Thee: Our Father who art in heaven, etc.
(Aloud.) And grant, O Sovereign Lord, in Thy mercy, that we with freedom of speech, without fear of condemnation, with pure heart and enlightened soul, with face that is not ashamed, and with hollowed lips, may venture to call upon Thee, the holy God who art in heaven, as our Father, and say:-
The People: Our Father who art in heaven, etc.
The Priest prays:58 - Verily, Lord, Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thy abundant mercy showeth that we through our great infirmity are unable to resist it.Grant that we may find a way whereby we may be able to withstand temptation; for Thou hast given us power to tread upon serpents, and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy.
(Aloud.) For Thine is the kingdom and power.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: XIX. Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Bow your heads to Jesus.59
The People: Thou, Lord.
The Priest prays: O Sovereign and Almighty Lord,60 who sittest upon the cherubim, and art glorified by the seraphim; who hast made the heaven out of waters, and adorned it with choirs of stars; who hast placed an unbodied host of angels in the highest heavens to sing Thy praise for ever; before Thee have we bowed our souls and bodies in token of our bondage. We beseech Thee to repel the dark assaults of sin from our understanding, and to gladden our minds with the divine radiance of Thy Holy Spirit, that, filled with the knowledge of Thee, we may worthily partake of the mercies set before us, the pure body and precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Pardon all our sins in Thy abundant and unsearchable goodness, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:61
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The Priest: XX. Peace be to all.
The Deacon: With the fear of God.
The Priest prays: O holy, highest, awe-inspiring God, who dwellest among the saints, sanctify us by the word of Thy grace and by the inspiration of Thy all-holy Spirit; for Thou hast said, O Lord our God, Be ye holy; for I am holy. O Word of God, past finding out, consubstantial62 and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and sharer of their sovereignty, accept the pure song which cherubim and seraphim, and the unworthy lips of Thy sinful and unworthy servant, sing aloud.
The People: Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest (aloud): Holy things for the holy.63
The People: One Father holy, one Son holy, one Spirit holy, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.64
The Deacon: For salvation and help.
The Priest makes the sign of the cross upon the people, and saith in a loud voice:- The Lord be with all.
The Priest breaks the bread, and saith:- Praise ye God.
The Priest divides it among those present, and saith:- The Lord will bless and help you through His great mercy.
The Priest says:- Command.
The Clergy say:- The Holy Spirit commands and sanctifies.
The Priest: Lo, they are sanctified and consecrated.The Clergy.One holy65 Father, etc. (thrice).
The Priest says:- The Lord be with all.The Clergy.And with thy spirit.
The Priest says: The Lord Himself hath blessed it.
The Priest partakes, and prays: According to Thy loving-kindness,66 etc.
Or, As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,67 etc.
When he gives the bread to the clergy, he says:- The holy body.
And when he gives the chalice, he says:- The precious blood of our Lord, and God, and Saviour.
IV.
After the service is completed, the Deacon says:- XXI. Stand for prayer.68
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Pray.
The Priest: says the prayer of thanksgiving.O Sovereign Lord our God, we thank Thee that we have partaken of Thy holy, pure, immortal, and heavenly mysteries, which Thou hast given for our good, and for the sanctification and salvation of our souls and bodies. We pray and beseech Thee, 0 Lord, to grant in Thy good mercy, that by partaking of the holy body and precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son, we may have faith that is not ashamed, love that is unfeigned, fulness of holiness, power to eschew evil and keep Thy commandments, provision for eternal life, and an acceptable defence before the awful tribunal of Thy Christ:
In a loud voice: Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The Priest then turns to the people, and says:- XXII. O mightiest King, co-eternal with the Father, who by Thy might hast vanquished hell and trodden death trader foot, who hast bound the strong man, and by Thy miraculous power and the enlightening radiance of Thy unspeakable Godhead hast raised Adam from the tomb, send forth Thy invisible right hand, which is full of blessing, and bless us all.
Pity us, O Lord, and strengthen us by Thy divine power.
Take away from us the sinful and wicked influence of carnal desire.
Let the light shine into our souls, and dispel the surrounding darkness of sin.
Unite us to the all-blessed assembly that is well-pleasing unto Thee; for through Thee and with Thee, all praise, honour, power, adoration, and thanksgiving are due unto the Father and the Holy Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The Deacon: Depart in peace:
The People: In the name of the Lord.
The Priest (aloud): XXIII. The love of God the Father; the grace of the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; the communion and gift of the All-holy Spirit, be with us all, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Priest prays in the sacristy, and says:- O Lord, Thou hast given us sanctification by partaking of the all-holy body and precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son; give us the grace and gift of the All-holy Spirit. Enable us to lead blameless lives; and guide us unto the perfect redemption, and adoption, and the everlasting joys of the world to come. For Thou art our sanctification, and we ascribe glory unto Thee, the Father, and the Son, and the All-holy Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Priest dismisses them, and says:- May God bless, who blesseth and sanctifieth, who defendeth and preserveth us all through the partaking of His holy mysteries; and who is blessed for ever. Amen.
The Disciple of the Holy Peter.2
I.
I. The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Pray.
The People: Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest prays secretly:3 We give Thee thanks, yea, more than thanks, O Lord our God, the Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for all Thy goodness at all times and in all places, because Thou hast shielded, rescued, helped, and guided us all the days of our lives, and brought us unto this hour, permitting us gain to stand before Thee in Thy holy place, that we may implore forgiveness of our sins and propitiation to all Thy people. We pray and beseech Thee, merciful God, to grant in Thy goodness that we may spend this holy day4 and all the time of our lives without sin, in fulness of joy, health, safety, holiness, and reverence of Thee. But all envy, all fear, all temptation, all the influence of Satan, all the snares of wicked men, do Thou, O Lord, drive away from us, and from Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Bestow upon us, O Lord, what is good and meet. Whatever sin we commit in thought, word, or deed, do Thou in Thy goodness and mercy be pleased to pardon. Leave us not, O Lord, while we hope in Thee; nor lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one and from his works, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son.
(In a loud voice.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, in Thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: II. Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Pray for the king.5
The People: Lord, have mercy;6 Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest prays: O God, Sovereign Lord, the Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to grant that our king may enjoy peace, and be just and brave. Subdue under him, O God, all his adversaries and enemies. Gird on thy shield and armour, and rise to his aid. Give him the victory, O God, that his heart may be set on peace and the praise of Thy holy name, that we too7 in his peaceful reign8 may spend a calm and tranquil life in all reverence and godly fear, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:
(In a loud voice.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: III. Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Pray for the papas9 and the bishop.
The People: Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest: O Sovereign and Almighty God, the Father of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to defend in Thy good mercy our most holy and blessed high priest our Father in God D, and our most reverend Bishop D. Preserve them for us through many years in peace, while they according to Thy holy and blessed will fulfil the sacred priesthood committed to their care, and dispense aright the word of truth; with all the orthodox bishops, elders, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, and laity, with the entire body of the Holy and only Catholic Church. Graciously bestow upon them peace, health, and salvation. The prayers they offer up for us, and we for them, do Thou, O Lord, receive at Thy holy, heavenly, and reasonable altar. But all the enemies of Thy Holy Church put Thou speedily under their feet, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: IV. Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Stand10 and pray.
The People: Lord have mercy (thrice).
The Priest offers up the prayer of entrance, and for incense:
The Priest: O Sovereign Lord our God, who hast chosen the lamp of the twelve apostles with its twelve lights, and hast sent them forth to proclaim throughout the whole world and teach the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and to heal sickness and every weakness among the people, and hast breathed upon their faces and said unto them, Receive the Holy Spirit the Comforter: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained: Breathe also Thy Holy Spirit upon us Thy servants, who, standing around, are about to enter on Thy holy service,11 upon the bishops, elders, deacons, readers, singers, and laity, with the entire body of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.From the curse and execration, from condemnation, imprisonment, and banishment, and from the portion of the adversary;
O Lord, deliver us.
Purify our lives and cleanse our hearts from all pollution and from all wickedness, that with pure heart and conscience we may offer to Thee this incense for a sweet-smelling savour, and for the remission of our sins and the sins of all Thy people, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be the glory and the power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Deacon: V. Stand.
They sing:- Only-begotten Son and Word,12 etc.
The Gospel is carried in, and the Deacon says:- Let us pray.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Let us pray.
The People: Lord, have mercy.
The Priest says the prayer of the Trisagion: O Sovereign Lord Christ Jesus, the co-eternal Word of the eternal Father, who wast made in all things like as we are, but without sin, for the salvation of our race; who hast sent forth Thy holy disciples and apostles to proclaim and teach the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and to heal all disease, all sickness among Thy people, be pleased now, O Lord, to send forth Thy light and Thy truth. Enlighten the eyes of our minds, that we may understand Thy divine oracles. Fit us to become hearers, and not only hearers, but doers of Thy word, that we, becoming fruitful, and yielding good fruit from thirty to an hundred fold, may be deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven.
(Aloud.) Let Thy mercy speedily overtake us, O Lord. For Thou art the bringer of good tidings, the Saviour and Guardian of our souls and bodies and we offer glory, thanks, and the Trisagion to Thee, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen. Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal. Holy, holy, holy,13 etc.
VI. After the Trisagion the Priest makes the sign of the cross over the people, and says:- Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
Then follow the Let us attend;14 The Apostle and Prologue of the Hallelujah.15 The Deacons, after a prescribed form, say:- Lord, bless us.16
The Priest says:- May the Lord17 in His mercy bless and help us, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The Priest before the Gospel is read, offers incense,18 and says:- Accept at Thy holy, heavenly, and reasonable altar, O Lord, the incense we offer in presence of Thy sacred glory. Send down upon us in return the grace of Thy Holy Spirit, for Thou art blessed, and let Thy glory encircle us.VII.
The Deacon: when he is about to read the Gospel, says:-Lord, bless us.
The Priest: May the Lord, who is the blessed God, bless and strengthen us, and make us hearers of His holy Gospel, now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen.
The Deacon: Stand and let us hear the holy Gospel.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.VIII.
The Deacon: reads the Gospel, and the Priest says the prayer of the Collect.19 Look down in mercy and compassion, O Lord, and heal the sick among Thy people.May all our brethren who have gone or who are about to go abroad, safely reach their destination in due season.Send down the gracious rain upon the thirsty lands, and make the rivers20 flow in full stream, according to Thy grace.The fruits of the land do Thou, O Lord, fill with seed and make ripe for the harvest.In peace, courage, justice, and tranquillity preserve the kingdom of Thy servant, whom Thou hast deemed worthy to reign over this land.From evil days, from famine and pestilence, from the assault of barbarians, defend, O Lord, this Christ-loving city, lowly and worthy of Thy compassion, as Thou didst spare Nineveh of old.For Thou art full of mercy and compassion, and rememberest not the iniquities of men against them.Thou hast said through Thy prophet Isaiah,-I will defend this city, to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.Wherefore we pray and beseech Thee to defend in Thy good mercy this city, for the sake of the martyr and evangelist Mark, who has shown us the way of salvation through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son. (Aloud.)Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The Deacon: IX. Begin.
Then they say the verse.21 The Deacon says-The three.22
The Priest: O Sovereign and Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to fill our hearts with the peace of heaven, and to bestow moreover the peace of this life. Preserve for us through many years our most holy and blessed Papas D,23 and our most pious Bishop D, while they, according to Thy holy and blessed will, peacefully fulfil the holy priesthood committed to their care, and dispense aright the word of truth, with all the orthodox bishops, elders, deacons, sub-deacons,24 readers, singers, with the entire body of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Bless our meetings, O Lord. Grant that we may hold them without let or hindrance, according to Thy holy will. Be pleased to give to us, and Thy servants after us for ever, houses of praise and prayer. Rise, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered. Let all who hate Thy holy name be put to flight. Bless Thy faithful and orthodox people. Multiply them by thousands and tens of thousands.Let no deadly sin prevail against them, or against Thy holy people, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son.
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Deacon: Take care that none of the catechumens25 -
II.
Then they sing the Cherubic hymn.26 X. The Priest offers incense at the entrance,27 and prays:- O Lord our God, who lackest nothing, accept this incense offered by an unworthy hand, and deem us all worthy of Thy blessing, for Thou art our sanctification, and we ascribe glory to Thee.
The holy things are carried to the altar, and the Priest prays thus:- O holy, highest, awe-inspiring God, who dwellest among the saints, sanctify us, and deem us worthy of Thy reverend priesthood. Bring us to Thy precious altar with a good conscience, and cleanse our hearts from all pollution. Drive away from us all unholy thoughts, and sanctify our souls and minds. Grant that, with reverence of Thee, we may perform the service of our holy fathers, and propitiate Thy presence through all time; for Thou art He who blesseth and sanctifieth all things, and to Thee we ascribe glory and thanks.
The Deacon: XI. Salute one another.
The Priest says the prayer of salutation: O Sovereign and Almighty Lord, look down from heaven on Thy Church, on all Thy people, and on all Thy flock. Save us all, Thy unworthy servants, the sheep of Thy fold. Give us Thy peace, Thy help, and Thy love, and send to us the gift of Thy Holy Spirit, that with a pure heart and a good conscience we may salute one another with an holy kiss, without hypocrisy, and with no hostile purpose, but guileless and pure in one spirit, in the bond of peace and love, one body and one spirit, in one faith, even as we have been called in one hope of our calling, that we may all meet in the divine and boundless love, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom Thou art blessed.
Then the Priest offers the incense, and says:- The incense is offered to Thy name. Let it ascend, we implore Thee, from the hands of Thy poor and sinful servants to Thy heavenly altar for a sweet-smelling savour, and the propitiation of all Thy people. For all glory, honour, adoration, and thanks are due unto Thee, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen.
After the Salutation,28 the Deacon in a loud voice says:- XII. Stand and make the offering duly.29
The Priest: making the sign of the cross over the disks and chalices, says in a loud voice (the Nicene Creed):-I believe in one God, etc.
The Deacon: Stand for prayer.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Pray for those who present the offering.
The Priest says the prayer of the Oblation.30 O Sovereign Lord, Christ Jesus the Word, who art equal in power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the great high priest; the bread that came down from heaven, and saved our souls from ruin; who gavest Thyself, a spotless Lamb, for the life of the world....
We pray and beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy, to let Thy presence rest upon this bread and these chalices31 on the all-holy table, while angels, archangels, and Thy holy priests stand round and minister for Thy glory and the renewing of our souls, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son, through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee.
And when the People say, And from the Holy Spirit was He made flesh;
The Priest makes the sign of the cross,32 and says:- And was crucified for us.
The Priest makes the sign of the cross again,33 and says:- And to the Holy Spirit.
III.
XIII.34 In like manner also, as after the Creed,35 he makes the sign of the cross upon the People, and says aloud:- The Lord be with all.
The People: And with thy spirit.
The Priest: Let us lift up our hearts.
The People: We lift them up to the Lord.
The Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord.
The People: It is meet and right.36
The Priest begins the Anaphoral prayer: O Lord God, Sovereign and Almighty Father, truly it is meet and right, holy and becoming, and good for our souls, to praise, bless, and thank Thee; to make open confession to Thee by day and night with voice, lips, and heart without ceasing;
To Thee who hast made the heaven, and all that is therein; the earth, and all that is therein; The sea, fountains, rivers, lakes, and all that is therein;
To Thee who, after Thine own image and likeness, hast made man, upon whom Thou didst also bestow the joys of Paradise;
And when he trespassed against Thee, Thou didst neither neglect nor forsake him, good Lord,
But didst recall him by Thy law, instruct him by Thy prophets, restore and renew him by this awful, life-giving, and heavenly mystery.
And all this Thou hast done by Thy Wisdom and the Light of truth, Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, Through whom, thanking Thee with Him and the Holy Spirit,
We offer this reasonable and bloodless sacrifice, which all nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun, from the north and the south, present to Thee, O Lord; for great is Thy name among all peoples, and in all places are incense, sacrifice, and oblation offered to Thy holy name.37
XIV. We pray and beseech Thee, O lover of men, O good Lord,38 remember in Thy good mercy the Holy and only Catholic and Apostolic Church throughout the whole world, and all Thy people, and all the sheep of this fold.39 Vouchsafe to the hearts of all of us the peace of heaven, but grant us also the peace of this life.
Guide and direct in all peace the king,40 army, magistrates, councils,41 peoples, and neighbour-hoods, and all our outgoings and incomings.
O King of Peace, grant us Thy peace in unity and love. May we be Thine, O Lord; for we know no other God but Thee, and name no other name but Thine. Give life unto the souls of all of us, and let no deadly sin prevail against us, or against all Thy people.
Look down in mercy and compassion, O Lord, and heal the sick among Thy people. Deliver them and us, O Lord, from sickness and disease, and drive away the spirit of weakness.
Raise up those who have been long afflicted, and heal those who are vexed with unclean spirits.
Have mercy on all who are in prison, or in mines, or on trial, or condemned, or in exile, or crushed by cruel bondage or tribute. Deliver them, O Lord, for Thou art our God, who settest the captives free; who raisest up the downtrodden; who givest hope to the hopeless, and help to the helpless; who liftest up the fallen; who givest refuge to the shipwrecked, and vengeance to the oppressed.
Pity, relieve, and restore every Christian soul that is afflicted or wandering.
But do Thou, O Lord, the physician of our souls and bodies, the guardian of all flesh, look down, and by Thy saving power heal all the diseases of soul and body.
Guide and prosper our brethren who have gone or who are about to go abroad. Whether they travel by land, or river, or lake, by public road, or in whatever way journeying, bring them everywhere to a safe and tranquil haven. Be pleased to be with them by land and sea, and restore them in health and joy to joyful and healthful homes.
Ever defend, O Lord, our journey through this life from trouble and storm.
Send down rich and copious showers on the dry and thirsty lands.
Gladden and revive the face of the earth, that it may spring forth and rejoice in the raindrops.
Make the waters of the river flow in full stream.
Gladden and revive the face of the earth with the swelling waters.
Fill all the channels of the streams, and multiply the fruits of the earth.
Bless, O Lord, the fruits of the earth, and keep them safe and unharmed. Fill them with seed, and make them ripe for the harvest.
Bless even now, O Lord, Thy yearly crown of blessing for the sake of the poor of Thy people, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, and for the sake of all of us who have our hope in Thee and call upon Thy holy name; for the eyes of all are upon Thee, and Thou givest them bread in due season.
O Thou who givest food to all flesh, fill our hearts with joy and gladness, that at all times, having all sufficiency, we may abound to every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord.
O King of kings and Lord of lords, defend the kingdom of Thy servant, our orthodox and Christ-loving sovereign,42 whom Thou hast deemed worthy to reign over this land in peace, courage, and justice.
Subdue under him, O Lord, every enemy and adversary, whether at home or abroad. Gird on Thy shield and armour, and rise to his aid. Draw Thy sword, and help him to fight against them that persecute him. Shield him in the day of battle, and grant that the fruit of his loins may sit upon his throne.
Be kind to him, O Lord, for the sake of Thy Holy and Apostolic Church, and all Thy Christ-loving people, that we too in his peaceful reign may live a calm and tranquil life, in all reverence and godliness.
O Lord our God, give peace to the souls of our fathers and brethren who have fallen asleep in Jesus, remembering our forefathers of old, our fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, and the souls of all the holy and just men who have died in the Lord.
Especially remember those whose memory we this day celebrate, and our holy father Mark,43 the apostle and evangelist, who has shown us the way of salvation.44
The Deacon: Lord, bless us.
The Priest: The Lord will bless thee in His grace, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The Deacon reads the record of the dead.45
The Priest bows and prays: XV. Give peace, O Sovereign Lord our God, to the souls of all who dwell in the tabernacles of Thy saints. Graciously bestow upon them in Thy kingdom Thy promised blessing, which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what Thou, O God, hast prepared for those who love Thy holy name. Give peace to their souls, and deem them worthy of the kingdom of heaven.46
Grant that we may end our lives as Christians, acceptable unto Thee and without sin, and be pleased to give us part and lot with all Thy saints.
Accept, O God, by Thy ministering archangels at Thy holy, heavenly, and reasonable altar in the spacious heavens, the thank-offerings of those who offer sacrifice and oblation, and of those who desire to offer much or little, in secret or openly, but have it not to give.
Accept the thank-offerings of those who have presented them this day, as Thou didst accept the gifts of Thy righteous Abel:
The Priest offers incense, and says:-47 -As Thou didst accept the sacrifice of our father Abraham, the incense of Zacharias, the alms of Cornelius, and the widow's two mites, accept also the thank-offerings of these, and give them for the things of time the things of eternity, and for the things of earth the things of heaven. Defend, O Lord, our most holy and blessed Papas48 D, whom Thou hast fore-ordained to rule over Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and our most pious Bishop D, that they through many years of peace may, according to Thy holy and blessed will, fulfil the sacred priesthood committed to their care, and dispense aright the word of truth.
Remember the orthodox bishops everywhere, the elders, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, monks,49 virgins, widows, and laity.
Remember, O Lord, the holy city50 of our God, Jesus Christ; and the imperial city;51 and this city of ours, and all cities and all lands, and the peace and safety of those who dwell therein in the orthodox faith of Christ.
Be mindful, O Lord, of the return of the back-sliding, and of every Christian soul that is afflicted and oppressed, and in need of Thy divine mercy and help.
Be mindful, O Lord, of our brethren in captivity. Grant that they may find mercy and compassion with those who have led them captive.
Be mindful also of us, O Lord, Thy sinful and unworthy servants, and blot out our sins in Thy goodness and mercy.
Be mindful also of me, Thy lowly, sinful, and unworthy servant, and in Thy mercy blot out my sins.Be with us, O Lord, who minister unto Thy holy name.
Bless our meetings, O Lord.
Utterly uproot idolatry from the world.52
Crush under our feet Satan, and all his wicked influence.
Humble now, as at all times, the enemies of Thy Church.
Lay bare their pride.
Speedily show them their weakness.
Bring to naught the wicked plots they contrive against us.
Arise, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let all who hate Thy holy name be put to flight.
Do Thou bless a thousand times ten thousand Thy faithful and orthodox people while they do Thy holy will.
The Deacon: Let those who are seated stand.
The Priest says the following prayer:- Deliver the captive; rescue the distressed feed the hungry; comfort the faint-hearted, convert the erring; enlighten the darkened; raise the fallen; confirm the wavering; heal the sick; and guide them all, good Lord, into the way of salvation, and into Thy sacred fold. Deliver us from our iniquities; protect and defend us at all times.
The Deacon: Turn to the east.
The Priest: bows and prays.For Thou art far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. Round Thee stand ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of holy angels and hosts of archangels; and Thy two most honoured creatures, the many-eyed cherubim and the six-winged seraphim. With twain they cover their faces, and with twain they cover their feet, and with twain they do fly; and they cry one to another for ever with the voice of praise, and glorify Thee, O Lord, singing aloud the triumphal and thrice-holy53 hymn to Thy great glory:-
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.
(Aloud.) Thou dost ever sanctify all men; but with all who glorify Thee, receive also, O Sovereign Lord, our sanctification, who with them celebrate Thy praise, and say:-
The People: Holy, holy, holy Lord.
The Priest makes the sign of the cross over the sacred mysteries: XVI. For truly heaven and earth are full of Thy glory, through the manifestation of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Fill, O God, this sacrifice with Thy blessing, through the inspiration of Thy all-holy Spirit. For the Lord Himself, our God and universal King, Christ Jesus, reclining at meat the same night on which He delivered Himself up for our sins and died in the flesh for all, took bread in His holy, pure, and immaculate hands, and lifting His eyes to His Father, our God, and the God of all, gave thanks; and when He had blessed, hallowed, and broken the bread, gave it to His holy and blessed disciples and apostles, saying:-
(Aloud.) Take, eat.
The Deacon: Pray earnestly.
The Priest (aloud): For this is my body, which is broken for you, and divided for the remission of sins.
The People: Amen.
The Priest prays: After the same manner also, when He had supped, He took the cup of wine mingled with water, and lifting His eyes to Thee, His Father, our God, and the God of all, gave thanks; and when He had blessed and filled it with the Holy Spirit, gave it to His holy and blessed disciples and apostles, saying:-(Aloud.)Drink ye all of it.
The Deacon: Pray earnestly again.
The Priest (aloud): For this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for you and for many, and distributed among you for the remission of sins.
The People: Amen.
The Priest prays thus:- This do ye in remembrance of me; for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth my death and acknowledge my resurrection and ascension until I come. O Sovereign and Almighty Lord, King of heaven, while we show forth54 the death of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, and acknowledge His blessed resurrection from the dead on the third day, we do also openly declare His ascension into heaven, and His sitting on the right hand of Thee, God and Father, and await His second terrible and dreadful coming, in which He will come to judge righteously the quick and the dead, and to render to each man according to his works.
XVII. O Lord our God, we have placed before Thee what is Thine from Thine own mercies. We pray and beseech Thee, O good and merciful God, to send down from Thy holy heaven, from the mansion Thou hast prepared, and from Thine infinite bosom, the Paraclete Himself,55 holy, powerful, and life-giving, the Spirit of truth, who spoke in the law, the apostles, and prophets; who is everywhere present, and filleth all things, freely working sanctification. in whom He will with Thy good pleasure; one in His nature; manifold in His working; the fountain of divine blessing; of like substance56 with Thee, and proceeding from Thee; sitting with Thee on the throne of Thy kingdom, and with Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Send down upon us also and upon this bread and upon these chalices Thy Holy Spirit, that by His all-powerful and divine influence He may sanctify and consecrate them, and make this bread the body.57
The People: Amen.
The Priest: (aloud).And this cup the blood of the new testament, of the very Lord, and God, and Saviour, and universal King Christ Jesus.
The Deacon: Deacons, come down.
The Priest (aloud): That to all of us who partake thereof they may tend unto faith, sobriety, healing, temperance, sanctification, the renewal of soul, body, and spirit, participation in the blessedness of eternal life and immortality, the glory of Thy most holy name, and the remission of sins, that Thy most holy, precious, and glorious name may be praised and glorified in this as in all things.
The People: As it was and is.
The Priest: XVIII. Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Pray.
The Priest prays in secret: O God of light, Father of life, Author of grace, Creator of worlds, Founder of knowledge, Giver of wisdom, Treasure of holiness, Teacher of pure prayers, Benefactor of our souls, who givest to the faint-hearted who put their trust in Thee those things into which the angels desire to look: O Sovereign Lord, who hast brought us up from the depths of darkness to light, who hast given us life from death, who hast graciously bestowed upon us freedom from slavery, who hast scattered the darkness of sin within us, through the presence of Thine only-begotten Son, do Thou now also, through the visitation of Thy all-holy Spirit, enlighten the eyes of our understanding, that we may partake without fear of condemnation of this heavenly and immortal food, and sanctify us wholly in soul, body, and spirit, that with Thy holy disciples and apostles we may say this prayer to Thee: Our Father who art in heaven, etc.
(Aloud.) And grant, O Sovereign Lord, in Thy mercy, that we with freedom of speech, without fear of condemnation, with pure heart and enlightened soul, with face that is not ashamed, and with hollowed lips, may venture to call upon Thee, the holy God who art in heaven, as our Father, and say:-
The People: Our Father who art in heaven, etc.
The Priest prays:58 - Verily, Lord, Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thy abundant mercy showeth that we through our great infirmity are unable to resist it.Grant that we may find a way whereby we may be able to withstand temptation; for Thou hast given us power to tread upon serpents, and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy.
(Aloud.) For Thine is the kingdom and power.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: XIX. Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Bow your heads to Jesus.59
The People: Thou, Lord.
The Priest prays: O Sovereign and Almighty Lord,60 who sittest upon the cherubim, and art glorified by the seraphim; who hast made the heaven out of waters, and adorned it with choirs of stars; who hast placed an unbodied host of angels in the highest heavens to sing Thy praise for ever; before Thee have we bowed our souls and bodies in token of our bondage. We beseech Thee to repel the dark assaults of sin from our understanding, and to gladden our minds with the divine radiance of Thy Holy Spirit, that, filled with the knowledge of Thee, we may worthily partake of the mercies set before us, the pure body and precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Pardon all our sins in Thy abundant and unsearchable goodness, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:61
(Aloud.) Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The Priest: XX. Peace be to all.
The Deacon: With the fear of God.
The Priest prays: O holy, highest, awe-inspiring God, who dwellest among the saints, sanctify us by the word of Thy grace and by the inspiration of Thy all-holy Spirit; for Thou hast said, O Lord our God, Be ye holy; for I am holy. O Word of God, past finding out, consubstantial62 and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and sharer of their sovereignty, accept the pure song which cherubim and seraphim, and the unworthy lips of Thy sinful and unworthy servant, sing aloud.
The People: Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
The Priest (aloud): Holy things for the holy.63
The People: One Father holy, one Son holy, one Spirit holy, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.64
The Deacon: For salvation and help.
The Priest makes the sign of the cross upon the people, and saith in a loud voice:- The Lord be with all.
The Priest breaks the bread, and saith:- Praise ye God.
The Priest divides it among those present, and saith:- The Lord will bless and help you through His great mercy.
The Priest says:- Command.
The Clergy say:- The Holy Spirit commands and sanctifies.
The Priest: Lo, they are sanctified and consecrated.The Clergy.One holy65 Father, etc. (thrice).
The Priest says:- The Lord be with all.The Clergy.And with thy spirit.
The Priest says: The Lord Himself hath blessed it.
The Priest partakes, and prays: According to Thy loving-kindness,66 etc.
Or, As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,67 etc.
When he gives the bread to the clergy, he says:- The holy body.
And when he gives the chalice, he says:- The precious blood of our Lord, and God, and Saviour.
IV.
After the service is completed, the Deacon says:- XXI. Stand for prayer.68
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The Deacon: Pray.
The Priest: says the prayer of thanksgiving.O Sovereign Lord our God, we thank Thee that we have partaken of Thy holy, pure, immortal, and heavenly mysteries, which Thou hast given for our good, and for the sanctification and salvation of our souls and bodies. We pray and beseech Thee, 0 Lord, to grant in Thy good mercy, that by partaking of the holy body and precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son, we may have faith that is not ashamed, love that is unfeigned, fulness of holiness, power to eschew evil and keep Thy commandments, provision for eternal life, and an acceptable defence before the awful tribunal of Thy Christ:
In a loud voice: Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.
The Priest then turns to the people, and says:- XXII. O mightiest King, co-eternal with the Father, who by Thy might hast vanquished hell and trodden death trader foot, who hast bound the strong man, and by Thy miraculous power and the enlightening radiance of Thy unspeakable Godhead hast raised Adam from the tomb, send forth Thy invisible right hand, which is full of blessing, and bless us all.
Pity us, O Lord, and strengthen us by Thy divine power.
Take away from us the sinful and wicked influence of carnal desire.
Let the light shine into our souls, and dispel the surrounding darkness of sin.
Unite us to the all-blessed assembly that is well-pleasing unto Thee; for through Thee and with Thee, all praise, honour, power, adoration, and thanksgiving are due unto the Father and the Holy Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The Deacon: Depart in peace:
The People: In the name of the Lord.
The Priest (aloud): XXIII. The love of God the Father; the grace of the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; the communion and gift of the All-holy Spirit, be with us all, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Priest prays in the sacristy, and says:- O Lord, Thou hast given us sanctification by partaking of the all-holy body and precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son; give us the grace and gift of the All-holy Spirit. Enable us to lead blameless lives; and guide us unto the perfect redemption, and adoption, and the everlasting joys of the world to come. For Thou art our sanctification, and we ascribe glory unto Thee, the Father, and the Son, and the All-holy Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.
The People: Amen.
The Priest: Peace be to all.
The People: And to thy spirit.
The Priest dismisses them, and says:- May God bless, who blesseth and sanctifieth, who defendeth and preserveth us all through the partaking of His holy mysteries; and who is blessed for ever. Amen.
The Liturgy of the Blessed Apostles.
Composed by St. a.d.aeus and St. Maris, Teachers of the Easterns.1
I.2 First: Glory to God in the highest, etc.Our Father which art in heaven.
Prayer: Strengthen, O our Lord and God, our weakness through Thy mercy, that we may administer the holy mystery which has been given for the renovation and salvation of our degraded nature, through the mercies of Thy beloved Son the Lord of all.
On common days: Adored, glorified, lauded, celebrated, exalted, and blessed in heaven and on earth, be the adorable and glorious name of Thine ever-glorious Trinity, O Lord of all.
On common days they sing the Psalm (xv.), Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle? entire with its canon,3 of the mystery of the sacraments.
(Aloud.) Who shall shout with joy? etc.
Prayer: II. Before the resplendent throne of Thy majesty, O Lord, and the exalted and sublime throne of Thy glory, and on the awful seat of the strength of Thy love and the propiatory altar which Thy will hath established, in the region of Thy pasture,4 with thousands of cherubim praising Thee, and ten thousands of seraphim sanctifying Thee, we draw near, adore, thank, and glorify Thee always, O Lord of all.
On commemorations and Fridays: Thy name, great and holy, illustrious and blessed, the blessed and incomprehensible name of Thy glorious Trinity, and Thy kindness to our race, we ought at all times to bless, adore, and glorify, O Lord of all.
Responsory5 at the chancel, as above: Who commanded, etc.
To the priest, etc.
Prayer: How breathes in us, O our Lord and God, the sweet fragrance of the sweetness of Thy love; illumined are our souls, through the knowledge of Thy truth: may we be rendered worthy of receiving the manifestation of Thy beloved from Thy holy heavens: there shall we render thanks unto Thee, and, in the meantime, glorify Thee without ceasing in Thy Church, crowned and filled with every aid and blessing, because Thou art Lord and Father, Creator of all.
III. Prayer of Incense: We shall repeat the hymn to Thy glorious Trinity, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
On fast-days: And on account, etc.
At the commemoration of saints: Thou, O Lord, art truly the raiser up of our bodies: Thou art the good Saviour of our souls, and the secure preserver of our life; and we ought to thank Thee continually, to adore and glorify Thee, O Lord of all.
At the lessons.6 Holy art Thou, worthy of praise, mighty, immortal, who dwellest in the holies, and Thy will resteth in them: have regard unto us, O Lord; be merciful unto us, and pity us, as Thou art our helper in all circumstances, O Lord of all.
IV. At the apostle.7 Enlighten, O our Lord and God, the movements of our meditations to hear and understand the sweet listenings to Thy life-giving and divine commands; and grant unto us through Thy grace and mercy to gather from them the assurance of love, and hope, and salvation suitable to soul and body, and we shall sing to Thee everlasting glory without ceasing and always, O Lord of all.
On fast-days: To Thee, the wise governor, etc.
V. Descending, he shall salute the Gospel, saying this prayer before the altar: Thee, the renowned seed of Thy Father, and the image of the person of Thy Father, who wast revealed in the body of our humanity, and didst arise to us in the light of Thy annunciation, Thee we thank, adore, etc.
And after the proclamation:8 - Thee, O Lord God Almighty, we beseech and entreat, perfect with us Thy grace, and pour out through our hands Thy gift, the pity and compassion of Thy divinity. May they be to us for the propitiation of the offences of Thy people, and for the forgiveness of the sins of the entire flock of Thy pasture, through Thy grace and tender mercies, O good friend of men, O Lord of all.
VI. The Deacons say:- Bow your heads.
The Priest says this secret prayer in the sanctuary:9 - O Lord God Omnipotent, Thine is the Holy Catholic Church, inasmuch as Thou, through the great passion of Thy Christ, didst buy the sheep of Thy pasture; and from the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is indeed of one nature with Thy glorious divinity, are granted the degrees of the true priestly ordination; and through Thy clemency Thou didst vouchsafe, O Lord, to make our weakness spiritual members in the great body of Thy Holy Church, that we might administer spiritual aid to faithful souls. Now, O Lord, perfect Thy grace with us, and pour out Thy gift through our hands: and may Thy tender mercies and the clemency of Thy divinity be upon us, and upon the people whom Thou hast chosen for Thyself.
(Aloud.) And grant unto us, O Lord, through Thy clemency, that we may all together, and equally every day of our life, please Thy divinity, and be rendered worthy of the aid of Thy grace to offer Thee praise, honour, thanksgiving, and adoration at all times, O Lord.
VII. And the Deacons ascend to the altar, and say:- He who has not received baptism, etc.10
And the Priest begins the respansory of the mysteries,11 and the Sacristan and Deacon place the disk and the chalice upon the altar. The Priest crosses his hands, and says:12 - We offer praise to Thy glorious Trinity at all times and for ever.
And proceeds:- May Christ, who was offered for our salvation, and commanded us to commemorate His death and His resurrection, Himself receive this sacrifice from the hands of our weakness, through His grace and mercies for ever. Amen.
And proceeds:- Laid are the renowned holy and life-giving mysteries upon the altar of the mighty Lord, even until His advent, for ever.Amen.
Praise, etc.
Thy memory, etc.
Our Father, etc.
The apostles of the Father, etc.
Upon the holy altar, etc.
They who have slept, etc.
Matthew Mark, Luke, etc.13
The Creed.14
VIII. The Priest draws near to celebrate, and thrice bows before the altar, the middle of which he kisses, then the right and the left horn of the altar; and bows to the Gospel side, and says:- Bless, O Lord, etc.Pray for me, my fathers, brethren, and masters, that God may grant unto me the capability and power to perform this service to which I have drawn near, and that this oblation may be accepted from the hands of my weakness, for myself, for you, and for the whole body of the Holy Catholic Church, through His grace and mercies for ever. Amen.
And they respond:- May Christ listen to thy prayers, and be pleased with thy sacrifice, receive thy oblation, and honour thy priesthood, and grant unto us, through thy mediation,15 the pardon of our offences, and the forgiveness of our sins, through His grace and mercies for ever.
Presently he bows at the other side, uttering the same words; and they respond in the same manner: then he bows to the altar, and says:- God, Lord of all, be with us through His grace and mercies for ever. Amen.
And bowing towards the Deacon, who is on the left (Epistle side), he says:- God, the Lord of all, confirm thy words, and secure to thee peace, and accept this oblation from my hands for me, for thee, for the whole body of the Holy Catholic Church, and for the entire world, through His grace and mercies for ever.
He kneels at the altar, and says in secret:- IX. O our Lord and God, look not on the multitude of our sins, and let not Thy dignity be turned away on account of the heinousness of our iniquities; but through Thine unspeakable grace sanctify this sacrifice of Thine, and grant through it power and capability, so that Thou mayest forget our many sins, and be merciful when Thou shalt appear at the end of time, in the man whom Thou hast assumed from among us, and we may find before Thee grace and mercy, and be rendered worthy to praise Thee with spiritual16 assemblies.
He rises, and says this prayer in secret:- We thank Thee, O our Lord and God, for the abundant riches of Thy grace to us:
And he proceeds:- Us who were sinful and degraded, on account of the multitude of Thy clemency, Thou hast made worthy to celebrate the holy mysteries of the body and blood of Thy Christ. We beg aid from Thee for the strengthening of our souls, that in perfect love and true faith we may administer Thy gift to us.
Canon: And we shall ascribe to Thee praise, glory, thanksgiving, and adoration, now, always, and for ever and ever.
He signs himself with the sign of the cross, and they respond:- Amen.
X. And he proceeds:- Peace be with you:
They respond:- With thee and with thy spirit.
And they give the (kiss of) peace to each other, and say:- For all:17
The Deacon says:- Let us thank, entreat, and beseech.
The Pries says this prayer in secret:- O Lord, mighty God, help my weakness through Thy clemency and the aid of Thy grace; and make me worthy of offering before Thee this oblation, as for the common aid of all, and to the praise of Thy Trinity, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Another prayer.18 O our Lord and God, restrain our thoughts, that they wander not amid the vanities of this world. O Lord our God, grant that I may be united to the affection of Thy love, unworthy though I be. Glory be to Thee, O Christ.Ascend into the chamber of Thy renowned light, O Lord; sow in me the good seed of humility; and under the wings of Thy grace hide me through Thy mercy. If Thou wert to mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Because there is mercy with Thee.
[The Priest says the following prayer in secret:19 - O mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, beseech for me the only-begotten Son, who was born of thee, to forgive me my offences and my sins, and to accept from my feeble and sinful hands this sacrifice which my weakness offers upon this altar, through thy intercession for me, O holy mother.]
XI. When the Deacon shall say, With watchfulness and care, etc., immediately the Priest rises up and uncovers the sacraments, taking away the veil with which they were covered: he blesses the incense, and says a canon with a loud voice:- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all, now, etc.20
He signs the sacraments, and they respond:-Amen.
The Priest proceeds:- Lift up your minds: They respond:-They are towards Thee, O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, O glorious King.
The Priest: The oblation is offered to God, the Lord of all.They respond:-It is meet and right.
The Deacon: Peace be with you.
The Priest puts on the incense, and says this prayer:- O Lord, Lord, grant me an open countenance before Thee, that with the confidence which is from Thee we may fulfil this awful and divine sacrifice with consciences free from all iniquity and bitterness. Sow in us, O Lord, affection, peace, and concord towards each other, and toward every one.
And standing, he says in secret:21 - Worthy of glory from every mouth, and of thanksgiving from all tongues, and of adoration and exaltation from all creatures, is the adorable and glorious name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who created the world through His grace, and its inhabitants through His clemency, who saved men through His mercy, and showed great favour towards mortals. Thy majesty, O Lord, thousands of thousands of heavenly spirits, and ten thousand myriads of holy angels, hosts of spirits, ministers of fire and spirit, bless and adore; with the holy cherubim and the spiritual seraphim they sanctify and celebrate Thy name, crying and praising, without ceasing crying unto each other.
They say with a loud voice:- Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; full are the heavens and the earth of His glory.
The Priest in secret:- Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord God Almighty; the heavens and the earth are full of His glory and the nature of His essence, as they are glorious with the honour of His splendour; as it is written, The heaven and the earth are full of me, saith the mighty Lord.
Holy art Thou, O God our Father, truly the only one, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Holy art Thou, Eternal Son, through whom all things were made. Holy art Thou, Holy, Eternal Spirit, through whom all things are sanctified.
Woe to me, woe to me, who have been astonied, because I am a man of polluted lips, and dwell among a people of polluted lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the mighty Lord.How terrible to-day is this place! For this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven; because Thou hast been seen eye to eye, O Lord.
Now, I pray, may Thy grace be with us, O Lord; purge away our impurities, and sanctify our lips; unite the voices of our insignificance with the sanctification of seraphim and archangels. Glory be to Thy tender mercies, because Thou hast associated the earthly with the heavenly.22
And he proceeds, saying in secret this prayer, in a bowing posture:- XII. And with those heavenly powers we give Thee thanks, even we, Thine insignificant, pithless, and feeble servants; because Thou hast granted unto us Thy great grace which cannot be repaid. For indeed Thou didst take upon Thee our human nature, that Thou mightest bestow life on us through Thy divinity; Thou didst exalt our low condition; Thou didst raise our ruined state; Thou didst rouse up our mortality; Thou didst wash away our sins; Thou didst blot out the guilt of our sins; Thou didst enlighten our intelligence, and Thou didst condemn our enemy, O Lord our God; and Thou didst cause the insignificance of our pithless nature to triumph.
Here follow the words of institution,23 after which:- Through the tender mercies of Thy grace poured out, O clement One, pardon our offences and sins; blot out my offences in the judgment. And on account of all Thy aids and Thy favours to us, we shall ascribe unto Thee praise,24 honour, thanksgiving, and adoration, now, always, and for ever and ever.
The Priest signs the sacraments. The response is made: Amen.
The Deacon: In your minds. Pray for peace with us.
The Priest says this prayer25 bowing, and in a low voice:- O Lord God Almighty, accept this oblation for the whole Holy Catholic Church, and for all the pious and righteous fathers who have been pleasing to Thee, and for all the prophets and apostles, and for all the martyrs and confessors, and for all that mourn, that are in straits, and are sick, and for all that are under difficulties and trials, and for all the weak and the oppressed, and for all the dead that have gone from amongst us; then for all that ask a prayer from our weakness, and for me, a degraded and feeble sinner. O Lord our God, according to Thy mercies and the multitude of Thy favours, look upon Thy people, and on me, a feeble man, not according to my sins and my follies, but that they may become worthy of the forgiveness of their sins through this holy body, which they receive with faith, through the grace of Thy mercy for ever and ever. Amen.
The Priest says this prayer of inclination in secret:- XIII. Do Thou, O Lord, through Thy many and ineffable mercies, make the memorial good and acceptable with that of26 all the pious and righteous fathers who have been pleading before Thee in the commemoration of the body and blood of Thy Christ, which we offer to Thee upon Thy pure and holy altar, as Thou hast taught us; and grant unto us Thy rest all the days of this life.
He proceeds with the Great Oblation:- O Lord our God, bestow on us Thy rest and peace all the days of this life, that all the inhabitants of the earth may know Thee, that Thou art the only true God the Father, and Thou didst send our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son and Thy beloved; and He Himself our Lord and God came and taught us all purity and holiness. Make remembrance of prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, doctors, priests, deacons, and all the sons of the Holy Catholic Church who have been signed with the sign of life, of holy baptism. We also, O Lord:
He proceeds:- We, Thy degraded, weak, and feeble servants who are congregated in Thy name, and now stand before Thee, and have received with joy the form which is from Thee, praising, glorifying, and exalting, commemorate and celebrate this great, awful, holy, and divine mystery of the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.And may Thy Holy Spirit come, O Lord,27 and rest upon this oblation of Thy servants which they offer, and bless and sanctify it; and may it be unto us, O Lord, for the propitiation of our offences and the forgiveness of our sins, and for a grand hope of resurrection from the dead, and for a new life in the kingdom of the heavens, with all who have been pleasing before Him. And on account of the whole of Thy wonderful dispensation towards us, we shall render thanks unto Thee, and glorify Thee without ceasing in Thy Church, redeemed by the precious blood of Thy Christ, with open mouths and joyful countenances:
Canon: Ascribing praise,28 honour, thanksgiving, and adoration to Thy holy, loving, and life-giving name, now, always, and for ever.
The Priest signs the mysteries with the cross, and they respond:- Amen.
The Priest bows himself and kisses the altar, first in the middle, then at the two sides right and left, and says this prayer:29 - Have mercy upon me, O God, down to the words, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee: and unto Thee lift I up mine eyes,30 down to have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Also stretch forth Thy hand, and let Thy right hand save me, O Lord; may Thy mercies remain upon me, O Lord, for ever, and despise not the works of Thy hands.31
Then he says this prayer:- XIV. O Christ, peace of those in heaven and great rest of those below,32 grant that Thy rest and peace may dwell in the four parts of the world,33 but especially in Thy Holy Catholic Church; grant that the priesthood with the government may have peace; cause wars to cease from the ends of the earth, and scatter the nations that delight in wars,34 that we may enjoy the blessing of living in tranquillity and peace, in all temperance and fear of God. Spare the offences and sins of the dead, through Thy grace and mercies for ever.
And to those who are around the altar he says:- Bless, O Lord. Bless, O Lord.
And he puts on the incense with which he fumes himself, and says:- Sweeten, O Lord our God, the unpleasing savour35 of our souls through the sweetness of Thy love, and through it cleanse me from the stains of my sin, and forgive me my offences and sins, whether known or unknown to me.
A second time he takes the incense with both hands, and censes the mysteries; presently he says:- The clemency of Thy grace, O our Lord and God, gives us access to these renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, unworthy though we be.
The Priest repeats these words once and again, and at each interval unites his hands over his breast in the form of a cross. He kisses the altar in the middle, and receives with both hands the upper oblation; and looking up, says:- Praise be to Thy holy name, O Lord Jesus Christ, and adoration to Thy majesty, always and for ever. Amen.
For He is the living and life-giving bread which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the whole world, of which they who eat die not; and they who receive it are saved by it, and do not see corruption, and live through it for ever; and Thou art the antidote of our mortality,36 and the resurrection of our entire frame.37
XV.38
XVI. Praise to Thy holy name, O Lord. (As above.)
The Priest kisses the host39 in the form of a cross; in such a way, however, that his lips do not touch it, but appear to kiss it; and he says:- Glory to Thee, O Lord; glory to Thee, O Lord, on account of Thine unspeakable gift to us, for ever.
Then he draws nigh to the fraction of the host,40 which he accomplishes with both his hands, saying:- We draw nigh, O Lord, with true faith, and break with thanksgiving and sign through Thy mercy the body and blood of our Life-giver, Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And, naming the Trinity, he breaks the host,41 which he holds in his hands, into two parts: and the one which is in his left hand he lays down on the disk; with the other, which he holds in his right hand, he signs the chalice, saying:- The precious blood is signed with the holy body of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever.
And they respond:- Amen.
Then he dips it even to the middle in the chalice, and signs with it the body which is in the paten, sating:- The holy body is signed with the propitiatory blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost for ever.
And they respond:- Amen.
And he unites the two parts, the one with the other, saying:- Divided, sanctified, completed, perfected, united, and commingled have been these renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, the one with the other, in the adorable and glorious name of Thy glorious Trinity, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that they may be to us, O Lord, for the propitiation of our offences and the forgiveness of our sins; also for the grand hope of a resurrection from the dead, and of a new life in the kingdom of the heavens, for us and for the Holy Church of Christ our Lord, here and in every place whatsoever, now and always, and for ever.
XVII. In the meantime he signs the host42 with his right thumb in the form of a cross from the lower part to the upper, and from the right to the left, and thus forms a slight fissure in it where it has been dipped in the blood. He puts a part of it into the chalice in the farm of a cross: the lower part is placed towards the priest, the upper towards the chalice, so that the place of the fissure looks to the chalice. He bows, and rising, says:- Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast made me, unworthy though I be, through Thy grace, a minister and mediator of Thy renowed, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries: through the grace of Thy mercy, make me worthy of the pardon of my offences and the forgiveness of my sins.
He signs himself with the sign of the cross an his forehead, and does the same to those standing round him.43
The Deacons approach, and he signs each one of them an the forehead, saying:- Christ accept thy ministry: Christ cause thy face to shine: Christ save thy life: Christ make thy youth to grow.
And they respond:- Christ accept thy oblation.
XVIII. All return to their own place; and the Priest, after bowing, rises and says, in the tone of the Gospel:- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all.
The Priest signs himself, and lifts up his hand over his head, so that it should be in the air, and the people be partakers in the singing:-
The Deacon says:-We all with fear, etc.
And at these words:- He hath given to us His mysteries:
The Priest begins to break44 the body, and says:- Be merciful, O Lord, through Thy clemency to the sins and follies of Thy servants, and sanctify our lips through Thy grace, that they may give the fruits of glory and praise to Thy divinity, with all Thy saints in Thy kingdom.
And, raising his voice, he says:-And make us worthy, O Lord our God, to stand before Thee continually without stain, with pure heart, with open countenance, and with the confidence which is from Thee, mercifully granted to us: and let us all with one accord invoke Thee, and say thus: Our Father, etc.
The People say:- Our Father, etc.
The Priest45 O Lord God Almighty, O Lord and our good God, who art full of mercy, we beg Thee, O Lord our God, and beseech the clemency of Thy goodness; lead us not into temptation, but deliver and save us from the evil one and his hosts; because Thine is the kingdom, the power, the strength, the might, and the dominion in heaven and on earth, now and always.
He signs himself, and they respond:- Amen.
XIX. And he proceeds:- Peace be with you.
They respond:- With thee and with thy spirit.
He proceeds:- It is becoming that the holy things should be to the holy in perfection.
And they say:- One holy Father: one holy Son: one Holy Ghost. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Deacon: Praise ye.And they say the responsory. And when the Deacon comes to carry the chalice, he says:-Let us pray for peace with us.
The Priest says: The grace of the Holy Ghost be with thee, with us, and with those who receive Him.And he gives the chalice to the Deacon.
The Deacon says:- Bless, O Lord.
The Priest: The gift of the grace of our Life-giver and Lord Jesus Christ be completed, in mercies, with all.
And he signs the people with the cross. In the meantime the responsories are said: Brethren, receive the body of the Son, cries the Church, and drink ye His chalice with faith in the house of His kingdom.
On feast-days: Strengthen, O Lord, etc.
On the Lord's day: O Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
Daily: The mysteries which we have received, etc.
The responsories being ended, the Deacon says:- All therefore, etc.
And they respond:- Glory be to Himself on account of His ineffable gift.
The Deacon: Let us pray for peace with us.
The Priest at the middle of the altar says this prayer:46 - XX. It is meet, O Lord, just and right in all days, times, and hours, to thank, adore, and praise the awful name of Thy majesty, because Thou hast through Thy grace, O Lord, made us, mortal men possessing a frail nature, worthy to sanctify Thy name with the heavenly47 beings, and to become partakers of the mysteries of Thy gift, and to be delighted with the sweetness of Thy oracles. And voices of glory and thanksgiving we ever offer up to Thy sublime divinity, O Lord.
Another: Christ, our God, Lord, King, Saviour, and Life-giver, through His grace has made us worthy to receive His body and His precious and all-sanctifying blood. May He grant unto us that we may be pleasing unto Him in our words, works, thoughts, and deeds, so that that pledge which we have received may be to us for the pardon of our offences, the forgiveness of our sins, and the grand hope of a resurrection from the dead, and a new and true life in the kingdom of the heavens, with all who have been pleasing before Him, through His grace and His mercies for ever.
On ordinary days: Praise, O Lord, honour, blessing, and thanksgiving we ought to ascribe to Thy glorious Trinity for the gift of Thy holy mysteries, which Thou hast given to us for the propitiation of our offences, O Lord of all.
Another: Blessed be Thy adorable honour, from Thy glorious place, O Christ, the propitiator of our offences and our sins, and who takest away our follies through Thy renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries. Christ the hope of our nature always and for ever. Amen.
Obsignation or final benediction: May our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we have ministered, and whom we have seen and honoured in His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, Himself render us worthy of the splendid glory of His kingdom, and of gladness with His holy angels, and for confidence before Him, that we may stand at His right hand.
And on our entire congregation may His mercies and compassion be continually poured out, now and always, and ever.
On the Lord's day and on feast-days: May He Himself who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavens, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and prepared us for His kingdom, and called us to the desirable good things which neither cease nor perish, as He promised to us in His life-giving Gospel, and said to the blessed congregation of His disciples-Verily, verily I say unto you, that every one who eateth my body and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him, and I will raise him up at the last day; and he cometh not to judgment, but I will make him pass from death to eternal life:
May He Himself now bless this congregation, and maintain our position, and render glorious our people who have come and rejoiced in receiving His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries; and may ye be sealed and guarded by the holy sign of the Lord's cross from all evils, secret and open, now and always.
Composed by St. a.d.aeus and St. Maris, Teachers of the Easterns.1
I.2 First: Glory to God in the highest, etc.Our Father which art in heaven.
Prayer: Strengthen, O our Lord and God, our weakness through Thy mercy, that we may administer the holy mystery which has been given for the renovation and salvation of our degraded nature, through the mercies of Thy beloved Son the Lord of all.
On common days: Adored, glorified, lauded, celebrated, exalted, and blessed in heaven and on earth, be the adorable and glorious name of Thine ever-glorious Trinity, O Lord of all.
On common days they sing the Psalm (xv.), Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle? entire with its canon,3 of the mystery of the sacraments.
(Aloud.) Who shall shout with joy? etc.
Prayer: II. Before the resplendent throne of Thy majesty, O Lord, and the exalted and sublime throne of Thy glory, and on the awful seat of the strength of Thy love and the propiatory altar which Thy will hath established, in the region of Thy pasture,4 with thousands of cherubim praising Thee, and ten thousands of seraphim sanctifying Thee, we draw near, adore, thank, and glorify Thee always, O Lord of all.
On commemorations and Fridays: Thy name, great and holy, illustrious and blessed, the blessed and incomprehensible name of Thy glorious Trinity, and Thy kindness to our race, we ought at all times to bless, adore, and glorify, O Lord of all.
Responsory5 at the chancel, as above: Who commanded, etc.
To the priest, etc.
Prayer: How breathes in us, O our Lord and God, the sweet fragrance of the sweetness of Thy love; illumined are our souls, through the knowledge of Thy truth: may we be rendered worthy of receiving the manifestation of Thy beloved from Thy holy heavens: there shall we render thanks unto Thee, and, in the meantime, glorify Thee without ceasing in Thy Church, crowned and filled with every aid and blessing, because Thou art Lord and Father, Creator of all.
III. Prayer of Incense: We shall repeat the hymn to Thy glorious Trinity, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
On fast-days: And on account, etc.
At the commemoration of saints: Thou, O Lord, art truly the raiser up of our bodies: Thou art the good Saviour of our souls, and the secure preserver of our life; and we ought to thank Thee continually, to adore and glorify Thee, O Lord of all.
At the lessons.6 Holy art Thou, worthy of praise, mighty, immortal, who dwellest in the holies, and Thy will resteth in them: have regard unto us, O Lord; be merciful unto us, and pity us, as Thou art our helper in all circumstances, O Lord of all.
IV. At the apostle.7 Enlighten, O our Lord and God, the movements of our meditations to hear and understand the sweet listenings to Thy life-giving and divine commands; and grant unto us through Thy grace and mercy to gather from them the assurance of love, and hope, and salvation suitable to soul and body, and we shall sing to Thee everlasting glory without ceasing and always, O Lord of all.
On fast-days: To Thee, the wise governor, etc.
V. Descending, he shall salute the Gospel, saying this prayer before the altar: Thee, the renowned seed of Thy Father, and the image of the person of Thy Father, who wast revealed in the body of our humanity, and didst arise to us in the light of Thy annunciation, Thee we thank, adore, etc.
And after the proclamation:8 - Thee, O Lord God Almighty, we beseech and entreat, perfect with us Thy grace, and pour out through our hands Thy gift, the pity and compassion of Thy divinity. May they be to us for the propitiation of the offences of Thy people, and for the forgiveness of the sins of the entire flock of Thy pasture, through Thy grace and tender mercies, O good friend of men, O Lord of all.
VI. The Deacons say:- Bow your heads.
The Priest says this secret prayer in the sanctuary:9 - O Lord God Omnipotent, Thine is the Holy Catholic Church, inasmuch as Thou, through the great passion of Thy Christ, didst buy the sheep of Thy pasture; and from the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is indeed of one nature with Thy glorious divinity, are granted the degrees of the true priestly ordination; and through Thy clemency Thou didst vouchsafe, O Lord, to make our weakness spiritual members in the great body of Thy Holy Church, that we might administer spiritual aid to faithful souls. Now, O Lord, perfect Thy grace with us, and pour out Thy gift through our hands: and may Thy tender mercies and the clemency of Thy divinity be upon us, and upon the people whom Thou hast chosen for Thyself.
(Aloud.) And grant unto us, O Lord, through Thy clemency, that we may all together, and equally every day of our life, please Thy divinity, and be rendered worthy of the aid of Thy grace to offer Thee praise, honour, thanksgiving, and adoration at all times, O Lord.
VII. And the Deacons ascend to the altar, and say:- He who has not received baptism, etc.10
And the Priest begins the respansory of the mysteries,11 and the Sacristan and Deacon place the disk and the chalice upon the altar. The Priest crosses his hands, and says:12 - We offer praise to Thy glorious Trinity at all times and for ever.
And proceeds:- May Christ, who was offered for our salvation, and commanded us to commemorate His death and His resurrection, Himself receive this sacrifice from the hands of our weakness, through His grace and mercies for ever. Amen.
And proceeds:- Laid are the renowned holy and life-giving mysteries upon the altar of the mighty Lord, even until His advent, for ever.Amen.
Praise, etc.
Thy memory, etc.
Our Father, etc.
The apostles of the Father, etc.
Upon the holy altar, etc.
They who have slept, etc.
Matthew Mark, Luke, etc.13
The Creed.14
VIII. The Priest draws near to celebrate, and thrice bows before the altar, the middle of which he kisses, then the right and the left horn of the altar; and bows to the Gospel side, and says:- Bless, O Lord, etc.Pray for me, my fathers, brethren, and masters, that God may grant unto me the capability and power to perform this service to which I have drawn near, and that this oblation may be accepted from the hands of my weakness, for myself, for you, and for the whole body of the Holy Catholic Church, through His grace and mercies for ever. Amen.
And they respond:- May Christ listen to thy prayers, and be pleased with thy sacrifice, receive thy oblation, and honour thy priesthood, and grant unto us, through thy mediation,15 the pardon of our offences, and the forgiveness of our sins, through His grace and mercies for ever.
Presently he bows at the other side, uttering the same words; and they respond in the same manner: then he bows to the altar, and says:- God, Lord of all, be with us through His grace and mercies for ever. Amen.
And bowing towards the Deacon, who is on the left (Epistle side), he says:- God, the Lord of all, confirm thy words, and secure to thee peace, and accept this oblation from my hands for me, for thee, for the whole body of the Holy Catholic Church, and for the entire world, through His grace and mercies for ever.
He kneels at the altar, and says in secret:- IX. O our Lord and God, look not on the multitude of our sins, and let not Thy dignity be turned away on account of the heinousness of our iniquities; but through Thine unspeakable grace sanctify this sacrifice of Thine, and grant through it power and capability, so that Thou mayest forget our many sins, and be merciful when Thou shalt appear at the end of time, in the man whom Thou hast assumed from among us, and we may find before Thee grace and mercy, and be rendered worthy to praise Thee with spiritual16 assemblies.
He rises, and says this prayer in secret:- We thank Thee, O our Lord and God, for the abundant riches of Thy grace to us:
And he proceeds:- Us who were sinful and degraded, on account of the multitude of Thy clemency, Thou hast made worthy to celebrate the holy mysteries of the body and blood of Thy Christ. We beg aid from Thee for the strengthening of our souls, that in perfect love and true faith we may administer Thy gift to us.
Canon: And we shall ascribe to Thee praise, glory, thanksgiving, and adoration, now, always, and for ever and ever.
He signs himself with the sign of the cross, and they respond:- Amen.
X. And he proceeds:- Peace be with you:
They respond:- With thee and with thy spirit.
And they give the (kiss of) peace to each other, and say:- For all:17
The Deacon says:- Let us thank, entreat, and beseech.
The Pries says this prayer in secret:- O Lord, mighty God, help my weakness through Thy clemency and the aid of Thy grace; and make me worthy of offering before Thee this oblation, as for the common aid of all, and to the praise of Thy Trinity, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Another prayer.18 O our Lord and God, restrain our thoughts, that they wander not amid the vanities of this world. O Lord our God, grant that I may be united to the affection of Thy love, unworthy though I be. Glory be to Thee, O Christ.Ascend into the chamber of Thy renowned light, O Lord; sow in me the good seed of humility; and under the wings of Thy grace hide me through Thy mercy. If Thou wert to mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Because there is mercy with Thee.
[The Priest says the following prayer in secret:19 - O mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, beseech for me the only-begotten Son, who was born of thee, to forgive me my offences and my sins, and to accept from my feeble and sinful hands this sacrifice which my weakness offers upon this altar, through thy intercession for me, O holy mother.]
XI. When the Deacon shall say, With watchfulness and care, etc., immediately the Priest rises up and uncovers the sacraments, taking away the veil with which they were covered: he blesses the incense, and says a canon with a loud voice:- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all, now, etc.20
He signs the sacraments, and they respond:-Amen.
The Priest proceeds:- Lift up your minds: They respond:-They are towards Thee, O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, O glorious King.
The Priest: The oblation is offered to God, the Lord of all.They respond:-It is meet and right.
The Deacon: Peace be with you.
The Priest puts on the incense, and says this prayer:- O Lord, Lord, grant me an open countenance before Thee, that with the confidence which is from Thee we may fulfil this awful and divine sacrifice with consciences free from all iniquity and bitterness. Sow in us, O Lord, affection, peace, and concord towards each other, and toward every one.
And standing, he says in secret:21 - Worthy of glory from every mouth, and of thanksgiving from all tongues, and of adoration and exaltation from all creatures, is the adorable and glorious name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who created the world through His grace, and its inhabitants through His clemency, who saved men through His mercy, and showed great favour towards mortals. Thy majesty, O Lord, thousands of thousands of heavenly spirits, and ten thousand myriads of holy angels, hosts of spirits, ministers of fire and spirit, bless and adore; with the holy cherubim and the spiritual seraphim they sanctify and celebrate Thy name, crying and praising, without ceasing crying unto each other.
They say with a loud voice:- Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; full are the heavens and the earth of His glory.
The Priest in secret:- Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord God Almighty; the heavens and the earth are full of His glory and the nature of His essence, as they are glorious with the honour of His splendour; as it is written, The heaven and the earth are full of me, saith the mighty Lord.
Holy art Thou, O God our Father, truly the only one, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Holy art Thou, Eternal Son, through whom all things were made. Holy art Thou, Holy, Eternal Spirit, through whom all things are sanctified.
Woe to me, woe to me, who have been astonied, because I am a man of polluted lips, and dwell among a people of polluted lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the mighty Lord.How terrible to-day is this place! For this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven; because Thou hast been seen eye to eye, O Lord.
Now, I pray, may Thy grace be with us, O Lord; purge away our impurities, and sanctify our lips; unite the voices of our insignificance with the sanctification of seraphim and archangels. Glory be to Thy tender mercies, because Thou hast associated the earthly with the heavenly.22
And he proceeds, saying in secret this prayer, in a bowing posture:- XII. And with those heavenly powers we give Thee thanks, even we, Thine insignificant, pithless, and feeble servants; because Thou hast granted unto us Thy great grace which cannot be repaid. For indeed Thou didst take upon Thee our human nature, that Thou mightest bestow life on us through Thy divinity; Thou didst exalt our low condition; Thou didst raise our ruined state; Thou didst rouse up our mortality; Thou didst wash away our sins; Thou didst blot out the guilt of our sins; Thou didst enlighten our intelligence, and Thou didst condemn our enemy, O Lord our God; and Thou didst cause the insignificance of our pithless nature to triumph.
Here follow the words of institution,23 after which:- Through the tender mercies of Thy grace poured out, O clement One, pardon our offences and sins; blot out my offences in the judgment. And on account of all Thy aids and Thy favours to us, we shall ascribe unto Thee praise,24 honour, thanksgiving, and adoration, now, always, and for ever and ever.
The Priest signs the sacraments. The response is made: Amen.
The Deacon: In your minds. Pray for peace with us.
The Priest says this prayer25 bowing, and in a low voice:- O Lord God Almighty, accept this oblation for the whole Holy Catholic Church, and for all the pious and righteous fathers who have been pleasing to Thee, and for all the prophets and apostles, and for all the martyrs and confessors, and for all that mourn, that are in straits, and are sick, and for all that are under difficulties and trials, and for all the weak and the oppressed, and for all the dead that have gone from amongst us; then for all that ask a prayer from our weakness, and for me, a degraded and feeble sinner. O Lord our God, according to Thy mercies and the multitude of Thy favours, look upon Thy people, and on me, a feeble man, not according to my sins and my follies, but that they may become worthy of the forgiveness of their sins through this holy body, which they receive with faith, through the grace of Thy mercy for ever and ever. Amen.
The Priest says this prayer of inclination in secret:- XIII. Do Thou, O Lord, through Thy many and ineffable mercies, make the memorial good and acceptable with that of26 all the pious and righteous fathers who have been pleading before Thee in the commemoration of the body and blood of Thy Christ, which we offer to Thee upon Thy pure and holy altar, as Thou hast taught us; and grant unto us Thy rest all the days of this life.
He proceeds with the Great Oblation:- O Lord our God, bestow on us Thy rest and peace all the days of this life, that all the inhabitants of the earth may know Thee, that Thou art the only true God the Father, and Thou didst send our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son and Thy beloved; and He Himself our Lord and God came and taught us all purity and holiness. Make remembrance of prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, doctors, priests, deacons, and all the sons of the Holy Catholic Church who have been signed with the sign of life, of holy baptism. We also, O Lord:
He proceeds:- We, Thy degraded, weak, and feeble servants who are congregated in Thy name, and now stand before Thee, and have received with joy the form which is from Thee, praising, glorifying, and exalting, commemorate and celebrate this great, awful, holy, and divine mystery of the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.And may Thy Holy Spirit come, O Lord,27 and rest upon this oblation of Thy servants which they offer, and bless and sanctify it; and may it be unto us, O Lord, for the propitiation of our offences and the forgiveness of our sins, and for a grand hope of resurrection from the dead, and for a new life in the kingdom of the heavens, with all who have been pleasing before Him. And on account of the whole of Thy wonderful dispensation towards us, we shall render thanks unto Thee, and glorify Thee without ceasing in Thy Church, redeemed by the precious blood of Thy Christ, with open mouths and joyful countenances:
Canon: Ascribing praise,28 honour, thanksgiving, and adoration to Thy holy, loving, and life-giving name, now, always, and for ever.
The Priest signs the mysteries with the cross, and they respond:- Amen.
The Priest bows himself and kisses the altar, first in the middle, then at the two sides right and left, and says this prayer:29 - Have mercy upon me, O God, down to the words, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee: and unto Thee lift I up mine eyes,30 down to have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Also stretch forth Thy hand, and let Thy right hand save me, O Lord; may Thy mercies remain upon me, O Lord, for ever, and despise not the works of Thy hands.31
Then he says this prayer:- XIV. O Christ, peace of those in heaven and great rest of those below,32 grant that Thy rest and peace may dwell in the four parts of the world,33 but especially in Thy Holy Catholic Church; grant that the priesthood with the government may have peace; cause wars to cease from the ends of the earth, and scatter the nations that delight in wars,34 that we may enjoy the blessing of living in tranquillity and peace, in all temperance and fear of God. Spare the offences and sins of the dead, through Thy grace and mercies for ever.
And to those who are around the altar he says:- Bless, O Lord. Bless, O Lord.
And he puts on the incense with which he fumes himself, and says:- Sweeten, O Lord our God, the unpleasing savour35 of our souls through the sweetness of Thy love, and through it cleanse me from the stains of my sin, and forgive me my offences and sins, whether known or unknown to me.
A second time he takes the incense with both hands, and censes the mysteries; presently he says:- The clemency of Thy grace, O our Lord and God, gives us access to these renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, unworthy though we be.
The Priest repeats these words once and again, and at each interval unites his hands over his breast in the form of a cross. He kisses the altar in the middle, and receives with both hands the upper oblation; and looking up, says:- Praise be to Thy holy name, O Lord Jesus Christ, and adoration to Thy majesty, always and for ever. Amen.
For He is the living and life-giving bread which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the whole world, of which they who eat die not; and they who receive it are saved by it, and do not see corruption, and live through it for ever; and Thou art the antidote of our mortality,36 and the resurrection of our entire frame.37
XV.38
XVI. Praise to Thy holy name, O Lord. (As above.)
The Priest kisses the host39 in the form of a cross; in such a way, however, that his lips do not touch it, but appear to kiss it; and he says:- Glory to Thee, O Lord; glory to Thee, O Lord, on account of Thine unspeakable gift to us, for ever.
Then he draws nigh to the fraction of the host,40 which he accomplishes with both his hands, saying:- We draw nigh, O Lord, with true faith, and break with thanksgiving and sign through Thy mercy the body and blood of our Life-giver, Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And, naming the Trinity, he breaks the host,41 which he holds in his hands, into two parts: and the one which is in his left hand he lays down on the disk; with the other, which he holds in his right hand, he signs the chalice, saying:- The precious blood is signed with the holy body of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever.
And they respond:- Amen.
Then he dips it even to the middle in the chalice, and signs with it the body which is in the paten, sating:- The holy body is signed with the propitiatory blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost for ever.
And they respond:- Amen.
And he unites the two parts, the one with the other, saying:- Divided, sanctified, completed, perfected, united, and commingled have been these renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, the one with the other, in the adorable and glorious name of Thy glorious Trinity, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that they may be to us, O Lord, for the propitiation of our offences and the forgiveness of our sins; also for the grand hope of a resurrection from the dead, and of a new life in the kingdom of the heavens, for us and for the Holy Church of Christ our Lord, here and in every place whatsoever, now and always, and for ever.
XVII. In the meantime he signs the host42 with his right thumb in the form of a cross from the lower part to the upper, and from the right to the left, and thus forms a slight fissure in it where it has been dipped in the blood. He puts a part of it into the chalice in the farm of a cross: the lower part is placed towards the priest, the upper towards the chalice, so that the place of the fissure looks to the chalice. He bows, and rising, says:- Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast made me, unworthy though I be, through Thy grace, a minister and mediator of Thy renowed, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries: through the grace of Thy mercy, make me worthy of the pardon of my offences and the forgiveness of my sins.
He signs himself with the sign of the cross an his forehead, and does the same to those standing round him.43
The Deacons approach, and he signs each one of them an the forehead, saying:- Christ accept thy ministry: Christ cause thy face to shine: Christ save thy life: Christ make thy youth to grow.
And they respond:- Christ accept thy oblation.
XVIII. All return to their own place; and the Priest, after bowing, rises and says, in the tone of the Gospel:- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all.
The Priest signs himself, and lifts up his hand over his head, so that it should be in the air, and the people be partakers in the singing:-
The Deacon says:-We all with fear, etc.
And at these words:- He hath given to us His mysteries:
The Priest begins to break44 the body, and says:- Be merciful, O Lord, through Thy clemency to the sins and follies of Thy servants, and sanctify our lips through Thy grace, that they may give the fruits of glory and praise to Thy divinity, with all Thy saints in Thy kingdom.
And, raising his voice, he says:-And make us worthy, O Lord our God, to stand before Thee continually without stain, with pure heart, with open countenance, and with the confidence which is from Thee, mercifully granted to us: and let us all with one accord invoke Thee, and say thus: Our Father, etc.
The People say:- Our Father, etc.
The Priest45 O Lord God Almighty, O Lord and our good God, who art full of mercy, we beg Thee, O Lord our God, and beseech the clemency of Thy goodness; lead us not into temptation, but deliver and save us from the evil one and his hosts; because Thine is the kingdom, the power, the strength, the might, and the dominion in heaven and on earth, now and always.
He signs himself, and they respond:- Amen.
XIX. And he proceeds:- Peace be with you.
They respond:- With thee and with thy spirit.
He proceeds:- It is becoming that the holy things should be to the holy in perfection.
And they say:- One holy Father: one holy Son: one Holy Ghost. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Deacon: Praise ye.And they say the responsory. And when the Deacon comes to carry the chalice, he says:-Let us pray for peace with us.
The Priest says: The grace of the Holy Ghost be with thee, with us, and with those who receive Him.And he gives the chalice to the Deacon.
The Deacon says:- Bless, O Lord.
The Priest: The gift of the grace of our Life-giver and Lord Jesus Christ be completed, in mercies, with all.
And he signs the people with the cross. In the meantime the responsories are said: Brethren, receive the body of the Son, cries the Church, and drink ye His chalice with faith in the house of His kingdom.
On feast-days: Strengthen, O Lord, etc.
On the Lord's day: O Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
Daily: The mysteries which we have received, etc.
The responsories being ended, the Deacon says:- All therefore, etc.
And they respond:- Glory be to Himself on account of His ineffable gift.
The Deacon: Let us pray for peace with us.
The Priest at the middle of the altar says this prayer:46 - XX. It is meet, O Lord, just and right in all days, times, and hours, to thank, adore, and praise the awful name of Thy majesty, because Thou hast through Thy grace, O Lord, made us, mortal men possessing a frail nature, worthy to sanctify Thy name with the heavenly47 beings, and to become partakers of the mysteries of Thy gift, and to be delighted with the sweetness of Thy oracles. And voices of glory and thanksgiving we ever offer up to Thy sublime divinity, O Lord.
Another: Christ, our God, Lord, King, Saviour, and Life-giver, through His grace has made us worthy to receive His body and His precious and all-sanctifying blood. May He grant unto us that we may be pleasing unto Him in our words, works, thoughts, and deeds, so that that pledge which we have received may be to us for the pardon of our offences, the forgiveness of our sins, and the grand hope of a resurrection from the dead, and a new and true life in the kingdom of the heavens, with all who have been pleasing before Him, through His grace and His mercies for ever.
On ordinary days: Praise, O Lord, honour, blessing, and thanksgiving we ought to ascribe to Thy glorious Trinity for the gift of Thy holy mysteries, which Thou hast given to us for the propitiation of our offences, O Lord of all.
Another: Blessed be Thy adorable honour, from Thy glorious place, O Christ, the propitiator of our offences and our sins, and who takest away our follies through Thy renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries. Christ the hope of our nature always and for ever. Amen.
Obsignation or final benediction: May our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we have ministered, and whom we have seen and honoured in His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, Himself render us worthy of the splendid glory of His kingdom, and of gladness with His holy angels, and for confidence before Him, that we may stand at His right hand.
And on our entire congregation may His mercies and compassion be continually poured out, now and always, and ever.
On the Lord's day and on feast-days: May He Himself who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavens, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and prepared us for His kingdom, and called us to the desirable good things which neither cease nor perish, as He promised to us in His life-giving Gospel, and said to the blessed congregation of His disciples-Verily, verily I say unto you, that every one who eateth my body and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him, and I will raise him up at the last day; and he cometh not to judgment, but I will make him pass from death to eternal life:
May He Himself now bless this congregation, and maintain our position, and render glorious our people who have come and rejoiced in receiving His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries; and may ye be sealed and guarded by the holy sign of the Lord's cross from all evils, secret and open, now and always.
The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai
Homily XVII (A) An Exposition Of The Mysteries
ON the Mysteries of the Church my thoughts mystically pondered; and I desired to reveal the thought of the heart by the speech of the mouth. By the speech of the mouth I desired to tell of their greatness and with words to depict an image of their glory. Upon their glory my mind gazed narrowly; but dread seized upon me and caused me to desist (and) left me without performance. Without performance I stood still, for I was disturbed; and I began to cry out passionately with the son of Amos. With the son of Amos I gave woe to myself, as one defiled who in his defilement had fixed the gaze of his mind on the Mysteries of his Lord. On these things I pondered, and with fear I turned back; and the Spirit by its beckoning encouraged me to enter the Holy of Holies. Into the Holy of Holies of the glorious Mysteries It permitted me to enter, that I might reveal the beauty of their glory to the sons of the Mystery. Come, then, O son of the divine Mystery, hear the record marvellous to tell of the Mysteries of the Church. ‘I have a Mystery (or secret), I have a Mystery, I have a Mystery’ (I) and mine, the Prophet cries: with understanding, then, hear the Mystery that is expounded to thee.
Lofty, in truth, and exalted is this Mystery that the Priest performs in the midst of the Sanctuary mystically. Mystically the Church depicts the glorious Mysteries; and as by an image she shews to all men those things that have come to pass. Those things which came to pass in the death of the Son she commemorates by the Mysteries; His resurrection also from the dead she reveals before all. A Mystery mystically shews that which has come to pass and that which is to come about: but the Church shews mystically in her Mysteries only that which has come to pass.
The Church performs her Mysteries in secret away from those that are without; and the Priest celebrates privately within the Sanctuary. Only her children and her sons, the baptized and the signed, does she allow to enjoy communion in these adorable Mysteries which she performs.
Wherefore she cries out before the hearers through the Deacons to bow the head and receive the blessing from the Priesthood: ‘Bow your heads, O ye hearers, believers, baptized, and receive the blessing from the laying on of the hands of the bright(-robed) Priest.’
And when they have been blessed, another proclamation is made to them: ‘Let everyone that has not received baptism depart hence;’ go forth, ye unbaptized, ye shall not partake of the Mysteries of the Church; for only to them of the household is it permitted to partake’.
Again in a different manner another proclamation is made: ‘Let everyone that has not received the sign of life depart from hence’; and everyone that has repented and returned from unorthodox heresy, until he is signed he shall not partake of the Mysteries of the Church. Everyone, again, that has denied his faith and has returned to his (former) condition, until he is absolved by the sign of the Church he shall not partake.
Again another proclamation is made in a different order: ‘Let everyone that receives not the Body and the Blood depart from hence’: everyone that has been proscribed by the Priesthood and forbidden to receive; and at the season when they (the Mysteries) are offered he may not remain. Whoso has been forbidden by the canon to receive the Sacrament, it is not even permitted to him to stand in the place where they (the Mysteries) are being offered. He that is sick (and) ailing, and perforce is unable to receive, he may not even stand in the nave where they (the Mysteries) are being consecrated.
Sadly they all go forth from the midst of the nave, and lament and stand with great mourning in the (outer) court of the Church, congratulating those who remain in that enjoyment, and giving woe to themselves for their exclusion. By her expulsion (of these) the Holy Church depicts typically those that go forth into that darkness which is in Gehenna. The King saw a man not clad in the garments of glory, and he commanded and they bound him and cast him forth into that outer darkness. So the Church scans her congregations at the time of the Mysteries, and everyone that is not adorned with clean garments she casts forth without.
After these the proclamation concerning the hearers is made, that they should go and see to the doors of the Church and keep watch by them: ‘Go, ye hearers, see diligently to the outer doors, that no one of (those belonging to) strange religions may enter.’ Beside the doors these stand as hirelings, not partaking of the Mysteries of the Church like those of the household. Of these did the prodigal son, who squandered his substance, make mention, and meekly he asked to be made as one of the hired servants.
In that hour let us put away from us anger and hatred, and let us see Jesus who is being led to death on our account. On the paten and in the cup He goes forth with the Deacon to suffer. The bread on the paten and the wine in the cup are a symbol of His death. A symbol of His death these (the Deacons) bear upon their hands; and when they have set it on the Altar and covered it they typify His burial: not that these (the Deacons) bear the image of the Jews, but (rather) of the Watchers (i.e. Angels) who were ministering to the passion of the Son. He was ministered to by Angels at the time of His passion, and the Deacons attend His body which is suffering mystically.
The Priests now come in procession into the midst of the Sanctuary and stand there in great splendour and in beauteous adornment. The Priest who is selected to be celebrating this Sacrifice, bears in himself the image of our Lord in that hour. Our Lord performed a mediation between us and His Father; and in like fashion the Priest performs a mediation. Hear, O Priest, whither thou hast been advanced by reason of thine order. Stand in awe of thy Lord, and honour thine order as it is fitting. See, thou hast been exalted above cherubim, above Seraphim; be above nature in thy manners, as it beseems thee. See, thou hast been trusted to administer the treasures of thy Lord; be without blemish and without blame as it is commanded thee. In this fashion the Priest stands in that hour, nor can aught compare with the greatness to which he is advanced. All the Priests who are in the Sanctuary bear the image of those Apostles who met together at the sepulchre. The Altar is a symbol of our Lord’s tomb, without doubt; and the bread and wine are the body of our Lord which was embalmed and buried. The Veil also which is over them presents a type of the stone sealed with the ring of the Priests and the executioners. And the Deacons standing on this side and on that and brandishing (fans) are a symbol of the Angels at the head and at the feet thereof (sc. of the tomb). And all the Deacons who stand ministering before the Altar depict a likeness of the Angels that surrounded the tomb of our Lord. The Sanctuary also forms a symbol of the Garden of Joseph whence flowed life for men and Angels. In another order it is a type of that Kingdom which our Lord entered, and into which He will bring with Him all His friends. The adorable Altar thereof is a symbol of that Throne of the Great and Glorious, upon which He will be seen of Watchers and men in the day of His revelation. The apse typifies things below and above: it calls to mind the things that have been, and those that are to be it typifies spiritually.
And as soon as the Priests and the Deacons together have taken their stand they begin to recite the Faith of the Fathers:
Now we believe in one God the Father who is from eternity, who holds all by the hidden rod of His Divinity; who made and fashioned all things visible and invisible; and He brought the creation of the height and depth out of nothing. And in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, one person, double in natures and their hypostases. He is the Only-begotten in His Godhead, and first-born in His body, who became first-born unto all creatures from the dead: He who of His Father is begotten and is without beginning, and He in no wise became nor was made with creatures; for He is God who is from God, Son who is of the Father, and of the nature of His Father, and equal with Him in all His proper things; and by Him the worlds were shewn forth and everything was created that was (made); and in authority and worship and glory He is equal with His Father; who for our sake came down from Heaven without change (of place), that He might redeem our race from the slavery of the Evil One and Death, and fashioned (as a body) a Temple by the power of the Holy Spirit from a daughter of David; and He became man, and He deified His Temple by the union. And His body was conceived in the Temple of Mary without wedlock, and He was born above the manner of men. And He suffered and was crucified and received death through His humanity, while Pilate held the governorship. And He was in the grave three days like any dead (man); and He rose and was resuscitated according as it is written in the prophecy; and He ascended to the height, to the Heaven of Heavens, that He might accomplish everything; and He sat in glory at the right hand of the Father that sent Him. And He is ready to come at the end of the times for the renewal of all things, and to judge the living, and the dead also who have died in sin. And we confess also the Holy Spirit, an eternal Being, equal in ousia and in Godhead to the Father and the Son, who proceedeth from the Father in a manner unsearchable, and giveth life to all reasonable beings that by Him were created. And we confess again one Church, catholic, patristic, and apostolic, sanctified by the Spirit. And again, we confess one bath and baptism, wherein we are baptized unto pardon of debts and the adoption of sons. And we confess again the resurrection which is from the dead; and that we shall be in new life for ever and ever.
This did the Priests seal; and they proscribed and anathematized everyone that confesses not according to their confession. The Church confesses according to the confession of the Fathers, and she employs their confession also at the time of the Mysteries. At the time of the Mysteries her children thunder forth with their Faith, reciting it with mouth and heart, without doubting.
And when the Faith has been recited in due order, at once the herald of the Church gives the command to pray: ‘Pray,’ he says, ‘over the commemoration of the Fathers, the Catholici and Bishops with the Doctors, and with them the Priests, the Deacons also and all orders, and everyone that has departed this world in faith, that they may be crowned in the day when they rise from the dead: and we with them, may we inherit life in that Kingdom. Pray, brethren, over the oblation which we offer, that it may be acceptable before God to whom it is offered; and that by the brooding of the Holy Spirit it may be consecrated, that it may become unto us a cause of life in the Kingdom on High.’
With these (words) the herald of the Church urges the people, and he tells (them) to pray before God with a pure heart.
The Priest now offers the Mystery of the redemption of our life, full of awe and covered with fear and great dread. The Priest is in awe and great fear and much trembling for his own debts and the debts of all the children of the Church. He is the eye of the whole ecclesiastical body; and he makes remembrance in his mind of the doings of all his fellow-servants. He is also the tongue of the whole body of Jesus: he is an Attorney, and fulfils an advocacy on its behalf. Trembling and fear, for himself and for his people, lie upon the Priest in that dread hour. In (his) awful character and office, an object of awe even to the Seraphim, the son of dust stands in great fear as mediator. The awful King, mystically slain and buried, and the awful Watchers, standing in fear in honour of their Lord! The ranks of Watchers surround the Altar in that hour, as Chrysostom has borne witness who saw them.
In this frame of mind stands the Priest to officiate, reverent, with great fear and trembling. Like Jacob he worships three times and three; and then he draws near to kiss the tomb of our Lord (i.e. the Altar). Jacob honoured his brother Esau with obeisances, and the Priest honours with obeisances Jacob’s Lord. He kisses with love and affection the Holy Altar, and trusts to receive sanctification through his lips. He asks prayer of the Deacons that are round about him, that by his humility he may receive mercy from the Merciful. He now prays with a contrite heart before God, and confesses his debts and the debts of the ecclesiastical body. The Priest asks for hidden power together with (divine) help, that he may be performing his gift according to his desire; and in all that the Priest says before God the people concur, and they seal his ministry with Amen. With Amen the people subscribe with the Priest, and take part with him by their prayers and by their word (i.e. Amen).
Then the Priest blesses the people in that hour with that saying which the life-giving mouth prescribed: ‘Peace be with you,’ says the Priest to the children of the Church, for peace is multiplied in Jesus our Lord who is our peace. ‘Peace be with you,’ for death is come to naught, and corruption is destroyed through a Son of our race who suffered for our sake and quickened us all. ‘Peace be with you,’ for sin is removed and Satan is condemned by a Son of Adam who has conquered and given victory to (or justified) the children of Adam. ‘Peace be with you,’ for the Good Lord has been reconciled to you by the death of His Son who suffered on the cross for our sake. ‘Peace be with you,’ for you have been made at peace with the Angels by Him who has authority over the Angels and reigns over all. ‘Peace be with you,’ because you have been united the People and the Peoples and the barrier has been broken down by Jesus who destroyed all enmity. ‘Peace be with you,’ for new life is reserved for you by Him who became a first-born unto all creatures in life incorruptible. ‘Peace be with you,’ because you have been summoned to the Kingdom aloft by Him who entered first to prepare a place for us all.
The people answer the Priest lovingly and say: ‘With thee, Priest, and with that Priestly spirit of thine.’ They call ‘spirit’ not that soul which is in the Priest, but the Spirit which the Priest has received by the laying on of hands. By the laying on of hands the Priest receives the power of the Spirit, that thereby he may be able to perform the divine Mysteries. That grace the people call the ‘Spirit’ of the Priest, and they pray that he may attain peace with it, and it with him. This makes known that even the Priest stands in need of prayer, and it is necessary that the whole Church should intercede for him. Therefore she (the Church) cries out that he may gain peace with his Spirit, that through his peace the peace of all her children may be increased; for by his virtue he greatly benefits the whole Church, and by his depravity he greatly harms the whole community. ‘Peace be with thee,’ say the people to the bright (-robed) Priest, mayest thou by thy conversation obtain peace with thy Spirit. ‘Peace be with thee,’ by whom are celebrated the Mysteries of the Church: ‘Peace be to thy Spirit’ with thee through thy conduct. ‘Peace be with thee,’ for great is the deposit entrusted to thee. May the peace of thy Spirit grow through thy diligence in things spiritual.
Then the herald of the Church commands all the people to give the Peace, each one to his companion, in the love of our Lord. First the Priests give the Peace in the midst of the Sanctuary; and the people also give (it) in the nave in the same manner. It behoves him that gives the Peace to his brother in the Church to wash his heart from all hatred and anger and lust. This is the peace by which Watchers and men shall be brought into concord in the day when the glorious Bridegroom comes to judge all. This is the peace in which there is no treachery and no hatred; but it is all light in light and perfect love. Blessed is he that gives the Peace with love to his brother, for it is he that shall receive perfect peace in the midst of his mind. Peace is the name of Christ, who makes all to be at peace, for it is He that has made peace between earthly and Heavenly beings. Blessed is he that makes his heart peaceful at the hour of the Mysteries, for all his debts and hateful deeds shall be forgiven him. Here we should call to mind the saying of our Lord in which He strictly admonishes us about hatred: ‘If thou remember,’ He says, ‘that thy brother keepeth hatred in his heart, leave thine offering and go, pacify him, and then offer.’ ‘Go and pacify thy brother first,’ said our Lord, ‘and then offer that Sacrifice which thou art offering.’
Even though the Priest has been made a mediator to offer, yet let him be offering with the concurrence of the whole people. It behoves him, then, that offers this oblation to forgive the debts of his fellow-servants, and then to offer. But if he that keeps hatred in his heart against him be absent, let him forgive his debts before God with his mind. If a Priest trample upon this commandment of the Lord of the worlds, let such an one know that there is no prayer nor oblation for him.
While the Peace is being given in the Church from one to another, the Book of the two (sets of) names; of the living and the dead, is read. The dead and the living the Church commemorates in that hour, that she may declare that the living and the dead are profited by the oblation. And the people add: ‘On behalf of all the Catholici’ a prayer which follows upon that which has been recited in the reading of the book.’ On behalf of all orders deceased from the Holy Church, and for those who are deemed worthy of the reception of this oblation: on behalf of these and Thy servants in every place, receive, Lord, this oblation which Thy servant has offered.’
The herald of the Church now cries and admonishes everyone to confess to the Lord, and entreat of Him with purity of heart. ‘Stand well,’ he says, ‘look with your minds on what is being done. Great is the Mystery in which ye are ministering, O ye mortals; the dread Mysteries, lo, are being consecrated by the hands of the Priest: let everyone be in fear and dread while they are being performed. The Priest has already advanced alone to pray: pray ye with him, that your peace may be increased through his mediation. Bend to the ground the glance of the eyes of your hearts, and stretch to the height the secret glance of your minds, and entreat earnestly and make supplication to the God of all in this hour which is full of trembling and great fear. Let no man dare to speak a word with his mouth; for he that speaks oversteps, transgresses, the commandment. And he that prays, with the heart let him pray, and not with the lips, and with the mind let him beg for mercy, and not with the tongue. And be ye standing in stillness and fear, for lo, with us is that Peace which is greater than all knowledge.’
At this point the Priest uncovers the adorable mysteries, and casts on one side the Veil that is over them. This (the Veil) being removed does not symbolize the resurrection, for neither was the stone rolled away at the moment of the resurrection: after the resurrection a Watcher removed, rolled away the stone; but the Priests remove the Veil before the symbol (lit. ‘Mystery ‘) thereof.
The Priest first of all blesses the people with that Canon in which he makes his voice audible to the faithful: ‘The grace’, he says, ‘of Jesus our Lord and the love of the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us’: that grace which our Lord has given us by His coming, may it give us confidence before His Majesty: ‘the love of the Father’, who sent us the Son, who is from Him, may it open to us the door of mercy in the day of His coming: ‘the communion of the Holy Spirit’, of which we have been made worthy, may it sanctify us and purge from us the filth of our offences.
Then he prepares the people with an exhortation, and says: ‘Let your minds be aloft in this hour where King Messiah is sitting on the right hand. Be not taken up with vain thoughts of earthly things: look upon Him that is now mystically slain upon the Altar, who sits in the height and asks mercy for sinners.’
The people answer: ‘Unto Thee, Lord, are our minds uplifted, the God of Abram and Isaac and Jacob, the glorious King: the glorious King whom the just and the Fathers have glorified, and in whom they have been glorified, and in whom they give glory without end.’
The Priest adds: ‘This acceptable and pure oblation, lo, is offered to the Lord the Lord of the height and the depth: He is the Lord that hath taken away and taketh away the sin of the world. It is Sacrificed now that it may blot out and forgive your sins. Lo, it is offered on behalf of Angels and men, that all together may delight therein in body and soul. Lo, it is offered for sinners and for the just, that they may be cleansed by it from the stains of their sins. Lo, it is offered for the defunct and for the living, that all peoples may find mercy in the Sacrifice thereof. Lo, it is offered to the God of all as a pledge that He will save us from the torment of Gehenna.’
The people answer: ‘It is meet and right and worthy and becoming to offer this oblation for all creatures’.
All the ecclesiastical body now observes silence, and all set themselves to pray earnestly in their hearts. The Priests are still and the Deacons stand in silence, the whole people is quiet and still, subdued and calm. The Altar stands crowned with beauty and splendour and upon it is the Gospel of life and the adorable wood (sc. the cross). The mysteries are set in order, the censors are smoking, the lamps are shining, and the Deacons are hovering and brandishing (fans) in likeness of Watchers. Deep silence and peaceful calm settles on that place: it is filled and overflows with brightness and splendour, beauty and power.
The bright(-robed) Priest, the tongue of the Church, opens his mouth and speaks in secret with God as a familiar. He recounts the glory of that incomprehensible Divinity, which is the cause of intelligible and sensible beings, which cannot be comprehended or searched out or scrutinized, which cannot be known by corporeal beings nor yet by the Watchers one ousia, one lordship, one authority, one will unchangeable from what it is, the one Creator who established by His rod the height and the depth, whose Name the Watchers praise in the height and men in the depth; the one God who by the hand of Moses made known that He is, and by Jesus our Lord revealed and shewed to us His Trinity. Three hypostases the Church learned from our Saviour Father and Son and Holy Spirit one Divinity: three hypostases, of which none is prior to or later than another, and there is no distinction, save only as to the properties fatherhood, and generation, and procession, one will, one glory, one lordship: a Mystery which is altogether hidden and concealed and covered over away from all; and the Watchers are too feeble to examine the secret thereof.
The Priest adds: ‘All the Watchers are standing in fear to praise the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Angels too offer worship to that Majesty, and the army-leaders (of Heaven) send up praise continually: the cherubim applaud, the Seraphim sanctify with their sanctifications, and the authorities and dominations with their praises: all at once cry and say one to another.’
And the people answer: ‘Holy Lord’ that dwelleth in light. ‘Holy, Holy, Holy Lord’; the people answer, ‘of whose glories the Heavens and all the earth are full.’
This is what the crying of ‘Holy’ three times means: but that of ‘Lord’ makes known that the nature of the Deity is one. Holy is the Father, who has the property of fatherhood, and is the cause and the begetter, and not the begotten. Holy is the Son, who has the property of generation, who from the Father is begotten eternally without beginning. Holy is the Spirit, who has the property of procession, who proceedeth from the Father, and is beyond (all) times. With these (words) all the Church cries out and returns to silence.
The Priest begins to commune with God. He confesses (or gives thanks for) the mercy and the grace that have been wrought in us by the revelation of the Word, who was revealed in a body which is (taken) from us. The Creator, adorable in His honour, took a body which is from us, that by it He might renew the image of Adam which was worn out and effaced. A reasonable Temple the Holy Spirit built in the bosom of Mary, (and) through (Its) good-pleasure the whole Trinity concurred. The natures are distinct in their hypostases, without confusion: with one will, with one person of the one sonship. He is then one in His Godhead and in His manhood; for the manhood and the Godhead are one person. ‘Two natures’, it is said, ‘and two hypostases is our Lord in one person of the Godhead and the manhood.’ Thus does all the Church of the orthodox confess; thus also have the approved doctors of the Church taught, Diodorus, and Theodorus, and Mar Nestorius. He was laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling-clothes, as Man; and the Watchers extolled Him with their praises, as God. He offered Sacrifices according to the Law, as Man; and He received worship from the Persians, as God. Simeon bore Him upon his arms, as Man; and he named Him ‘the Mercy’ who sheweth mercy to all, as God. He kept the Law completely, as Man; and He gave His own new Law, as God. He was baptized in Jordan by John, as Man; and the Heaven was opened in honour of His baptism, as God. He went in to the marriage-feast of the city of Cana, as Man; and he changed the water that it became wine, as God. He fasted in the wilderness forty days, as Man; and Watchers descended to minister unto Him, as God. He slept in the boat with His disciples, as Man; and He rebuked the wind and calmed the sea, as God. He set out and departed to a desert place, as Man: and He multiplied the bread and satisfied thousands, as God. He ate and drank and walked and was weary, as Man; and He put devils to flight by the word of His mouth, as God. He prayed and watched and gave thanks and worshipped, as Man; and He forgave debts and pardoned sins, as God. He asked water of the Samaritan woman, as Man; and He revealed and declared her secrets, as God. He sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, as Man; and He forgave the sinful woman her sins, as God. He went up into the mountain of Tabor with His disciples, as Man; and He revealed His glory in their sight, as God. He shed tears and wept over Lazarus, as Man; and He called him that he came forth by His mighty power, as God. He rode upon a colt and entered Jerusalem, as Man; and the boys applauded Him with their Hosannas, as God. He drew nigh to the fig-tree and shewed that He was an hungered, as Man; and His mighty power caused it to wither on a sudden, as God. He washed the feet of His twelve, as Man; and He called Himself Lord and Master, as God. He ate the legal Passover, as Man; and He exposed the treachery of Iscariot, as God. He prayed and sweated at the time of His passion, as Man; and He scared and terrified them that took Him, as God. The attendants seized Him and bound His hands, as Man; and He healed the ear that Simon cut off, as God. He stood in the place of judgement and bore insult, as Man; and He declared that He is about to come in glory, as God. He bore His cross upon His shoulder, as Man; and He revealed and announced the destruction of Zion, as God. He was hanged upon the wood and endured the passion, as Man; and He shook the earth and darkened the sun, as God. Nails were driven into His body, as Man; and He opened the graves and quickened the dead, as God. He cried out upon the cross ‘My God, My God’, as Man; and He promised Paradise to the thief, as God. His side was pierced with a spear, as Man; and His rod rent the (Temple-) Veil, as God. They embalmed His body and He was buried in the earth, as Man; and He raised up His Temple by His mighty power, as God. He remained in the tomb three days, as Man; and the Watchers glorified Him with their praises, as God. He said that He had received all authority, as Man; and He promised to be with us forever, as God. He commanded Thomas to feel His side, as Man; and He gave them the Spirit for an earnest, as God. He ate and drank after His resurrection, as Man; and He ascended to the height and sent the Spirit, as God.
This then is the confession of the Apostles and the Fathers, and everyone that agrees not with their faith is without hope. This is the truth which the Fathers preached and taught; confess with them, that ye may receive life immortal.
Our Lord Jesus departed from us to the place above, that at His coming He might lift us up with Him to the Kingdom of the height. And because He went away to a place that is far from our ken, He was pleased to comfort us by His Body and His Blood until His coming. And because it is not possible that He should give His Body and His Blood to His Church, He commanded us to perform this Mystery with bread and wine. Happy is the people of the Christians! What does it (not) possess, and what hope is there (not) in keeping for it on high without end?
For when the time of the passion of the Lifegiver of all was arrived, He ate the legal Passover with His disciples. He took bread and blessed and brake and gave to His disciples, and said, This is My Body in truth, without doubt. And He took the cup and gave thanks and blessed and gave to His Apostles, and said, This is My true Blood which is for you. And He commanded them to receive (and) drink of it, all of them, that it might be making atonement for their debts forever.
That He gave thanks and blessed is written in the Gospel full of life: what He said the chosen Apostles have not made known to us. The great teacher and interpreter Theodorus has handed down the tradition that our Lord spoke thus when He took the bread: ‘Of all glory and confession and praise is the nature of Thy Godhead worthy, O Lord of all; for in all generations Thou hast accomplished and performed Thy dispensation, as though for the salvation and redemption of men. And though they were ungrateful in their works, Thou in Thy mercy didst not cease from helping them. And that Thou mightest accomplish the redemption of all and the renewal of all, Thou didst take Me (who am) of the nature of Adam, and didst join Me to Thee. And in Me shall be fulfilled all the compacts and all the promises; and in Me shall be realized the mysteries and types (shewn) unto the just men (of old). And because I have been without blemish, and have fully performed all righteousness, by Me Thou dost uproot all sin from human kind. And because I die without fault and without offence, in Me Thou appointest a resurrection of the body for the whole nature’.
To this effect did the Son of the Most High make confession to His Father, and these words He spoke when He gave His Body and His Blood. ‘This’, said He, ‘is My Body, which I have given for the debts of the world; and this, again, is My Blood, the which I have willed should be shed for sins. Whoso eateth with love of My Body and drinketh of My Blood liveth forever, and abideth in Me, and I in him. Thus be ye doing for My memorial in the midst of your Churches; and My Body and My Blood be ye receiving in faith. Be ye offering bread and wine, as I have taught you, and I will accomplish and make them the Body and Blood. Body and Blood do I make the bread and wine through the brooding and operation of the Holy Spirit.’
Thus spake the Lifegiver of the worlds to His disciples: and the bread and wine He named His Body and Blood. He did not style them a type or a similitude, but Body in reality (lit. ‘in exactness’) and Blood in verity. And even though their nature is immeasurably far from Him, yet by (or in) power and by (or in) the union one is the Body. Let Watchers and men confess to Thee, Lord, continually, Christ, our hope, who didst deliver up Thyself for our sake. One in power is the Body which the Priests break in the Church with that Body that sits in glory at the right hand. And even as the God of all is united to the First-fruits of our race (sc. Christ), Christ is united to the bread and wine which are upon the Altar. Wherefore the bread is strictly (or accurately) the Body of our Lord, and the wine is His Blood properly and truly. Thus did He command His familiar friends to eat His Body, and thus did He admonish the sons of His household to drink His Blood. Blessed is he that believes Him and assents to His word; for if he be dead he shall live, and if he be alive he shall not die in his offences. Carefully did the Apostles take up the commandment of their Lord, and with diligence did they hand it on to those that came after them. Even until now has this (commandment) been observed in the Church, yea, and is observed, until He shall cause His Mystery to cease by His shining forth and by His manifestation.
To this effect the Priest gives thanks before God, and he raises his voice at the end of his prayer to make it audible to the people. He makes his voice heard, and with his hand he signs the Mysteries that are set (on the Altar); and the people with Amen concur and acquiesce in the prayer of the Priest.
Then the herald of the Church commands the people and says: ‘With your minds be ye praying. Peace be with us.’ In mind pray ye at this hour, and in thought, for lo, great peace is being accomplished with the accomplishing of the Mysteries.
The Priest begins to make supplication earnestly before God, that He will graciously accept in His love the living Sacrifice that is being offered to Him. He arranges the ecclesiastical orders one after another, for whom the Church offers the adorable Mysteries. He commemorates first the glorious Church that is in every place; and he asks that they (its members) may be of one mind and faith. He commemorates the Priests and periodeutae and Deacons; and he entreats that they may be in Holiness and purity. He commemorates the martyrs and confessors and doctors, that their name may be remembered in the Church at the hour of the Mysteries. He commemorates the Kings and judges who are in every place, that they may be judging with equity in all the world. He commemorates in his prayer (lit. ‘word’) all the mourners and ascetics that their prayer may daily be acceptable before God. He commemorates the just and righteous who are in every place; and he asks that they may keep the covenant that they have made in (its) integrity. He commemorates the sons of the Holy Church in all their grades; and he asks that they may guard their faith with watchfulness. He now commemorates also the deceased in every place, who are deceased and departed in faith without doubting. He makes mention of himself, who has been accounted worthy of this mediation; and he asks for mercy upon all creatures collectively. He mentions those who pour out alms upon the poor; and he asks that they may receive a double reward for their alms. He makes mention of the fallen and of sinners and transgressors; and he asks that they may return to penance and pardon of debts. He makes mention of those for whom he is offering the Sacrifices; that they may find mercy and forgiveness of the debts of their offences. He makes mention of the heathen and of gainsayers and of those in error; and he entreats that they may come to know the faith of the Holy Church. He makes mention at once of all the world and its inhabitants, that battles and wars and strifes may cease from it. He makes mention of the weather (lit. ‘air’), and of the crops of the whole year; and he asks that the crown of the year may be prosperous and blessed. He makes mention of his own place and of all places together; and he asks that there may be peace and quiet in the midst of their habitations. He makes mention of those who are sailing on the seas and (of those) in the islands; and he asks that they may all be saved from the storms. He makes mention of those who lie in distresses and in persecutions; and he asks that there may be solace and respite to their afflictions. He makes mention of those that lie in prisons and in bonds; and he asks that they may be loosed from their bonds and grievous torments. He makes mention of those who have been cast into exile afar off; and he asks that they may escape from tribulations and temptations. He makes mention of those who are vexed with sicknesses and diseases; and he entreats that they may recover health of body with healing. He makes mention of those whom the accursed demons are tempting; and he asks that they may find mercy and compassion from the Lord. He makes mention in his prayer of the haters also of the Holy Church, that there may be an end put to their impieties before God. He makes mention of the debts of the whole ecclesiastical body; and he asks that they may be made worthy of the forgiveness of debts and offences.
Of all these the Priest makes mention before God, imitating Mar Nestorius in his supplication. To this effect the Priest prays before God, and he asks of Him that He will graciously accept the Sacrifice which he offers unto Him. On behalf of all is the living Sacrifice Sacrificed in the midst of the Church; and this Sacrifice helps and profits all creatures. By that supplication which the Priest makes on behalf of all classes all his sins and offences are forgiven him.
After this the Priest makes confession before God according as our Lord Jesus taught His twelve: ‘Lo, we typify,’ says the Priest, ‘and commemorate the passion and death and the resurrection also of our Lord Jesus.’ He summons the Spirit to come down and dwell in the bread and wine and make them the Body and Blood of King Messiah. To the Spirit he calls, that He will also light down upon the assembled congregation, that by His gift it may be worthy to receive the Body and Blood. The Spirit descends upon the oblation without change (of place), and causes the power of His Godhead to dwell in the bread and wine and completes the Mystery of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. These things the Priest says in earnest entreaty; and he draws himself up and stretches out his hands towards the height. Towards the height the Priest gazes boldly; and he calls the Spirit to come and celebrate the Mysteries which he has offered. The Spirit he asks to come and brood over the oblation and bestow upon it power and divine operation. The Spirit comes down at the request of the Priest, be he ever so great a sinner, and celebrates the Mysteries by the mediation of the Priest whom He has consecrated. It is not the Priest’s virtue that celebrates the adorable Mysteries; but the Holy Spirit celebrates by His brooding. The Spirit broods, not because of the worthiness of the Priest, but because of the Mysteries which are set upon the Altar. As soon as the bread and wine are set upon the Altar they shew forth a symbol of the death of the Son, also of His resurrection; wherefore that Spirit which raised Him from the dead comes down now and celebrates the Mysteries of the resurrection of His Body. Thus does the Holy Spirit celebrate by the hands of the Priest; and without a Priest they (sc. the Mysteries) are not celebrated for ever and ever. The Mysteries of the Church are not celebrated without a Priest, for the Holy Spirit has not permitted (any other) to celebrate them. The Priest received the power of the Spirit by the laying on of hands; and by him are performed all the Mysteries that are in the Church. The Priest consecrates the bosom of the waters of baptism; and the Spirit bestows the adoption of sons on those that are baptized. Without a Priest a woman is not betrothed to a man; and without him their marriage festival is not accomplished. Without a Priest the defunct also is not interred; nor do they let him down into his grave without the Priest. Common (lit. ‘unclean’) water is not consecrated without the Priest; and if there were no Priest the whole house would be unclean . These things the Holy Spirit celebrates by the hands of the Priest, even though he be altogether in sins and offences. And whatever (function) the Priests perform they accomplish (it), even though they be sinners. They that possess not the order cannot celebrate, be they never so just. The righteous cannot by their purity bring down the Spirit; and the sinful by their sinfulness do not hinder His descent. Here does the Long-suffering One bear with a sinful Priest, and He celebrates by his hands the glorious unspeakable Mysteries. In the world to come He will judge (him) strictly by his own hand, and will take away from him that gift which was given to him. And because he has not honoured the excellence of his order as it beseems him, he will there be despised and set at naught before all creatures. Hear, thou Priest, that hast not works agreeable to thine order; stand in awe and be affrighted at the torment of Gehenna. More grievous than all punishments will be thy punishment, O wicked Priest, because thou hast not fittingly administered the order allotted to thee. In the world to come there are no orders nor classes; but Christ alone will be all in all.
The Priest summons the Spirit, and He comes down upon the oblation; and he worships with quaking and with fear and harrowing dread.
Then the herald of the Church cries in that hour: ‘In silence and fear be ye standing: peace be with us. Let all the people be in fear at this moment in which the adorable Mysteries are being accomplished by the descent of the Spirit.
Then the Priest makes his voice heard to all the people, and signs with his hand over the Mysteries, as before. He signs now, not because the Mysteries have need of the signing, but to teach by the last sign that they are accomplished. Three signs the Priest signs over the oblation; and by them he mystically perfects and completes it. Three bows does the Priest make before God; and by them he openly adores before His Majesty. With one he praises, with one he confesses (or gives thanks), with one he prays; and he calls to the Spirit to dwell and light down upon the oblation. Three days did our Lord remain in the bosom of the earth; and on the third He arose and was resuscitated in great glory. And in like manner the Priest bows three times; and by the third (bow) he symbolizes the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Genuflexions also the Priest makes three times; and he typifies thereby our Lord’s being in the tomb. Three times he genuflects before the descent (of the Spirit); and again he does not genuflect, because the Mystery of the resurrection has been accomplished.
A Mystery of the resurrection does the Priest accomplish by the completion of the Mysteries; and he does not again symbolize the Mystery of His death by a genuflexion. The Priests gave command that on all Sundays and festivals there should be no genuflexion . No man therefore is allowed to bow the knee at the Mysteries, save only the Priest who by his genuflexions signifies a Mystery. Even the Priest, before the descent he may bow the knee, but after the descent of the Holy Spirit he may not (so) worship.
Then the Priest takes in his hands the living Bread, and lifts up his gaze towards the height, and makes confession of his Lord. He breaks the Bread in the name of the Father and Son and Spirit, and unites the Blood with the Body, and the Body with the Blood. He signs the Blood with the Body, and makes mention of the Trinity: and he signs the Body with the living Blood with the same utterance. He unites them, the Body with the Blood, and the Blood with the Body that everyone may confess that the Body and the Blood are one.
Then the Priest, after all the ceremonies have been completed, blesses the people with that formula with which our Lord gave blessing .
He now begins to break the Body little by little, that it may be easy to distribute to all the receivers. The resurrection of the Son the Priest symbolized by the completion of the Mysteries; and most suitably does he break His Body that he may distribute it, since our Lord also, when He was risen from the tomb in glory, appeared to the women and to the disciples ten times: once to Mary the Magdalene alone; once to Luke and Cleopas who were going in the way; once to the band of eleven in the upper room; another time on the shore of the sea of Tiberias; to all He appeared, and assured them of His resurrection; and to Thomas also He shewed His side (and) the place of the lance; and upon the Mount of Olives our Lord blessed His twelve, and was parted from them and ascended in glory to the Heaven of Heavens; and now He appears, in the reception of His Body, to the Sons of the Church; and they believe in Him and receive from Him the Pledge of life.
Then the herald of the Church cries and lifts up his voice: ‘Let us all approach with fear to the Mystery of the Body and the Blood. In faith let us recall the passion of Jesus our Lord, and let us understand also His resurrection from the dead. For our sake the Only-begotten of the God of all took a perfect man and accomplished His dispensation; and He suffered on the cross and died and was resuscitated and rose and ascended; and in His love He gave us as a pledge His Body and His Blood, that by them we might recall all the graces which He has wrought towards us. Let us confess and worship and glorify Him at all times. Let us now draw near, then, in pure love and faith (and) receive the treasure of spiritual life; and with prayer, clean and pure, and with contrition of heart let us partake of the adorable Mysteries of the Holy Church; and let us set the condition of repentance before God, and let us have remorse and contrition for the abominable deeds we have done; and let us ask mercy and forgiveness of debts from the Lord of all; and let us also forgive the offences of our fellow-servants.’
The people answer: ‘Lord, pardon the sins of thy servants, and purify our conscience from doubts and from strifes. Lord, pardon the offences of them that are praising Thee, and make clear our soul from hatred and slander. Lord, pardon the sins of Thy servants who have confessed Thy name, and make us worthy to receive this Sacrament with faith. Lord, pardon Thy servants who call upon Thy name daily; and grant us, Lord, to be Thine, even as Thou desirest; and may these divine Mysteries, Lord, be to us for confidence and courage before Thy Majesty.’
Then the Priest prays and begs of God that He will sanctify us and blot out our sins by His grace, and make us all worthy to stand before Him without blemish, and call Him, all of us, with confidence, Abba, Our Father.
Then the people answer and say earnestly the prayer which the Living Mouth taught His beloved sons: ‘Our Father, who dwellest above in Heaven and in every place, hallowed be Thy Holy Name in us by all peoples. May that Kingdom come unto us which Thou hast promised us, and may we delight therein through (Thy) Pledge from henceforth; May the will of Thy love be done and satisfied and accomplished in (or by) us, and may we be worthy to perform all actions according to Thy will; and as in Heaven all (other) wills cease from us, so on earth let us will according to Thy will alone. Give us bread and every bodily need in this the time of our sojourning in this world; and forgive our debts and pardon our sins whereby we are in debt through our neglect and our frailty and our feebleness; for we also have forgiven from our heart everyone that is in debt to us, and we keep not hatred in our heart against any man. And make us not to enter into temptation nor trial, who are feeble and without Thy power are nothing; but deliver us from the evil of the crafty Evil One, and suffer him not to draw near to us by his wiles: for Thine is the power, also the Kingdom, and to Thee is due also glory for ever and ever.’
Then the Priest says to the people: ‘Peace be with you.’
And the people answer: ‘And with thee, O Priest, and with thy spirit’.
With the prayer of our Lord the Priest began in the beginning of the Mysteries, and with it he makes an end now that all the Mysteries are completed. ‘Peace be with you,’ says the Priest in this hour: and he reminds us of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. ‘Peace be with you,’ said our Lord to His twelve, when He appeared to them and announced to them concerning His resurrection. ‘Peace be with you,’ said our Lord to His familiars; ‘for lo, I am risen, and I raise up the whole nature.’ ‘Peace be with you,’ said He to his brethren, His intimates, ‘for lo, I am ascending and preparing a place for you all.’ ‘Peace be with you,’ said our Lord to His twelve, ‘or I am with you forever without end.’ And this Peace the Priest gives to the sons of the Church; and he confirms them in love and hope and faith.
And when the children of the Church have been prepared to receive the Mysteries, the Priest cries out: ‘To the Holy Ones is the Holy Thing fitting.’ To all the Holy Ones, sanctified by the Spirit of adoption of sons, is the Holy Thing fitting by the consensus of the Fathers. To all the Holy Ones whom baptism has sanctified the Holy Thing is fitting according to the ecclesiastical law. Those other grades who have been driven out from the midst of the Church may not take part in the reception of the divine Mysteries.
The people answer: ‘One is the Father, that Holy One who is from eternity, without beginning and without end; and as a favour He hath made us worthy to acquire sanctification from the spiritual birth of baptism. And one is the Father, and one also is the Son and the Holy Spirit: one in three and three in one, without alteration. Glory to the Father, and to the Son who is from Him, and to the Holy Spirit, a Being who is for ever and ever without end.’
Then the Priest himself first receives the Sacrament, that he may teach the people that even the Priest himself stands in need of mercy. The Priest who has consecrated stands in need of the reception of the adorable Mysteries, that he also may be made worthy of the communion of the Pledge of life. The Priest precedes the Bishop in the reception of the Mysteries, if a Priest has consecrated them and not the High Priest (i.e. the Bishop). In due order (or by degrees) the Priests and Deacons receive; and then the people, men and women, little and great.
And at his setting forth the Priest blesses the people, and says: ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.’
The Sacrament goes forth on the paten and in the cup with splendour and glory, with an escort of Priests and a great procession of Deacons. Thousands of Watchers and ministers of fire and spirit go forth before the Body of our Lord and conduct it. All the sons of the Church rejoice, and all the people, when they see the Body setting forth from the midst of the Altar; and even as the Apostles rejoiced in our Lord after His resurrection, so do all the faithful rejoice when they see Him. Great, my brethren, is this Mystery and unspeakable; and he that is able fitly to describe (it), let him fitly describe (it) if he can. ‘I have a Mystery (or secret), I have a Mystery’ cried Isaiah, the marvel of Prophets, concerning the revelation of God which he saw in the Temple. If I should seek to write aught concerning this matter, all the parchments in all this (world) would not suffice me. Flesh, moreover, is fitting for the perfect and full-grown: milk is for children until they arrive at the perfect age. ‘Whoso eateth My Body, he abideth in Me, and I in him, if so be he keep all My commandments with diligence.’ For ‘whoso eateth of My Body and drinketh of My Blood unworthily, unto his condemnation he eateth and drinketh’, without profit.
He who approaches to receive the Body stretches forth his hands, lifting up his right hand and placing it over its fellow. In the form of a cross the receiver joins his hands; and thus he receives the Body of our Lord upon a cross. Upon a cross our Lord Jesus was set at naught; and on the same cross He flew and was exalted to the height above. With this type he that receives approaches (and) receives.
And the Priest who gives says unto him: ‘The Body of our Lord’.
He receives in his hands the adorable Body of the Lord of all; and he embraces it and kisses it with love and affection. He makes to enter, he hides the Leaven of life in the Temple of his body, that his body may be sanctified by the reception of the Body of our Lord. Debts He pardons, blemishes He purifies, diseases He heals, stains He cleanses (and) purges with the hyssop of His mercy.
And while the Body and Blood is being distributed to all the receivers, the Church cries out in honour of the Mysteries; and thus it says: ‘Lo, the Medicine of life! Lo, it is distributed in the Holy Church. Come, ye mortals, receive and be pardoned your debts. This is the Body and Blood of our Lord in truth, which the peoples have received, and by which they have been pardoned without doubt. This is the Medicine that heals diseases and festering sores. Receive, ye mortals, and be purified by it from your debts. Come, receive for naught forgiveness of debts and offences through the Body and Blood which takes away the sin of the whole world.’
And after the whole congregation has been communicated with the Body and Blood, they reply and say with love and rejoicing: ‘Our Lord Jesus, King to be adored of all creatures, do away from us all harms by the power of Thy Mysteries; and when Thou shinest forth at the end of the times for the redemption of all, may we go forth to meet Thee with confidence with Hosannas. May we confess to Thy name for Thy goodness towards our race, who hast pardoned our debts and blotted them out by Thy Body and Thy Blood. And here and there may we be worthy to send up to Thy Godhead glory and comeliness and confession for ever and ever.’
Then the herald of the Church cries with his proclamation, and urges the people to give thanks; and thus he says: ‘All we that have been made worthy of the gift of the Mysteries, let us give thanks and worship and glorify the God of all.’
And the people answer: ‘To Him be the glory for His gift, which cannot be repaid for ever and ever. Amen, and Amen.’
Then the Priest prays and gives thanks to the God of all, who has made our race worthy of the glorious unspeakable Mysteries; and he begs and entreats that He will strengthen us that we may become acceptable before Him by thoughts and words and works together.
Then all in the Altar and without in the congregation pray the prayer which that lifegiving mouth taught. With it do (men) begin every prayer, morning and evening; and with it do they complete all the rites (or mysteries) of the Holy Church. This, it is said, is that which includes all prayer, and without it no prayer is concluded.
Then the Priest goes forth (and) stands at the door of the Altar; and he stretches forth his hands and blesses the people, and says the whole people the Priest blesses in that hour, symbolizing the blessing which our Lord Jesus gave to His twelve. On the day of His ascension He, the High Pontiff, lifted up His hands and blessed and made Priests of His twelve; and then He was taken up. A symbol of His resurrection has the Priest typified by the completion of the Mysteries, and a symbol of His revelation before His disciples by distributing Him. By the stretching out of the hands of the bright(-robed) Priest towards the height he confers a blessing upon the whole congregation; and thus he says: ‘He that hath blessed us with every blessing of the Spirit in Heaven, may He also now bless us all with the power of His Mysteries.’
With this blessing with which the bright(-robed) Priest blesses us he depicts a type (or) of that (blessing) which is about to work in us. When we have been raised from the dead and have put on glory we shall be lifted up on high into Heaven with the Saviour. There shall all passions cease from our human nature, and we shall delight in desirable good things without end. In this world wherein we dwell with all passions, may He keep our lives from hidden and open harms; and as He has made us worthy of the reception of His Mysteries by His grace, may He make us all worthy to become Temples for His Divinity; and with every breath let us confess and worship and praise Him for His gift unspeakable by tongue of flesh.
These things the bright Angel(-robed) Priest confers by his blessings; and with his right hand he signs the congregation with the living sign.
These are the glorious Mysteries of the Holy Church; and this is the order in which they are celebrated by the Priesthood. Blessed is he whose heart is pure in that hour in which the awful Mysteries of the Body of our Lord are consecrated. The Watchers on high congratulate the sons of the Church, that they have been deemed worthy of receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus. Glory to Thy name for Thine unspeakable gift! And who can suffice to render glory to Thy Godhead?
Come, then, son of the Mystery of the sons of the Church, learn the order by which thou mayest draw nigh to the Priesthood, that thou mayest approach it in the manner that the Apostle Paul enjoined. With a pure heart approach the Body and Blood of our Lord which cleanse thee from the stains of thy offences which thou hast committed; they (the Priests) will not recoil from a sinner who wishes to return, nor yet from one defiled who mourns and is distressed for his defilement. On this condition they receive the defiled and sinners, that they make a covenant that they will not return to their works. Pray with the Priest with love in that hour; for the Giver of life receives thee and forgives thy debts. Beware, moreover, that thou go not forth without the nave, in that hour when the awful Mysteries are consecrated. Who is he that would willingly estrange himself from that supper to which Watchers and men have been summoned? Who is he that, when he is set in the portion of the sons, would place himself with the strangers whom the Church has driven out? This is the time when he ought to stand as an Angel, in that hour wherein the Holy Spirit lights down. This hour gives life to him that stands therein; this hour distributes gifts to him that receives it. Blessed is he that believes in it and receives of it; for if he be dead he shall live, and if he be alive he shall not die in his offences.
Here our ship has arrived in port, and our net is filled. Let us then be silent; for what it has gathered in, that was our quest. I confessed it at the beginning, that you might not with carpings condemn my feebleness; and now with love correct my short-comings, if any such you should find.
Glory to Thy name, who hast completed with us what we began in Thee, and praise to Thy Father and to the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Homily XXII (B). On Baptism
Who suffices to repay (His) love to the Fashioner of all, who came in His love to beget men spiritually? Too little is the tongue of height and depth to give thanks with us to the power of the Creator who has renewed our image and blotted out our iniquity. As in a furnace He re-cast our image in Baptism; and instead of our clay He has made us spiritual gold. Spiritually, without colours, was He pleased to depict us; that the beauty of our image might not again be corrupted by death. O Painter, that paints an image upon the tablet of the waters, nor is His art hindered by opposition! O Artist, that breathes the Spirit (and works) without hands, and sows life immortal in mortality! Ah, for the Command, to whom all hard things are easy, who gives power to things feeble by the might of His greatness! Ah, for the Will, whose purpose precedes His operation, and before He had created He saw by His knowledge that which He created! Visible to His purpose was this will which He has shewn towards us; and on it He was gazing when as yet He had not created us who created us in the beginning. Before its creation the image of our renewal was depicted before Him; and with His (very) Being He had it in His heart to do this. With wisdom He performed it, even as it befits the All-knowing; and wisely He accomplished His will and shewed His power. He created a second time the creation which He had created in the beginning; and He purged out from it the old things of mortality. The rust of iniquity He willed to wipe away from mortals; and His purpose put the sponge of the Spirit into the hand of our body. Who is (this) that has set the will of His love towards our race, and appointed our vileness as officers over His wise (designs)? Out of our clay He has made treasure-keepers of His hidden things; and from it He has appointed stewards to dispense life. He chose Him Priests as mediators between Him and our people; and He has sent them on an embassy to men. To them He gave the great signet of His Divinity, that with it they might seal the work of the renovation of all. To them He entrusted the boundless wealth of the Spirit, that they might lovingly distribute it according to its greatness. A spiritual art He taught them, that they should be tracing the image of life on the tablet of the waters. Ah, corporeal beings, painters of the Spirit, without hands! Ah, mortals, mixers of life with mortality! Ah, Priesthood, how greatly is it exalted above all, having won a station in the height and the depth by the power of Him that has chosen it! Ah, marvel, the wonder whereof is too great to be set forth, that death (or mortality) should quicken itself, as though by its own (power)! Ah, Will, that has let itself down to its own creatures, and has placed its riches in a hand of flesh, that it may enrich itself! Ah, Creator, that came and renewed His creation, and has given to the work of His own hands a pen, that it should depict itself! Who would not marvel at the greatness of His love and His graciousness, that He has made our clay the creator of a creation, after His own likeness? Who would not praise His care for our race, who has exalted our low estate together with His own incomprehensible Divinity? To our own nature did He give the authority, together with its renewal, that it should create itself a new creation of immortals. A power of life He breathed into our body, parent of passions, and it began to interpret spiritual things that were to it invisible, His art of creation He shewed to our soul; and it acquired power to create a creation, even as the Creator. By a word that (comes) from Him it forms men in the bosom of the waters, and fashions them spiritually without hands. This is a design the interpretation whereof is too high to be set forth; and the will of the Hidden One (alone) is able to describe it as it is.
By the transparence of the soul the mind is able to discern it; and with the understanding instead of eyes it sees its dignity. August is the theme thereof, and it cannot be spoken bodily; and high is the quest thereof, and it cannot be achieved in earthly wise. Spiritually is composed the story of the renewal of our image; and save by the Spirit no mouth can expound its history. In Heavenly fashion did He mix the drug for the disease of our iniquity; and unless the mind ascend to the height it cannot see it. By the chief Rabbi (or Master) is written the lesson (or alphabet) of the redemption of our life; and unless the learner imitate he cannot understand.
Come, ye disciples of the Master, Christ, let us gaze attentively upon the spiritual writings of Baptism. Come, ye heirs of the covenant written in blood, look upon the substance of your inheritance with the eye of the spirit. Come, examine with affectionate love your possessions, and praise and magnify Him that enriches men from His stores. Come, together, ye purified sons of Baptism, let us depict the word that cries out in the waters so that they acquire power. Come, let us examine discerningly the hand of flesh that buries bodies and raises them up swiftly. Come, let us make ready to look upon a marvel in the Holy Temple; and upon the armies of the height that attend the Mystery of our redemption. Behold the hour that requires of the beholders that they be in orderly array. Let everyone fasten the gaze of his mind on the things that are said.
Lo, the Priest is ready to enter the Holy of Holies, to open the door of the Kingdom of the height before them that would enter. Lo, he approaches the curtain of the royal house, that he may receive power to perform the mysteries that are to be done by his hand. Lo, the King of the height reaches out to him the hand of the Spirit, and places in his hand the signet of His name, that he may seal His sheep. Lo, He puts on him the vesture of glory of the immortals, that he may hide therewith the disgrace of men who were guilty and exposed. Lo, He has brought him to visit the flock entrusted to him; and he lifts up his voice and calls the sheep by their names. Lo, the sheep are gathered together, and the lambs and the ewes; and he sets upon them the stamp of life of the word of his Lord. Lo, he brings them, as it were, into a furnace by means of their words; and he exacts from them the one confession of the name of the Creator. As a pen the (divine) Rod holds him spiritually, and inscribes (and) writes body and soul in the book of life. As with a rod it drives from them by the word of his mouth the darkness of error which had blinded them from understanding.
He lifts up his voice and says: ‘Renounce ye the Evil One and his power and his Angels and his service and his error.’
They first renounce the dominion of the Evil One who brought them to slavery; and then they confess the power of the Creator who has set them free. Two things he says who draws nigh to the mysteries of the Church: a renunciation of the Evil One, and a (confession of) faith in the Maker: ‘I renounce the Evil One and his Angels,’ he cries with the voice, ‘and I have no dealings with him, not even in word.’
The Priest stands as a mediator (i.e. here ‘interpreter’), and asks him: ‘Of whom dost thou wish to become a servant from henceforth? ‘He learns from him whom he wishes to call Master; and then he inscribes him in the number of the firstborns of the height.
From Satan and his Angels he (the Priest) turns away his (the catechumen’s) face; and then he traces for him the image of the Divinity upon his forehead. The Evil One he renounces as an evil one whose intercourse is evil, and his Angels as haters of the word of truth.
The Evil One and his adherents hate the word of truth; and it behoves him who loves the truth to hate them. ‘Thy haters, O Lord, I have hated,’ let him repeat with the son of Jesse; and let him exact of him (Satan) vengeance for the wrong (done to) the name of the Creator. A warfare has he that approaches Baptism with Satan and with his Angels and with his service.
His Angels are men clothed in deceit, who minister to him with abominations full of wickedness. One of his Angels is Mani, the treacherous wolf, who clothes himself in the likeness of the lambs of the flock and leads the flock astray. Another of his Angels is Valentinus, the perverter of the truth, who obscures the resurrection of the dead with his idle prating. His Angel also is Arius, the foul-minded, who lies sick of the disease of ‘inequality,’ which is worse than the leprosy. His Angel also is Eunomius, the subtle serpent, who by his bites destroys the soul of them that obey him. One of his Angels is the fool Apollinarius, who builds deceit into the edifice of the truth and is not abashed. Of his Angels is Paul, the stubborn-minded, who insolently challenges the power of the Word of the Father. Among his Angels we must number also Eutyches, the madman, who went mad in the matter of the passibility of the Impassible. As an inn-keeper he learned the inn-keeper’s trade; and every moment he mixes up the living Nature with the passions of the body. Far greater is his wickedness than the wickedness of his fellows, and he renders greater help to the devil than his companions. By these the hater of men leads men astray; and by them he casts the poison of his deceit into the mind of men. These perform the various services of his abominations, and even improve upon them with lying inventions. His service is that service of which they boast; and therein his mysteries are uttered, and not those of the truth. Him the heretics serve in all manner of ways; and by his wiles they go astray, and lead astray their hearers. We must flee from them, then, as from the unclean, and we must not mingle with the abominations of their doings. ‘Unclean’ and ‘evil ones’ let us call them and the Evil One; and let us turn away our faces from their mysteries (which are) full of wickedness. Full of wickedness is the invention of the Evil One and of them that listen to him; and diseases of iniquity are hidden in the error of his craft. His inventions are the circus and the stadium and the theatres, and the riotous sounds of the songs which he has composed and written. His errors are soothsayings and witchcrafts of all sorts: eye-winking and ear-tickling and street accosting. These things the disciple of the truth renounces when he becomes a disciple.
And then he comes to the confession of the faith. The truth of his soul he reveals by the sensible voice: ‘Lo,’ he says, ‘I have turned away from the Evil One to the Creator.’ He puts the devils to shame by the utterance of his mouth, (saying): ‘Hearken, ye rebellious ones, I have no part with you.’ The assemblies of the height he makes to rejoice by the words of his faith: ‘Come, ye spiritual ones, rejoice with me, for I am saved alive from destruction; I am your fellow-servant and a fellow-labourer in your works; and with that Lord to whom ye minister I am desirous of serving.’ He names himself a soldier of the Kingdom of the height, a fugitive who has returned to take refuge with the King of Kings.
He first entreats the stewards of the Holy Church to present him at the door of the King, that he may speak his words. The stewards are the Priests, the ministers of the Mysteries, to whom is committed the treasury of the Spirit to dispense. To one of them the wanderer, the exile, approaches, that they may set him free from the subjection of the Evil One who took him captive. As an exile he stands naked, without covering; and he shews him (the Priest) the toil and labour of his captors’ house: ‘I appeal to Thee, King,’ cries the captive to the King’s servants, ‘approach the King and entreat for me, that He may be reconciled to me. Enter and say to Him:
‘One of Thy servants has returned from captivity, and lo, with love he beseeches to see Thy face. I have verily been made a captive by the slave that rebelled against Thy Lordship; free my life from his slavery, that he may not deride me. I am Thy servant, good Lord, and the son of Thy handmaid, why should I serve a wicked slave who has revolted from Thee? Heretofore I have wickedly served the all-wicked one; ransom me from him, that I may be Thine, for Thine I am.’
These words the wanderer puts together on the day of his return, after the manner of the story of the younger son. For his sake were the parables enacted; and it is right that he should frame his words according to those that are written. He it is of whom it is written that he strayed and went forth, and turned and came (back); and the day of his going forth and of his repentance is inscribed in the Gospel. To-day comes to pass in truth that which is written; and abundant mercies go forth to meet him and receive him. At his repentance the Heavenly assemblies are rejoicing; and they are escorting him as a dead man that has returned to life. The devil alone does he make to be in sorrow over his return, that he has severed his meshes and broken his snares and left him and fled. From his (Satan’s) bitter slavery the sinner has fled; and he has taken Sanctuary with the good Lord whose love is sweet. From his exile the exile has returned to his Maker; and lo, he entreats to enter (and) see the face of the King. By means of his petition he frames an indictment against his captor, and convicts him out of the law of God. To the servants of the King he gives the pen of the word of his mouth; and they write (it) down and bring him before the Judge. The Priests he asks (to be) as an advocate in the suit against the suit (opposed to him); and they plead the cause for him while he is silent. As in a lawsuit the Priest stands at the hour of the Mysteries, and accuses the devil on behalf of sinners. The sinner also stands like a poor man that has been defrauded; and he begs and entreats that mercy may help him in the judgment. Naked he stands and stripped before the Judge, that by his wretched plight he may win pity to cover him. Without covering he pleads his cause against his adversary, that the King may see him and swiftly exact judgment for him.
He bends his knees and bows his head in his confusion, and is ashamed to look aloft towards the Judge. He spreads sackcloth (upon him); and then he draws near to ask for mercy, making mention of his subjection to the Evil One. Two things he depicts by his kneeling down at the hour of the Mysteries: one, his fall, and one, that he is making payment as a debtor. That fall which was in Paradise he now recalls; and he pleads a judgment with Satan who led astray his father (sc. Adam). He is in dread of him, therefore his face is looking upon the ground till he hears the voice of forgiveness, and then he takes heart.
He waits for the Priest to bring in his words before the Judge; and he (the Priest) restores to him the chart of liberty with the oil and the water.
A sponsor also he brings with him into the court, that he may come in and bear witness to his preparation and his sincerity. With sincerity he protests that he will abide in love of the truth; and his companion becomes surety (saying): ‘Yea, true is the protestation of his soul.’ He becomes as a guide to his words and his actions; and he shews him the conduct of spiritual life. He calls (or reads) his name, and presents him before the guards (i.e. the Priests), that they may name him heir, and son, and citizen.
In the books the Priest enters the name of the lost one, and he brings it in and places it in the archives of the King’s books. He makes him to stand as a sheep in the door of the sheep-fold; and he signs his body and lets him mix with the flock. The sign of the oil he holds in his hand, before the beholders; and with manifest things he proclaims the power of things hidden. And as by a symbol he shews to the eyes of the bodily senses the secret power that is hidden in the visible sign.
O thou dust-born, that signest the flock with the sign of its Lord, and sealest upon it His hidden Name by the outward mark! Ah, dust-born, that holds the Spirit on the tip of his tongue, and cuts away the iniquity of soul and body with the word of his mouth! Ah, mortal, in whose mouth is set a mighty spring, and who gives to drink life immortal to the sons of his race! Ah, pauper, son of paupers, that is grown rich on a sudden, and has begun to distribute the wealth of the Spirit which his fathers had not! Ah, dust-born, whose dust bears witness to his vileness, who has received power to create himself (as) a new creation! A new creation the Good One taught the sons of his house, that they might restore the handiwork of His creation. The iniquity of men had cast down the high edifice which His hands had made; and He gave authority to men to build it again. He saw His work, that it was grown old and worn out in mortality, and he contrived for it a remedy of life immortal. He saw that the walls of His house were tottering through weakness; and He laid its foundations in the deep of the waters and made them firm. With feeble waters He was pleased to confirm feeble bodies; and with the power of the Spirit He would strengthen the wavering faculties (of the soul). The furnace of the waters His purpose prepared mystically; and instead of fire He has heated it with the Spirit of the power of His will. His own handiwork He made a craftsman over His creation, that it should re-cast itself in the furnace of the waters and the heat of the Spirit. Come, ye mortals, see a marvel (wrought) in mortal man, who dies and lives again by the mediation of its working. Come, let us examine the Mystery of our dying in the midst of the waters; and let us look upon the wonder that is mystically achieved in us. Come, let us draw nigh to the treasurers of the Church’s treasures, and let us hear from them how they give life by the water. Let us enter with them the mystical Holy of Holies, and let us learn from them the explanation of the mysteries of death and life. Death and life is the Mystery of Baptism; and two things in one are performed therein by the hand of the Priesthood. By the hand of the Priesthood the Creator has been pleased to reveal His power; and to it He has entrusted the great riches of His sweetness. The Priests He has established as stewards over His possessions, that as trusty officers (or Sharrirs) they may distribute wealth to the sons of His house. To them He gave the signet of the name of the incomprehensible Divinity, that they might be stamping men with the Holy Name. The stamp of His name they lay upon His flock continually; and with the Trinity men are signing men.
The iron of the oil the Priest holds on the tip of his fingers; and he signs the body and the senses of the soul with its sharp (edge). The son of mortals whets the oil with the words of his mouth; and he makes it sharp as iron to cut off iniquity. The three names he recites in order, one after the other; and in triple wise (i.e. with the three names) he completes and performs the Mystery of our redemption. Ah, weak one, how great is the wonder that is administered by thee! And the mouth is too little to say how great is the power of its significance. Ah, lowly one, how greatly is thy feebleness exalted! and the mind cannot ascend with thee whither thou hast arrived. Ah, man it is to the Priest that I have said what I have said how great is the authority given to thee, that hast (the power) to be giving life! Life does the Priest give to his fellows by his ministry; and he treads out a way for his fellow-servants towards the things that are to come. The office of a mouth he fulfils for (mental) faculties and (bodily) members; and on behalf of all he pronounces the words of forgiveness of iniquity. Oil and water he lays first as a foundation, and by his words he completes (and) builds the name of the Divinity. With liquid oil and weak water he re-casts the body; and instead of clay he changes (and) makes (it) pure gold. Who would not marvel at the power our poverty has acquired, that it should enrich itself from the gift incomprehensible? As a treasure-keeper the Priest stands at the door of the Sanctuary; and he applies the keys of the word of his mouth, and opens up life.
The three names he casts upon the oil, and consecrates it, that it may be sanctifying the uncleanness of men by its Holiness. With the name hidden in it he signs the visible body; and the sharp power of the name enters even unto the soul. Ah, marvel, which a man performs by that (power) which is not his own; signing the feeble bodies so that the inward (parts) feel the pain. The office of a physician, too, he exercises towards the members; touching the exterior and causing pain (or sensation) to reach unto the hidden parts. To body and soul he applies the remedies of his art; and the open and hidden (disease) he heals by the divine power. Divinely healing, for he mixes the drug that is given into his hands; and all diseases he heals by its power without fail. As a (drug-)shop he has opened the door of the Holy Temple; and he tends the sicknesses and binds up the diseases of his fellow-servants. With the external sign he touches the hidden diseases that are within; and then he lays on the drug of the Spirit with the symbol of the water. With the open voice he preaches its hidden powers; and with his tongue he distributes hidden wealth. The words he makes to sound in the ears of the flock while he is signing it; and it hearkens with love to the three names when they are proclaimed. With the name of the Father and of the Son and the Spirit he seals his words; and he confirms him that is being baptized with their names. The three names he traces upon his face as a shield; that the tyrant may see the image of the Divinity on the head of a man. The cause of the signing on the forehead is (that it may be) for the confusion of the devils; that when they discern (it) on the head of a man they may be overcome by him (or it). On account of these (the devils) are performed the mysteries of the oil and water, that they may be an armour against their warfare and attacks. An armour is the oil with which the earth-born are anointed, that they may not be captured by the (evil) spirits in the hidden warfare. It is the great brand of the King of Kings with which they are stamped, that they may serve (as soldiers) in the spiritual contest. On their forehead they receive the spiritual stamp, that it may be bright before Angels and men. Like brave soldiers they stand at the King’s door, and the Priest at their head like a general at the head of his army. He sets their ranks as if for battle at the hour of the mysteries, that they may be casting sharp arrows at the foe. The arrows of words he fixes (as on a bowstring, and) sets in the midst of their mouths, that they may be aiming against the Evil One who made them slaves. A mark he sets before their eyes for them to aim at; and as They enter into an examination at the beginning of the warfare to which they have been summoned, being tested by the confession of their minds. In truth the Priest stands at the head of their ranks, and shews them the mark of truth that they may aim aright. They renounce the standard of the Evil One, and his power and his Angels; and then he (the Priest) traces the standard of the King on their forehead. They confess and they renounce the two in one, without doubting (making) a renunciation of the Evil One, and a confession of the heart in the name of the Divinity. By the hand of the Priesthood they make a covenant with the Divinity, that they will not again return to Satan by their doings. They give to the Priest a promise by the words of their minds; and he brings it in, and reads (it) before the good-pleasure of God. The chart which is the door of the royal house he holds in his hands; and from the palace he has (received) authority to inscribe (the names of) men.
He calls the King’s servants by their names and causes them to stand (forth); and he makes them to pass one by one, and marks their faces with the brand of the oil. By the voice of his utterances he proclaims the power that is hidden in his words, (and declares) whose they are, and whose name it is with which they are branded: ‘Such a one,’ he says, ‘is the servant of the King of (all) Kings that are on high and below; and with His name he is branded that he may serve (as a soldier) according to His will.’ The name of the Divinity he mixes in his hands with the oil; and he signs and says ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ and ‘Holy Spirit.’ ‘Such a one,’ he says, ‘is signed with the three names that are equal, and there is no distinction of elder or younger between One and Another.’
The Priest does not say ‘I sign,’ but ‘is signed’; for the stamp that he sets is not his, but his Lord’s. He is (but) the mediator who has been chosen by a favour to minister; and because it is not his it drives out iniquity and gives the Spirit. By the visible oil he shews the power that is in the names, which is able to confirm the feebleness of men with hidden (powers). The three names he recites, together with (the rubbing of) the oil upon the whole man; that hostile demons and vexing passions may not harm him. It is not by the oil that he keeps men from harms: it is the power of the Divinity that bestows power upon (its) feebleness. The oil is a symbol which proclaims the divine power; and by outward things He (God) gives assurance of His works (done) in secret. By His power body and soul acquire power; and they no more dread the injuries of death. As athletes they descend (and) stand in the arena, and they close in battle with the cowardly suggestions that are in them. This power the oil of anointing imparts: not the oil, but the Spirit that gives it power. The Spirit gives power to the unction of the feeble oil, and it waxes firm by the operation that is administered in it. By its firmness it makes firm the body and the faculties of the soul, and they go forth confidently to wage war against the Evil One. The sign of His name the devils see upon a man; and they recoil from him in whose name they see the Name of honour. The name of the Divinity looks out from the sign on the forehead; and the eyes of the crafty ones are ashamed to look upon it.
The second Sun has shone from on high on the head of man; and with His beams He drives away error, the second darkness. Come O man, praise and magnify Him that has honoured thee, who has made thy body a second sun by His gift. Come, debtor, pay (the debt of) praise to Him that has set thee free; for He has redeemed thee and set thee free from the slavery of the Evil One and Death. Come, O mortal, give glory to the power of the Divinity, who has set in thee power to sow life in thy mortality. Cry out with all mouths, O race of Adam the earth-born, to Him who has lifted thee up from the dust to His own greatness.
Homily XXI (C). On The Mysteries of The Church And On Baptism
Our Lord has opened up for us the sweet spring of Baptism, and has given our race to drink of the sweetness of life immortal. By the heat of iniquity our mind was withered, and its fruits had dropped off; and He sprinkled His gift as dew and watered our soul. The grievous thirst of death had slain our body; and He buried it in the water, and life teemed in its mortality. The rust of passions had defaced the beauty of our excellence; and He turned again and painted us in spiritual colours which may not be effaced. Cunningly He mixed the colours for the renewal of our race, with oil and water and the invincible power of the Spirit. A new art the Chief Artist put forth; that men should be depicting men without draftsmanship. An invention that had not been the divine rod discovered, that without seed man should beget (children) from the midst of the water. Where ever had the like been done or achieved that the bosom of the waters should bring forth without wedlock? Who ever heard that kind should bring forth that which was not its kind, as now a senseless nature (brings forth) the rational? Even though the waters brought forth creeping things and birds: that water has brought forth man has never been heard. This is a wonder, and, as we may say, full of astonishment, that the womb of the water should conceive and bring forth babes full grown. It is altogether a new thing, and great is the lesson given therein, that within an hour should be accomplished the period of conception and birth. Outside the order that is set in nature does its order proceed; and it is not trammelled with a growth that is gradual.
Come, O hearer, listen to the wonder of the new birth, the conception whereof and the bringing forth are accomplished in one hour. Come, O beholder, look upon the painter that paints babes: and while yet the word lingers in the mouth (the birth) has come forth from the womb. Come, thou that art prudent, and discern and mark well the power of the Divinity that bestows strength on things feeble. Come, ye mortals, and look upon a nature full of mortality that puts off its passions in Baptism and puts on life. Come, let us examine exactly the Mystery of our renewal; and let us learn concerning the power that is hidden in the visible waters. Come, let us draw near to the Priesthood, the salt of the earth; and let us see how it seasons man with things spiritual. Let us enter with it (the Priesthood) whither it is entering to make atonement; and let us bend our mind and hearken to the voice that speaks with it. Let us hearken how the power of the Spirit speaks with it and teaches it to bestow power upon common water. With it a hidden intimation is interpreting the hidden mysteries, and expounding them openly with the voice before the hearers. The workmanship of the new birth it performs before it (the Priesthood), and shews it how to depict a spiritual image.
The Priest is like a pen to the hidden Power; and in Its hands he writes the three names over the water. Writer, that writes the Spirit upon a weak tablet, and the ink of his words is not effaced by the liquid waters! How great is thine art, mortal, and no man knows how to examine it for its greatness. How slender is the pen of thy mind to depict the mysteries! And (yet) there is no painter that is able to copy thy drawings. Thou Priest, that doest the Priest’s office on earth in a manner spiritual, and the spirits may not imitate thee! Thou Priest, how great is the order that thou administerest, of which the ministers of fire and spirit stand in awe! Who is sufficient to say how great is thine order, that hast suppressed the Heavenly (beings) by the title of thine authority? The nature of a spirit is more subtle and glorified than thou; yet it is not permitted to it to depict mysteries like as it is to thee. An Angel is great, and we should say he is greater than thou, yet when he is compared with thy ministry he is less than thou. Holy is the Seraph, and beauteous the cherub, and swift the Watcher: yet they cannot run with the fleetness of the word of thy mouth. Glorious is Gabriel, and mighty is Michael, as their name testifies: yet every moment they are bowed down under the Mystery which is delivered into thy hand. On thee they are intent when thou drawest near to minister, and for thee they wait, that thou wouldst open the door for their Holies. With voices fraught with praise they stand at thy right hand; and when thou hast celebrated the Mysteries of thy redemption they cry out with praise. With love they bow beneath the Will that is concealed in thy mysteries; and they give honour to thee for the office that is administered by thee. And if spiritual impassible beings honour thine office, who will not weave a garland of praises for the greatness of thine order? Let us marvel every moment at the exceeding greatness of thine order, which has bowed down the height and the depth under its authority. The Priests of the Church have grasped authority in the height and the depth; and they give commands to Heavenly and earthly beings. They stand as mediators between God and man, and with their words they drive out iniquity from mankind. The key of the divine mercies is placed in their hands, and according to their pleasure they distribute life to men. The hidden Power has strengthened them to perform this, that by things manifest they may shew His love to the work of His hands. He shewed His love by the Mystery which He delivered to them of earth, that men to men might be shewing mercy by His gift. The power of His gift He delivered into the hand of the Priests of the Church, that by it they might strengthen the feebleness of men who were in debt by sin. The debt of mankind the Priest pays by means of his ministry; and the written bond of his race he washes out with the water and renews it (sc. his race). As in a furnace he re-casts bodies in Baptism; and as in a fire he consumes the weeds of mortality. The drug of the Spirit he casts into the water, as into a furnace; and he purifies the image of men from uncleanness. By the heat of the Spirit he purges the rust of body and soul; and instead of clay they acquire the hue of Heavenly beings. The vat of water he prepares, he sets, in the likeness of a furnace; and then he draws near and reveals the power of his art. With fair garments he covers his body outwardly, and the raiment of the Spirit adorns his soul within. Completely adorned he stands before the beholders, that by his adornment he may reveal to men concerning the things that are about to be (done). He becomes as a mirror to the eyes of his fellow-servants, that they may look upon him and conceive the hope of being glorified. A mark he sets before their eyes by the garments that are upon him, that they may be aiming to be adorned spiritually. This he teaches by the adornment that is upon his limbs: that the Mystery which is (administered) by his hands clothes with glory him that approaches it. In his hands is placed the treasure of life that is concealed in the water; and unless he draw near and distribute it, it is not given. He holds out the key of his word (and) opens the door of the gift; and by (his) word he distributes presents to the King’s servants. He also stands as it were by the sea, after the likeness of Moses; and instead of a rod he lifts up his word over the dumb (elements). With the word of his mouth he strikes the waters, like the son of Amram; and they hearken to his voice more than to the voice of the son of the Hebrews. They hearkened to Moses, yet when they hearkened to him they were not sanctified. To the Priest of the Church they are obedient and acquire sanctification. The Israelite did but divide the sea: the iniquity of his people he did not suffice to cleanse by the power of his miracle. To the Priest that great (miracle) belongs and there is naught to compare with it in the things that have come about which gives the power of forgiving iniquity to senseless things. His gaze is lifted up to that God which created the creation; and from it he learns how to create a new creation. He also imitates the fashion (of Him) that brought into being the world; and he makes a voice to be heard like unto that which cried out in the world in the beginning. Like the Creator he also commands the common water, and instead of light there dawns from it the power of life. The voice of the Creator created the luminaries from nothing; and he from something creates something by the power of the Creator. Not his own is the creation which he creates in the bosom of the water; but it belongs to the God (of Him) that created creation out of nothing. That Command which ‘said, and there were made’ things rational and senseless: the same commands by him, and men become a new being. That word which the waters heard, and brought forth creeping things: the same they hear from the mouth of the Priest, and bring forth men. Greater is the fruit they bring forth now than that (former), by how much rational man is of more account than dumb things. As a seed he casts his word into the bosom of the waters; and they conceive and bring forth a new, unwonted birth. With words of spirit his mouth converses with the dumb (elements), and they receive power to give life to that which is rational. The dumb (elements) hear a new utterance from rational beings, like that utterance which Mary heard from Gabriel. He (the Priest) also causes a goodly gospel to fall upon the ears of men, like to that hope which the Watcher preached at the birth of the Son. In his office he fills the place of the Watcher: and better than the Watcher; for he gives hope to them that are without hope by the voice of his words. Betwixt the Divinity and men he stands as mediator, and by his words he ratifies the condition of each party. With anguish he entreats the Hidden One who is hidden, but revealed by His love and the power from Him comes down unto him and gives effect to his words.
With the name of the Divinity, the three Names, he consecrates the water, that it may suffice to accomplish the cleansing of the defiled. The defilement of men he cleanses with water: yet not by the water, but by the power of the name of the Divinity which there lights down. The power of the Divinity dwells in the visible waters, and by the force of His power they dissolve the might of the Evil One and of Death. The Evil One and Death are undone by Baptism; and the resurrection of the body and the redemption of the soul are preached therein. In it, as in a tomb, body and soul are buried, and they die and live (again) with a type of the resurrection that is to be at the end. It (Baptism) fills for men the office of the grave mystically; and the voice of the Priesthood (is) as the voice of the trump in the latter end.
In the grave of the water the Priest buries the whole man; and he resuscitates him by the power of life that is hidden in his words. In the door of the tomb of Baptism he stands equipped, and he performs there a Mystery of death and of the resurrection. With the voice openly he preaches the power of what he is doing how it is that a man dies in the water, and turns and lives again. He reveals and shews to him that is being baptized in whose name it is that he is to die and swiftly come to life.
Of the name of the Divinity he makes mention, and he says three times: ‘Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one equality.’ The names he repeats with the voice openly, and thus he says: ‘Such a one is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit.’ And he does not say ‘I baptize,’ but ‘is baptized’; for it is not he that baptizes, but the power that is set in the names. The names give forgiveness of iniquity, not a man; and they sow new life in mortality. In their name he that is baptized is baptized (and buried) as in a tomb; and they call and raise him up from his death.
Three times he bows his head at Their names, that he may learn the relation that while They are One They are Three. With a Mystery of our Redeemer he goes into the bosom of the font (lit. ‘of baptism’) after the manner of those three days in the midst of the tomb. Three days was our Redeemer with the dead: so also he that is baptized: the three times are three days. He verily dies by a symbol of that death which the Quickener of all died; and he surely lives with a type of the life without end. Sin and death he puts off and casts away in Baptism, after the manner of those garments which our Lord departing left in the tomb.
As a babe from the midst of the womb he looks forth from the water; and instead of garments the Priest receives and embraces him. He resembles a babe when he is lifted up from the midst of the water; and as a babe everyone embraces and kisses him. Instead of swaddling-clothes they cast garments upon his limbs, and adorn him as a bridegroom on the day of the marriage-supper. He also fulfils a sort of marriage-supper in Baptism; and by his adornment he depicts the glory that is prepared for him. By the beauty of his garments he proclaims the beauty that is to be: here is a type, but there the verity which is not simulated. To the Kingdom of the height which is not dissolved he is summoned and called; and the type depicts beforehand and proclaims its truth. With a type of that glory which is incorruptible he puts on the garments, that he may imitate mystically the things to be. Mystically he dies and is raised and is adorned; mystically he imitates the life immortal. His birth (in Baptism) is a symbol of that birth which is to be at the end, and the conduct of his life of that conversation which is (to be) in the Kingdom on high.
In the way of spiritual life he begins to travel; and, like the spiritual beings, he lives by spiritual food. His mystical birth takes place in a manner spiritual; and according to his birth is the nourishment also that is prepared for him. New is his birth, and exceeding strange to them of earth; and there is no measure to the greatness of the food with which he is nourished. As milk he sucks the divine mysteries, and by degrees they lead him, as a child, to the things to come. A spiritual mother (sc. the Church) prepares spiritual milk for his life; and instead of the breasts she puts into his mouth the Body and Blood. With the Body and Blood the Church keeps alive the sons of her womb; and she reminds them of the great love of her betrothal. Her betrothed gave her His Body and His Blood as a pledge of life, that she might have power to give life from her life. He expounded to her that by the food of His Body He quickens her children, through the parables which beforehand He composed symbolically. He styled the Sacrifice of His Body the fatted ox; which He sometime sacrificed on the day of the return of one of her children. That which is written in the story of the erring one (sc. the Prodigal) has been fulfilled in her children; for His love has gone forth and received them in Baptism. With love and mercy He has gone forth to meet them, and received and embraced them as dead men returned to life. The force of His parables He has explained and revealed before their eyes; and He has made them to rejoice with spiritual meat and drink. He has given as a pledge the ring of which the power of the Spirit spoke; and He has clothed them with the glorious robe of Baptism. He Sacrificed Himself who was fatted spiritually; and He has made them to eat food in the eating whereof life is hidden. He has shod them with the goodly race of the conduct of life, that they should not stumble in the treacherous path of mortality. He has summoned and called the Heavenly ones on the day of their (men’s) renewing, and has made them (the Angels) to rejoice that were sorrowing over their offences. The womb of the waters has brought them forth spiritually; and the power of His grace has filled up and made good their needs. Watchers and men are glad, yea, are glad, at their repentance: that the words of the parables have been joined to performance. Heaven and earth are rejoiced that they have returned to their Father, and have recovered the plot of their possessions of which they had been plundered. The devils had wickedly plundered the inheritance of men; and there arose one Man, and He pleaded the cause and convicted them. Just judgment He pleaded with the deceitful ones, and snatched from them the spoil which they had robbed from the house of His Father. By Adam did the Deceiver, who sows error in the world, lead (men) astray; and a Son of Adam was jealous and avenged the wrong of all His race. Great jealousy did He put on in wrath for the sake of His fathers; and He consented to die, that they should not be styled slaves of the evil ones. As an athlete He went down to the contest on behalf of His people; and He joined battle with Satan, and vanquished and conquered him. On the summit of Golgotha He fought with the slayer of men, and He made him a laughing-stock before Angels and men. With the spear of the wood He overthrew him, and cast him down from his confidence: with that whereby he had hoped that death should enter in he was smitten and pierced. Over the death of men the arrogant-minded was boasting; and by the death of one Man his boasting came to naught. One Man died on the cross on behalf of mortals: and He taught them to travel by the way of His death and His life. His death and His life men depict in Baptism; and after they have died with Him they have risen and have been resuscitated mystically. In the new way of the resurrection of the dead they travel with Him; and they imitate upon earth the conduct of the Heavenly beings. By the food of His Body they drive out death from their bodies; and with His living Blood they give their minds to drink of life. Body and soul they nourish with the food of His Body and His Blood; and Satan and Death they conquer by the power of His gift. By the power of His gift they have washed and been sanctified from their debts, and have gained power to fight against passions. They that were clothed with passions have put on hidden power from the water; and they have begun to defy the foe, that they may trample upon his power. As athletes they have gone up from the vat of Baptism; and Watchers, and men have received them lovingly. The tidings of their victory earthly and Heavenly beings have shouted; and the devils have heard and trembled and been dismayed at the new voice. The height and the depth have woven garlands for them by the hands of men; for they have seen that they have conquered (in) the great battle with the strong one. Gifts, high above their labours, they have received from the King; and gloriously has He honoured them beyond (their) power. In the midst of His secret palace He has made them to recline; and the table of life immortal He has set before them. A beauteous bride-chamber He has fitted on earth for a type of that which is above, that they may delight therein mystically unto the end. A Sanctuary He has built Him wherein they may sanctify His Holy Name, until they are lifted up to the Holy of Holies that is hidden in the height. Priests He has chosen for it that they may minister therein Holily, and instead of Sacrifices offer the Sacrifice of the Mystery of His Son. The Mystery of His Son they offer every hour before His good-pleasure; and by it they atone for the iniquity of men who call upon His name. The silver of His word He has placed in their hands by way of inducement, that they may trade withal (and gain) possessions of spiritual life. Men are re-casting men as in a furnace, and purging from them the hateful alloy of hateful wickedness. A beauteous colour they acquire on a sudden from the midst of the water; and more than the sun burns the light of their minds. Beams of light come into the world through the light that is in them, and the world is illumined with the beauteous rays of their conduct. They suck the Spirit after the birth of Baptism; and according to the birth is also the nourishment that is high and exalted. Like young birds they lift up the wings of their conduct, and enter and rest in the fair nest of the Holy Church.
As an eagle the Priest hovers before them, and prepares the food of perfect age for them to be nourished withal. The living Sacrifice he prepares, he sets before their eyes; and he summons them to examine it with affection of soul. A dread Mystery he begins to depict spiritually; and he mixes his words as paints before the beholders. With the pen of his word he draws an image of the Crucified King; and as with the finger he points out His passion, also His exaltation. Death and life his voice proclaims in the ears of the people; and forgiveness of iniquity he distributes, he gives, in the Bread and the Wine. A Mystery of death he shews first to mortal man; and then he reveals the power of life that is hidden in his words.
As for one dead he strews a bed with the sacred vessels; and he brings up, he sets thereon the bread and wine as a corpse. The burial day of the King he transacts mystically; and he sets soldiers on guard by a representation. Two Deacons he places like a rank (of soldiers), on this side and on that, that they may be guarding the dread Mystery of the King of Kings. Awe and love lie upon the faculties of their minds while they look intently upon the bread and wine, as upon the King. With bright apparel they are clothed exteriorly upon their bodies; and by their garments they shew the beauty of their minds. By their stoles they depict a sign of the Heavenly beings that were clothed in beauteous garments at the Temple of the tomb. Two Angels the disciples saw in the tomb of our Lord, who were attending the place of His body as though it were His body (itself). And if spiritual beings in fear honoured the place of His body, how much more should corporeal beings honour the Mystery that has honoured them? After the manner of the two Watchers the two Deacons are standing now to hover over the Mysteries.
The Priest fills the place of a mouth for all mouths; and as a mediator his voice interprets in secret. He calls upon the Hidden One to send him hidden power, that he may give power in the bread and wine to give life. He turns the gaze of all minds towards that which is hidden, that they may be looking upon secret things by means of things visible.
’Let your minds be aloft,’ he cries and says to them of earth.
And they answer: ‘Unto Thee, Lord, who art hidden in the height.’
He recites and says what is the cause of the gazing aloft, and why he calls men to take part with him. ‘Look’, he says, ‘O men, upon the offering of the Sacrifice which is for you, which the Divinity accepts with love on behalf of your lives. Look steadfastly upon the bread and wine that are upon the table, which the power of the Spirit changes into the Body and Blood. See the outward things with the outward senses of your members, and depict things hidden by the hidden faculties of your minds. Recall your deaths by the sign that is full of death and life, and praise and magnify Him that sets power in things feeble.’
As with a signet they seal his words with their voices: ‘Meet and right and becoming and Holy is the Sacrifice of our life’.
As (with) a pen he writes the words with the tip of his tongue; and they subscribe with the saying: ‘Yea, they are true.’ They bear witness to the words (uttered) on their behalf; and with Amen for a signet they seal the Mystery of their life. The deed of confession he inscribes, writes, with his words; and they become sureties (saying): ‘Yea, we will pay the debt of praise.’ With the voice openly they pay (the debt of) praise that is (recorded) in his writing; and he carries it to the Divine good-pleasure. With the oblation the Priest sends up the prayer of the people, and he sanctifies it (sc. the people) by the participation of the living Mystery. With great earnestness he prays for himself and for all men, that his word may be an acceptable Sacrifice before the Most High.
He imitates the spiritual beings by his words while he is making supplication; and Holily he teaches the people to cry ‘Holy.’ The utterance of sanctification of the Heavenly beings he recites to men, that they may be crying: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord.’
That saying which the Seraphim cried three times the same he utters in the ears of the people at the hour of the Mysteries. Like Isaiah he also is in anguish when he utters it, remembering how greatly the vileness of men has been advanced. The meaning of that which the Prophet saw mystically he (now) discerns in the reality by faith. A coal of fire Isaiah saw coming towards him, which the Seraph of fire held in a hand of fire. It touched his mouth though in truth it did not touch it and blotted out the iniquity of his body and his soul in truth. It was not a sensible vision that the seer saw; nor did the spiritual one bring towards him a material coal. An intimation he saw in the coal of the Mystery of the Body and Blood which, like fire, consumes the iniquity of mortal man. The power of that Mystery which the Prophet saw the Priest interprets; and as with a tongs he holds fire in his hand with the bread. He fills the place of the Seraph in regard of the people even as (the Seraph was) in regard of Isaiah and by his actions he blots out iniquity and gives life. The Seraph of spirit did not hold in his hand the vision of spirit; and this is a marvel that a hand of flesh holds the Spirit. The swift-winged did not suffice to bring the food into the belly: and the gross of body stretches forth his hand even unto the faculties (of the soul).
Body and soul he nourishes with the food of power of the Mystery; and from (being) mortal he makes men immortal. His voice does away the authority of Death from mortals; and the dominion of the Evil One it looses (and) removes from mankind. With food the Evil One slew us in the beginning and made us slaves; and by food the Creator has now willed to quicken us. By the hand that plucked the fruit in Eden wickedly by the same He has reached out to us the fruit of life wisely. In Adam He cursed us and gave us for food to gluttonous Death; and by a Son of Adam He has opened to us the spring of His sweetness. In our very nature He performed His will and shewed His love, that that saying in which He called us His image might be confirmed for us. To us He gave to set the Pledge of life in our mortality; that according to our will we might minister to ourselves by the power of His will. By the power of His will the Priest distributes life in the Bread, and drives out iniquity and makes the Spirit to dwell in the midst of the members (of the body). The power of the Spirit comes down unto a mortal man, and dwells in the bread and consecrates it by the might of His power. O marvel, that, whereas He is the Spirit with which everything is filled, until the earth-born commands He does not approach! O gift, which, though given from the beginning, is not received until a son of dust makes entreaty! He is the Spirit, with all and in all, in the height and the depth: and He is hidden and concealed, and the Priest points Him out by his words.
To the height above he spreads out his hands with his mind; and he summons Him to come down and perform the request of his soul. Not in (His) nature does the Spirit, who does not move about, come down: it is the power from Him that comes down and works and accomplishes all. His power lights down upon the visible table, and bestows power upon the bread and wine to give life. His power strengthens the hand of the Priest that it may take hold of His power; and feeble flesh is not burned up by His blaze.
A corporeal being takes hold with his hands of the Spirit in the Bread; and he lifts up his gaze towards the height, and then he breaks it. He breaks the Bread and casts (it) into the Wine, and he signs and says: ‘In the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, an equal nature.’
With the name of the Divinity, three hypostases, he completes his words; and as one dead he raises the Mystery, as a symbol of the verity. In verity did the Lord of the Mystery rise from the midst of the tomb; and without doubt the Mystery acquires the power of life. On a sudden the bread and wine acquire new life; and forgiveness of iniquity they give on a sudden to them that receive them. He (the Priest) makes the Bread and Wine one by participation, forasmuch as the blood mingles with the body in all the senses (of man). Wine and water he casts into the cup before he consecrates, forasmuch as water also is mingled with the blood in things created.
With these (elements) the Priest celebrates the perfect mysteries; then he makes (his) voice heard, full of love and mercy. Love and mercy are hidden in the voice of the word of his mouth; that the creature may call the Creator his Father. In the way of his voice run the voices of them that are become obedient, while they are made ready to call the hidden Divinity ‘Our Father.’
O Incomprehensible gift to men! Who have received for naught the name (of Him) for whose name the world is not sufficient. ‘Our Father,’ the sons of dust call the Fashioner of all, while they ask of Him Holiness and the Kingdom of the height. May Thy Holy name be hallowed in us, O Maker of all; and may the pledge of life without end be made sure to us. They ask at once for sanctification, and the help of the Spirit, and the will of the Hidden One, and the daily ration, and forgiveness of iniquity. By their petitions they shew the love of their minds how greatly they desire to be partakers of the things that are to come.
With the voice of praise they seal the words of the completion of the Mysteries; and they render Holiness to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: ‘Holy is the Father, and Holy is His Begotten, and the Spirit who is from Him (sc. the Father); and to them is due Holiness and praise from all mouths.’
After the utterance of sanctification and the rendering of praise they stretch the gaze of their minds towards the Gift. With their senses and mental faculties together they are eager to approach to the Bread and Wine in the midst of which is hidden forgiveness of iniquity. By faith they acquire power to see things hidden; and, as it were the King, they bear in triumph the Sacrament in the midst of their palms. They hold it sure that the Body of the King dwells in the visible bread; and in it the resurrection of the dead is preached to him that eats of it.
‘The Body,’ says the Priest also when he gives it; and ‘the Blood’ he calls the mingled Wine in the midst of the cup. He gives the Bread, and says: ‘The Body of King Messiah’ (or ‘of Christ the King’); and he gives to drink the Wine, and in like manner (he says): ‘The Blood of Christ.’
He believes that the Bread and the Wine are the Body and the Blood; and exceeding sure is it to giver and receivers. Forgiveness of iniquity and the resurrection of the dead he preaches with it; and, though they are not apparent, to faith they are exceeding manifest. Faith shews to the soul the hidden vision, and makes her to understand, that she may not doubt on account of the visible things. The bread and wine the eyes of the bodily senses see, and the faculties of the soul (behold) the hidden invincible Power. With the faculties of the soul it is right that we should look upon the Mystery of our redemption, and that we should set faith as a mark before our mind. Let us receive the Bread, and let us affirm that it is able to forgive iniquity; let us drink the Wine, and let us confess that the drinking of it distributes life. Let us honour them as the Body and Blood of the King; that they may conduct us even unto the glorious things that are in the Kingdom. Let us believe that they are able to give life to our mortality; and let us stretch forth our mind to the expectation of the hope that is in them. With the hidden mind let us look in a hidden manner on the visible things; and let us not doubt concerning the renovation that is (wrought) in the things that are manifest. Let the beholder not look upon the bread, nor yet upon the wine, but upon the Power that consecrates the bread and the wine. The bread and the wine are set as a sign before the eyes of the body, that it may take part with the mind in those things that are not apparent. The body cannot with the mind see hidden things, nor can it, like the thoughts, discern things secret. On its account the Gift was given by means of bread, that by outward things it might gain hope toward things hidden. To it and to the soul was promised the enjoyment that is hidden in the Mystery; and for its comfort were the manifest things of food and drink. Lo, by visible things it is accustomed to be comforted from its grief; and, that He might not grieve it, its Lord comforted it with the bread and wine. With bread and wine He prepared for it a mark towards the things to come, that it might be aiming at the renovation that is prepared for it.
Come, ye mortals, let us aim at the mark that is hidden in our Mystery; and let us not relinquish the expectation of the life that is promised. Come, let us have recourse to the power of its spiritual aid, that it may aid us in the warfare of fierce passions. Come, let us be eager to approach it in Holiness; and let us receive from it the medicine that is meet for our bruises. Let us lay it on at all times as a salve to the senses and the faculties (of the soul); that it may drive out from us sloth of body and remissness of soul. It is a goodly medicine which, in His goodness, His power mixes; and there is no hidden or manifest sickness that can resist it. The Physician of the height has mixed (and) given it to them of earth, that by its aid they may heal the diseases of their minds. In faith let us all put it upon our sores, and acquire from it resurrection of body and salvation of soul.
Homily XXXII (D). On the Church and on the Priesthood
A Holy Temple the Creator built for them of earth, that in it they might offer the worship of love spiritually. A Holy Temple and a Holy of Holies He adorned, He fashioned: a Sanctuary on earth and a Holy of Holies in the Heavens above. In the earthly Sanctuary He commanded that (men) should perform the Priestly office mystically; and in the Heavenly also with the same works, without doubt. Two several institutions He made in His incomprehensible wisdom; and He filled them with temporal and everlasting riches. An earthly abode He called the earthly Sanctuary; and a Holy of Holies He called that institution which is hidden in the height. A twofold Sanctuary His love shewed to the sons of His house; and He taught them how to consecrate it mystically. In the Holiness of His name He willed to make the work of His hands participate; that by it they might be sanctified when they sanctify His Holy name. He is not profited by the voices of their sanctifications; for He is the Holy One who by His purity sanctifies the unclean. By means of inducements he incites His own to imitate Him, that He may make them heirs of the glory of His Son. To this end He built a Sanctuary and a Holy of Holies, and urged men to minister therein as Priests on behalf of their lives. To them He granted to forgive the iniquity of their doings; and He gave power to their own free will to justify (men). Them (the Priests) He set as stewards of the treasure that is in their midst, that as much as they would they might increase the riches of righteousness. The will that is in them He made a treasure-keeper of things excellent, that it might enrich itself and its fellow-servants with excellent good things. A treasure of life without end He promised; and He took it up and set it in a place that is hidden from beholders. In secret He shewed it to the hidden will that is hidden in the soul, that it might examine it (sc. the treasure) with the eyes of the mental faculties and see its beauty. The desire of spiritual wealth He cast upon earth, that they of earth should long for it and hate the earth. A new path He shewed them, that they might travel towards Him; and the one Victor who conquered by the Spirit trod it by (His) sufferings. As a guide He set out first in the path of life; and He arrived and came to the end of perfection. He promised the sons of His race that they should be with Him, and that by means of His Mystery they should travel with Him in (the way of) perfection. After His likeness He taught them to perform the Priest’s office; for He (performs it) in Heaven, and they on earth mystically. To them He gave the order that is greater than the order of the Law; and instead of Sacrifices He taught them to Sacrifice love. He perfected the Law by the law of the words of His preaching; and He gave a Priesthood instead of the Priesthood, that He might pardon all. Twelve Priests He chose Him first, according to the number of the tribes; and instead of the People He called all peoples to be His. He gave into their hands the power of the Spirit to conquer all; and they uprooted error and sowed the truth of the name of the Creator. They pardoned iniquity and they cleansed spots by His help; and they taught men to hate the iniquity of their doings. As Priests they performed on earth a Mystery of the institution of the Kingdom of the height; and by things manifest they depicted parables of the things to be. By them was preached the word of life among mortals; and men began to travel in the way of new life. They began to make Priests spiritually, even as they had received from the High Pontiff who consecrated them. After His pattern they made Priests, and were multiplied, after His likeness; and they delivered the order to their disciples, that they might do according to their (the Apostles’) acts.
To this end He gave the Priesthood to the new Priests, that men might be made Priests to forgive iniquity on earth. For the forgiveness of iniquity was the Priesthood (set) among mortals; for mortal man has need every hour of pardon. Evil passions are born in man’s nature; and they are not cleansed without the drug of Holiness. Man is not able to travel in the way without stumbling; and when he stumbles he has need of mercy to heal his iniquity. In body and soul mortals lie sick with diseases of iniquity; and there is need of a physician who understands internal and external diseases. For the cure of hidden and manifest disease the Priesthood was (established), to heal iniquity by a spiritual art. The Priest is a physician for hidden and open (diseases); and it is easy for his art to give health to body and soul. By the drug of the Spirit he purges iniquity from the mind; and men put off the garments of iniquity, and put on truth. With the tip of his lips he treads out (sic) a way towards knowledge; and as with fire he proves the truth and rejects iniquity. ‘He is an Angel of the Lord’ and a minister, as it is written; and by him is performed an agency towards men. As a limb he is chosen from the body of the sons of his race; and as the head he is commanded to direct his fellow-servants. The office of a head he fulfils to the mental faculties and to the limbs; and by him men test iniquity and righteousness. By him they see truth and fraud, as with the eye; and as a mirror he shews an image of virtues. As a tongue he interprets truth before learners; and he makes the force of secret things to shine before the ignorant. Spiritual doctrine is hidden in the midst of his lips; and every moment he sprinkles the dew of mercy on men’s clay. He sows much hope and love and faith; and he reaps as fruits the promised good things incorruptible. He makes the report of the word of life to enter by the outward senses; and the mind hearkens to the voice of (his) pleasant sayings. The mental faculties have need of the sweet savour (of the doctrine) of the resurrection of the dead; and they make the dead body glad with the voice of the resurrection. As a trumpet he (the Priest) cries every hour in the ears of men: ‘Hear, O men, and let not go the promises.’ As a guide he shews the way before travellers: ‘Come, ye mortals, set forth with the escort of the promise of life.’ With his words he sails continually in the sea of mankind; and much he warns every man to guard the riches of his soul. In the ship of the Church he stands and gives warning night and day; and he keeps it from the harms of the wind of evil-doers. He is an exceeding skilful steersman amid the billows; and he knows how to sail to the berth of life without end. With rudders of the Spirit he steers the reasonable ships; and he makes straight their course to the harbour of life that is hidden in the height. In the hope of the things to come he bears his labours; and he fears every moment lest the oil in his lamp should give out. A spiritual talent he has received from his Lord to trade withal; and he owes it to cast the silver of (his) words upon the table of the soul. The art of forgiving iniquity he has learned from the King, that he be not hard in the matter of forgiving his fellow servants. The treasure of the Spirit is delivered into his hands to dispense, and it is his part wisely to provide for his fellows. His Lord has given him reasonable sheep to control, that he may pasture them in the living meadows of spiritual words. The sheep and the lambs and the ewes he has been commanded to tend, and all conditions of men and women and children. The (divine) purpose which called him to itself has set him for the service of men; to uproot error and sow on earth the name of the Creator. ‘Go forth,’ said He, ‘and make disciples and preach and baptise all peoples,’ (teaching them) the one Divinity of the one Creator, three hypostases. The three names he is bound to preach in the ears of men, and to cause them to think upon the name of the Divinity that is hidden from all. For this are Priests set on earth to perform the Priestly office, that men may turn from error to knowledge. By their words men see the light of life; and by their labours they taste the sweet savour of the truth.
He (the Priest) is as a mediator between God and men; and by him spiritual Sacrifices are offered before the Lord of all. By him spiritual wealth is distributed to them of earth; and they get power to be strengthened for the service of the truth. Every hour he opens the door of mercy before the beholders; and he appoints and gives forgiveness of iniquity to the sons of his race. With the waters of the Spirit he casts them, as in a furnace; and he puts off (from them) iniquity, and puts on the garments of righteousness. He calls and entreats the hidden Power to come down unto him and bestow visible power to give life. The waters become fruitful, as a womb; and the power of grace is like the seed that begets life. Body and soul go down together into the bosom of the water and are born again, being sanctified from defilement. O marvel, so great, towards our race! That He (God) should be pleased by sinners to justify sinners. incomprehensible gift of the God of all! Which by paupers has distributed its riches to paupers. O command, so powerful over all that He has made, that it has given authority to the work of His hands to imitate Him! By man’s hand he opened His treasure to men; and they have enriched men from the treasures of His Godhead. The keys of His mercies He gave to them of earth, as to trusted officers (or Sharrirs); and every hour they open by faith the treasury of His mercies. A mortal holds the keys of the height in his lips; and he opens and shuts the doors of the hidden (places) with a tongue of flesh. He buries men in the bosom of the waters, as in a tomb, and brings back and quickens to new life them that were dead in iniquity. By the power of the Creator he buries the dead and quickens the dead; and as from the womb he begets men spiritually.
He causes the spiritual babes to grow by the power of the Spirit; and when they are grown up he holds out the food of perfect age. With the food of the Spirit he nourishes bodily men; and according to the birth is also the food for them that are born. The living Sacrifice he prepares every hour before them that eat (of it); and he mingles for drink the power of life for body and soul. The table of life he prepares, he sets before their eyes; and he depicts a Mystery of life and death with the Bread and the Wine. By visible things he shews the power of things hidden; and men live by the food of the Bread and the drink of the Wine. Bread and wine the outward senses behold; and the hidden faculties (of the mind) acquire power by means of the visible things.
The Priest stands as a tongue to interpret; and his voice preaches death and life to men. In the bread and wine he shews the Body and Blood of the King who died for the sake of all, and lived and gave life to all by His cross. In fear the corporeal being stands to minister; and he asks for mercy upon himself and upon his race, that it may be made worthy of mercy. And he calls to the Spirit to come down to him by the power that is from Him, that he may give power in the bread and wine to give life. In the visible bread and wine life dwells; and they become food for short-lived mortals. With the name of the Divinity three hypostases he seals his words; and he teaches men to cry ‘Holy’ with the spiritual beings.
The people answer after his words: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy Power, hidden from all and revealed to all.’
And he stretches out his hands and breaks the spiritual Bread; and he signs the type of the Body and Blood that died and was raised up.
With his hands he gives the Body of the King to his fellow servants, being strengthened by the power of grace to give life. He gives the Bread and says: ‘The Body of King Messiah’ (or ‘of Christ the King’); and he gives to drink the Wine, and calls it the precious Blood.
O corporeal being, that carries fire and is not scorched! O mortal, who, being mortal, dost distribute life! Who has permitted thee, miserable dust, to take hold of fire? And who has made thee to distribute life, thou son of paupers? Who has taught thee to imprison fire in hands of flesh? And who has expounded to thee the power of the wisdom that is hidden from thee? It is not thine to perform things that are too high for thee; it is the power of the help of the God of all that has raised up thy unworthiness. It is He that has made hidden power to dwell in thee and has strengthened thy faculties; and He by thee has interpreted the power of hidden things in the ears of flesh. By His assistance thou hast gotten the gift to give life; and thou, being earthly, holdest the treasure of spiritual things. The Priest of the Spirit is made a treasure-keeper of the treasury of the Spirit; and things spiritual are set in his hands to distribute.
A mortal holds the keys of the height, as one in authority; and he binds and looses by the word of his mouth, like the Creator. He binds iniquity with the chain of the word of his mouth; and when a man has returned from his iniquity he turns and looses him. The rod of the Creator’s power sets the seal after his words, and binds the wicked and looses the good when they have been justified. It is a great marvel of the great love of the God of all that He has given authority to the work of His hands to imitate Him. His rod alone has authority over all that He has created; and it is His to bind and loose according to His will. As a favour He has given to men the authority of His God, that He may make known His love; how greatly he loves the sons of His house. Wisely He acts when He communicates His own to His own, that by inducements He may urge His own to become His own. With beautiful things He entices men as children, that through His words they may acquire the order that bestows life. By the title of the Priesthood He opened the treasury of His great riches, that every man might receive forgiveness of iniquity through a son of his race. In the Sanctuary of the height He will cause them of earth to rejoice; and He has given the Priesthood as a pledge (for the fulfilment) of His words of promise. The Priests in the earthly Sanctuary imitate by a Mystery that abode; and as a mirror they shew an image of the things to come. They are set as guides in the way (that leads) towards the height, and no man sets out without them to the appointed place that is beyond. They fill the place of light on earth to them that are dark; and as with salt they season them that are without savour. Every hour they lay the reasonable nets of their words, and catch men from death unto life. By them are raised up those that were dead in iniquity, whom error had buried; and in their words they see the light of the resurrection of the dead. By them are judged the dead and the living, in both abodes; and unto their authority is reserved the trial of men and Watchers. They judge spiritual and corporeal beings; and the devils are put to shame by the fair ray of their conduct. And if the ray of their conduct convicts iniquity, how shall men be guiltless who have traversed their words? If the spiritual Angels are judged by them, he will be guilty of a double judgment whoso sets them at naught. A debt of love every man owes to pay them; and on behalf of all men they beg mercy from Him that shews mercy to all. To them let the wages of love be rendered by the hearers; and may they supply the needs of the spiritual life. As fathers let them shew their love towards their children; and in place of bodily members let them nourish the faculties (of the soul) with spiritual food. Shepherds of reasonable sheep they are called by our Lord; and according to (the needs of) the flock, so also is the spiritual nourishment. To them was spoken that word to Simon, that they should pasture the sheep and the reasonable lambs and the ewes. Hear the words of that interrogation, O ye Priests of the Church; and shew the love that Simon shewed to our Saviour. Pasture (your sheep) well according to the command of the Good Shepherd; and tend His flock with the great love that befits His love. See, and examine, how He bought with His blood the flock of men; and on the summit of the cross He wrote and set it free from slavery. See how He suffered from the wrongdoers for the sake of His flock, and despised and made light of all sufferings that it might not perish. He was desirous that His dear friends should imitate His example, and that they should travel in His footsteps in the way of His preaching. A great reward He has promised to him that loves Him, even that he shall be with Him in the enjoyment of life without end. Who then is he whose love is true and his mind wise, and who knows well to govern his fellow-servants? With Amen He swore to such a one as should observe and do these things that He would deliver into his hands all the riches of the Kingdom of the height. And with the reward (promised) to him who should administer well His riches He uttered a threat against the fraudulent who received and acted fraudulently. But if the wicked servant should say, ‘The judgment is far off; his Lord will come and exact at his hands that wherein he has dealt fraudulently.
Come, then, ye servants, bought with the all-precious Blood, hearken to the word of Him who sets free the slavery of our race. Come, and understand the force of the meaning that is hidden in His words, that beside the reward there will also be torment without end. The good He encouraged by naming the reward of future things, and into the rebellious He cast the fear of grievous stripes. Let us fear His words, then, as true; and let us not be slack, lest we be condemned with the guilty. True is His judgment, and the word of His promise will not be broken. Let us not doubt concerning His promises, lest perchance we perish.
It behoves the Priests more than all men to observe these things, even as the order they possess is more excellent than (the condition of) all men. He that knows his Master’s will and does it not is guilty of stripes according to (his) knowledge, because he knew and acted fraudulently. And if he that acts fraudulently does so in defiance, he defrauds himself of the good things that are promised him. To his free will (God) promised the future reward; and he shall be beaten as one who knew, who knew and did wrong. The Priest who sins, great is his condemnation and grievous are his stripes; and according to his order shall be either his torment or else his exaltation.
The greatness of the title and the order of the Priesthood I desired to praise; and anguish goaded me when I saw how it has been degraded by ignorance. I wondered to see the greatness of the glory of those who triumphed; and I was pained and grieved at the disgrace of those who played the coward. By how much their office was greater than all orders, even so is it become immeasurably less than all grades. The treasury of the Spirit He delivered to them to administer, and fools who have not known how to discern the power of its greatness have despised it. The hidden God gave into their hands the keys of the height; and wicked Priests have shut the door before those that would have entered in. It was granted to them to pardon the iniquity of men; and the iniquity of them that should have given pardon has surpassed that of the defiled. Light and salt the High Pontiff called it (the Priesthood) when He gave it; and its light is darkened and its taste has lost its savour in the hand of them that received it. He summoned and called it to give life to mortality; and lo, itself is dead through deeds of abomination. Good seed it received to cast upon the earth; and the labourers have ceased from the service of the word of truth. It went forth to meet the spiritual Bridegroom; and the Priests slept and the light of their lamps was quenched. The oil of mercy failed from the vessels of their deeds; and they received no mercy because they shewed no pity nor forgave mercifully. Foolish virgins He has named them that are without pity, because they have kept the body (chaste) but have not been sanctified from malice. What is he profited who keeps his body in purity, if his mind be not purified from hateful (thoughts)? What is the Priest benefited who has put on the name of Priesthood, if the inward work agree not with the outward name? The title of Priesthood is a great work, and not (a great) authority; and whoso approaches it owes a debt of deeds. Paul teaches how he that desires it should approach: ‘He that is desirous of the Presbytery is desirous of a work’. The Priests have wrested the word of Paul, the chosen vessel, and have desired the authority and hated the labour that bestows life. The title they have loved because of (their) love of things earthly; and they have despised honourable works and prized fraud. Fraud they have honoured more than the truth that has honoured them; and they have gotten lying credit and applause before beholders. They have received the gift that may not be bought with earthly (wealth); and they have received and sold it for the silver of deceit to them that are unworthy. For dead silver they have given the gift that is full of life; and dead men, who have died in sin and have not been pardoned, have received it. They have thrust the staff of spiritual things into the hands of fools, and ignorant men have stood at the head of the flock to direct it.
A stupid shepherd has lifted up his rod over them that are like to himself, and has become the childish-minded head of a childish people. An incompetent man, he has supposed that he is pasturing sheep, and not reasonable beings; and as dumb (animals) he governs them by earthly means. The fool has supposed that he is exercising authority on earth; and he has begun to exact tribute of the flock, as Kings do. Himself knows not what is the import of the title of his authority; nor has his flock gotten understanding, how it may live. A blind man, blind of knowledge, has taken hold of the blind; and they have begun to travel in the way of error without understanding. A fool without knowledge is leading his fellows; and as in the dark he travels in the way of ignorance. That which is written in the prophecy agrees with his case: ‘The Priest becometh ignorant even as the people’. Priest and people are agreed together in what is unseemly; and they have forgotten the way and left the course (that leads) towards justice. Justice also, seeing that they have gone astray to a degree that is unwonted, has sharpened her sword against the iniquity of their doings. The iniquity of Priests and flock she saw and was grieved; and she has shut the door, that Mercy may not entreat her on our behalf. Without the door of Mercy the petition of men is standing; and Mercy is restrained by the curtain of the frown of Justice.
Come, then, O men, let us beg (mercy) for our iniquity whilst yet we live, that we may not be condemned with the everlasting sentence. Come; let us build us a fence of Mercy before Justice: if haply she may be appeased and blot out our iniquity from the midst of her book. Let the Priests be as mediators by their words; and let them offer the contrition of their minds, as it were a bribe. Them it behoves to offer Sacrifices of love, and to make atonement for the iniquity of men and of themselves. To them it is granted to open the door before sinners, like treasure-keepers of the great and boundless treasury. Let them be as a tongue to interpret; and let them make a defence before the Judge who tries iniquity. Let the Priest utter that saying before his flock: ‘Turn, ye sinners, that mercy may heal all your debts.’ The hope of life let him sow every moment in the ears of all men; and let him lay repentance as a drug upon the diseases of the soul. Let him suffer for all and grieve over all discerningly; and let him reckon as his own the griefs of his fellows, like Paul. He has written a note of hand (as surety) for the debts of his race, and he owes it to pay the debt of love to them that have honoured him. Mercy has brought him near to the order that is high above his fellows; and according to his order let him shew the labour that befits his title. His title is as a declaration before men that he is set to perform the Priestly office; and it behoves him to answer to his title by his works. The silver of mercy is committed into his hands to distribute; and if he misuse it he will hear the saying: ‘Thou wicked servant.’ For he also who received the talent and hid it hoped to escape; and the glance of the hidden Judge caught him in the words of his own answer. A wicked servant also his Lord called him, according to his wickedness; because he received for naught, and gave not for naught as he had received. Let the Priests hearken discerningly to that saying, and let them cast the silver of the word of life among their hearers. Let the hearers also receive the seed of their words, that they be not condemned with the fraudulent who received and dealt fraudulently. With love let them hearken to the voice of rebuke that is in their words; and let them not complain when they are beaten for their debts. Let every man receive with good grace the correction of his iniquity, and himself beseech the physician that he will lay a salve upon his sore. The Priest is a physician who heals the diseases that are in the midst of the soul; and it behoves him that is sick in his mind to run to him continually. He knows how to lay the drug of the Spirit upon the thoughts; and he cuts off iniquity with the iron of the divine mercy.
Ye sick of soul, come, draw near to them that have knowledge, and shew the spots of your mind to the hidden glance. Ye that travel in the way, come, and join the company of the wise, and make a prosperous journey to the appointed place of life everlasting.
ON the Mysteries of the Church my thoughts mystically pondered; and I desired to reveal the thought of the heart by the speech of the mouth. By the speech of the mouth I desired to tell of their greatness and with words to depict an image of their glory. Upon their glory my mind gazed narrowly; but dread seized upon me and caused me to desist (and) left me without performance. Without performance I stood still, for I was disturbed; and I began to cry out passionately with the son of Amos. With the son of Amos I gave woe to myself, as one defiled who in his defilement had fixed the gaze of his mind on the Mysteries of his Lord. On these things I pondered, and with fear I turned back; and the Spirit by its beckoning encouraged me to enter the Holy of Holies. Into the Holy of Holies of the glorious Mysteries It permitted me to enter, that I might reveal the beauty of their glory to the sons of the Mystery. Come, then, O son of the divine Mystery, hear the record marvellous to tell of the Mysteries of the Church. ‘I have a Mystery (or secret), I have a Mystery, I have a Mystery’ (I) and mine, the Prophet cries: with understanding, then, hear the Mystery that is expounded to thee.
Lofty, in truth, and exalted is this Mystery that the Priest performs in the midst of the Sanctuary mystically. Mystically the Church depicts the glorious Mysteries; and as by an image she shews to all men those things that have come to pass. Those things which came to pass in the death of the Son she commemorates by the Mysteries; His resurrection also from the dead she reveals before all. A Mystery mystically shews that which has come to pass and that which is to come about: but the Church shews mystically in her Mysteries only that which has come to pass.
The Church performs her Mysteries in secret away from those that are without; and the Priest celebrates privately within the Sanctuary. Only her children and her sons, the baptized and the signed, does she allow to enjoy communion in these adorable Mysteries which she performs.
Wherefore she cries out before the hearers through the Deacons to bow the head and receive the blessing from the Priesthood: ‘Bow your heads, O ye hearers, believers, baptized, and receive the blessing from the laying on of the hands of the bright(-robed) Priest.’
And when they have been blessed, another proclamation is made to them: ‘Let everyone that has not received baptism depart hence;’ go forth, ye unbaptized, ye shall not partake of the Mysteries of the Church; for only to them of the household is it permitted to partake’.
Again in a different manner another proclamation is made: ‘Let everyone that has not received the sign of life depart from hence’; and everyone that has repented and returned from unorthodox heresy, until he is signed he shall not partake of the Mysteries of the Church. Everyone, again, that has denied his faith and has returned to his (former) condition, until he is absolved by the sign of the Church he shall not partake.
Again another proclamation is made in a different order: ‘Let everyone that receives not the Body and the Blood depart from hence’: everyone that has been proscribed by the Priesthood and forbidden to receive; and at the season when they (the Mysteries) are offered he may not remain. Whoso has been forbidden by the canon to receive the Sacrament, it is not even permitted to him to stand in the place where they (the Mysteries) are being offered. He that is sick (and) ailing, and perforce is unable to receive, he may not even stand in the nave where they (the Mysteries) are being consecrated.
Sadly they all go forth from the midst of the nave, and lament and stand with great mourning in the (outer) court of the Church, congratulating those who remain in that enjoyment, and giving woe to themselves for their exclusion. By her expulsion (of these) the Holy Church depicts typically those that go forth into that darkness which is in Gehenna. The King saw a man not clad in the garments of glory, and he commanded and they bound him and cast him forth into that outer darkness. So the Church scans her congregations at the time of the Mysteries, and everyone that is not adorned with clean garments she casts forth without.
After these the proclamation concerning the hearers is made, that they should go and see to the doors of the Church and keep watch by them: ‘Go, ye hearers, see diligently to the outer doors, that no one of (those belonging to) strange religions may enter.’ Beside the doors these stand as hirelings, not partaking of the Mysteries of the Church like those of the household. Of these did the prodigal son, who squandered his substance, make mention, and meekly he asked to be made as one of the hired servants.
In that hour let us put away from us anger and hatred, and let us see Jesus who is being led to death on our account. On the paten and in the cup He goes forth with the Deacon to suffer. The bread on the paten and the wine in the cup are a symbol of His death. A symbol of His death these (the Deacons) bear upon their hands; and when they have set it on the Altar and covered it they typify His burial: not that these (the Deacons) bear the image of the Jews, but (rather) of the Watchers (i.e. Angels) who were ministering to the passion of the Son. He was ministered to by Angels at the time of His passion, and the Deacons attend His body which is suffering mystically.
The Priests now come in procession into the midst of the Sanctuary and stand there in great splendour and in beauteous adornment. The Priest who is selected to be celebrating this Sacrifice, bears in himself the image of our Lord in that hour. Our Lord performed a mediation between us and His Father; and in like fashion the Priest performs a mediation. Hear, O Priest, whither thou hast been advanced by reason of thine order. Stand in awe of thy Lord, and honour thine order as it is fitting. See, thou hast been exalted above cherubim, above Seraphim; be above nature in thy manners, as it beseems thee. See, thou hast been trusted to administer the treasures of thy Lord; be without blemish and without blame as it is commanded thee. In this fashion the Priest stands in that hour, nor can aught compare with the greatness to which he is advanced. All the Priests who are in the Sanctuary bear the image of those Apostles who met together at the sepulchre. The Altar is a symbol of our Lord’s tomb, without doubt; and the bread and wine are the body of our Lord which was embalmed and buried. The Veil also which is over them presents a type of the stone sealed with the ring of the Priests and the executioners. And the Deacons standing on this side and on that and brandishing (fans) are a symbol of the Angels at the head and at the feet thereof (sc. of the tomb). And all the Deacons who stand ministering before the Altar depict a likeness of the Angels that surrounded the tomb of our Lord. The Sanctuary also forms a symbol of the Garden of Joseph whence flowed life for men and Angels. In another order it is a type of that Kingdom which our Lord entered, and into which He will bring with Him all His friends. The adorable Altar thereof is a symbol of that Throne of the Great and Glorious, upon which He will be seen of Watchers and men in the day of His revelation. The apse typifies things below and above: it calls to mind the things that have been, and those that are to be it typifies spiritually.
And as soon as the Priests and the Deacons together have taken their stand they begin to recite the Faith of the Fathers:
Now we believe in one God the Father who is from eternity, who holds all by the hidden rod of His Divinity; who made and fashioned all things visible and invisible; and He brought the creation of the height and depth out of nothing. And in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, one person, double in natures and their hypostases. He is the Only-begotten in His Godhead, and first-born in His body, who became first-born unto all creatures from the dead: He who of His Father is begotten and is without beginning, and He in no wise became nor was made with creatures; for He is God who is from God, Son who is of the Father, and of the nature of His Father, and equal with Him in all His proper things; and by Him the worlds were shewn forth and everything was created that was (made); and in authority and worship and glory He is equal with His Father; who for our sake came down from Heaven without change (of place), that He might redeem our race from the slavery of the Evil One and Death, and fashioned (as a body) a Temple by the power of the Holy Spirit from a daughter of David; and He became man, and He deified His Temple by the union. And His body was conceived in the Temple of Mary without wedlock, and He was born above the manner of men. And He suffered and was crucified and received death through His humanity, while Pilate held the governorship. And He was in the grave three days like any dead (man); and He rose and was resuscitated according as it is written in the prophecy; and He ascended to the height, to the Heaven of Heavens, that He might accomplish everything; and He sat in glory at the right hand of the Father that sent Him. And He is ready to come at the end of the times for the renewal of all things, and to judge the living, and the dead also who have died in sin. And we confess also the Holy Spirit, an eternal Being, equal in ousia and in Godhead to the Father and the Son, who proceedeth from the Father in a manner unsearchable, and giveth life to all reasonable beings that by Him were created. And we confess again one Church, catholic, patristic, and apostolic, sanctified by the Spirit. And again, we confess one bath and baptism, wherein we are baptized unto pardon of debts and the adoption of sons. And we confess again the resurrection which is from the dead; and that we shall be in new life for ever and ever.
This did the Priests seal; and they proscribed and anathematized everyone that confesses not according to their confession. The Church confesses according to the confession of the Fathers, and she employs their confession also at the time of the Mysteries. At the time of the Mysteries her children thunder forth with their Faith, reciting it with mouth and heart, without doubting.
And when the Faith has been recited in due order, at once the herald of the Church gives the command to pray: ‘Pray,’ he says, ‘over the commemoration of the Fathers, the Catholici and Bishops with the Doctors, and with them the Priests, the Deacons also and all orders, and everyone that has departed this world in faith, that they may be crowned in the day when they rise from the dead: and we with them, may we inherit life in that Kingdom. Pray, brethren, over the oblation which we offer, that it may be acceptable before God to whom it is offered; and that by the brooding of the Holy Spirit it may be consecrated, that it may become unto us a cause of life in the Kingdom on High.’
With these (words) the herald of the Church urges the people, and he tells (them) to pray before God with a pure heart.
The Priest now offers the Mystery of the redemption of our life, full of awe and covered with fear and great dread. The Priest is in awe and great fear and much trembling for his own debts and the debts of all the children of the Church. He is the eye of the whole ecclesiastical body; and he makes remembrance in his mind of the doings of all his fellow-servants. He is also the tongue of the whole body of Jesus: he is an Attorney, and fulfils an advocacy on its behalf. Trembling and fear, for himself and for his people, lie upon the Priest in that dread hour. In (his) awful character and office, an object of awe even to the Seraphim, the son of dust stands in great fear as mediator. The awful King, mystically slain and buried, and the awful Watchers, standing in fear in honour of their Lord! The ranks of Watchers surround the Altar in that hour, as Chrysostom has borne witness who saw them.
In this frame of mind stands the Priest to officiate, reverent, with great fear and trembling. Like Jacob he worships three times and three; and then he draws near to kiss the tomb of our Lord (i.e. the Altar). Jacob honoured his brother Esau with obeisances, and the Priest honours with obeisances Jacob’s Lord. He kisses with love and affection the Holy Altar, and trusts to receive sanctification through his lips. He asks prayer of the Deacons that are round about him, that by his humility he may receive mercy from the Merciful. He now prays with a contrite heart before God, and confesses his debts and the debts of the ecclesiastical body. The Priest asks for hidden power together with (divine) help, that he may be performing his gift according to his desire; and in all that the Priest says before God the people concur, and they seal his ministry with Amen. With Amen the people subscribe with the Priest, and take part with him by their prayers and by their word (i.e. Amen).
Then the Priest blesses the people in that hour with that saying which the life-giving mouth prescribed: ‘Peace be with you,’ says the Priest to the children of the Church, for peace is multiplied in Jesus our Lord who is our peace. ‘Peace be with you,’ for death is come to naught, and corruption is destroyed through a Son of our race who suffered for our sake and quickened us all. ‘Peace be with you,’ for sin is removed and Satan is condemned by a Son of Adam who has conquered and given victory to (or justified) the children of Adam. ‘Peace be with you,’ for the Good Lord has been reconciled to you by the death of His Son who suffered on the cross for our sake. ‘Peace be with you,’ for you have been made at peace with the Angels by Him who has authority over the Angels and reigns over all. ‘Peace be with you,’ because you have been united the People and the Peoples and the barrier has been broken down by Jesus who destroyed all enmity. ‘Peace be with you,’ for new life is reserved for you by Him who became a first-born unto all creatures in life incorruptible. ‘Peace be with you,’ because you have been summoned to the Kingdom aloft by Him who entered first to prepare a place for us all.
The people answer the Priest lovingly and say: ‘With thee, Priest, and with that Priestly spirit of thine.’ They call ‘spirit’ not that soul which is in the Priest, but the Spirit which the Priest has received by the laying on of hands. By the laying on of hands the Priest receives the power of the Spirit, that thereby he may be able to perform the divine Mysteries. That grace the people call the ‘Spirit’ of the Priest, and they pray that he may attain peace with it, and it with him. This makes known that even the Priest stands in need of prayer, and it is necessary that the whole Church should intercede for him. Therefore she (the Church) cries out that he may gain peace with his Spirit, that through his peace the peace of all her children may be increased; for by his virtue he greatly benefits the whole Church, and by his depravity he greatly harms the whole community. ‘Peace be with thee,’ say the people to the bright (-robed) Priest, mayest thou by thy conversation obtain peace with thy Spirit. ‘Peace be with thee,’ by whom are celebrated the Mysteries of the Church: ‘Peace be to thy Spirit’ with thee through thy conduct. ‘Peace be with thee,’ for great is the deposit entrusted to thee. May the peace of thy Spirit grow through thy diligence in things spiritual.
Then the herald of the Church commands all the people to give the Peace, each one to his companion, in the love of our Lord. First the Priests give the Peace in the midst of the Sanctuary; and the people also give (it) in the nave in the same manner. It behoves him that gives the Peace to his brother in the Church to wash his heart from all hatred and anger and lust. This is the peace by which Watchers and men shall be brought into concord in the day when the glorious Bridegroom comes to judge all. This is the peace in which there is no treachery and no hatred; but it is all light in light and perfect love. Blessed is he that gives the Peace with love to his brother, for it is he that shall receive perfect peace in the midst of his mind. Peace is the name of Christ, who makes all to be at peace, for it is He that has made peace between earthly and Heavenly beings. Blessed is he that makes his heart peaceful at the hour of the Mysteries, for all his debts and hateful deeds shall be forgiven him. Here we should call to mind the saying of our Lord in which He strictly admonishes us about hatred: ‘If thou remember,’ He says, ‘that thy brother keepeth hatred in his heart, leave thine offering and go, pacify him, and then offer.’ ‘Go and pacify thy brother first,’ said our Lord, ‘and then offer that Sacrifice which thou art offering.’
Even though the Priest has been made a mediator to offer, yet let him be offering with the concurrence of the whole people. It behoves him, then, that offers this oblation to forgive the debts of his fellow-servants, and then to offer. But if he that keeps hatred in his heart against him be absent, let him forgive his debts before God with his mind. If a Priest trample upon this commandment of the Lord of the worlds, let such an one know that there is no prayer nor oblation for him.
While the Peace is being given in the Church from one to another, the Book of the two (sets of) names; of the living and the dead, is read. The dead and the living the Church commemorates in that hour, that she may declare that the living and the dead are profited by the oblation. And the people add: ‘On behalf of all the Catholici’ a prayer which follows upon that which has been recited in the reading of the book.’ On behalf of all orders deceased from the Holy Church, and for those who are deemed worthy of the reception of this oblation: on behalf of these and Thy servants in every place, receive, Lord, this oblation which Thy servant has offered.’
The herald of the Church now cries and admonishes everyone to confess to the Lord, and entreat of Him with purity of heart. ‘Stand well,’ he says, ‘look with your minds on what is being done. Great is the Mystery in which ye are ministering, O ye mortals; the dread Mysteries, lo, are being consecrated by the hands of the Priest: let everyone be in fear and dread while they are being performed. The Priest has already advanced alone to pray: pray ye with him, that your peace may be increased through his mediation. Bend to the ground the glance of the eyes of your hearts, and stretch to the height the secret glance of your minds, and entreat earnestly and make supplication to the God of all in this hour which is full of trembling and great fear. Let no man dare to speak a word with his mouth; for he that speaks oversteps, transgresses, the commandment. And he that prays, with the heart let him pray, and not with the lips, and with the mind let him beg for mercy, and not with the tongue. And be ye standing in stillness and fear, for lo, with us is that Peace which is greater than all knowledge.’
At this point the Priest uncovers the adorable mysteries, and casts on one side the Veil that is over them. This (the Veil) being removed does not symbolize the resurrection, for neither was the stone rolled away at the moment of the resurrection: after the resurrection a Watcher removed, rolled away the stone; but the Priests remove the Veil before the symbol (lit. ‘Mystery ‘) thereof.
The Priest first of all blesses the people with that Canon in which he makes his voice audible to the faithful: ‘The grace’, he says, ‘of Jesus our Lord and the love of the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us’: that grace which our Lord has given us by His coming, may it give us confidence before His Majesty: ‘the love of the Father’, who sent us the Son, who is from Him, may it open to us the door of mercy in the day of His coming: ‘the communion of the Holy Spirit’, of which we have been made worthy, may it sanctify us and purge from us the filth of our offences.
Then he prepares the people with an exhortation, and says: ‘Let your minds be aloft in this hour where King Messiah is sitting on the right hand. Be not taken up with vain thoughts of earthly things: look upon Him that is now mystically slain upon the Altar, who sits in the height and asks mercy for sinners.’
The people answer: ‘Unto Thee, Lord, are our minds uplifted, the God of Abram and Isaac and Jacob, the glorious King: the glorious King whom the just and the Fathers have glorified, and in whom they have been glorified, and in whom they give glory without end.’
The Priest adds: ‘This acceptable and pure oblation, lo, is offered to the Lord the Lord of the height and the depth: He is the Lord that hath taken away and taketh away the sin of the world. It is Sacrificed now that it may blot out and forgive your sins. Lo, it is offered on behalf of Angels and men, that all together may delight therein in body and soul. Lo, it is offered for sinners and for the just, that they may be cleansed by it from the stains of their sins. Lo, it is offered for the defunct and for the living, that all peoples may find mercy in the Sacrifice thereof. Lo, it is offered to the God of all as a pledge that He will save us from the torment of Gehenna.’
The people answer: ‘It is meet and right and worthy and becoming to offer this oblation for all creatures’.
All the ecclesiastical body now observes silence, and all set themselves to pray earnestly in their hearts. The Priests are still and the Deacons stand in silence, the whole people is quiet and still, subdued and calm. The Altar stands crowned with beauty and splendour and upon it is the Gospel of life and the adorable wood (sc. the cross). The mysteries are set in order, the censors are smoking, the lamps are shining, and the Deacons are hovering and brandishing (fans) in likeness of Watchers. Deep silence and peaceful calm settles on that place: it is filled and overflows with brightness and splendour, beauty and power.
The bright(-robed) Priest, the tongue of the Church, opens his mouth and speaks in secret with God as a familiar. He recounts the glory of that incomprehensible Divinity, which is the cause of intelligible and sensible beings, which cannot be comprehended or searched out or scrutinized, which cannot be known by corporeal beings nor yet by the Watchers one ousia, one lordship, one authority, one will unchangeable from what it is, the one Creator who established by His rod the height and the depth, whose Name the Watchers praise in the height and men in the depth; the one God who by the hand of Moses made known that He is, and by Jesus our Lord revealed and shewed to us His Trinity. Three hypostases the Church learned from our Saviour Father and Son and Holy Spirit one Divinity: three hypostases, of which none is prior to or later than another, and there is no distinction, save only as to the properties fatherhood, and generation, and procession, one will, one glory, one lordship: a Mystery which is altogether hidden and concealed and covered over away from all; and the Watchers are too feeble to examine the secret thereof.
The Priest adds: ‘All the Watchers are standing in fear to praise the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Angels too offer worship to that Majesty, and the army-leaders (of Heaven) send up praise continually: the cherubim applaud, the Seraphim sanctify with their sanctifications, and the authorities and dominations with their praises: all at once cry and say one to another.’
And the people answer: ‘Holy Lord’ that dwelleth in light. ‘Holy, Holy, Holy Lord’; the people answer, ‘of whose glories the Heavens and all the earth are full.’
This is what the crying of ‘Holy’ three times means: but that of ‘Lord’ makes known that the nature of the Deity is one. Holy is the Father, who has the property of fatherhood, and is the cause and the begetter, and not the begotten. Holy is the Son, who has the property of generation, who from the Father is begotten eternally without beginning. Holy is the Spirit, who has the property of procession, who proceedeth from the Father, and is beyond (all) times. With these (words) all the Church cries out and returns to silence.
The Priest begins to commune with God. He confesses (or gives thanks for) the mercy and the grace that have been wrought in us by the revelation of the Word, who was revealed in a body which is (taken) from us. The Creator, adorable in His honour, took a body which is from us, that by it He might renew the image of Adam which was worn out and effaced. A reasonable Temple the Holy Spirit built in the bosom of Mary, (and) through (Its) good-pleasure the whole Trinity concurred. The natures are distinct in their hypostases, without confusion: with one will, with one person of the one sonship. He is then one in His Godhead and in His manhood; for the manhood and the Godhead are one person. ‘Two natures’, it is said, ‘and two hypostases is our Lord in one person of the Godhead and the manhood.’ Thus does all the Church of the orthodox confess; thus also have the approved doctors of the Church taught, Diodorus, and Theodorus, and Mar Nestorius. He was laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling-clothes, as Man; and the Watchers extolled Him with their praises, as God. He offered Sacrifices according to the Law, as Man; and He received worship from the Persians, as God. Simeon bore Him upon his arms, as Man; and he named Him ‘the Mercy’ who sheweth mercy to all, as God. He kept the Law completely, as Man; and He gave His own new Law, as God. He was baptized in Jordan by John, as Man; and the Heaven was opened in honour of His baptism, as God. He went in to the marriage-feast of the city of Cana, as Man; and he changed the water that it became wine, as God. He fasted in the wilderness forty days, as Man; and Watchers descended to minister unto Him, as God. He slept in the boat with His disciples, as Man; and He rebuked the wind and calmed the sea, as God. He set out and departed to a desert place, as Man: and He multiplied the bread and satisfied thousands, as God. He ate and drank and walked and was weary, as Man; and He put devils to flight by the word of His mouth, as God. He prayed and watched and gave thanks and worshipped, as Man; and He forgave debts and pardoned sins, as God. He asked water of the Samaritan woman, as Man; and He revealed and declared her secrets, as God. He sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, as Man; and He forgave the sinful woman her sins, as God. He went up into the mountain of Tabor with His disciples, as Man; and He revealed His glory in their sight, as God. He shed tears and wept over Lazarus, as Man; and He called him that he came forth by His mighty power, as God. He rode upon a colt and entered Jerusalem, as Man; and the boys applauded Him with their Hosannas, as God. He drew nigh to the fig-tree and shewed that He was an hungered, as Man; and His mighty power caused it to wither on a sudden, as God. He washed the feet of His twelve, as Man; and He called Himself Lord and Master, as God. He ate the legal Passover, as Man; and He exposed the treachery of Iscariot, as God. He prayed and sweated at the time of His passion, as Man; and He scared and terrified them that took Him, as God. The attendants seized Him and bound His hands, as Man; and He healed the ear that Simon cut off, as God. He stood in the place of judgement and bore insult, as Man; and He declared that He is about to come in glory, as God. He bore His cross upon His shoulder, as Man; and He revealed and announced the destruction of Zion, as God. He was hanged upon the wood and endured the passion, as Man; and He shook the earth and darkened the sun, as God. Nails were driven into His body, as Man; and He opened the graves and quickened the dead, as God. He cried out upon the cross ‘My God, My God’, as Man; and He promised Paradise to the thief, as God. His side was pierced with a spear, as Man; and His rod rent the (Temple-) Veil, as God. They embalmed His body and He was buried in the earth, as Man; and He raised up His Temple by His mighty power, as God. He remained in the tomb three days, as Man; and the Watchers glorified Him with their praises, as God. He said that He had received all authority, as Man; and He promised to be with us forever, as God. He commanded Thomas to feel His side, as Man; and He gave them the Spirit for an earnest, as God. He ate and drank after His resurrection, as Man; and He ascended to the height and sent the Spirit, as God.
This then is the confession of the Apostles and the Fathers, and everyone that agrees not with their faith is without hope. This is the truth which the Fathers preached and taught; confess with them, that ye may receive life immortal.
Our Lord Jesus departed from us to the place above, that at His coming He might lift us up with Him to the Kingdom of the height. And because He went away to a place that is far from our ken, He was pleased to comfort us by His Body and His Blood until His coming. And because it is not possible that He should give His Body and His Blood to His Church, He commanded us to perform this Mystery with bread and wine. Happy is the people of the Christians! What does it (not) possess, and what hope is there (not) in keeping for it on high without end?
For when the time of the passion of the Lifegiver of all was arrived, He ate the legal Passover with His disciples. He took bread and blessed and brake and gave to His disciples, and said, This is My Body in truth, without doubt. And He took the cup and gave thanks and blessed and gave to His Apostles, and said, This is My true Blood which is for you. And He commanded them to receive (and) drink of it, all of them, that it might be making atonement for their debts forever.
That He gave thanks and blessed is written in the Gospel full of life: what He said the chosen Apostles have not made known to us. The great teacher and interpreter Theodorus has handed down the tradition that our Lord spoke thus when He took the bread: ‘Of all glory and confession and praise is the nature of Thy Godhead worthy, O Lord of all; for in all generations Thou hast accomplished and performed Thy dispensation, as though for the salvation and redemption of men. And though they were ungrateful in their works, Thou in Thy mercy didst not cease from helping them. And that Thou mightest accomplish the redemption of all and the renewal of all, Thou didst take Me (who am) of the nature of Adam, and didst join Me to Thee. And in Me shall be fulfilled all the compacts and all the promises; and in Me shall be realized the mysteries and types (shewn) unto the just men (of old). And because I have been without blemish, and have fully performed all righteousness, by Me Thou dost uproot all sin from human kind. And because I die without fault and without offence, in Me Thou appointest a resurrection of the body for the whole nature’.
To this effect did the Son of the Most High make confession to His Father, and these words He spoke when He gave His Body and His Blood. ‘This’, said He, ‘is My Body, which I have given for the debts of the world; and this, again, is My Blood, the which I have willed should be shed for sins. Whoso eateth with love of My Body and drinketh of My Blood liveth forever, and abideth in Me, and I in him. Thus be ye doing for My memorial in the midst of your Churches; and My Body and My Blood be ye receiving in faith. Be ye offering bread and wine, as I have taught you, and I will accomplish and make them the Body and Blood. Body and Blood do I make the bread and wine through the brooding and operation of the Holy Spirit.’
Thus spake the Lifegiver of the worlds to His disciples: and the bread and wine He named His Body and Blood. He did not style them a type or a similitude, but Body in reality (lit. ‘in exactness’) and Blood in verity. And even though their nature is immeasurably far from Him, yet by (or in) power and by (or in) the union one is the Body. Let Watchers and men confess to Thee, Lord, continually, Christ, our hope, who didst deliver up Thyself for our sake. One in power is the Body which the Priests break in the Church with that Body that sits in glory at the right hand. And even as the God of all is united to the First-fruits of our race (sc. Christ), Christ is united to the bread and wine which are upon the Altar. Wherefore the bread is strictly (or accurately) the Body of our Lord, and the wine is His Blood properly and truly. Thus did He command His familiar friends to eat His Body, and thus did He admonish the sons of His household to drink His Blood. Blessed is he that believes Him and assents to His word; for if he be dead he shall live, and if he be alive he shall not die in his offences. Carefully did the Apostles take up the commandment of their Lord, and with diligence did they hand it on to those that came after them. Even until now has this (commandment) been observed in the Church, yea, and is observed, until He shall cause His Mystery to cease by His shining forth and by His manifestation.
To this effect the Priest gives thanks before God, and he raises his voice at the end of his prayer to make it audible to the people. He makes his voice heard, and with his hand he signs the Mysteries that are set (on the Altar); and the people with Amen concur and acquiesce in the prayer of the Priest.
Then the herald of the Church commands the people and says: ‘With your minds be ye praying. Peace be with us.’ In mind pray ye at this hour, and in thought, for lo, great peace is being accomplished with the accomplishing of the Mysteries.
The Priest begins to make supplication earnestly before God, that He will graciously accept in His love the living Sacrifice that is being offered to Him. He arranges the ecclesiastical orders one after another, for whom the Church offers the adorable Mysteries. He commemorates first the glorious Church that is in every place; and he asks that they (its members) may be of one mind and faith. He commemorates the Priests and periodeutae and Deacons; and he entreats that they may be in Holiness and purity. He commemorates the martyrs and confessors and doctors, that their name may be remembered in the Church at the hour of the Mysteries. He commemorates the Kings and judges who are in every place, that they may be judging with equity in all the world. He commemorates in his prayer (lit. ‘word’) all the mourners and ascetics that their prayer may daily be acceptable before God. He commemorates the just and righteous who are in every place; and he asks that they may keep the covenant that they have made in (its) integrity. He commemorates the sons of the Holy Church in all their grades; and he asks that they may guard their faith with watchfulness. He now commemorates also the deceased in every place, who are deceased and departed in faith without doubting. He makes mention of himself, who has been accounted worthy of this mediation; and he asks for mercy upon all creatures collectively. He mentions those who pour out alms upon the poor; and he asks that they may receive a double reward for their alms. He makes mention of the fallen and of sinners and transgressors; and he asks that they may return to penance and pardon of debts. He makes mention of those for whom he is offering the Sacrifices; that they may find mercy and forgiveness of the debts of their offences. He makes mention of the heathen and of gainsayers and of those in error; and he entreats that they may come to know the faith of the Holy Church. He makes mention at once of all the world and its inhabitants, that battles and wars and strifes may cease from it. He makes mention of the weather (lit. ‘air’), and of the crops of the whole year; and he asks that the crown of the year may be prosperous and blessed. He makes mention of his own place and of all places together; and he asks that there may be peace and quiet in the midst of their habitations. He makes mention of those who are sailing on the seas and (of those) in the islands; and he asks that they may all be saved from the storms. He makes mention of those who lie in distresses and in persecutions; and he asks that there may be solace and respite to their afflictions. He makes mention of those that lie in prisons and in bonds; and he asks that they may be loosed from their bonds and grievous torments. He makes mention of those who have been cast into exile afar off; and he asks that they may escape from tribulations and temptations. He makes mention of those who are vexed with sicknesses and diseases; and he entreats that they may recover health of body with healing. He makes mention of those whom the accursed demons are tempting; and he asks that they may find mercy and compassion from the Lord. He makes mention in his prayer of the haters also of the Holy Church, that there may be an end put to their impieties before God. He makes mention of the debts of the whole ecclesiastical body; and he asks that they may be made worthy of the forgiveness of debts and offences.
Of all these the Priest makes mention before God, imitating Mar Nestorius in his supplication. To this effect the Priest prays before God, and he asks of Him that He will graciously accept the Sacrifice which he offers unto Him. On behalf of all is the living Sacrifice Sacrificed in the midst of the Church; and this Sacrifice helps and profits all creatures. By that supplication which the Priest makes on behalf of all classes all his sins and offences are forgiven him.
After this the Priest makes confession before God according as our Lord Jesus taught His twelve: ‘Lo, we typify,’ says the Priest, ‘and commemorate the passion and death and the resurrection also of our Lord Jesus.’ He summons the Spirit to come down and dwell in the bread and wine and make them the Body and Blood of King Messiah. To the Spirit he calls, that He will also light down upon the assembled congregation, that by His gift it may be worthy to receive the Body and Blood. The Spirit descends upon the oblation without change (of place), and causes the power of His Godhead to dwell in the bread and wine and completes the Mystery of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. These things the Priest says in earnest entreaty; and he draws himself up and stretches out his hands towards the height. Towards the height the Priest gazes boldly; and he calls the Spirit to come and celebrate the Mysteries which he has offered. The Spirit he asks to come and brood over the oblation and bestow upon it power and divine operation. The Spirit comes down at the request of the Priest, be he ever so great a sinner, and celebrates the Mysteries by the mediation of the Priest whom He has consecrated. It is not the Priest’s virtue that celebrates the adorable Mysteries; but the Holy Spirit celebrates by His brooding. The Spirit broods, not because of the worthiness of the Priest, but because of the Mysteries which are set upon the Altar. As soon as the bread and wine are set upon the Altar they shew forth a symbol of the death of the Son, also of His resurrection; wherefore that Spirit which raised Him from the dead comes down now and celebrates the Mysteries of the resurrection of His Body. Thus does the Holy Spirit celebrate by the hands of the Priest; and without a Priest they (sc. the Mysteries) are not celebrated for ever and ever. The Mysteries of the Church are not celebrated without a Priest, for the Holy Spirit has not permitted (any other) to celebrate them. The Priest received the power of the Spirit by the laying on of hands; and by him are performed all the Mysteries that are in the Church. The Priest consecrates the bosom of the waters of baptism; and the Spirit bestows the adoption of sons on those that are baptized. Without a Priest a woman is not betrothed to a man; and without him their marriage festival is not accomplished. Without a Priest the defunct also is not interred; nor do they let him down into his grave without the Priest. Common (lit. ‘unclean’) water is not consecrated without the Priest; and if there were no Priest the whole house would be unclean . These things the Holy Spirit celebrates by the hands of the Priest, even though he be altogether in sins and offences. And whatever (function) the Priests perform they accomplish (it), even though they be sinners. They that possess not the order cannot celebrate, be they never so just. The righteous cannot by their purity bring down the Spirit; and the sinful by their sinfulness do not hinder His descent. Here does the Long-suffering One bear with a sinful Priest, and He celebrates by his hands the glorious unspeakable Mysteries. In the world to come He will judge (him) strictly by his own hand, and will take away from him that gift which was given to him. And because he has not honoured the excellence of his order as it beseems him, he will there be despised and set at naught before all creatures. Hear, thou Priest, that hast not works agreeable to thine order; stand in awe and be affrighted at the torment of Gehenna. More grievous than all punishments will be thy punishment, O wicked Priest, because thou hast not fittingly administered the order allotted to thee. In the world to come there are no orders nor classes; but Christ alone will be all in all.
The Priest summons the Spirit, and He comes down upon the oblation; and he worships with quaking and with fear and harrowing dread.
Then the herald of the Church cries in that hour: ‘In silence and fear be ye standing: peace be with us. Let all the people be in fear at this moment in which the adorable Mysteries are being accomplished by the descent of the Spirit.
Then the Priest makes his voice heard to all the people, and signs with his hand over the Mysteries, as before. He signs now, not because the Mysteries have need of the signing, but to teach by the last sign that they are accomplished. Three signs the Priest signs over the oblation; and by them he mystically perfects and completes it. Three bows does the Priest make before God; and by them he openly adores before His Majesty. With one he praises, with one he confesses (or gives thanks), with one he prays; and he calls to the Spirit to dwell and light down upon the oblation. Three days did our Lord remain in the bosom of the earth; and on the third He arose and was resuscitated in great glory. And in like manner the Priest bows three times; and by the third (bow) he symbolizes the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Genuflexions also the Priest makes three times; and he typifies thereby our Lord’s being in the tomb. Three times he genuflects before the descent (of the Spirit); and again he does not genuflect, because the Mystery of the resurrection has been accomplished.
A Mystery of the resurrection does the Priest accomplish by the completion of the Mysteries; and he does not again symbolize the Mystery of His death by a genuflexion. The Priests gave command that on all Sundays and festivals there should be no genuflexion . No man therefore is allowed to bow the knee at the Mysteries, save only the Priest who by his genuflexions signifies a Mystery. Even the Priest, before the descent he may bow the knee, but after the descent of the Holy Spirit he may not (so) worship.
Then the Priest takes in his hands the living Bread, and lifts up his gaze towards the height, and makes confession of his Lord. He breaks the Bread in the name of the Father and Son and Spirit, and unites the Blood with the Body, and the Body with the Blood. He signs the Blood with the Body, and makes mention of the Trinity: and he signs the Body with the living Blood with the same utterance. He unites them, the Body with the Blood, and the Blood with the Body that everyone may confess that the Body and the Blood are one.
Then the Priest, after all the ceremonies have been completed, blesses the people with that formula with which our Lord gave blessing .
He now begins to break the Body little by little, that it may be easy to distribute to all the receivers. The resurrection of the Son the Priest symbolized by the completion of the Mysteries; and most suitably does he break His Body that he may distribute it, since our Lord also, when He was risen from the tomb in glory, appeared to the women and to the disciples ten times: once to Mary the Magdalene alone; once to Luke and Cleopas who were going in the way; once to the band of eleven in the upper room; another time on the shore of the sea of Tiberias; to all He appeared, and assured them of His resurrection; and to Thomas also He shewed His side (and) the place of the lance; and upon the Mount of Olives our Lord blessed His twelve, and was parted from them and ascended in glory to the Heaven of Heavens; and now He appears, in the reception of His Body, to the Sons of the Church; and they believe in Him and receive from Him the Pledge of life.
Then the herald of the Church cries and lifts up his voice: ‘Let us all approach with fear to the Mystery of the Body and the Blood. In faith let us recall the passion of Jesus our Lord, and let us understand also His resurrection from the dead. For our sake the Only-begotten of the God of all took a perfect man and accomplished His dispensation; and He suffered on the cross and died and was resuscitated and rose and ascended; and in His love He gave us as a pledge His Body and His Blood, that by them we might recall all the graces which He has wrought towards us. Let us confess and worship and glorify Him at all times. Let us now draw near, then, in pure love and faith (and) receive the treasure of spiritual life; and with prayer, clean and pure, and with contrition of heart let us partake of the adorable Mysteries of the Holy Church; and let us set the condition of repentance before God, and let us have remorse and contrition for the abominable deeds we have done; and let us ask mercy and forgiveness of debts from the Lord of all; and let us also forgive the offences of our fellow-servants.’
The people answer: ‘Lord, pardon the sins of thy servants, and purify our conscience from doubts and from strifes. Lord, pardon the offences of them that are praising Thee, and make clear our soul from hatred and slander. Lord, pardon the sins of Thy servants who have confessed Thy name, and make us worthy to receive this Sacrament with faith. Lord, pardon Thy servants who call upon Thy name daily; and grant us, Lord, to be Thine, even as Thou desirest; and may these divine Mysteries, Lord, be to us for confidence and courage before Thy Majesty.’
Then the Priest prays and begs of God that He will sanctify us and blot out our sins by His grace, and make us all worthy to stand before Him without blemish, and call Him, all of us, with confidence, Abba, Our Father.
Then the people answer and say earnestly the prayer which the Living Mouth taught His beloved sons: ‘Our Father, who dwellest above in Heaven and in every place, hallowed be Thy Holy Name in us by all peoples. May that Kingdom come unto us which Thou hast promised us, and may we delight therein through (Thy) Pledge from henceforth; May the will of Thy love be done and satisfied and accomplished in (or by) us, and may we be worthy to perform all actions according to Thy will; and as in Heaven all (other) wills cease from us, so on earth let us will according to Thy will alone. Give us bread and every bodily need in this the time of our sojourning in this world; and forgive our debts and pardon our sins whereby we are in debt through our neglect and our frailty and our feebleness; for we also have forgiven from our heart everyone that is in debt to us, and we keep not hatred in our heart against any man. And make us not to enter into temptation nor trial, who are feeble and without Thy power are nothing; but deliver us from the evil of the crafty Evil One, and suffer him not to draw near to us by his wiles: for Thine is the power, also the Kingdom, and to Thee is due also glory for ever and ever.’
Then the Priest says to the people: ‘Peace be with you.’
And the people answer: ‘And with thee, O Priest, and with thy spirit’.
With the prayer of our Lord the Priest began in the beginning of the Mysteries, and with it he makes an end now that all the Mysteries are completed. ‘Peace be with you,’ says the Priest in this hour: and he reminds us of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. ‘Peace be with you,’ said our Lord to His twelve, when He appeared to them and announced to them concerning His resurrection. ‘Peace be with you,’ said our Lord to His familiars; ‘for lo, I am risen, and I raise up the whole nature.’ ‘Peace be with you,’ said He to his brethren, His intimates, ‘for lo, I am ascending and preparing a place for you all.’ ‘Peace be with you,’ said our Lord to His twelve, ‘or I am with you forever without end.’ And this Peace the Priest gives to the sons of the Church; and he confirms them in love and hope and faith.
And when the children of the Church have been prepared to receive the Mysteries, the Priest cries out: ‘To the Holy Ones is the Holy Thing fitting.’ To all the Holy Ones, sanctified by the Spirit of adoption of sons, is the Holy Thing fitting by the consensus of the Fathers. To all the Holy Ones whom baptism has sanctified the Holy Thing is fitting according to the ecclesiastical law. Those other grades who have been driven out from the midst of the Church may not take part in the reception of the divine Mysteries.
The people answer: ‘One is the Father, that Holy One who is from eternity, without beginning and without end; and as a favour He hath made us worthy to acquire sanctification from the spiritual birth of baptism. And one is the Father, and one also is the Son and the Holy Spirit: one in three and three in one, without alteration. Glory to the Father, and to the Son who is from Him, and to the Holy Spirit, a Being who is for ever and ever without end.’
Then the Priest himself first receives the Sacrament, that he may teach the people that even the Priest himself stands in need of mercy. The Priest who has consecrated stands in need of the reception of the adorable Mysteries, that he also may be made worthy of the communion of the Pledge of life. The Priest precedes the Bishop in the reception of the Mysteries, if a Priest has consecrated them and not the High Priest (i.e. the Bishop). In due order (or by degrees) the Priests and Deacons receive; and then the people, men and women, little and great.
And at his setting forth the Priest blesses the people, and says: ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.’
The Sacrament goes forth on the paten and in the cup with splendour and glory, with an escort of Priests and a great procession of Deacons. Thousands of Watchers and ministers of fire and spirit go forth before the Body of our Lord and conduct it. All the sons of the Church rejoice, and all the people, when they see the Body setting forth from the midst of the Altar; and even as the Apostles rejoiced in our Lord after His resurrection, so do all the faithful rejoice when they see Him. Great, my brethren, is this Mystery and unspeakable; and he that is able fitly to describe (it), let him fitly describe (it) if he can. ‘I have a Mystery (or secret), I have a Mystery’ cried Isaiah, the marvel of Prophets, concerning the revelation of God which he saw in the Temple. If I should seek to write aught concerning this matter, all the parchments in all this (world) would not suffice me. Flesh, moreover, is fitting for the perfect and full-grown: milk is for children until they arrive at the perfect age. ‘Whoso eateth My Body, he abideth in Me, and I in him, if so be he keep all My commandments with diligence.’ For ‘whoso eateth of My Body and drinketh of My Blood unworthily, unto his condemnation he eateth and drinketh’, without profit.
He who approaches to receive the Body stretches forth his hands, lifting up his right hand and placing it over its fellow. In the form of a cross the receiver joins his hands; and thus he receives the Body of our Lord upon a cross. Upon a cross our Lord Jesus was set at naught; and on the same cross He flew and was exalted to the height above. With this type he that receives approaches (and) receives.
And the Priest who gives says unto him: ‘The Body of our Lord’.
He receives in his hands the adorable Body of the Lord of all; and he embraces it and kisses it with love and affection. He makes to enter, he hides the Leaven of life in the Temple of his body, that his body may be sanctified by the reception of the Body of our Lord. Debts He pardons, blemishes He purifies, diseases He heals, stains He cleanses (and) purges with the hyssop of His mercy.
And while the Body and Blood is being distributed to all the receivers, the Church cries out in honour of the Mysteries; and thus it says: ‘Lo, the Medicine of life! Lo, it is distributed in the Holy Church. Come, ye mortals, receive and be pardoned your debts. This is the Body and Blood of our Lord in truth, which the peoples have received, and by which they have been pardoned without doubt. This is the Medicine that heals diseases and festering sores. Receive, ye mortals, and be purified by it from your debts. Come, receive for naught forgiveness of debts and offences through the Body and Blood which takes away the sin of the whole world.’
And after the whole congregation has been communicated with the Body and Blood, they reply and say with love and rejoicing: ‘Our Lord Jesus, King to be adored of all creatures, do away from us all harms by the power of Thy Mysteries; and when Thou shinest forth at the end of the times for the redemption of all, may we go forth to meet Thee with confidence with Hosannas. May we confess to Thy name for Thy goodness towards our race, who hast pardoned our debts and blotted them out by Thy Body and Thy Blood. And here and there may we be worthy to send up to Thy Godhead glory and comeliness and confession for ever and ever.’
Then the herald of the Church cries with his proclamation, and urges the people to give thanks; and thus he says: ‘All we that have been made worthy of the gift of the Mysteries, let us give thanks and worship and glorify the God of all.’
And the people answer: ‘To Him be the glory for His gift, which cannot be repaid for ever and ever. Amen, and Amen.’
Then the Priest prays and gives thanks to the God of all, who has made our race worthy of the glorious unspeakable Mysteries; and he begs and entreats that He will strengthen us that we may become acceptable before Him by thoughts and words and works together.
Then all in the Altar and without in the congregation pray the prayer which that lifegiving mouth taught. With it do (men) begin every prayer, morning and evening; and with it do they complete all the rites (or mysteries) of the Holy Church. This, it is said, is that which includes all prayer, and without it no prayer is concluded.
Then the Priest goes forth (and) stands at the door of the Altar; and he stretches forth his hands and blesses the people, and says the whole people the Priest blesses in that hour, symbolizing the blessing which our Lord Jesus gave to His twelve. On the day of His ascension He, the High Pontiff, lifted up His hands and blessed and made Priests of His twelve; and then He was taken up. A symbol of His resurrection has the Priest typified by the completion of the Mysteries, and a symbol of His revelation before His disciples by distributing Him. By the stretching out of the hands of the bright(-robed) Priest towards the height he confers a blessing upon the whole congregation; and thus he says: ‘He that hath blessed us with every blessing of the Spirit in Heaven, may He also now bless us all with the power of His Mysteries.’
With this blessing with which the bright(-robed) Priest blesses us he depicts a type (or) of that (blessing) which is about to work in us. When we have been raised from the dead and have put on glory we shall be lifted up on high into Heaven with the Saviour. There shall all passions cease from our human nature, and we shall delight in desirable good things without end. In this world wherein we dwell with all passions, may He keep our lives from hidden and open harms; and as He has made us worthy of the reception of His Mysteries by His grace, may He make us all worthy to become Temples for His Divinity; and with every breath let us confess and worship and praise Him for His gift unspeakable by tongue of flesh.
These things the bright Angel(-robed) Priest confers by his blessings; and with his right hand he signs the congregation with the living sign.
These are the glorious Mysteries of the Holy Church; and this is the order in which they are celebrated by the Priesthood. Blessed is he whose heart is pure in that hour in which the awful Mysteries of the Body of our Lord are consecrated. The Watchers on high congratulate the sons of the Church, that they have been deemed worthy of receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus. Glory to Thy name for Thine unspeakable gift! And who can suffice to render glory to Thy Godhead?
Come, then, son of the Mystery of the sons of the Church, learn the order by which thou mayest draw nigh to the Priesthood, that thou mayest approach it in the manner that the Apostle Paul enjoined. With a pure heart approach the Body and Blood of our Lord which cleanse thee from the stains of thy offences which thou hast committed; they (the Priests) will not recoil from a sinner who wishes to return, nor yet from one defiled who mourns and is distressed for his defilement. On this condition they receive the defiled and sinners, that they make a covenant that they will not return to their works. Pray with the Priest with love in that hour; for the Giver of life receives thee and forgives thy debts. Beware, moreover, that thou go not forth without the nave, in that hour when the awful Mysteries are consecrated. Who is he that would willingly estrange himself from that supper to which Watchers and men have been summoned? Who is he that, when he is set in the portion of the sons, would place himself with the strangers whom the Church has driven out? This is the time when he ought to stand as an Angel, in that hour wherein the Holy Spirit lights down. This hour gives life to him that stands therein; this hour distributes gifts to him that receives it. Blessed is he that believes in it and receives of it; for if he be dead he shall live, and if he be alive he shall not die in his offences.
Here our ship has arrived in port, and our net is filled. Let us then be silent; for what it has gathered in, that was our quest. I confessed it at the beginning, that you might not with carpings condemn my feebleness; and now with love correct my short-comings, if any such you should find.
Glory to Thy name, who hast completed with us what we began in Thee, and praise to Thy Father and to the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Homily XXII (B). On Baptism
Who suffices to repay (His) love to the Fashioner of all, who came in His love to beget men spiritually? Too little is the tongue of height and depth to give thanks with us to the power of the Creator who has renewed our image and blotted out our iniquity. As in a furnace He re-cast our image in Baptism; and instead of our clay He has made us spiritual gold. Spiritually, without colours, was He pleased to depict us; that the beauty of our image might not again be corrupted by death. O Painter, that paints an image upon the tablet of the waters, nor is His art hindered by opposition! O Artist, that breathes the Spirit (and works) without hands, and sows life immortal in mortality! Ah, for the Command, to whom all hard things are easy, who gives power to things feeble by the might of His greatness! Ah, for the Will, whose purpose precedes His operation, and before He had created He saw by His knowledge that which He created! Visible to His purpose was this will which He has shewn towards us; and on it He was gazing when as yet He had not created us who created us in the beginning. Before its creation the image of our renewal was depicted before Him; and with His (very) Being He had it in His heart to do this. With wisdom He performed it, even as it befits the All-knowing; and wisely He accomplished His will and shewed His power. He created a second time the creation which He had created in the beginning; and He purged out from it the old things of mortality. The rust of iniquity He willed to wipe away from mortals; and His purpose put the sponge of the Spirit into the hand of our body. Who is (this) that has set the will of His love towards our race, and appointed our vileness as officers over His wise (designs)? Out of our clay He has made treasure-keepers of His hidden things; and from it He has appointed stewards to dispense life. He chose Him Priests as mediators between Him and our people; and He has sent them on an embassy to men. To them He gave the great signet of His Divinity, that with it they might seal the work of the renovation of all. To them He entrusted the boundless wealth of the Spirit, that they might lovingly distribute it according to its greatness. A spiritual art He taught them, that they should be tracing the image of life on the tablet of the waters. Ah, corporeal beings, painters of the Spirit, without hands! Ah, mortals, mixers of life with mortality! Ah, Priesthood, how greatly is it exalted above all, having won a station in the height and the depth by the power of Him that has chosen it! Ah, marvel, the wonder whereof is too great to be set forth, that death (or mortality) should quicken itself, as though by its own (power)! Ah, Will, that has let itself down to its own creatures, and has placed its riches in a hand of flesh, that it may enrich itself! Ah, Creator, that came and renewed His creation, and has given to the work of His own hands a pen, that it should depict itself! Who would not marvel at the greatness of His love and His graciousness, that He has made our clay the creator of a creation, after His own likeness? Who would not praise His care for our race, who has exalted our low estate together with His own incomprehensible Divinity? To our own nature did He give the authority, together with its renewal, that it should create itself a new creation of immortals. A power of life He breathed into our body, parent of passions, and it began to interpret spiritual things that were to it invisible, His art of creation He shewed to our soul; and it acquired power to create a creation, even as the Creator. By a word that (comes) from Him it forms men in the bosom of the waters, and fashions them spiritually without hands. This is a design the interpretation whereof is too high to be set forth; and the will of the Hidden One (alone) is able to describe it as it is.
By the transparence of the soul the mind is able to discern it; and with the understanding instead of eyes it sees its dignity. August is the theme thereof, and it cannot be spoken bodily; and high is the quest thereof, and it cannot be achieved in earthly wise. Spiritually is composed the story of the renewal of our image; and save by the Spirit no mouth can expound its history. In Heavenly fashion did He mix the drug for the disease of our iniquity; and unless the mind ascend to the height it cannot see it. By the chief Rabbi (or Master) is written the lesson (or alphabet) of the redemption of our life; and unless the learner imitate he cannot understand.
Come, ye disciples of the Master, Christ, let us gaze attentively upon the spiritual writings of Baptism. Come, ye heirs of the covenant written in blood, look upon the substance of your inheritance with the eye of the spirit. Come, examine with affectionate love your possessions, and praise and magnify Him that enriches men from His stores. Come, together, ye purified sons of Baptism, let us depict the word that cries out in the waters so that they acquire power. Come, let us examine discerningly the hand of flesh that buries bodies and raises them up swiftly. Come, let us make ready to look upon a marvel in the Holy Temple; and upon the armies of the height that attend the Mystery of our redemption. Behold the hour that requires of the beholders that they be in orderly array. Let everyone fasten the gaze of his mind on the things that are said.
Lo, the Priest is ready to enter the Holy of Holies, to open the door of the Kingdom of the height before them that would enter. Lo, he approaches the curtain of the royal house, that he may receive power to perform the mysteries that are to be done by his hand. Lo, the King of the height reaches out to him the hand of the Spirit, and places in his hand the signet of His name, that he may seal His sheep. Lo, He puts on him the vesture of glory of the immortals, that he may hide therewith the disgrace of men who were guilty and exposed. Lo, He has brought him to visit the flock entrusted to him; and he lifts up his voice and calls the sheep by their names. Lo, the sheep are gathered together, and the lambs and the ewes; and he sets upon them the stamp of life of the word of his Lord. Lo, he brings them, as it were, into a furnace by means of their words; and he exacts from them the one confession of the name of the Creator. As a pen the (divine) Rod holds him spiritually, and inscribes (and) writes body and soul in the book of life. As with a rod it drives from them by the word of his mouth the darkness of error which had blinded them from understanding.
He lifts up his voice and says: ‘Renounce ye the Evil One and his power and his Angels and his service and his error.’
They first renounce the dominion of the Evil One who brought them to slavery; and then they confess the power of the Creator who has set them free. Two things he says who draws nigh to the mysteries of the Church: a renunciation of the Evil One, and a (confession of) faith in the Maker: ‘I renounce the Evil One and his Angels,’ he cries with the voice, ‘and I have no dealings with him, not even in word.’
The Priest stands as a mediator (i.e. here ‘interpreter’), and asks him: ‘Of whom dost thou wish to become a servant from henceforth? ‘He learns from him whom he wishes to call Master; and then he inscribes him in the number of the firstborns of the height.
From Satan and his Angels he (the Priest) turns away his (the catechumen’s) face; and then he traces for him the image of the Divinity upon his forehead. The Evil One he renounces as an evil one whose intercourse is evil, and his Angels as haters of the word of truth.
The Evil One and his adherents hate the word of truth; and it behoves him who loves the truth to hate them. ‘Thy haters, O Lord, I have hated,’ let him repeat with the son of Jesse; and let him exact of him (Satan) vengeance for the wrong (done to) the name of the Creator. A warfare has he that approaches Baptism with Satan and with his Angels and with his service.
His Angels are men clothed in deceit, who minister to him with abominations full of wickedness. One of his Angels is Mani, the treacherous wolf, who clothes himself in the likeness of the lambs of the flock and leads the flock astray. Another of his Angels is Valentinus, the perverter of the truth, who obscures the resurrection of the dead with his idle prating. His Angel also is Arius, the foul-minded, who lies sick of the disease of ‘inequality,’ which is worse than the leprosy. His Angel also is Eunomius, the subtle serpent, who by his bites destroys the soul of them that obey him. One of his Angels is the fool Apollinarius, who builds deceit into the edifice of the truth and is not abashed. Of his Angels is Paul, the stubborn-minded, who insolently challenges the power of the Word of the Father. Among his Angels we must number also Eutyches, the madman, who went mad in the matter of the passibility of the Impassible. As an inn-keeper he learned the inn-keeper’s trade; and every moment he mixes up the living Nature with the passions of the body. Far greater is his wickedness than the wickedness of his fellows, and he renders greater help to the devil than his companions. By these the hater of men leads men astray; and by them he casts the poison of his deceit into the mind of men. These perform the various services of his abominations, and even improve upon them with lying inventions. His service is that service of which they boast; and therein his mysteries are uttered, and not those of the truth. Him the heretics serve in all manner of ways; and by his wiles they go astray, and lead astray their hearers. We must flee from them, then, as from the unclean, and we must not mingle with the abominations of their doings. ‘Unclean’ and ‘evil ones’ let us call them and the Evil One; and let us turn away our faces from their mysteries (which are) full of wickedness. Full of wickedness is the invention of the Evil One and of them that listen to him; and diseases of iniquity are hidden in the error of his craft. His inventions are the circus and the stadium and the theatres, and the riotous sounds of the songs which he has composed and written. His errors are soothsayings and witchcrafts of all sorts: eye-winking and ear-tickling and street accosting. These things the disciple of the truth renounces when he becomes a disciple.
And then he comes to the confession of the faith. The truth of his soul he reveals by the sensible voice: ‘Lo,’ he says, ‘I have turned away from the Evil One to the Creator.’ He puts the devils to shame by the utterance of his mouth, (saying): ‘Hearken, ye rebellious ones, I have no part with you.’ The assemblies of the height he makes to rejoice by the words of his faith: ‘Come, ye spiritual ones, rejoice with me, for I am saved alive from destruction; I am your fellow-servant and a fellow-labourer in your works; and with that Lord to whom ye minister I am desirous of serving.’ He names himself a soldier of the Kingdom of the height, a fugitive who has returned to take refuge with the King of Kings.
He first entreats the stewards of the Holy Church to present him at the door of the King, that he may speak his words. The stewards are the Priests, the ministers of the Mysteries, to whom is committed the treasury of the Spirit to dispense. To one of them the wanderer, the exile, approaches, that they may set him free from the subjection of the Evil One who took him captive. As an exile he stands naked, without covering; and he shews him (the Priest) the toil and labour of his captors’ house: ‘I appeal to Thee, King,’ cries the captive to the King’s servants, ‘approach the King and entreat for me, that He may be reconciled to me. Enter and say to Him:
‘One of Thy servants has returned from captivity, and lo, with love he beseeches to see Thy face. I have verily been made a captive by the slave that rebelled against Thy Lordship; free my life from his slavery, that he may not deride me. I am Thy servant, good Lord, and the son of Thy handmaid, why should I serve a wicked slave who has revolted from Thee? Heretofore I have wickedly served the all-wicked one; ransom me from him, that I may be Thine, for Thine I am.’
These words the wanderer puts together on the day of his return, after the manner of the story of the younger son. For his sake were the parables enacted; and it is right that he should frame his words according to those that are written. He it is of whom it is written that he strayed and went forth, and turned and came (back); and the day of his going forth and of his repentance is inscribed in the Gospel. To-day comes to pass in truth that which is written; and abundant mercies go forth to meet him and receive him. At his repentance the Heavenly assemblies are rejoicing; and they are escorting him as a dead man that has returned to life. The devil alone does he make to be in sorrow over his return, that he has severed his meshes and broken his snares and left him and fled. From his (Satan’s) bitter slavery the sinner has fled; and he has taken Sanctuary with the good Lord whose love is sweet. From his exile the exile has returned to his Maker; and lo, he entreats to enter (and) see the face of the King. By means of his petition he frames an indictment against his captor, and convicts him out of the law of God. To the servants of the King he gives the pen of the word of his mouth; and they write (it) down and bring him before the Judge. The Priests he asks (to be) as an advocate in the suit against the suit (opposed to him); and they plead the cause for him while he is silent. As in a lawsuit the Priest stands at the hour of the Mysteries, and accuses the devil on behalf of sinners. The sinner also stands like a poor man that has been defrauded; and he begs and entreats that mercy may help him in the judgment. Naked he stands and stripped before the Judge, that by his wretched plight he may win pity to cover him. Without covering he pleads his cause against his adversary, that the King may see him and swiftly exact judgment for him.
He bends his knees and bows his head in his confusion, and is ashamed to look aloft towards the Judge. He spreads sackcloth (upon him); and then he draws near to ask for mercy, making mention of his subjection to the Evil One. Two things he depicts by his kneeling down at the hour of the Mysteries: one, his fall, and one, that he is making payment as a debtor. That fall which was in Paradise he now recalls; and he pleads a judgment with Satan who led astray his father (sc. Adam). He is in dread of him, therefore his face is looking upon the ground till he hears the voice of forgiveness, and then he takes heart.
He waits for the Priest to bring in his words before the Judge; and he (the Priest) restores to him the chart of liberty with the oil and the water.
A sponsor also he brings with him into the court, that he may come in and bear witness to his preparation and his sincerity. With sincerity he protests that he will abide in love of the truth; and his companion becomes surety (saying): ‘Yea, true is the protestation of his soul.’ He becomes as a guide to his words and his actions; and he shews him the conduct of spiritual life. He calls (or reads) his name, and presents him before the guards (i.e. the Priests), that they may name him heir, and son, and citizen.
In the books the Priest enters the name of the lost one, and he brings it in and places it in the archives of the King’s books. He makes him to stand as a sheep in the door of the sheep-fold; and he signs his body and lets him mix with the flock. The sign of the oil he holds in his hand, before the beholders; and with manifest things he proclaims the power of things hidden. And as by a symbol he shews to the eyes of the bodily senses the secret power that is hidden in the visible sign.
O thou dust-born, that signest the flock with the sign of its Lord, and sealest upon it His hidden Name by the outward mark! Ah, dust-born, that holds the Spirit on the tip of his tongue, and cuts away the iniquity of soul and body with the word of his mouth! Ah, mortal, in whose mouth is set a mighty spring, and who gives to drink life immortal to the sons of his race! Ah, pauper, son of paupers, that is grown rich on a sudden, and has begun to distribute the wealth of the Spirit which his fathers had not! Ah, dust-born, whose dust bears witness to his vileness, who has received power to create himself (as) a new creation! A new creation the Good One taught the sons of his house, that they might restore the handiwork of His creation. The iniquity of men had cast down the high edifice which His hands had made; and He gave authority to men to build it again. He saw His work, that it was grown old and worn out in mortality, and he contrived for it a remedy of life immortal. He saw that the walls of His house were tottering through weakness; and He laid its foundations in the deep of the waters and made them firm. With feeble waters He was pleased to confirm feeble bodies; and with the power of the Spirit He would strengthen the wavering faculties (of the soul). The furnace of the waters His purpose prepared mystically; and instead of fire He has heated it with the Spirit of the power of His will. His own handiwork He made a craftsman over His creation, that it should re-cast itself in the furnace of the waters and the heat of the Spirit. Come, ye mortals, see a marvel (wrought) in mortal man, who dies and lives again by the mediation of its working. Come, let us examine the Mystery of our dying in the midst of the waters; and let us look upon the wonder that is mystically achieved in us. Come, let us draw nigh to the treasurers of the Church’s treasures, and let us hear from them how they give life by the water. Let us enter with them the mystical Holy of Holies, and let us learn from them the explanation of the mysteries of death and life. Death and life is the Mystery of Baptism; and two things in one are performed therein by the hand of the Priesthood. By the hand of the Priesthood the Creator has been pleased to reveal His power; and to it He has entrusted the great riches of His sweetness. The Priests He has established as stewards over His possessions, that as trusty officers (or Sharrirs) they may distribute wealth to the sons of His house. To them He gave the signet of the name of the incomprehensible Divinity, that they might be stamping men with the Holy Name. The stamp of His name they lay upon His flock continually; and with the Trinity men are signing men.
The iron of the oil the Priest holds on the tip of his fingers; and he signs the body and the senses of the soul with its sharp (edge). The son of mortals whets the oil with the words of his mouth; and he makes it sharp as iron to cut off iniquity. The three names he recites in order, one after the other; and in triple wise (i.e. with the three names) he completes and performs the Mystery of our redemption. Ah, weak one, how great is the wonder that is administered by thee! And the mouth is too little to say how great is the power of its significance. Ah, lowly one, how greatly is thy feebleness exalted! and the mind cannot ascend with thee whither thou hast arrived. Ah, man it is to the Priest that I have said what I have said how great is the authority given to thee, that hast (the power) to be giving life! Life does the Priest give to his fellows by his ministry; and he treads out a way for his fellow-servants towards the things that are to come. The office of a mouth he fulfils for (mental) faculties and (bodily) members; and on behalf of all he pronounces the words of forgiveness of iniquity. Oil and water he lays first as a foundation, and by his words he completes (and) builds the name of the Divinity. With liquid oil and weak water he re-casts the body; and instead of clay he changes (and) makes (it) pure gold. Who would not marvel at the power our poverty has acquired, that it should enrich itself from the gift incomprehensible? As a treasure-keeper the Priest stands at the door of the Sanctuary; and he applies the keys of the word of his mouth, and opens up life.
The three names he casts upon the oil, and consecrates it, that it may be sanctifying the uncleanness of men by its Holiness. With the name hidden in it he signs the visible body; and the sharp power of the name enters even unto the soul. Ah, marvel, which a man performs by that (power) which is not his own; signing the feeble bodies so that the inward (parts) feel the pain. The office of a physician, too, he exercises towards the members; touching the exterior and causing pain (or sensation) to reach unto the hidden parts. To body and soul he applies the remedies of his art; and the open and hidden (disease) he heals by the divine power. Divinely healing, for he mixes the drug that is given into his hands; and all diseases he heals by its power without fail. As a (drug-)shop he has opened the door of the Holy Temple; and he tends the sicknesses and binds up the diseases of his fellow-servants. With the external sign he touches the hidden diseases that are within; and then he lays on the drug of the Spirit with the symbol of the water. With the open voice he preaches its hidden powers; and with his tongue he distributes hidden wealth. The words he makes to sound in the ears of the flock while he is signing it; and it hearkens with love to the three names when they are proclaimed. With the name of the Father and of the Son and the Spirit he seals his words; and he confirms him that is being baptized with their names. The three names he traces upon his face as a shield; that the tyrant may see the image of the Divinity on the head of a man. The cause of the signing on the forehead is (that it may be) for the confusion of the devils; that when they discern (it) on the head of a man they may be overcome by him (or it). On account of these (the devils) are performed the mysteries of the oil and water, that they may be an armour against their warfare and attacks. An armour is the oil with which the earth-born are anointed, that they may not be captured by the (evil) spirits in the hidden warfare. It is the great brand of the King of Kings with which they are stamped, that they may serve (as soldiers) in the spiritual contest. On their forehead they receive the spiritual stamp, that it may be bright before Angels and men. Like brave soldiers they stand at the King’s door, and the Priest at their head like a general at the head of his army. He sets their ranks as if for battle at the hour of the mysteries, that they may be casting sharp arrows at the foe. The arrows of words he fixes (as on a bowstring, and) sets in the midst of their mouths, that they may be aiming against the Evil One who made them slaves. A mark he sets before their eyes for them to aim at; and as They enter into an examination at the beginning of the warfare to which they have been summoned, being tested by the confession of their minds. In truth the Priest stands at the head of their ranks, and shews them the mark of truth that they may aim aright. They renounce the standard of the Evil One, and his power and his Angels; and then he (the Priest) traces the standard of the King on their forehead. They confess and they renounce the two in one, without doubting (making) a renunciation of the Evil One, and a confession of the heart in the name of the Divinity. By the hand of the Priesthood they make a covenant with the Divinity, that they will not again return to Satan by their doings. They give to the Priest a promise by the words of their minds; and he brings it in, and reads (it) before the good-pleasure of God. The chart which is the door of the royal house he holds in his hands; and from the palace he has (received) authority to inscribe (the names of) men.
He calls the King’s servants by their names and causes them to stand (forth); and he makes them to pass one by one, and marks their faces with the brand of the oil. By the voice of his utterances he proclaims the power that is hidden in his words, (and declares) whose they are, and whose name it is with which they are branded: ‘Such a one,’ he says, ‘is the servant of the King of (all) Kings that are on high and below; and with His name he is branded that he may serve (as a soldier) according to His will.’ The name of the Divinity he mixes in his hands with the oil; and he signs and says ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ and ‘Holy Spirit.’ ‘Such a one,’ he says, ‘is signed with the three names that are equal, and there is no distinction of elder or younger between One and Another.’
The Priest does not say ‘I sign,’ but ‘is signed’; for the stamp that he sets is not his, but his Lord’s. He is (but) the mediator who has been chosen by a favour to minister; and because it is not his it drives out iniquity and gives the Spirit. By the visible oil he shews the power that is in the names, which is able to confirm the feebleness of men with hidden (powers). The three names he recites, together with (the rubbing of) the oil upon the whole man; that hostile demons and vexing passions may not harm him. It is not by the oil that he keeps men from harms: it is the power of the Divinity that bestows power upon (its) feebleness. The oil is a symbol which proclaims the divine power; and by outward things He (God) gives assurance of His works (done) in secret. By His power body and soul acquire power; and they no more dread the injuries of death. As athletes they descend (and) stand in the arena, and they close in battle with the cowardly suggestions that are in them. This power the oil of anointing imparts: not the oil, but the Spirit that gives it power. The Spirit gives power to the unction of the feeble oil, and it waxes firm by the operation that is administered in it. By its firmness it makes firm the body and the faculties of the soul, and they go forth confidently to wage war against the Evil One. The sign of His name the devils see upon a man; and they recoil from him in whose name they see the Name of honour. The name of the Divinity looks out from the sign on the forehead; and the eyes of the crafty ones are ashamed to look upon it.
The second Sun has shone from on high on the head of man; and with His beams He drives away error, the second darkness. Come O man, praise and magnify Him that has honoured thee, who has made thy body a second sun by His gift. Come, debtor, pay (the debt of) praise to Him that has set thee free; for He has redeemed thee and set thee free from the slavery of the Evil One and Death. Come, O mortal, give glory to the power of the Divinity, who has set in thee power to sow life in thy mortality. Cry out with all mouths, O race of Adam the earth-born, to Him who has lifted thee up from the dust to His own greatness.
Homily XXI (C). On The Mysteries of The Church And On Baptism
Our Lord has opened up for us the sweet spring of Baptism, and has given our race to drink of the sweetness of life immortal. By the heat of iniquity our mind was withered, and its fruits had dropped off; and He sprinkled His gift as dew and watered our soul. The grievous thirst of death had slain our body; and He buried it in the water, and life teemed in its mortality. The rust of passions had defaced the beauty of our excellence; and He turned again and painted us in spiritual colours which may not be effaced. Cunningly He mixed the colours for the renewal of our race, with oil and water and the invincible power of the Spirit. A new art the Chief Artist put forth; that men should be depicting men without draftsmanship. An invention that had not been the divine rod discovered, that without seed man should beget (children) from the midst of the water. Where ever had the like been done or achieved that the bosom of the waters should bring forth without wedlock? Who ever heard that kind should bring forth that which was not its kind, as now a senseless nature (brings forth) the rational? Even though the waters brought forth creeping things and birds: that water has brought forth man has never been heard. This is a wonder, and, as we may say, full of astonishment, that the womb of the water should conceive and bring forth babes full grown. It is altogether a new thing, and great is the lesson given therein, that within an hour should be accomplished the period of conception and birth. Outside the order that is set in nature does its order proceed; and it is not trammelled with a growth that is gradual.
Come, O hearer, listen to the wonder of the new birth, the conception whereof and the bringing forth are accomplished in one hour. Come, O beholder, look upon the painter that paints babes: and while yet the word lingers in the mouth (the birth) has come forth from the womb. Come, thou that art prudent, and discern and mark well the power of the Divinity that bestows strength on things feeble. Come, ye mortals, and look upon a nature full of mortality that puts off its passions in Baptism and puts on life. Come, let us examine exactly the Mystery of our renewal; and let us learn concerning the power that is hidden in the visible waters. Come, let us draw near to the Priesthood, the salt of the earth; and let us see how it seasons man with things spiritual. Let us enter with it (the Priesthood) whither it is entering to make atonement; and let us bend our mind and hearken to the voice that speaks with it. Let us hearken how the power of the Spirit speaks with it and teaches it to bestow power upon common water. With it a hidden intimation is interpreting the hidden mysteries, and expounding them openly with the voice before the hearers. The workmanship of the new birth it performs before it (the Priesthood), and shews it how to depict a spiritual image.
The Priest is like a pen to the hidden Power; and in Its hands he writes the three names over the water. Writer, that writes the Spirit upon a weak tablet, and the ink of his words is not effaced by the liquid waters! How great is thine art, mortal, and no man knows how to examine it for its greatness. How slender is the pen of thy mind to depict the mysteries! And (yet) there is no painter that is able to copy thy drawings. Thou Priest, that doest the Priest’s office on earth in a manner spiritual, and the spirits may not imitate thee! Thou Priest, how great is the order that thou administerest, of which the ministers of fire and spirit stand in awe! Who is sufficient to say how great is thine order, that hast suppressed the Heavenly (beings) by the title of thine authority? The nature of a spirit is more subtle and glorified than thou; yet it is not permitted to it to depict mysteries like as it is to thee. An Angel is great, and we should say he is greater than thou, yet when he is compared with thy ministry he is less than thou. Holy is the Seraph, and beauteous the cherub, and swift the Watcher: yet they cannot run with the fleetness of the word of thy mouth. Glorious is Gabriel, and mighty is Michael, as their name testifies: yet every moment they are bowed down under the Mystery which is delivered into thy hand. On thee they are intent when thou drawest near to minister, and for thee they wait, that thou wouldst open the door for their Holies. With voices fraught with praise they stand at thy right hand; and when thou hast celebrated the Mysteries of thy redemption they cry out with praise. With love they bow beneath the Will that is concealed in thy mysteries; and they give honour to thee for the office that is administered by thee. And if spiritual impassible beings honour thine office, who will not weave a garland of praises for the greatness of thine order? Let us marvel every moment at the exceeding greatness of thine order, which has bowed down the height and the depth under its authority. The Priests of the Church have grasped authority in the height and the depth; and they give commands to Heavenly and earthly beings. They stand as mediators between God and man, and with their words they drive out iniquity from mankind. The key of the divine mercies is placed in their hands, and according to their pleasure they distribute life to men. The hidden Power has strengthened them to perform this, that by things manifest they may shew His love to the work of His hands. He shewed His love by the Mystery which He delivered to them of earth, that men to men might be shewing mercy by His gift. The power of His gift He delivered into the hand of the Priests of the Church, that by it they might strengthen the feebleness of men who were in debt by sin. The debt of mankind the Priest pays by means of his ministry; and the written bond of his race he washes out with the water and renews it (sc. his race). As in a furnace he re-casts bodies in Baptism; and as in a fire he consumes the weeds of mortality. The drug of the Spirit he casts into the water, as into a furnace; and he purifies the image of men from uncleanness. By the heat of the Spirit he purges the rust of body and soul; and instead of clay they acquire the hue of Heavenly beings. The vat of water he prepares, he sets, in the likeness of a furnace; and then he draws near and reveals the power of his art. With fair garments he covers his body outwardly, and the raiment of the Spirit adorns his soul within. Completely adorned he stands before the beholders, that by his adornment he may reveal to men concerning the things that are about to be (done). He becomes as a mirror to the eyes of his fellow-servants, that they may look upon him and conceive the hope of being glorified. A mark he sets before their eyes by the garments that are upon him, that they may be aiming to be adorned spiritually. This he teaches by the adornment that is upon his limbs: that the Mystery which is (administered) by his hands clothes with glory him that approaches it. In his hands is placed the treasure of life that is concealed in the water; and unless he draw near and distribute it, it is not given. He holds out the key of his word (and) opens the door of the gift; and by (his) word he distributes presents to the King’s servants. He also stands as it were by the sea, after the likeness of Moses; and instead of a rod he lifts up his word over the dumb (elements). With the word of his mouth he strikes the waters, like the son of Amram; and they hearken to his voice more than to the voice of the son of the Hebrews. They hearkened to Moses, yet when they hearkened to him they were not sanctified. To the Priest of the Church they are obedient and acquire sanctification. The Israelite did but divide the sea: the iniquity of his people he did not suffice to cleanse by the power of his miracle. To the Priest that great (miracle) belongs and there is naught to compare with it in the things that have come about which gives the power of forgiving iniquity to senseless things. His gaze is lifted up to that God which created the creation; and from it he learns how to create a new creation. He also imitates the fashion (of Him) that brought into being the world; and he makes a voice to be heard like unto that which cried out in the world in the beginning. Like the Creator he also commands the common water, and instead of light there dawns from it the power of life. The voice of the Creator created the luminaries from nothing; and he from something creates something by the power of the Creator. Not his own is the creation which he creates in the bosom of the water; but it belongs to the God (of Him) that created creation out of nothing. That Command which ‘said, and there were made’ things rational and senseless: the same commands by him, and men become a new being. That word which the waters heard, and brought forth creeping things: the same they hear from the mouth of the Priest, and bring forth men. Greater is the fruit they bring forth now than that (former), by how much rational man is of more account than dumb things. As a seed he casts his word into the bosom of the waters; and they conceive and bring forth a new, unwonted birth. With words of spirit his mouth converses with the dumb (elements), and they receive power to give life to that which is rational. The dumb (elements) hear a new utterance from rational beings, like that utterance which Mary heard from Gabriel. He (the Priest) also causes a goodly gospel to fall upon the ears of men, like to that hope which the Watcher preached at the birth of the Son. In his office he fills the place of the Watcher: and better than the Watcher; for he gives hope to them that are without hope by the voice of his words. Betwixt the Divinity and men he stands as mediator, and by his words he ratifies the condition of each party. With anguish he entreats the Hidden One who is hidden, but revealed by His love and the power from Him comes down unto him and gives effect to his words.
With the name of the Divinity, the three Names, he consecrates the water, that it may suffice to accomplish the cleansing of the defiled. The defilement of men he cleanses with water: yet not by the water, but by the power of the name of the Divinity which there lights down. The power of the Divinity dwells in the visible waters, and by the force of His power they dissolve the might of the Evil One and of Death. The Evil One and Death are undone by Baptism; and the resurrection of the body and the redemption of the soul are preached therein. In it, as in a tomb, body and soul are buried, and they die and live (again) with a type of the resurrection that is to be at the end. It (Baptism) fills for men the office of the grave mystically; and the voice of the Priesthood (is) as the voice of the trump in the latter end.
In the grave of the water the Priest buries the whole man; and he resuscitates him by the power of life that is hidden in his words. In the door of the tomb of Baptism he stands equipped, and he performs there a Mystery of death and of the resurrection. With the voice openly he preaches the power of what he is doing how it is that a man dies in the water, and turns and lives again. He reveals and shews to him that is being baptized in whose name it is that he is to die and swiftly come to life.
Of the name of the Divinity he makes mention, and he says three times: ‘Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one equality.’ The names he repeats with the voice openly, and thus he says: ‘Such a one is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit.’ And he does not say ‘I baptize,’ but ‘is baptized’; for it is not he that baptizes, but the power that is set in the names. The names give forgiveness of iniquity, not a man; and they sow new life in mortality. In their name he that is baptized is baptized (and buried) as in a tomb; and they call and raise him up from his death.
Three times he bows his head at Their names, that he may learn the relation that while They are One They are Three. With a Mystery of our Redeemer he goes into the bosom of the font (lit. ‘of baptism’) after the manner of those three days in the midst of the tomb. Three days was our Redeemer with the dead: so also he that is baptized: the three times are three days. He verily dies by a symbol of that death which the Quickener of all died; and he surely lives with a type of the life without end. Sin and death he puts off and casts away in Baptism, after the manner of those garments which our Lord departing left in the tomb.
As a babe from the midst of the womb he looks forth from the water; and instead of garments the Priest receives and embraces him. He resembles a babe when he is lifted up from the midst of the water; and as a babe everyone embraces and kisses him. Instead of swaddling-clothes they cast garments upon his limbs, and adorn him as a bridegroom on the day of the marriage-supper. He also fulfils a sort of marriage-supper in Baptism; and by his adornment he depicts the glory that is prepared for him. By the beauty of his garments he proclaims the beauty that is to be: here is a type, but there the verity which is not simulated. To the Kingdom of the height which is not dissolved he is summoned and called; and the type depicts beforehand and proclaims its truth. With a type of that glory which is incorruptible he puts on the garments, that he may imitate mystically the things to be. Mystically he dies and is raised and is adorned; mystically he imitates the life immortal. His birth (in Baptism) is a symbol of that birth which is to be at the end, and the conduct of his life of that conversation which is (to be) in the Kingdom on high.
In the way of spiritual life he begins to travel; and, like the spiritual beings, he lives by spiritual food. His mystical birth takes place in a manner spiritual; and according to his birth is the nourishment also that is prepared for him. New is his birth, and exceeding strange to them of earth; and there is no measure to the greatness of the food with which he is nourished. As milk he sucks the divine mysteries, and by degrees they lead him, as a child, to the things to come. A spiritual mother (sc. the Church) prepares spiritual milk for his life; and instead of the breasts she puts into his mouth the Body and Blood. With the Body and Blood the Church keeps alive the sons of her womb; and she reminds them of the great love of her betrothal. Her betrothed gave her His Body and His Blood as a pledge of life, that she might have power to give life from her life. He expounded to her that by the food of His Body He quickens her children, through the parables which beforehand He composed symbolically. He styled the Sacrifice of His Body the fatted ox; which He sometime sacrificed on the day of the return of one of her children. That which is written in the story of the erring one (sc. the Prodigal) has been fulfilled in her children; for His love has gone forth and received them in Baptism. With love and mercy He has gone forth to meet them, and received and embraced them as dead men returned to life. The force of His parables He has explained and revealed before their eyes; and He has made them to rejoice with spiritual meat and drink. He has given as a pledge the ring of which the power of the Spirit spoke; and He has clothed them with the glorious robe of Baptism. He Sacrificed Himself who was fatted spiritually; and He has made them to eat food in the eating whereof life is hidden. He has shod them with the goodly race of the conduct of life, that they should not stumble in the treacherous path of mortality. He has summoned and called the Heavenly ones on the day of their (men’s) renewing, and has made them (the Angels) to rejoice that were sorrowing over their offences. The womb of the waters has brought them forth spiritually; and the power of His grace has filled up and made good their needs. Watchers and men are glad, yea, are glad, at their repentance: that the words of the parables have been joined to performance. Heaven and earth are rejoiced that they have returned to their Father, and have recovered the plot of their possessions of which they had been plundered. The devils had wickedly plundered the inheritance of men; and there arose one Man, and He pleaded the cause and convicted them. Just judgment He pleaded with the deceitful ones, and snatched from them the spoil which they had robbed from the house of His Father. By Adam did the Deceiver, who sows error in the world, lead (men) astray; and a Son of Adam was jealous and avenged the wrong of all His race. Great jealousy did He put on in wrath for the sake of His fathers; and He consented to die, that they should not be styled slaves of the evil ones. As an athlete He went down to the contest on behalf of His people; and He joined battle with Satan, and vanquished and conquered him. On the summit of Golgotha He fought with the slayer of men, and He made him a laughing-stock before Angels and men. With the spear of the wood He overthrew him, and cast him down from his confidence: with that whereby he had hoped that death should enter in he was smitten and pierced. Over the death of men the arrogant-minded was boasting; and by the death of one Man his boasting came to naught. One Man died on the cross on behalf of mortals: and He taught them to travel by the way of His death and His life. His death and His life men depict in Baptism; and after they have died with Him they have risen and have been resuscitated mystically. In the new way of the resurrection of the dead they travel with Him; and they imitate upon earth the conduct of the Heavenly beings. By the food of His Body they drive out death from their bodies; and with His living Blood they give their minds to drink of life. Body and soul they nourish with the food of His Body and His Blood; and Satan and Death they conquer by the power of His gift. By the power of His gift they have washed and been sanctified from their debts, and have gained power to fight against passions. They that were clothed with passions have put on hidden power from the water; and they have begun to defy the foe, that they may trample upon his power. As athletes they have gone up from the vat of Baptism; and Watchers, and men have received them lovingly. The tidings of their victory earthly and Heavenly beings have shouted; and the devils have heard and trembled and been dismayed at the new voice. The height and the depth have woven garlands for them by the hands of men; for they have seen that they have conquered (in) the great battle with the strong one. Gifts, high above their labours, they have received from the King; and gloriously has He honoured them beyond (their) power. In the midst of His secret palace He has made them to recline; and the table of life immortal He has set before them. A beauteous bride-chamber He has fitted on earth for a type of that which is above, that they may delight therein mystically unto the end. A Sanctuary He has built Him wherein they may sanctify His Holy Name, until they are lifted up to the Holy of Holies that is hidden in the height. Priests He has chosen for it that they may minister therein Holily, and instead of Sacrifices offer the Sacrifice of the Mystery of His Son. The Mystery of His Son they offer every hour before His good-pleasure; and by it they atone for the iniquity of men who call upon His name. The silver of His word He has placed in their hands by way of inducement, that they may trade withal (and gain) possessions of spiritual life. Men are re-casting men as in a furnace, and purging from them the hateful alloy of hateful wickedness. A beauteous colour they acquire on a sudden from the midst of the water; and more than the sun burns the light of their minds. Beams of light come into the world through the light that is in them, and the world is illumined with the beauteous rays of their conduct. They suck the Spirit after the birth of Baptism; and according to the birth is also the nourishment that is high and exalted. Like young birds they lift up the wings of their conduct, and enter and rest in the fair nest of the Holy Church.
As an eagle the Priest hovers before them, and prepares the food of perfect age for them to be nourished withal. The living Sacrifice he prepares, he sets before their eyes; and he summons them to examine it with affection of soul. A dread Mystery he begins to depict spiritually; and he mixes his words as paints before the beholders. With the pen of his word he draws an image of the Crucified King; and as with the finger he points out His passion, also His exaltation. Death and life his voice proclaims in the ears of the people; and forgiveness of iniquity he distributes, he gives, in the Bread and the Wine. A Mystery of death he shews first to mortal man; and then he reveals the power of life that is hidden in his words.
As for one dead he strews a bed with the sacred vessels; and he brings up, he sets thereon the bread and wine as a corpse. The burial day of the King he transacts mystically; and he sets soldiers on guard by a representation. Two Deacons he places like a rank (of soldiers), on this side and on that, that they may be guarding the dread Mystery of the King of Kings. Awe and love lie upon the faculties of their minds while they look intently upon the bread and wine, as upon the King. With bright apparel they are clothed exteriorly upon their bodies; and by their garments they shew the beauty of their minds. By their stoles they depict a sign of the Heavenly beings that were clothed in beauteous garments at the Temple of the tomb. Two Angels the disciples saw in the tomb of our Lord, who were attending the place of His body as though it were His body (itself). And if spiritual beings in fear honoured the place of His body, how much more should corporeal beings honour the Mystery that has honoured them? After the manner of the two Watchers the two Deacons are standing now to hover over the Mysteries.
The Priest fills the place of a mouth for all mouths; and as a mediator his voice interprets in secret. He calls upon the Hidden One to send him hidden power, that he may give power in the bread and wine to give life. He turns the gaze of all minds towards that which is hidden, that they may be looking upon secret things by means of things visible.
’Let your minds be aloft,’ he cries and says to them of earth.
And they answer: ‘Unto Thee, Lord, who art hidden in the height.’
He recites and says what is the cause of the gazing aloft, and why he calls men to take part with him. ‘Look’, he says, ‘O men, upon the offering of the Sacrifice which is for you, which the Divinity accepts with love on behalf of your lives. Look steadfastly upon the bread and wine that are upon the table, which the power of the Spirit changes into the Body and Blood. See the outward things with the outward senses of your members, and depict things hidden by the hidden faculties of your minds. Recall your deaths by the sign that is full of death and life, and praise and magnify Him that sets power in things feeble.’
As with a signet they seal his words with their voices: ‘Meet and right and becoming and Holy is the Sacrifice of our life’.
As (with) a pen he writes the words with the tip of his tongue; and they subscribe with the saying: ‘Yea, they are true.’ They bear witness to the words (uttered) on their behalf; and with Amen for a signet they seal the Mystery of their life. The deed of confession he inscribes, writes, with his words; and they become sureties (saying): ‘Yea, we will pay the debt of praise.’ With the voice openly they pay (the debt of) praise that is (recorded) in his writing; and he carries it to the Divine good-pleasure. With the oblation the Priest sends up the prayer of the people, and he sanctifies it (sc. the people) by the participation of the living Mystery. With great earnestness he prays for himself and for all men, that his word may be an acceptable Sacrifice before the Most High.
He imitates the spiritual beings by his words while he is making supplication; and Holily he teaches the people to cry ‘Holy.’ The utterance of sanctification of the Heavenly beings he recites to men, that they may be crying: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord.’
That saying which the Seraphim cried three times the same he utters in the ears of the people at the hour of the Mysteries. Like Isaiah he also is in anguish when he utters it, remembering how greatly the vileness of men has been advanced. The meaning of that which the Prophet saw mystically he (now) discerns in the reality by faith. A coal of fire Isaiah saw coming towards him, which the Seraph of fire held in a hand of fire. It touched his mouth though in truth it did not touch it and blotted out the iniquity of his body and his soul in truth. It was not a sensible vision that the seer saw; nor did the spiritual one bring towards him a material coal. An intimation he saw in the coal of the Mystery of the Body and Blood which, like fire, consumes the iniquity of mortal man. The power of that Mystery which the Prophet saw the Priest interprets; and as with a tongs he holds fire in his hand with the bread. He fills the place of the Seraph in regard of the people even as (the Seraph was) in regard of Isaiah and by his actions he blots out iniquity and gives life. The Seraph of spirit did not hold in his hand the vision of spirit; and this is a marvel that a hand of flesh holds the Spirit. The swift-winged did not suffice to bring the food into the belly: and the gross of body stretches forth his hand even unto the faculties (of the soul).
Body and soul he nourishes with the food of power of the Mystery; and from (being) mortal he makes men immortal. His voice does away the authority of Death from mortals; and the dominion of the Evil One it looses (and) removes from mankind. With food the Evil One slew us in the beginning and made us slaves; and by food the Creator has now willed to quicken us. By the hand that plucked the fruit in Eden wickedly by the same He has reached out to us the fruit of life wisely. In Adam He cursed us and gave us for food to gluttonous Death; and by a Son of Adam He has opened to us the spring of His sweetness. In our very nature He performed His will and shewed His love, that that saying in which He called us His image might be confirmed for us. To us He gave to set the Pledge of life in our mortality; that according to our will we might minister to ourselves by the power of His will. By the power of His will the Priest distributes life in the Bread, and drives out iniquity and makes the Spirit to dwell in the midst of the members (of the body). The power of the Spirit comes down unto a mortal man, and dwells in the bread and consecrates it by the might of His power. O marvel, that, whereas He is the Spirit with which everything is filled, until the earth-born commands He does not approach! O gift, which, though given from the beginning, is not received until a son of dust makes entreaty! He is the Spirit, with all and in all, in the height and the depth: and He is hidden and concealed, and the Priest points Him out by his words.
To the height above he spreads out his hands with his mind; and he summons Him to come down and perform the request of his soul. Not in (His) nature does the Spirit, who does not move about, come down: it is the power from Him that comes down and works and accomplishes all. His power lights down upon the visible table, and bestows power upon the bread and wine to give life. His power strengthens the hand of the Priest that it may take hold of His power; and feeble flesh is not burned up by His blaze.
A corporeal being takes hold with his hands of the Spirit in the Bread; and he lifts up his gaze towards the height, and then he breaks it. He breaks the Bread and casts (it) into the Wine, and he signs and says: ‘In the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, an equal nature.’
With the name of the Divinity, three hypostases, he completes his words; and as one dead he raises the Mystery, as a symbol of the verity. In verity did the Lord of the Mystery rise from the midst of the tomb; and without doubt the Mystery acquires the power of life. On a sudden the bread and wine acquire new life; and forgiveness of iniquity they give on a sudden to them that receive them. He (the Priest) makes the Bread and Wine one by participation, forasmuch as the blood mingles with the body in all the senses (of man). Wine and water he casts into the cup before he consecrates, forasmuch as water also is mingled with the blood in things created.
With these (elements) the Priest celebrates the perfect mysteries; then he makes (his) voice heard, full of love and mercy. Love and mercy are hidden in the voice of the word of his mouth; that the creature may call the Creator his Father. In the way of his voice run the voices of them that are become obedient, while they are made ready to call the hidden Divinity ‘Our Father.’
O Incomprehensible gift to men! Who have received for naught the name (of Him) for whose name the world is not sufficient. ‘Our Father,’ the sons of dust call the Fashioner of all, while they ask of Him Holiness and the Kingdom of the height. May Thy Holy name be hallowed in us, O Maker of all; and may the pledge of life without end be made sure to us. They ask at once for sanctification, and the help of the Spirit, and the will of the Hidden One, and the daily ration, and forgiveness of iniquity. By their petitions they shew the love of their minds how greatly they desire to be partakers of the things that are to come.
With the voice of praise they seal the words of the completion of the Mysteries; and they render Holiness to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: ‘Holy is the Father, and Holy is His Begotten, and the Spirit who is from Him (sc. the Father); and to them is due Holiness and praise from all mouths.’
After the utterance of sanctification and the rendering of praise they stretch the gaze of their minds towards the Gift. With their senses and mental faculties together they are eager to approach to the Bread and Wine in the midst of which is hidden forgiveness of iniquity. By faith they acquire power to see things hidden; and, as it were the King, they bear in triumph the Sacrament in the midst of their palms. They hold it sure that the Body of the King dwells in the visible bread; and in it the resurrection of the dead is preached to him that eats of it.
‘The Body,’ says the Priest also when he gives it; and ‘the Blood’ he calls the mingled Wine in the midst of the cup. He gives the Bread, and says: ‘The Body of King Messiah’ (or ‘of Christ the King’); and he gives to drink the Wine, and in like manner (he says): ‘The Blood of Christ.’
He believes that the Bread and the Wine are the Body and the Blood; and exceeding sure is it to giver and receivers. Forgiveness of iniquity and the resurrection of the dead he preaches with it; and, though they are not apparent, to faith they are exceeding manifest. Faith shews to the soul the hidden vision, and makes her to understand, that she may not doubt on account of the visible things. The bread and wine the eyes of the bodily senses see, and the faculties of the soul (behold) the hidden invincible Power. With the faculties of the soul it is right that we should look upon the Mystery of our redemption, and that we should set faith as a mark before our mind. Let us receive the Bread, and let us affirm that it is able to forgive iniquity; let us drink the Wine, and let us confess that the drinking of it distributes life. Let us honour them as the Body and Blood of the King; that they may conduct us even unto the glorious things that are in the Kingdom. Let us believe that they are able to give life to our mortality; and let us stretch forth our mind to the expectation of the hope that is in them. With the hidden mind let us look in a hidden manner on the visible things; and let us not doubt concerning the renovation that is (wrought) in the things that are manifest. Let the beholder not look upon the bread, nor yet upon the wine, but upon the Power that consecrates the bread and the wine. The bread and the wine are set as a sign before the eyes of the body, that it may take part with the mind in those things that are not apparent. The body cannot with the mind see hidden things, nor can it, like the thoughts, discern things secret. On its account the Gift was given by means of bread, that by outward things it might gain hope toward things hidden. To it and to the soul was promised the enjoyment that is hidden in the Mystery; and for its comfort were the manifest things of food and drink. Lo, by visible things it is accustomed to be comforted from its grief; and, that He might not grieve it, its Lord comforted it with the bread and wine. With bread and wine He prepared for it a mark towards the things to come, that it might be aiming at the renovation that is prepared for it.
Come, ye mortals, let us aim at the mark that is hidden in our Mystery; and let us not relinquish the expectation of the life that is promised. Come, let us have recourse to the power of its spiritual aid, that it may aid us in the warfare of fierce passions. Come, let us be eager to approach it in Holiness; and let us receive from it the medicine that is meet for our bruises. Let us lay it on at all times as a salve to the senses and the faculties (of the soul); that it may drive out from us sloth of body and remissness of soul. It is a goodly medicine which, in His goodness, His power mixes; and there is no hidden or manifest sickness that can resist it. The Physician of the height has mixed (and) given it to them of earth, that by its aid they may heal the diseases of their minds. In faith let us all put it upon our sores, and acquire from it resurrection of body and salvation of soul.
Homily XXXII (D). On the Church and on the Priesthood
A Holy Temple the Creator built for them of earth, that in it they might offer the worship of love spiritually. A Holy Temple and a Holy of Holies He adorned, He fashioned: a Sanctuary on earth and a Holy of Holies in the Heavens above. In the earthly Sanctuary He commanded that (men) should perform the Priestly office mystically; and in the Heavenly also with the same works, without doubt. Two several institutions He made in His incomprehensible wisdom; and He filled them with temporal and everlasting riches. An earthly abode He called the earthly Sanctuary; and a Holy of Holies He called that institution which is hidden in the height. A twofold Sanctuary His love shewed to the sons of His house; and He taught them how to consecrate it mystically. In the Holiness of His name He willed to make the work of His hands participate; that by it they might be sanctified when they sanctify His Holy name. He is not profited by the voices of their sanctifications; for He is the Holy One who by His purity sanctifies the unclean. By means of inducements he incites His own to imitate Him, that He may make them heirs of the glory of His Son. To this end He built a Sanctuary and a Holy of Holies, and urged men to minister therein as Priests on behalf of their lives. To them He granted to forgive the iniquity of their doings; and He gave power to their own free will to justify (men). Them (the Priests) He set as stewards of the treasure that is in their midst, that as much as they would they might increase the riches of righteousness. The will that is in them He made a treasure-keeper of things excellent, that it might enrich itself and its fellow-servants with excellent good things. A treasure of life without end He promised; and He took it up and set it in a place that is hidden from beholders. In secret He shewed it to the hidden will that is hidden in the soul, that it might examine it (sc. the treasure) with the eyes of the mental faculties and see its beauty. The desire of spiritual wealth He cast upon earth, that they of earth should long for it and hate the earth. A new path He shewed them, that they might travel towards Him; and the one Victor who conquered by the Spirit trod it by (His) sufferings. As a guide He set out first in the path of life; and He arrived and came to the end of perfection. He promised the sons of His race that they should be with Him, and that by means of His Mystery they should travel with Him in (the way of) perfection. After His likeness He taught them to perform the Priest’s office; for He (performs it) in Heaven, and they on earth mystically. To them He gave the order that is greater than the order of the Law; and instead of Sacrifices He taught them to Sacrifice love. He perfected the Law by the law of the words of His preaching; and He gave a Priesthood instead of the Priesthood, that He might pardon all. Twelve Priests He chose Him first, according to the number of the tribes; and instead of the People He called all peoples to be His. He gave into their hands the power of the Spirit to conquer all; and they uprooted error and sowed the truth of the name of the Creator. They pardoned iniquity and they cleansed spots by His help; and they taught men to hate the iniquity of their doings. As Priests they performed on earth a Mystery of the institution of the Kingdom of the height; and by things manifest they depicted parables of the things to be. By them was preached the word of life among mortals; and men began to travel in the way of new life. They began to make Priests spiritually, even as they had received from the High Pontiff who consecrated them. After His pattern they made Priests, and were multiplied, after His likeness; and they delivered the order to their disciples, that they might do according to their (the Apostles’) acts.
To this end He gave the Priesthood to the new Priests, that men might be made Priests to forgive iniquity on earth. For the forgiveness of iniquity was the Priesthood (set) among mortals; for mortal man has need every hour of pardon. Evil passions are born in man’s nature; and they are not cleansed without the drug of Holiness. Man is not able to travel in the way without stumbling; and when he stumbles he has need of mercy to heal his iniquity. In body and soul mortals lie sick with diseases of iniquity; and there is need of a physician who understands internal and external diseases. For the cure of hidden and manifest disease the Priesthood was (established), to heal iniquity by a spiritual art. The Priest is a physician for hidden and open (diseases); and it is easy for his art to give health to body and soul. By the drug of the Spirit he purges iniquity from the mind; and men put off the garments of iniquity, and put on truth. With the tip of his lips he treads out (sic) a way towards knowledge; and as with fire he proves the truth and rejects iniquity. ‘He is an Angel of the Lord’ and a minister, as it is written; and by him is performed an agency towards men. As a limb he is chosen from the body of the sons of his race; and as the head he is commanded to direct his fellow-servants. The office of a head he fulfils to the mental faculties and to the limbs; and by him men test iniquity and righteousness. By him they see truth and fraud, as with the eye; and as a mirror he shews an image of virtues. As a tongue he interprets truth before learners; and he makes the force of secret things to shine before the ignorant. Spiritual doctrine is hidden in the midst of his lips; and every moment he sprinkles the dew of mercy on men’s clay. He sows much hope and love and faith; and he reaps as fruits the promised good things incorruptible. He makes the report of the word of life to enter by the outward senses; and the mind hearkens to the voice of (his) pleasant sayings. The mental faculties have need of the sweet savour (of the doctrine) of the resurrection of the dead; and they make the dead body glad with the voice of the resurrection. As a trumpet he (the Priest) cries every hour in the ears of men: ‘Hear, O men, and let not go the promises.’ As a guide he shews the way before travellers: ‘Come, ye mortals, set forth with the escort of the promise of life.’ With his words he sails continually in the sea of mankind; and much he warns every man to guard the riches of his soul. In the ship of the Church he stands and gives warning night and day; and he keeps it from the harms of the wind of evil-doers. He is an exceeding skilful steersman amid the billows; and he knows how to sail to the berth of life without end. With rudders of the Spirit he steers the reasonable ships; and he makes straight their course to the harbour of life that is hidden in the height. In the hope of the things to come he bears his labours; and he fears every moment lest the oil in his lamp should give out. A spiritual talent he has received from his Lord to trade withal; and he owes it to cast the silver of (his) words upon the table of the soul. The art of forgiving iniquity he has learned from the King, that he be not hard in the matter of forgiving his fellow servants. The treasure of the Spirit is delivered into his hands to dispense, and it is his part wisely to provide for his fellows. His Lord has given him reasonable sheep to control, that he may pasture them in the living meadows of spiritual words. The sheep and the lambs and the ewes he has been commanded to tend, and all conditions of men and women and children. The (divine) purpose which called him to itself has set him for the service of men; to uproot error and sow on earth the name of the Creator. ‘Go forth,’ said He, ‘and make disciples and preach and baptise all peoples,’ (teaching them) the one Divinity of the one Creator, three hypostases. The three names he is bound to preach in the ears of men, and to cause them to think upon the name of the Divinity that is hidden from all. For this are Priests set on earth to perform the Priestly office, that men may turn from error to knowledge. By their words men see the light of life; and by their labours they taste the sweet savour of the truth.
He (the Priest) is as a mediator between God and men; and by him spiritual Sacrifices are offered before the Lord of all. By him spiritual wealth is distributed to them of earth; and they get power to be strengthened for the service of the truth. Every hour he opens the door of mercy before the beholders; and he appoints and gives forgiveness of iniquity to the sons of his race. With the waters of the Spirit he casts them, as in a furnace; and he puts off (from them) iniquity, and puts on the garments of righteousness. He calls and entreats the hidden Power to come down unto him and bestow visible power to give life. The waters become fruitful, as a womb; and the power of grace is like the seed that begets life. Body and soul go down together into the bosom of the water and are born again, being sanctified from defilement. O marvel, so great, towards our race! That He (God) should be pleased by sinners to justify sinners. incomprehensible gift of the God of all! Which by paupers has distributed its riches to paupers. O command, so powerful over all that He has made, that it has given authority to the work of His hands to imitate Him! By man’s hand he opened His treasure to men; and they have enriched men from the treasures of His Godhead. The keys of His mercies He gave to them of earth, as to trusted officers (or Sharrirs); and every hour they open by faith the treasury of His mercies. A mortal holds the keys of the height in his lips; and he opens and shuts the doors of the hidden (places) with a tongue of flesh. He buries men in the bosom of the waters, as in a tomb, and brings back and quickens to new life them that were dead in iniquity. By the power of the Creator he buries the dead and quickens the dead; and as from the womb he begets men spiritually.
He causes the spiritual babes to grow by the power of the Spirit; and when they are grown up he holds out the food of perfect age. With the food of the Spirit he nourishes bodily men; and according to the birth is also the food for them that are born. The living Sacrifice he prepares every hour before them that eat (of it); and he mingles for drink the power of life for body and soul. The table of life he prepares, he sets before their eyes; and he depicts a Mystery of life and death with the Bread and the Wine. By visible things he shews the power of things hidden; and men live by the food of the Bread and the drink of the Wine. Bread and wine the outward senses behold; and the hidden faculties (of the mind) acquire power by means of the visible things.
The Priest stands as a tongue to interpret; and his voice preaches death and life to men. In the bread and wine he shews the Body and Blood of the King who died for the sake of all, and lived and gave life to all by His cross. In fear the corporeal being stands to minister; and he asks for mercy upon himself and upon his race, that it may be made worthy of mercy. And he calls to the Spirit to come down to him by the power that is from Him, that he may give power in the bread and wine to give life. In the visible bread and wine life dwells; and they become food for short-lived mortals. With the name of the Divinity three hypostases he seals his words; and he teaches men to cry ‘Holy’ with the spiritual beings.
The people answer after his words: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy Power, hidden from all and revealed to all.’
And he stretches out his hands and breaks the spiritual Bread; and he signs the type of the Body and Blood that died and was raised up.
With his hands he gives the Body of the King to his fellow servants, being strengthened by the power of grace to give life. He gives the Bread and says: ‘The Body of King Messiah’ (or ‘of Christ the King’); and he gives to drink the Wine, and calls it the precious Blood.
O corporeal being, that carries fire and is not scorched! O mortal, who, being mortal, dost distribute life! Who has permitted thee, miserable dust, to take hold of fire? And who has made thee to distribute life, thou son of paupers? Who has taught thee to imprison fire in hands of flesh? And who has expounded to thee the power of the wisdom that is hidden from thee? It is not thine to perform things that are too high for thee; it is the power of the help of the God of all that has raised up thy unworthiness. It is He that has made hidden power to dwell in thee and has strengthened thy faculties; and He by thee has interpreted the power of hidden things in the ears of flesh. By His assistance thou hast gotten the gift to give life; and thou, being earthly, holdest the treasure of spiritual things. The Priest of the Spirit is made a treasure-keeper of the treasury of the Spirit; and things spiritual are set in his hands to distribute.
A mortal holds the keys of the height, as one in authority; and he binds and looses by the word of his mouth, like the Creator. He binds iniquity with the chain of the word of his mouth; and when a man has returned from his iniquity he turns and looses him. The rod of the Creator’s power sets the seal after his words, and binds the wicked and looses the good when they have been justified. It is a great marvel of the great love of the God of all that He has given authority to the work of His hands to imitate Him. His rod alone has authority over all that He has created; and it is His to bind and loose according to His will. As a favour He has given to men the authority of His God, that He may make known His love; how greatly he loves the sons of His house. Wisely He acts when He communicates His own to His own, that by inducements He may urge His own to become His own. With beautiful things He entices men as children, that through His words they may acquire the order that bestows life. By the title of the Priesthood He opened the treasury of His great riches, that every man might receive forgiveness of iniquity through a son of his race. In the Sanctuary of the height He will cause them of earth to rejoice; and He has given the Priesthood as a pledge (for the fulfilment) of His words of promise. The Priests in the earthly Sanctuary imitate by a Mystery that abode; and as a mirror they shew an image of the things to come. They are set as guides in the way (that leads) towards the height, and no man sets out without them to the appointed place that is beyond. They fill the place of light on earth to them that are dark; and as with salt they season them that are without savour. Every hour they lay the reasonable nets of their words, and catch men from death unto life. By them are raised up those that were dead in iniquity, whom error had buried; and in their words they see the light of the resurrection of the dead. By them are judged the dead and the living, in both abodes; and unto their authority is reserved the trial of men and Watchers. They judge spiritual and corporeal beings; and the devils are put to shame by the fair ray of their conduct. And if the ray of their conduct convicts iniquity, how shall men be guiltless who have traversed their words? If the spiritual Angels are judged by them, he will be guilty of a double judgment whoso sets them at naught. A debt of love every man owes to pay them; and on behalf of all men they beg mercy from Him that shews mercy to all. To them let the wages of love be rendered by the hearers; and may they supply the needs of the spiritual life. As fathers let them shew their love towards their children; and in place of bodily members let them nourish the faculties (of the soul) with spiritual food. Shepherds of reasonable sheep they are called by our Lord; and according to (the needs of) the flock, so also is the spiritual nourishment. To them was spoken that word to Simon, that they should pasture the sheep and the reasonable lambs and the ewes. Hear the words of that interrogation, O ye Priests of the Church; and shew the love that Simon shewed to our Saviour. Pasture (your sheep) well according to the command of the Good Shepherd; and tend His flock with the great love that befits His love. See, and examine, how He bought with His blood the flock of men; and on the summit of the cross He wrote and set it free from slavery. See how He suffered from the wrongdoers for the sake of His flock, and despised and made light of all sufferings that it might not perish. He was desirous that His dear friends should imitate His example, and that they should travel in His footsteps in the way of His preaching. A great reward He has promised to him that loves Him, even that he shall be with Him in the enjoyment of life without end. Who then is he whose love is true and his mind wise, and who knows well to govern his fellow-servants? With Amen He swore to such a one as should observe and do these things that He would deliver into his hands all the riches of the Kingdom of the height. And with the reward (promised) to him who should administer well His riches He uttered a threat against the fraudulent who received and acted fraudulently. But if the wicked servant should say, ‘The judgment is far off; his Lord will come and exact at his hands that wherein he has dealt fraudulently.
Come, then, ye servants, bought with the all-precious Blood, hearken to the word of Him who sets free the slavery of our race. Come, and understand the force of the meaning that is hidden in His words, that beside the reward there will also be torment without end. The good He encouraged by naming the reward of future things, and into the rebellious He cast the fear of grievous stripes. Let us fear His words, then, as true; and let us not be slack, lest we be condemned with the guilty. True is His judgment, and the word of His promise will not be broken. Let us not doubt concerning His promises, lest perchance we perish.
It behoves the Priests more than all men to observe these things, even as the order they possess is more excellent than (the condition of) all men. He that knows his Master’s will and does it not is guilty of stripes according to (his) knowledge, because he knew and acted fraudulently. And if he that acts fraudulently does so in defiance, he defrauds himself of the good things that are promised him. To his free will (God) promised the future reward; and he shall be beaten as one who knew, who knew and did wrong. The Priest who sins, great is his condemnation and grievous are his stripes; and according to his order shall be either his torment or else his exaltation.
The greatness of the title and the order of the Priesthood I desired to praise; and anguish goaded me when I saw how it has been degraded by ignorance. I wondered to see the greatness of the glory of those who triumphed; and I was pained and grieved at the disgrace of those who played the coward. By how much their office was greater than all orders, even so is it become immeasurably less than all grades. The treasury of the Spirit He delivered to them to administer, and fools who have not known how to discern the power of its greatness have despised it. The hidden God gave into their hands the keys of the height; and wicked Priests have shut the door before those that would have entered in. It was granted to them to pardon the iniquity of men; and the iniquity of them that should have given pardon has surpassed that of the defiled. Light and salt the High Pontiff called it (the Priesthood) when He gave it; and its light is darkened and its taste has lost its savour in the hand of them that received it. He summoned and called it to give life to mortality; and lo, itself is dead through deeds of abomination. Good seed it received to cast upon the earth; and the labourers have ceased from the service of the word of truth. It went forth to meet the spiritual Bridegroom; and the Priests slept and the light of their lamps was quenched. The oil of mercy failed from the vessels of their deeds; and they received no mercy because they shewed no pity nor forgave mercifully. Foolish virgins He has named them that are without pity, because they have kept the body (chaste) but have not been sanctified from malice. What is he profited who keeps his body in purity, if his mind be not purified from hateful (thoughts)? What is the Priest benefited who has put on the name of Priesthood, if the inward work agree not with the outward name? The title of Priesthood is a great work, and not (a great) authority; and whoso approaches it owes a debt of deeds. Paul teaches how he that desires it should approach: ‘He that is desirous of the Presbytery is desirous of a work’. The Priests have wrested the word of Paul, the chosen vessel, and have desired the authority and hated the labour that bestows life. The title they have loved because of (their) love of things earthly; and they have despised honourable works and prized fraud. Fraud they have honoured more than the truth that has honoured them; and they have gotten lying credit and applause before beholders. They have received the gift that may not be bought with earthly (wealth); and they have received and sold it for the silver of deceit to them that are unworthy. For dead silver they have given the gift that is full of life; and dead men, who have died in sin and have not been pardoned, have received it. They have thrust the staff of spiritual things into the hands of fools, and ignorant men have stood at the head of the flock to direct it.
A stupid shepherd has lifted up his rod over them that are like to himself, and has become the childish-minded head of a childish people. An incompetent man, he has supposed that he is pasturing sheep, and not reasonable beings; and as dumb (animals) he governs them by earthly means. The fool has supposed that he is exercising authority on earth; and he has begun to exact tribute of the flock, as Kings do. Himself knows not what is the import of the title of his authority; nor has his flock gotten understanding, how it may live. A blind man, blind of knowledge, has taken hold of the blind; and they have begun to travel in the way of error without understanding. A fool without knowledge is leading his fellows; and as in the dark he travels in the way of ignorance. That which is written in the prophecy agrees with his case: ‘The Priest becometh ignorant even as the people’. Priest and people are agreed together in what is unseemly; and they have forgotten the way and left the course (that leads) towards justice. Justice also, seeing that they have gone astray to a degree that is unwonted, has sharpened her sword against the iniquity of their doings. The iniquity of Priests and flock she saw and was grieved; and she has shut the door, that Mercy may not entreat her on our behalf. Without the door of Mercy the petition of men is standing; and Mercy is restrained by the curtain of the frown of Justice.
Come, then, O men, let us beg (mercy) for our iniquity whilst yet we live, that we may not be condemned with the everlasting sentence. Come; let us build us a fence of Mercy before Justice: if haply she may be appeased and blot out our iniquity from the midst of her book. Let the Priests be as mediators by their words; and let them offer the contrition of their minds, as it were a bribe. Them it behoves to offer Sacrifices of love, and to make atonement for the iniquity of men and of themselves. To them it is granted to open the door before sinners, like treasure-keepers of the great and boundless treasury. Let them be as a tongue to interpret; and let them make a defence before the Judge who tries iniquity. Let the Priest utter that saying before his flock: ‘Turn, ye sinners, that mercy may heal all your debts.’ The hope of life let him sow every moment in the ears of all men; and let him lay repentance as a drug upon the diseases of the soul. Let him suffer for all and grieve over all discerningly; and let him reckon as his own the griefs of his fellows, like Paul. He has written a note of hand (as surety) for the debts of his race, and he owes it to pay the debt of love to them that have honoured him. Mercy has brought him near to the order that is high above his fellows; and according to his order let him shew the labour that befits his title. His title is as a declaration before men that he is set to perform the Priestly office; and it behoves him to answer to his title by his works. The silver of mercy is committed into his hands to distribute; and if he misuse it he will hear the saying: ‘Thou wicked servant.’ For he also who received the talent and hid it hoped to escape; and the glance of the hidden Judge caught him in the words of his own answer. A wicked servant also his Lord called him, according to his wickedness; because he received for naught, and gave not for naught as he had received. Let the Priests hearken discerningly to that saying, and let them cast the silver of the word of life among their hearers. Let the hearers also receive the seed of their words, that they be not condemned with the fraudulent who received and dealt fraudulently. With love let them hearken to the voice of rebuke that is in their words; and let them not complain when they are beaten for their debts. Let every man receive with good grace the correction of his iniquity, and himself beseech the physician that he will lay a salve upon his sore. The Priest is a physician who heals the diseases that are in the midst of the soul; and it behoves him that is sick in his mind to run to him continually. He knows how to lay the drug of the Spirit upon the thoughts; and he cuts off iniquity with the iron of the divine mercy.
Ye sick of soul, come, draw near to them that have knowledge, and shew the spots of your mind to the hidden glance. Ye that travel in the way, come, and join the company of the wise, and make a prosperous journey to the appointed place of life everlasting.
SECRET SAYINGS OF OUR LORD
These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke, and Didymus Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(1) And he said: He who shall find the interpretation of the words shall not taste of death.
(2) Jesus said: He who seeks, let him not cease seeking until: finds; and when he finds he will be troubled, and if he is troubled, he will be amazed, and he will reign over the All.
(3) Jesus said: If those who lead you say unto you: Behold, the Kingdom is in heaven, then the birds of the heaven will be before you. If they say unto you: It is in the sea, then the fish will be before you. But the Kingdom is within you, and it is outside of you. When you know yourselves, then shall you be known, and you shall know that you are the sons of the living Father. But if ye do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty.
(4) Jesus said: The man aged in his days will not hesitate ask a little child of seven days about the place of life, and he shall live. For there are many first who shall be last, and they shall become a single one.
(5) Jesus said: Know what is before thy face, and what hidden from thee shall be revealed unto thee; for there is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest.
(6) His disciples asked him and said unto him: Wilt thou that we fast? And how shall we pray? Shall we give alms? And what rules shall we observe in eating? Jesus said: Do not lie; and that which you hate, do not do. For all things are revealed before heaven. For there is nothing hidden which shall not be manifest, and there is nothing covered which shall remain without being uncovered.
(7) Jesus said: Blessed is the lion which the man shall eat, and the lion become man; and cursed is the man whom the lion shall eat, and the lion become man.
(8) And he said: Man is like a wise fisherman, who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a large good fish. He threw down all the small fish into the sea; he chose the large fish without trouble. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
(9) Jesus said: Behold, the sower went forth, he filled his hand, he cast. Some fell upon the road; the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on the rock, and sent no root down to the earth nor did they sprout any ear up to heaven. And others fell on the thorns; they choked the seed, and the worm ate them. And others fell on the good earth, and brought forth good fruit unto heaven, some sixty -fold and some an hundred and twenty -fold.
(10) Jesus said: I have cast fire upon the world, and behold I guard it until it is ablaze.
(11) Jesus said: This heaven shall pass away, and that which above it shall pass away; and they that are dead are not alive and they that live shall not die. In the days when you were eating that which is dead, you were making it alive. When you come in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you have become two, what will you do?
(12) The disciples said to Jesus: We know that thou wilt go from us. Who is he who shall be great over us? Jesus said to them: In the place to which you come, you shall go to James the Just for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.
(13) Jesus said to his disciples: Make a comparison to me, and tell me whom I am like. Simon Peter said to him: Thou art like a righteous angel. Matthew said to him: Thou art like a wise man of understanding. Thomas said to him: Master, my mouth will no wise suffer that I say whom thou art like. Jesus said: I am not thy master, because thou hast drunk, thou hast become drunk from the bubbling spring which I have measured out. And he took him, went aside, and spoke to him three words. Now when Thomas came to his companions, they asked him: What did Jesus say unto thee? Thomas said to them: If I tell you one of the words which he said to me, you will take up stones and throw them me; and a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.
(14) Jesus said to them: If you fast, you will beget a sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do an evil to your spirits. And if you go into any land and travel in its regions, if they receive you eat what they set before you. Heal the sick among them. For that which goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which comes forth from your mouth, that is what will defile you.
(15) Jesus said: When you see him who was not born of woman, throw yourselves down upon your face and worship him. He is your Father.
(16) Jesus said: Perhaps men think that I am come to cast peace upon the world, and know not that I am come to cast divisions upon the earth, fire, sword, war. For there shall be five in a house; there shall be three against two, and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father, and they shall stand as solitaries.
(17) Jesus said: I will give you that which eye has not seen, an ear has not heard, and hand has not touched, and which has not entered into the heart of man.
(18) The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us how our end shall be. Jesus said: Have you then discovered the beginning, that you seek after the end? For where the beginning is, there shall the end be. Blessed is he who shall stand in the beginning, and he shall know the end and shall not taste of death.
(19) Jesus said: Blessed is he who was before he came into being. If you become my disciples and hear my words, these stones shall minister unto you. For you have five trees in Paradise which do not move in summer or in winter, and their leaves do not fall. He who knows them shall not taste of death.
(20) The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like. He said to them: It is like a grain of mustard-seed, smaller than all seeds; but when it falls on the earth which is tilled, it puts forth a great branch, and becomes shelter for the birds of heaven.
(21) Mary said to Jesus: Whom are thy disciples like? He said They are like little children dwelling in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say: Yield up to us our field. They are naked before them, to yield it up to them and to give them back their field. Therefore I say: If the master of the house knows that the thief is coming, he will keep watch before he comes, and will not let him dig into his house of his kingdom to carry off his vessels. You, then, be watchful over against the world. Gird up your loins with great strength, that the brigands may not find a way to come at you, since the advantage for which you look they will find. May there be among you a man of understanding! When the fruit was ripe, he came quickly, his sickle in his hand, and reaped it. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
(22) Jesus saw some infants at the breast. He said to his disciples: These little ones at the breast are like those who enter into the kingdom. They said to him: If we then be children, shall we enter the kingdom? Jesus said to them: When you make the two one, and when you make the inside as the outside, and the outside as the inside, and the upper side as the lower; and when you make the male and the female into a single one, that the male be not male and the female female; when you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then shall you enter [the kingdom].
(23) Jesus said: I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one.
(24) His disciples said: Teach us concerning the place where thou art, for it is necessary for us to seek after it. He said to them: He that hath ears, let him hear. There is a light within a man of light, and it gives light to the whole world. If it does not give light, there is darkness.
(25) Jesus said: Love thy brother as thy soul; keep him as the apple of thine eye.
(26) Jesus said: The mote which is in thy brother's eye, thou seest; but the beam which is in thine eye, thou seest not. When thou dost cast out the beam from thine own eye, then wilt thou see to cast out the mote from thy brother's eye.
(27) Jesus said: If you fast not from the world, you will not find the kingdom; if you keep not the Sabbath as Sabbath, you will not see the Father.
(28) Jesus said: I stood in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh. I found them all drunk, I found none among them thirsting; and my soul was afflicted for the sons of men, for they are blind in their heart and they do not see. For empty came they into the world, seeking also to depart empty from the world. But now they are drunk. When they have thrown off their wine, then will they repent.
(29) Jesus said: If the flesh has come into being because of the spirit, it is a marvel; but if the spirit (has come into being) because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels. But as for me, I marvel at this, how this great wealth has settled in this poverty.
(30) Jesus said: Where there are three gods, they are gods; where there are two or one, I am with him.
(31) Jesus said: No prophet is acceptable in his village; a physician does not heal those who know him.
(32) Jesus said: A city that is built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it remain hidden.
(33) Jesus said: What thou shalt hear in thine ear, proclaim to the other ear on your roof-tops. For no man lights a lamp and sets it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place; but he sets it upon the lamp-stand, that all who go in and come out may see its light.
(34) Jesus said: If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall into a pit.
(35) Jesus said: It is not possible for anyone to go into the strong man's house and take it (or him) by force, unless he bind his hands; then he will plunder his house.
(36) Jesus said: Be not anxious from morning to evening and from evening to morning about what you shall put on.
(37) His disciples said: On what day wilt thou be revealed us, and on what day shall we see thee? Jesus said: When you unclothe yourselves and are not ashamed, and take your garments and lay them beneath your feet like little children, and tread upon them, then [shall ye see] the Son of the living One, and ye shall not fear.
(38) Jesus said: Many times have you desired to hear these words which I speak unto you, and you have none other from whom to hear them. Days will come when you will seek after me, and you will not find me.
(39) Jesus said: The Pharisees and the scribes have receive the keys of knowledge; they have hidden them. They did not go in, and those who wanted to go in they did not allow. But you be ye wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
(40) Jesus said: A vine was planted apart from the Father, and since it is not established it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed.
(41) Jesus said: He who has in his hand, to him shall be given; and he who has not, from him shall be taken even the little that he has.
(42) Jesus said: Become passers-by.
(43) His disciples said to him: Who art thou, that thou shouldst say these things to us? Jesus said to them From what I say unto you, you do not understand who I am, but you have become as the Jews; for they love the tree and hate its fruit, and they love the fruit and hate the tree.
(44) Jesus said: He who blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and he who blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven.
(45) Jesus said: They do not gather grapes from thorns, no pluck figs from camel-thistles; they do not yield fruit. A good man brings forth a good thing from his treasure; a bad man bring forth evil things from his evil treasure which is in his heart, and he says evil things; for out of the abundance of his heart he brings forth evil things.
(46) Jesus said: From Adam to John the Baptist there is none born of woman who is higher than John the Baptist, so that his eyes will not be broken (?) But I have said, He who shall be among you as a little one shall know the kingdom, and shall be higher than John.
(47) Jesus said: It is not possible for a man to ride two horses or draw two bows, and it is not possible for a servant to serve two masters; or he will honour the one and insult the other. A man does not drink old wine and immediately desire to drink new wine; and they do not pour new wine into old skins, lest they burst, nor do they pour old wine into new skins, lest it spoil. They do not sew an old patch on a new garment, for a rent will come.
(48) Jesus said: If two make peace with one another in this or house, they shall say to the mountain: Be moved, and it shall be moved.
(49) Jesus said: Blessed are the solitary and the elect, for you shall find the kingdom; for you came forth thence, and shall go there again.
(50) Jesus said: If they say to you: Whence have you come?, tell them: We have come from the light, the place where the light came into being through itself alone. It [stood], and it re- vealed itself in their image. If they say to you: Who are you?, say: We are his sons, and we are the elect of the living Father. If they ask you: What is the sign of your Father in you?, tell them: It is a movement and a rest.
(51) His disciples said to him: On what day will the rest of the dead come into being? And on what day will the new world come? He said to them: That which ye await has come, but ye know it not.
(52) His disciples said to him: Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and they all spoke concerning (lit. in) thee. He said them: You have neglected him who is alive before you, and have spoken about the dead.
(53) His disciples said to him: Is circumcision profitable or not? He said to them: Were it profitable, their father would beget them from their mother circumcised. But the true circum- cision in spirit has proved entirely profitable (lit.: has found usefulness altogether).
(54) Jesus said: Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.
(55) Jesus said: He who shall not hate his father and his mother cannot be my disciple, and (he who does not) hate his brethren and his sisters and take up his cross like me shall not be worthy of me.
(56) Jesus said: He who has known the world has found corpse, and he who has found a corpse, the world is not worthy of him.
(57) Jesus said: The kingdom of the Father is like a man who had [good] seed. His enemy came by night, he sowed a weed among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weed. He said to them: Lest perhaps you go to pull up the weed, and pull up the wheat with it. For on the day of harvest the weeds will be manifest; they will be pulled up and burned.
(58) Jesus said: Blessed is the man who has suffered; he has found the life.
(59) Jesus said: Look upon the living One so long as you live, that you may not die and seek to see him, and be unable to see.
(60) They saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb going into Judaea. He said to his disciples: Why does he carry the lamb? They said to him: That he may kill it and eat it. He said to them: So long as it is alive he will not eat it, but if he kill it and it become a corpse. They said: Otherwise he will not be able to do it. He said to them: You also, seek for yourselves a place within for rest, lest you become a corpse and be eaten.
(61) Jesus said: Two shall rest upon a bed; one shall die, the other live.
Salome said: Who art thou; O man? And whose son? Thou hast mounted my bed, and eaten from my table. Jesus said to her I am he who is from that which is equal; to me was given of the things of my Father. Salome said I am thy disciple. Jesus said to her Therefore I say, when it is equal it will be filled with light, but when it is divided it will be filled with darkness
(62) Jesus said: I tell my mysteries to those [who are worthy of my] mysteries. What thy right hand shall do, let not thy left hand know what it does.
(63) Jesus said: There was a rich man who had many possessions. He said: I will use my possessions that I may sow and reap and plant, and fill my barns with fruit, that I may have need of nothing. These were his thoughts in his heart. And in that night he died. He that hath ears, let him hear.
(64) Jesus said: A man had guests, and when he had prepared the dinner he sent his servant to summon the guests. He came to the first; he said to him: My master summons thee. He said: I have money with some merchants. They are coming to me in the evening. I will go and give them orders. I pray to be excused from he dinner. He went to another; he said to him: My master has summoned thee. He said to him: I have bought a house, and they ask me for a day. I shall not have time. He came to another; he aid to him: My master summons thee. He said to him: My friend is about to be married, and I am to hold a dinner. I shall not be able to come. I pray to be excused from the dinner. He went to another; he said to him: My master summons thee. He said him: I have bought a village; I go to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I pray to be excused. The servant came, he said to his master: Those whom thou didst summon to the dinner have excused themselves. The master said to his servant: Go out to the roads. Bring those whom thou shall find, that they may dine. The buyers and the merchants [shall] not [enter] the places of my Father.
(65) He said: A good man had a vineyard. He gave it to husbandmen that they might work it, and he receive its fruit their hand. He sent his servant, that the husbandmen might give him the fruit of the vineyard. They seized his servant, they beat him, and all but killed him. The servant came (and) told his master. His master said: Perhaps they did not know him. He sent another servant; the husbandmen beat the other also. Then the master sent his son. He said: Perhaps they will reverence my son. Those husbandmen, since they knew that he was the heir the vineyard, they seized him (and) killed him. He that hath ears, let him hear.
(66) Jesus said: Teach me concerning this stone which the builders rejected; it is the corner -stone.
(67) Jesus said: He who knows the All but fails (to know) him-self lacks everything.
(68) Jesus said: Blessed are you when they hate you, and persecute you, and do not find a place in the spot where they persecuted you.
(69) Jesus said: Blessed are they who have been persecuted in their heart; these are they who have known the Father in truth. Blessed are they that hunger, that they may fill the belly him who desires.
(70) Jesus said: When you bring forth that in yourselves, that which you have will save you. If you do not have that in yourselves, that which you do not have in you will kill you.
(71) Jesus said: I will des[troy this] house, and none shall able to build it [again].
(72) [A man said] to him: Speak to my brethren, that they may divide my father's possessions with me. He said to him: O man, who made me a divider? He turned to his disciples (and) said to them: I am not a divider, am I ?
(73) Jesus said: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few; but pray the Lord, that he send forth labourers into the harvest.
(74) He said: Lord, there are many about the well, but no one in the well.
(75) Jesus said: There are many standing at the door, but the solitary are they who shall enter the bridal chamber.
(76) Jesus said: The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant was who had a load (of goods) and found a pearl. That merchant was wise. He sold the load, and bought for himself the pearl alone. You also, seek after his treasure which does not perish but endures, where moth does not enter to devour, nor does worm destroy.
(77) Jesus said: I am the light that is over them all. I am the All; the All has come forth from me, and the All has attained unto me. Cleave a (piece of) wood: I am there. Raise up the stone, an ye shall find me there.
(78) Jesus said: Why came ye forth into the field? To see reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in soft raiment? [Behold, your] kings and your great men are they who are clothed in soft [raiment], and they [shall] not be able to know the truth.
(79) A woman in the crowd said to him: Blessed is the womb which bore thee, and the breasts which nourished thee. He said to her: Blessed are they who have heard the word of the Father and have kept it in truth. For there shall be days when you will say: Blessed is that womb which has not conceived, and those breasts which have not given suck.
(80) Jesus said: He who has known the world has found the body, and he who has found the body, the world is not worthy of him.
(8 I ) Jesus said: He who has become rich, let him become king, and he who has power let him deny.
(82) Jesus said: He who is near to me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.
(83) Jesus said: The images are revealed to the man, and the light which is in them is hidden in the image of the light of the Father. He shall be revealed, and his image is hidden by his light.
(84) Jesus said: When you see your likeness, you rejoice; but when you see your images which came into being before you -- they neither die nor are made manifest -- how much will you bear?
(85) Jesus said: Adam came into being out of a great power and a great wealth, and yet he was not worthy of you. For if he tad been worthy, he would not have tasted of death.
(86) Jesus said: [The foxes have] the[ir holes] and the birds have [theirs nest, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head and rest.
(87) Jesus said: Wretched is the body which depends upon a body, and wretched is the soul which depends on these two.
(88) Jesus said: The angels come to you, and the prophets, and they shall give you what belongs to you; and you also, give the what is in your hands, and say to yourselves: On what day do they come and take what is theirs?
(89) Jesus said: Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that he who made the inside is also he who made the outside?
(90) Jesus said: Come unto me, for easy is my yoke and my lordship is gentle, and you shall find rest for yourselves.
(91) They said to him: Tell us who thou art, that we may believe in thee. He said to them: You test the face of the heaven and the earth, and him who is before you you do not know, and you know not to test this moment.
(92) Jesus said: Seek, and ye shall find; but those things concerning which ye asked me in those days, I did not tell you then. Now I wish to tell them, and ye seek not after them.
(93) Jesus said: Give not that which is holy to the dogs, lest they cast them on the dung- heap; cast not the pearls to the swine lest they grind it [to bits].
(94) Jesus [said]: He who seeks shall find, and he who knock to him it shall be opened.
(95) [Jesus said]: If you have money, do not lend at interest, but give [it] to him from whom you will not receive them back.
(96) Jesus [said]: The kingdom of the Father is like a woman who took a little leaven and [hid] it in meal; she made large loaves of it. He that hath ears, let him hear.
(97) Jesus said: The kingdom of the [Father] is like a woman; carrying a jar full of meal and walking a long way. The handle the jar broke; the meal poured out behind her on the road. She was unaware, she knew not her loss. When she came into her house, she put down the jar (and) found it empty.
(98) Jesus said: The kingdom of the Father is like a man who wanted to kill a great man. He drew the sword in his house and drove it into the wall, that he might know that his hand would be strong. Then he slew the great man.
(99) The disciples said to him: Thy brethren and thy mother are standing outside. He said to them: Those here who do the will of my Father, these are my brethren and my mother; these are they who shall enter into the kingdom of my Father.
(100) They showed Jesus a gold piece and said to him: They who belong to Caesar demand tribute from us. He said to them: What belongs to Caesar give to Caesar, what belongs to God give to God, and what is mine give unto me.
(101) Jesus said He who shall not hate his father and: mother like me cannot be my [disciple], and he who shall [not] love [his father] and his mother like me cannot be my [disciple]; for my mother [. ..] but my true [mother] gave me life.
(102) And Jesus said: Woe to them, the Pharisees! For they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of the cattle; for he neither eats, nor does he let the cattle eat.
(103) Jesus said: Blessed is the man who knows in what part the robbers are coming, that he may rise and gather his [domain] and gird up his loins before they come in.
(104) They said [to him]: Come, let us pray today and fast. Jesus said: What then is the sin that I have done, or wherein have I been vanquished? But when the bridegroom comes forth from the bridal chamber, then let them fast and pray.
(105) Jesus said: He who shall know father and mother shall be called the son of a harlot.
(106) Jesus said: When you make the two one, you shall become sons of man, and when you say: Mountain, be moved, it shall be moved.
(I07) Jesus said: The kingdom is like a shepherd who had hundred sheep. One of them, the biggest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine and sought after the one till he found it. When he had laboured, he said to the sheep: I love thee more than the ninety-nine.
(I08) Jesus said: He who shall drink from my mouth shall become like me; I myself will become he, and the hidden thing shall be revealed to him.
(109) Jesus said: The kingdom is like a man who had in his field a [hidden] treasure about which he did not know; and [after] he died he left it to his [son. The] son also did not know; he took (possession of) that field and sold it. The man who bough it came to plough, and [found] the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to whomsoever he chose.
(110) Jesus said: He who has found the world and become rich, let him deny the world.
(111) Jesus said: The heavens shall be rolled up and the earth before your face, and he who lives in the living One shall neither see death nor (fear); because Jesus says: He who shall find himself, of him the world is not worthy.
(112) Jesus said: Woe to the flesh which depends upon the soul; woe to the soul which depends upon the flesh.
(113) His disciples said to him: On what day will the kingdom come? <Jesus said>: It cometh not with observation. They will not say: Lo, here! or: Lo, there! But the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.
(114) Simon Peter said to them: Let Mary go forth from among us, for women are not worthy of the life. Jesus said: Behold, I shall lead her, that I may make her male, in order that she also may become a living spirit like you males. For every woman who makes herself male shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(The Teachings of Silvanus)
The Torah of Zillah[1]
The Torah of Zillah[1]
Zillah 1
1. Put an end to every childish fantasy; get yourself strength of mind and being. Step up the struggle against every folly of the passions of lust and root evil, the love of praise, the attachment to controversy, the maddening jealousy and rage, the resentment, the greedy desire.
2. Guard your campus, your weapons and spears. Arm yourself; arm all your word-soldiers and advice-commanders; use your reasoning to establish a standard of leadership.
3. My son, throw every thief out of your doors. Guard your gates with speech-flames and you will gain quiet through all the turmoil of life. The one who will not guard his resources will become like a city that has been taken and is barren.
4. All kinds of monsters have marched through, for immoral thoughts are evil, wild beasts. Your campus will be filled with thieves and you will get no peace, only all manner of wild, savage fiends.
5. The Depraved Tyrant is master over these. While leading the way, the Wicked One stands up from inside a great sludge-pit. The whole campus of your very being will thus like perish. Rid yourself from these, desolate being!
6. Get your guide and teacher. Your mind is your guide, and reason your teacher. They will convey you out of dangers and ruin.
7. Hear, my son, to my advice! Do not show your back to enemies and run away, but pursue them as a mighty man. Do not be like an animal with men pursuing you, but a person pursuing the evil, wild beasts; else they become victorious over you by some means then trample you as though you were already dead - until their impiety kills you.
8. Desolate person, what if you fall into their hands?
9. Protect yourself in case you are delivered over into the hands of your enemies. Entrust yourself to reason and mind, a friendly couple, and no one will be able to win victory over you.
10. May Elohim[2] inhabit your campus; may his Spirit protect your gates; may the mind of Yahweh guard your walls. Let revelatory reason become a torch in your brain, burning off the wood of iniquity entirely.
11. If you do these things, my son, you will beat all your enemies; they will not be strong enough to engage in battle against you, nor will they have power to resist you, nor will they get in your way.
12. For if you encounter them, you will see them as deniers of the truth and scorn them.
13. They will chatter to you, sweet-talking and enticing you: not because they are afraid of you personally, but because they are terrified of those who dwell within you: the guardians of Elohim and his Torah.
Zillah 2
1. My son, receive training and its lessons. Do not flee from instruction and teaching, but when you are taught, accept everything with joy. If you are trained in any certain duty, do it right. You will put on a helmet of instruction by means of your guiding standard. Put on the sacred teaching like a robe.
2. Make yourself noble-minded through good conduct. Obtain the seriousness of superior discipline. Judge yourself as a wise adjudicator. Yet do not go astray from my Torah so as to acquire ignorance to lead your men astray.
3. Do not run from Elohim nor his inner coaching, for he who is coaching you loves you very much and will pass on to you an admirable seriousness. Cast out the beastly nature within you, and do not allow immoral thought to enter. (You know my manner of teaching!)
4. If leading a few is successful (as you see it), how much better to lead all, since you are honored above every group and tribe! Are you not prominent in every respect, even in right strategy, mastering every power that destroys the inner being?
10. My son, who wants to be a slave? Then why do you stir yourself up (mistakenly)?
11. My son, revere no person but Elohim alone, the Exalted One. Cast off from you the sedition of Belial. Accept light in your eyes and cast away darkness. Live in Moshiach[3] and you will acquire a treasure in the heavens. Do not be like a sausage, composed of many worthless meats, and do not come to be a leader in your blind ignorance.
12. My son, consider my good and useful teaching and quit the sleepiness that weighs heavily on you. Leave the forgetfulness that fills you with darkness.
13. If you could not succeed, I would not have said these things to you. But Moshiach has come in order to give you this gift.
14. Why must you pursue darkness when light is at your service? Why drink stale water when sweet wine is available?
Zillah 3
1. Wisdom summons you, yet you want to be stupid - not that you really want to do stupidly, but the animal nature within you does.
2. Wisdom summons you in her goodness, saying, "Come to Me, all of you, O foolish ones, that you may receive a gift: first-rate proficiency in righteousness! Yea, I give you the robe of the High Priest, woven from all kinds of wisdom."
3. What is a more wicked death than death from ignorance? What is devilish darkness except forgetfulness? Cast your fear upon Elohim alone.
4. Do not care for profitless gold and silver; but put on wisdom as a priest
S robe; wear knowledge as a crown; sit upon a throne of perception. For these resources are already yours (yet maybe you will receive them again on high another time).
5. For a fool puts on folly like a robe; like a cloak of sadness, he wears his shame. He crowns himself with myopia, and takes his seat upon a throne of ignorance.
6. While he is unreasoning, he leads himself astray for he is guided by unawareness. And he takes the road of obsession – obsessed with all passions.
7. He swims in the cravings of life and sinks.
8. He thinks he finds profit when he does the unprofitable.
9. Because the wretch does not have the captain’s mind, when he charges through all these things, he dies; for he is like a ship that the wind tosses about; like a horse without a rider – loose.
10. Yet a horse must have a rider named “rationale.” The wretch went astray because he did not take rational advice. He was thrown off course by three misfortunes:
11. he received death for a father, ignorance for a mother, evil counselors, and demons for friends and brothers! So, foolish one, you should indeed mourn for yourself.
12. Therefore, from here on, my son, return to your true purpose. Cast off these wicked, deceiving ‘friends’! Accept Moshiach, the True Friend, as a superior teacher.
13. Throw off death, your adopted father; for death did not originally exist and will not exist at the end.
14. Still, since you cast off Elohim, the Devoted Parent, the True Life, the Spring of Living, you adopted death as a father and ignorance as a mother. They have robbed you of your knowledge of the Truth.
17. Return, my son, to your first father, Elohim, and Wisdom, your mother, from whom you came to be from the first so you might struggle successfully against all of your enemies – the Powers of the Satan.
Zillah 4
1. So listen, my son, to my counsel. Do not be arrogant and oppose every good opinion, but take the side YHWH’s reasoning.
2. Keep the set-apart commandments of Yahshua Moshiach; then you will reign over every realm on earth be honored by the angelic messengers.
3. Yes, you will have angels as friends and fellow servants, and you will possess properties in the Shamayim[4].
4. Do not bring grief and trouble to the Elohim in your heart.
5. As long as you obey him you may request of him to keep you set-apart toward becoming self-controlled in both soul and body. Thus you will become a throne for Wisdom in the household of Elohim. He will give you a great light through Her.
6. Above all, know of your birth: from what substance are you? or from what race? or from what species?
7. You should know that you have come from three races: from the earth, from the formed, and from the created. The body has come from the earth with an earth-like material; but the formed part, for the sake of the life-force, has come from the mind of Elohim.
8. The created is your mind, which has come into conformity with the image of Yahweh.
9. The heavenward mind gets its essence from the Elohim, but the soul is what Elohim formed from his own heart. For I think that the soul exists much as a partner to that which is in conformity with the image; then physical matter is the stuff of the body, coming from the ground.
10. If you mix yourself up, you will split into three parts as you descend from virtue into worthlessness. So live with the Mind. Do not reflect on things pertaining to the flesh.
11. Get some strength, for the mind is to be strong. If you fall, you will be neutralized. If you cast out the logical mind, you have excised the male part and made yourself a eunuch.
12. You may thus become intuitive since you take away the substance of the formed. But if you cast away even the smallest part of mind, you may not again re-acquire humanity.
13. For you would accept the animal mind and likeness: you would become carnal since all you have left is the beastly nature.
14. Since it is so difficult to find a mindful person, how much more so to find Elohim?
Zillah 5
1. But I teach that Elohim is the creator of spirit – the spiritual one. Humankind has taken shape from the essence of Elohim.
2. The divine part shares in this to some extent just as it shares in the flesh. The soulish part is wont to turn from one to the other – the mind to the flesh – the flesh to the mind – side to side to side. In this way, a person acquires images of what it considers real.
3. It is good for you, O man, to turn yourself toward the mind rather than toward the animal nature – the flesh. You will resemble that which you most often turn.
4. For which will you, O man, be zealous? Did you, O woman, desire to be beastly when you encountered the beastly nature? It is better for you to share in the true nature of life.
5. The essence of the animal will surely guide you in the challenges of the world all right; but the rational mind will guide you in rational ways. Turn toward the rational and cast away the earth-begotten nature.
6. O spirit, persistent one, be sober and shake off your drunkenness, your work of ignorance. If you remain in the body, you live plain. When you entered here through a physical birth, you came to be. Likewise, be borne into the bridal chamber!
7. Be of enlightened mind!
8. My son, do not swim in just any water-hole; that is, do not be defiled by occult knowledge. Certainly you know that the schemes of Satan are many and its tricks varied?
9. The intellectual has especially been robbed of intelligence by the viper. For it is fitting for you to be well-informed of the characteristics of the two: the viper’s cleverness and the dove’s innocence,
10. lest Satan come at you in a flatterer’s disguise, like a true friend, saying, "I predict good things for you."
11. You did not discern the treachery of this fellow when you accepted him as a true friend; for he casts evil thoughts into your heart – and seemingly good ones, too – such as
12. hypocrisy in the cloak of true wisdom; greed in the costume of thriftiness; love of esteem in the dress of the beautiful; boastfulness and pride in the semblance of great seriousness; and unrighteousness as great uprightness.
13. The one who says, "I have many gods," is without any. He offers imitation knowledge to your heart in the form of religious mysteries. Who may grasp his various notions and strategies since he is the master intellect for those who wish to accept his rule?
14. My son, how will you be able to ascertain his schemes and soul-killing instruction? For many are his devices and wicked schemes.
15. Consider hard where and how he may enter your soul, and in what disguise he will wear when he tries.
Zillah 6
1. Receive Moshiach, who is able to set you free – since he has already taken on the devices of the evil one so as to destroy the Satan by deception. For Moshiach is your King. He is forever invincible, against whom none may fight nor even speak a word.
2. Behold your King – even your Father – for there is none like him. The Rabbi[5] is with you always. He is your Paraclete[6] who seeks you out for the good in you.
3. Do not be cruel in your decisions; every cruel person wounds the heart of the Paraclete. Only a fool stays upon the course of destruction, but the wise knows the way.
4. And a fool does not guard against telling a secret plan; a wise person never blurts every word, but is discriminating, considering who may be listening. Do not talk around those whom you do not know well.
5. Have a great number of comrades, but not advisors. First, examine your advisor closely: do not honor any flatterer. The flatterer’s word is surely sweet as honey, but the flatterer’s heart is full of poisonous hellebore[7].
6. For whenever flatterers think they have become reliable friends, they will turn against you viciously, and throw you into the dung pile.
7. So trust no one as a friend, for this whole world has become deceitful, and every person is troubled with futility. Not everything of the world is profitable: most acts are in vain.
8. There is no trustworthy soul, not even a brother, since each individual seeks personal advantage.
9. My son, do not have any friend; but if you do get one, do not entrust yourself. To Elohim alone entrust yourself – as father and friend. For everyone proceeds deceitfully even as the whole world is full of suffering and pain – unprofitable things.
10. If you wish to pass your life in peace, do not keep company with anyone. And if you do keep company, act as if you do not. Be pleasing to Elohim and you will not need anyone else.
11. Live with the Anointed One and he will deliver you. For he is the Light of Truth and the Sun of Life.
12. For just as the visible sun makes light for fleshly eyes, so Moshiach illuminates every mind and the heart. If an unrighteous person has a bad physical death, how much worse for the one with the blind mind!
13. Every blind person who moves along alone is considered to be insane. He does not delight in acquiring illumination from Moshiach, which is reason.
14. For everything seen has a double that is unseen. As a fire burns unconfined, so it is with the sun in the sky, the rays of which extend to earth. Similarly, Moshiach is a solitary being that bears light to every place.
15. This is also how he speaks of our minds, as if they were burning lamps lighting up the room – being partially spirit, he lights up minds everywhere.
Zillah 7
1. I shall tell you what is greater than this: the mind inhabits a physical space in the body; but with respect to thought, that part of the mind is not in any place. For how can a mind be confined to one place since it contemplates all places?
2. What is even greater: never think that Elohim exists somewhere in particular. If you localize YHWH in one spot then it is natural to think that the spot is greater than the one who dwells in it; that is, something that contains is greater than what it cannot contain.
3. Yet there is no physical place we can go without a body. So it is incorrect for us to say that Elohim is corporeal in that sense.
4. We would have to attribute both growth and decline to that which is corporeal; if our Elohim be subjected to growth and decline, Elohim will not remain imperishable.
5. Though it is not difficult to know the Creator, it is impossible to envision his likeness. The difficulty is not only for humans, but even for mighty entities, malachim and ruling malachim[8].
6. Is it so necessary to know Elohim as he really is? You cannot know by any means but Moshiach, who owns the image of the Father: the image that reveals true likenesses corresponding to every characteristic of YHWH.
7. Is a king commonly known apart from an image? No.
8. Consider Elohim: he is every place; he is no place. With respect to power, he is every place; but with respect to spiriuality, he is no place.
9. So we say it is possible to know Elohim but a little. In power, he fills every place; but in the joy of his spirituality, nothing contains him.
10. Everything is in Elohim; but Elohim is not in anything.
11. What is it to know Elohim, then? Elohim is entirely in truth. It is as impossible to look at Moshiach as to look directly at the sun. Elohim sees everyone; yet no one sees Elohim. But Moshiach, without stinginess, receives and gives.
12. He is the Light of his Father – and he gives Father’s light freely. This is why he can give light to every place.
13. All is Moshiach for he inherited all from YHWH. Moshiach is designed for incorruptibility, and he is the Light that shines uncorrupted. The sun too shines on every impure place and yet it is not defiled.
14. So it is with Moshiach: even if he is scarce, he is without scarcity. Even if he is begotten, still he is unbegotten.
15. So it is with Moshiach: comprehensible; incomprehensible with respect to his actual being. Moshiach is all in all. Anyone who does not possess the All is unable to know Moshiach.
Zillah
1. My son, do not try to describe the Eternal One, and do not confine Elohim to mental images; for he who condemns may not be condemned by the One who condemns.
2. Yet it is good to ask and to get to know who Elohim is. “Reason” and “Mind” are masculine gender. Let the man who wishes to know about Elohim quietly and reverently ask.
3. There is no small danger in speaking about these things, since you know that you will be judged on the basis of everything that you say.
4. Those in darkness will not be able to see anything unless they receive the light and recover their sight by its means. See yourself – do you wholly have the light, so that, if you ask about these things from wrong motives, you may know how to escape?
5. Many are seeking in darkness, wishing to know, but groping around since there is no light for them.
6. My son, do not allow your mind to stare downward. Let it examine things above by the light. For the light will always come from above.
7. Even if the mind is upon the earth, let it seek to pursue the things above. Enlighten your mind with the light of shamayim[9], so that you may turn in its direction.
8. Do not tire of knocking on the door of reason; do not cease walking in the Way of Moshiach. Walk in it so you may receive rest from your labors.
9. If you walk in another way, there will be no profit in it. For those who walk in the broad way will eventually go down to the miry destruction. For Gey Hinnom[10] is open wide to all and the place of destruction is broad.
10. Receive Moshiach, the narrow way; for he is worried and bears affliction for your sin.
11. O your soul, you relentless one! In what ignorance you exist! For who is your guide into the darkness? How many personae[11] did Moshiach need to assume on account of you!
12. Although he is Elohim, he was discovered among humankind as though a man. He descended to Sheol[12] and released the righteous children of death. They were in travail, as the scripture of Elohim has said.
13. Then he sealed up the heart of Sheol and broke its strong bowers completely. And when all the princes had spotted him, they fled away, so that he might bring you, wretched one, up from the abyss, and might die for you as a ransom for your sin. Yes, He rescued you from the mighty hand of Sheol.
14. But you find it difficult to give him your serious consent with even so much as a hint – that he might take you onward with joy! Now the most important choice, heart-felt humility, is the gift of Moshiach. A heart of turning back is your acceptable sacrifice. If you humble yourself, you will be greatly exalted; and if you exalt yourself, you will be exceedingly humbled.
Zillah 9
1. My son, guard yourself against evil and do not let the Spirit of Wickedness cast you down into the Abyss. He is mad and bitter. He is terrifying, and he would cast everyone down into a pit of mire.
2. It is a great and good thing not to love immorality, and not to even to think of the shameful matter at all, for to think on lewdness is death.
3. It is not good for any person to fall into death. For a soul that has arrived at Death will be there for no good reason.
4. Still. it is better not to live at all than to assume the life of an animal. Protect yourself, lest you are burned by the fires of immorality. For those submerged in fires serve fire, whom you do not consider as your enemy.
5. O my son, strip off the old, lewd clothing and put on a clean, shining suit so you may be beautiful. And once you don the shining clothes, guard them well.
6. Release yourself from every shackle, so that you may be free. If you cast out vain desire (whose evil devices are many) you will release yourself from the sin of lusting.
7. Shema[13], O spirit man, to my advice! Do not become a burrow of foxes and snakes, nor a hole of serpents and vipers, nor a den of lions, or a cave of basilisks[14]. When these things happen to you, O spirit man, what will you do? For these are the powers of the haShatan[15].
8. Everything dead will come into you through the powers of Satan. For the food of demons is the corpse and every other unclean thing. For when these dead ones are within you, what living thing will enter?
9. The living spirits will detest you. You were a temple; you have made a tomb of yourself. Cease being a tomb and again become a temple so that righteousness and spirit may remain in you.
10. Light the light within you. Do not extinguish it! Certainly, no one lights a lamp for wild beasts or their young. Raise your dead, for they lived and have died for you. Give them life. Let them live again!
11. For the Tree of Life is Moshiach. He is Wisdom and Word. Yes, he is Wisdom and also Word. He is the Life, the Power, and the Door. He is the Light, the Spirit, and the Good Shepherd. Entrust yourself to the one who became All for your sake.
12. Knock on yourself as upon a door, and walk upon yourself as on a straight road. For if you walk on the road, it is impossible to go astray. And if you knock with wisdom, you knock for hidden treasures.
13. For since Moshiach is Wisdom, he can make even the fool wise. Wisdom is a set-apart kingdom and shining robe. For Wisdom is as good as gold, and can give you great esteem. 14. The Wisdom of Elohim became a fool for you so that it might take you up, O simple one, and make you a wise man. And Life died for you when he was powerless. Through his death, then, he might give life to you who are dead.
15. Entrust yourself to good sense and get yourself away from the animal. For the animal that has no mind is in here. Many think they have intellect, but if you watch them attentively, they speak as an animal.
16. Grant yourself gladness from the true vine of Moshiach. Satisfy yourself with the true wine, in which there is neither drunkenness nor error. For the true wine marks the end of drinking, since in consists of joy to both soul and spirit through the Spirit of Elohim.
17. But first, nurture your reasoning powers before you drink of the true wine.
Zillah 10
1. Pierce not with the sword of sin. Burn not, O wretched one, with the fire of lust. Surrender not yourself to barbarians so as to be a prisoner, or to savage beasts that will stomp you.
2. They as roaring lions! Play not dead lest they stomp you. You will be human! It is possible through reasoned living to conquer them.
3. But the person who does nothing about all this is unworthy of being considered rational. The rational person fears Elohim. He who fears Elohim does nothing disrespectful toward Elohim.
4. He who guards himself against doing anything disrespectful keeps his guiding Walk. Though he exists on earth, he is elohim.
5. Yet the one who makes herself like elohim, who does nothing unworthy of elohim, has become as Moshiach (according to the statement of Paul).
6. For who can revere Elohim and, at the same time, not want to please to him? Piety is from the heart, and heart-felt piety identifies everyone near to Elohim.
7. The spirit that is a member of Elohim's household is kept pure, and the soul that has put on Moshiach is pure. It is impossible for such to sin. Where Moshiach is, there sin is idle.
8. Let Moshiach alone enter your world, and let him cause all powers that have come upon you to cease their work against you.
9. Let him enter that temple within you, so that he may cast out all the salesmen. Let him dwell in the temple within you, and may you become a priest and minister for him in purity.
10. Blessed are you, O spirit-man, if you find Moshiach in your temple. Blessed are you all the more if you perform his temple service.
11. You defiling the temple of Elohim, Elohim will destroy. You lay yourself open if you cast Moshiach out. For when the enemies cannot discern Moshiach in you, they will come in armed to crush you.
12. O my son, I have given you orders concerning these things many times so that you would always guard your spirit. You may not cast Moshiach out; he will cast you out.
13. If you flee from him, you will fall into great wickedness. Again, if you flee from him, you will be food for your enemies. For all base persons flee from their rabbi, and those corrupt in purity and wisdom flee from Moshiach.
14. Everyone who is separated falls into the claws of wild beasts.
15. Know Moshiach and acquire him as a friend; he is the faithful friend. He is also Elohim and Master. Elohim became like man for your sake. He broke the iron bars of the Sheol, even the bronze bolts.
16. He attacked and cast down every arrogant tyrant. He loosened the chains that had grasped him. He raised the poor from the Abyss and the mourners from Sheol.
17. He humbled the haughty powers; he put to shame conceit through humility; he cast down the strong man and the boaster by weakness; he, in his contempt, scorned honor so that humility for Elohim's sake might be highly exalted.
18. Indeed, he has put on humanity.
Zillah 11
1. And yet, the heavenly Word is Elohim, who bears patiently with humans always.
2. He wishes to produce meekness in the exalted. Moshiach, who has raised humanity, became like Elohim, not so that he might bring El down to the human level, but that humans might become like Elohim.
3. O, great good of Elohim!
O, Moshiach, Ruler, who
Showed to man El Elyon,
Melek, King, of virtue true.
4. King of Life, King of Time.
Great One of the Shamayim:
Think not on my sin in rhyme:
Hear my pleadings and redeem!
5. Moshiach showed a great zeal for YHWH. Find me a wise, powerful or intelligent person, one of many resources, because he is on familiar terms with Chochmah?
6. Let Him speak shrewdly; allow Him to boast loudly! For everyone else is a fool, having shown off out of their own knowledge only.
7. For Moshiach confounds the counsels of spiteful people and he prevails over those wise in their own understanding.
8. Who will discover the Almighty’s ways, or to speak about YHWH, or proclaim correctly? If we have not been able to understand our fellow students, how can we possibly comprehend YHWH or the Mighty of the Shamayim?
9. If we scarcely find on earth, who will find in the shamayim? But the Great El and Great Esteem has made Himself known to the world.
10. And the Life of the Great Heavenly One wishes to renew all creation so that he may cast out the weak along with every black form, so all may shine forth in heavenly garments and thus make manifest the Torah of the Father, exceedingly bright, to all; so that Moshiach may publicly crown those wishing to contend well.
11. Moshiach, being judge of the contest, is he who crowns, teaching each to contend. The One who first contended received the crown, gained dominion, then appeared, shedding light on everyone.
12. And all were made new through the Spirit and the Mind haKodeshim[16].
13. O, Almighty YHWH, how much favor shall I give?
Not a one has uttered ample yadah davarim[17]!
14. You alone esteem the Word enough for us to live
And give your yeshua[18] to everyone, O Elohim.
15. Risen from your Heart then through your mouth into our sight:
The First-born Wisdom Prototype, the First Love and First Light.
16. For Moshiach is Light from the might of YHWH, and he is a giving off of the unique radiance of El Shaddai. He is the spotless mirror of the working of El, and he is the image of his goodness.
17. For he is also the Light of the Eternal Light. He is the eye that sees the invisible Father, always serving and creating by His will.
18. He alone came to be by the good intention of Father. For he is the incomprehensible Logos[19], he is Wisdom and he is Life.
19. And he gives life and nourishes all living things and powers. Just as the spirit gives life to all the limbs, he rules all with the power of rendering life.
20. For he is the Alef and the Yod for everyone, watching over all and encompassing them.
21. He is compassionate for everyone; his compassion rejoices and mourns. He mourns for those who have chosen the place of punishment as their lot; he is troubled about every one whom he arduously drives to Torah. But he rejoices over everyone who is clean.
22. So be forewarned in case you fall somehow into the hands of bandits. Do not allow sleep to enter your eyes nor drowsiness to cover your eyelids; so that he may provide you yeshua out - like a gazelle from nets, and like a bird from a trap.
Zillah 12
1. Fight this great war as long as the war lasts, while all the powers are stalking you – not only the good, but all the powers of Satan also.
2. Woe to you if you are defeated while all watch! If you fight the war and are victorious over the enemies, you will bring great joy to all the set-apart, and great disappointment to your enemies.
3. Your Judge aids your cause in every way since He wants you to be victorious.
4. Listen, my son; do not slow-eared. Once you have left the old man behind, raise yourself up like an eagle. Revere Elohim in all your acts and esteem him through good deeds.
5. You know that everyone who is not pleasing to YHWH is a son of destruction. He will go down to the Abyss of Sheol. Yet,
6. O, this patient Elohim
bears with humans, frail;
Sinners all he would redeem,
Not one soul would he fail.
7. No one prevents Elohim from doing what he desires. For who is stronger than him, that Elohim may be prevented? Surely he touches the earth and it trembles. Do not the mountains smoke?
8. He gathered together such a great sea as in a wineskin, and has weighed it on his scales. 9. Only the hand of YHWH has accomplished these things; for the hand of the Father is Moshiach – and this hand forms everything. All have come to be by it; and it became the mother of all.
10. For Moshiach is always the Father’s Son.
11. Consider these things about El Almighty, who always exists: El was not always King for fear he might be without a mighty heir. For all dwell in Elohim since all came to be through the Word, who is the Son, the image of the Father.
12. Elohim is nearby, not far away. Only spiritual entities belong to YHWH’s household. So if the Spirit agrees with you in anything, even in part only, know also that Elohim agrees with you.
13. But YHWH is not pleased with anything evil: Elohim teaches only what is good. This is what YHWH has given to humanity so that people might be chosen before angels, even archangels.
14. For Elohim does not need to put anyone to the test. He knows all things before they happen; he knows the hidden of the heart. They are all revealed and found wanting in his presence.
15. Let no one say that Elohim is ignorant. It is wrong to think that the Creator does not know; for he knows matters hidden in darkness as though they were before him in the light.
16. Indeed, there is no other completely hidden but Elohim. Though he is revealed to everyone, he remains very hidden. He is revealed only because He knows all.
17. And if people do not wish to affirm this fact, they may eventually be corrected by their heart.
18. But now he is hidden because no one perceives his works; for it is impossible to know the counsel of YHWH unless he reveals it; and it is just as difficult as to find Moshiach.
19. For he is the One who dwells in every place and in no place. No one cares to know Elohim in actuality, nor Moshiach, nor the Spirit, nor the chorus of angels, or even the archangels, as well as the thrones of the spirits, the exalted princes, and the Great Mind.
20. If you do not know yourself, you will not be able to know any of these.
Zillah 13
1. Open the door for yourself that you may know the One who is. Knock on yourself that the Logos may open for you; for he is the Great Ruler of Faith and the Sharp Sword, having become all for all because he wishes to have mercy on all.
2. My son, prepare yourself to escape from the world-rulers of darkness and of this kind of air, air full of malevolent powers. But if you have Moshiach, you will conquer this whole world.
3. What you open, you will open. What you knock on, you will knock on, all benefiting you.
4. So help yourself, my son, by not even starting the unprofitable. First cleanse yourself of the outward life so you may be capable of cleansing the inward.
5. And be not as salesmen of YHWH’s word. Put all words to the test before you speak them.
6. Do not wish to acquire honors; they are insecure; nor the boastfulness; which is ruin.
7. Accept the Wisdom of Moshiach, the patient and mild, and fervently guard it, O my son, realizing that the Torah of Yahweh is ever profitable.
IhsouV CristoV QeoV UioV Swter ICQUS[20] Wonder Extraordinary
2. Guard your campus, your weapons and spears. Arm yourself; arm all your word-soldiers and advice-commanders; use your reasoning to establish a standard of leadership.
3. My son, throw every thief out of your doors. Guard your gates with speech-flames and you will gain quiet through all the turmoil of life. The one who will not guard his resources will become like a city that has been taken and is barren.
4. All kinds of monsters have marched through, for immoral thoughts are evil, wild beasts. Your campus will be filled with thieves and you will get no peace, only all manner of wild, savage fiends.
5. The Depraved Tyrant is master over these. While leading the way, the Wicked One stands up from inside a great sludge-pit. The whole campus of your very being will thus like perish. Rid yourself from these, desolate being!
6. Get your guide and teacher. Your mind is your guide, and reason your teacher. They will convey you out of dangers and ruin.
7. Hear, my son, to my advice! Do not show your back to enemies and run away, but pursue them as a mighty man. Do not be like an animal with men pursuing you, but a person pursuing the evil, wild beasts; else they become victorious over you by some means then trample you as though you were already dead - until their impiety kills you.
8. Desolate person, what if you fall into their hands?
9. Protect yourself in case you are delivered over into the hands of your enemies. Entrust yourself to reason and mind, a friendly couple, and no one will be able to win victory over you.
10. May Elohim[2] inhabit your campus; may his Spirit protect your gates; may the mind of Yahweh guard your walls. Let revelatory reason become a torch in your brain, burning off the wood of iniquity entirely.
11. If you do these things, my son, you will beat all your enemies; they will not be strong enough to engage in battle against you, nor will they have power to resist you, nor will they get in your way.
12. For if you encounter them, you will see them as deniers of the truth and scorn them.
13. They will chatter to you, sweet-talking and enticing you: not because they are afraid of you personally, but because they are terrified of those who dwell within you: the guardians of Elohim and his Torah.
Zillah 2
1. My son, receive training and its lessons. Do not flee from instruction and teaching, but when you are taught, accept everything with joy. If you are trained in any certain duty, do it right. You will put on a helmet of instruction by means of your guiding standard. Put on the sacred teaching like a robe.
2. Make yourself noble-minded through good conduct. Obtain the seriousness of superior discipline. Judge yourself as a wise adjudicator. Yet do not go astray from my Torah so as to acquire ignorance to lead your men astray.
3. Do not run from Elohim nor his inner coaching, for he who is coaching you loves you very much and will pass on to you an admirable seriousness. Cast out the beastly nature within you, and do not allow immoral thought to enter. (You know my manner of teaching!)
4. If leading a few is successful (as you see it), how much better to lead all, since you are honored above every group and tribe! Are you not prominent in every respect, even in right strategy, mastering every power that destroys the inner being?
10. My son, who wants to be a slave? Then why do you stir yourself up (mistakenly)?
11. My son, revere no person but Elohim alone, the Exalted One. Cast off from you the sedition of Belial. Accept light in your eyes and cast away darkness. Live in Moshiach[3] and you will acquire a treasure in the heavens. Do not be like a sausage, composed of many worthless meats, and do not come to be a leader in your blind ignorance.
12. My son, consider my good and useful teaching and quit the sleepiness that weighs heavily on you. Leave the forgetfulness that fills you with darkness.
13. If you could not succeed, I would not have said these things to you. But Moshiach has come in order to give you this gift.
14. Why must you pursue darkness when light is at your service? Why drink stale water when sweet wine is available?
Zillah 3
1. Wisdom summons you, yet you want to be stupid - not that you really want to do stupidly, but the animal nature within you does.
2. Wisdom summons you in her goodness, saying, "Come to Me, all of you, O foolish ones, that you may receive a gift: first-rate proficiency in righteousness! Yea, I give you the robe of the High Priest, woven from all kinds of wisdom."
3. What is a more wicked death than death from ignorance? What is devilish darkness except forgetfulness? Cast your fear upon Elohim alone.
4. Do not care for profitless gold and silver; but put on wisdom as a priest
S robe; wear knowledge as a crown; sit upon a throne of perception. For these resources are already yours (yet maybe you will receive them again on high another time).
5. For a fool puts on folly like a robe; like a cloak of sadness, he wears his shame. He crowns himself with myopia, and takes his seat upon a throne of ignorance.
6. While he is unreasoning, he leads himself astray for he is guided by unawareness. And he takes the road of obsession – obsessed with all passions.
7. He swims in the cravings of life and sinks.
8. He thinks he finds profit when he does the unprofitable.
9. Because the wretch does not have the captain’s mind, when he charges through all these things, he dies; for he is like a ship that the wind tosses about; like a horse without a rider – loose.
10. Yet a horse must have a rider named “rationale.” The wretch went astray because he did not take rational advice. He was thrown off course by three misfortunes:
11. he received death for a father, ignorance for a mother, evil counselors, and demons for friends and brothers! So, foolish one, you should indeed mourn for yourself.
12. Therefore, from here on, my son, return to your true purpose. Cast off these wicked, deceiving ‘friends’! Accept Moshiach, the True Friend, as a superior teacher.
13. Throw off death, your adopted father; for death did not originally exist and will not exist at the end.
14. Still, since you cast off Elohim, the Devoted Parent, the True Life, the Spring of Living, you adopted death as a father and ignorance as a mother. They have robbed you of your knowledge of the Truth.
17. Return, my son, to your first father, Elohim, and Wisdom, your mother, from whom you came to be from the first so you might struggle successfully against all of your enemies – the Powers of the Satan.
Zillah 4
1. So listen, my son, to my counsel. Do not be arrogant and oppose every good opinion, but take the side YHWH’s reasoning.
2. Keep the set-apart commandments of Yahshua Moshiach; then you will reign over every realm on earth be honored by the angelic messengers.
3. Yes, you will have angels as friends and fellow servants, and you will possess properties in the Shamayim[4].
4. Do not bring grief and trouble to the Elohim in your heart.
5. As long as you obey him you may request of him to keep you set-apart toward becoming self-controlled in both soul and body. Thus you will become a throne for Wisdom in the household of Elohim. He will give you a great light through Her.
6. Above all, know of your birth: from what substance are you? or from what race? or from what species?
7. You should know that you have come from three races: from the earth, from the formed, and from the created. The body has come from the earth with an earth-like material; but the formed part, for the sake of the life-force, has come from the mind of Elohim.
8. The created is your mind, which has come into conformity with the image of Yahweh.
9. The heavenward mind gets its essence from the Elohim, but the soul is what Elohim formed from his own heart. For I think that the soul exists much as a partner to that which is in conformity with the image; then physical matter is the stuff of the body, coming from the ground.
10. If you mix yourself up, you will split into three parts as you descend from virtue into worthlessness. So live with the Mind. Do not reflect on things pertaining to the flesh.
11. Get some strength, for the mind is to be strong. If you fall, you will be neutralized. If you cast out the logical mind, you have excised the male part and made yourself a eunuch.
12. You may thus become intuitive since you take away the substance of the formed. But if you cast away even the smallest part of mind, you may not again re-acquire humanity.
13. For you would accept the animal mind and likeness: you would become carnal since all you have left is the beastly nature.
14. Since it is so difficult to find a mindful person, how much more so to find Elohim?
Zillah 5
1. But I teach that Elohim is the creator of spirit – the spiritual one. Humankind has taken shape from the essence of Elohim.
2. The divine part shares in this to some extent just as it shares in the flesh. The soulish part is wont to turn from one to the other – the mind to the flesh – the flesh to the mind – side to side to side. In this way, a person acquires images of what it considers real.
3. It is good for you, O man, to turn yourself toward the mind rather than toward the animal nature – the flesh. You will resemble that which you most often turn.
4. For which will you, O man, be zealous? Did you, O woman, desire to be beastly when you encountered the beastly nature? It is better for you to share in the true nature of life.
5. The essence of the animal will surely guide you in the challenges of the world all right; but the rational mind will guide you in rational ways. Turn toward the rational and cast away the earth-begotten nature.
6. O spirit, persistent one, be sober and shake off your drunkenness, your work of ignorance. If you remain in the body, you live plain. When you entered here through a physical birth, you came to be. Likewise, be borne into the bridal chamber!
7. Be of enlightened mind!
8. My son, do not swim in just any water-hole; that is, do not be defiled by occult knowledge. Certainly you know that the schemes of Satan are many and its tricks varied?
9. The intellectual has especially been robbed of intelligence by the viper. For it is fitting for you to be well-informed of the characteristics of the two: the viper’s cleverness and the dove’s innocence,
10. lest Satan come at you in a flatterer’s disguise, like a true friend, saying, "I predict good things for you."
11. You did not discern the treachery of this fellow when you accepted him as a true friend; for he casts evil thoughts into your heart – and seemingly good ones, too – such as
12. hypocrisy in the cloak of true wisdom; greed in the costume of thriftiness; love of esteem in the dress of the beautiful; boastfulness and pride in the semblance of great seriousness; and unrighteousness as great uprightness.
13. The one who says, "I have many gods," is without any. He offers imitation knowledge to your heart in the form of religious mysteries. Who may grasp his various notions and strategies since he is the master intellect for those who wish to accept his rule?
14. My son, how will you be able to ascertain his schemes and soul-killing instruction? For many are his devices and wicked schemes.
15. Consider hard where and how he may enter your soul, and in what disguise he will wear when he tries.
Zillah 6
1. Receive Moshiach, who is able to set you free – since he has already taken on the devices of the evil one so as to destroy the Satan by deception. For Moshiach is your King. He is forever invincible, against whom none may fight nor even speak a word.
2. Behold your King – even your Father – for there is none like him. The Rabbi[5] is with you always. He is your Paraclete[6] who seeks you out for the good in you.
3. Do not be cruel in your decisions; every cruel person wounds the heart of the Paraclete. Only a fool stays upon the course of destruction, but the wise knows the way.
4. And a fool does not guard against telling a secret plan; a wise person never blurts every word, but is discriminating, considering who may be listening. Do not talk around those whom you do not know well.
5. Have a great number of comrades, but not advisors. First, examine your advisor closely: do not honor any flatterer. The flatterer’s word is surely sweet as honey, but the flatterer’s heart is full of poisonous hellebore[7].
6. For whenever flatterers think they have become reliable friends, they will turn against you viciously, and throw you into the dung pile.
7. So trust no one as a friend, for this whole world has become deceitful, and every person is troubled with futility. Not everything of the world is profitable: most acts are in vain.
8. There is no trustworthy soul, not even a brother, since each individual seeks personal advantage.
9. My son, do not have any friend; but if you do get one, do not entrust yourself. To Elohim alone entrust yourself – as father and friend. For everyone proceeds deceitfully even as the whole world is full of suffering and pain – unprofitable things.
10. If you wish to pass your life in peace, do not keep company with anyone. And if you do keep company, act as if you do not. Be pleasing to Elohim and you will not need anyone else.
11. Live with the Anointed One and he will deliver you. For he is the Light of Truth and the Sun of Life.
12. For just as the visible sun makes light for fleshly eyes, so Moshiach illuminates every mind and the heart. If an unrighteous person has a bad physical death, how much worse for the one with the blind mind!
13. Every blind person who moves along alone is considered to be insane. He does not delight in acquiring illumination from Moshiach, which is reason.
14. For everything seen has a double that is unseen. As a fire burns unconfined, so it is with the sun in the sky, the rays of which extend to earth. Similarly, Moshiach is a solitary being that bears light to every place.
15. This is also how he speaks of our minds, as if they were burning lamps lighting up the room – being partially spirit, he lights up minds everywhere.
Zillah 7
1. I shall tell you what is greater than this: the mind inhabits a physical space in the body; but with respect to thought, that part of the mind is not in any place. For how can a mind be confined to one place since it contemplates all places?
2. What is even greater: never think that Elohim exists somewhere in particular. If you localize YHWH in one spot then it is natural to think that the spot is greater than the one who dwells in it; that is, something that contains is greater than what it cannot contain.
3. Yet there is no physical place we can go without a body. So it is incorrect for us to say that Elohim is corporeal in that sense.
4. We would have to attribute both growth and decline to that which is corporeal; if our Elohim be subjected to growth and decline, Elohim will not remain imperishable.
5. Though it is not difficult to know the Creator, it is impossible to envision his likeness. The difficulty is not only for humans, but even for mighty entities, malachim and ruling malachim[8].
6. Is it so necessary to know Elohim as he really is? You cannot know by any means but Moshiach, who owns the image of the Father: the image that reveals true likenesses corresponding to every characteristic of YHWH.
7. Is a king commonly known apart from an image? No.
8. Consider Elohim: he is every place; he is no place. With respect to power, he is every place; but with respect to spiriuality, he is no place.
9. So we say it is possible to know Elohim but a little. In power, he fills every place; but in the joy of his spirituality, nothing contains him.
10. Everything is in Elohim; but Elohim is not in anything.
11. What is it to know Elohim, then? Elohim is entirely in truth. It is as impossible to look at Moshiach as to look directly at the sun. Elohim sees everyone; yet no one sees Elohim. But Moshiach, without stinginess, receives and gives.
12. He is the Light of his Father – and he gives Father’s light freely. This is why he can give light to every place.
13. All is Moshiach for he inherited all from YHWH. Moshiach is designed for incorruptibility, and he is the Light that shines uncorrupted. The sun too shines on every impure place and yet it is not defiled.
14. So it is with Moshiach: even if he is scarce, he is without scarcity. Even if he is begotten, still he is unbegotten.
15. So it is with Moshiach: comprehensible; incomprehensible with respect to his actual being. Moshiach is all in all. Anyone who does not possess the All is unable to know Moshiach.
Zillah
1. My son, do not try to describe the Eternal One, and do not confine Elohim to mental images; for he who condemns may not be condemned by the One who condemns.
2. Yet it is good to ask and to get to know who Elohim is. “Reason” and “Mind” are masculine gender. Let the man who wishes to know about Elohim quietly and reverently ask.
3. There is no small danger in speaking about these things, since you know that you will be judged on the basis of everything that you say.
4. Those in darkness will not be able to see anything unless they receive the light and recover their sight by its means. See yourself – do you wholly have the light, so that, if you ask about these things from wrong motives, you may know how to escape?
5. Many are seeking in darkness, wishing to know, but groping around since there is no light for them.
6. My son, do not allow your mind to stare downward. Let it examine things above by the light. For the light will always come from above.
7. Even if the mind is upon the earth, let it seek to pursue the things above. Enlighten your mind with the light of shamayim[9], so that you may turn in its direction.
8. Do not tire of knocking on the door of reason; do not cease walking in the Way of Moshiach. Walk in it so you may receive rest from your labors.
9. If you walk in another way, there will be no profit in it. For those who walk in the broad way will eventually go down to the miry destruction. For Gey Hinnom[10] is open wide to all and the place of destruction is broad.
10. Receive Moshiach, the narrow way; for he is worried and bears affliction for your sin.
11. O your soul, you relentless one! In what ignorance you exist! For who is your guide into the darkness? How many personae[11] did Moshiach need to assume on account of you!
12. Although he is Elohim, he was discovered among humankind as though a man. He descended to Sheol[12] and released the righteous children of death. They were in travail, as the scripture of Elohim has said.
13. Then he sealed up the heart of Sheol and broke its strong bowers completely. And when all the princes had spotted him, they fled away, so that he might bring you, wretched one, up from the abyss, and might die for you as a ransom for your sin. Yes, He rescued you from the mighty hand of Sheol.
14. But you find it difficult to give him your serious consent with even so much as a hint – that he might take you onward with joy! Now the most important choice, heart-felt humility, is the gift of Moshiach. A heart of turning back is your acceptable sacrifice. If you humble yourself, you will be greatly exalted; and if you exalt yourself, you will be exceedingly humbled.
Zillah 9
1. My son, guard yourself against evil and do not let the Spirit of Wickedness cast you down into the Abyss. He is mad and bitter. He is terrifying, and he would cast everyone down into a pit of mire.
2. It is a great and good thing not to love immorality, and not to even to think of the shameful matter at all, for to think on lewdness is death.
3. It is not good for any person to fall into death. For a soul that has arrived at Death will be there for no good reason.
4. Still. it is better not to live at all than to assume the life of an animal. Protect yourself, lest you are burned by the fires of immorality. For those submerged in fires serve fire, whom you do not consider as your enemy.
5. O my son, strip off the old, lewd clothing and put on a clean, shining suit so you may be beautiful. And once you don the shining clothes, guard them well.
6. Release yourself from every shackle, so that you may be free. If you cast out vain desire (whose evil devices are many) you will release yourself from the sin of lusting.
7. Shema[13], O spirit man, to my advice! Do not become a burrow of foxes and snakes, nor a hole of serpents and vipers, nor a den of lions, or a cave of basilisks[14]. When these things happen to you, O spirit man, what will you do? For these are the powers of the haShatan[15].
8. Everything dead will come into you through the powers of Satan. For the food of demons is the corpse and every other unclean thing. For when these dead ones are within you, what living thing will enter?
9. The living spirits will detest you. You were a temple; you have made a tomb of yourself. Cease being a tomb and again become a temple so that righteousness and spirit may remain in you.
10. Light the light within you. Do not extinguish it! Certainly, no one lights a lamp for wild beasts or their young. Raise your dead, for they lived and have died for you. Give them life. Let them live again!
11. For the Tree of Life is Moshiach. He is Wisdom and Word. Yes, he is Wisdom and also Word. He is the Life, the Power, and the Door. He is the Light, the Spirit, and the Good Shepherd. Entrust yourself to the one who became All for your sake.
12. Knock on yourself as upon a door, and walk upon yourself as on a straight road. For if you walk on the road, it is impossible to go astray. And if you knock with wisdom, you knock for hidden treasures.
13. For since Moshiach is Wisdom, he can make even the fool wise. Wisdom is a set-apart kingdom and shining robe. For Wisdom is as good as gold, and can give you great esteem. 14. The Wisdom of Elohim became a fool for you so that it might take you up, O simple one, and make you a wise man. And Life died for you when he was powerless. Through his death, then, he might give life to you who are dead.
15. Entrust yourself to good sense and get yourself away from the animal. For the animal that has no mind is in here. Many think they have intellect, but if you watch them attentively, they speak as an animal.
16. Grant yourself gladness from the true vine of Moshiach. Satisfy yourself with the true wine, in which there is neither drunkenness nor error. For the true wine marks the end of drinking, since in consists of joy to both soul and spirit through the Spirit of Elohim.
17. But first, nurture your reasoning powers before you drink of the true wine.
Zillah 10
1. Pierce not with the sword of sin. Burn not, O wretched one, with the fire of lust. Surrender not yourself to barbarians so as to be a prisoner, or to savage beasts that will stomp you.
2. They as roaring lions! Play not dead lest they stomp you. You will be human! It is possible through reasoned living to conquer them.
3. But the person who does nothing about all this is unworthy of being considered rational. The rational person fears Elohim. He who fears Elohim does nothing disrespectful toward Elohim.
4. He who guards himself against doing anything disrespectful keeps his guiding Walk. Though he exists on earth, he is elohim.
5. Yet the one who makes herself like elohim, who does nothing unworthy of elohim, has become as Moshiach (according to the statement of Paul).
6. For who can revere Elohim and, at the same time, not want to please to him? Piety is from the heart, and heart-felt piety identifies everyone near to Elohim.
7. The spirit that is a member of Elohim's household is kept pure, and the soul that has put on Moshiach is pure. It is impossible for such to sin. Where Moshiach is, there sin is idle.
8. Let Moshiach alone enter your world, and let him cause all powers that have come upon you to cease their work against you.
9. Let him enter that temple within you, so that he may cast out all the salesmen. Let him dwell in the temple within you, and may you become a priest and minister for him in purity.
10. Blessed are you, O spirit-man, if you find Moshiach in your temple. Blessed are you all the more if you perform his temple service.
11. You defiling the temple of Elohim, Elohim will destroy. You lay yourself open if you cast Moshiach out. For when the enemies cannot discern Moshiach in you, they will come in armed to crush you.
12. O my son, I have given you orders concerning these things many times so that you would always guard your spirit. You may not cast Moshiach out; he will cast you out.
13. If you flee from him, you will fall into great wickedness. Again, if you flee from him, you will be food for your enemies. For all base persons flee from their rabbi, and those corrupt in purity and wisdom flee from Moshiach.
14. Everyone who is separated falls into the claws of wild beasts.
15. Know Moshiach and acquire him as a friend; he is the faithful friend. He is also Elohim and Master. Elohim became like man for your sake. He broke the iron bars of the Sheol, even the bronze bolts.
16. He attacked and cast down every arrogant tyrant. He loosened the chains that had grasped him. He raised the poor from the Abyss and the mourners from Sheol.
17. He humbled the haughty powers; he put to shame conceit through humility; he cast down the strong man and the boaster by weakness; he, in his contempt, scorned honor so that humility for Elohim's sake might be highly exalted.
18. Indeed, he has put on humanity.
Zillah 11
1. And yet, the heavenly Word is Elohim, who bears patiently with humans always.
2. He wishes to produce meekness in the exalted. Moshiach, who has raised humanity, became like Elohim, not so that he might bring El down to the human level, but that humans might become like Elohim.
3. O, great good of Elohim!
O, Moshiach, Ruler, who
Showed to man El Elyon,
Melek, King, of virtue true.
4. King of Life, King of Time.
Great One of the Shamayim:
Think not on my sin in rhyme:
Hear my pleadings and redeem!
5. Moshiach showed a great zeal for YHWH. Find me a wise, powerful or intelligent person, one of many resources, because he is on familiar terms with Chochmah?
6. Let Him speak shrewdly; allow Him to boast loudly! For everyone else is a fool, having shown off out of their own knowledge only.
7. For Moshiach confounds the counsels of spiteful people and he prevails over those wise in their own understanding.
8. Who will discover the Almighty’s ways, or to speak about YHWH, or proclaim correctly? If we have not been able to understand our fellow students, how can we possibly comprehend YHWH or the Mighty of the Shamayim?
9. If we scarcely find on earth, who will find in the shamayim? But the Great El and Great Esteem has made Himself known to the world.
10. And the Life of the Great Heavenly One wishes to renew all creation so that he may cast out the weak along with every black form, so all may shine forth in heavenly garments and thus make manifest the Torah of the Father, exceedingly bright, to all; so that Moshiach may publicly crown those wishing to contend well.
11. Moshiach, being judge of the contest, is he who crowns, teaching each to contend. The One who first contended received the crown, gained dominion, then appeared, shedding light on everyone.
12. And all were made new through the Spirit and the Mind haKodeshim[16].
13. O, Almighty YHWH, how much favor shall I give?
Not a one has uttered ample yadah davarim[17]!
14. You alone esteem the Word enough for us to live
And give your yeshua[18] to everyone, O Elohim.
15. Risen from your Heart then through your mouth into our sight:
The First-born Wisdom Prototype, the First Love and First Light.
16. For Moshiach is Light from the might of YHWH, and he is a giving off of the unique radiance of El Shaddai. He is the spotless mirror of the working of El, and he is the image of his goodness.
17. For he is also the Light of the Eternal Light. He is the eye that sees the invisible Father, always serving and creating by His will.
18. He alone came to be by the good intention of Father. For he is the incomprehensible Logos[19], he is Wisdom and he is Life.
19. And he gives life and nourishes all living things and powers. Just as the spirit gives life to all the limbs, he rules all with the power of rendering life.
20. For he is the Alef and the Yod for everyone, watching over all and encompassing them.
21. He is compassionate for everyone; his compassion rejoices and mourns. He mourns for those who have chosen the place of punishment as their lot; he is troubled about every one whom he arduously drives to Torah. But he rejoices over everyone who is clean.
22. So be forewarned in case you fall somehow into the hands of bandits. Do not allow sleep to enter your eyes nor drowsiness to cover your eyelids; so that he may provide you yeshua out - like a gazelle from nets, and like a bird from a trap.
Zillah 12
1. Fight this great war as long as the war lasts, while all the powers are stalking you – not only the good, but all the powers of Satan also.
2. Woe to you if you are defeated while all watch! If you fight the war and are victorious over the enemies, you will bring great joy to all the set-apart, and great disappointment to your enemies.
3. Your Judge aids your cause in every way since He wants you to be victorious.
4. Listen, my son; do not slow-eared. Once you have left the old man behind, raise yourself up like an eagle. Revere Elohim in all your acts and esteem him through good deeds.
5. You know that everyone who is not pleasing to YHWH is a son of destruction. He will go down to the Abyss of Sheol. Yet,
6. O, this patient Elohim
bears with humans, frail;
Sinners all he would redeem,
Not one soul would he fail.
7. No one prevents Elohim from doing what he desires. For who is stronger than him, that Elohim may be prevented? Surely he touches the earth and it trembles. Do not the mountains smoke?
8. He gathered together such a great sea as in a wineskin, and has weighed it on his scales. 9. Only the hand of YHWH has accomplished these things; for the hand of the Father is Moshiach – and this hand forms everything. All have come to be by it; and it became the mother of all.
10. For Moshiach is always the Father’s Son.
11. Consider these things about El Almighty, who always exists: El was not always King for fear he might be without a mighty heir. For all dwell in Elohim since all came to be through the Word, who is the Son, the image of the Father.
12. Elohim is nearby, not far away. Only spiritual entities belong to YHWH’s household. So if the Spirit agrees with you in anything, even in part only, know also that Elohim agrees with you.
13. But YHWH is not pleased with anything evil: Elohim teaches only what is good. This is what YHWH has given to humanity so that people might be chosen before angels, even archangels.
14. For Elohim does not need to put anyone to the test. He knows all things before they happen; he knows the hidden of the heart. They are all revealed and found wanting in his presence.
15. Let no one say that Elohim is ignorant. It is wrong to think that the Creator does not know; for he knows matters hidden in darkness as though they were before him in the light.
16. Indeed, there is no other completely hidden but Elohim. Though he is revealed to everyone, he remains very hidden. He is revealed only because He knows all.
17. And if people do not wish to affirm this fact, they may eventually be corrected by their heart.
18. But now he is hidden because no one perceives his works; for it is impossible to know the counsel of YHWH unless he reveals it; and it is just as difficult as to find Moshiach.
19. For he is the One who dwells in every place and in no place. No one cares to know Elohim in actuality, nor Moshiach, nor the Spirit, nor the chorus of angels, or even the archangels, as well as the thrones of the spirits, the exalted princes, and the Great Mind.
20. If you do not know yourself, you will not be able to know any of these.
Zillah 13
1. Open the door for yourself that you may know the One who is. Knock on yourself that the Logos may open for you; for he is the Great Ruler of Faith and the Sharp Sword, having become all for all because he wishes to have mercy on all.
2. My son, prepare yourself to escape from the world-rulers of darkness and of this kind of air, air full of malevolent powers. But if you have Moshiach, you will conquer this whole world.
3. What you open, you will open. What you knock on, you will knock on, all benefiting you.
4. So help yourself, my son, by not even starting the unprofitable. First cleanse yourself of the outward life so you may be capable of cleansing the inward.
5. And be not as salesmen of YHWH’s word. Put all words to the test before you speak them.
6. Do not wish to acquire honors; they are insecure; nor the boastfulness; which is ruin.
7. Accept the Wisdom of Moshiach, the patient and mild, and fervently guard it, O my son, realizing that the Torah of Yahweh is ever profitable.
IhsouV CristoV QeoV UioV Swter ICQUS[20] Wonder Extraordinary
[1] Zillah, Silas, Silvanus, the Shadow.
[2] Elohim, El = the Mighty One, the Almighty – often mistranslated “God.”
[3] Moshiach = Messiah.
[4] Shamayim = heavens.
[5] Rabbi = great one, usually refering to a great teacher or leader..
[6] Paraclete = one who stay alongside to be an advocate or counselor.
[7] Hellebore = an attractive but poisonous flower.
[8] Malachim = angels, messengers, ruling archangels.
[9] Shamayim = the skies; also the dimension in which the Creator was thought to dwell: heaven.
[10] Gey Hinnom = the Valley of Hinnom – burning, miry trash dump south of Jerusalem, the dumping-place of the dead.
[11] Personae (Latin) = characters in the drama of life.
[12] Sheol = the pit of death.
[13] Shema = listen and do.
[14] Basilisk = legendary snake that could kill with a glance.
[15] HaShatan = Satan, the Adversary.
[16] haKodeshim = things set apart, devoted, holy.
[17] Yadah davarim = words of praise.
[18] Shua, yeshua = rescue, salvation.
[19] Logos = Word, Greek.
[20] ICQUS translated “Yahshua Anointed Son of Elohim, Savior.” Though this is an Aramaic text. The anagram and comment is Greek. The anagram, ichthus, means “fish.” The mark, anagram and comment were added to this document by a later scribe perhaps after translating to Greek.
[2] Elohim, El = the Mighty One, the Almighty – often mistranslated “God.”
[3] Moshiach = Messiah.
[4] Shamayim = heavens.
[5] Rabbi = great one, usually refering to a great teacher or leader..
[6] Paraclete = one who stay alongside to be an advocate or counselor.
[7] Hellebore = an attractive but poisonous flower.
[8] Malachim = angels, messengers, ruling archangels.
[9] Shamayim = the skies; also the dimension in which the Creator was thought to dwell: heaven.
[10] Gey Hinnom = the Valley of Hinnom – burning, miry trash dump south of Jerusalem, the dumping-place of the dead.
[11] Personae (Latin) = characters in the drama of life.
[12] Sheol = the pit of death.
[13] Shema = listen and do.
[14] Basilisk = legendary snake that could kill with a glance.
[15] HaShatan = Satan, the Adversary.
[16] haKodeshim = things set apart, devoted, holy.
[17] Yadah davarim = words of praise.
[18] Shua, yeshua = rescue, salvation.
[19] Logos = Word, Greek.
[20] ICQUS translated “Yahshua Anointed Son of Elohim, Savior.” Though this is an Aramaic text. The anagram and comment is Greek. The anagram, ichthus, means “fish.” The mark, anagram and comment were added to this document by a later scribe perhaps after translating to Greek.
THE DOCTRINE OF ADDAI, THE APOSTLE.
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THE letter of king Abgar,2 the son of king Ma'nu, and at what time he sent it to our Lord at Jerusalem; and at what time Addai the Apostle came to him (Abgar) at Edessa;3 and what he spake in the gospel of his preaching; and what he said and commanded, when he went forth from, this world, to those who had received from him the hand of the priesthood.
In the three hundred and forty and third year of the kingdom of the Greeks,4 and in the reign of our lord Tiberius, the Roman Emperor, and in the reign of king Abgar, son of king Ma'nu, in the month of October, on the twelfth day, Abgar Ukkama sent Marihab and Shamshagram,5 chiefs and honoured persons of his kingdom, |2 and Hannan6 the tabularius, the sharrir, with them, to the city which is called Eleutheropolis, but in Aramaic Beth-gubrin,7 to the honoured Sabinus, the son of Eustorgius, the deputy of our lord the emperor, who ruled over Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and the whole country of Mesopotamia. They brought him letters concerning the affairs of the kingdom; and when they went to him, he received them with joy and honour, and they were with him twenty and five days. He wrote for them a reply8 to the letters, and sent them to Abgar the king. When they went forth from him, they set out and came on the way towards Jerusalem; and they saw many men, who came from a distance to see Christ, because the fame of his wonderful deeds had gone forth to remote countries. When Marihab, Shamshagram, and Hannan, the keeper of the archives, saw the men, they also came with them to Jerusalem. When they entered |3 Jerusalem, they saw Christ, and they rejoiced with the multitudes, who were joined to Him. But they saw also the Jews, who were standing in groups, and were considering what they should do to Him; for they were disturbed to see that a multitude of their people confessed Him. And they were there in Jerusalem ten days, and Hannan, the keeper of the archives, wrote down everything which he saw that Christ did; also the rest of that done by Him, before they went thither. And they departed and came to Edessa, and entered into the presence of Abgar the king, their lord, who had sent them, and they gave him the reply of the letters, which they had brought with them. After the letters were read, they began to recount before the king all which they had seen and all which Christ had done in Jerusalem. And Hannan, the keeper of the archives, read before him all which he had written and brought with him; and when Abgar the king heard, he was astonished and wondered, as also his princes, who stood before him. Abgar said to them: These mighty works are not of men, but of God; because there is not any one who can make the dead alive, but God only. And Abgar wished himself to pass over and go to Palestine, and see with his own eyes all which Christ was doing; but because he was not able to pass through the country of the Romans, which was not his, lest this cause should call forth bitter enmity, he wrote a letter and sent it to Christ by the hand of Hannan, the keeper of the archives. He went forth from Edessa on the fourteenth day of Adar,9 and entered Jerusalem on the twelfth day of Nisan,10 on the fourth day of the week (Wednesday). And he found Christ at the house of |4 Gamaliel, the chief priest11 of the Jews. The letter was read before Him, which was written thus:----"Abgar Ukkama, to Jesus, the Good Physician, who has appeared in the country of Jerusalem. My Lord: Peace. I have heard of Thee and of Thy healing, that it is not by medicines and roots Thou healest, but by Thy word Thou openest the eyes of the blind, Thou makest the lame to walk, cleansest the lepers, and makest the deaf to hear. And unclean spirits12 and lunatics, and those tormented, them Thou healest by Thy word; Thou also raisest the dead. And when I heard of these great wonders which Thou doest, I decided in my mind that either Thou art God, who hast come down from heaven and doest these things, or Thou art the Son of God, who doest all these things. Therefore, I have written to request of Thee to come to me who adore Thee, and to heal the disease which I have, as I believe in Thee. This also I have heard, that the Jews murmur against Thee and persecute Thee, and even seek to crucify Thee, and contemplate treating Thee cruelly. I possess one small and beautiful city, and it is sufficient for both to dwell in it in quietness."
When Jesus received the letter at the house of the chief priest of the Jews, He said to Hannan, the keeper of the archives: "Go and say to thy lord, who hath sent thee to Me, 'Blessed art thou, who, although thou hast not seen Me, believest in Me, for it is written of Me, Those who see Me will not believe in Me, and those who see Me not, will believe in me.13 But as to that which |5 thou hast written to Me, that I should come to thee, that for which I was sent here is now finished, and I am going up to my Father, who sent me, and when I have gone up to Him, I will send to thee one of my disciples, who will cure the disease which thou hast, and restore thee to health; and all who are with thee he will convert to everlasting life. Thy city shall be blessed, and no enemy shall again become master of it for ever.'"
When Hannan, the keeper of the archives, saw that Jesus spake thus to him, by virtue of being the king's painter, he took and painted a likeness of Jesus with choice paints, and brought with him to Abgar the king, his master. And when Abgar the king saw the likeness, he received it with great joy, and placed it with great honour in one of his palatial houses. Hannan, the keeper of the archives, related to him everything which he had heard from Jesus, as His words were put by him in writing. After that Christ had ascended to heaven, Judas Thomas14 sent to Abgar, Addai the Apostle, who was one of the seventy-two Apostles. And when Addai came to the city of Edessa, he dwelt at the house of |6 Tobias,15 son of Tobias the Jew, who was of Palestine. Through all the city a report was heard of him, and one of the nobles of Abgar whose name was Abdu,16 the son of Abdu, one of those who sat with bended knees 17 before Abgar, went and said concerning Addai: behold, a messenger has come, and dwells here, he of whom Jesus sent to thee, "I send to Thee one of my disciples." And when Abgar heard these words, and the mighty acts which Addai did, and the wonderful cures which he effected, he thought for certain in his mind: Truly this is he whom Jesus sent, saying, "When I have ascended to heaven I will send to thee one of my disciples, and he will cure thy disease." And Abgar sent and called for Tobias, and said to him, I have heard that a certain powerful man has come, and dwells in thy house. Bring him up to me; a good hope of recovery through him has been found for me. Tobias went early on the next day and took Addai the Apostle, and brought him up to Abgar, Addai himself knowing that by the power of God he was sent to him. And when Addai came up and went to Abgar, his nobles standing with him, and in going towards him, a wonderful vision was seen by Abgar in the face of Addai. At the moment that Abgar saw the vision, he fell down and worshipped Addai. Great astonishment seized all those who were standing before him, for they saw not the vision which |7 was seen by Abgar. Then Abgar said to Addai, "Of a truth thou art the disciple of Jesus, that mighty one, the son of God, who sent to me saying I send thee one of my disciples for healing and for life." Addai said to him, "Because that from the beginning thou didst believe in Him who sent me to thee, therefore have I been sent to thee, and if thou believest in Him, everything in which thou dost believe thou shalt have." Abgar said to him, "So have I believed in Him, that with respect to those Jews who crucified Him, I desire to take with me an army, and to go and destroy them; but because the kingdom belongs to the Romans, I was restrained by the covenant of peace, which was confirmed by me with our lord the emperor Tiberius, like my forefathers." Addai said to him, "Our Lord has fulfilled the will of His Father. And when He had completed the will of His Parent, He was taken up to His Father, and sat with Him in glory, with whom he was from eternity." Abgar said to him: "I also believe in Him and in His Father." Addai said to him:18 "Because that thou so believest, I place my hand on thee, in the name of Him in whom thou believest."
At the moment that he placed his hand upon him, he was cured of the plague of the disease, which he had had for a long time.19 Abgar wondered and was astonished, |8 that as it was reported to him concerning Jesus, that which He did and cured; so also Addai himself, without medicine of any kind, healed in the name of Jesus. And also with respect to Abdu, the son of Abdu, he had the gout in his feet, and he too brought his feet near him, and he (Addai) placed his hand upon them and healed him; and he had not the gout again. And also in all the city he wrought great cures, and showed wonderful mighty works in it. Abgar said to him: "Now that every man knoweth that by the power of Jesus Christ thou doest these wonderful works, and behold we are wondering at thy works, I require therefore of thee, that thou wouldest recount to us concerning the coining of Christ, how it was, and concerning His glorious power, and concerning those miracles which we have heard that He did, which thou hast seen with the rest of thy companions." Addai said to him: "I will not keep silent from declaring this; for because of this I was sent here to speak and to teach every one, who, like thee, is willing to believe. Tomorrow assemble for me all the city, that I may sow in it the Word of Life, by the preaching which I will preach before you concerning the coming of Christ, how it was, and concerning His glorious power, and concerning Him that sent Him, for what and how He sent Him, and concerning His power and His wonderful works, and concerning the glorious mysteries of His coming, which He spake in the world, and concerning the certitude of His preaching, how and for what He abased Himself, and humbled His exalted |9 divinity by the body, which He took, and was crucified and descended to the house of the dead, and cleaved the wall of partition, which had never been cleft, and gave life to the dead by being Himself slain, and descended by Himself, and ascended with many to His glorious Father, with whom He was from, eternity in one exalted divinity. And Abgar commanded that they should deliver to Addai silver and gold. Addai said to him: "How are we able to receive anything which is not ours? for, behold, that which was ours we have forsaken, as we were commanded by our Lord to be without purses and without scrips, and carrying crosses upon our shoulders, we were commanded to preach His Gospel to the whole creation: the whole creation felt and suffered by His crucifixion, which was for us, for the salvation of all men. And he narrated before Abgar the king, and before his princes and his nobles, and before Augustina, the mother of Abgar, and before Shalmath, the daughter of Meherdath, the wife of Abgar,20 the signs of our Lord and His wonders, and the glorious miracles which He wrought, and His divine triumphs, and His ascension to His Father; and how they received powers and authorities at the time that He ascended, by which same power he had healed Abgar and Abdu, the son of Abdu, the second person of his kingdom; and how he made them know that which would be revealed at the end of times, and in the consummation of all creatures, and the resuscitation and resurrection, which is about to be for all men, and the separation which is to be between the sheep and |10 the goats, and between the faithful and the unbelieving. And he said to them: "Because that the gate of life is strait and the way of truth is narrow, therefore few are the believers of truth, and in the power of unbelief is Satan's recreation. Because of this there are many liars, who cause to err those who look on. For except that there is a good end for faithful men, our Lord had not descended from heaven, and come to the birth, and to the suffering of death, and also He had not sent us21 to be His preachers and evangelists. Those things which we saw and heard from Him, which He did and taught, we confidently preach before all men; for we would not do any wrong with respect to the truth of His Gospel. And not these things only; but also those which were done in His Name, after His ascension, we show and preach.
I will tell before you that which happened and was done in the presence of men, who, as you, believed in Christ, that He is the Son of the living God. Protonice, the wife of the Emperor Claudius,22 whom Tiberius made second23 in his kingdom, when he went to make war with the Spaniards, who had rebelled against him, this woman, when Simon, one of the disciples, was in the city of Rome, and she saw the signs and wonders, and |11 marvellous works which he did in the name of Christ; denied the paganism of her fathers in which she was brought up, and the idolatrous images which she had worshipped; and she believed in Christ our Lord, and worshipped Him, and praised with those who were joined unto Simon, and held Him in great honour. After this she wished also to see Jerusalem, and those places in which the mighty works of our Lord were done. So she arose promptly and descended from Rome to Jerusalem, she24 and her two sons with her, and her one virgin daughter.
When she was entering Jerusalem, the city went forth to meet her, and they received her with great honour, as that which is due to the queen, the mistress of the great country of the Romans. But James, who was made director and ruler in the church which was built for us there, when he had heard for what purpose she had gone there, arose and went to her. And he entered into her presence where she was dwelling, in the royal great palace of king Herod. When she saw him, she received him with great joy, as also she had Simon Peter. He also showed her cures and mighty works as did Simon, and she said to him: "Show me Golgotha, on which Christ was crucified, and the wood of His cross on which He was suspended by the Jews, and the grave in which |12 He was placed.'' James said to her: "These three things which thy Majesty wishes to see are under the control of the Jews. They possess them, and permit us not to go to pray there before Golgotha and the grave, and neither the wood of His cross will they give us. And not only this, but they also severely persecute us, that we may not publish and preach in the name of Christ, and many times also they bind us in prison." When she heard these things, the queen immediately commanded, and they brought before her Onias, the son of Hannan the priest, and Gedalia, son of Caiaphas, and Judah the son of Ebed Shalom, chiefs and rulers of the Jews. And she said to them: "Deliver up Golgotha, and the grave, and the wood of the cross, to James, and those who agree with him, and let no man forbid them to minister there according to the custom of their ministry." And when she had so commanded the priests, she arose to go and see these places, and she also delivered that place to James, and those who were with him. Afterwards she entered the grave, and found in the grave three crosses, one of our Lord, and two of those robbers, who were crucified with Him, on His right hand and on His left. And at the time that she entered into the grave----she and her children with her----at that instant her virgin daughter fell down and died, without pain, without disease, and without any cause of death. And when the queen saw that her daughter had died suddenly, she kneeled and prayed within the grave, and said in her prayer: "God, who gave Himself to death for all men, and was crucified in this place, and was laid in this grave; and as God, who keepeth alive all, has risen, and made many to rise with Him, lest the Jews, the crucifiers, should hear----and also the erring heathens, whose |13 idols and graven images, and the terrors of paganism, I have denied----and they see me, deride me, and say that all this which has happened to her is because that she denied the gods, which she did worship, and confessed Christ, whom she knew not, and went to honour the place of His grave and His crucifixion; and if, O my Lord, I am not worthy to be heard, because that I have worshipped creatures instead of Thee; spare Thou, for the sake of Thy adorable Name, that it may not be blasphemed in this place, as they blasphemed Thee at Thy crucifixion." She said these things in her prayer, and, in the excitement of her supplication, she repeated them before all those who were there. Her eldest son approached her, and said to her: "Hear that which I shall say before thy Majesty. I think thus in my mind and in my thought, that this death of this my sister, which was sudden, was not for nought; but this is a wonderful work, in which God will be praised, and not that His Name will be blasphemed, as those thought, who heard it. Behold, we enter the grave and find in it three crosses, and we know not which of them is the cross on which Christ was suspended. In the death of this my sister, we may be able to see and to learn which is the cross of Christ, for Christ is not neglectful of those who believe in Him, and seek Him." And the queen Protonice----her soul was very sad at this time----saw in her mind that her son spake these things wisely, justly and rightly. And with her hands she took hold of one of the crosses and placed it upon the dead body of her daughter, which lay before her, and she said in her prayer: "O God, who hast shown wonderful works in this place, as we hear and believe, if this cross, O Lord, be Thine, and on it Thy humanity was suspended by the insolent, show the strong |14 and mighty power of Thy divinity, which dwells in the humanity, and restore to life this my daughter, that she may arise, and Thy Name be glorified in her. May her soul return to her body, that Thy crucifiers may be confounded and Thy worshippers may rejoice! And she waited a long time after she had spoken thus. Afterwards she took that cross from the dead body of her daughter, and placed another, and also said in her prayer:
"O God, by whose nod worlds and creatures endure, and wishing the life of all men that they may be turned to Him, and is not neglectful of the petition of those who seek Him, if this cross be Thine, O Lord, show the power of Thy triumphs as Thou art accustomed, and restore to life this my daughter, that she may arise, and the heathens, worshipping Thy creatures instead of Thee, may be confounded, and the faithful and the true may confess, that their mouth may be opened to Thy praise before those who deny Thee!" And she waited a long time after these things, and took the second cross from her daughter; and she took the third cross and placed it upon her daughter. And as she was going to lift up her eyes to heaven, and to open her mouth in prayer, at that moment, at that time, in the twinkling of an eye, that, the cross touched the dead body of her daughter, her daughter became alive, and she arose suddenly, and praised God, who had restored her to life by His cross. But the queen Protonice, when she saw how her daughter became alive, trembled, and was greatly alarmed, but though alarmed she glorified Christ, and believed in Him, that He was the Son of the living God. Her son said to her: "My lady, thou seest that if this had not occurred today, it might have happened that they would have left this cross of Christ, by which my |15 sister became alive, and have taken and honoured that of one of those murderous thieves. Now, behold, we see and rejoice, and Christ, who has done this thing, is glorified in her."25 And she took the cross of Christ, and gave it to James, that it might be kept with great honour. She also commanded that a great and splendid building should be erected over Golgotha, on which He was crucified, and over the grave in which He was placed, so that these places might be honoured; and that there should be there a place of assembly for prayer, and a gathering for service.
But the queen, when she saw the whole population of the city, which she had collected for the sight of this work, she commanded that, without the covering of honour worn by queens, her daughter should go with her unveiled to the palace of the king, in which she dwelt, so that every one might see her and praise God. But the people of the Jews and the Gentiles, who rejoiced at the beginning of this occurrence, and were glad, became very sad at the end of it. For they would have been well pleased if this had not occurred, for they saw on account of this many believed in Christ; and especially when they saw that the miracles, which were done in His Name after His ascension, were many more than those which were done before His ascension. And the fame of this deed which was done went forth to |16 distant countries, and also to the Apostles, my companions, who preached Christ. And there was rest in the churches of Jerusalem, and the cities round about it; and those who saw not this deed, with those who did see it, praised God. And when the queen went up from Jerusalem to the city of Rome, every city which she entered pressed to see the sight of her daughter. And when she had entered Eome, she recounted before the Emperor Claudius those things which had happened; and when the Emperor heard, he commanded that all the Jews should go forth from the country of Italy. In all that country this deed was spoken of by many, and also before Simon Peter this was recounted, which was done. "Whatsoever also the Apostles, companions, did, we preach before every man, that those who do not know may likewise hear those things which, by our hand, Christ did openly, that our Lord might be glorified by every man. These things which I repeat before you are told, that ye may know and understand how great is the faith of Christ among those who truly join themselves to Him.
But James, the director of the Church of Jerusalem, who with his own eyes saw the deed, gave a written account, and sent it to the Apostles, my companions, in the cities of their countries. And also the Apostles themselves gave written accounts, and made known to James whatsoever that Christ had done by their hands, and these were read before all the multitude of the people of the church.
But when Abgar the king heard these things, he and Augustina, his mother, and Shalmath, the daughter of Meherdath, and Paqыr26 and Abdshemesh, and |17 Shamshagram, and Abdu, and Azzai and Bar-kalba, with the rest of their companions, rejoiced exceedingly, and all of them glorified God, and made their confession in Christ. Abgar the king said to Addai: "I wish that everything which we have heard from thee today, and the rest also of the other things, thou wouldst tell openly before all the city, that every man may hear the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, which thou teachest to us, that he may rest and be confirmed in the doctrine which thou teachest to us, that many may understand that I believed rightly in Christ, in the Letter which I sent to Him, and may know that He is God, the Son of God, and thou art His true and faithful disciple, and that thou showest by works His glorious power before those who wish to believe in Him. The day after, Abgar commanded Abdu, the son of Abdu, who was healed of a sore disease of his feet, to send a herald, that he may proclaim in all the city that the whole population may be assembled, men and women, at the place which is called Beththabara, the wide space of the house of Avida,27 the son of Abd-nachad, that they might hear the doctrine of Addai the Apostle, and how he taught, and in the name of whom he cured, and by what power he wrought these miracles, and those wonders he did. For when he healed Abgar the king, it was the nobles only who stood before him, and saw him, when he healed him by the word of Christ, whom many physicians were not able to heal, but a stranger cured him by the faith of Christ.
And when all the city were assembled, men and women, as the king had commanded, Avida and Labbu, and |18 Chaphsai, and Bar-Kalba, and Labubna,28 and Chesrun,29 and Shamshagram stood there, with their companions, who as they were princes and nobles of the king, and commanders, and all the workmen and the artisans and the Jews and Gentiles who were in this city, and strangers of the countries of Soba and Harran, and the rest of the inhabitants of all this country of Mesopotamia, all of them stood to hear the doctrine of Addai; concerning whom they had heard; that he was the disciple of Jesus, who was crucified in Jerusalem, and he effected cures in His name. And Addai began to speak to them thus:
"Hear, all of you, and understand that which I speak before you; that I am not a physician of medicines and roots, of the art of the sons of men; but I am the disciple of Jesus Christ, the Physician of troubled souls, and the Saviour of future life, the Son of God, who came down from heaven, and was clothed with a body and became man; and He gave Himself and was crucified for all men. And when He was suspended on the wood, the sun He made dark in the firmament; and when He had entered the grave, He arose and went forth from the grave with many. And those who guarded the grave saw not how He went forth from the grave; but the angels of heaven |19 were the preachers and publishers of His resurrection, who if He had not wished, had not died, because that He is the Lord of death, the exit of all things.30 And except it had pleased Him,He had not again clothed Himself with a body, for He is Himself the framer of the body. For the will which inclined Him to the birth from a virgin, also made Him condescend to the suffering of death, and He humbled the majesty of His exalted divinity, 31 who was with His Father from eternity, He of whom Prophets of old spake in their mysteries; and they represented images of His birth, and His suffering, and His resurrection, and His ascension to His Father, and of His sitting at the right hand. And, behold, He is worshipped by celestial spirits, and by the inhabitants of the earth, He who is worshipped from eternity. For although His was the appearance of men, His might, and His knowledge, and His power were of God Himself; as He said to us, 32 Behold, now is the son of man glorified, and God glorifies Himself in Him, by miracles and by wonders, and by honour of being at the right hand. But His body is the pure vestment of His glorious divinity, by which we are able to see His invisible Lordship. This Jesus Christ, therefore, we preach and publish, and, with Him, we praise His Father, and we extol and worship the Spirit of His |20 divinity, because that we were thus commanded by Him, to baptize and absolve those who believe in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Also the Prophets of old spake thus: that 'The Lord our God and His Spirit hath sent us.'33 And if I speak anything which is not written in the Prophets, the Jews, who are standing among you and hear me, will not receive it; and if, again, I make mention of the name of Christ over those who have sufferings and diseases, and they are not healed by this glorious name, they, worshipping the work of their hands, will not believe. If now these things be written, which we say, in the Books of the Prophets,34 and we are able to show the healing powers upon the sick, not a man will look on us without discerning the faith35 which we preach, that God was crucified for all men. If there be those who do not wish to acquiesce in these words, let them draw near to us, and reveal to us what is their mind, that as a disease of their mind we may apply healing medicine for the cure of their wound. For although ye were not present at the time of the suffering of Christ, yet because of the sun, which was dark, and ye saw it, learn and understand concerning the great hororr there was at the time of the crucifixion of |21 Him whose Gospel has flown over all the earth, by the miracles which His disciples, my companions, are working in all the earth. And those who were Hebrews, and knew only the Hebrew tongue in which they were born, behold to day speak in all languages, that those who are far off, as those who are nigh, might hear and believe that He is the same, who confounded36 the tongues of the impious in this district, which lies before us; He it is who to day teaches through us the faith of truth and verity, by humble and wretched men, who were from Galilee of Palestine. For I also, whom ye see, am from Paneas,37 from where the river Jordan goes forth. And I was chosen, with my companions, to be a preacher38 of this Gospel, by which, behold, the regions everywhere resound with the glorious name of the adorable Christ. Let, therefore, no man of you harden his heart against the truth and keep his mind at a distance from verity. Be ye not led captive after thoughts destructively erroneous, which are full of the despair of a bitter death.39 Be ye not taken by the evil customs of the paganism of your fathers, and so keep yourselves at a distance from the life of truth and verity, which are in Christ. For those who believe in Him are those who are trusted before Him, who descended to us by His favour, to make to cease from the earth the sacrifices of heathenism, and the offerings |22 of idolatry; that creatures should no longer be worshipped; but we should worship Him and His Father, with His Holy Spirit.40 For I, as my Lord commanded me, behold, I preach and I publish. And His silver on the table, behold I cast before you, and the seed of His word I sow in the ears of every man. Those who wish to receive, theirs is the good reward of confession; and those who do not obey, against them I scatter the dust of my feet, as my Lord commanded me. Turn ye, therefore, my beloved, from evil ways and from hateful deeds, and turn yourselves to Him with a good and honest will, as He turned Himself to you with His grace and His rich mercies. And be ye not as the generations of old, which are passed, who, because that they hardened their heart against the fear of God, received punishment openly; that they may be chastised, and those who came after them may tremble and fear. For that for which our Lord came into the world was altogether41 to teach and show that at the end of created things is a resurrection for all men. And at that time their acts of conduct will be represented on their own persons, and their bodies become volumes for the written things of justice, and there will not be he who knoweth not writing; because that every man shall read the letters of his own book42 at that day, and the account of his actions he taketh with the fingers of his hands. Thus the unlettered will know the new writing of the new language, and there is not he who will say to his fellow, Read me this, because that one doctrine and one instruction shall reign over all men. |23
Let this thought, therefore, be represented before your eyes, and let it not pass from your mind, because that if it pass from your mind, it passeth not from Justice.43 Seek mercies from God, that He may pardon the hateful infidelity of your paganism, for ye have forsaken Him who created you upon the face of the earth, and makes His rain to descend and His sun to rise upon you, and ye worship, instead of Him, His works. For the idols and graven images of paganism, and whatsoever of the creation in which ye have confidence and which ye worship, if there were in them feeling and understanding, for the sake of which ye worship and honour them, it would be right for them, which ye have engraven and established, and have firmly fixed with nails that they be not shaken, to receive your favour. For if the creatures were aware of your honours to them, they would cry, shouting to you, not to worship your fellows, which like yourselves are made and created; because that creatures made should not be worshipped; but that they should worship their Creator, and they should glorify Him who created them. And as His grace covers the wicked here,44 so His justice shall be avenged on the infidels there. For I saw in this city that it abounded greatly in paganism, which is against God. Who is this Nebo,45 an idol made which ye worship, |24 and Bel,46 which ye honour? Behold, there are those among you who adore Bath Nical,47 as the inhabitants of Harran your neighbours, and Taratha,48 as the people of Mabug, and the eagle, as the Arabians, also the sun and the moon,as the rest of the inhabitants of Harran, who are as yourselves. |25 Be ye not led away captive by the rays of the luminaries and the bright star; for every one who worships creatures is cursed before God. For although there are among creatures such as are greater than their companions, yet they are fellow-servants of their companions, as I have said to you. For this is a bitter pain, for which there is not a cure, that things made should worship things made, and creatures should glorify their fellows. For as they are not able to stand by the power of themselves, but by the power of Him who created them, so they are not able to be worshipped with Him, nor to be honoured with Him; for it is a blasphemy against both parties, against the creatures when they are worshipped, and against the Creator, when the creatures, who are strangers to the nature of His existence, are made partakers with Him. For all the prophecy of the Prophets, and the preaching of us who are after the Prophets, is this, that creatures should not be worshipped with the Creator, and that men should not bind themselves to the yoke of corrupt paganism. It is not because of the creatures being seen, I say, that they should not be worshipped; but everything which is made is a creature, whether visible or invisible. This is a horrible wickedness, to place the glorious name of divinity upon it. For not creatures, as you, we proclaim and worship; but the Lord of creatures. The earthquake, which made them tremble at the Cross, testifies that everything which is made depends on and exists by the power of its Maker, who was before worlds and creatures, whose nature is incomprehensible, in that His nature is invisible, and, with His Father, is sanctified in the heights above, for that He is Lord and God from eternity. This is our doctrine in every country and in every region. And so |26 have we been commanded to preach to those who hear us, not violently, but by the teaching of the truth and by the power of God. And the miracles which were done in His name, testify concerning our faith, that it is true and to be believed. Be obedient, therefore, to my words, and receive that which I have said, and am saying before you; and that I may not require your death, behold, I warn you to be very cautious. Receive my words fitly, and do not neglect. Draw nigh to me ye my distant ones from Christ, and be near to Christ. And in the place Of erroneous sacrifices and oblations, offer now to Him the sacrifices of thanksgiving.
What is this great altar which ye have built in the midst of this city? and what are those going and coming offering upon it to demons, and sacrificing on it to devils? But if ye know not the Scriptures, doth not nature itself teach you, by its power of sight, that your idols have eyes and see not? And ye 49 who see with eyes in that ye do not understand, ye are also as they who see not and hear not, and in vain you excite your voices, ineffective to deaf ears. For they are not to be complained of for that which they do not hear, because that by nature they are deaf and dumb. And the blame with which justice is involved is yours, for ye do not wish to understand, even that which ye see. For the thick darkness of error, which is spread over your mind, permits you not to acquire the heavenly light, which is the understanding of knowledge. Flee, therefore, from things made and created, as I have said unto you, that in name only are they called gods, though they are not gods in their nature; and draw near to Him, who in His nature is |27 God from eternity and from everlasting, and is not made as your idols, and also not a creature, and a work of art as the images in which ye make your boast. Because that although He put on this body, He was God with His Father; for the works of creation, which trembled when He was slain, and were terrified by the suffering of His death, they testify that He is He who created the works of creation. For it was not for a man the earth shook, but for Him who established the earth upon the waters; and it was not for a man the sun became dark in the heavens, but for Him who made the great lights. And it was not by a man the righteous and the just were raised to life, but by Him who gave power over death from the beginning. Nor was it by a man the vail of the temple of the Jews was rent from the top to the bottom, but by Him who said to them, 'Behold, your house is left desolate.'50 For, behold, except they who crucified Him knew that He was the Son of God, they would not have proclaimed the desolation of their city, also they would not have brought down woes upon themselves. For even if they wished to neglect this confession, the terrible commotions which were at that time would not have permitted them. Behold also some of the children of the crucifiers have become at this day preachers and evangelists, with the Apostles my companions, in all the land of Palestine and among the Samaritans, and in all the country of the Philistines. The idols of paganism also are despised, and the Cross of Christ is honoured. Peoples and creatures also confess God, who became man. If truly when Jesus our Lord was upon earth ye believed in Him that He is the Son of God, and before that ye had heard the word of |28 His preaching, confessed in Him that He is God; now that He has ascended to His Father, and ye have seen the signs and wonders which are done in His name, and the word of His Gospel ye have heard with your ears; not a man of you should let himself doubt in his mind how the promise of His blessing which He sent to you would have been established with you: "Blessed are ye who have believed in me, although ye have not seen me; and because ye have so believed in me the city in which ye dwell shall be blessed, and the enemy shall not prevail against it for ever."51 Do not, therefore, turn from His faith; for, behold, ye have heard and seen those things which bear witness to His faith, that He is the adorable Son, and is the glorious God, and is the triumphant King, and is the Omnipotent Power; and by His true faith a man is able to acquire the eye of the true mind, and to perceive that every one who worships creatures, the wrath of justice overtakes him.
For everything which we say before you, we say as we have received of the gift of our Lord, and we teach and we show how to possess your life, and not destroy your spirits by the error of paganism; because that the heavenly light hath risen upon creation, and He it is, who hath chosen the ancient fathers and the just men and the Prophets, and hath spoken with them by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. For He is the God of the Jews, who crucified Him, and the erring Gentiles also worship Him, though they know it not; because that there is no |29 other God in heaven and in earth, and behold confession ascendeth up to Him from the four quarters of the earth. Behold now your ears have heard that which was not heard by you before, and behold, again, your eyes have seen that which was never seen by you before. Be ye not therefore unjust to that which ye have heard and seen. Cause to pass from you the rebellious mind of your fathers, and free yourselves from the yoke of sin, which hath dominion over you by libations and sacrifices before graven images. Let it be a care to you concerning your perishing lives, and concerning the vain bowing of your head, and acquire the new mind which worships the Maker and not the thing made, in which is represented the image of truth and verity, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, when ye believe and are baptized in the triple and glorious names. For this is our doctrine and our preaching. For it is not in many things that the truth of Christ is believed. And such of you as are willing to be obedient to Christ, know that many times I have repeated my words before you, that ye might learn and understand whatsoever ye hear. And we will rejoice in this, as a husbandman in his field which is blessed; and our God is glorified by your repentance towards Him. And as ye live in this, we also who counsel you thus will not be defrauded of the blessed reward of this. And because I am confident that ye are a blessed land, according to the will of the Lord Christ, therefore for the dust of my feet which we have been commanded 52 to shake off against the city that receiveth not our words; behold I shake off to-day at the door of your ears the words of my lips, in which the |30 coming of Christ is represented, that which has been, and that which is about to be, and the resurrection and resuscitation of all men, and the separation which is to be between the faithful and unbelieving, and the blessed promise of future joys which they who have believed in Christ and worshipped His high Father, and confessed Him and the Spirit of His godhead, shall receive. And now it is right for us to finish our present discourse, and let those who have received the word of Christ remain with us, and also those who wish to be associated, with us in prayer, and then let them go to their homes."
And Addai the Apostle rejoiced in this when he saw that the multitude of the population of the city remained with him, and there were few who did not remain at that time; and these same few, after a few days, received his words and believed in the gospel of the preaching of Christ.
And when Addai the Apostle had said these things before all the city of Edessa, and Abgar the king saw that all the city rejoiced in his doctrine, men and women equally, and were saying to him "Christ, who hath sent thee to us is true and faithful," and he also greatly rejoiced at this, praising God, that according to what he had heard from Hannan, his tabularius, concerning Christ, so he had seen the marvellous mighty works which Addai the Apostle had done in the name of Christ. And Abgar the king also said to Addai the Apostle, As I sent to Christ by my letter to Him; and as He also sent to me and I have received from thee thyself this day; so will I believe all the days of my life, and in the same things continue, exulting, because I know that there is no other power in the name of whom these signs and wonders are done, but by the power of Christ, whom thou preachest in truth and verity. And now I will worship Him, |31 I and Ma'nu,53 my son, and Augustina, and Shalmath the queen. And now, wherever thou wishest, build a church, a house of assembly for those who have believed, and shall believe in thy words. And, as commanded thee by thy Lord, minister thou at times with confidence. And those who are teachers with thee of this Gospel, I am prepared to deliver to them large gifts, that they may not have any other work with the ministry. Everything also which is required by thee for the expenses of the house, I will give thee without taking account; thy word shall be powerful and have rule in this city, and without another man, have thou authority to enter into my presence in my royal palace of honour.
And when Abgar the king went down to his royal palace, he rejoiced, he and his princes with him, Abdu and Garmai, and Shamshagram, and Abubai, and Meherdath, with the rest of their companions, at everything which their eyes had seen, and their ears had heard, and in the joy of their heart they also praised God, who had turned their mind to Him; they renounced the paganism in which they stood, and confessed the Gospel of Christ. And when Addai had built a church, they offered in it vows and offerings, they and the people of the city, and there they worshipped all the days of their life.
And Avida 54 and Bar-kalba who were chiefs and rulers, and clothed with royal headbands 55, drew near to Addai, and they asked Addai concerning the |32 history of Christ, to tell them how that He being God was seen by them, as man, and how ye were able to see Him. And he satisfied them all concerning this, concerning all which their eyes had seen, and concerning all which their ears had heard of Him. And every thing which the Prophets had said of Him, he repeated before them, and they received his words gladly and faithfully, and there was not a man who rose up against him. For the glorious things which he did permitted not a man to rise up against him.
Shavida and Ebednebo, chiefs of the priests of this city, with Piroz 56 and Dancu 57 their companions, when they saw the signs which he did, ran and threw down the altars upon which they sacrificed before Nebo and Bel their gods, except the great altar, which was in the midst of the city, and they cried out and said, that this is truly the disciple of the distinguished and glorious Master of whom we heard all those things, which He did in the country of Palestine. And all who believed in Christ, Addai received, and baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And those who were accustomed to worship stones and stocks, sat at his feet, learning, and being corrected of the plague of the foolishness of paganism. The Jews also, conversant with the Law and the Prophets, who carried on |33 merchandise in silks, 58 were also persuaded and became disciples, and made confession in Christ, that He is the Son of the living God. But neither Abgar the king, nor Addai the Apostle pressed any man by force to believe in Christ; because without the force of man, the force of the signs compelled many to believe in Him. And all this country of Mesopotamia, and all the regions round about it received his doctrine with love.
But Aggai made the chains 59 and headbands of the king, and Palut and Abshelama 60 and Barsamya with the rest of the others their companions, adhered to Addai the Apostle, and he received them and made them partakers with him in the ministry; they read in the Old Testament 61 and the New, and the Prophets, and the Acts of the Apostles, every day they meditated on them. He commanded them cautiously, "Let your bodies be pure, and let your persons be holy; as is right for men who stand before the altar of God; and be ye indeed far |34 removed from false swearing, and from wicked murder, and from false testimony, which is mixed with adultery, and from sorcerers with respect to whom there are no mercies, and from divinations, and soothsaying, and necromancers, and from fates, and nativities, in which the erring Chaldees boast themselves; and from stars, and the signs of the Zodiac, in which the foolish are confident. And keep at a distance from you evil hypocrisy, and bribes, and gifts, by which the pure are condemned. And with this ministry to which ye have been called, let there not be for you another service; for the Lord Himself is the service of your ministry all the days of your life. Be ye also diligent to deliver the sign of baptism, and love ye not the gains of this world, but hearken ye to judgment with justice and truth. And be ye not a stumbling block to the blind, that the name of Him who opened the eyes of the blind, as we have seen, be not blasphemed through you. Let all, therefore, who see you, perceive that ye perform all which ye preach and teach. And they ministered with him in the church which Addai had built by the word and command of Abgar the king, and they were supplied from that which was the king's and his nobles; and some of them they brought for the house of God, and some for the nourishment of the poor. But a large multitude of people assembled day by day and came to the prayer of the service, and to the reading of the Old and New Testament, of the Diatessaron, 62 and they believed in the revival of the dead, and |35 they buried their dead in the hope of the resurrection. They also observed the festivals of the Church in their times, and every day they were constant in the vigils of the Church, and they likewise performed acts of charity to the sick and those who were whole, according to the instruction of Addai to them. And in places round about the city churches were built, and the hand of the priesthood many received from him: So also orientals with the appearance of merchants passed into the country of the Romans to see the signs which Addai did, and those of them who became disciples, received from them 63 the hand of the priesthood, and in their own country of the Assyrians they taught the sons of their people, and houses of prayer they built there secretly, because of the danger arising from the worshippers of fire and the adorers of water.64
But Nersai,65 the king of the Assyrians, when he had heard of these things which Addai the Apostle had done, he sent to Abgar, the king; either send me the man who |36 hath done these signs with thee, that I may see him and hear his discourse, or send me an account of all these things which thou hast seen him do in thy city. And Abgar wrote to Nersai and made him acquainted with the whole history of the affair of Addai from the beginning to the end, and he left not any thing which he did not write to him.
But when Nersai heard those things which were written to him, he wondered and was astonished. But Abgar the king, because that he was not able to pass to the country of the Romans, and to go to Palestine and slay the Jews, because that they had crucified Christ, wrote a letter and sent to Tiberius Caesar, writing it thus: "Abgar, the king, to our Lord Tiberius Caesar, peace. Knowing that not anything is hidden from thy Majesty, I write and inform thy dread and great sovereignty, that the Jews, who are under thy hand, who dwell in the country of Palestine, assembled themselves together and crucified the Christ without any fault worthy of death, when he was doing before them signs and wonders, and showed them mighty works and signs; so |37 that even the dead He raised to life for them. And at the time they crucified Him, the sun became darkened and the earth shook, and all creatures trembled, and as if of themselves, at this deed all creation quailed, and its inhabitants. And now thy majesty knows what is right to command against the people of the Jews, who did these things."
And Tiberius Caesar wrote and sent to Abgar the king, and thus he wrote to him: "The letter of thy fidelity to me, I have received, and it was read before me. With respect to that which the Jews have done with the cross, Pilate the governor hath also written, and informed Olbinus, 66 my pro-consul, of these things which thou hast written to me. But because of the war of the Spaniards who have rebelled against me is going on at this time, therefore I have not been able to avenge this matter; but I am prepared, when I have quietness, to make a charge legally against the Jews, who have not acted legally. And because of this, as to Pilate, who was made by me governor there, I have sent another in his place, and I have dismissed him with disgrace, because that he departed from the law, and did the will of the Jews, and he crucified Christ for the gratification of the Jews, who according to that which I hear of them, instead of the cross of death, it was fitting that He should be honoured, and it was right He should be worshipped by them, especially as they saw with their eyes all which He did. But thou, according to thy fidelity to me and thy true |38 compact and that of thy fathers, hast done well to write to me thus."
And Abgar the king, received Aristides,67 who was sent to him by Tiberius Caesar, and he replied, sent him back with honourable gifts, which were suitable for him, who had sent him to him. And he departed from Edessa, and went to Ticnutha,68 where was Claudius the second, from the king, and from there also he went to Artica,69 where was Tiberius Caesar. But Gaius guarded the regions, which were round about the Emperor. And Aristides himself also recounted before Tiberius the mighty works which Addai did before Abgar the king. And when he had rest from the war, he sent, slew some of the chiefs of the Jews, who were in Palestine. And when Abgar the king heard, he greatly rejoiced at this, that the Jews had received punishment, as it was right.
And some years after Addai the Apostle had built the church in Edessa, and furnished it with everything which was suitable for it, and had taught many of the population of the city, also in the other villages, both those which were distant, and those which were near, he built churches, and completed and ornamented them, and appointed in them deacons and elders, and |39 taught in them those who should read the Scriptures, and the orders of the ministry within and without he taught. After all these things he became ill with the disease, by which he departed from this world.70 And he called Aggai before all the congregation of the church, and he brought him near, and made him governor and ruler in his place. And concerning Palut, who was a deacon, he made him an elder, and of Abshelama, who was a scribe, he made him a deacon. And when the nobles and chiefs were assembled and stood by him, Bar-kalba and 71 Bar-Zati, and Marihab, the son of Barshemesh, and Sennac, son of Avida, and Peroz, son of Patricius, with the rest of their companions, Addai the Apostle said to them: "Ye know, and ye testify, all of you who hear me, that everything which I have preached to you and taught you, and ye have heard from me, so have I conducted myself among you, and ye have seen also in works, because that thus our Lord commanded us that whatsoever we preach in words before the people, we in work should do before every man. And according to the ordinances and laws which were appointed in Jerusalem, and by which also the Apostles, my companions, were governed, |40 so also ye, do not turn aside from them, and do not take away anything from them, as I myself also have been guided by them among you, and have not turned aside from them to the right hand, or to the left, that I might not become strange to the promised salvation, which is reserved for those who are guided by them. Take heed, therefore, to this ministry which ye hold, and with fear and trembling abide ye in it, and minister every day. Minister not in it with habits bringing contempt, but with the prudence of faith; and the praises of Christ, let them not cease from your mouth, and let not weariness in prayer at the stated times draw near to you. Take heed to the truth, which ye hold, and to the teaching of the truth, which ye have received, and to the inheritance of salvation, which I commend to you, because before the judgment-seat of Christ you will be sought out by Him, when He taketh account with the pastors and superiors, and when He taketh His money from merchants with the increase of gains. For He is the king's son, and goes to receive a kingdom, and to return, and to come and make a resurrection for all men; and then He sitteth on the throne of righteousness, and judgeth the dead and the living, as He hath said to us. Let not the secret eye of your mind from the height above be closed, that your offences may not multiply in the way in which there are no offences; nor abominable error in its ways. Seek ye those that are lost, and visit those that err, and rejoice ye in those that are found. Bind up those that are bruised, and be ye watchful of the fatlings, because at your hands will the sheep of Christ be required. Look ye not to passing honour, for the shepherd that looketh to be honoured by his flock, badly, badly with respect to him does his flock stand. Let your solicitude for the |41 young lambs be great, for their angels 72 behold the face of the invisible Father, and be ye not a stone of stumbling before the blind, but clearers 73 of the way and the path in a difficult country, among the Jews, the crucifiers, and the erring heathen; for with these two parties only is there war for you, in order to show the truth of the faith, which ye hold; also when ye are quiet, your modest and honourable appearance will be fighting for you with those who hate truth and love falsehood. Be ye not smiters of the poor before the rich, for the severe infliction of their poverty is sufficient for them. Be ye not beguiled with the hateful cogitations of Satan, that ye be not stripped naked of the faith that ye have put on,74 for unbelief is easier than faith, as sin is easier than righteousness. Take heed, therefore, of those that crucified, that ye be not friends to them, that ye be not responsible with them whose hands are full of the blood of Christ; and ye know, and ye bear witness, that everything which we say and teach of the history of Christ, is written in the Book of the Prophets, and deposited with them. And their words bear witness to our teaching concerning the judgment, and suffering, and resurrection, and ascension of Christ; but they know not, that when they rise against us they rise against the words of the Prophets, and as in their lives they persecuted the Prophets, so also now, since their death, they persecute the truth, which is written in the Prophets. Again, take ye heed of the heathen, who worship the sun and the moon, and Bel and Nebo, and the rest of those which they call gods, though they are not gods in their nature. |42 Flee ye, therefore, from them, because that they worship creatures and things made. And as reported to you before, the whole object 75 for which our Lord came into the world was that creatures might not again be worshipped and honoured, because they exist by the nod of their Creator; and when He wishes, He dissolves and makes them cease, and they are as though they are not. For the will of Him, who created the creatures, freed men from the yoke of the paganism of the creatures. For ye know that every one who worships the servants of a king with the king, the death of the sword findeth him in his worship. Be ye not searching for secret things, and inquiring after hidden things, which are written in the holy books that ye possess. Be ye not judges concerning the words of the Prophets. Remember and consider that by the Spirit of God they are said; and he who accuses the Prophets, accuses and judges the Spirit of God. May this be far from you I Because the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous walk in them without stumbling; but the infidels stumble in them; because that they have not the secret eye of the secret mind, which has no need of questions in which there is no profit, but loss.76 Remember the menacing judgment of the Prophets, and the word of our Lord, which defines their words, that the Lord judgeth by fire, and all men are tried by it. Wherefore, as wayfarers |43 and sojourners, who tarry for a night and return early to their homes, so may you yourselves consider concerning this world, that from here ye go forth to the places where the Son went to prepare for every one worthy of them. As to kings of countries, their armies go forth before them, and prepare for them a dwelling-house for their honour; but this King of ours, behold, He is gone to prepare for His worshippers blessed mansions 77 in which they may dwell. For it was not in vain God created the children of men; but that they might worship and glorify Him. here and there for ever. As He passeth not away, so those glorifying Him cease not. Wherefore my death also, with the disease of which I am bound and lie; as a sleep of the night, let it be esteemed in your eyes. And remember that with the suffering of the Son, Death, which snatches away the children of men, passed away and ceased; and Satan, who causes many to sin and makes war with the true, that they may be without truth. And as a husbandman who puts his hand to the ploughshare, if he looks behind,78 the furrows before him cannot be straight; so also ye who have been called to this gift of the ministry, be ye cautious, that ye do not trouble yourselves with the things of this world, lest by chance ye be impeded as to that to which ye have been called.
As to princes and judges, who have embraced this faith, be ye loving them, although do not simulate in any thing, and if they sin, ye reprove them with justice. Ye shall show them openly your rectitude, that they may be corrected so as not again to conduct themselves after their own will. This solicitude ye shall have all the days |44 of your life, that all of you may run after honest things, as ye also counsel others with respect to them; for in these things men find their life before God.
But the Law,79 and the Prophets, and the Gospel, which ye read every day before the people, and the Epistles of Paul, which Simon Peter sent us from the city of Rome, and the Acts of the twelve Apostles, which John, the son of Zebedee, sent us from Ephesus; these Books read ye in the churches of Christ, and with these read not any others, as there is not any other in which the truth that ye hold is written, except these books, which retain you in the faith to which ye have been called. And our lord Abgar the king, and his honoured nobles, who have heard that which I have spoken before you to day are sufficient to be for me witnesses after my death, that I have diligently preached the doctrine of our Lord before every man, and that I have not acquired anything with His word in the world. For His word by which I have become rich was sufficient for me, and I have made by it many rich; for it lifts me up in this way in which I go forth before Christ, who has sent after me, that I should go by it to Him. For ye know that which I have said to you, "That all the souls of men, which depart from this body, die not; but they live and rise, and have mansions, and a dwelling-place of rest, |45 for the understanding and the intelligence of the soul do not cease, because the image of God is represented in it, which dieth not. For it is not as the body without feeling which perceives not the odious corruption which has come upon it. Eeward and recompense it is not able to receive without it (the body); because that labour was not its only, but also of the body in which it dwelt. But the rebellious who know not God, they become penitent then to no purpose. Ye, indeed, who are of Christ, whose glorious name is placed upon you, and ruleth, He will direct you in the way of truth, in which, ye shall go and shall arrive at and attain to that which is promised and kept for those who depart not from Him; but abide according to what they were called to by our Lord.
And when Addai the Apostle had said this word, he ceased and was silent. And Aggai, maker of the king's chains, and Palut, and Abshelama, with the rest of their companions, answered and said to Addai the Apostle, "Christ Himself has testified that He sent thee to us, and thou hast taught us the true faith, and hast made us possess the true life. As we have heard from thee and received, all this time thou hast been with us, so we abide all the days of our life. And from the worship of things made and created, which our fathers worshipped, we flee, and with 80 the Jews, the crucifiers we will not mix ourselves; and this inheritance, which we have received from thee, we do not let go, but with it we will depart from this world. And in the day of our Lord, before the judgment-seat of righteousness, there will He return to us this inheritance as that thou hast said to us.
And when these things had been said, Abgar the king, |46 arose, he and his princes, and all the nobles of his kingdom, and he went to his own palace, when all of them grieved over him, for he was dying. And he sent to him honourable and costly garments, in which he should be buried; and when Addai saw them, he sent word to him, that not in my life have I taken from thee anything, and I will not falsify in me the word of Christ, which He said to me, "Receive not anything from man, arid acquire not anything in this world."81 And after three other days, that these things were said by Addai the Apostle, and he had heard and received the testimony of the doctrine of his preaching from the sons of his ministry, before all the nobles, he departed from this world, and it was the fifth day of the week, in the fourteenth of the month Eyor.82 And the whole city was in great sorrow and bitter pain; not only Christians sorrowed for Him, but also Jews and Pagans, who were in this city. But king Abgar more than any man sorrowed for him, he and the princes of his kingdom. And in the grief of his |47 mind he despised and forsook the honour of his kingdom on that day; and with mournful tears he wept over him with every man. And all the people of the city, who saw him, wondered at how much he suffered because of him. And with great and excellent honour he carried and buried him, as one of the princes, when he dies, and he placed him in a great sepulchre of ornamental sculpture, in which those of the house of Aryu, the ancestors of the father of king Abgar, were placed. There he placed him carefully with grief and great sorrow. And all the people of the church went from time to time, and prayed there diligently, and the commemoration of his death they made from year to year, according to the command and instruction which was received by them from Addai the Apostle, and according to the word of Aggai, who was himself the guide and ruler and the successor of his chair after him, by the hand of the priesthood, which he had received from him before every man.
And he also by the hand from which he received made priests and guides in all this country of Mesopotamia. For they also, as of Addai the Apostle, thus took his word and heard and received, as a good and faithful heir of the Apostle of the adorable Christ. But silver and gold he took not from man, and the gifts of the princes approached him not. For instead of gold and silver he enriched the Church of Christ with the souls of the faithful. But all the chiefs 83 of men and women |48 were modest and decorous, and they were holy and pure, and they dwelt singly and modestly without spot, in watchfulness of the ministry decorously, in their carefulness for the poor, in their visitations to the sick; for their goings forth were full of praise from those who saw, and their conversation was covered with glory from strangers; so that even the priests of the temple of Nebo and Bel divided with them the honour at all times, by their honourable aspect, by their truthful discourse, by the confidence which they possessed, and by their freedom, which was not enslaved to greediness, and was not in bondage under blame. For every one who saw them ran to meet them, that he might honourably salute them; because even the sight of them spread peace over the beholders. For their words of peace were spread like nets over the rebellious, when they were entering the fold of truth and verity. For there was no man who saw them, and was ashamed of them; because they did not anything which was not just, and which was not becoming, and in consequence of this their countenances were open in the preaching of their doctrine to every man. For whatsoever they said to others and directed them, they exhibited the same by works in themselves; and as to the hearers, who saw that their works were with their words, many became their disciples without persuasion, and confessed Christ the king, praising God who had turned them to Him.
And years after the death of Abgar the king, one of |49 his rebellious sons,84 who was not obedient to the truth, arose and sent word to Aggai, when he was sitting in the Church: "Make me headbands of gold, according to that which thou didst make for my fathers of old." Aggai sent him word: "I desert not the ministry of Christ, which has been committed to me by the disciple of Christ, and make headbands of wickedness." 85 And when he saw that he did not obey him, he sent, and broke his legs, as he was sitting in the church and expounding. And as he was dying he made Palut and Abshelama swear that in this house, for the sake of whose name, behold, I die, place me and bury me. And as he made them swear, so they placed him within the middle door of the church, between the men and the women. And there was great and bitter sorrow in all the church, and in all the city, above the pain of sorrow, which had been |50 in its interior, as the sorrow, which had been when Addai the Apostle died.
And because that by the breaking of his legs he died suddenly and quickly, he was not able to place the hand upon Palut.86 Palut himself went to Antioch, and received the hand of the priesthood from Serapion, Bishop of Antioch. Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, himself also received the hand from Zephyrinus, Bishop of the city of Rome,87 from the succession of the hand of the priesthood of Simon Cephas, which he received from our Lord, who was there Bishop of Rome twenty-five years, in the days of the Caesar, who reigned there thirteen years.
And as is the custom in the kingdom of Abgar the king, and in all kingdoms, that everything which the king commands, and everything that is said before him is written down and placed among the records, so also Labubna, the son of Sennac, the son of Abshadar, the king's scribe, wrote these things of Addai the Apostle, from the beginning to the end. Hannan also, the Tabularius, the king's Sharrir, set the hand of witness, and placed it among the records of the writings of the kings, where are put the commands and laws, and the contracts of those who buy and sell are kept there with care, without any negligence.
THE END OF THE DOCTRINE OF ADDAI THE APOSTLE.
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THE letter of king Abgar,2 the son of king Ma'nu, and at what time he sent it to our Lord at Jerusalem; and at what time Addai the Apostle came to him (Abgar) at Edessa;3 and what he spake in the gospel of his preaching; and what he said and commanded, when he went forth from, this world, to those who had received from him the hand of the priesthood.
In the three hundred and forty and third year of the kingdom of the Greeks,4 and in the reign of our lord Tiberius, the Roman Emperor, and in the reign of king Abgar, son of king Ma'nu, in the month of October, on the twelfth day, Abgar Ukkama sent Marihab and Shamshagram,5 chiefs and honoured persons of his kingdom, |2 and Hannan6 the tabularius, the sharrir, with them, to the city which is called Eleutheropolis, but in Aramaic Beth-gubrin,7 to the honoured Sabinus, the son of Eustorgius, the deputy of our lord the emperor, who ruled over Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and the whole country of Mesopotamia. They brought him letters concerning the affairs of the kingdom; and when they went to him, he received them with joy and honour, and they were with him twenty and five days. He wrote for them a reply8 to the letters, and sent them to Abgar the king. When they went forth from him, they set out and came on the way towards Jerusalem; and they saw many men, who came from a distance to see Christ, because the fame of his wonderful deeds had gone forth to remote countries. When Marihab, Shamshagram, and Hannan, the keeper of the archives, saw the men, they also came with them to Jerusalem. When they entered |3 Jerusalem, they saw Christ, and they rejoiced with the multitudes, who were joined to Him. But they saw also the Jews, who were standing in groups, and were considering what they should do to Him; for they were disturbed to see that a multitude of their people confessed Him. And they were there in Jerusalem ten days, and Hannan, the keeper of the archives, wrote down everything which he saw that Christ did; also the rest of that done by Him, before they went thither. And they departed and came to Edessa, and entered into the presence of Abgar the king, their lord, who had sent them, and they gave him the reply of the letters, which they had brought with them. After the letters were read, they began to recount before the king all which they had seen and all which Christ had done in Jerusalem. And Hannan, the keeper of the archives, read before him all which he had written and brought with him; and when Abgar the king heard, he was astonished and wondered, as also his princes, who stood before him. Abgar said to them: These mighty works are not of men, but of God; because there is not any one who can make the dead alive, but God only. And Abgar wished himself to pass over and go to Palestine, and see with his own eyes all which Christ was doing; but because he was not able to pass through the country of the Romans, which was not his, lest this cause should call forth bitter enmity, he wrote a letter and sent it to Christ by the hand of Hannan, the keeper of the archives. He went forth from Edessa on the fourteenth day of Adar,9 and entered Jerusalem on the twelfth day of Nisan,10 on the fourth day of the week (Wednesday). And he found Christ at the house of |4 Gamaliel, the chief priest11 of the Jews. The letter was read before Him, which was written thus:----"Abgar Ukkama, to Jesus, the Good Physician, who has appeared in the country of Jerusalem. My Lord: Peace. I have heard of Thee and of Thy healing, that it is not by medicines and roots Thou healest, but by Thy word Thou openest the eyes of the blind, Thou makest the lame to walk, cleansest the lepers, and makest the deaf to hear. And unclean spirits12 and lunatics, and those tormented, them Thou healest by Thy word; Thou also raisest the dead. And when I heard of these great wonders which Thou doest, I decided in my mind that either Thou art God, who hast come down from heaven and doest these things, or Thou art the Son of God, who doest all these things. Therefore, I have written to request of Thee to come to me who adore Thee, and to heal the disease which I have, as I believe in Thee. This also I have heard, that the Jews murmur against Thee and persecute Thee, and even seek to crucify Thee, and contemplate treating Thee cruelly. I possess one small and beautiful city, and it is sufficient for both to dwell in it in quietness."
When Jesus received the letter at the house of the chief priest of the Jews, He said to Hannan, the keeper of the archives: "Go and say to thy lord, who hath sent thee to Me, 'Blessed art thou, who, although thou hast not seen Me, believest in Me, for it is written of Me, Those who see Me will not believe in Me, and those who see Me not, will believe in me.13 But as to that which |5 thou hast written to Me, that I should come to thee, that for which I was sent here is now finished, and I am going up to my Father, who sent me, and when I have gone up to Him, I will send to thee one of my disciples, who will cure the disease which thou hast, and restore thee to health; and all who are with thee he will convert to everlasting life. Thy city shall be blessed, and no enemy shall again become master of it for ever.'"
When Hannan, the keeper of the archives, saw that Jesus spake thus to him, by virtue of being the king's painter, he took and painted a likeness of Jesus with choice paints, and brought with him to Abgar the king, his master. And when Abgar the king saw the likeness, he received it with great joy, and placed it with great honour in one of his palatial houses. Hannan, the keeper of the archives, related to him everything which he had heard from Jesus, as His words were put by him in writing. After that Christ had ascended to heaven, Judas Thomas14 sent to Abgar, Addai the Apostle, who was one of the seventy-two Apostles. And when Addai came to the city of Edessa, he dwelt at the house of |6 Tobias,15 son of Tobias the Jew, who was of Palestine. Through all the city a report was heard of him, and one of the nobles of Abgar whose name was Abdu,16 the son of Abdu, one of those who sat with bended knees 17 before Abgar, went and said concerning Addai: behold, a messenger has come, and dwells here, he of whom Jesus sent to thee, "I send to Thee one of my disciples." And when Abgar heard these words, and the mighty acts which Addai did, and the wonderful cures which he effected, he thought for certain in his mind: Truly this is he whom Jesus sent, saying, "When I have ascended to heaven I will send to thee one of my disciples, and he will cure thy disease." And Abgar sent and called for Tobias, and said to him, I have heard that a certain powerful man has come, and dwells in thy house. Bring him up to me; a good hope of recovery through him has been found for me. Tobias went early on the next day and took Addai the Apostle, and brought him up to Abgar, Addai himself knowing that by the power of God he was sent to him. And when Addai came up and went to Abgar, his nobles standing with him, and in going towards him, a wonderful vision was seen by Abgar in the face of Addai. At the moment that Abgar saw the vision, he fell down and worshipped Addai. Great astonishment seized all those who were standing before him, for they saw not the vision which |7 was seen by Abgar. Then Abgar said to Addai, "Of a truth thou art the disciple of Jesus, that mighty one, the son of God, who sent to me saying I send thee one of my disciples for healing and for life." Addai said to him, "Because that from the beginning thou didst believe in Him who sent me to thee, therefore have I been sent to thee, and if thou believest in Him, everything in which thou dost believe thou shalt have." Abgar said to him, "So have I believed in Him, that with respect to those Jews who crucified Him, I desire to take with me an army, and to go and destroy them; but because the kingdom belongs to the Romans, I was restrained by the covenant of peace, which was confirmed by me with our lord the emperor Tiberius, like my forefathers." Addai said to him, "Our Lord has fulfilled the will of His Father. And when He had completed the will of His Parent, He was taken up to His Father, and sat with Him in glory, with whom he was from eternity." Abgar said to him: "I also believe in Him and in His Father." Addai said to him:18 "Because that thou so believest, I place my hand on thee, in the name of Him in whom thou believest."
At the moment that he placed his hand upon him, he was cured of the plague of the disease, which he had had for a long time.19 Abgar wondered and was astonished, |8 that as it was reported to him concerning Jesus, that which He did and cured; so also Addai himself, without medicine of any kind, healed in the name of Jesus. And also with respect to Abdu, the son of Abdu, he had the gout in his feet, and he too brought his feet near him, and he (Addai) placed his hand upon them and healed him; and he had not the gout again. And also in all the city he wrought great cures, and showed wonderful mighty works in it. Abgar said to him: "Now that every man knoweth that by the power of Jesus Christ thou doest these wonderful works, and behold we are wondering at thy works, I require therefore of thee, that thou wouldest recount to us concerning the coining of Christ, how it was, and concerning His glorious power, and concerning those miracles which we have heard that He did, which thou hast seen with the rest of thy companions." Addai said to him: "I will not keep silent from declaring this; for because of this I was sent here to speak and to teach every one, who, like thee, is willing to believe. Tomorrow assemble for me all the city, that I may sow in it the Word of Life, by the preaching which I will preach before you concerning the coming of Christ, how it was, and concerning His glorious power, and concerning Him that sent Him, for what and how He sent Him, and concerning His power and His wonderful works, and concerning the glorious mysteries of His coming, which He spake in the world, and concerning the certitude of His preaching, how and for what He abased Himself, and humbled His exalted |9 divinity by the body, which He took, and was crucified and descended to the house of the dead, and cleaved the wall of partition, which had never been cleft, and gave life to the dead by being Himself slain, and descended by Himself, and ascended with many to His glorious Father, with whom He was from, eternity in one exalted divinity. And Abgar commanded that they should deliver to Addai silver and gold. Addai said to him: "How are we able to receive anything which is not ours? for, behold, that which was ours we have forsaken, as we were commanded by our Lord to be without purses and without scrips, and carrying crosses upon our shoulders, we were commanded to preach His Gospel to the whole creation: the whole creation felt and suffered by His crucifixion, which was for us, for the salvation of all men. And he narrated before Abgar the king, and before his princes and his nobles, and before Augustina, the mother of Abgar, and before Shalmath, the daughter of Meherdath, the wife of Abgar,20 the signs of our Lord and His wonders, and the glorious miracles which He wrought, and His divine triumphs, and His ascension to His Father; and how they received powers and authorities at the time that He ascended, by which same power he had healed Abgar and Abdu, the son of Abdu, the second person of his kingdom; and how he made them know that which would be revealed at the end of times, and in the consummation of all creatures, and the resuscitation and resurrection, which is about to be for all men, and the separation which is to be between the sheep and |10 the goats, and between the faithful and the unbelieving. And he said to them: "Because that the gate of life is strait and the way of truth is narrow, therefore few are the believers of truth, and in the power of unbelief is Satan's recreation. Because of this there are many liars, who cause to err those who look on. For except that there is a good end for faithful men, our Lord had not descended from heaven, and come to the birth, and to the suffering of death, and also He had not sent us21 to be His preachers and evangelists. Those things which we saw and heard from Him, which He did and taught, we confidently preach before all men; for we would not do any wrong with respect to the truth of His Gospel. And not these things only; but also those which were done in His Name, after His ascension, we show and preach.
I will tell before you that which happened and was done in the presence of men, who, as you, believed in Christ, that He is the Son of the living God. Protonice, the wife of the Emperor Claudius,22 whom Tiberius made second23 in his kingdom, when he went to make war with the Spaniards, who had rebelled against him, this woman, when Simon, one of the disciples, was in the city of Rome, and she saw the signs and wonders, and |11 marvellous works which he did in the name of Christ; denied the paganism of her fathers in which she was brought up, and the idolatrous images which she had worshipped; and she believed in Christ our Lord, and worshipped Him, and praised with those who were joined unto Simon, and held Him in great honour. After this she wished also to see Jerusalem, and those places in which the mighty works of our Lord were done. So she arose promptly and descended from Rome to Jerusalem, she24 and her two sons with her, and her one virgin daughter.
When she was entering Jerusalem, the city went forth to meet her, and they received her with great honour, as that which is due to the queen, the mistress of the great country of the Romans. But James, who was made director and ruler in the church which was built for us there, when he had heard for what purpose she had gone there, arose and went to her. And he entered into her presence where she was dwelling, in the royal great palace of king Herod. When she saw him, she received him with great joy, as also she had Simon Peter. He also showed her cures and mighty works as did Simon, and she said to him: "Show me Golgotha, on which Christ was crucified, and the wood of His cross on which He was suspended by the Jews, and the grave in which |12 He was placed.'' James said to her: "These three things which thy Majesty wishes to see are under the control of the Jews. They possess them, and permit us not to go to pray there before Golgotha and the grave, and neither the wood of His cross will they give us. And not only this, but they also severely persecute us, that we may not publish and preach in the name of Christ, and many times also they bind us in prison." When she heard these things, the queen immediately commanded, and they brought before her Onias, the son of Hannan the priest, and Gedalia, son of Caiaphas, and Judah the son of Ebed Shalom, chiefs and rulers of the Jews. And she said to them: "Deliver up Golgotha, and the grave, and the wood of the cross, to James, and those who agree with him, and let no man forbid them to minister there according to the custom of their ministry." And when she had so commanded the priests, she arose to go and see these places, and she also delivered that place to James, and those who were with him. Afterwards she entered the grave, and found in the grave three crosses, one of our Lord, and two of those robbers, who were crucified with Him, on His right hand and on His left. And at the time that she entered into the grave----she and her children with her----at that instant her virgin daughter fell down and died, without pain, without disease, and without any cause of death. And when the queen saw that her daughter had died suddenly, she kneeled and prayed within the grave, and said in her prayer: "God, who gave Himself to death for all men, and was crucified in this place, and was laid in this grave; and as God, who keepeth alive all, has risen, and made many to rise with Him, lest the Jews, the crucifiers, should hear----and also the erring heathens, whose |13 idols and graven images, and the terrors of paganism, I have denied----and they see me, deride me, and say that all this which has happened to her is because that she denied the gods, which she did worship, and confessed Christ, whom she knew not, and went to honour the place of His grave and His crucifixion; and if, O my Lord, I am not worthy to be heard, because that I have worshipped creatures instead of Thee; spare Thou, for the sake of Thy adorable Name, that it may not be blasphemed in this place, as they blasphemed Thee at Thy crucifixion." She said these things in her prayer, and, in the excitement of her supplication, she repeated them before all those who were there. Her eldest son approached her, and said to her: "Hear that which I shall say before thy Majesty. I think thus in my mind and in my thought, that this death of this my sister, which was sudden, was not for nought; but this is a wonderful work, in which God will be praised, and not that His Name will be blasphemed, as those thought, who heard it. Behold, we enter the grave and find in it three crosses, and we know not which of them is the cross on which Christ was suspended. In the death of this my sister, we may be able to see and to learn which is the cross of Christ, for Christ is not neglectful of those who believe in Him, and seek Him." And the queen Protonice----her soul was very sad at this time----saw in her mind that her son spake these things wisely, justly and rightly. And with her hands she took hold of one of the crosses and placed it upon the dead body of her daughter, which lay before her, and she said in her prayer: "O God, who hast shown wonderful works in this place, as we hear and believe, if this cross, O Lord, be Thine, and on it Thy humanity was suspended by the insolent, show the strong |14 and mighty power of Thy divinity, which dwells in the humanity, and restore to life this my daughter, that she may arise, and Thy Name be glorified in her. May her soul return to her body, that Thy crucifiers may be confounded and Thy worshippers may rejoice! And she waited a long time after she had spoken thus. Afterwards she took that cross from the dead body of her daughter, and placed another, and also said in her prayer:
"O God, by whose nod worlds and creatures endure, and wishing the life of all men that they may be turned to Him, and is not neglectful of the petition of those who seek Him, if this cross be Thine, O Lord, show the power of Thy triumphs as Thou art accustomed, and restore to life this my daughter, that she may arise, and the heathens, worshipping Thy creatures instead of Thee, may be confounded, and the faithful and the true may confess, that their mouth may be opened to Thy praise before those who deny Thee!" And she waited a long time after these things, and took the second cross from her daughter; and she took the third cross and placed it upon her daughter. And as she was going to lift up her eyes to heaven, and to open her mouth in prayer, at that moment, at that time, in the twinkling of an eye, that, the cross touched the dead body of her daughter, her daughter became alive, and she arose suddenly, and praised God, who had restored her to life by His cross. But the queen Protonice, when she saw how her daughter became alive, trembled, and was greatly alarmed, but though alarmed she glorified Christ, and believed in Him, that He was the Son of the living God. Her son said to her: "My lady, thou seest that if this had not occurred today, it might have happened that they would have left this cross of Christ, by which my |15 sister became alive, and have taken and honoured that of one of those murderous thieves. Now, behold, we see and rejoice, and Christ, who has done this thing, is glorified in her."25 And she took the cross of Christ, and gave it to James, that it might be kept with great honour. She also commanded that a great and splendid building should be erected over Golgotha, on which He was crucified, and over the grave in which He was placed, so that these places might be honoured; and that there should be there a place of assembly for prayer, and a gathering for service.
But the queen, when she saw the whole population of the city, which she had collected for the sight of this work, she commanded that, without the covering of honour worn by queens, her daughter should go with her unveiled to the palace of the king, in which she dwelt, so that every one might see her and praise God. But the people of the Jews and the Gentiles, who rejoiced at the beginning of this occurrence, and were glad, became very sad at the end of it. For they would have been well pleased if this had not occurred, for they saw on account of this many believed in Christ; and especially when they saw that the miracles, which were done in His Name after His ascension, were many more than those which were done before His ascension. And the fame of this deed which was done went forth to |16 distant countries, and also to the Apostles, my companions, who preached Christ. And there was rest in the churches of Jerusalem, and the cities round about it; and those who saw not this deed, with those who did see it, praised God. And when the queen went up from Jerusalem to the city of Rome, every city which she entered pressed to see the sight of her daughter. And when she had entered Eome, she recounted before the Emperor Claudius those things which had happened; and when the Emperor heard, he commanded that all the Jews should go forth from the country of Italy. In all that country this deed was spoken of by many, and also before Simon Peter this was recounted, which was done. "Whatsoever also the Apostles, companions, did, we preach before every man, that those who do not know may likewise hear those things which, by our hand, Christ did openly, that our Lord might be glorified by every man. These things which I repeat before you are told, that ye may know and understand how great is the faith of Christ among those who truly join themselves to Him.
But James, the director of the Church of Jerusalem, who with his own eyes saw the deed, gave a written account, and sent it to the Apostles, my companions, in the cities of their countries. And also the Apostles themselves gave written accounts, and made known to James whatsoever that Christ had done by their hands, and these were read before all the multitude of the people of the church.
But when Abgar the king heard these things, he and Augustina, his mother, and Shalmath, the daughter of Meherdath, and Paqыr26 and Abdshemesh, and |17 Shamshagram, and Abdu, and Azzai and Bar-kalba, with the rest of their companions, rejoiced exceedingly, and all of them glorified God, and made their confession in Christ. Abgar the king said to Addai: "I wish that everything which we have heard from thee today, and the rest also of the other things, thou wouldst tell openly before all the city, that every man may hear the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, which thou teachest to us, that he may rest and be confirmed in the doctrine which thou teachest to us, that many may understand that I believed rightly in Christ, in the Letter which I sent to Him, and may know that He is God, the Son of God, and thou art His true and faithful disciple, and that thou showest by works His glorious power before those who wish to believe in Him. The day after, Abgar commanded Abdu, the son of Abdu, who was healed of a sore disease of his feet, to send a herald, that he may proclaim in all the city that the whole population may be assembled, men and women, at the place which is called Beththabara, the wide space of the house of Avida,27 the son of Abd-nachad, that they might hear the doctrine of Addai the Apostle, and how he taught, and in the name of whom he cured, and by what power he wrought these miracles, and those wonders he did. For when he healed Abgar the king, it was the nobles only who stood before him, and saw him, when he healed him by the word of Christ, whom many physicians were not able to heal, but a stranger cured him by the faith of Christ.
And when all the city were assembled, men and women, as the king had commanded, Avida and Labbu, and |18 Chaphsai, and Bar-Kalba, and Labubna,28 and Chesrun,29 and Shamshagram stood there, with their companions, who as they were princes and nobles of the king, and commanders, and all the workmen and the artisans and the Jews and Gentiles who were in this city, and strangers of the countries of Soba and Harran, and the rest of the inhabitants of all this country of Mesopotamia, all of them stood to hear the doctrine of Addai; concerning whom they had heard; that he was the disciple of Jesus, who was crucified in Jerusalem, and he effected cures in His name. And Addai began to speak to them thus:
"Hear, all of you, and understand that which I speak before you; that I am not a physician of medicines and roots, of the art of the sons of men; but I am the disciple of Jesus Christ, the Physician of troubled souls, and the Saviour of future life, the Son of God, who came down from heaven, and was clothed with a body and became man; and He gave Himself and was crucified for all men. And when He was suspended on the wood, the sun He made dark in the firmament; and when He had entered the grave, He arose and went forth from the grave with many. And those who guarded the grave saw not how He went forth from the grave; but the angels of heaven |19 were the preachers and publishers of His resurrection, who if He had not wished, had not died, because that He is the Lord of death, the exit of all things.30 And except it had pleased Him,He had not again clothed Himself with a body, for He is Himself the framer of the body. For the will which inclined Him to the birth from a virgin, also made Him condescend to the suffering of death, and He humbled the majesty of His exalted divinity, 31 who was with His Father from eternity, He of whom Prophets of old spake in their mysteries; and they represented images of His birth, and His suffering, and His resurrection, and His ascension to His Father, and of His sitting at the right hand. And, behold, He is worshipped by celestial spirits, and by the inhabitants of the earth, He who is worshipped from eternity. For although His was the appearance of men, His might, and His knowledge, and His power were of God Himself; as He said to us, 32 Behold, now is the son of man glorified, and God glorifies Himself in Him, by miracles and by wonders, and by honour of being at the right hand. But His body is the pure vestment of His glorious divinity, by which we are able to see His invisible Lordship. This Jesus Christ, therefore, we preach and publish, and, with Him, we praise His Father, and we extol and worship the Spirit of His |20 divinity, because that we were thus commanded by Him, to baptize and absolve those who believe in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Also the Prophets of old spake thus: that 'The Lord our God and His Spirit hath sent us.'33 And if I speak anything which is not written in the Prophets, the Jews, who are standing among you and hear me, will not receive it; and if, again, I make mention of the name of Christ over those who have sufferings and diseases, and they are not healed by this glorious name, they, worshipping the work of their hands, will not believe. If now these things be written, which we say, in the Books of the Prophets,34 and we are able to show the healing powers upon the sick, not a man will look on us without discerning the faith35 which we preach, that God was crucified for all men. If there be those who do not wish to acquiesce in these words, let them draw near to us, and reveal to us what is their mind, that as a disease of their mind we may apply healing medicine for the cure of their wound. For although ye were not present at the time of the suffering of Christ, yet because of the sun, which was dark, and ye saw it, learn and understand concerning the great hororr there was at the time of the crucifixion of |21 Him whose Gospel has flown over all the earth, by the miracles which His disciples, my companions, are working in all the earth. And those who were Hebrews, and knew only the Hebrew tongue in which they were born, behold to day speak in all languages, that those who are far off, as those who are nigh, might hear and believe that He is the same, who confounded36 the tongues of the impious in this district, which lies before us; He it is who to day teaches through us the faith of truth and verity, by humble and wretched men, who were from Galilee of Palestine. For I also, whom ye see, am from Paneas,37 from where the river Jordan goes forth. And I was chosen, with my companions, to be a preacher38 of this Gospel, by which, behold, the regions everywhere resound with the glorious name of the adorable Christ. Let, therefore, no man of you harden his heart against the truth and keep his mind at a distance from verity. Be ye not led captive after thoughts destructively erroneous, which are full of the despair of a bitter death.39 Be ye not taken by the evil customs of the paganism of your fathers, and so keep yourselves at a distance from the life of truth and verity, which are in Christ. For those who believe in Him are those who are trusted before Him, who descended to us by His favour, to make to cease from the earth the sacrifices of heathenism, and the offerings |22 of idolatry; that creatures should no longer be worshipped; but we should worship Him and His Father, with His Holy Spirit.40 For I, as my Lord commanded me, behold, I preach and I publish. And His silver on the table, behold I cast before you, and the seed of His word I sow in the ears of every man. Those who wish to receive, theirs is the good reward of confession; and those who do not obey, against them I scatter the dust of my feet, as my Lord commanded me. Turn ye, therefore, my beloved, from evil ways and from hateful deeds, and turn yourselves to Him with a good and honest will, as He turned Himself to you with His grace and His rich mercies. And be ye not as the generations of old, which are passed, who, because that they hardened their heart against the fear of God, received punishment openly; that they may be chastised, and those who came after them may tremble and fear. For that for which our Lord came into the world was altogether41 to teach and show that at the end of created things is a resurrection for all men. And at that time their acts of conduct will be represented on their own persons, and their bodies become volumes for the written things of justice, and there will not be he who knoweth not writing; because that every man shall read the letters of his own book42 at that day, and the account of his actions he taketh with the fingers of his hands. Thus the unlettered will know the new writing of the new language, and there is not he who will say to his fellow, Read me this, because that one doctrine and one instruction shall reign over all men. |23
Let this thought, therefore, be represented before your eyes, and let it not pass from your mind, because that if it pass from your mind, it passeth not from Justice.43 Seek mercies from God, that He may pardon the hateful infidelity of your paganism, for ye have forsaken Him who created you upon the face of the earth, and makes His rain to descend and His sun to rise upon you, and ye worship, instead of Him, His works. For the idols and graven images of paganism, and whatsoever of the creation in which ye have confidence and which ye worship, if there were in them feeling and understanding, for the sake of which ye worship and honour them, it would be right for them, which ye have engraven and established, and have firmly fixed with nails that they be not shaken, to receive your favour. For if the creatures were aware of your honours to them, they would cry, shouting to you, not to worship your fellows, which like yourselves are made and created; because that creatures made should not be worshipped; but that they should worship their Creator, and they should glorify Him who created them. And as His grace covers the wicked here,44 so His justice shall be avenged on the infidels there. For I saw in this city that it abounded greatly in paganism, which is against God. Who is this Nebo,45 an idol made which ye worship, |24 and Bel,46 which ye honour? Behold, there are those among you who adore Bath Nical,47 as the inhabitants of Harran your neighbours, and Taratha,48 as the people of Mabug, and the eagle, as the Arabians, also the sun and the moon,as the rest of the inhabitants of Harran, who are as yourselves. |25 Be ye not led away captive by the rays of the luminaries and the bright star; for every one who worships creatures is cursed before God. For although there are among creatures such as are greater than their companions, yet they are fellow-servants of their companions, as I have said to you. For this is a bitter pain, for which there is not a cure, that things made should worship things made, and creatures should glorify their fellows. For as they are not able to stand by the power of themselves, but by the power of Him who created them, so they are not able to be worshipped with Him, nor to be honoured with Him; for it is a blasphemy against both parties, against the creatures when they are worshipped, and against the Creator, when the creatures, who are strangers to the nature of His existence, are made partakers with Him. For all the prophecy of the Prophets, and the preaching of us who are after the Prophets, is this, that creatures should not be worshipped with the Creator, and that men should not bind themselves to the yoke of corrupt paganism. It is not because of the creatures being seen, I say, that they should not be worshipped; but everything which is made is a creature, whether visible or invisible. This is a horrible wickedness, to place the glorious name of divinity upon it. For not creatures, as you, we proclaim and worship; but the Lord of creatures. The earthquake, which made them tremble at the Cross, testifies that everything which is made depends on and exists by the power of its Maker, who was before worlds and creatures, whose nature is incomprehensible, in that His nature is invisible, and, with His Father, is sanctified in the heights above, for that He is Lord and God from eternity. This is our doctrine in every country and in every region. And so |26 have we been commanded to preach to those who hear us, not violently, but by the teaching of the truth and by the power of God. And the miracles which were done in His name, testify concerning our faith, that it is true and to be believed. Be obedient, therefore, to my words, and receive that which I have said, and am saying before you; and that I may not require your death, behold, I warn you to be very cautious. Receive my words fitly, and do not neglect. Draw nigh to me ye my distant ones from Christ, and be near to Christ. And in the place Of erroneous sacrifices and oblations, offer now to Him the sacrifices of thanksgiving.
What is this great altar which ye have built in the midst of this city? and what are those going and coming offering upon it to demons, and sacrificing on it to devils? But if ye know not the Scriptures, doth not nature itself teach you, by its power of sight, that your idols have eyes and see not? And ye 49 who see with eyes in that ye do not understand, ye are also as they who see not and hear not, and in vain you excite your voices, ineffective to deaf ears. For they are not to be complained of for that which they do not hear, because that by nature they are deaf and dumb. And the blame with which justice is involved is yours, for ye do not wish to understand, even that which ye see. For the thick darkness of error, which is spread over your mind, permits you not to acquire the heavenly light, which is the understanding of knowledge. Flee, therefore, from things made and created, as I have said unto you, that in name only are they called gods, though they are not gods in their nature; and draw near to Him, who in His nature is |27 God from eternity and from everlasting, and is not made as your idols, and also not a creature, and a work of art as the images in which ye make your boast. Because that although He put on this body, He was God with His Father; for the works of creation, which trembled when He was slain, and were terrified by the suffering of His death, they testify that He is He who created the works of creation. For it was not for a man the earth shook, but for Him who established the earth upon the waters; and it was not for a man the sun became dark in the heavens, but for Him who made the great lights. And it was not by a man the righteous and the just were raised to life, but by Him who gave power over death from the beginning. Nor was it by a man the vail of the temple of the Jews was rent from the top to the bottom, but by Him who said to them, 'Behold, your house is left desolate.'50 For, behold, except they who crucified Him knew that He was the Son of God, they would not have proclaimed the desolation of their city, also they would not have brought down woes upon themselves. For even if they wished to neglect this confession, the terrible commotions which were at that time would not have permitted them. Behold also some of the children of the crucifiers have become at this day preachers and evangelists, with the Apostles my companions, in all the land of Palestine and among the Samaritans, and in all the country of the Philistines. The idols of paganism also are despised, and the Cross of Christ is honoured. Peoples and creatures also confess God, who became man. If truly when Jesus our Lord was upon earth ye believed in Him that He is the Son of God, and before that ye had heard the word of |28 His preaching, confessed in Him that He is God; now that He has ascended to His Father, and ye have seen the signs and wonders which are done in His name, and the word of His Gospel ye have heard with your ears; not a man of you should let himself doubt in his mind how the promise of His blessing which He sent to you would have been established with you: "Blessed are ye who have believed in me, although ye have not seen me; and because ye have so believed in me the city in which ye dwell shall be blessed, and the enemy shall not prevail against it for ever."51 Do not, therefore, turn from His faith; for, behold, ye have heard and seen those things which bear witness to His faith, that He is the adorable Son, and is the glorious God, and is the triumphant King, and is the Omnipotent Power; and by His true faith a man is able to acquire the eye of the true mind, and to perceive that every one who worships creatures, the wrath of justice overtakes him.
For everything which we say before you, we say as we have received of the gift of our Lord, and we teach and we show how to possess your life, and not destroy your spirits by the error of paganism; because that the heavenly light hath risen upon creation, and He it is, who hath chosen the ancient fathers and the just men and the Prophets, and hath spoken with them by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. For He is the God of the Jews, who crucified Him, and the erring Gentiles also worship Him, though they know it not; because that there is no |29 other God in heaven and in earth, and behold confession ascendeth up to Him from the four quarters of the earth. Behold now your ears have heard that which was not heard by you before, and behold, again, your eyes have seen that which was never seen by you before. Be ye not therefore unjust to that which ye have heard and seen. Cause to pass from you the rebellious mind of your fathers, and free yourselves from the yoke of sin, which hath dominion over you by libations and sacrifices before graven images. Let it be a care to you concerning your perishing lives, and concerning the vain bowing of your head, and acquire the new mind which worships the Maker and not the thing made, in which is represented the image of truth and verity, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, when ye believe and are baptized in the triple and glorious names. For this is our doctrine and our preaching. For it is not in many things that the truth of Christ is believed. And such of you as are willing to be obedient to Christ, know that many times I have repeated my words before you, that ye might learn and understand whatsoever ye hear. And we will rejoice in this, as a husbandman in his field which is blessed; and our God is glorified by your repentance towards Him. And as ye live in this, we also who counsel you thus will not be defrauded of the blessed reward of this. And because I am confident that ye are a blessed land, according to the will of the Lord Christ, therefore for the dust of my feet which we have been commanded 52 to shake off against the city that receiveth not our words; behold I shake off to-day at the door of your ears the words of my lips, in which the |30 coming of Christ is represented, that which has been, and that which is about to be, and the resurrection and resuscitation of all men, and the separation which is to be between the faithful and unbelieving, and the blessed promise of future joys which they who have believed in Christ and worshipped His high Father, and confessed Him and the Spirit of His godhead, shall receive. And now it is right for us to finish our present discourse, and let those who have received the word of Christ remain with us, and also those who wish to be associated, with us in prayer, and then let them go to their homes."
And Addai the Apostle rejoiced in this when he saw that the multitude of the population of the city remained with him, and there were few who did not remain at that time; and these same few, after a few days, received his words and believed in the gospel of the preaching of Christ.
And when Addai the Apostle had said these things before all the city of Edessa, and Abgar the king saw that all the city rejoiced in his doctrine, men and women equally, and were saying to him "Christ, who hath sent thee to us is true and faithful," and he also greatly rejoiced at this, praising God, that according to what he had heard from Hannan, his tabularius, concerning Christ, so he had seen the marvellous mighty works which Addai the Apostle had done in the name of Christ. And Abgar the king also said to Addai the Apostle, As I sent to Christ by my letter to Him; and as He also sent to me and I have received from thee thyself this day; so will I believe all the days of my life, and in the same things continue, exulting, because I know that there is no other power in the name of whom these signs and wonders are done, but by the power of Christ, whom thou preachest in truth and verity. And now I will worship Him, |31 I and Ma'nu,53 my son, and Augustina, and Shalmath the queen. And now, wherever thou wishest, build a church, a house of assembly for those who have believed, and shall believe in thy words. And, as commanded thee by thy Lord, minister thou at times with confidence. And those who are teachers with thee of this Gospel, I am prepared to deliver to them large gifts, that they may not have any other work with the ministry. Everything also which is required by thee for the expenses of the house, I will give thee without taking account; thy word shall be powerful and have rule in this city, and without another man, have thou authority to enter into my presence in my royal palace of honour.
And when Abgar the king went down to his royal palace, he rejoiced, he and his princes with him, Abdu and Garmai, and Shamshagram, and Abubai, and Meherdath, with the rest of their companions, at everything which their eyes had seen, and their ears had heard, and in the joy of their heart they also praised God, who had turned their mind to Him; they renounced the paganism in which they stood, and confessed the Gospel of Christ. And when Addai had built a church, they offered in it vows and offerings, they and the people of the city, and there they worshipped all the days of their life.
And Avida 54 and Bar-kalba who were chiefs and rulers, and clothed with royal headbands 55, drew near to Addai, and they asked Addai concerning the |32 history of Christ, to tell them how that He being God was seen by them, as man, and how ye were able to see Him. And he satisfied them all concerning this, concerning all which their eyes had seen, and concerning all which their ears had heard of Him. And every thing which the Prophets had said of Him, he repeated before them, and they received his words gladly and faithfully, and there was not a man who rose up against him. For the glorious things which he did permitted not a man to rise up against him.
Shavida and Ebednebo, chiefs of the priests of this city, with Piroz 56 and Dancu 57 their companions, when they saw the signs which he did, ran and threw down the altars upon which they sacrificed before Nebo and Bel their gods, except the great altar, which was in the midst of the city, and they cried out and said, that this is truly the disciple of the distinguished and glorious Master of whom we heard all those things, which He did in the country of Palestine. And all who believed in Christ, Addai received, and baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And those who were accustomed to worship stones and stocks, sat at his feet, learning, and being corrected of the plague of the foolishness of paganism. The Jews also, conversant with the Law and the Prophets, who carried on |33 merchandise in silks, 58 were also persuaded and became disciples, and made confession in Christ, that He is the Son of the living God. But neither Abgar the king, nor Addai the Apostle pressed any man by force to believe in Christ; because without the force of man, the force of the signs compelled many to believe in Him. And all this country of Mesopotamia, and all the regions round about it received his doctrine with love.
But Aggai made the chains 59 and headbands of the king, and Palut and Abshelama 60 and Barsamya with the rest of the others their companions, adhered to Addai the Apostle, and he received them and made them partakers with him in the ministry; they read in the Old Testament 61 and the New, and the Prophets, and the Acts of the Apostles, every day they meditated on them. He commanded them cautiously, "Let your bodies be pure, and let your persons be holy; as is right for men who stand before the altar of God; and be ye indeed far |34 removed from false swearing, and from wicked murder, and from false testimony, which is mixed with adultery, and from sorcerers with respect to whom there are no mercies, and from divinations, and soothsaying, and necromancers, and from fates, and nativities, in which the erring Chaldees boast themselves; and from stars, and the signs of the Zodiac, in which the foolish are confident. And keep at a distance from you evil hypocrisy, and bribes, and gifts, by which the pure are condemned. And with this ministry to which ye have been called, let there not be for you another service; for the Lord Himself is the service of your ministry all the days of your life. Be ye also diligent to deliver the sign of baptism, and love ye not the gains of this world, but hearken ye to judgment with justice and truth. And be ye not a stumbling block to the blind, that the name of Him who opened the eyes of the blind, as we have seen, be not blasphemed through you. Let all, therefore, who see you, perceive that ye perform all which ye preach and teach. And they ministered with him in the church which Addai had built by the word and command of Abgar the king, and they were supplied from that which was the king's and his nobles; and some of them they brought for the house of God, and some for the nourishment of the poor. But a large multitude of people assembled day by day and came to the prayer of the service, and to the reading of the Old and New Testament, of the Diatessaron, 62 and they believed in the revival of the dead, and |35 they buried their dead in the hope of the resurrection. They also observed the festivals of the Church in their times, and every day they were constant in the vigils of the Church, and they likewise performed acts of charity to the sick and those who were whole, according to the instruction of Addai to them. And in places round about the city churches were built, and the hand of the priesthood many received from him: So also orientals with the appearance of merchants passed into the country of the Romans to see the signs which Addai did, and those of them who became disciples, received from them 63 the hand of the priesthood, and in their own country of the Assyrians they taught the sons of their people, and houses of prayer they built there secretly, because of the danger arising from the worshippers of fire and the adorers of water.64
But Nersai,65 the king of the Assyrians, when he had heard of these things which Addai the Apostle had done, he sent to Abgar, the king; either send me the man who |36 hath done these signs with thee, that I may see him and hear his discourse, or send me an account of all these things which thou hast seen him do in thy city. And Abgar wrote to Nersai and made him acquainted with the whole history of the affair of Addai from the beginning to the end, and he left not any thing which he did not write to him.
But when Nersai heard those things which were written to him, he wondered and was astonished. But Abgar the king, because that he was not able to pass to the country of the Romans, and to go to Palestine and slay the Jews, because that they had crucified Christ, wrote a letter and sent to Tiberius Caesar, writing it thus: "Abgar, the king, to our Lord Tiberius Caesar, peace. Knowing that not anything is hidden from thy Majesty, I write and inform thy dread and great sovereignty, that the Jews, who are under thy hand, who dwell in the country of Palestine, assembled themselves together and crucified the Christ without any fault worthy of death, when he was doing before them signs and wonders, and showed them mighty works and signs; so |37 that even the dead He raised to life for them. And at the time they crucified Him, the sun became darkened and the earth shook, and all creatures trembled, and as if of themselves, at this deed all creation quailed, and its inhabitants. And now thy majesty knows what is right to command against the people of the Jews, who did these things."
And Tiberius Caesar wrote and sent to Abgar the king, and thus he wrote to him: "The letter of thy fidelity to me, I have received, and it was read before me. With respect to that which the Jews have done with the cross, Pilate the governor hath also written, and informed Olbinus, 66 my pro-consul, of these things which thou hast written to me. But because of the war of the Spaniards who have rebelled against me is going on at this time, therefore I have not been able to avenge this matter; but I am prepared, when I have quietness, to make a charge legally against the Jews, who have not acted legally. And because of this, as to Pilate, who was made by me governor there, I have sent another in his place, and I have dismissed him with disgrace, because that he departed from the law, and did the will of the Jews, and he crucified Christ for the gratification of the Jews, who according to that which I hear of them, instead of the cross of death, it was fitting that He should be honoured, and it was right He should be worshipped by them, especially as they saw with their eyes all which He did. But thou, according to thy fidelity to me and thy true |38 compact and that of thy fathers, hast done well to write to me thus."
And Abgar the king, received Aristides,67 who was sent to him by Tiberius Caesar, and he replied, sent him back with honourable gifts, which were suitable for him, who had sent him to him. And he departed from Edessa, and went to Ticnutha,68 where was Claudius the second, from the king, and from there also he went to Artica,69 where was Tiberius Caesar. But Gaius guarded the regions, which were round about the Emperor. And Aristides himself also recounted before Tiberius the mighty works which Addai did before Abgar the king. And when he had rest from the war, he sent, slew some of the chiefs of the Jews, who were in Palestine. And when Abgar the king heard, he greatly rejoiced at this, that the Jews had received punishment, as it was right.
And some years after Addai the Apostle had built the church in Edessa, and furnished it with everything which was suitable for it, and had taught many of the population of the city, also in the other villages, both those which were distant, and those which were near, he built churches, and completed and ornamented them, and appointed in them deacons and elders, and |39 taught in them those who should read the Scriptures, and the orders of the ministry within and without he taught. After all these things he became ill with the disease, by which he departed from this world.70 And he called Aggai before all the congregation of the church, and he brought him near, and made him governor and ruler in his place. And concerning Palut, who was a deacon, he made him an elder, and of Abshelama, who was a scribe, he made him a deacon. And when the nobles and chiefs were assembled and stood by him, Bar-kalba and 71 Bar-Zati, and Marihab, the son of Barshemesh, and Sennac, son of Avida, and Peroz, son of Patricius, with the rest of their companions, Addai the Apostle said to them: "Ye know, and ye testify, all of you who hear me, that everything which I have preached to you and taught you, and ye have heard from me, so have I conducted myself among you, and ye have seen also in works, because that thus our Lord commanded us that whatsoever we preach in words before the people, we in work should do before every man. And according to the ordinances and laws which were appointed in Jerusalem, and by which also the Apostles, my companions, were governed, |40 so also ye, do not turn aside from them, and do not take away anything from them, as I myself also have been guided by them among you, and have not turned aside from them to the right hand, or to the left, that I might not become strange to the promised salvation, which is reserved for those who are guided by them. Take heed, therefore, to this ministry which ye hold, and with fear and trembling abide ye in it, and minister every day. Minister not in it with habits bringing contempt, but with the prudence of faith; and the praises of Christ, let them not cease from your mouth, and let not weariness in prayer at the stated times draw near to you. Take heed to the truth, which ye hold, and to the teaching of the truth, which ye have received, and to the inheritance of salvation, which I commend to you, because before the judgment-seat of Christ you will be sought out by Him, when He taketh account with the pastors and superiors, and when He taketh His money from merchants with the increase of gains. For He is the king's son, and goes to receive a kingdom, and to return, and to come and make a resurrection for all men; and then He sitteth on the throne of righteousness, and judgeth the dead and the living, as He hath said to us. Let not the secret eye of your mind from the height above be closed, that your offences may not multiply in the way in which there are no offences; nor abominable error in its ways. Seek ye those that are lost, and visit those that err, and rejoice ye in those that are found. Bind up those that are bruised, and be ye watchful of the fatlings, because at your hands will the sheep of Christ be required. Look ye not to passing honour, for the shepherd that looketh to be honoured by his flock, badly, badly with respect to him does his flock stand. Let your solicitude for the |41 young lambs be great, for their angels 72 behold the face of the invisible Father, and be ye not a stone of stumbling before the blind, but clearers 73 of the way and the path in a difficult country, among the Jews, the crucifiers, and the erring heathen; for with these two parties only is there war for you, in order to show the truth of the faith, which ye hold; also when ye are quiet, your modest and honourable appearance will be fighting for you with those who hate truth and love falsehood. Be ye not smiters of the poor before the rich, for the severe infliction of their poverty is sufficient for them. Be ye not beguiled with the hateful cogitations of Satan, that ye be not stripped naked of the faith that ye have put on,74 for unbelief is easier than faith, as sin is easier than righteousness. Take heed, therefore, of those that crucified, that ye be not friends to them, that ye be not responsible with them whose hands are full of the blood of Christ; and ye know, and ye bear witness, that everything which we say and teach of the history of Christ, is written in the Book of the Prophets, and deposited with them. And their words bear witness to our teaching concerning the judgment, and suffering, and resurrection, and ascension of Christ; but they know not, that when they rise against us they rise against the words of the Prophets, and as in their lives they persecuted the Prophets, so also now, since their death, they persecute the truth, which is written in the Prophets. Again, take ye heed of the heathen, who worship the sun and the moon, and Bel and Nebo, and the rest of those which they call gods, though they are not gods in their nature. |42 Flee ye, therefore, from them, because that they worship creatures and things made. And as reported to you before, the whole object 75 for which our Lord came into the world was that creatures might not again be worshipped and honoured, because they exist by the nod of their Creator; and when He wishes, He dissolves and makes them cease, and they are as though they are not. For the will of Him, who created the creatures, freed men from the yoke of the paganism of the creatures. For ye know that every one who worships the servants of a king with the king, the death of the sword findeth him in his worship. Be ye not searching for secret things, and inquiring after hidden things, which are written in the holy books that ye possess. Be ye not judges concerning the words of the Prophets. Remember and consider that by the Spirit of God they are said; and he who accuses the Prophets, accuses and judges the Spirit of God. May this be far from you I Because the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous walk in them without stumbling; but the infidels stumble in them; because that they have not the secret eye of the secret mind, which has no need of questions in which there is no profit, but loss.76 Remember the menacing judgment of the Prophets, and the word of our Lord, which defines their words, that the Lord judgeth by fire, and all men are tried by it. Wherefore, as wayfarers |43 and sojourners, who tarry for a night and return early to their homes, so may you yourselves consider concerning this world, that from here ye go forth to the places where the Son went to prepare for every one worthy of them. As to kings of countries, their armies go forth before them, and prepare for them a dwelling-house for their honour; but this King of ours, behold, He is gone to prepare for His worshippers blessed mansions 77 in which they may dwell. For it was not in vain God created the children of men; but that they might worship and glorify Him. here and there for ever. As He passeth not away, so those glorifying Him cease not. Wherefore my death also, with the disease of which I am bound and lie; as a sleep of the night, let it be esteemed in your eyes. And remember that with the suffering of the Son, Death, which snatches away the children of men, passed away and ceased; and Satan, who causes many to sin and makes war with the true, that they may be without truth. And as a husbandman who puts his hand to the ploughshare, if he looks behind,78 the furrows before him cannot be straight; so also ye who have been called to this gift of the ministry, be ye cautious, that ye do not trouble yourselves with the things of this world, lest by chance ye be impeded as to that to which ye have been called.
As to princes and judges, who have embraced this faith, be ye loving them, although do not simulate in any thing, and if they sin, ye reprove them with justice. Ye shall show them openly your rectitude, that they may be corrected so as not again to conduct themselves after their own will. This solicitude ye shall have all the days |44 of your life, that all of you may run after honest things, as ye also counsel others with respect to them; for in these things men find their life before God.
But the Law,79 and the Prophets, and the Gospel, which ye read every day before the people, and the Epistles of Paul, which Simon Peter sent us from the city of Rome, and the Acts of the twelve Apostles, which John, the son of Zebedee, sent us from Ephesus; these Books read ye in the churches of Christ, and with these read not any others, as there is not any other in which the truth that ye hold is written, except these books, which retain you in the faith to which ye have been called. And our lord Abgar the king, and his honoured nobles, who have heard that which I have spoken before you to day are sufficient to be for me witnesses after my death, that I have diligently preached the doctrine of our Lord before every man, and that I have not acquired anything with His word in the world. For His word by which I have become rich was sufficient for me, and I have made by it many rich; for it lifts me up in this way in which I go forth before Christ, who has sent after me, that I should go by it to Him. For ye know that which I have said to you, "That all the souls of men, which depart from this body, die not; but they live and rise, and have mansions, and a dwelling-place of rest, |45 for the understanding and the intelligence of the soul do not cease, because the image of God is represented in it, which dieth not. For it is not as the body without feeling which perceives not the odious corruption which has come upon it. Eeward and recompense it is not able to receive without it (the body); because that labour was not its only, but also of the body in which it dwelt. But the rebellious who know not God, they become penitent then to no purpose. Ye, indeed, who are of Christ, whose glorious name is placed upon you, and ruleth, He will direct you in the way of truth, in which, ye shall go and shall arrive at and attain to that which is promised and kept for those who depart not from Him; but abide according to what they were called to by our Lord.
And when Addai the Apostle had said this word, he ceased and was silent. And Aggai, maker of the king's chains, and Palut, and Abshelama, with the rest of their companions, answered and said to Addai the Apostle, "Christ Himself has testified that He sent thee to us, and thou hast taught us the true faith, and hast made us possess the true life. As we have heard from thee and received, all this time thou hast been with us, so we abide all the days of our life. And from the worship of things made and created, which our fathers worshipped, we flee, and with 80 the Jews, the crucifiers we will not mix ourselves; and this inheritance, which we have received from thee, we do not let go, but with it we will depart from this world. And in the day of our Lord, before the judgment-seat of righteousness, there will He return to us this inheritance as that thou hast said to us.
And when these things had been said, Abgar the king, |46 arose, he and his princes, and all the nobles of his kingdom, and he went to his own palace, when all of them grieved over him, for he was dying. And he sent to him honourable and costly garments, in which he should be buried; and when Addai saw them, he sent word to him, that not in my life have I taken from thee anything, and I will not falsify in me the word of Christ, which He said to me, "Receive not anything from man, arid acquire not anything in this world."81 And after three other days, that these things were said by Addai the Apostle, and he had heard and received the testimony of the doctrine of his preaching from the sons of his ministry, before all the nobles, he departed from this world, and it was the fifth day of the week, in the fourteenth of the month Eyor.82 And the whole city was in great sorrow and bitter pain; not only Christians sorrowed for Him, but also Jews and Pagans, who were in this city. But king Abgar more than any man sorrowed for him, he and the princes of his kingdom. And in the grief of his |47 mind he despised and forsook the honour of his kingdom on that day; and with mournful tears he wept over him with every man. And all the people of the city, who saw him, wondered at how much he suffered because of him. And with great and excellent honour he carried and buried him, as one of the princes, when he dies, and he placed him in a great sepulchre of ornamental sculpture, in which those of the house of Aryu, the ancestors of the father of king Abgar, were placed. There he placed him carefully with grief and great sorrow. And all the people of the church went from time to time, and prayed there diligently, and the commemoration of his death they made from year to year, according to the command and instruction which was received by them from Addai the Apostle, and according to the word of Aggai, who was himself the guide and ruler and the successor of his chair after him, by the hand of the priesthood, which he had received from him before every man.
And he also by the hand from which he received made priests and guides in all this country of Mesopotamia. For they also, as of Addai the Apostle, thus took his word and heard and received, as a good and faithful heir of the Apostle of the adorable Christ. But silver and gold he took not from man, and the gifts of the princes approached him not. For instead of gold and silver he enriched the Church of Christ with the souls of the faithful. But all the chiefs 83 of men and women |48 were modest and decorous, and they were holy and pure, and they dwelt singly and modestly without spot, in watchfulness of the ministry decorously, in their carefulness for the poor, in their visitations to the sick; for their goings forth were full of praise from those who saw, and their conversation was covered with glory from strangers; so that even the priests of the temple of Nebo and Bel divided with them the honour at all times, by their honourable aspect, by their truthful discourse, by the confidence which they possessed, and by their freedom, which was not enslaved to greediness, and was not in bondage under blame. For every one who saw them ran to meet them, that he might honourably salute them; because even the sight of them spread peace over the beholders. For their words of peace were spread like nets over the rebellious, when they were entering the fold of truth and verity. For there was no man who saw them, and was ashamed of them; because they did not anything which was not just, and which was not becoming, and in consequence of this their countenances were open in the preaching of their doctrine to every man. For whatsoever they said to others and directed them, they exhibited the same by works in themselves; and as to the hearers, who saw that their works were with their words, many became their disciples without persuasion, and confessed Christ the king, praising God who had turned them to Him.
And years after the death of Abgar the king, one of |49 his rebellious sons,84 who was not obedient to the truth, arose and sent word to Aggai, when he was sitting in the Church: "Make me headbands of gold, according to that which thou didst make for my fathers of old." Aggai sent him word: "I desert not the ministry of Christ, which has been committed to me by the disciple of Christ, and make headbands of wickedness." 85 And when he saw that he did not obey him, he sent, and broke his legs, as he was sitting in the church and expounding. And as he was dying he made Palut and Abshelama swear that in this house, for the sake of whose name, behold, I die, place me and bury me. And as he made them swear, so they placed him within the middle door of the church, between the men and the women. And there was great and bitter sorrow in all the church, and in all the city, above the pain of sorrow, which had been |50 in its interior, as the sorrow, which had been when Addai the Apostle died.
And because that by the breaking of his legs he died suddenly and quickly, he was not able to place the hand upon Palut.86 Palut himself went to Antioch, and received the hand of the priesthood from Serapion, Bishop of Antioch. Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, himself also received the hand from Zephyrinus, Bishop of the city of Rome,87 from the succession of the hand of the priesthood of Simon Cephas, which he received from our Lord, who was there Bishop of Rome twenty-five years, in the days of the Caesar, who reigned there thirteen years.
And as is the custom in the kingdom of Abgar the king, and in all kingdoms, that everything which the king commands, and everything that is said before him is written down and placed among the records, so also Labubna, the son of Sennac, the son of Abshadar, the king's scribe, wrote these things of Addai the Apostle, from the beginning to the end. Hannan also, the Tabularius, the king's Sharrir, set the hand of witness, and placed it among the records of the writings of the kings, where are put the commands and laws, and the contracts of those who buy and sell are kept there with care, without any negligence.
THE END OF THE DOCTRINE OF ADDAI THE APOSTLE.
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