The Book of Governors (chapters 13. Of the Origin of the Blessed Mâr Narses and of his Coming to This Monastery–3. Of the Departure of the Holy Cyprian from the Desert to an Island of Greece)

The Book of Governors

continued

Chapter 13. Of the Origin of the Blessed Mâr Narses and of his Coming to This Monastery

1 There was in the country of Běth Běghásh a famous village called Zám, the inhabitants of which were warriors, and they all were mighty men of valour. Not only did they pursue thieves, and make raids, but they also shewed themselves fierce and disobedient to the royal officers who came to them for the imperial taxes, and many of them they fearlessly drove away with blows. From this village then came the blessed man, whose noble deeds I am about to relate, and he and his brother whose name was Shalmân, and his only sister sprang from a family of believers, and from people who were prosperous as regards the affairs of this world. And the manner of life of each brother was as different as that of the blessed Jacob and of Esau, for Shalmân carried a sword and shed the blood, not of the good but of wicked men. And because the Kharêwâyê had at that time begun [to commit acts] of destruction and theft, Shalmân armed himself, and having gathered together a body of men, he put an end to many of the Kharêwâyê by cutting off their heads. And the rumour is reported of him that every day in which he did not lie down upon the skull of some malefactor whom he had slain with his own hands as upon a pillow, his food was without taste and unpleasant to him.

2 And like Esau he was a man of the chase and a man of the desert, but his brother, the holy Narses, elected to live the ascetic life in an admirable manner, and he firmly stamped into himself—like the impression on a dinâr—the [qualities] of the blessed Jacob, gentleness and sweetness, and praiseworthy obedience to his parents. Now their sister became the wife of the honourable Shâhdôst from the country of Dâsen, who was born at Beth Gâwzâ, and who begat by her the honourable Nâ'mân, that great and famous and rich man, who accepted many offices of government and received dominion over countries from Zuraik and [from] his fathers [who were] governors of Mōṣul and of all the north, and who during the time of his rule made great gifts to the Church, and to her children, and to her directors. And when Rabban Mār Narses had become a young man, having by the care and pains taken about him by his parents been trained in the Holy Scriptures in the church of their native village, at which time each man turneth to the right hand or to the left according to the nature which is implanted in his earthy composition, and sheweth in his manner of life either nobility or depravity of nature, he elected to become a disciple [of purity], and left the house of his fathers, and all the wealth of their possessions;

3 and he despised the love of brethren and of relatives, and came to the holy monastery of Bēth Ābhē, and worked in the monastery, as the canons of the Fathers order; and it came to pass that an accident happened to the advantage of himself and for the benefit of the purity of the body with which he was clothed. Now when he was with the other monks his companions shaking down the olives from the olive trees in the large garden of the community, having gone up into one of the trees he slipped down between the fork of the branches, and his testicles were crushed. And he fell into a severe illness and these members had to be cut off from him altogether, and 4 and a safe-conduct, (Ya'kubī p. 564, l. 18). When Zuraik came to him he sent him to the court of the Khalifa, who at once ordered that all the wealth and possessions of Zuraik and of his family should be confiscated. This order was not, however, strictly carried out, for Fumaid entered into negotiations with Zuraik's brethren, and part of Zuraik's wealth was returned to his family. he became a eunuch. And as it is written concerning this matter by the fathers, and concerning those who cut off their members, "If [the members] have been cut off by sickness or by barbarians, the canon of the Church doth not reject a man, but let him take upon himself the grades of priesthood, and let him minister, and this shall become to him the merchandize of virginity;" and according to that which the wise man spake, "Woe to the man that worketh impurity upon his couch;" and that which the blessed Evagrius spake warningly, "At the time when [thou art] striving against impurity, excuse thyself from going to thy friend when he shall ask thee;" and from the fact that the fathers commanded us to be remote from the sight of these members—for by the sight of them the fire of desire which is implanted within us is stirred up, and it may happen that we shall not be able to hold ourselves against the force of passion—by the sickness which happened to him Christ our Lord freed him from the necessity of handling and touching those parts which is an absolute loss of chastity. But perhaps the Divine dispensation arranged beforehand these things concerning him, so that when afterwards he should be appointed to act as shepherd to the city of his flock, he might rest in peace from the sight of the beautiful things of this world and its losses.

5 And when he had gone forth from service in the monastery, he built himself a little cell far away from the community (which is well known to this day and in which there still exists an olive tree which the holy man himself planted), to the east of the monastery, and below the [Little] Fortress; and when he had come to dwell in it, he made himself a place for weeping, and as he regarded himself as living in a grave he hid himself therein with humility and weeping of tears. And although he excused himself from the society of those who wished to increase in virtue by reading and conversing and singing the Psalms [with him], yet because he was a neighbour of the holy Mār Cyriacus, whose history I have written a little above, he visited him, and it was sufficient for him. For they had been fellow-workers in the monastery, and contemporaries; they were the children of one love, for they were to become the children of one kingdom; they were the sons of one monastery, for they were about to become heads of the monasteries which are in heaven; one was their communion, for they lived under one directorship; one was their doctrine, for they had been made wise by the Master of teachers; fellows under one yoke were they, for they had both ploughed the same spiritual furrow; two mighty arms were they of one body, and two brilliant eyes were they of one body;

6 and both of them were appointed shepherds of cities, which are [situated] on the great river Tigris, the one to Bâlâdh, and the other to Shennâ. Now the blessed Narses so devoted himself to solitary meditation that he was never seen outside his habitation, and for many days according to the report which I heard handed down from one to another, he never went out even to his outer chamber; but the gain and sweetness from this art with which a man enricheth and enjoyeth himself is only known and made manifest to those who have tasted it, and who have been consumed by the vision of beauty which is produced from thence. "For quietness of the body," saith the blessed Abbâ Isaiah, "begetteth peace of the mind; for by the peace of the mind, and the keeping watch upon the body which resulteth [therefrom], and by prayer and reading, and by the other works of the ascetic life, the soul acquireth unity with Christ, and becometh with Him one spirit. Blessed is the man who endeth his life in such employments, for, being crowned with diadems of light, as it is said, he entereth into heaven. For living in solitude did not magnify and glorify the saints of the new [dispensation] and the righteous men of the new [dispensation only], so that they became gods among men, but heathen philosophers also, before the coming of our Lord, and before the revelation of His dispensation, gained therefrom the riches of sublime and glorious knowledge, and they enriched others [thereby].

7 Pythagoras the master of philosophers, from the experience which he had gained during a long [interval of] time, said, "Without the lying fallow of the body in restraint, and the silence of the tongue from speaking, philosophy can never be acquired. And he commanded all those who were being taught in his school to keep silence for five years, and the entrance to wisdom was taught by him in that school by hearing and sight only. And the wise man Homer, having lived in the desert for many years making his mind to fly about collecting knowledge, arrived at a subtle perception which he received through solitude and silence; and by means of chemicals, and fire, and a furnace he transmuted lead into silver, and brass into gold, and formed precious stones by means of a preparation of herbs, from these common things [about us], and other things from other materials. And concerning Plato, who was wiser in philosophy than all [other men], and who obtained a splendid reputation among the Athenians, it is said and written that he built himself a cell in the heart of the wilderness, beyond the habitation of man, and that he took the covenant of the blessed Moses, and

8 Aristotle, Anaxagoras and others upon metals and their alloys, etc., see Hoefer, Histoire de la Chimie depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à notre époque, Paris, 1842, tom. i. pp. 65, 108ff. On the whole subject of ancient Alchemy (al-kimiyâ, from Gr. chemeia or chemia, which in its turn seems to be derived from an Egyptian word meaning "preparation of the black)," see the excellent article Chemie by Hoffmann in Ladenburg's Handwörterbuch der Chimie (in the Encyklopaedie der Naturwissenschaften, Breslau 1884), Bd. XVI. p. 2, pp. 516—530; Kopp, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Chemie, 1869; and the article Pierre Philosophale in Migne, Encyclopédie Théologique, tom. 46, col. 1173. 9 meditated on the verse, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is One," for three years, until God, the Lord of all saw his toil and trouble and granted His mercy unto him, and he wrote, saying, "The God of the Jews is one in nature, and three in Persons," and behold this composition on His similarity of nature and unity, and on the Trinity of Persons and their attributes is [extant] in the books of the Church. And it is said concerning him, and written also in another [place], that once when he was occupied in trying to think out some speculation concerning created things, he travailed in [his] mind, and was brought low, and [fell] into great toil and affliction; but when he had plucked out his [earthly] desires, and had become aware of his contemplative power, and had been persuaded from within, [saying] "Verily I have attained unto some of it", he remained silent in joy three whole nights and days without any movement whatever. And the master of physicians, and the teacher of great doctors, Hippocrates the philosopher, by means of all the wisdom which he received from solitude and silence, penetrated deeply with his mind sagaciously into the strife of mental investigations, and he learned to understand how the child is nourished in the womb of its mother.

10 And if upon the heathen who are aliens, and who are remote from spiritual knowledge, God the Lord of all bestowed the wisdom which they sought after, or by reason of their affliction, or as it were for the benefit of others by the labour of the deepest tranquillity and silence and absence from mankind, made them glad, how much [more] to the holy men who keep His commandments, and who train themselves according to His will by hunger and thirst, and suffering, and tears, and prayer day and night, will He give not [only] the wisdom of [this] world, which they have not sought after, but the kingdom for which they suffer, and make them to enjoy the pledge of it here? 11 Now the holy man Mâr Narses received a gift of the fruits of a tranquil life which is beloved by all the fathers, and which is the completion of all excellence, that is to say a constant flowing of tears which never ceased from him. And an old man from this monastery whose name was Tûmânâ, whom I have mentioned in the history of Rabban Cyriacus, told me that when the blessed Narses came to the congregation he used to wrap himself up in the covering of his cap so that the flowing of his tears might not be seen; now this was also said of him by the believing men of Shennâ. And when one of the brethren asked a certain old man, saying, "How is it, father, that although my soul desireth tears they are not given to it? he replied to him, "My son, tears are the land of promise, for as long as a man is without tears he journeyeth in the wilderness with the children of Israel; but when he arriveth at the gift of tears he entereth into the land of promise. And because this great gift, for which not every man is sufficient, is much needed for the watching of humility, a man should train himself to despise himself and to hold everything in contempt in such a manner as not to be deprived of this great wealth and gift.

12 And let him hearken unto the advice with which the blessed Evagrius ordereth him, saying, "Even though thou shouldst have a fountain of tears in thy prayer, be not in any wise exalted in thyself, [thinking] that thou art greater than many [other men], for thou wilt [only] have received help from thy prayer [when] thou hast discovered [how] to confess thy sins with diligence, and to pacify thy Lord by thy tears. Do not then turn to the passion of pride that which is the destroyer of the passions, lest peradventure thou shalt offend the more Him that hath bestowed grace upon thee; for there are many who have wept for their sins, but because they have forgotten the end and aim of tears they have been smitten with madness. And the blessed Mark the monk saith, "If thou hast tears in thy prayer be not lifted up, for Christ hath drawn near to thine eyes, and thou hast obscurely seen the Light.

13 And because in proportion as the soul is exalted to the height of excellence, mighty adversaries make attacks upon it, according to the words of the holy Evagrius, [let a man] spiritually adorn himself with the deepest humility, and with watchfulness of every thing round about him through abstraction and contemplative power, lest peradventure when he conquereth in the war of fornication, he whom he hath overcome may accidentally ensnare him, and he be led captive by the Evil One to the cruelty of wrath, or even if he endure this he fall into the abyss of envy and anger, or if he be free from these things he be led astray by avarice and vain-glory. For it is more difficult to preserve excellence than it is to labour for it, even as saith a certain holy man, "If thou shouldst put all the labours of virtue on one side, and the observance of them on the other, the observance of them would outweigh them; for the glory of the actions of a man's life and the purity of his heart are like unto the entrance into the love of his Lord, and Christ will thus sanctify him to be a pure temple unto Him. For in this manner doth act that gracious Lord Who doth not withhold the hire of those who labour in the garden of His Gospel.

14 And when He findeth a pure spot He sanctifieth it for the dwelling of His Will, and crowneth it with the glorious honour of the revelations of His wonders, and when it is manifest to His inscrutable wisdom that the hidden pupils of the eyes of a man, which are within, cannot be injured by the glorious brightness of the beauties of his splendours, He maketh him to be an altar of His revelations, and He maketh the mind to be a priest in the holy of holies of the heart, which is within, with secret hymns of praise which are akin to the holy hymns of spiritual beings. And this holy man concerning whom our insipid narrative relates lived in the enjoyment of such things as these for many years and excelled; but the time draweth nigh, indeed hath already come when he must receive the ordination of the five talents, and must administer like a wise servant the treasures of his master to the members of the house.

Chapter 14. Of the Election of the Holy Mār Narses to Be Bishop of the City of Kārdālīābhādh which is Shennā

1 Now since the spirit of the Prophets is subject unto Prophets, and [since] revelations conceive a fulfilment before the time for their being carried out hath arrived, because they are made manifest and pointed out by a hand which is of the Holy Spirit, so also according to the spiritual vision which the blessed Mār Cyriacus, Bishop of Bālādh, had seen some years before—as I have made known above—concerning the election of the holy Mār Narses and of many others, the time drew near and came for him to be appointed to the direction of the Church. Now he was made manifest by the hand of God through the blessed father, Shûbhhâl-Mâran, the ascetic and head of the Monastery of Shennâ, the murder of whom we are about to describe in this history, and he made known to those believing men that the Spirit of the Lord had set apart the holy Mâr Narses, the ascetic from Bêth 'Abhê, to be a shepherd and governor of their church. And Christ also urged them through him to go after him without delay, and they went down to the pious Mâr Timothy, and made known to him that he must ordain as their Bishop Rabban Narses the solitary and ascetic.

2 And Mâr Timothy wrote [and sent] by their hands a canonical letter ordering Mâr Narses not to dispute the Divine choice, and when this blessed man had read it, and saw that in any case he was bound and compelled to appear before the Patriarchal throne, he assented to the Divine Will and departed with them, and was consecrated by the Patriarchal hands and by the prayers of the chief priests, and he was reckoned like Matthias in the series and company of the priests of the Church. How very fitting is it to introduce in this place the Divine word which was spoken by the Lord to the holy prophet Zechariah, saying, "Take of [them of] the captivity, [even] of Hûldi (Heldai), of Tûbhyâ (Tobijah), and of Îdha'yâ (Jedaiah), and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, who hath come from Babylon; take his silver and his gold, and make a crown and put [it] on the head of Îshô bar-Yôzâdhâk, the high priest."

3 Now when [Mâr Narses] had gone into his city, and had been received with the ceremony and honour of which his piety was worthy, the city of Shennâ became enviable in the sight of the other cities, and [it was] as if the psalm of the blessed David had been said of them, "The Lord hath multiplied to do these [things] for us," and they had answered, "The Lord hath multiplied to do for us, and we are glad," and again, "The Lord hath brought back upon us His good gifts together with His gracious acts like the water brooks that are in the South. And the holy [Mâr Narses], like a vigilant watchman of the flock which had been entrusted to him, kept a strict and careful watch on all sides upon the sheep of his flock that none of those believing men under his pastoral care might stray in the slightest degree from what was right. And he became like a wall to that flock, and like a spiritual boatman he held the oars of that spiritual ship, and guided it through the storms and waves of [this] world, and brought it to the mansions of heaven.

4 And like a wise gardener he cleansed and purified from it as from a garden all the bad shoots and stubborn roots, and he drew water for the fruit-bearing trees, and he made the sweet herbs to grow up and to flourish, and he protected their fruit that they might not be injured by the wiles of Satan their adversary, who is accustomed to put tares in the place of choice wheat. And in order that when the account of their reckoning and what they had lost should be demanded from them, he might in very truth give an answer on their behalf, he diligently examined and scrutinized and looked carefully into all the affairs of those under his pastoral charge. And while he was occupied and employed in working with such care as this, and was meditating upon everything which belonged to it by right, the Holy Spirit bestowed upon him another gift of the power of healing, so that every pain and sickness to which his blessing and holy right hand drew near departed without delay from the body in which it was.

5 And he received the spirit of revelation, and attained unto the knowledge of things which were afar off, and as the Prophets and Apostles in their times, the times when justice, and righteousness, and chastity, and piety of life had fled from the world, proclaimed peace upon all men and departed, so the holy man triumphed, and in his days restored the gift of miracles which had been taken away from the world, and the name of Christ was magnified in the mouth of the heathen, and honour was accorded to the solitary and ascetic life through which his holiness had flourished; and until the end of his life his city remained unharmed by any injury either secret or manifest.

Chapter 15.

1 Of The Spiritual CONTEMPLATION AND OF THE INTELLECTUAL PLEASURE IN THE THREE [KINDS OF] SPIRITUAL MEDITATIONS, ON THE CORPOREAL, ON THE INCORPOREAL, AND ON THE HOLY TRINITY, IN WHICH THE HOLY MÂR NARSES WAS TRAINED AND MEDITATED PHILOSOPHICALLY. 2 Certain of the fathers have written in their books that there existeth in the heart a glorious intellectual mirror which the Creator of natures formed from all the visible and spiritual natures which are in creation for the great honour of His image, and as a means for discovering His invisibility; and He made it a tie, and a bond, and a completion of all natures. Now the fathers call it the "beauty of our person," and by Saint Paul it is called the "house of love," and by the doctors the "house of peace," and by the wise the "house of goodness," and by others the "house of joy," in which dwelleth the spirit of adoption which we have received from holy baptism, and upon it shineth the light of grace. And whosoever hath cleansed this mirror of beautiful things from the impurity of the passions and from sin, and hath renewed it and established it in the original condition of the nature of its creation, can see by the light of its glorious rays all spiritual things which belong to natures and to things of creation which are afar off and which are near. And he is able by the secret power of the Holy Spirit to look into them closely as if they were all arranged in order, without any covering whatever, before his eyes. And when the working of God dawneth upon the souls of holy men there dwelleth and abideth upon it this gift of the Holy Spirit, and He bestoweth this gift upon the good, and maketh them to possess life and happiness for ever. And even thus, according to what I have heard from those who saw his glorious deeds, was the holy man of whom we are about to speak worthy [of this gift].

3 Now there was in the Monastery of the holy Abbâ Simon of Shennâ, an old man whose name was Mârî, and this man related to me concerning the holy man, that inasmuch as the blessed man was endowed with the knowledge [of God], and his mind was continually carried away towards God, he was unable to keep himself from this holy contemplation; and as in [the case of] many [other] things he was prevented from going down to the service of the Holy Mysteries on the first days of the weeks, it was thought by the believers that he acted thus by reason of the weight of his old age. And it came to pass on a certain first day of the week, when he was forced by the elect of God, Rabban Shûbhhâl-Mâran, the head of our monastery, to be with him in the pulpit for the performing of the service of the church, that Mâr Shûbhhâl-Mâran saw that he was occupied in meditating upon this subject and in doing so he saw that he became unconscious of every human feeling and movement, so much so that he was utterly unmindful of the necessary acts which the service of psalmody required, to sit down for the keryânê, and to lead off in the exordia, and he saw that his eyes were closed and that he did not know where he was.

4 And as soon as Rabban Shûbhhâl-Mâran had gone up with him to his cell, he fell at his feet and took an oath, saying, "I will not stand up again until thou shalt have revealed unto me concerning the vision which was seen by thee in the church. And the holy Mâr Narses having required the head of the monastery to keep this matter secret until his death, answered and said to him, "Every time I am in the church during the service of the Mysteries, my mind is lifted up above the sight of these things which are done during the service, and above the church and its congregation, to the things which are in heaven; and these things which are before my eyes are explained [mystically] by the things which are secret and hidden from every man. The church which is depicted before me [represents] that of Jerusalem which is upon earth; the platform which is in it [represents] Zion; the altar which is in it represents the ark of the Old Covenant; the cross which is upon it, and the Book of the Gospels [represent] the New Covenant and the throne of Christ at the time of His dispensation here, and the connexion which both Covenants possess, each with the other; the body of priests which are in it [represents] the companies of the Apostles; and the path [leading] from the platform to the cupola above the platform the narrow path which goeth up to heaven.

5 The three steps which are before the platform [symbolise] the third heaven whither the blessed Paul was taken up; the ḳestrōmā the place [which extends] from this [earth] to the firmament; the screen which is over the door of the chancel, and the veils which are upon it indicate to me a type of the firmament. The chancel [symbolises] 6 the place which is above the heavens; the naos [symbolizes] the heaven of heavens and the Divine Shechinah; and the veils which are upon it [indicate] that the Godhead is hidden even from the angels. The altar [represents] the throne of the Deity; the priests [represent] the angels, the three congregations of which are in heaven divided into nine companies. The Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones [which form] chancel from the nave. It stood either upon the third or highest step leading to the or by the side of the lowest step on the floor of the nave. The seems to have been the partition wall to the right and left of the door of the and its width must have been equal to the depth of the three steps. According to this theory the would very well represent the. the first congregation represent to me Patriarchs, Metropolitans and Bishops; the second congregation [which consists] of Powers, Lords and Rulers [represents] priests, and deacons, and solitaries; and the third congregation [which consists] of Principalities, Archangels and Angels [represents] sub-deacons, readers, and believing laymen. The lights which are in the chancel fill the place of Divine splendour, and the knowledge Divine in all things by which all the companies of spiritual beings sparkle and shine. The censer which hath been transmitted by the priests, from hand to hand, in order, from the priests of the early [period] to those of the middle [period], and from the priests of the middle period to those of these last times, [represents] the doctrine of the things which are about to come to pass, and of the things which must needs be, and which the Divine dispensation demandeth, and which the angels receive by teaching from one another. And the knowledge of things which are about to come to pass, and the insight into things which are hidden, and the

7 are a fiery motion; and the Thrones are a fixed motion. The Lords are a motion which is entrusted with the government of the motions beneath it; the Powers are the minister of the will of God; and Rulers are a motion which hath power over spiritual treasures. This class of angels governs the luminaries, the sun, moon and stars. The Principalities are a defined motion which possesseth the direction of the upper ether, of rain, cloud, lightning, thunder, whirlwinds, tempests, winds, etc.; the Archangels are a swift operative motion which governeth the animal creation and everything that hath life, from the gnat to the elephant; and the Angels are a motion which hath spiritual knowledge of everything that is on earth and in heaven. The number of each one of these classes of angels is equal to the number of all mankind from Adam to the resurrection." 8 zzz gratification and joy which we receive therefrom are like unto the sweet scents which the censer breatheth forth in our holy temples. The gathering of us all in the church [symbolises] the universal assembling which [shall take place] before the face of our Lord in the celestial heights. Our choirs which face each other, and the service which is sung by two choirs, represent those which cry each to each, and say, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord the mighty One," etc. So then by reason of the contemplation of these things which are before my sight, O chosen one of Christ, I am exalted to the incorporeal congregations of the spiritual beings, and I forget myself, and I pass over by the mental faculty which I abstract from these typical objects to the prototype which is depicted upon my understanding by these things which are above the world. And on account of this many, many times I have kept myself back from going into the holy temple on days of assembling for holy feasts, and since I am occupied in this enjoyment every first day of the week, in order that I may not be accounted a drunkard and remote from knowledge and understanding of those things which are being performed during the festivals, I remain in my cell that I may not appear to be such to the simple and pure minds of the saints. For our Lord when pronouncing the Beatitudes spake, saying, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see the living God;" and again, "I and my Father will come, and we will make a dwelling with them"; and again, "I will dwell in you and walk in you, and they shall be one with us, even as Thou and I, O my Father, are one".

9 And moreover this same very aged man Mārī who related to me the things [above] concerning [Mār Narses], also told me saying:—"Once Abbā Shubhhal-Māran asked him concerning the questions and answers of the old men which are written in the Book of Paradise, saying, 'How is it, master, that the excellent Palladius was able to carry in his memory an innumerable multitude of questions and to set them down in writing? Have they not been altered since the time when they were spoken by the fathers and by those who asked them?' And the holy Mār Narses answered him, saying, 'The histories of the holy fathers which have written above them [the statement] that they were composed by him, were actually written by him, but the questions and their answers he gathered together from the collections of the books of the Fathers. Now on the holy days of the Passover, and the Passion, and the Resurrection, when they were going forth from the restraint of fasting, between one service and the other, the holy fathers were accustomed to sit down with the novices before them, and scribes wrote down the questions which were asked and the explanations of them, and counsels, and answers, and they placed them in writing for their own benefit, and for the benefit of those who should come after them; and Divine grace worked upon the holy Bishop Palladius, and he gathered them together'. And this thought hath at times greatly troubled me also, but it was shewn to me secretly that these things were written down in this manner; and it is well known to us that the revelation and knowledge of this [matter] became known unto him by the hand of the holy angel which clave unto him."

Chapter 16. Of those things which were wrought by the holy mâr narses, some by spiritual vision, and some by the working of miracles, and of the end of his life

1 If any man desireth to learn concerning all the wonderful acts and mighty deeds of healing which the holy man ever wrought, let him go to that believing city [of Shennâ,] and he will hear about all the glorious and excellent things which were performed by the hands of that holy person, not only from priests and deacons, and ordinary believing men, but also from a host of women and children, for behold, to this day his wonderful acts are spoken of daily. I, however, will write down a few pleasant memorials [of him] out of the many things which I have heard concerning him, even as I have done in the case of the histories of the holy men his companions, leaving out the remainder which are beyond counting, for I must bring the writing of my history to a close. Now the venerable Eustathius told me that there were certain believing people in the royal city of Bagdad who had an only son about twenty years old, who when he was three years of age had fallen sick of the palsy, and he was grievously afflicted by severe pains for seven years until he became abhorred by his parents by reason of this disease. And they would even have preferred his death [to his being alive]; for he received no benefit at all from the physicians, and he found no relief from the prayers and gifts which his parents distributed on his behalf among the needy.

2 Now the blessed Mâr Narses had a man sick of the palsy in the house of a certain rich God-fearing believer in Bagdad, and one year the holy man went down to see the Catholicus Mâr Timothy. And when those people learned and heard from many concerning the gift of healing which the blessed man possessed, they went to Mâr Catholicus and entreated him to write to the holy man Mâr Narses to command that the boy should be brought to him, so that he might pray over him, that peradventure by [his] help he might receive healing. And he wrote through them [to him], saying, "Inasmuch as thy holiness hath received the gift from the Holy Spirit, which hath prepared for itself the working of mighty deeds, and cures of sicknesses according to thy piety through the virtues of the spirit and of the body which it hath gathered together and placed [in thee], and inasmuch as our Lord hath trusted thee to be steward of His household, and to work wonderful deeds, and hath set me in the third grade of teaching, as the blessed Paul glorieth, and inasmuch as these believing people have required of me to write to thy holiness to command them to bring to thee their sick son who is struggling with disease, I entreat thee to do this, and to let the young man be brought to thee, and to let him be blessed by thy holy right hand;

3 and our Lord Christ shall heal him also of the infirmity which hath become confirmed in him, even as He hath healed others by thy hands". And when the blessed man had read the letter, he commanded them to bring the young man to him. And Eustathius swore that they took the young man, who was lying in his bed upon his back and was unable to turn upon either side, to the upper chamber of the blessed man, and Már Narses commanded them, saying, "Go to your house, and at mid-day come and take away your son. And when they had come back according to his command and the masters of the house had informed him, he commanded the young man, who had been made whole and sound by the might of the prayer of the blessed man, and he went down the steps of the staircase of the gallery with leaps, like the paralytic whom the Apostles healed in Jerusalem; and he induced and moved all men to give praise to God, the Lord of all, Who had visited our evil generation in the person of this holy man; and this thing was known throughout all the city.

4 And again there lived in the city of Shennâ a well-known believer, who had an only son, who when he was eight years of age departed from this world through the destructive work of magic. And when the blessed man heard the sound of the funeral service with which the boy was being carried to the cemetery, and the noise of the crowd, and the weeping of his parents as they arrived at the door of the church, he stood at the door holding the stick upon which his old age was supported, and commanded them, saying, "Enter in all of you, and [bring] the dead body with you, that we may perform a short service over it in the church"; and the people did so, and the bier was set down in the place where the services were held. And the blessed man commanded every one to bow down in worship and to kneel, and he commanded the parents of the boy to untie the cords and bandages with which he was bound, and he took hold of his hand, and said to him, "By the might of our God, rise up", and the boy sat up alive. And the blessed man answered and said, "The death of your son was an act of magicians, but henceforth fear not, for he shall not suffer this mischance a second time;" and every one glorified God and returned to their houses.

5 Now the blessed man had as a disciple, a certain priest whose name was Cyprian, and this man told [me], saying, "One night while I was sleeping in the outer courtyard [of the house] of the holy man, and he was inside, he came out to me hastily, and stirred and roused me up, and he answered and said to me sadly, 'Rise up, my son, and take with thee a little bread and a jar of water, and a rope, and take with thee a donkey, and go quickly to the ruined village of Hammimâ, and go into a ruined house which is in such and such a place, and behold there is there a dry well into which a man has fallen, and thieves threw him into it two days ago; draw him up and lift him out, and feed him with bread and water, and set him upon the animal and bring him hither'. And I answered and said to him, 'Be patient a little, master, and with the dawn I will set out, for I am afraid lest some harm should happen to me on the road during the night time.' And the holy man answered and said to me, 'My son, go quickly before that stranger die, and

6 (and note on p. 150); p. 154, and p. 49, l. 5 (and note on p. 153). I will be a pledge to thee that neither evil hap nor injury shall befall thee.' "And", said Cyprian, "through [my] confidence in the word of the blessed man I did what he commanded me, and I went to the ruined village according to the indications which he had given me. And I stood above the well, and I cried out, and there answered me [a man] who chattered like a bird, and I drew him up, and lifted him out, and I brought him to the city to Mâr Narses. And he remained with him until he was healed of the bruises and wounds in his limbs, and with a blessing he bestowed upon him a prayer for the way, and sent him away from his house." "And again, one day at dawn he called me, and said to me, 'Go to-day to the banks of the Tigris and command the sailors that not one of them unmoor his boat to cross over to the other side, that their ships be not broken and sunk, for a violent storm is about to arise through a mighty wind'—now this wind actually arrived—; 'and the boat and all the cargo of every man who doth not receive what I have said shall perish', now it was the season of the great flood when the rivers Tigris and the Little Zâb overflow."

7 "And again, on another occasion, there began to be a pestilence in the city of Mâr Narses, and the believers entreated him to allow them to decree a solemn supplication to God on account of this. And he said to them, 'That we should make a solemn supplication is a good thing to do, but death, which is your master, will not be stayed unless he hath taken from among your souls according to the number which God hath decreed shall be taken from you as a punishment.' Now he privily made known the number to his disciple, and when this limit was reached the sword of death rested and stayed." 8 (became a mighty stream, and it was not hard to understand how very materially this river which Sennacherib tells us he brought to Nineveh (Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. iii. pl. 14, l. 11), must have helped to destroy the palaces of his great city. The yellow Tigris flowed along with its swollen stream at the rate of 5½ or 6 miles an hour, and small rafts reached Bagdad in 4½ days, including stoppages of a few hours each night. The distance from Môṣul to Bagdad viâ Kerkûk is about 300 miles, and I believe the distance by river to be about 400. The greatest flood of the Tigris and Zâb takes place in April. It may be noticed that Thomas of Margâ used the Syriac form of the Old Assyrian word for "flood"; i. e., = Assyrian mi-lum; see Strassmaier, Wörterverzeichniss, No. 5294, p. 658; Bruno, A Classified List, Leyden 1887, p. 466, No. 11538; Smith, Sennacherib, p. 146, l. 52; Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. I. pl. 57, col. vii. l. 51; and Norris, Assyrian Dictionary, pt. iii. p. 789. Floods on the Tigris are often accompanied by violent south-east winds which literally blow craft up the river or into the banks, and it is necessary to cut the bridges of boats until the wind and stream subside.

9 "Now there was an exceedingly wicked Arab who surpassed all those who lived in his time and after him in his cruelty and plunderings, and his name was Ya'lê bar-Himrân of Beni-Taimlah, which is in this country of Adiabene. And this man having brought himself to execute all wickedness, the [shedding of] blood and the slaughter of men were regarded by him as the slaughter of snakes and scorpions, and his conscience never pricked him because of the blood of the holy men which he cruelly shed. And this man destroyed the Monastery of the holy Rabban Mâr Job, and the Monastery of Bêth Nestorius and the Monastery of Margânâ, and he left many places without an inhabitant. He rode a mare without saddle or bridle, and none of the governors was able to overtake him because he could travel in one night twenty farsah, more or less, at a rapid rate, and while he was heard of in this country to-day, to-morrow he was heard of in a very distant one. Now this utterly wicked man went down to the Monastery of the holy Abbâ Simon, and he went up covertly to the cell of Rabban Shûbhhâl-Mâran, the head of the monastery, and slew him.

10 And it was revealed to the blessed Mâr Narses, and Cyprian his disciple said, 'When deep sleep falleth upon man, with sadness and tears he cried to me, saying, Rise up, my son, and follow me, and let us go to the Monastery of Abbâ Simon;' and we went forth from the church and arrived at the Tigris, and he made the sign of the cross over the water and he took hold of me with his hand, and said to me, 'Come with me, and fear not.' And we crossed over, and went into the monastery, and he sent me to cry out and to knock at the door of the common-room, and the brethren came out, and I took them to him. And he answered and said to them, with tears, 'Woe to you my brethren, for your chief Shûbhhâl-Mâran is slain;' and we all went to his cell, and we found that blessed old man smitten with knife and sword wounds. And upon this a great uproar arose, and that murderer from the top of a hill answered and said to us, 'I am Yâlê bar-Himrân, and I have slain the head of the monastery; after a time I will come and destroy you all.' The holy Mâr Narses said to him, 'If thou dost ever return here I will dry up the mighty river Tigris.

11 The decree of the Highest hath gone forth against thee, and thou wilt be slain by the governor of the city of Hadhattâ in the village of Esîrenyâ.' And thus our Lord actually did to that murderer, for wishing to come back again to Shennâ, the governor of Hadhattâ slew him in Esîrenyâ according to the word of the holy man'." 12 "And also, one year when I for some reason or other was coming up from the low countries with the boatmen along the banks of the Tigris, there met me above the city of Hadhattâ a certain fisherman whose name was Hêshim, and who having tied up his large net was wishing to cast his gâwpâ into the river. 13 And he lifted it up in his right hand, and spake with his mouth, saying, 'In the name of the living God, and by the prayer of the holy Mâr Narses.' And I said to him, 'How is it that being an Arab thou didst call upon the holy Mâr Narses, a Christian teacher, to help thee by his prayers?' He said to me, 'Upon which Mâr Narses thinkest thou that I called?' And I said to him, 'As I think, Mâr Narses the teacher who lived in Nisibis.' He said to me, 'That Mâr Narses upon whom I called was the blessed Mâr Narses who was Bishop of Shennâ. For when I was a boy with my father and we were fishing there, we used to see him continually crossing over upon the water at night-time from his city to the Monastery of Rabban Simon, and back again from the monastery to the city. And when he perceived that we had seen him, he sent his disciple after us early one day, and called my father to him, and he prayed and entreated of him that he would reveal [this] to no man until [after] the holy man's death. And he blessed us, and said to us, Every time ye fish, and ye make mention of the living name of God, the Lord of all, and the name of my sinfulness, an abundant catch of fish shall be brought back to you in a full net; and from that time to this, whenever we have made mention of that holy man, we have made a large haul of fish in the Tigris."

14 "And again, there was a certain Arab who had never taken anything from any man by fraud or injury, and he was in want, and he went out one night to go and plunder and steal. And after the death of the blessed man he said, 'I went out to steal, being in want, and I crossed over the Zâb and went to the neighbourhood of Ekrôntâ, I and two members of my household, and we took from there many sheep, and a quantity of other things, and we left the guardians who were there strongly bound and beaten. And when we were in the plain opposite Shennâ, behold the blessed man himself was coming towards us, and he met us above the Monastery which is named after Bar-Gâmêsh. And when the mare which I was riding saw him—now it was a dark night without a moon—she pricked up her ears, and threw up her neck, and I knew that something had appeared to her; and I laid the pointed end of the spear on [her head] between her ears, and let go of the bridle, and she charged straight ahead against the blessed man who was coming on towards us without fear.

15 And when I saw him I lifted up the spear and wished to drive it into him, and he answered in the Syriac tongue, and smiling said to me, O thou that hast a spear and a mare, smite me not.' And I answered and said to him, 'Who art thou?' And he said to me, 'I am Narses the Bishop.' And I got down from the mare and fell at his feet, for I was acquainted with the beauty of his holiness. And I said to him again, 'How hast thou come hither at this time [of night]? and who ferried thee across the river? and for what cause hast thou troubled thyself [to come out] at this time [of night]?' He said to me, 'I have come out for thy deliverance, and the Lord Who desireth not that thou shouldst live before Him a life of theft and fraud hath sent me;

16 now take back everything which thou hast with thee, and go and set free those men from their bonds, and hand over to them everything which thou hast taken, and come to me to my cell to-morrow privily, and I will give to thee more than that which thou hast taken by wickedness.' And when I saw that the man possessed so great renown that God had informed him concerning the iniquity which had taken place by my hands, and that God had not allowed me to be polluted by sins which I had never committed in the days of my youth, I promised him that I would readily do it, and I did according to his will. Next morning I went to him without delay, and he brought out five hundred züzé and gave to me, and he said to me, 'Buy thyself two yoke of asses, and buy wheat and sow a field, and behold thou shalt gather in a crop a hundredfold, and our Lord will make thee rich, and thou wilt not need to perform this disgraceful work; and it came to pass according to his word, and I gathered fruit a hundredfold, and by his blessing from being a poor man I became rich.'"

17 Now if I were to write down all his acts, how many sick he healed, how many evil devils he drove out from men, and what temptations and trials he endured from bad and vicious men, as well as all his glorious deeds, I think that much time would not be sufficient for this, and that many volumes would not contain the multitude of mighty deeds and wonders which Christ wrought by his hands; and from the time when we began to write our history until now, it hath not been our intention [to do this], but only to give a brief account of each one of the holy fathers. So [Mâr Narses] finished the rest of his days, and rested in peace with all the just and upright men, and his holy body was laid in the holy church of that city, where the holy fathers [who were] Bishops before him lie; and his holy body in that holy church in which he performed the duties of priest, became a haven of help and a fountain of healing for all those who were attacked by any kind of pain and temptation, whether of bodily sickness, or affliction by cruel devils. May our Lord also shew compassion upon us by his prayers, that the remainder of our days may be made perfect according to His good will and pleasure, and may we make praise to ascend to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever, Amen.

Chapter 17. The History of the Holy Abbâ Joseph

1 The greater number of the histories which I have written before this I have written down in order from hearsay and from tradition handed down from one [man] to the other; but the present history, which is now in my hands and which my discourse wisheth to set forth clearly, concerneth the holy and blessed life of Rabban Joseph, of whom I was a contemporary. And moreover I have been blessed by that God-worthy old man, for he departed from affairs of this mortal life to the everlasting house of light in the first year of my coming to this holy monastery [of Bêth 'Abhê]. Now this blessed man came from the country of Bêth Garmai, from the district called Bêth Mêshainânê, which is situated on the Lower Zâb, and from his youth up he was a disciple in this your monastery of Bêth Âbhê. And from the beginning of his coming out from the world he expelled from his heart all noxious thoughts and emotions, and he renounced every material thing absolutely, and he built himself a cell in that valley which is called Dakhyâ; and he dwelt therein all the days of his life with absolute poverty of the spirit, and he did not possess, according to what is said [about him, the quality] which may be called friendly affection.

2 During the whole period of his life he had neither companion nor disciple, and he either collected wheat from a little plot of cultivated ground which he had before his cell, or he went out to harvest with his fellow [monks], and from this he supplied his want in a very sparing manner. And in addition to all his excellent virtues, I observed also in that holy person, of whose prayers I am in need, the following method which he observed for guarding his feelings: namely, that he always looked straight before him, and that even when he was in his cell he never moved his neck to this side or to that to look at any place, so that the nerves of his neck and shoulders which went up his head, according to the arrangement of our natural construction, had become dried up, and he was only able to see such things as were quite near him at his feet, but other things which were a little way off, either to this side or to that, he could not see at all. The very old solitaries whom I found told [me] concerning him: "For forty years he has neither lifted up [his head], nor seen the ceiling of this temple," even as it is written of a monk like unto himself, "His eyes were destroyed, and his eyelids were worn away, and the flesh beneath them was seared and blackened by reason of the perpetual flow of his tears;" and he ended his life peacefully, wishing to be known to no man, nor to be considered by any.

3 At that time when I was his contemporary the thievish Kartēwāyē came against us in great numbers, and they spoiled and seized all the monastery, and they went into all the cells, and took everything which they found; now since we all had taken refuge in flight to every hill, there was the greater opportunity for them to go about quietly through all the common-rooms of the monastery and the cells, for it was daytime. And when they had set out and departed from the monastery, we all went back, and one of the brethren [who were] the neighbours of Abbá Joseph went to see what had happened to that holy old man, and he found him sleeping the mid-day sleep in the little doorway of his habitation with the door open upon the old man for coolness. And he asked him, saying, "Father, whither didst thou flee from before the Kartêwâyê who came against us this day, and who have carried off all our property?" And being astonished he answered and said, "My son, I did not perceive that thieves had been here;" thus did God guard that man from harm and trouble by those thieves.

4 Now the pious Ḥakimâ, Bishop of Ghâwkai—now one day I went to this blessed man to ask for his prayers, and to be blessed by him—told me [saying], "When I knocked [at his door] and he opened [it] to me, I sat down with him for a little, and [as] he dismissed me to go forth he brought out and gave me a small bowl, the like of which for manner of make and appearance I had never seen. And he answered and said to me, 'Give this, my son, to such and such an old man, and take it for him as a gift of grace and say to him, Thy gift of grace is accepted, for since thou didst bring me cooked food in this bowl for three days [at a time] nothing was lacking to me.' For behold the Angel of the Lord had brought food to him even as He sent food to Daniel by the hands

5 No. 3892; Strassmaier, Wörterverzeichnis, No. 59, p. 13, and for the form a-bu-la see The Tell el-Amarna tablets in the British Museum, p. 87, No. 42, l. 39. For the Greek embolos see Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 378, and for native explanations of see Payne Smith, Thes., col. 11; Duval, Lexicon, col. 12; and Hoffmann, Syr.-Arab. Glossen, No. 30, p. 6. of Habakkuk, from Judah to Babylon. And I am certain that such was really the case, for when I had taken the bowl to that old man, and had repeated to him these things which Abbâ Joseph had said to me, he swore to me and assured me with an oath, saying, 'It is more than a year since I went to the cell of that blessed man.' Now the angel of the Lord in the form of that old man, had appeared to Abbâ Joseph, who bore hunger inside the door of his cell and who never went outside to knock at any human door to supply his need."

6 Now there was in this monastery a man whose name was Pálôhâ, and he was a hireling of the monastery, and was sent by those who were over the affairs of the monastery to cut wood [and to bring it] in a boat. Now Rabban Joseph had the day before gone to the holy Monastery of Rabban Mâr Îshô'-Zêkhâ, which is called Gâşşâ, and at the break of day he turned to come back, and Pálôhâ saw the holy man on the other side of the river, and he recognized that it was he; and he saw that when he had drawn near to the Zâb he made the sign of the cross and crossed over upon the top of the water, and he drew near to him and saluted him. And when the old man saw and knew that Pálôhâ had perceived him care afflicted him, and he was troubled, and he adjured him, saying, "Thou art forbidden by the word of our Lord to make known what thou hast seen until I depart [this] life;" and he left him and came to his cell. And Pâlôhâ, paying no heed to the ban, neither fearing the oaths, related this before the whole brotherhood.

7 Now when I lived in the service of the monastery I used to pasture a few cattle which we had in the monastery in the woods [which were] in the valley near the cemetery, and I heard from within the thicket the sound of bitter weeping, like that of one fastened in the stocks. And at the noise of the mournful outcries I went softly into [the thicket] and found Abbâ Joseph sitting on the ground among the grass and plants and flowers—now it was the time of the month of Îyâr—and I saw him gathering dry grasses from among the green grass, which he brought with his hands before his face, and weeping bitterly he said, "The days of man are like the grass, and he groweth up like the herb of the field, which when the wind hath blown over it is not, neither is its place known; and again, "Man is like unto a vapour, and his days pass like a shadow; and he laid them down upon the ground. And again he gathered other grasses and after he had weeded out all the old, he passed his hand softly over the new, and embracing them said, "Verily the generations of flesh and blood are like unto the leaves of trees, some of which fade and fall, and some of which grow up; and he repeated these [words] with mournful sighs and groans while tears flowed down from his eyes abundantly.

8 And again he took some of the beautiful flowers, and looking at them sweetly he groaned, and said to God, "Glory be to Thee, O Creator of all [things], how beautiful are Thy works. Now I standing silently above him marvelled at the wonderful things that I saw, and how that holy old man was able to weep over such contemptible and despicable matters with so great a weeping which others could not have wept even had they been beaten. And after his great weeping and his bitter outcries, he started up with gratitude to God, and there sprang up gladness within him, and like David, his mouth was filled with laughter, and his tongue with praise, and he took some of those flowers which were in front of him in his hand, and bringing them near to his nose, he lifted up his voice and sang in metre the whole of the hymn of Hosannas, "The rose, and the lilies, and the blossoms, and the spring flowers are very lovely in their appearance; and without being perceived, for he would have been angry, I left him and went away. There are many things about him [which I could tell], but I pass over them all that I may not burden this discourse with too much weight, and that it may not become longer than its fellows. Now when this holy man died he was alone in his cell, and he departed this life without a servant, for no man ministered unto him during his illness;

9 but the holy Rabban Peter his fellow-soldier knew of it, but whether by divine revelation, or whether because he went to visit him is hidden from us, and he made known to us concerning his death. And the funeral service was said over his venerable body and it was laid in the common sepulchre of the monastery near the oratory; may we receive a blessing through it, and may we be helped by his prayers, Amen. 10 Here endeth the history of the holy men who lived in the Monastery of Bêth 'Abhê. Permit me to inform thy love, O Mâr 'Abd-Îshô', and every one who shall peruse these lines that I am not to be blamed because I have not been able to write these histories with polished speech and with learned words skilfully strung together. For I have not done it as well as I could have wished, but according to my power and as I was able, and that which [is done] according to [a man's] power is beloved by God and [resteth] upon Him. To God the Cause of all things, the Supporter of all things, and the Administrator of all things, be glory, and honour, and praise, and worship, and thanksgiving, now and always, and for ever and ever, Amen. Here end the five Books of the triumphs of the holy Fathers.

Book VI — Chapter 1.

1 The histories of rabban cyprian and of rabban gabriel the holy head of the monastery which is in the district of bîrtâ, in the country of margâ, composed by the pious thomas. 2 According to what the holy fathers say, the rational soul possesseth three powers, desire, anger, and thought, and from these, as from fathers and mothers, are produced the other powers. From desire spring chastity, love, and patience; from anger, strength and fortitude, and from thought understanding, wisdom and knowledge. From these, according to what say the holy writers on the ascetic and monastic life, is propagated in the God-loving heart every work upon which as by stories, the spiritual building riseth and with which the mind, which is wise in Divine matters, buildeth up and completeth the whole tower which mounteth up to heaven. Now the labours and habits of life which are wrought by holy men and which have repentance as their aim, namely, fasting, watching, bowing of the whole body and head to the ground, and prayers themselves, are the primary matters and materials for the ascetic life; and services of Psalms, self-denial, tears, contrition, readings of the Scriptures, patience, seriousness, chastity, voluntary poverty, silence, meditation on divine matters, the despising of self, the fleeing away from men, the struggling, and the sitting apart quietly in the cell: these are all the various things which purify the understanding [which] loveth prudence. These, and more than these, needeth the labour of monks which is performed with correct aim and for the sake of the glory of the world which is to come. And the blessed Mark the monk grouped these things under the three comprehensive heads of the ascetic life, namely, "that a man should pray without ceasing;

3 that he should cleanse his thoughts; and that he should endure those things which happen. Wherefore when the soul of him that would be perfect in these things hath entered into them, it hath already become a dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit; and hath trodden the passions under foot; and hath become exalted above the body; and hath yoked it beneath itself like a chariot; and like a strenuous charioteer it pursueth after the passions and treadeth under foot the desires of the body; and like a fire blazing with the love of our Lord it burneth up all humidity [of the body] which is placed as an obstacle in the burning path of Christ; and it is filled with love towards its neighbour, from which love for God is produced, and concerning which the divine Apostle John saith in his Catholic Epistle, "He that thinketh he loveth God, but who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? [Thus] thou seest that love to God is produced by love to man. And [this] soul despiseth the hostile disposition and all the crafty duplicity of the devils which are its enemies, and by the Divine help in which it taketh refuge it cutteth to pieces their snares, and dissipateth their crafts and wiles, and becometh a mansion of Christ, and He, and His Father, and His Spirit come and make their dwelling with it.

4 And it attaineth the heavenly rest and the Sabbath peace in that mystical feast which the tried fathers who have penetrated into the mysteries of the new world have celebrated in the secrecy of their pure minds, by a bond of perfect unity which is joined to its object and which is superior to this world, and which can never be explained by created beings with a tongue of flesh, and which is filled on all sides with understanding which is superior to the learning of books, and the mind plungeth into the obscure and concealed domain of their dark hiding place, and emergeth into the splendour of their enjoyments and forgetteth the world and everything which is in it. And it happeneth that twice and thrice a day [the mind] is absorbed there without perceiving it, even as it is said concerning every one of the holy men, and according also to what happened to Abbâ Sisoes, who when his disciple knocked at the door of his cell to come in cried out, saying, "Be gone, Abraham, and come not in hither, for this place will not suffice [for thee]"; and according to that which [happened] to Abbâ Bessarion, and which was wrought for the blessed Macarius and others. Observe then to what [height] is exalted the dust of Adam, which is formed with the clay of passions and moistened with the water of wandering from what is right.

5 So mayest thou know that when man is purified from the passions which are within [him] and without, and his course moveth in a supernatural place, he will be able to illumine all deep places, and to throw light into the deepest wells; and thus the spiritual eye, which is the understanding, shineth and illumineth others, like a polished mirror which when placed opposite the sun, also reflecteth in the same manner the glorious rays which overcome the pupils of eyes of flesh. To such degrees and to such great glory were lifted up the holy men, who were superior to the world in their lives and actions, and concerning whom our feeble narrative wisheth to relate, that is to say, Rabban Cyprian the anchorite and ascetic, by whose hands the Lord completed a holy monastery in the district of Bîrtâ towards the end of his life, and with him was the holy Abbâ Gabriel who also triumphed in this monastery. But before we involve ourselves in these histories and write down their noble deeds for prudent readers, we will lift ourselves above our narrative a little, and introduce into this history [some] mention of the holy anchorites who lived in this country, by whose rays our part of the world was illumined, and who made the country of Margâ to possess a splendid appearance [such] as it never possessed before; and they made it the abode of their holiness, and the scene of their labours in the caves, and habitations, and monasteries which they planted therein.

6 I speak now concerning the holy Monastery of Rîshâ, in which according to what the historians of times and kings say, seven Bishops lived at the beginning, but in which subsequently many [more] lived; and the Monastery of the holy Mâr Ephraim the monk, who lived for the whole period of his life in a double cave, [which was situated] in a place called "Ammîkê" or "Nahlâ dhê Nahrâ", far away from all human intercourse and affairs; and also of the blessed 'Anân-Îshô', that famous and triumphant man, whose monastery which was [situated] above Hêtârâ excelled preeminently in mighty deeds and miracles; and of the holy Mâr Îth Allâhâ, who passed his whole life in the perfection of ascetic acts and deeds in a small hole in the rock above the village of Lalêsh; and of the blessed Îshô' Râhmêh, to the name of whose piety the Monastery of Beṭmâ was built, the glorious things of whose shrine are still spoken of by the wise and prudent;

7 and of the blessed Hebhishâ whose booth was fixed near the village of Hennes, and the resting place of whose bones and of those of the holy men who were his companions was revealed in our days by the hands of venerable men;—now when thou goest into that cave and seest the crosses hewn out of rock [which] hath never [before] been subject to the [chisel of] steel, fixed there as marks of honour for a testimony of the holiness of those monks, and how the tablets above their coffins are hewn out, and how little holes (or channels) have been left [in the coffins] for the sweet odour from their dust [to come out], thou must marvel and admire—and also of the holy Mâr Addai, whose Monastery was called Râmâ, the strength of which testifies to the solitude of his dwelling place, in which, according to what is said, many mighty deeds and miracles were wrought for all men. And of this company were the holy Gregory, whose holy monastery was [situated] near the village of Berbêli; and the blessed Mâr Isaac the ascetic, who made his habitation in the territory of the village

8 and Payne Smith, Thes., col. 300. The form i. e., stomoma also occurs; see Payne Smith, Thes., col. 2601. Ḥarbai, and lived a life remote from all visible things; and the blessed Mār John, concerning whom we will speak later, who dwelt in a cave like unto a grave in a place which is called Nērabh Barzai, and who wrought signs and wonders like the Apostles in the conversion of the village of Kōph to belief [in Christ]; and the blessed Mār Abhā, who built a monastery in a mountain ravine on the Outer Rishā above the village of Bēth Zēāṭā, which is Bēth Sāṭi, where he ended his days, at a good old age, and in a course of life which was superior to the world; and the blessed Mār Abraham, the dust of whose limbs worketh many mighty deeds unto this day. And a fellow-worker of his was the holy Mār Aḥā, who ended the strife of his life of an anchorite in a little cave in a mountain gorge near the Zāb, and he was a fountain of help to all the countries round about him. Now these men were, according to what the early writers say concerning them, bishops and ascetics. And at the time when the abominable doctrine of Arius the heretic was blazing forth, during the reign of Valens the Emperor and of his wicked companions, who tyrannically persecuted the orthodox who would not accept their doctrine, by reason of the insolence and cruelty of those who persecuted them these men fled from the countries of the Greeks, and came to this land of the east, and preferred rather to live in tribulation, and in banishment from their native lands and relatives, than to be near their persecutors, and to be tormented by acquiescence with the diseased doctrine of heretics.

9 Now once, when [the sense of] what was right urged me to go round about and to pray in their caves where they had lived, I went into them with great reverence, and I understood the affliction and tribulation of their lives, to which the very places where they lived testify, and I was exceedingly sorry and very much grieved, and at once I blamed the teachers who were found in their days, [teachers who] perhaps had been esteemed worthy to see these men, or to behold their wonderful works, because [the sense of] what was right had not urged and obliged them to set down in writing some matters of the noble acts and deeds of such anchorites as 3rd century A. D., and died at Constantinople A. D. 336. For his life and doctrines see Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., I. 15; Socrates, Hist. Eccles., I. 4, 38; Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., I. 5; Epiphanius, Haeres. 69. 6, 60; Rufinus, Hist. Eccles., I. 13; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. XXI.

10 these; for it is more evident than the sun at noon-day that signs, and mighty deeds, and noble acts must have been exhibited by them to the believing men who lived in their days. And when I had returned from there, that is to say from the clefts and holes of the holy men in the rocks above, I went also into the Monastery of the holy Mār Cyprian the ascetic, which was situated in the vicinity of [the caves of] these holy men, and I enquired also concerning the holy men who were therein, and if they had any histories of them in their possession which I could read, and with which I could satisfy my eager desire [to know] their triumphs. And the brethren who were therein brought out and gave to me some incomplete narratives, in which there were, however, some few materials relating to the triumphs of the mighty deeds of the holy Rabban Cyprian, and of the blessed Gabriel, and of Paul his brother, from which I could learn whence they came, and how and where they became disciples, and how they lived, and in what manner they ended their days.

11 And when I had gone through them, although they were written in a simple manner by men who loved God, I thanked our Lord and offered up grateful thanks for the gift of the zeal of the ascetic brethren who lived in this monastery during the life-time of these fathers, who had not been negligent like the early [writers] and passed over all the noble acts and deeds of these holy men. And I dared—now such boldness as this is praiseworthy, because it stirreth up those who listen to the praise of God—to collect from the materials of their most excellent works a spiritual treatise in writing, upon which the brethren [and] ascetics who are in this monastery may meditate, as well as the priests and believing men who are desirous of hearing about the glorious works of these men who are [now] captains of the hosts of the kingdom of heaven. Now first we will make ready our discourse to speak concerning the thrice blessed and holy Rabban Cyprian the ascetic, and we will set down in writing the blessed things of his victorious deeds before wise and prudent readers and listeners, for he lived a long time before Rabban Gabriel, and he was the origin and father of this holy assembly. We will begin, then, to relate [his] history, and may the Divine grace through his prayers be with us, and may our discourse, through Christ Who strengthened him, be a benefit [to all].

12 Here endeth the Prologue and First Chapter.

Chapter 2. Of the Origin of the Blessed Cyprian, and of his Training at School, and of his Going to Jerusalem

1 There is in the country of Margâ a district, the name of which is Birtâ, and in this district is a village, the name of which is Béth Magûshâ, and it would seem that it received its name and title from the leaning which its former lords and inhabitants had to Magianism, and from this village the blessed Cyprian is said to have sprung. And having been born of believing parents, he was brought up by them in an excellent manner, and carrying out the Apostolic command which [saith], "Fathers, provoke not your children, but bring them up in the instruction and teaching of our Lord", they laboured with all their might in the teaching of the blessed Cyprian; and because a new plant maketh use of everything, and the Lord knoweth those that are His, grace at an early period manifested in him the sign of its working. And having read for a short time the Psalms and the subjects which children are taught in their village church, he arrived at the state of being a young man, when every man doeth his own will and pleasure, without let or hindrance, and he chose these things which belong to the Spirit, and dedicated himself to the service of the Lord, and wandered about as a pilgrim in foreign countries.

2 So then he departed to the holy school in the village of Makkabhâ—now it was flourishing greatly during his days—where he was thoroughly trained in all the glorious doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and in the books on the dispensation of life, and in expositions of them. And when he arrived at the state of perfect manhood, because he like Samuel, and Jeremiah, and the other holy men, had been set apart aforetime to be a soldier and a member of the household of the heavenly Lordship, and because he had been ordained to be the cause of great benefits at a time when [important] matters began to run their course, He that knoweth hidden things, and things which are about to happen, and things which are afar off, did not fail to give to that blessingworthy person an indication of His providential dispensation that he should become and be called a portion of eternity. And with what result? He inflamed his heart and set on fire his mind with the desire, hotter than fire, of going to Jerusalem to see the holy place where Christ our Lord manifested to mankind His bodily dispensation for the sake of their redemption.

3 And being involved in this thought and determination he prepared to begin the plan of his journey with hot and zealous steps directed thither, and having renounced earthly love, and made himself an alien to the love for parents, and brethren, and human kind, and all his kindred, he laid upon himself the holy Book of the Gospels, and thus like an athlete he began to depart; and he brought his journey to an end in hot haste, letting pass places of tarrying for rest, like a man who hurries home to his father's house and to his family whom he hath not seen for a long time. And when he had arrived in Jerusalem and had worshipped in all the holy places, the place where Christ was baptized in the Jordan, and the Temple, and Golgotha, and the Sepulchre, and the Upper Chamber, and the Mount of Olives, [places] in which the redemption of our race by a Son of our nature was completed, his soul rejoiced, and his spirit was satisfied, and he rested from the toil and weariness of his way; and he praised and glorified Him, by trust in Whom he had been anxious to travel and to see the places which the adorable footsteps [had trodden].

4 From thence he set out to go to Mount Sinai in Arabia, and in this mountain [he went into] the cave in which the blessed Moses had lived, and in which the Lord shewed him the constitution of all this universe, and where he composed the words of the Spirit, and where also God had spoken with Elijah the great Prophet, and he offered up the sacrifice of praise to the Lord like sweet-smelling odours; and our Lord made His light to shine upon the understanding of the holy young man, and He prepared him to journey uprightly along the path in which there is no blame. From thence he directed the course of his journey straight to Alexandria, and from this [city] he went to the Egyptian desert, where he stayed some time going about among the monasteries of the holy men who lived in the desert; and he worshipped at the graves of the righteous and holy Antonius, and Pachomius, and Evagrius, and Arsenius, and Macarius, and Serapion. And from the sight of the holy men who were there and from their labours he gained a good type and example for himself. And just as the bee that is skilful in her handicraft formeth and buildeth up the honeycomb in her dwelling from [various] herbs and grasses, so also did this holy man gather together habits of the monastic life from each of the holy men and did perfect them in himself;

5 and having become initiated into all the monastic life, and having endued himself with the venerable garb of the monks in one of the monasteries of the orthodox which were there, and having laboured in the service of the community according to the canon of the fathers, and having lived in that monastery a considerable time, the chosen vessel deemed that henceforth he might become an anchorite.

Chapter 3. Of the Departure of the Holy Cyprian from the Desert to an Island of Greece

1 Now the holy Cyprian heard of a solitary island in the territory of the Greeks in which palms and fruits for food were found, and although there might be men living there he would have no need for the services of man; and he persuaded certain traders of the sea, and they carried him in their ship and brought him thither. And when he had gone into the interior he praised God, the Lord of all, who had prepared that place for him, and he rejoiced in it and loved it, and it seemed to him as if he were in the Paradise of Eden. And thus he took advantage of tranquil solitude to fast, and also to pray and to sing Psalms, and from these [arose] prayer and supplication, which [lasted] day and night, to Him Who loved and Who walked [over] sea and land to fulfil His will in the renunciation of every thing. Now he tarried there a long time without the knowledge of [any] man, delighting in the desert and training himself in all the most severe and minute details and particulars of the ascetic life, at the same time sparingly sustaining his life with dates and vegetables and herbs which he took from the earth. How many were the fierce strifes and afflictions which this valiant athlete endured there from the passions of the body and the wickedness of obstinate devils it is not for us to write;

2 but those who have occupied themselves for a long time with the affairs of the solitary life and with the life of an anchorite [know] how hard it is to lead that life, and how difficult, and what fierce enemies attack the wretched monk, and how he eateth [his bread] day and night with the tears of his eyes, and with bitterness. As for consolation it is far from him; as for wars, they surround him on all sides; and helpers he has none. So then, considering contests and strifes of absolute necessity he was entirely collected in his mind, and he was afraid lest the thought which awoke in him irritatingly would put an end to his contemplation, and would destroy in the twinkling of an eye all his life-long labour; for, as Paul saith, his contest "was not against flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, and against the rulers of darkness of this world, and against evil spirits under the heavens". His labour was [his] furnace, that [he might go forth] like gold which is tried and tested by the fire. There in the desert he was victorious, and he was profited by afflictions by which as the body melted away and gradually disappeared, the soul shone and became radiant to meet the riches of glorious things after its sufferings and afflictions; for in proportion as the soul entereth into sublime things and becometh exalted, so do its fierce enemies attack it.

3 So then [we cannot] relate concerning the strifes of this mighty man of strength, for they are secret and hidden from us. 4 Now after he had tarried there for the space of many years he became known even unto the traders in this wise: it came to pass that they once touched that island to brace up their ship which had been greatly shaken by the violence of the waves, and certain of the crew wandered about hither and thither in the island. And they had heard about him from those who had brought him over there when he first came to that island, and when they saw from a distance the palm trees of his garden they knew that the man of God dwelt there. And they went, and found him, and drew near to him, and were blessed by the holy man whom they sought, and they left with him some of their provisions, and received a blessing from him and departed. And this was the cause of his being perceived there by men and becoming well known. And after his strugglings and strivings which [took place] there our Lord made him to flourish in all the excellence of a perfect ascetic life, and not only were healed those who came to him, but even those who were afar off, and who could not see him, when they called upon the name of the God of Cyprian the anchorite, speedily received healing of their sicknesses.

5 And likewise also the seamen who went down into the sea, when they were in trouble through the raging of the sea, [called upon] the name of the holy man, and the waves became quiet by his prayer, and the billows of the sea subsided. Now when he had lived full forty years in that desert, and had gathered to himself riches of which he could not be despoiled, and had laid up all his treasure in heaven above, according to the Redeeming word, and had received from the Lord all things which could perfect His will, and had become instead of a creature of soul and body, a man of the Spirit, the holy angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision, [and told him] to return without delay to the country of Margâ, and to build a monastery for ascetics on the border of his village, and to become a spiritual father and a director of solitaries. Now Divine Goodness is accustomed to work in this [manner], even as it did in the case of Moses the Great (whom after he had been the shepherd of a dumb flock for forty years, it raised up to lead and direct the thousands and ten thousands of Israel), and many others; for they were first of all trained and exercised in the solitude of the desert and mountains, and were afterwards appointed by God and brought to rule over those who led the life of solitaries, and over the Church.