The Book of Governors

The Book of Governors

Thomas of Marga

fl. c. AD 840

A history of the monastery of Beth ʿAbhe in the mountains of northern Mesopotamia and of the monks of the Church of the East, written about AD 840 by Thomas, bishop of Marga. It has six books, with a chapter for each holy man or event. Budge’s many footnotes and his introduction are left out

Book I — Chapter 1. The Author['s Apology] to Him who Asked Him to Set [the Histories] Down in Writing

1 In accordance with the causes which summoned us to converse with each other from time to time, and the histories of the holy men, praises of whom were stirred up in us, and the glorious stories and rehearsings of whose histories I was shewing forth before thee, O our brother 'Abhd-Īshō', thy mind was filled with truth, and thy tongue with the praise of the power Who made them victorious, and Who moved His saints. And thy wisdom offered to me earnest supplications, and helpful persuasions and directions, to set down [my] stories of holy men in writing, in order that their unwritten histories might neither be forgotten nor sink into oblivion. And [thou didst ask] me to give to thee written accounts of them as a rich inheritance, and as an excellent loan, that thy holiness might meditate upon them, and that thy divine understanding might be sanctified thereby. And although for some years past this wish hath never been absent from thee, and thou wast diligently urging me to do [this], sometimes with the living voice, and sometimes by many-lined epistles which thou wast sending to me to the place where I was, in times past I did not yield to this thy entreaty.

2 But at one time I took refuge in the inexperience of my speech, and at another [in the excuse] that there was no necessity for these histories [to be written], inasmuch as the Catholic Church aboundeth in histories of holy men, even as gardens are filled to overflowing with all kinds of fruits,—for what are these feeble repetitions of mine in comparison with [other] books which speak of holy men?—Yet thy desire was not diminished, nor thy ardour quenched, for by the intercession of others with thy praiseworthy self, thou didst specially and promptly come to the monastery in which I lived, together with the sage and philosopher, the wise, and enlightened, and excellent Rabban Paul, [who] very willingly joined with thee on his own behalf in this exhortation. Thou hast softened the clay of my understanding with the gentle water of thy persuasion, and therefore since I attribute all this thy earnestness to the Divine Will I accept thy love's command with all willingness. And behold, by the help of our Lord, I will make ready to satisfy this thy desire with all the joyful care of which thy honour is worthy, and I will expand my speech to praise and glorify the ascetics and holy men who have lived in thy holy Monastery of Bèth 'Abhè; for to write down the things concerning them thou hast persuaded me enough.

3 And although I shall turn aside from [the writings] of others, yet wherever it is necessary, I shall add the record and narrative of others, in order to piece together and to harmonize the histories,—which in this respect require methodical arrangement, and consecutiveness of completing portions,—and also such repetitions as shew forth the style and manner of the lives of the holy men concerning whom thy holiness hath persuaded me to speak. Pray then, with love, and readiness of mind, and good will, and charity, that our Lord, in His grace, may grant a completion to the praise of His Godhead!

Chapter 2. The Cause of the Histories

1 When I directed my thoughts to travel along the difficult path of the strict way of life of holy men, and to bring to light the things concerning them with my mouth, and my tongue, and my right hand, by the hand of Christ, and by my beloved brethren, and also by His living word which saith, "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive", and, "All things are possible to him that believeth", I was commanded to make Christ my leader and director. And since His treasury is open to faith, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," I will become a stranger unto all doubt, and I will believe that His graciousness will not repulse me, and that He will not shut the door of His gift in my face, and that He will shew forth in my ignorance a free and full gift beyond my merit—even as in times past His all-sufficient power made manifest speech in the she-ass of the soothsayer, out of the course of her nature,—and that through me He will display the glory of His saints, in the one case by His working, in the other by the praise of His majesty, for the glorification of excellent men is the glorification of God Who made them victorious. For without Him they are nothing, and are even like unto the tools of a craft without the craftsman, and without Him they are incapable of anything, and are like unto the clay which can neither contend with him that mouldeth it, nor can of its own self choose that it may be fashioned according to its own will.

2 Now, I am commanded by the holy brethren of the holy Monastery of Bêth 'Abhê, in which I have ministered for many years, that of the written and unwritten histories, and excellent stories of the holy men who have lived therein, and have been victorious, I should spin a thread of the stories concerning them, formed of the matters omitted by the compilers of written and unwritten histories, and of a small selection of stories which I have heard from approved and venerable men, with whom I have become acquainted there, and that I should set forth in writing, with much brevity, such accounts as I should find scattered here and there in the narratives of others, and in the ecclesiastical histories of ancient authors. And since in the stories which are my own I do not repeat untrue things, I shew forth the trustworthiness of theirs. And behold I will go into the gardens of their victorious deeds as into a field, and, as it were, I will glean and gather up together the choice and well-filled ears of corn, and I will pile up into one sheaf the heap of their bundles, that from thence they may go into the threshing-floors of hearing, and be ground in the mill of discernment, and be kneaded in the kneading-trough of belief, and be baked in the oven of love, and laid as a glorious offering upon the altar of the mind of the Holy of Holies.

3 For it is said, "The mind which journeyeth to and fro in its state of nature is able to perceive, and to see, and to believe the glorious things of glorious men, and the accounts of the contests of mighty warriors, at the same time adding to its knowledge belief", even as spake he that saith, "and to belief also, confidence; and to confidence, excellence; and to excellence, righteousness; and to righteousness also, holiness; and to holiness also, constancy; and to constancy, hope; and to hope, stability; and to stability, strength; and to strength, love; which is the crown of the completion of the excellent things, in which standeth our profession, and upon which is laid the foundation of our doctrine. And all things which have been, and which are, and which shall be, inasmuch as we have not been spectators of them, we must accept the saying concerning them in faith, for without it no single one of the things which are related, without seeing could we accept.

4 Now those who only in a small degree have themselves laboured in the virtues of holy men, and have participated in the smallest degree in the great joy which is bestowed upon prosperous toilers in the ascetic life and upon discreet penitents, possess from within a firm conviction concerning these things which is not an external matter produced by misery and rumour, inasmuch as experience has taught them that these things which are stated are true. Let the reader, then, perceive clearly, and let the listener understand, that the things concerning holy men which my narrative recounts are not vain imaginations of my own, for I have collected the materials for them from the things which have been said concerning them in the living speech, and from the written statements which I have found concerning them in the histories and traditions of others. And I shall finish the contest which I have undertaken at the wish of my brethren, and shall add according to the inclination of my opinion, those things which are accepted by discreet

5 able to understand nothing that is not visible, while for the things which are visible faith is unnecessary, for the sight of the eye seeth them." Philoxenus on Faith (Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 12,163, fol. 12a, col. 1). 6 and prudent men, provided that they are not prejudicial to the truth in any particular, not the wonderful signs and miracles, and mighty deeds which these holy men have wrought, but to speak as [each] occasion shall require, and to add a word concerning each, one after another, on the things which have been wrought by them, and to arrange all these things, one after another, in one consecutive order, a matter which belongeth to the care of writers, and which the order of historical works requireth. I shall not confound story with story, or history with history, in such a manner that the mind of the reader will become confused by the mixture of matters, but I shall, with much brevity, set down each narrative by, and to itself, that from here universal history may arise, and I shall add story after story, in the form of chapters [each having] a distinct number. I shall begin my history with Mâr Abraham the Great, the father of the fathers of the holy men whom I have made ready my words to praise, as the cause of the effects and as the origin of the orders of ascetics which have sprung up after him, even as the blessed Abraham is considered to be the father of all nations, and Israel the father of the Israelites, and Aaron the father of the priests.

7 And I ask our Lord, through the prayers of Mâr Abraham and of the children of his holiness, and I beg and entreat Him to give me of His spirit, even as [He gave] of the spirit of Moses to the elders of Israel, that I may hear and relate glorious things of Him; that I may speak of the glorious things of Him in His saints; that the hearing of the listeners may be sanctified by the speech of my mouth; that His holy name may be glorified by my polluted tongue; and that by author and scribe, reader and listener, confessor and believer, may be woven the rope of glorious things for His holy name for ever and ever.

Chapter 3. The Introduction to the History

1 In the everlasting knowledge of the wise Creator, the elect are set apart, and the predestined are written down for the kingdom of heaven. And the types of the Divine government which were written by the hand of Moses, testify that they indicated aforetime the things which should happen and should be given at the end, for the confirmation of the fore-knowledge of the election of holiness. For every matter of Christ our Lord was plainly brought about thereby, and inasmuch as it was given from heaven, it was inscribed on a rock in the face of heaven, for there, on mount Sinai, being overshadowed by a cloud for forty days, Moses wrote down the histories of the worlds which had been, and the commandments which had been given to the seed of Abraham. And there, by the glory with which his face was clothed, was it indicated that virginity and holiness should spread abroad in later times and be exalted.

2 And that thou mayest know that such is the case, follow after the footsteps of the life and conversation of Christ, and thou shalt find that He expounded and taught this plainly to His Apostles in taking them up to Mount Tâbhôr (Tabor), where He was changed to glory (i.e., transfigured) in their sight. And He commanded the earth and it brought up Moses, and He beckoned to the heavens and they brought down Elijah, and He shewed that the virginity and holiness which were with Moses were counterparts of the virginity and holiness which were with Shêm'ôn (Simon) in the heights of His kingdom. And He made virginity and holiness perfect for them at the time of His Ascension from the earthly Shâlim (Salem) to Jerusalem, the great city which is in heaven, when He lifted up His holy hands and blessed them, and commanded them, saying, "Go ye forth and teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teach them to keep everything which I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all the days in which the world maintaineth the course of its generations".

3 Virginity and holiness then descended from hand to hand among all nations, but especially among the pious armies of monks that exist in all quarters of the earth. And inasmuch as virginity and holiness were established in the mountains, and handed down from them,—by Moses in Mount Sinai, by Elijah in Mount Carmel, by the blessed Elisha, by the sons of the Prophets, and by Saint John in the wilderness, by those who were with Simon on Mount Tabor, by the Lord of the Prophets at the time of His fasting in the wilderness, and also at the time of His going up into the Mount of Olives,—the ascetic fathers also went forth into the wilderness and the mountains to preserve the virginity and holiness which had been handed down to them by the Apostles, and to do battle against "principalities and powers, and with the evil spirits which are under heaven". And that the Spirits and Will of God, which completed in the one case and maketh perfect in the other, is one, one of the saints testifieth, and saith, "The power which I have seen abiding in baptism, which giveth adoption as sons, and freedom, to those who are baptized, I have also seen in the dress of a brother on the day in which he received the garb of the solitary life, and it sanctified him for his work."

4 And that the venerable army of monks may not be despised in thine eyes by reason of the [superior] manner of life of the Prophets and Apostles, enter, in thy mind, into the garden of their noble deeds and triumphs, and there, as thou readest, thou shalt be able to understand the greatness and excellence of this pure and venerable habit of life. There shalt thou see Abbâ Pâwlê (Paul), who for seventy years, more or less, was ministered unto by a bird like Elijah the Great; and Abbâ Anțônis (Antonius) with a company of devils standing before him in perfect subjection; and Abbâ Pambô, who like Moses received the glory of the image of Adam, and his face shone and became like unto lightning, and he was like unto a king sitting upon his throne; and Abbâ Silvanus; and Abbâ Sûsâis (Sisoes); and Abbâ Nastîr who [served] in the monastery; and Abbâ Arsânîs (Arsenius) who was clothed with heavenly light; and another (?) [monk] whose cell was light by night as by day. May we be sustained by their prayers in the toilsome strife of their ascetic lives!

Paul the Simple.

6 Paul the Simple was one of the most celebrated disciples of Antony, and was considered to be the first disciple of that saint. He was alive in 338. For his life see Tillemont, Mémoires, vii. pp. 66—99; and Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. i. 13. The Syriac version of the account of his life by Palladius is as follows (fol. 68b): —…

Chapter 4. Of the Blessed Rabban Mâr Abraham the Great, the Head of the Monastery in Mount Îzlâ

1 Now as God of old brought out the blessed Abraham from Ör (Ur) of the Chaldees, and made him, by faith, the father of a multitude of nations, so also He spread abroad and made to increase this holy habit of the solitary life in all the country of the East, by the hand of [this] spiritual man, worthy of Abraham in name, and country, and deed, whom He established to be the father of the army of virgins and men of abstinence. For thus the ancients write concerning him, more particularly Abbâ John, the writer of the 'History of Rabban Bar-Idtâ', and Rabban Rôstâm, of the Monastery of Bêth Kôkâ, in the History of Rabban Mâr Abraham, the head of the monastery of Rabban Zêkhâ Îshô', of the Monastery of Bêth 'Abhê. Now these writers say that he went to the desert of Êskîtê (Scete), where he received and took upon himself the order of the ascetic life. Afterwards, by the Divine command, he came and dwelt in a secret cave in Mount Îzlâ, in the neighbourhood of the city of Nêşibhîn (Nisibis). And he speedily became known unto men, inasmuch as he was ordained to be the cause of spiritual benefits unto many, through the everlasting fore-knowledge of Him who set him apart aforetime, that at his hands, and by his means, the holy fathers who were to become the founders of famous monasteries of the lands of the Persians, and Assyrians, and Babylonians, might become disciples.

2 And the fame of his glorious deeds spread abroad into every quarter, like the smell of choice spices, and a multitude of ascetics were gathered together unto him. He invented this distinguishing mark of ours, and commanded that the disciples of this holy habit of life should have their heads shaved like a crown; now before the days and time of his coming, the mark of the true Christians could not be distinguished from the tonsure of the Sêwaryânê (i. e., followers of Severus). And as formerly everyone who wished 3 next cuts off the hair from the top of his head, leaving a space like a "wheel and a crown," which he sprinkles with water, saying, "Christ will wash away the impurity of thy sins." This form of tonsure has been associated with St. Peter, and is often called the Roman tonsure; the shaving of the whole head is called the Greek tonsure, and is associated with St. Paul. For the service of three years and three months in the monastery before receiving the tonsure see Hoffmann, Auszüge, p. 101, note 907. In the Jacobite office "the priest takes some of the hair from the front, and back, and each side of his head in the form of a cross" to learn and to become master of the heathen philosophy of the Greeks went to Athens, the famous city of philosophers, so in this case, every one who desired to be instructed in spiritual philosophy went to the holy Monastery of Rabban Mâr Abraham, and inscribed himself in sonship to him. Thus after many years, when the pursuit of the monastic life and voluntary abstinence had greatly increased, and when, during the lifetime of that holy man, fathers had gone forth from his congregation, and had, like him, built monasteries, he was gathered [to his fathers] in honour, and went to incorruptible life.

Chapter 5. Of Mâr Dâdh-Îshô

Now this blessed man Dâdh-Îshô, who, according to what we have learned from history concerning him, became governor after Rabban Mâr Abraham, formerly lived in Dairâ dhê Rishâ (i. e., Monastery of the Head), in this country of Margâ, with Rabban Êstaphnôs (Stephen) the Great, who was famous and renowned in all the East. When he had continued with him for a period of seven years, he departed to Rabban Mâr Abraham, and was, it is said, the first to come to him. And he ministered unto him a long time, and after Mār Abraham had departed from this mortal life to that of peace, Mār Dādh-Īshō' became the head and governor of the monastery after him. And the historians magnify him and say that in respect of the humility which he possessed, and his despising of self, and his abstinence and asceticism, he surpassed all others of his time. And the name and glory of his godly habits of life was, like that of his master, carried into all places, and by his means that holy convent flourished, and increased in holy men who became his disciples.

Chapter 6. Of Our Rabban Mār Jacob of Bēth-'Ābhē

1 Now this holy man Rabban Jacob sprang from the town of Lāshōm of Bēth-Garmai. And having dwelt Marāgah a city of Adhōrbāijān, with which it is sometimes confounded by Assemānī, (B. O., iii. 2, p. 752). See Hoffmann, Auszüge, pp. 222—227 and the authorities quoted by him; Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, vol. 2, pp. 72, 80; and Felix Jones, Notes on the Topography of Nineveh, p. 405 ff. (in Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government, No. xlii. New Series. Bombay 1857). in divers places for many years, sometimes in teaching and exercising himself and others in the Scriptures, and sometimes in leading the life of a solitary in quiet places, he went up to the monastery [of Mount Îzlâ], and became a disciple of Rabban Mâr Dâdh-Îshô; and he lived as an anchorite in the cell of Mâr Jacob, Bishop of Nisibis. And this blessed man, our Jacob, dwelt in that cell for a certain time, according to what Sâhdônâ saith concerning him, for seven years. Now when the holy Mâr Dâdh-Îshô had also departed to the life of blessedness, the holy Mâr Bâbhai the Great became the head of that holy monastery. But inasmuch as our holy father Mâr Jacob chose great humility, and to be thought of no account at all, according to what his disciples write concerning him, he made himself a stranger to all positions of worldly honour, and he made himself a servant of all that holy brotherhood. And although before God, the Lord of all, he was a great and honourable man, yet by reason of his nakedness and poverty he was despised and held to be of no account by those void of understanding. And he set

2 the W., by the Ḥemrîn mountains on the S., and the Diyâlâ and Shirwân rivers on the E. The identification of the towns, rivers, etc., in this diocese has been excellently worked out by Hoffmann, Auszüge, pp. 253ff., 'Umfang der Diöcese Bèth Garmai.' For towns in Bèth Garmai, see pp. 267—277. aside many conflicts and afflictions [caused] by the rebellious devils there, to whom he appeared as one not to be conquered by any means whatever; but they made a goad for him as we are shortly about to say.

Chapter 7. Of the Blessed Mâr Bâbhai

Now this blessed man Mâr Bâbhai came from Bêth 'Ainâthâ, a city of Bêth Zabhdai, and according to what is written concerning him, he also was, like Jacob our father, a disciple of Mār Abraham. [And although he was] a learned and a wise man, he was by nature somewhat hasty of speech and harsh in command. He wrote a lucid commentary on the works of the Fathers. Now when Mār Dādh-Īshōʿ had departed this life, and Mār Bābhai had become the head of the community, being the third head in the order of succession, Satan began to sow the accursed tares of the doctrine of abominable things in that blessed field of choice wheat sown by excellent husbandmen.

Chapter 8. Of the Corrupt Men who Rose Up in his Days in the Holy Monastery [of Mount Īzlā]

1 Now Satan, the enemy of the race of man, who from the beginning fought with our parents in Eden; who wickedly Bēth Zabhdai was a district on the western or right bank of the Tigris, adjacent to Gazīret ibn ʿOmar. 2 sowed the name of polytheism in the world; who drew on Cain to his own will; who made the sons of God to sin, and brought them down from their membership in the divine household; who made the licentious Ham rejoice in the shame of his father; who taught those senseless builders to build a tower in Shinar to fight against God; who alienated Esau from a right course of action; who made the sons of the prophet Moses to cast off the yoke that they might not walk in the glorious manner of life of their father; who made the sons of Eli and the sons of Samuel to take bribes and to sport with the women in the tabernacle; who made Gehazi a stranger to the calling and manner of life which the service of the blessed Elijah required;—when that enemy saw that that holy assembly, by a course of life exalted above the body and out of the common order, was shining with the rays of the light of purity, he set apart for himself in that flock certain solitaries, and filled them with the spirit of whoredom, and he confounded their imaginations with the lust of the flesh, the mother of lasciviousness.

3 Now if these men had at the first growth of their imaginations resisted the wiles of Satan, and [had not made themselves] a place of refuge for the wicked thoughts which he was sowing in them even for a moment, they could at once have cast them out of their minds, and he would neither have been able to do harm to their upright understanding, nor to make them the ready vessels of his will. And it happened to them according to what Abbâ Pôman (Poemen) spake, saying, "The Evil One has three powers which go before all sin. First of all he lays down error, and after error, negligence, and after negligence, lust. Now when error hath obtained the mastery over a solitary brother, it taketh away the remembrance of divine things from his heart, and delivereth him over to negligence, that he may not be aroused and put away from him the slumber of his remissness; and after negligence cometh the madness of lascivious desire, by reason of which the whole man becometh a vessel perfected for destruction. What then? Those wretched and contemptible men, by the evil counsel of the Calumniator, went down secretly, and took unto themselves women, whom, according to what history handeth down, they brought to the outside cells in which they lived; and they continued in this corrupt and abominable course of life some short time.

4 But our God, that good and gracious Being, Who is longsuffering towards sinners, and desireth the improvement and the saving of their lives, when He saw that penitence for the wickedness which they were committing had not entered into them, and that they being themselves impure and defiled, were living in a holy place, and among holy men, and were not ashamed, He exposed them and put them to shame in this manner.

Chapter 9. Of the Holy Man Rabban Mâr Êlîyâ

1 Now there lived in that holy monastery the truly blessed man Mâr Êlîyâ, who in earthly descent came "Abbâ Pœmen says, 'Satan hath three powers which go before all sin: the first is error, the second is negligence, and the third is lust. When error entereth in it giveth birth to negligence, and from negligence ariseth lust, and through lust man falleth. Now if [a man] be watchful of error, negligence cannot come; and if he be not negligent lust cannot arise; and if he work not lust, by the help of Christ he will never fall'." (fol. 228b). from Ḥirthā, the great city of the Ṭayyāyē (Arabs). He was instructed in doctrine in the city of Nisibis, and he also became a disciple of the ascetic life in the holy monastery [there]. He followed the path of monastic life blamelessly, and being remote and free from the gratification of the senses of the body, he excelled in self-denial, and in zeal against the devils and passions of the body like his namesake [Elijah the Tishbite], even as the holy man Abbā Māḵāris (Macarius) saith to the wise Mâr Evagrius, "So long as we make the devils rage we abide without injury." And although this blessed man naturally kept the strength of his wrath [to fight] against obstacles to a life of excellence,

2 the death of Antony the Great. Macarius the Younger, or Alexandrian, retired to the desert about A. D. 335. Before 349 he went to the Monastery of Saint Pachomius, where he died A. D. 394. Like his namesake Macarius the Egyptian he visited Antony, and also suffered banishment with his namesake. See Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., iv. 23; Socrates, Hist. Eccles., iii. 14; Rufinus, Hist. Eccles., ii. 4; Tillemont, Mémoires, vii. pp. 57 and 102. At the end of the notice of the Macarii by Palladius the Syriac version has the following: — he abode without offence and without injury in [his] love for man, and in the love of the exact image of the excellence which [cometh from] the God of our frail nature. Now by the hand of this man, who was admirable in his manner of life, God, the Lord of all, exposed the secret crime which had taken place in that holy congregation in his days. And as God, the Lord of all, destroyed and slew the prophets of Baal by the hand of the blessed Mār Elijah, so it pleased the Lord of all to root out and destroy those evil thorns, which were fit and ready for the fiery furnace, that is, the unclean work and manner of life of those men, by the hand of this namesake and fellow-soldier of Elijah the prophet.

3 Now some say that he received a revelation from God, and that in an angelic vision he was commanded to go down from his own cell in the night season to the cells of those men; others say that it happened accidentally, and that he heard the noise of the rods which the women were using in weaving garments; and others that he found little boys and girls, the children of those men, playing round about the cells of their fathers, and that when he asked them who they were, and whence they came, they answered him saying, "We belong to this place, and our fathers are such an one, and such an one; but by whatever way it happened, we must know that Elijah did not leave his cell without the divine command,—especially at eventide when a solitary should be diligent in casting choice aromas into the censer of his heart, to make from them a sweet-smelling savour for the whole night,—merely to go down [to walk] among the cells of the solitaries. Now when he saw and knew [what had happened], he marvelled with an exceeding great wonder.

4 And since by nature heat of temper and exciteable and fiery zeal cleave to the race of Ishmaelites, he burned with fervour and became hot with wrath, and like Elijah the prophet he complained to God, saying, "The children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, they have trodden Thy law under foot, they have forgotten Thy commandments, and instead of the fatherhood of Abraham their father, they have chosen for their father Satan the enemy of the race of man."

Chapter 10. Of Those Things which the Blessed Man Did on the Morning of that Day

1 It was a custom in that holy monastery that the board by which the congregation was summoned should not be struck, for any cause whatever, without the command of the head of the convent; and whenever this was done without the governor's command it was a sign and an indication that they were removing the head of the convent from his governorship. 2 Now when it was morning, the blessed Mâr Elijah went down to the monastery, and commanded the sacristan to go up and strike the board to summon the congregation. And when the sacristan heard [this], on account of the greatness and honourable position of him that gave the command, he did not excuse himself and say, "I cannot do this without the command of Rabban, the head of the convent," but at the command he did what the blessed man told him; and all [the monks] were gathered together and came to the church. Now the holy man Mâr Bâbhai, who was head of the convent in those days, marvelled that contrary to his command, and for some cause unknown to him, the board to summon the congregation had been struck. And he called the sacristan and asked him, "By whose command hast thou struck the board? and the sacristan answered and said, "Mâr Elijah the Zealous commanded me; and Mâr Bâbhai called Mâr Elijah and told him to reveal to him the cause of this unaccustomed gathering together. Then Mâr Elijah answered and said, "How is it, O our father and head, that the things which are done afar off, and at a distance, are revealed to thee, while the manifest wickedness which is [wrought] near at hand in thy monastery is hidden from thee?

3 How is it that those who are not under the subjection of thy headship tremble and hide themselves at the report of thy being near or afar off, while in this divine inheritance Sodom is being raised to life again, und Geba rebuilt? How hath the gangrene and stinking sore taken root and spread in the members of the holy body of the sons of thy holiness? What availeth the blessing of our father Abraham, or the bringing up of Mâr Dâdh-Îshô, or the teaching of the Gihôn river of thy doctrine if thy instruction hath [only] been fruitful in bringing forth a brood of cursed snakes, which are the children of the Serpent, the murderer, that is to say these men of our congregation who are sitting before thee, for behold their eyes see and their ears hear? They have conceived iniquity, and brought forth falsehood, they have drunk troubled waters, they have eaten husks, they have whored with the daughters of Moab by the counsel of a spiritual Balaam, and they have forgotten the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To thee it belongeth, O our father, like Phinehas the zealous, to drive the spear of thy zeal into these unclean men, and to rip open those who have laid a blot on the congregation of the fathers of all the children of the East. To thee, I say, it belongeth to drive out and to destroy from Bethel, the house of the Lord God of thy fathers, those men who appeared to me in a vision.

4 Now when these and other such like words had been spoken by the holy mouth, and trembling and terror had fallen upon every man, the holy Mâr Bâbhai said to him, "Thou must indeed shew me the proof of these thy words, and that which is proper, and that which is incumbent upon me to do, I will do. And Elijah making a sign with his hand, pointed out and discovered those wretched men, and said, "These are they who have erred and gone forth from the fold of life to feed among the thorns; these are they who have forsaken Jerusalem, and wished to walk among the serpents of the waste places of Jericho; these are they who have made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped a molten image, and have changed their object of honour into filth and unclean stinkingness! Behold there are women in their cells, and children with them! These are they whose wickedness hath driven me to give a command and to do a deed without the command of thy holiness."

Chapter 11. Of Those Things which Mâr Bâbhai and All the Fathers Did

Now when these things had been thus zealously said and made manifest by the hand of this second Elijah, the hearts of those holy men were cast down; and they removed from [the offenders] the garb of the ascetic life, and cut off the tonsure of their heads, and drove them forth and expelled them from thence, together with their wives and their children, and they kindled a flame and burned their cells with fire. Thus they rooted out that evil from among them, even as the children of Israel, when they were zealous with the zeal of the will of the Lord, destroyed the children of Benjamin with the mouth of the sword, because they had corrupted the ways and paths of purity, and had renewed among themselves the customs of the Sodomites; and as Ishmael and the children of Kentōrâ (Keturah), were driven forth from the house of Abraham, and made aliens, that they might not inherit the paternal inheritance together with the son of the free woman; and as Manasseh also was rejected, who corrupted the holy generations of the Lord, and established in the holy temple an idol with four faces, [so also were they driven forth and rejected]. Now although these men went forth in the disgrace of which their actions were worthy, yet, they finally offered penitence, and remembered Christ their Lord, and they did not bring their lives to an end with acts of wickedness. Now, by the hand of God, we will speak concerning these men in the place which requireth it.

Chapter 12. Of the unlawful accusation with which our holy mâr jacob of bêth 'âbhê was accused, and of the judgment, remote from justice, with which he was judged

Now when those guilty men had been cast forth into exile, and had been justly driven away to a great distance, and Satan saw that his labour had been made of none effect, and that his disciples had been condemned, he wished also to cast out and to drive away from that [monastery] those chosen and excellent men who would not enter into his snares, and who could not be caught in his nets. And he stirred up an accusation against the holy Rabban Mâr Jacob, as being one whose cell was near to the habitations of those men, and as one who had known of their whole course of life, and who had, during the whole time past, sheltered instead of discovering them. And the holy Mâr Elijah according to his customary vehemence made an attack upon him saying, "All this folly is thine, and thou art guilty of all this sin; for if thou hadst revealed the matter and shown it to me at the beginning, these men would either have been admonished or expelled." And by this tumult which had risen up against him, this most meek and humble of all men, who knew not that any sin besides his own existed in creation, whose eye was pure, and who never perceived wickedness in his neighbour, who never injured a man all the days of his life, who never chid and who was never angry, without making any answer whatever to those who blamed him, with his looks bent to the ground, and with his eyes full of tears, and with sorrowful penitence in his heart, was he driven forth, and he went out from that monastery by the order and decree of the word of Mār Bābhai. And he departed with a venerable and holy disciple called Bar-Nôn who had been his companion for a long time past, and thus they two went forth to the mountains of Kardô to lead the life of anchorites.

Chapter 13. Of the Things which Happened in that Holy Monastery After the Going Forth of Mār Jacob

1 It is evident that meekness and humility are the most excellent of all the virtues which are cultivated and perfected by the body and the soul, and we may learn this from many things; and that there is nothing worse than pride and arrogance we may also learn from hearing and reading and seeing. If then, according to the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, thou art meek and gracious, and art of no account in thine own eyes and thy heart is filled with penitence and self-condemnation, then thou shalt find that all men [are thy] friends, and thou shalt turn the harshness of foes to kindness, and our Lord God shall make thee beloved in the sight of all men. And thou shalt also live uninjured with destructive beasts and harmful reptiles, like this holy father, who when he was unjustly condemned, and unlawfully accused, neither judged, nor thought himself to be like unto one of those men who condemned him, but commended the whole matter to God, to Whom belongeth the earth, and Who judgeth the round world with righteousness.

2 Now therefore, when the blessed Jacob had thus gone forth therefrom and the honourable head of the monastery had laid a ban of many lines, [full] of denunciations and accusations upon him, (let him that desireth to know what manner of ban it was read the epistle which the holy Mār Īshō'-yahbh, Bishop of Bālādh, who afterwards became Catholicus, wrote to Mâr Jacob, from which he will learn the exact contents. I do not set it down here out of respect for Mâr Bâbhai, nor is it right to make an accusation against holy men who in common with other people, suffer from shortcomings or defects, especially when the divine Will, which maketh upright men to act according as it pleaseth is hidden from our understanding) the holy fathers who lived there at that time saw what had been done, and that that praiseworthy man had without fault been driven forth unjustly, and they all put on indignation, and rebuked and chid the head of the monastery and strove with him, saying, "Thou administerest the things of God unjustly and after the manner of men, and according to a natural disposition which cannot be praised. Thou hast condemned the blessed and meek Jacob without our knowledge, and thou hast driven him away without our [consent]. Send then after him, wherever he is, and know that if thou dost not do so we all shall leave the convent. It is our opinion that he has performed the work of God in a twofold manner, and that he has acted rightly in sheltering the sinners, and leaving them to the Divine examination, even though, according to what thou hast decreed concerning him, he had seen the wickedness. He was not constituted a ruler and a corrector for thee, but for himself alone was he judge, and it was

3 Hoffmann, Auszüge, pp. 97, 211; and the authorities quoted by Payne Smith (Thesaurus, col. 530). sufficient for him, and he purified his heart from seeing the wickedness of others. In which of the Scriptures canst thou shew us that we are commanded to neglect the care of our own souls, to judge the sins of others, after the manner of outside judges who pursue gnats with care, and swallow camels? On the contrary we are commanded to pray for our enemies, and to love him that hateth us, and that to him who would strive with us and who would take away from us our tunic, we should also give our cloak. Moreover also, it was thy bounden duty to correct those sinful men mercifully, and the women with whom they were united would have gone forth, and the men would have been sanctified by fasting and prayer, according to what we learn in the Holy Scriptures was done in various places to sinners and transgressors, even as the man in the [Epistle to the] Corinthians who lived with his father's wife, was corrected and afterwards accepted; and as is written in the elders, what Abbâ Pôman (Poemen) did to him to whom his wife gave birth, how he afflicted his heart and returned to his former manner of life; and as in the case of that elder by whose hands God turned back the young Alexandrian who went to him, saying, "He desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live.' Now when Mâr Bâbhai saw that the holy fathers of his congregation strove with him, and that he was unable to make an apology for this act, especially as he knew not whither the blessed Mâr Jacob had gone, he fell into great doubt.

4 because it was torn?' The toiler replied, 'No, I would sew it up and use it again.' The old man said, 'If thou hast pity upon thy garment which is without feeling, shall not God have compassion upon the work which He hath fashioned?' 'A certain brother asked Father Sisoes, saying, What shall I do, father, for I have fallen?' The old man said to him, 'Rise up again.' The brother saith, 'I did rise up, and again I fell.' The old man said to him, 'Rise up again.' The brother said to him, 'I did rise up again many times, and I fell.' The old man said to him, 'Rise up again.' The brother said to him, 'Until when?' The old man said to him, 'Until thou advancest either to good deeds or to ruin, for in that thing in which a man advanceth he will go on, whether it be to death, or whether it be to life.'

5 'Abbâ Poemen said, I prefer the man who hath sinned and done wickedly and become good again to the man who hath never sinned and hath never shown repentance; for the former hath a humble opinion [of himself], but the latter considereth himself to be a righteous man.'

Chapter 14.

1 Of the dispersion of the holy fathers into all countries, which although it was considered to have been wrought by evil temper and human passion, was nevertheless the divine will and work. Now therefore, as the loadstone' collecteth particles of iron, and attracteth them, and bindeth them to itself, and imparteth to them some of its own force, so also were those holy fathers, who were gathered together and formed a part of that holy congregation, [drawn] like particles of iron to the afore-mentioned stone, into that matter of contention, which beginning with small matters ended with great results, and they went forth from that monastery because the bond of agreement between them was broken. Now Mâr Bar-'Idtâ, an ascetic, who possessed the powers of a seer, with the eye of the spirit foresaw this dispersion, and one day he cried out to the old men of his congregation, and said to them, "My brethren, many matters come to pass and are wrought in this world, which from the trials [to which they give rise], or from their outward appearance, are thought by men either to arise from the opposition of devils, or to have been performed

3 e., the Black'), and Sabûkht to Bêth-Zabhdai; and Abbâ Sahrowai to Arzôn, where he built a monastery; Rabban Sabhr-Îshô to the Monastery of 'Abbâ Shappîrâ; Abbâ John of Adharmâh to Dâsen; and Abbâ Zêkhâ-Îshô and Rabban Abraham to Dâsen,. And they, and many others, built holy monasteries in various places, and thus by the Divine Power which aided them, the departure and the dispersion which outwardly carried suffering and strife into their hearts, at the last became a peace-making and friendly gathering together. And they filled the country of the East with monasteries, and convents, and habitations of monks, and Satan who had rejoiced at their discomfiture was put to shame; and they raised up to God everywhere holy worshippers of His commandments. May we be sustained by our Lord through their prayers, and according to His Will may we live before him in grace, Amen.

Chapter 15. Of Rabban Bar-Hadh-Bhê-Shabbâ, [and of the Monastery which He Built]

Now this old man Rabban Bar-Hadh-bhê-Shabbâ came from the village of Hadhôdh, and according to what is written in the history of him, he also was a disciple in the Great Monastery; and he also came down therefrom in this dispersion and was one of that holy body of monks who came to Bêth 'Abhê. And he dwelt in the valley which was above his village Hadhôdh, and built there a large monastery and lived in it. And there were gathered unto him a few brethren, and he remained with them and excelled in the deeds of a life of virtue all his days; and he gave large gifts to his monastery and bequeathed to it all his inheritance of the house of his fathers. And when Rabban Jacob came to him on his way to Béth Abhê, he also came with him to this holy monastery, and tarried with him until Mâr Jacob was established in the governorship thereof; then he returned to his own monastery and dwelt in it all the days of his life. His convent continued for a great many years, and flourished and increased through the healings and mighty deeds which were wrought at the place where his bones were laid. Before our time, however, it was entirely ruined and deserted, and his holy body was removed and laid in the martyrium of this monastery together with those of the holy fathers; may our assembly be preserved from harm by their prayers, Amen.

Chapter 16. Of those men who were driven forth from the great monastery, and of whither they went and dwelt, and of how they pleased god

Neither iniquity, nor sin, nor any kind of folly or shortcoming, hath power or place before the great might of repentance. It was this power which turned back the prodigal son to his father's house and enriched him with the paternal inheritance; it sanctified Mary the sinner; it absolved the thief upon the Cross; it exalted the publican in the temple above him that fasted; it delivered the inhabitants of Nineveh from destruction; and it also had mercy upon those sinful monks, and raised up their feebleness to the sonship of a good name. Now when they had gone forth from that monastery, they sent away the women to whom the devils had united them, and they went to… to a quiet place where they dwelt for a long time. And with tears, and penitence, and spiritual suffering, and the burning pains of conscience, and the contrition of the understanding of their hearts, they purified themselves from the filthy pollution with which they had been defiled. And from being lost, they were found; from being cast down, they stood upright; and from being lame, they walked firmly; from being aliens, they became members of the household [of God]; and from being outcasts and abominations, they became saints and crowned ones; for they had put away from them all the riotous living with which they were contaminated. And their minds shone; and the broken faculties of their understandings were brought to life again; and they remained like a new man in all the united power which is established by the body and the soul, that is to say by practice and spiritual contemplation, the two powers by which, when united we please God, the Lord of all, and honour our neighbour.

Chapter 17. Of the Coming to These Men of the Holy Abbâ Jonah the Ascetic from the Great Monastery

1 Now just as when God, the Lord of all, wished to forgive the sins of king David, He sent Nathan the prophet to him, and by means of the allegory which he composed, made him perceive his sin, and David confessed that he was guilty of death, and said, 'I have sinned', and the answer was returned to him, 'Also the Lord hath put away thy folly, thou shalt not die'; and as when He sent Jonah the prophet, the herald of life, to Nineveh, and he preached to them, and by his hands the inhabitants thereof were turned back to what was seemly; so also did He send to those brethren who had sinned, and they were made a mockery, even as they deserved, and they were made outcasts from the household and inheritance of their fathers. 2 But when they repented and turned to God with all their hearts,—just as did the children of Israel when they sent away the remnant of the children of Benjamin which had escaped from the sword of their brethren to the rock of Rimmon, and gave them the right hand, and took oaths to them in the name of the Lord that they might return to their villages, and to their inheritance, and that they might take unto themselves wives from Israel, and might live and not die—inasmuch as His whole graciousness and mercy overfloweth the measure of our sins, and the sea of His loving-kindness bursts forth to help and redeem us on the smallest pretence of repentance which we show forth,—so by the Divine revelation of His all-powerful Will, He made the blessed man, the holy Rabban Jonah, come to them from that monastery, and he forgave them their sin and sanctified them, and he armed them with the spiritual armour of the keeping of the commandments, and so by a course of life which was pleasing to the Will of God, they were all made perfect, and they departed from this world with a fair name which bore praise to the justifier of their lives, and the expiator of their offences, Christ our Lord, to Whom be glory for ever and ever!

Chapter 18. Of Solomon Bar-Gârâph the Solitary, from the Monastery of Bar Tûrâ, and of the Histories which He Wrote

There was a solitary brother whose name was Solomon bar-Gârâph, from the Monastery of Bar-Tûrâ, and the period in which he lived is found to have been in the days of the holy Mâr Hênân-Îshô the Catholicus. Now this man, from careful investigations and from the reports of trustworthy men who lived in his days, and from the traditions of those who lived before his time, compiled histories, graceful of speech and elegant of diction, concerning the anchorites and recluses who lived before his time in various places, and in these he also speaks concerning our Mâr Jacob of Bêth 'Abhê. And it is from this history, [in] which he speaketh concerning him, that we know from those who knew [him], that after he went forth from the Great Monastery, he departed to the Mountains of Kardô; and we are certain concerning [the time of] his expulsion and his return thither afterwards. But before I set down in writing that history of our Rabban [Jacob], I will write in this book another history which Solomon bar-Gârâph composed concerning the blessed Mâr-yahbh and a virgin, from which is made known how he returned to his cell in the Great Monastery.

Chapter 19. Of the Blessed Mâr-Yahbh and of the Virgin Nun and Recluse

1 One of the holy men narrated what he had heard from the blessed Mâr-yahbh, that glorious and wonderful man among righteous men, the memorial of whom Rabban Mâr Aphni-Mâran composed in elegant language, and he said that the blessed Mâr-yahbh repeated [the following]:—"When I went up into the mountain that I might find God, Who is everywhere, and is not limited to [any one] place, I found there a holy woman, whose garment, such as it was, was made of dried grass, and her food consisted of the roots and wild fruits of the wilderness. And it happened that I found a female child with her to whom she gave suck. Now [the cause of] the fall of our vile race was also with her who, after having led the life of [holy and pious] men, I should more truthfully say of holy angels, for forty years, fell through the working of Satan. Why should I keep silence [concerning this]? Now the girl whom the Guardian of all mankind raised up from her was, like Mary, in the stead of Eve, heaven instead of earth, and a life-bearer instead of a death-bearer. And it came to pass not long after this that the holy woman, her mother, died having led a life of good deeds which were pleasing to God, and she left the divine woman, her daughter, in her place.

2 Now this holy man Mâr-yahbh was, at rare times, accustomed to visit this blessed woman, as he did her mother, and when he felt the help which came from her, he used to say that, "Although she was in the world, she was not of the world. And I know not at all if she ever lifted her eyes and looked in my face, for her mind was led captive by the vision of God. Now when I asked her, 'Art thou content that I should visit thee as I used to visit thy mother?' she answered me softly in this one word, 'As it pleaseth thee'. Now this history teaches us that we should not rely upon ourselves, even though we be occupied with labours, but that we should take heed to men, and be silent, according to the word of the Fathers.

Chapter 20. Of Mâr Jacob of Bêth 'Âbhê]

1 Now they say concerning Rabban Jacob, him of Bêth 'Abhê, that when he went forth to that mountain [Kardô], it was the season of autumn. And a certain holy man dwelt near the hut of this blessed man without knowing who he was, for he lived in the rock above him, and he watched the manner of his life. And it came to pass one day that when the blessed Jacob went forth from his hut, the holy man went down and placed some of the herbs upon which he lived in the hut. And when [the blessed Jacob] went in and found them, he thought that they had been placed there for him by an angel of God, and he began to bow his head and his body down to the ground, and to return praise to God. Now when he took the Book of the Gospels [in his hands] and began to read, Satan, in the form of a serpent, straightway flew out between him and the Book, and because of his fear the Book of the Gospels fell out of his hands. And immediately he heard a voice which said, “Oh!”. Now the voice was that of the holy man who lived in the rock above him, for he was looking on when the blessed Jacob was overcome by the Enemy. And he straightway rose up and went down to him, and said to him, "Art thou thus so speedily thrown down in the fight?

2 And he continued, saying, "Go thou from mountain to mountain, until a woman meeteth thee; whatsoever she shall say to thee, that do, doubting nothing. Now when he found her, the girl was in a pear tree, and immediately she saw him, she came down and fled away. And the elder woman cried out to him at the top of her voice, saying, "If now because of this snake which thou hast seen thou art altogether terrified, how canst thou bear the severe onsets of devils? Rise up, and go back to thy cell, for by thy hands God is about to make a monastery, which shall be great and famous throughout all the East; and take thou this my Book of the Gospels, which is somewhat defaced, and give me thine. Now inasmuch as that excellent man had no doubt whatever, the word of the woman was fulfilled [to him] in unutterable wonder; may we obtain mercy in the Day of Judgment by the prayers of him, and of her, and of all God-fearing people! Amen.

Chapter 21. Of the Return of Mâr Jacob to the Monastery of Mount Îzlâ

1 Now when the blessed Mâr Jacob had heard these things from the Lord by the hand of that holy woman, although he would rather that his life had been passed like that of a hermit, far away from human habitation, and that his dwelling and place of sojourning had been with the animals, that his mind by the rest and quietness of the desert might have been united to God, and that he might have been remote from all human feelings and affairs, yet when he learnt from that holy woman that it was the Will of God that he should return to dwell with men, and that he should become a father and a bringer up of ascetics and holy men, and should cause to increase hosts of holy men, who were to become the children and inheritors of light, he conformed to the Will of God which governeth all things, and together with his meek and lowly disciple, he returned to that holy monastery [of Mount Îzlâ]. And [when] he had lived in his cell a little while, the heavenly power urged him, and he was by it selected to depart without delay; and it moved Mâr Bâbhai, and by means of it Mâr Jacob went forth therefrom and came to Bêth 'Abhê; but as to how [he left] we are silent, because we do not wish to appear to bring [the charge of] strife against holy men by the hands of fools.

2 Now when he went forth nine brethren departed from that monastery with him, and they clave to him and wished to dwell with him. And when he came to Rabban Bâr-Hadh-bhê-shabbâ, according to what is written in his history, he received him lovingly, and rejoiced in him greatly, and went with him to Bêth 'Abhê. And he prophesied to him concerning the growth of his monastery, and of the greatness of the honour which Christ our Lord would allot to his congregation, and he tarried with him a short time; and the blessed Bar-Hadh-be-shabbâ returned to his cell and his monastery.

Chapter 22. Of the joy and happiness, and the festival full of gladness which the monks made before him when they came to this place

Now as there is joy and gladness to the children, whose father having departed from them and gone to trade in a far country, and having tarried there a long while, afterwards returneth to his house in great prosperity because his business hath doubled many times, and appeareth among his children in perfect health and safety, with his face full of joy at the sight of them, as he findeth them occupying themselves in those matters which will give him pleasure, so also Abbâ Benjamin and his companions had joy and gladness in the coming of the holy Rabban Jacob to them. And they kissed his holy person, and he kissed them, even like Jacob when Joseph his son appeared, and they wept on each other's necks, with a weeping which was begotten of gladness of spirit. And he dwelt with them all his days, in all the humility which our Lord taught the children of His house, saying, "Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in My heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Chapter 23. Of the Time When Rabban Jacob Came to This Country, and of King Khusrau (Chosroes) [the Son of Hôrmîzd]

1 Now King Khusrau (Chosroes) the son of Hôrmîzd reigned in the nine hundred and first year, according to the reckoning of the Greeks, and he lived in his kingdom thirty-eight years. In the fifth year, then, of Khusrau according to what is written by the holy Rabban Îshô'-zêkhâ, who lived in the days of the last Mâr Îshô'-yahbh, who built the new temple, the coming of Rabban Jacob to this Monastery took place. And I, myself, having carefully investigated the matter of the date, have found from the history of Rabban Bar 'Idtâ that the time of his coming was exactly according to the word of the holy Rabban İshô'-zêkhâ. Now when King Khusrau wished to build a convent to Shîrin his wife, in the country of Bêlèshphâr, he sent to the city of Edessa, to the good man of worthy memory, Shamṭâ, the son of the blessed Mâr Yazdîn, telling him to bring from there copies of the

2 that he was a heathen at heart is evident from his unseemly conduct in the Church at Dârâ. See Theophylactus 5. caps. 13.14, Evagrius vi. 21. (For an account of Sergius, who is said to have suffered persecution in the reign of Maximian, see Tillemont, Mémoires, tom. v. pp. 73,282, and Butler, Lives of the Saints, October 7.) Khusrau ascribed the pregnancy of his best-loved wife Shirîn to the power of Saint Sergius, but his professions of Christianity appear rather to have been due to the influence of the woman whose wit and beauty and gift of singing are famous in the romances of the East, than to conviction. Holy Scriptures, and Prayer Books, and Lectionaries, which were to belong to that convent. And after he had gone there, and finished his business, he brought with him for Rabban a large Service book, and he asked for Rabban's prayers and set out for his own country. And all the books which Rabban wrote with his own hands, were [copied] from the service book which the honourable Shamṭâ brought to him, and in the greater number of them may be found written thus, "Mâr Shamṭâ, the son of Yazdîn, the prince of believers, gave this service book."

Chapter 24. Of the Honourable Bastôhmagh, the Father of Mâr Îshô'-Yahbh, the Catholicus

1 Now Sâhdônâ, the writer of the "History of Rabban Jacob," has omitted from his work many important matters which he has made extraneous, as for example, asteries everywhere.... And he was beloved by Khusrau even as was Joseph in the sight of Pharaoh, and it is said that on the morning of each day he used to send one thousand to the King." Yazdîn also sent money to rebuild the churches at Jerusalem. See Guidi, Un nuovo testo Siriaco, pp. 17,22. the coming of Rabban Mâr Îshô'-zêkhâ to this holy man; the account concerning the fire which broke out in the monastery and to which he set limits, and it was extinguished; and the account of the flood which took place in the two valleys, against which he went forth, and set bounds to it, and little by little he made it go down until it subsided, that it might not tear up the monastery and the temple in the first place in which it was built. And concerning these things Mâr Gabriel wrote [also] in the metrical discourse which he composed on Rabban Jacob, saying, "He straightway extinguished the fire which broke out in the house of the monastery, and he made to subside the flood which rushed down to tear up its dwelling." And now, according to [the omissions made] in those things which Rabban Aphni-Mâran wrote concerning him in his small history of his triumphs, and according to what we have set down in a preceding chapter [from the history] which Shêlêmôn bar-Gârâph wrote,—from which the greatness of this man Mâr Jacob is well made known—so also will I omit what [I wish to omit] and will make ready to write down the following story concerning the man, worthy of remembrance and of fair renown among the righteous, Bastôhmagh the nobleman, from the country of Hê-

2 Smith, Thesaurus, coll. 577,2783, and Nöldeke in Z. D. M. G. xxv, p. 672. Hoffmann thinks that perhaps in Philoxenus = Gr. parelthe ten exo. 3 dhaiyabh. Now he possessed in this country some small estates, among which was one called Bêth Zîwâ, and whether it was to visit his estates, or to be blessed by Rabban, he was continually coming to him. And he always passed over the King's Bridge, which was below his village, the ruins of which are known to this day, and came by Esṭwân, a village on the Zâbhâ (Zâb). And it came to pass that once when he was passing over the bridge, he saw some sorceresses washing clothes by the Zâb, and they were singing to each other the songs of devils, and everything which was round about them danced as they sang. Now as he drew near to them on his way a small fragment of one of the refrains which they were singing became fixed in his mind, and when he had gone a short distance from them, he began to meditate upon what he had heard. And straightway devils joined themselves to him openly, and required of him, saying, "Command us to do something which thou wishest us to do. Now when Basṭôhmagh saw this, he feared greatly, and he acted craftily with them and said to them, "Gather together these stones, and pile them in a heap,"—now these stones are known to this day—"and follow me whither I am going.

4 And he drove the mule upon which he was riding quickly along until he came to the cell of the holy old man, and he said to the devils, "Take this mule, and watch him until I come out; and he went in trembling, and revealed to Mār Jacob what had happened to him. And Rabban answered and said to him, "Repeat before me what thou hast heard," and while Bastôhmagh was repeating, Rabban wrote down upon the ground with his finger what he heard. And when he had finished it all Rabban made the sign of the cross over the writing, and said to Bastôhmagh, "Repeat once more what thou hast already repeated; and he said to him, "I know nothing of it whatever; and Rabban answered, and said as he laughed, "Rise up, and look after thy mule, for the devils have loosed him and gone away."

Chapter 25. Of Gregory of Tell-Besme [and of the Office of Catholicus which He Received]

1 In my first apology I made known to thy wisdom beforehand, O our brother, [ʿAbhd-Īshō], that when I had written down the memorials of the saints which thou hadst entreated me to write, I should be obliged to insert also the memorials of others who were governors of the Church in their times, where it was necessary, in order that their period might be known, and that [this] history might possess a consecutive, historical narrative. Now therefore at this period the blessed Mâr Sabhr-Îshô was known to be the head of the Catholic Church, and he served the office of head of the Patriarchate for eight years, more or less, and he departed from this world in the fourteenth year of king Khusrau in the city of Nisibis, Mâr Îshô-zêkhâ, the head of the monastery, having departed this temporary life in the thirteenth year [of this king]. Now when the valiant Khusrau had captured the city of Dârâ on the borders [of the Greek and Persian territory], in the fifteenth year of his reign, the Christians demanded from him a Catholicus; and the king commanded that the blessed Gregory, Metropolitan of the city of Nisibis, whom Mār Sabhr-Īshō improperly had cast forth into exile,—which act is spoken of in terms of condemnation in the Church until this day—should be appointed Catholicus. But certain of the teachers and believing men by whom this matter was to have been carried out, acted with deceit against the blessed Gregory, because they were afraid of the immeasurable zeal which that blessed man possessed. Now there was in Māhōzē a certain expositor called

2 founders, and to provoke the jealousy of the Persians, who incessantly complained, that this impregnable fortress had been constructed in manifest violation of the treaty of peace between the two empires." Gibbon, Decline, chap. 40. Concerning the first fortification of Dārā by the Greeks see Wright, Joshua the Stylite, p. 70. Ibn Baṭūṭah describes it as "very old, white in appearance, with a lofty fortress which is now ruined" (ed. Defrémery et Sanguinetti, ii, p. 142). The ruins have been well described by Sachau in his Reise in Mesopotamien, pp. 394, 395. Gregory, and in respect of him they acted subtilly, and made him Catholicus without the Will of the Holy Spirit, Who [alone] perfecteth the holy things connected with the Holy Church according to His Will. And certain other men, [who] had not acted justly in the matter of Gregory [of Nisibis], but who felt it right to acquiesce in what had been done until the Lord had worked out His Will, or until Gregory had ended his life, and had passed out of the world, wrote letters of accusation, and painted pictures [in which they represented] Gregory feeling a hen [to see] if it was fat [enough] for his food. And the other bishops [acted] in various ways, which it is not seemly to describe, and they brought these painted drawings and the letters of accusation before King Khusrau.

Chapter 26. Of the Stagnation of the Church After the Death of Mār Sabhr-Īshō the Catholicus

Now when the king heard and saw these things, and had learned that the Christians had not enthroned as Catholicus the Gregory whom he had commanded, but had craftily set up another, he forgot all his love and friendship for the Christians, especially that which he had for Sabhr-Īshō, and he cursed them angrily, [saying,] 'Gregory shall not minister as head'; and he swore by the Sun, his god, saying, "As long as I live I will never have another patriarch in the country of the East," which [threat] he actually carried out, for the disciple of Satan contrived carefully that the holy priesthood should be removed from the Christians of the country of his rule. And since there was no father to beget, the children who had been born came to an end little by little and ceased; and so, until Khusrau died by the sword of the Christian children of the Church, the holy Church remained without a Patriarchate. And no Bishops and no Metropolitans were consecrated, and the holy Church endured grief through the absence of the head and governor, and father of fathers, the Patriarch.

Chapter 27. Of Mâr Bâbhai, and of the Ecclesiastical Visitation which He Undertook

1 At this time, among the company of the monks, there flourished in doctrine and in a life of excellence, the blessed Mâr Bâbhai the Great. Now these Metropolitans who were allied to one another, Mâr Cyriacus of Nisibis, Mar Yônâdhâbh of Adiabene, and Mâr Gabriel of Karkhâ dhê Bêth Slôkh wrote—now by that time holy monasteries had been built, and they feared the wicked doctrine of the Mêşallêyânê, and the blackness of the religion of the heretics lest these regions round about should be sown by the husbandmen of the Evil One, and it was not easy for them to visit the churches through fear of the government, lest Khusrau by whom the Patriarch had been established should act deceitfully with them, and they be delivered over to dangers—to persuade the holy man and teacher of the Church, Már Bábhai, that as it was evident to every one that he was a solitary and not a bishop, as long as our Lord was ordering a change in His grace towards the Church, he should visit the monasteries, and convents, and monks, and repair the breaches and drive out and expel from the Church him that was sick and broken in wickedness. And these three Metropolitans did this, and they all wrote letters and entreaties to him, and he, like a prosperous labourer and a vigorous soldier of the faith, ministered unto the Church, and guarded it, and glorified it until the murder of the wicked King Khusrau. And after a Catholicus was ordained he dwelt in quietness in his cell.

2 fection be found. Of them Epiphanius (Haer. 80) says "toti in orationes intenti cetera negligebant, et, abjectis propter falsam Evangelii interpretationem, bonis fortunae, otiosi errabant per vicos ac plateas, viris promiscue cum mulieribus dormientibus." They refused to work, and wandered from city to city begging their daily bread; their profession and occupation in life was "prayer." Bar-Hebraeus (Chron. Eccles., i. 573) calls them. See B. O., i, p. 128, col. 2, (where they are mentioned by Ephraem Syrus together with a number of other heretical sects); Assemâni, Dissertatio de Syris Nestorianis (B. O., iii. 2, p. CLXXIIff.; iii. 1, p. 101, col. 2, at the top); and Cotelerius, Eccles. Graec. Monumenta, t. 1, p. 302ff. A good account of the Meṣalléyânê is given by Tillemont, Mémoires Ecclésiastiques, t. viii, pp. 222—226; and see especially Guidi, Ostsyrische Bischöfe, in Z. D. M. G., Bd. xliii, p. 391.

Chapter 28. The Apology of the Author to Him who Would Ask a Question

1 If now any contentious man, or anyone peaceably disposed should ask, "Had not these great Metropolitans power to put an end to the wickedness which was springing up in their dominions without [the help of] Mār Bābhai? [I answer] Yes, but every Metropolitan is not necessarily a doctor, neither can every doctor know [how to decide] all questions in dispute, nor can every doctor successfully contend against all the various false religions; one doctor hath one quality, and another doctor has another. In the holy Mār Bābhai, however, all these various qualities were found: [the power of] arguing against heresies; [the power of] interpreting the Scriptures; [the power of] commenting upon the writings of the Fathers, and of investigating the matters in them which required searching out. And thou mayest learn concerning all his varied learning if thou wilt read the books which he composed; now eighty and four of his works on various subjects are preserved, and are held in honour by the holy Church. And also, the foul heresy of the Mēṣallēyānē began with monks, and it was even right that by monks it should be detected, as being those to whom the visitations of grace are [especially] manifest and the crafty workings of the devils which come upon monks who keep in the quietness of the cell.

2 And also when the heresy of the Melchisedekians broke out at Scete in the land of Egypt through the contemptible monks who said that Melchisedek was the son of God, although there were doctors and famous bishops in their days, yet Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, allowed the blessed Abbâ Macarius, a monk, to make a refutation of this error; and that holy man actually did so, and made manifest the foolishness of their opinion. So also in the following affair which happened in the holy Monastery of Rabban Şêlibhâ, which is situated by the side of Hêghlâ Omêd, a village on the river Tigris, to the brethren Abhâ and Thomas and Bar-'Idtâ, the solitary brethren and ascetics, who lived in that monastery. They were by craft falsely accused of being Mêşallêyânê, although they were in no wise allied to them, and they were ascribed to their sect by certain men who, being envious of their strict and ascetic manner of life, wrote letters concerning them to the holy Mâr Hênân-Îshô, the Catholicus, when he was in the Monastery of Mâr Jonah the Prophet at Nineveh. Now he knowing that he was by all manner of means bound to enquire into this matter, wrote for them, and they came to him.

3 And he answered and said to them, "My brethren, I have never mixed myself up in those matters which concern the manner of life of monks, and inasmuch as I have no knowledge whatever of these things of which ye are held to be guilty, let these matters of which ye are accused be searched into by the hands of men like unto yourselves. And he wrote letters and sent them by their hands to this our convent of Bêth 'Abhê, when the holy Mâr George bar-Şayyâdâ was the head, and the old men of the congregation were Abbâ Nathaniel, Abbâ Sêlibhâ, and Abhrôî, and Gabriel who was surnamed Şephrônâ and many others. And when they had been lovingly examined by their brethren, and had manifested before them visitations of grace remote from all error, [the brethren of Bêth Abhê] wrote letters by their hands to Mâr Catholicus [informing him of this]; and thus in justification remote from all falsehood of mind, those blessed men returned to their cells by the command of Mâr Catholicus. This then is the reason why the fathers who lived in the time of Mâr Bâbhai required of him to rule the Church, especially the congregations of solitaries.

Chapter 29. Of the coming of mâr bâbhai to this monastery [of bêth 'âbhê], and of the miracle which was wrought before him in the temple

1 Now when the blessed Mâr Bâbhai was going round from village to village, and from monastery to monastery, visiting, and asking questions, and making enquiries concerning the orthodoxy of belief, and the soundness of the opinions in the minds of all the monks and heads of monasteries to whom he came, he was pleased also to enter into this our monastery. Now he did not ask questions here on matters of belief, nor did he require from Rabban Jacob the results of his deliberations, for he was thoroughly well convinced concerning his doctrine and of the correctness of the actions of his holiness; for he looked with his discerning eye, and he saw the manner of the life which he led, and he smelled from him the savour of grace which entereth into the chambers of the soul, and maketh glad all its powers. And he required from Rabban "that he would abolish the glorious order of the service of readings which were read on the holy first days of the week in honour of the atoning Mysteries, inasmuch as it was not a thing appropriate for monks, but only for the clergy and the laity. For the solitaries are teachers, and are all occupied continually with the Scriptures, and courses of readings are therefore superfluous for them. They have no need of commandments, nor of the dispensation of God which is especially intended for the laity, which they were originally.

2 And moreover in this work there are questions and answers and speaking, and not every monk is able to guard his mind and his tongue equally well outside his cell as before he came out; but I would wish and desire that the monks should go forth to the congregation from their cells keeping silence, and that they should return to their cells in silence, as a guard for the tongue which is the storehouse of words. The holy Mâr Jacob said to him, "To-day let us perform the Holy Mysteries in the customary manner, and let us rejoice in the participation in the body of Christ our Lord, [before] thou departest from us, and let us read the readings and not change the order of our service; and whatsoever pleaseth the Lord let us do whilst thou art here. And this speech was pleasing in the sight of Mâr Bâbhai. Now there was in the martyrium a certain man smitten with the palsy who had never walked, but he used to crawl along supporting himself upon his hands, and [when] he raised up his body, he supported all his weight upon his hands. And when the service of the Mysteries had begun, Rabban sent the man sick of the palsy to crawl into the temple, and he also selected for reading the passage from that part of the Gospels where our Lord commanded the paralytic to walk; and he gave it to one of his disciples and commanded him to read it.

3 And the paralytic crawled along and went into the temple, and the holy Mār Bābhai saw him. And it came to pass that as the reader was reading, when he came to that passage in which Jesus Christ says to the man sick of the palsy, "I say unto thee, O paralytic, arise, and take up thy bed, and go to thy house," the man sick of the palsy leaped up in the midst of the temple, and stood upon his feet; and wonder and astonishment seized all the brethren, and they all turned to the glorifying of God the Lord of all. And Mār Bābhai especially fell into wonder and amazement, and he knew and understood that this miracle had, for a long time past, been reserved for the holy Mār Jacob to work on the day when necessity required it, that it might be a bridle and a thing wherewith to silence those who wished to abolish the order of service which his holiness had established in the congregation under his rule. And Mār Bābhai, and those who were with him, rejoiced and were glad and confirmed his order of service, and praised the ordinances of Rabban; and the blessed Mâr Bâbhai went forth from this monastery, full of joy and praise, to visit the other monasteries which yet remained to be visited.

Chapter 30. Of Those Tried and Approved Men who Became Disciples of Rabban Mâr Jacob in This Monastery

Now wishing to write concerning the upright children of an upright father, and the noble heirs to the inheritance of a noble man, and the glorious disciples of a glorious father, it falleth to me first of all to give utterance to the sayings of the wise man, "The righteous man who walketh in integrity, blessed are his children after him;" "for the joy of the righteous man worketh judgment," "and his noble deeds are spoken of by his seed". And again, "The father of the righteous man shall rejoice, and if a father begets a wise man he will rejoice in him." And seeing that his own goodness was handed down as a goodly heritage to his children, the righteous man Mâr Jacob died; but perhaps he did not die, for he left many behind him like unto himself, concerning whom, by the hand of the Lord I make ready to write. And the departure of their father was not grievous unto them, because during his lifetime, they rejoiced him by the beauty of their manner of life, and they promised him that they would keep his commandments for ever. And on his departure he also blessed them, and laid his holy hands upon their heads, and they bowed down at the top of his staff at the time of his going away out of their midst. Now, according to what is written in the history of him, a large congregation became disciples of Rabban, eighty men in number, whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Chapter 31. Of Abbâ John the Elder

1 Now firstly it is known to us that the holy Abbâ John was an Elder and ascetic from the country of Bêth Garmai. He was a fellow-labourer and companion of Abbâ Jacob his father, and in carrying out completely all the glorious actions of an ascetic life, he was a pure mirror of all beautiful things, for all his contemporaries. Now concerning this man the holy Mâr Jacob commanded that he should become head of the monastery after him; and when he resisted, and would not consent to this, he was compelled by absolute necessity to become the head of this congregation. Concerning him the holy Mâr Îshô'yahbh, when he was Bishop of Nineveh, wrote to this monastery, because on account of Abbâ John's obstinate refusal the monks [of Bêth 'Abhê] wished to appoint another head of the monastery in his stead. And concerning Abbâ John Sâhdônâ made a second funeral oration upon him which begins "A little time before, when we were following our father to the grave."

2 Now when the blessed man had been head of the monastery for half a year, according to what I have learned from the aged Elders of whom I was a contemporary here, he forsook the monastery and departed secretly to the country of Bêth Garmai, to a mountain to the south east of the village of Dâkôk, to a place convenient for a life of contemplation, where, finally, the Monastery called 'Bêth Hazkîel' was built. Now this Hazkîel (Ezekiel) was the disciple of Khodhâhwai of Bêth Hâlê gently chides the monks of Bêth 'Abhê because they had not consulted him in the matter of the election of a successor to Mâr Jacob, and he advises them to appoint Abbâ John whom Mâr Jacob had nominated as his successor before he died. Îshô'-yahbh recommends the monks to appoint Abbâ John on account of his having been a monk for seventy years.

3 and a contemporary of Abbâ John, and he was greatly strengthened and enlightened in his knowledge and manner of life by the conversation and sight of that holy man; thus by the work of Rabban Ezekiel and the prayers of Abbâ John that holy monastery was built, and in it Abbâ John ended his days and was buried in peace. And Rabban Ezekiel wrote to this monastery to encourage and cherish our love and good will towards them, saying, "May mutual love and fellowship between these two monasteries be preserved to the end of days." And I affirm and bear witness, as before God, that I learned this from Narsai the Elder, who was surnamed Dâdh Îshô, from the village of 'Ain Barkê, and also from an Elder who belonged to the monastery of Bêth Hazkîel, when in the days of my youth I was copying letters before the Patriarchal throne of the holy Mâr Abraham, the Catholicus and Patriarch. And this love was preserved so entirely, that of everything in that monastery, of fruits and any good things which were not to be found here, the brethren of that monastery used to send some here, and the brethren of this monastery used to send there, for the sake of Abbâ John, and for the sake of the holy Mâr Jacob, for they both came from there.

Mâr Îshô'-Yahbh to the Monks of Bêth 'Âbhê on the Election of a Head.

4 Letter from Mâr Îshô'-yahbh to Simon, John, Kâm-Îshô', Bar-Denhâ, Daniel and the other brethren of the Monastery of Bêth 'Abhê concerning the appointment of John the Elder as head of the monastery… four miles. From their youth up they were disciples in this monastery of the divine man Mâr Jacob, and everything which philosophy required and demanded, they received from the teaching of that blessed man. Now the holy Abbâ Joseph, on his departure from the [service of] the monastery, came forth to this laura, and lived the life of a solitary in it, and never came to the temple even on the day of the assembly. But at eventide, when it was quite dark, and no one could see him, he used to come and go into the refectory, and through a large opening that was built there,—which I also remember in that old refectory,—the blessed man used to take,—and very old men have also related this to me,—as much as he needed of the hard, burnt crusts, and of the pieces of bread which had dropped from the oven, and had been cast out, and depart to his cave. And when the blessed Mâr Jacob departed this temporary life, Abbâ Joseph took his brother with him, and the two of them departed to Mount Zinai, where they led an ascetic life, and performed unnatural austerities. And inasmuch as Rabban Aphni-Mâran and Rabban Sabhr-Îshô, who was surnamed Rôstâm, have written histories concerning these holy men, it seemeth to me superfluous that I also should speak about them; and in asking a prayer of those who read the accounts of their noble deeds and contest, I pass on from them.

Chapter 33. Of Rabban Sargîs (Sergius) who was Surnamed "Destroyer of the Mighty"

1 Now this Sergius, worthy of all blessedness, came from the country of Bêth Garmai; he was instructed in doctrine in various schools, but more especially in that of Bêth Râsthâk, a village in the country of Margâ, at the time when Rabban Kâm-Îshô, a native of Bêth Garmai, from the village of Hâshâ, was an expositor there. Now when the blessed Mâr Kâm-Îshô went down to Mâhôzê, he died there. And this Sergius was a disciple of the holy Mâr Jacob, and he departed while Rabban was alive, [and went] and dwelt in Nêrbhâ dhê Bêth Gazzâ, in the cells which to the lives of Joseph and Abraham he wrote those of Abbâ Abraham of Bêth 'Abhê, Abbâ Kâm-Îshô' of Bêth 'Abhê, Abraham of Nethpar, and some others. See Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 843; B. O., iii. 1, p. 455. 2 were called Bēth ʿAināthā. And at the entreaty of Rabban Jacob, the blessed Sergius composed a history of the noble deeds and praiseworthy acts of the holy men who had lived in the country of Bēth Garmai, and this book which he composed is to be found everywhere, and the histories contained in it make the reader marvel, and excite praises of God in him. And he called his book the "Destroyer of the Mighty"—now he called it thus because he did not write about the great men who were in the Church, but rather concerning those who triumphed in the houses of their fathers, and in the church of their native villages, in simplicity of mien and despising of self,—and from the name of his book he himself was called, "Destroyer of the Mighty". The holy Mār Īshōʿ-yahbh, and Rabban Kām-Īshōʿ were also disciples of his, but I shall not speak here concerning them because they have histories which are set down in their proper places, together with those of their brethren, further on, and because the record of them, together with the necessary particulars [of their lives], would require that I should be able to speak without stint.

Chapter 34. Of Sāhdōnā, and of the Works which He Composed

1 Now this Sāhdōnā, according to what we learn from the history of him by Rabban Bar-ʿIdtā, came from Halmôn a village of Bêth Nûhâdhrâ. And after having been fully trained at Nisibis in the teaching of Divine Books, and being wise and learned in them, he took upon himself the garb of the ascetic life at the hands of Rabban Jacob in this monastery. And he zealously attached himself to the things which conduce to a divine manner of life, that is to say, to abstinence, and fasting, and watching, and prayer, under the guidance of Rabban [Jacob]. And it is well known also that he felt the sweetness of the holy life, which is grafted on to spiritual conviction, from the reflections which he made in his works upon the venerable ascetic life. Now he wrote two volumes on the various exercises of the monastic life, and a book of "Consolations" is also attributed to him, and other works on various

2 He was one of the members of the Mission sent to Heraclius A. D. 628, and on his way back became a convert to Jacobite views, a fact which caused great scandal in the Nestorian Church. The text of the letters which İshô'-yahbh wrote concerning this matter are given at the end of Bk. ii, chap. 6, in which Thomas of Margâ relates the story. See B. O., iii. 1, pp. 81, 107, 115, 142, 453, 457, 462; Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 842. matters. He also composed a history of Rabban [Jacob], and of the triumphs of the ascetics who lived in the country of the East. He wrote the funeral oration for the burial of Rabban Jacob which begins, "My brethren, a mighty chief has fallen amongst us this day by the hand of death", from which, every one who readeth it will perceive the high character of his intellect, and the power of his language, and he will find that he was a mighty man among those who compose books. He did not continue to write to the end, for he went out of his mind; but how his understanding was destroyed I will relate afterwards in the place where his history requireth it to be written.