1.                             Bend down the height of Your word to me, O Son of God,

2.                        and let Your great story be spoken in me with a loud voice.

3.                             I am Your creation, Lord! Refashion my tongue to sing to You

4.                        songs of glory with the soul’s uncontentious love.

5.                             You created me and I became a rational vessel for Your name’s glory –

6.                        may the word I took from Your gift not lie listless in me!

7.                             All readings and all explanations are Yours –

8.                        all interpretations, all speeches and songs.

9.                             Give, from what is Yours, beauty for the story of Your faith,

10.                   so by Your gift the speech may be enriched toward listeners.

11.                        Woe to whoever investigates You, O Son of God!

12.                   For Your story is exalted even beyond mouths of flame.

13.                        It would be trembling to examine You – a great disaster to investigate Your story!

14.                   Grant us a mouth with which we may speak of You discerningly.

15.                        Even the tongue of Gabriel’s companions would be too weak for You

16.                   if it were asked to speak of You, Lord, audaciously.

17.                        The children praised You with the disciples without contention –

18.                   but You are too difficult for the learned. Speak in me since I do not examine!

19.                        O Jesus, Light, dawn with Your zeal upon my thoughts!

20.                   May I shine from You, see Your truth, and tell Your story.

21.                        How much could someone who speaks about You suffice for You?

22.                   For You lie concealed with Your Father, and audacity cannot see You.

23.                        Your story is not revealed to investigators or disputers.

24.                   You resemble Your Father, and who could dispute You or Your Father?

25.                        From the high lofts of Your Father Your love brought You down

26.                   to save the world – not to be investigated by lowly beings!

27.                        The font of life flows forth from You to those who love You,

28.                   but fearful fire pours from You to those who examine You.

29.                        You are much beloved to those who worship and believe in You,

30.                   but very fearful to whoever pushes to investigate You.

31.                        Your story is higher even than the heavenly principalities,

32.                   and even fire fears it when it is spoken.

33.                        Not even the fiery mouth of flame dares

34.                   to investigate You, Lord, yet we do!

35.                        What a great shame is this dispute that has stirred against Your story!

36.                   Who, then, will settle the silence of Your love upon the rational?

37.                        Your story is holy, hidden, and revered among the angels,

38.                   but among us trivial ones it is mixed with worldly stories!

39.                        Your revelation is more exalted than knowledge and knowers,

40.                   but see how earthly beings, though they do not know, dispute about You!

41.                        Heaven hides the face of her children and fears You,

42.                   but earth provokes the learned to dispute so they might stumble over You.

43.                        Your story is a wonder, and if the one speaking wonders at You,

44.                   he would not dispute You but rather worship and love You.

45.                        Let the learned cease from investigating the Son of God,

46.                   for He came to save, not to be investigated by disputers!

47.                        The path of faith is clear of obstacles

48.                   and without examination sees the Son clearly.

49.                        Through faith, one sees Him upon the chariot

50.                   above the wings, above the wheels of flame.

51.                        Among the poor, a girl carried Him like a child,

52.                   while cherubs of fire exalted Him like a lord.

53.                        Because He came in smallness, many went astray

54.                   and counterfeited and corrupted the story of His path with their investigations.

55.                        No one knows a man’s path in his youth,

56.                   and in the days of His flesh, Christ was not investigated.

57.                        His birth is more exalted than the wise and rational,

58.                   for without His path being disputed, He went on it to come to earth.

59.                        He entered the world through an unopened door when He came,

60.                   and therefore the learned do not understand how to trace Him.

61.                        Since He is God, He did not open the door when He went

62.                   on the path of birth, to come to the world bodily.

63.                        From the beginning of His path, He kept His path secret from the wise

64.                   so whoever wished to examine His path would not walk on it.

65.                        The Virgin gave birth, and what can one speaking say

66.                   if they demand him to explain the inexplicable story?

67.                        He would confess, “she gave birth!” But how she gave birth, no one comprehends.

68.                   But since she was a virgin when she bore Him, her Son is God.

69.                        For God passes through even solid natures –

70.                   He does not open the door to leave when He walks.

71.                        A virgin giving birth is not a defined story,

72.                   but it is a wonder which faith speaks.

73.                        And if someone turns away from that wonder of faith,

74.                   he would fall into unattainable searching until the world ends.

75.                        Mary gave birth in her virginity, and crowds appeared

76.                   [made up] of investigators and disputers and examiners.

77.                        All the wise and rational gathered around her –

78.                   all the contentious, all who investigate audaciously.

79.                        Yet the Virgin stands and the Child lies down, and who would not fear

80.                   to throw himself into explaining or doubting?

81.                        By means of explanation, virgins do not have children.

82.                   By means of nature, the story is beyond explanation.

83.                        But if faith comes and stands to speak,

84.                   its story is fair and full of inexplicable wonder.

85.                        When God initiates an act for something to be,

86.                   the one speaking stays totally still and puts on wonder.

87.                        The Virgin stood among the crowds to show herself

88.                   to the gatherings with her voice loud and her face unashamed.

89.                        She stands in the rank of virgins without marriage,

90.                   carrying a son like mothers without contention.

91.                        Milk in her breasts and virginity upon her limbs –

92.                   her story is fair, and faith speaks it.

93.                        The Son of God lowered Himself at the love of His Father

94.                   and purposely came to become a girl’s son.

95.                        And because [He is] the Exalted One Whose path is higher than all heights,

96.                   people invent and speak audaciously as they wish.

97.                        They cannot reach Him, and because they grasped to reach Him,

98.                   they slipped from His height and found a chasm with their investigations.

99.                        Rise, rise, fallen ones! Walk on the path without contention,

100.              for it is full of light for whoever wants to walk on it.

101.                   Since Mary gave birth to God in her virginity,

102.              He was wonder, and who doubts about a wonder?

103.                   Christ has the name wonder in prophecy,

104.              and if there were someone who could define Him, He would not be wonder!

105.                   No one can steal His name from Him and change it

106.              to be “He is defined” instead of the “wonder” that is in the Scriptures!

107.                   You came from on high, O Son of God, and You are wonder –

108.              You dwelt in the Virgin, and therefore Your name is wonder!

109.                   A womb carried You, a manger was enough for You, hands lifted You,

110.              knees raised You up, a breast embraced You, a mouth sung to You!

111.                   A lap contained You, and You took hold of a breast like a baby –

112.              and through all these things that happened, You are wonder!

113.                   Grant me, Lord, to wonder at You as I worship,

114.              and may I not investigate, examining, about Your birth.

115.                   I wandered in search of You but did not find You in definitions –

116.              then I took refuge in faith and found You!

117.                   I went out to search for You with the wise and I stumbled –

118.              then I returned and walked with the unlearned without obstacles!

119.                   From fishermen I learned the faith,

120.              and with faith, the world’s wisdom is unnecessary.

121.                   Many indeed have fallen from this wisdom of the world,

122.              for as they dispute the Son of God, they have fallen from His height.

123.                   The wisdom of the world looks on nature alone,

124.              [saying], “how can God dwell in a girl?

125.                   He is the Word and Creator with His Begetter,

126.              and all creation is full of Him, and He is undefinable.

127.                   And how could a womb contain Him and He become an infant,

128.              and knees carry Him and He drink milk if He is God?”

129.                   O you who say these things audaciously!

130.              Where is your awe? Or who do you call “wonder”?

131.                   The womb is small, and God is greater than creation,

132.              but have You not known Him, that He can easily dwell in smallness?

133.                   Neither, therefore, would He have dwelt in a thornbush on Mt. Sinai,

134.              nor in the tent with Abraham as it is written,

135.                   nor in the holy temple did He dwell, as you say,

136.              and wherever there was not a place big enough, He would not have dwelled.

137.                   So find for Him, then, a place big enough in your audacity,

138.              and call [Him] to enter and dwell there as if contained.

139.                   Who is the person who would be so dark and full of error

140.              as to imagine there is a place too small for God!

141.                   He can easily dwell wherever He wills, for He is God –

142.              a large place and a small place are the same for Him.

143.                   For a large place cannot suffice to contain Him,

144.              nor can a small place compress or constrain Him.

145.                   The thornbush was small, but when God sought to dwell in it,

146.              it was not too small for Him, for small places do not constrain Him.

147.                   He did not despise the thornbush for its name and refuse to dwell in it,

148.              and He did not will to seek out a wide place for Himself since it was small.

149.                   The thornbush was small, and heaven was large and wide,

150.              yet heaven and the bush were equal for Him to dwell in.

151.                   Now compare the Virgin to the thornbush if you are a knower,

152.              and see which place was better for Him to dwell in:

153.                   the daughter of David, daughter of Abraham, rib of Adam,

154.              the Virgin who is a daughter of renowned great men –

155.                   a pure nature worthy of becoming the image of God,

156.              and therefore the Son of God descended and dwelt in her.

157.                   Among the thorns of a bush He dwelt and was not ashamed,

158.              but because a virgin has carried Him, they say He is not God!

159.                   Who is better? The thorns of a bush or a daughter of David?

160.              And which place was more fitting for God to dwell in?

161.                   If you confess He dwelt among thorns, and it is not despicable to you,

162.              why is your mind disturbed that He dwelt in Mary?

163.                   People came into being in the image of God when coming into being,

164.              and God dwelt in a woman to save His image.

165.                   When fashioning Adam’s rib to be Eve,

166.              He fashioned in her a place to dwell at the end of time.

167.                   And therefore He gave His image to those of Adam’s family,

168.              so He would not be dishonored when dwelling in His image at the end.

169.                   He gave Adam the likeness of the Only-Begotten Son

170.              when fashioning him, and He took [the likeness] from him when saving him.

171.                   The story is clear to whoever listens luminously,

172.              and the Virgin Mary is fair and pure and full of beauties.

173.                   He Who dwelt in her and made her His mother was not dishonored,

174.              for the image of a human is not a stranger from that of God.

175.                   When creating them, He made them related to Himself for He gave them His image,

176.              and like a kinsman He came down and dwelt in her to save His image.

177.                   The Word Who is the Only-Begotten Son of God

178.              dwelt in the Virgin who was full of holiness and was not dishonored.

179.                   And since He fashioned Adam’s people in His image,

180.              He was formed in her, and this work He did was not hateful to Him.

181.                   He came to His own and dwelt in His image in a daughter of Adam,

182.              for he was formed in His likeness, and therefore he resembled Him.

183.                   Now come, look and see how beautiful is the path

184.              on which the Son of God descended to be among earthly beings.

185.                   The Son of the King descended to return from captivity to their [own] land

186.              the captives whom the Killer of Man captured from Paradise.

187.                   He went out mightily after the robbers’ footsteps

188.              and began His path from the ear of the virgin Eve.

189.                   Since He is the Word, He started from the door of the ear

190.              and became a fetus to come to birth bodily.

191.                   And Mary became like a letter full of mysteries,

192.              and she was sealed in virginity in a holy way.

193.                   The Word became incarnate from her mysteriously

194.              to visit the world through the revelation of His bodiliness.

195.                   He took the likeness of a servant from the Blessed One’s womb

196.              and in the form of servants visited servants and freed them.

197.                   He dwelt in a daughter of man and became Son of Man from that point on,

198.              without destroying the fact that He is God with His Begetter.

199.                   But because He came on the path of birth, the audacious went astray

200.              and took away from Him the name of God which is His.

201.                    [They say,] “Since Mary’s womb was too small, it did not contain Him.”

202.              O wretched ones! It was not too small for Him, since He is God!

203.                   It pertains to you that a small place would constrain you,

204.              and you seek a place your stature would fill, and then it would contain you.

205.                   Your stature stands defined by four lengths,

206.              and there is no way for a place of three lengths to contain you.

207.                   Nor is there a way for your stature to grow or shrink,

208.              for you are limited, and you seek space according to your measurements.

209.                    And if there is a place smaller than you, it does not hold you,

210.              and you are not able to limit a large place.

211.                   But God’s place is not ascertained by stature

212.              so that He should seek a place His stature would fill and then dwell in it.

213.                   And whether He sought to dwell in heaven or in a virgin,

214.              they would be equal and the same for Him since He is God.

215.                   And if He sought, all of heaven would not suffice for Him,

216.              and if He willed, a girl would suffice and be spacious enough for Him.

217.                   Places do not confine Him according to His height –

218.              but by His will the destitute girl’s womb confined Him.

219.                   He was not dishonored, shamed, or denounced –

220.              it was not hateful to Him to apply Himself to salvation.

221.                   He came on the path that brings humankind to the world

222.              and willed to dwell in all the dwellings found on it.

223.                   He dwelt in a womb, for it was the first dwelling,

224.              and He went in the flesh onto the path of birth to visit the world.

225.                   Baptism met Him in the middle of the path,

226.              and He was also baptized in it to sanctify it when He dwelt in it.

227.                   The end, then, of the path is the land of the dead,

228.              for in that place Adam was bound, whom He came to free.

229.                   The Mighty One entered the land of the dead divinely,

230.              and was able to enter since He came in the flesh.

231.                   In the flesh He came, and therefore the tomb received Him,

232.              and He uprooted Sheol since He descended there divinely.

233.                   Baptism, Mary, and Sheol became like dwellings for Him

234.              on the path, and He willed to dwell in the three of them.

235.                   The Word Who willed to become flesh dwelt in Mary

236.              and became incarnate from the body of the Blessed One.

237.                   He came to baptism and went down to put in the font

238.              the robe of glory for Adam in place of that one he had lost.

239.                   He also entered Sheol to set free the prisoners there –

240.              He traveled His whole path with three dwellings!

241.                   He dwelt in the Virgin and came to birth while He is God,

242.              and again baptism received Him, and He was God,

243.                   and He descended to Sheol and the world understood that He was God –

244.              for it had not understood Him until He reached the gates of Sheol.

245.                   At birth, then, like a baby, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes,

246.              and with John He came to baptism like a human.

247.                   But when He came to entering Sheol, the earth shook,

248.              and the dead awoke and the worlds understood that He was God.

249.                   The rulers of this world did not know Him

250.              until He mounted the wood of the Cross to enter Sheol.

251.                   When they crucified Him they did not know Who was crucified,

252.              but when He drank the cup of death, He taught them.

253.                   He died on the Cross and the rocks and graves tore open their bellies

254.              and became witnesses that even as He died, He was God.

255.                   For a [mere] human would not have killed Death in his land

256.              and would not have pierced that lion who killed Adam.

257.                   The Savior died, and was glorified only in His death,

258.              for when He was dying, He cried out in Sheol and her walls fell.

259.                   In His weakness He willed to show His might,

260.              and His death became the cause for His glory in the whole world.

261.                   The demons who crucified Him did not know Him at the crucifixion,

262.              but they knew Him when He set His face to enter Sheol.

263.                   They saw the natures being troubled because of His death,

264.              and creation, like a maidservant, trembling at His voice;

265.                   and the servant sun which rent its light for His sake,

266.              and the day, too, which changed its place when it saw His shame;

267.                   all the air which brought out and put on mourning clothes

268.              and the night which came to hide the Cross lest He be mocked;

269.                   Sheol which threw up and cast out the dead at the earthquake that reached her,

270.              and Death, fallen from His victory at the gate of Sheol;

271.                   the loud voice [at] whose hearing the dead shook and were astonished

272.              and awoke and gave glory, for they saw God upon the Cross.

273.                   His voice showed Who was crucified on Golgotha,

274.              and the demons understood, and He put them to shame since He was laid bare.

275.                   The rulers shook and trembled and fell from their ranks,

276.              for they knew Who He was, laid bare on Golgotha.

277.                   When all the high walls of Sheol were burst,

278.              when the bolts and bars of Luxuriant [Sheol] were broken;

279.                   when the voice of the Son stirred up the corpses,

280.              when the earth was ashamed at His voice and wholly quaked;

281.                   when He tore the curtains of the holy place Himself,

282.              when the city of Death overturned upon its inhabitants;

283.                   when the elements pressed each other to dissolve,

284.              then the rulers knew Who was crucified.

285.                   Creation trembled, and He was exposed to be the Creator,

286.              and at that moment He was glorified as much as He had humbled Himself.

287.                   How great it is for a person, while dead, to perform a struggle

288.              and conquer Death after entering [it], its doors closed in His face!

289.                   Who is the human able to do these things

290.              except for the Son of God, since He is God?

291.                   The Son of God, while being mocked, performed on the Cross

292.              a great deed, full of wonder and might.

293.                   From the signs He performed there on Golgotha,

294.              the world learned that even as He suffered, He was God.

295.                   His mightiness appeared among His sufferings

296.              and His divinity was known from His signs.

297.                   As He was dying, He kicked Death and [Death] spit out the dead

298.              alive, so that the world would learn that He was God.

299.                   Who could give life to the dead while dying

300.              except our Lord, for He is also God with His Begetter?

301.                   Who could uproot the high gates of Sheol

302.              except Christ the Son of God, for He is also God?

303.                   As He suffered, sufferings were scorned by His suffering,

304.              and as He was dying, His pure death put Death to death.

305.                   Sufferings suffered through Him, and Death died through the Son of God,

306.              and as He fell He raised the fallen who were overturned.

307.                   The Son of God’s death brought death to Death

308.              and His suffering made Suffering suffer in great wonder.

309.                   The Mighty One was struck and uprooted Sheol as He fell,

310.              and as they killed Him, He killed Death through the sufferings He bore.

311.                   Not by force did Death drag that Mighty One,

312.              but rather Death was drawn by force to approach Him!

313.                   For Death did not seize that place of immortals,

314.              but the Living One willed and lowered Himself to the place of the dead.

315.                   Death did not go up after Him, for he could not –

316.              it was He Who descended to the place of Death and gave Himself up.

317.                   He did not impede the chariot of cherubim and bring Him down from it –

318.              he saw Him riding a borrowed colt and came to Him.

319.                   By His own will He lowered Himself to the place of mortals –

320.              Death did not drag Him by his tyrannical force.

321.                   He was embodied, He became incarnate, He became man –

322.              He became enfleshed, He put on flesh and became a human.

323.                   He willed to come and dwell in the dead-bearing womb

324.              because He willed to truly die while being God.

325.                   For Death would not have dared

326.              to approach or touch the Spiritual One while unembodied.

327.                   The reason He became incarnate was to die,

328.              and therefore, He dwelt in the girl to become incarnate.

329.                   And for this reason came the Word Who willed to become flesh:

330.              to become family to the human race and save them.

331.                   He became from us from the womb of the Glorious Woman,

332.              and He made us from Him from the birth of baptism.

333.                   He became a son of man, and He made the children of men gods

334.              and raised them up to call the Heavenly One “Our Father.”

335.                   He gave us His life and took our death at His crucifixion

336.              and entered to travel to the dead and raise them.

337.                   Entering Sheol, He entered on the path of the dead,

338.              but it was not like a dead man that He came to the battle at Sheol’s gates.

339.                   He shook and rocked that Luxuriant One

340.              and broke up her walls, plundered her treasures, and gave life to her dead.

341.                   Who has ever seen a dead man from whom life flows

342.              or a buried one before whom Sheol’s dead worship?

343.                   The Lion’s Cub set Himself to sleep among the dead

344.              and tore up Death, snatched his prey, and made him a mockery.

345.                   And therefore, even as He laid His bed in Sheol,

346.              He was God Who came in the flesh to give life to the dead.

347.                   And as God, He received acts of worship from the angels

348.              and they testified that He was the Living One lying among the dead.

349.                   All worship was gathered to the new tomb

350.              from the lowly and high beings in their white robes.

351.                   The dead rose up and the Watchers came down to the Son’s tomb

352.              and became witnesses that both height and depth are His.

353.                   Heaven sent the chiefs of the ranks with praise

354.              to the King Who descended to bring the captive out of Ruin.

355.                   The earth raised up the dead before Him as He descended

356.              to probe the depths and pull up Adam from the whirlpool.

357.                   The Watchers and the dead met each other at the gate of His tomb;

358.              the dead worshipped and the Watchers shouted out with their fanfares.

359.                   The Son of God was not reviled because He tasted Death,

360.              and He was not estranged from His Begetter because of His sufferings.

361.                   The Father agreed to the death of His Only-Begotten

362.              for He sent Him out of His many mercies.

363.                   He sent His Son, and He became from a woman, as it is written –

364.              it was not that He was lesser than Him that He sent Him to come to earth.

365.                   The Son Who was sent and the Father Who sent are one power

366.              just as the sun and its ray are one light.

367.                   The sun, too, sends radiance and it goes down to earth,

368.              and the radiance is not lesser than the sun that sent it.

369.                   The sun’s radiance, along with the sun, is the sun too,

370.              and it sends it to all the ends [of the earth], and it is like it.

371.                   He is the Son of God and also God with His Begetter,

372.              and He sent Him to earth [and] He became from a woman while being God.

373.                   And if you speak His story with dispute, it will hide itself,

374.              for His story is exalted beyond examiners, and they cannot reach it.

375.                   The learned say, “How did the Son of God die?

376.              For the Father did not die, nor does He die or suffer.

377.                   How could Christ resemble His Father,”

378.              says the fool, “being in death while the Father did not die?”

379.                   There are unspeakable words, O audacious one!

380.              And it is not permitted the human mouth to speak them!

381.                   And because you have raved and spoken these

382.              unspeakable things, I will now speak to silence you.

383.                   There is something that pertains to the Father and not to the Son,

384.              and to the Son something that does not pertain to the Father,

385.                   and to the Holy Spirit alone too something thus pertains –

386.              He has something uniquely and personally.

387.                   It pertains to the Father that He is the Father alone,

388.              and it cannot be said that there is any Father except Him.

389.                   And it pertains to the Son that He alone is Begotten,

390.              and there is none begotten from the Essence except Him.

391.                   And so too the Spirit is unique in His procession,

392.              and He is alone in the order of proceeding from the Essence.

393.                   The Father is unbegotten and non-proceeding,

394.              and likewise the Son does not proceed nor beget,

395.                   and the Spirit is not begotten nor begetting,

396.              for the Father is One and the Begotten is One and the Holy Spirit is one –

397.                   the Trinity, equal in the height of Divinity

398.              and in glory, authority, and lordship,

399.                   and in Essence and majesty and splendor

400.              and in activity and creatorship and great power.

401.                   And there, there are no degrees that are higher or lower –

402.              no inner, no outer, no middle.

403.                   One is the Essence, One is the Father, One is the Child,

404.              [there] is one Holy Spirit, one God, without limit.

405.                   And it pertains to the Father that He alone is the Father,

406.              and being Father pertains to the Father alone.

407.                   And it pertains to the Son that He is the Child from the Essence,

408.              and He came at the end and became a child for virginity,

409.                   and He became incarnate and has a body, while the Father does not,

410.              and He suffered on the Cross without sufferings approaching the Father.

411.                   He Who became incarnate suffered on Golgotha,

412.              for the body was His, and His were the sufferings of crucifixion.

413.                   The Son is begotten, and it pertains to the Father that He is not begotten –

414.              He became incarnate, but His Father did not become incarnate with Him.

415.                   The Father is known, and He is the Father without explanation,

416.              and the Child is revealed, and He is the Only-Begotten without contention.

417.                   And the Holy Spirit is a glorious nature, uninterpretable –

418.              the Trinity, not confined under explanation.

419.                    [There are] three Persons of divinity, which is more exalted than all,

420.              but there is one glory of the One God Who is uninterpretable.

421.                   The Son Who was begotten was sent to become begotten,

422.              and this path was fitting for Him to walk on.

423.                   He descended to earth to become incarnate because He was begotten,

424.              and who was able to act out His path except Him?

425.                   With love full of faith let us speak the story

426.              of the Son of God, which speakers cannot speak.

427.                   Dispute is a serpent, and if it enters congregations,

428.              it [causes] high divisions and harms many with its poison.

429.                   O speaker, crush dispute with faith,

430.              for the Son of God is only speakable with [faith].

431.                   For who could set out his path among coals

432.              to examine fire or to turn aside flame?

433.                   Who is able to capture lightning when it is sent

434.              or to silence the sound of thunder when it is spoken?

435.                   Who has the power to seize the rays of the sun

436.              and through them to grasp, ascend, and reach the sun in its place?

437.                   Who is the one who can probe the great sea

438.              and measure its sand and number the waves tossing in it?

439.                   Who is it who measures the firmament in its height, the low place in its depth,

440.              the breadth and length of the whole earth and its regions?

441.                   What wise man can easily contain raindrops in his fingers,

442.              numbering them and holding them without losing track?

443.                   But even if there was someone who could do all these things,

444.              he would not be able to define the path of the Son.

445.                   For created things have definition and measures,

446.              but the Son of the Creator is exalted beyond definition with His Begetter.

447.                   By His death the Holy Church is freed, who is betrothed to Him,

448.              for she embraces His sufferings on Golgotha without examining.

449.                   She loves His scourging-scars and collects life from His wounds,

450.              and she tells of His shame unashamedly with a loud voice.

451.                   She puts her mouth on the font the spear broke open

452.              and drinks from it water and blood like the medicine of life.

453.                   He is naked and stripped between the thieves and He swallows down shame,

454.              and He is more honorable to her than kings and their authorities.

455.                   He is insulted with a reed, crowned with thorns, fixed with nails –

456.              and among these sufferings and shames, she is freed by His name.

457.                   The Cross is her hope, and she sits in His name and is protected by it,

458.              and she worships Him, knowing that He is her God.

459.                   She is betrothed to one – to the Lord Jesus Who came in the flesh –

460.              the Son of God, to whom all worship is due.

461.                   And who would dare to say publicly before the Bride

462.              that the Son of God to whom she is betrothed is not God?

463.                   How audacious at times is the one who has raved to say

464.              that it is not God that Mary bore in her virginity!

465.                   The Bride, the Daughter of Day, grew jealous, for she was betrothed to Him,

466.              and she screamed at him, despised, hated, and toppled him, and he fell.

467.                   She turned over his seat and stripped him from the priesthood

468.              and took away from him headship of the congregations.

469.                   And she put an anathema on his teaching and his disciples,

470.              for she knew he was teaching from the serpent’s instruction.

471.                   The Pure [Bride] says, “Tell me, wretched one, embracing fallenness,

472.              to whom am I betrothed if I am not betrothed to God?

473.                   Whose ring did Paul give me when he betrothed me

474.              and [when] I sat in His name – a human or God?

475.                   For Whom do I wait to give life to my dead and save my children

476.              and repay my depts and repair my gaps and purify me

477.                   and renew me through the second birth from the waters

478.              so I may be His – is He a human or God?

479.                   If He is a human, I will not receive the ring from Him,

480.              for Paul betrothed me to God when he betrothed me!

481.                   Again, if the Son of God is not God,

482.              why would I have left the idols I left to become His?

483.                   I will not worship created things or made things,

484.              for light dawned on me from the Creator, and I have sat in His name!

485.                   For if the Son of God is not God,

486.              Christ Who came would not have uprooted all my idols.

487.                   If He is a human and if He is not from God,

488.              He would also be an idol among many – why would I worship Him?

489.                   If He is not the Word [about Whom] it written, “He became flesh,”

490.              Who is the Only-Begotten Son of God?

491.                   One, one, is the Lord Christ Who came in the flesh!

492.              There is one Son Whom God has, and He is Jesus!

493.                   One is the Hidden One Who came to revelation and is uninvestigable –

494.              Christ Who is the Power of the Father and is uninterpretable –

495.                   the Son of the Virgin, the Son of God, Who is inexplicable –

496.              the Only-Begotten Who endured the sufferings of crucifixion.”

497.                   How beautiful is your hope, O Daughter of the Light, and non-deceitful!

498.              Your confidence is great and your faith is true.

499.                   The Groom, your Lord, is the Son of God and God as well,

500.              and to Him is due all worship throughout the whole world.

501.                    “At the name of Jesus,” Paul says, “every knee will bend

502.              which is in heaven and every [knee] on earth and under the earth.”

503.                   Heaven and the Watchers and all the crowds and heavenly hosts

504.              worship Jesus, as the godly Paul testifies.

505.                   The whole earth and humanity and the peoples on it

506.              offer Him all worship in their dominions.

507.                   The dead of Sheol and the dragons under the earth

508.              worship Jesus, for He is the Lord of all creation.

509.                   And Who is this before Whom the dead and people and angels worship

510.              if He is a human, O audacious one?

511.                   All creation would not receive a new lord

512.              nor worship [Him] if He is not He Who was.

513.                   It has never been heard that there could be a new god,

514.              but only idols who entered creation one after another.

515.                   And it was revealed to her that His name was before the sun –

516.              Jesus, Who is worshipped by high and lowly beings.

517.                   He was in the world, and the whole world came into being through Him,

518.              but the world did not know that the Son of God was in it.

519.                   He came to His own openly from the house of David,

520.              but since they did not receive Him, they sent Him out and crucified Him on Golgotha.

521.                   He, Who was not received by the Jews,

522.              is the One Who was in the world and was hidden from viewers.

523.                   And Jesus the man came in the flesh, Whose name is Dawn,

524.              and since He is God, see all creation worshipping Him!

525.                   And if He were new, or if today He came to be a god,

526.              creation would flee from Him, for He would be an idol.

527.                   But because yesterday and today He is Jesus,

528.              creation has worshipped as its Lord He Who was.

529.                   Because He was hidden in the world, He was denied worship,

530.              and since His Father revealed Him, the heights and depths bowed and worshipped Him.

531.                   And all the ages perceived that He is from eternity,

532.              and therefore the dead and angels worship before Him.

533.                   Because He was, and His name was before the sun,

534.              and because He was before the world and Adam came into being,

535.                   and since He was, He was hidden in His Father from creation,

536.              and it did not perceive [Him] until He revealed Him bodily –

537.                   because of this He sent Him from a woman to make them perceive,

538.              and having perceived Him, now the lands worship Him!

539.                   The Watchers above, the dead below, and humanity

540.              at the name of Jesus bend the knee since He is God.

541.                   He did not come newly to be a lord for the world,

542.              nor to plunder the worship of the nations to be His own,

543.                   nor by grasping did He become God, for He was God,

544.              nor was He a thief putting on clothes that were not His own.

545.                   He came to His own – to the house of His bodily servants,

546.              and for their sake He visited the earth bodily.

547.                   Let no one imagine that there has ever been a new god,

548.              for a human becomes new, has come into being, and is.

549.                   And after the whole world came into being, the human came into being

550.              and came newly to inherit the world which did not belong to him.

551.                   And Adam become the lord of the worlds and creation,

552.              which does not worship him, knowing that he is not God.

553.                   But Jesus dawned, the Only-Begotten, the Ancient of Days,

554.              and returned all acts of worship to His name, for they are His.

555.                   Let us see now if Jesus is a new human

556.              or if He is God Who came in the flesh to become man.

557.                   Who would worship and be subject to a new lord

558.              if he came yesterday to come and be worshipped today?

559.                   Perhaps our hypocritical world would worship him,

560.              for [people] did worship at times the idols that thus sprung up.

561.                   But the angels and the dead under the earth

562.              would not have worshipped unless they saw that He was God.

563.                   The dead perceived that He is the Raiser of the Dead,

564.              and the Watchers knew He is the One glorious on the chariot.

565.                   And therefore the angels, the dead, and humans worshipped

566.              the Lord Jesus, since He is God.

567.                   Before He came to the world in the flesh, He was God,

568.              and after He came in a fleshly manner, He is still God!

569.                    “I am the First and I am the Last,” it is written in the prophet,

570.              “and before Me there was no god, nor will there be.”

571.                    “There will not be a god after Me,” says the Father,

572.              so clearly His beloved Son is not after Him!

573.                   He is with Him, He is from Him, He is like Him,

574.              and surely a new worshipped one did not enter creation!

575.                    “Not before Me nor after Me will there be a god” –

576.              so who does not know that His Only-Begotten must never have come into being?

577.                    “Before Abraham was, I am” –

578.              He showed clearly that He never came into being, for He was.

579.                   And all knees fittingly bend and worship before Him –

580.              [all knees] in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

581.                   Because yesterday and today He is worshipped from eternity,

582.              both the high and lowly beings worship Him!

583.                   The name of Christ took acts of worship from [false] gods

584.              and returned them all to Him, for He is God.

585.                   He took what was His own – He did not seize the worship of another;

586.              He is worshipped, and He took back what was seized from Him.

587.                   He returned to His Father the worship of the Nations which had been plundered

588.              by the Accuser who called created things “gods.”

589.                   And since Jesus is the Heir and Only-Begotten,

590.              all worship the Father has is given to Him.

591.                   And at the name of Jesus, the knees of the heavenly beings bend,

592.              and [the Father] does not envy Him, for He is His Son and is from Him.

593.                   Through Him He created the worlds, and through Him He receives all worship,

594.              for everything the Father has belongs to His Son.

595.                   The Father does not give worship to a human,

596.              for it is written, “I will not give My honor to another.”

597.                   He did not give His honor to another who was not from Him,

598.              for His Only-Begotten is from Him, and through Him He does everything.

599.                   Through Him He exulted over created things and created them,

600.              and made through Him all the worlds, and established them.

601.                   The Father, through His Son, creates, establishes, makes, and operates

602.              the hidden worlds and these revealed ones from eternity.

603.                   He set Him as an heir, for He came in a fleshly manner,

604.              and through Him He made the worlds since He was divinely.

605.                   He came in the flesh, and He also was before He came,

606.              and since He came in the flesh, He was ordained to inherit the Nations.

607.                   For before He came, He was with His Begetter,

608.              and through Him He made the worlds and called creation into being.

609.                   He was light, and through Him that first light came into being,

610.              for the Word, the Son of God, was light.

611.                   Through Him the firmament was embodied to come into being in the height above,

612.              and on His account the heights are high in their lofty places.

613.                   Through Him the waters for the sea were gathered and the earth established,

614.              and He carries it, for He is the power of the Father.

615.                   Through Him the light was divided which became the luminous bodies,

616.              for He is the light Who gives light to luminous bodies.

617.                   Through Him the waters teemed with fish and birds,

618.              and He is the Child Who gives children to mothers.

619.                   Through Him and in His likeness Adam was formed from dirt and water,

620.              for with His Begetter He depicted the image full of beauties.

621.                   For through the Son the Father made the worlds,

622.              and thus it was fitting to save them through Him.

623.                   He made hiddenly when He was making the worlds through His Son;

624.              He saved openly when saving through His Only-Begotten.

625.                   And since the Son created creation with His Begetter,

626.              He received worship from creation, for it belongs to Him.

627.                    [Creation] would not have worshipped if it had not been created through Him –

628.              it knows its Lord, and therefore it has bowed and worshipped Him.

629.                   Creation shone out of the darkness of idolatry,

630.              and the world learned that only worshippable beings would be worshipped.

631.                   For whatever is worshipped, if it is by nature not God,

632.              has snatched worship and is exposed to not be God.

633.                   The Son of God did not receive worship from creation through seizure,

634.              for He created it with His Begetter.

635.                   And at the name of Jesus, the high beings bow down and worship

636.              along with the lowly and middle beings, for they are His.

637.                   Since He saved, the name of “Savior” was put on Him,

638.              but Jesus is the Word Who came in the flesh.

639.                   The Word saved us when He lowered Himself to become flesh,

640.              and therefore His name is “Savior,” since He saved us.

641.                   He is the Word, the Only-Begotten, hidden in His Father,

642.              and at the revelation of His bodiliness, He is also Jesus.

643.                   He is Christ Who came in the flesh since He became incarnate,

644.              and He made Himself lower than the angels on account of His sufferings.

645.                   For only embodied and fleshly beings suffer,

646.              and He willed to come down and become embodied and bear sufferings.

647.                   And He emptied Himself from the glory of the impassible beings

648.              and came in the flesh and laid His bed in the land of the dead.

649.                   He accepted unto Himself all bodily sufferings

650.              up to death, the utmost point of weakness.

651.                   And since He came in the flesh on the way full of sufferings,

652.              it was not hard for Him to accept them though He is God.

653.                   From that first inn, who is Mary,

654.              He equipped Himself to accept the sufferings of crucifixion.

655.                   And from that seed of the house of Abraham He became incarnate,

656.              for over it, death, sufferings, and sickness reign.

657.                   For this reason He did not take and descend from the angels,

658.              but He became incarnate from a daughter of Abraham.

659.                   For an angel does not have a body to bear sufferings,

660.              nor a soul to place in the Father’s hands while dying.

661.                   And for this reason He did not take from them when descending,

662.              for they could not give Him what He needed for His path.

663.                   For neither did Death reign over the angels,

664.              and the path our Lord laid out in the world was not theirs.

665.                   Greedy Death reigned in judgment

666.              over that seed of Adam and Noah and Abraham,

667.                   and Christ sought to save it from ruin

668.              and came toward it, and therefore He did not take from the angels.

669.                   He descended and dwelt in the Virgin Mary, a daughter of Abraham,

670.              and became incarnate from her to save those of her father’s family.

671.                   His path is clear and entirely beyond obstacles,

672.              and full of light for whoever is not blind like a Jew.

673.                   Who could walk on a path so exalted

674.              except the Exalted One, the Son of the Most High, Who is uninvestigable?

675.                   Who can easily come to a second birth

676.              except our Lord, Whose deeds are undoable?

677.                   Who could enter the womb of Death and leave it,

678.              or who could dwell in a virgin without corrupting her,

679.                   or who could become incarnate if he is a spiritual being,

680.              or who could scorn Death in his land if he is a fleshly one?

681.                   These deeds are too exalted for a human,

682.              but God can [do] all, for He is God.

683.                   He has no boundary, opposite, or opponent,

684.              for if He is God, He can easily do everything He wishes.

685.                   He can as easily dwell in the womb of Death as in a palace,

686.              and heaven and Sheol are equal to Him if He wishes.

687.                   If it pleases Him, He sits on a throne and it contains Him,

688.              and if He wills, all the ends [of the earth] would be too small for Him.

689.                   Who could do everything he wills in this way

690.              except our Lord, since He is God with His Begetter?

691.                   In His sufferings, our Lord showed He is impassible,

692.              for He was able to do everything He wished since He is God.

693.                   He willed to lower Himself, willed to become incarnate, willed to bear sufferings,

694.              and if He [could] not do everything He willed, He would have been passible.

695.                   It was necessary for Him to die, and He knew He would die, wisely,

696.              and all the heights and depths marveled at how He could die.

697.                   He became incarnate and set His face before Death,

698.              and all His life was hidden in Him as He died.

699.                   But when Death devoured the Dead One full of life,

700.              Life became poison for Death so he would die.

701.                   He ate Him like ordinary food when he ate Him,

702.              but life poured from Him and choked [Death] when he devoured Him.

703.                   When eating Him, he thought He was a human,

704.              but devouring Him, he knew the taste was God’s.

705.                   The Son of the Living One descended to the stomach of Death, full of the dead,

706.              and Death threw up life and perceived his Food was alive.

707.                   He ate Him up but did not digest Him, for He was not corrupted –

708.              that Living Food Who choked greedy Death who ate Him!

709.                   Whoever eats poison really eats it,

710.              but when he has eaten it, it does not go down to his stomach like food,

711.                   but immediately it dissolves the life of the one who eats it,

712.              who in the food finds death, which puts him to an end.

713.                   Thus did Death also account as the food of the dead

714.              our Lord, Who is the medicine of new life.

715.                   And once he ate Him, resurrection poured out of his Food,

716.              and it choked Death and made life reign over Adam’s house.

717.                   The path the Son of the God laid out in the world is too exalted

718.              for speakers to speak of it with their tongues.

719.                   His story is fearful, and if the tongue of faith

720.              cannot speak it, who would dare to speak?

721.                   Minds are too dazzled by the story of His death to look at it,

722.              and wonder falls upon understandings when they have perceived Him.

723.                   In the abyss of the dead, the Son of the Undying laid Himself

724.              to descend after Adam and raise him up from ruin.

725.                   The Eternally Mighty One lowered Himself to the depths of Sheol

726.              and settled peace in the desolate land of Death.

727.                   In the land of the dead, the Sun of Righteousness dawned

728.              and all the once-dark eyes were illumined by Him.

729.                   Down to the canyon of Death went the Merchant of Life, Our Lord,

730.              and pacified the land with the feast of life He made in it.

731.                   He gave life and took away death from many,

732.              and attended to the world of the dead, and returned to His land.

733.                   He made a great theater in Sheol when entering it,

734.              and delighted the dead with a wonderful spectacle.

735.                   Into Death’s stomach our Lord placed life,

736.              which stuffed him, and the dead left and laughed at his fall.

737.                   The tyrant of Sheol brought in a Dead Man from Golgotha,

738.              and as he confidently tried to put Him among his loot, He left him and went out.

739.                   The Medicine of Life gave Himself over to Death, and he ate Him,

740.              and He went down and raised up all the dead he had devoured.

741.                   The Son of the Virgin entered the city full of the dead

742.              and bound its king and released all who were imprisoned.

743.                   Resurrection dawned at our Lord’s death upon the buried

744.              and woke them up, and they clapped their hands to give praise.

745.                   Our Lord did a new work among the dead at His death,

746.              and both the angels and Sheol’s dead marveled at it.

747.                   Death had fallen, and life rose up in the place of ruin,

748.              and there was a wonder – a Crucified Dead Man had uprooted Sheol!

749.                   The Son of the Freeborn entered and dwelt in the place of the dead and awakened them

750.              and brought them out from slavery to freedom.

751.                   See how all creation is wondering and excited

752.              at the great spectacle He made among the earthly beings!

753.                   And since His death is full of wonder, it is inexplicable -

754.              yet see how they rave to explain it with their disputes!

755.                   One person magnifies Him without adding to His greatness,

756.              and one diminishes Him while His divinity does not diminish.

757.                   One raves to tear from Him His bodiliness;

758.              another dares to place a limit to His divinity.

759.                   In some places they divide Him into two iniquitously,

760.              and there are also places where they do not confess that He came in the flesh.

761.                   Others have made Him one and another, while He is One;

762.              others deny that He became incarnate from our body.

763.                   Others put Jesus on one side and the Word on another

764.              and confess two – one God and one human.

765.                   There are many who call the Only-Begotten two,

766.              and have wished to place on one the miracles and on one the sufferings.

767.                   There are some who have made a number for the body and separated it from Him

768.              and given it a qnumo and placed Him far apart from it.

769.                   The fools count one from the Father and one from Mary

770.              and say the proper things of this one do not touch that one.

771.                   Amid these things, what should the pure people do?

772.              And what should the gathering who hears [these] many things do?

773.                   Christ is One! But see it spoken among many

774.              and how they tear up His exalted story that is inexplicable.

775.                   The Groom is One, and the Bride is one who is betrothed to Him,

776.              and she knows neither lists nor numbers concerning Him.

777.                   He is One Who is begotten from God spiritually

778.              and came to birth from a daughter of man bodily.

779.                   He was hidden in His Father and came to the open from the house of David,

780.              and He is confessed to be both Son of God and Son of David.

781.                   He is the Lord of David since He is God with His Begetter,

782.              and the Son of David since He became incarnate from a daughter of David.

783.                   He is immortal since His Father is immortal,

784.              and since He came in the flesh, He became among the number of mortals.

785.                   He resembles His Father apart from bodily sufferings,

786.              and He resembled us apart from sin, which did not touch Him.

787.                   He became a mediator for the two sides at enmity –

788.              He is from the two of them, but cannot be divided to become two.

789.                   The Word Who willed to become flesh came to the Virgin

790.              and remained in His Father since He became and did not change.

791.                   The Son of God and the Son of Man is the same,

792.              for two wombs bore Him in a holy way:

793.                   His hidden Father and His virgin mother – and who would examine Him?

794.              He is the Son of the Essence and the Son of Mary – and who would dispute Him?

795.                   He is hidden in the heights and revealed in the depths, and our Lord is One.

796.              He performs miracles and bears sufferings and is indivisible.

797.                   He slept on the boat and, when awakened, calmed the sea,

798.              and He Who was awakened commanded the sea to be still, and it was calmed.

799.                   He asked for water from the Samaritan women since He became incarnate,

800.              and revealed to her a hidden secret since He is God.

801.                   He leaned toward high and humble deeds

802.              so the world would learn He is the Son of Man and Son of God.

803.                   One mediator laid peace between the two sides

804.              and grasped them in Himself to reconcile them.

805.                   The Son of the Most High descended from His height and became from us –

806.              now see the heights and depths worshipping Him, for He reconciled them!

807.                   Until Mary, He was not embodied, like His Begetter,

808.              but ever since her, He willed and was incarnate and became from us.

809.                   The Church has never known two sons for the Father –

810.              for He has one, and she was betrothed to Him since He is God.

811.                   And this Only-Begotten Son of God is

812.              He Who was crucified between the thieves on Golgotha.

813.                   But if [God] had a different [son] who was a stranger to the crucifixion,

814.              the Church would not know him, for she is not betrothed to him.

815.                   By blood she is betrothed, and if he does not have blood, he is not the Groom,

816.              for the Only-Begotten betrothed her by His blood when He betrothed her.

817.                   Unless He has a body to distribute to the sharers of His mystery,

818.              she will not be for Him, for she hungers to eat the Groom’s Body.

819.                   But if He has a body and blood, He is the Groom,

820.              and it is easy for whoever has a body and blood to die!

821.                   His is the body and His is the death of crucifixion,

822.              and to Him the worship of the peoples is due, for He is God.

823.                   But if, again, there were another who was hidden and to whom

824.              neither death nor the sufferings of crucifixion approached,

825.                   he would not be the savior nor would the Captive [Church] know him,

826.              for it is with blows and sufferings that all the captured are saved.

827.                   This One Who endured nails and a spear is glorified,

828.              for He descended to Sheol and raised up the dead from ruin.

829.                   A blow struck Him and He freed the slaves from slavery,

830.              and Watchers and people are indebted to praise Him.

831.                   By the Only-Begotten of the Father, all creation is saved,

832.              and the Only-Begotten is Jesus Who came in the flesh.

833.                   It has not been heard that the Father has any child other than

834.              this One Who came to His own and was not received.

835.                   God has one Son, the Lord Jesus,

836.              Who came to His own and was not received by the Jews.

837.                   He is the Heir, and the vineyard workers seized Him

838.              and brought and crucified Him on Golgotha that He might destroy the vineyard.

839.                   He is the Good Shepherd, and He was resolute for His flock;

840.              He is the Lord of the Flock, and He carried the lost hundredth sheep.

841.                   The Son’s story, when it is spoken by the wise,

842.              hides itself lest they place it among their disputations.

843.                   However much the learned stir up questions by their speech,

844.              [the story] cannot be spoken by the inventions of their words.

845.                   But for the simple it is clear and stands like a light

846.              and gives itself for them to speak it lovingly.

847.                   It hates the refutations of wise words,

848.              for it has subdued the whole world with simple teaching.

849.                   He chose the unlearned and poor to proclaim Him

850.              and sent them to speak about Him in the lands.

851.                   So the world would perceive that it is because the one speaking is God,

852.              the world received Him from preachers who were not wise.

853.                   By His own power the teaching stood without being wise,

854.              for wherever there is power, wisdom is unnecessary.

855.                   Deceit needs wisdom

856.              and cunningness and many wise words.

857.                   But whoever speaks the truth is not wise,

858.              for even if the speaker were an unlearned person, he would be unreproachable.

859.                   Who would not love much more to hear the truth from an unlearned person

860.              than deceitful speech from a wise one?

861.                   The Son’s apostles were unlearned and simple,

862.              but very faithful and true.

863.                   The great power of mightiness clung to them,

864.              and they had no need for speaking wise words.

865.                   They went out to teach the earth to despise idolatry

866.              and abandon created things and worship the Maker in truth.

867.                   And as they drew it away from worshipping gods,

868.              the Crucified One showed it to worship Him, for He is God.

869.                   The simple apostles were sent to the lands

870.              and each of them began to instruct the land he reached.

871.                   And each disciple, as he taught, began

872.              to uproot idols and images so they would not be worshipped,

873.                   and each was teaching that all creation

874.              should worship the Maker of all creatures, for He is their Lord,

875.                   and that no one should worship graven images or created things,

876.              nor idols, luminous bodies, nor the elements.

877.                   And in the land [each] would place the Cross alone

878.              and gather all worship to be given to it.

879.                   And each would take away [worship] from gods and lords

880.              and give all worship to the Cross.

881.                   And every disciple would boast in the Cross

882.              as they taught that the world should worship it alone.

883.                   No apostle would magnify his words when teaching

884.              nor be wise so his teaching would stand with cunning;

885.                   nor would he hide his Lord’s shame from creation,

886.              but he would repeat all the sufferings of the crucifixion!

887.                    [He would do this] while confessing that Jesus came in the flesh

888.              and was born in a manger and in lowliness wrapped in swaddling-clothes,

889.                   and that He came to be baptized by John

890.              and that He hungered when tempted by Satan

891.                   and that He bought bread through His disciples to eat

892.              and that He was weary and sat to rest like a weak person,

893.                   and that He asked for water to drink as one who thirsted,

894.              and that He prayed as one who needed petitions,

895.                   and that He was judged before Pilate like a debtor,

896.              and that He was scourged with whips by the judge,

897.                   and that He was mocked and covered and beaten,

898.              and that they spattered spit on His face like He was wretched,

899.                   and that He was condemned and came to the death of crucifixion,

900.              and that they gave Him the Cross to carry when going out,

901.                   and that they crucified Him between thieves on Golgotha,

902.              and that they gave Him bitter things and vinegar to drink there,

903.                   and that His clothes were divided by lot among the crucifiers,

904.              and that they pierced Him, and water and blood came from Him,

905.                   and that He called out from the sufferings with a loud voice,

906.              and that He died and entered Sheol after all these things.

907.                   All these humble, shameful,

908.              weak, lowly, feeble things

909.                   were proclaimed by [each] disciple among the Arameans,

910.              as they proclaimed that creation should not be worshipped.

911.                   But if the evangelist had wisdom or cunning,

912.              he would not have proclaimed these words.

913.                   For he would have feared, if he was cunning, to repeat these things –

914.              all the shames and insults and sufferings of the crucifixion –

915.                   lest someone say about the One Who endured all these things:

916.              “Why would I worship [Him] if created things should not be worshipped?

917.                   Who should I worship? The sun whose light fills creation

918.              or the One Who entered and had Sheol’s gates shut in His face?”

919.                   If the one teaching was wise or cunning,

920.              he would have feared and hid the Son’s shame

921.                   lest the pagans laugh at him when hearing his proclamation

922.              and say, “why would a crucified man receive worship?”

923.                   But because there was power in the one evangelizing,

924.              and he knew the Crucified One was God,

925.                   and that as much he increased or humbled Him, He would not be diminished,

926.              and as much as he repeated to the world His sufferings, he would proclaim His love,

927.                   that proclaimer of the faith would not conceal

928.              or hide the weaknesses of the Son like a liar.

929.                   But he was confident that the truth he spoke with a loud voice

930.              would stand without wise words.

931.                   He proclaimed that He was killed and taught that the Son of God was buried,

932.              and called the world to fall and worship His crucifixion.

933.                   And like an unlearned person who lets loose his words without knowing,

934.              each disciple began to teach in the land he reached

935.                   and assure the world by simple, unwise [words]

936.              since the truth revealed itself through unlearned people.

937.                   And since the One crucified on Golgotha is God,

938.              His course proceeded even as it was full of obstacles.

939.                   And though the proclaimers of the faith were not wise,

940.              see how the wise of the world fall down at His threshold!

941.                   And as His dead body was hung on the cross for the world to see,

942.              all the world bowed down and worshipped Him, for He is the Son of God.

943.                   And as He was beaten by the judges, the Crucified One fell

944.              and rose upon the heights, and all the heights were humbled by Him.

945.                   And though the proclaimers were unlearned and simple,

946.              they excelled throughout the lands and the learned were silenced.

947.                   And though folly was reckoned among the Arameans

948.              and the proclamation was a stumbling block for the Jews,

949.                   the Son of God’s path ran on mightily

950.              and the world was filled with His teaching wisely.

951.                   The path of His proclamation was not annulled by the stumbling block,

952.              nor did the world flee from His teaching at the folly.

953.                   He is slain and God, and whoever stumbles should not worship Him –

954.              but if he does worship, let him know that He is God!

955.                   Who do worship, O Christian? Who do you worship?

956.              A [mere] person who was crucified, or God from God?

957.                   Your bent head and these your bowing knees –

958.              these testify that the One crucified on the Cross is God!

959.                   I know you – yes, I know you have not been worshipping

960.              an idol or created thing or cast statue.

961.                   And if Jesus is not God Who is above all,

962.              you would not be worshipping a strange person with God.

963.                   I affirm to you that since you have confirmed Him [as] Son of God,

964.              you are also worshipping God with His Begetter.

965.                   How very good it is that you worship Him since He is God,

966.              for I, too, thus have affirmed and worship.

967.                   And see now how your faith and mine are one,

968.              for I, with you, worship the Son of God!

969.                   And I worship Him since He is God Who came in the flesh,

970.              and I do not stumble because He bore sufferings bodily.

971.                   So do not stumble, for you, like me, worship Him –

972.              and this is clear: if you stumble, you do not worship!

973.                   For see: the whole Church looks at you worshipping!

974.              And you know you are worshipping Him since He is God.

975.                   Far be it from you, my brother, to worship a human with God,

976.              or some other one not begotten from God.

977.                   Others have lured you – the learned with wise words –

978.              to give the Cross to a human and not to God.

979.                   But you, O our companion, give the whole Cross to God,

980.              for only if it were [God’s] would you worship, for He is God.

981.                   After He came in the flesh from the house of David,

982.              He accepted everything He found on the path of Death.

983.                   There is great power in the Cross, and therefore He reigned

984.              and subdued the heights and grasped the depths and the whole world.

985.                   If the Crucified One was not God Who came in the flesh,

986.              He would have been dishonored by these wonderous shames He endured,

987.                   and the gospel would have fallen with stumbling blocks and doubts

988.              among the unlearned who went out and preached Him through the lands,

989.                   and everyone who came to worship Him would be ashamed

990.              and whoever heard His proclamation would stumble over Him.

991.                   But because He is the Self-Existent One, the Son of Majesty,

992.              the Word Who came and became flesh and did not change,

993.                   behold kings and crowns of rulers bending down before Him,

994.              the edges and ends [of the world] bowing and worshipping His crucifixion,

995.                   the hosts of earth’s nations hearing His shame and not stumbling

996.              when they worship Him, for He is God!

997.                   And the inhabitants and judges of the earth bend their backs

998.              and all of them worship the Cross of Light that saved the earth.

999.                   And now, after all peoples have come and worshipped the Cross,

1000.         why is it said that it was not God Who hung on the Cross?

1001.              Who would say – who would dare – who would not confess –

1002.         who would not worship, except that synagogue, companion of calves?

1003.              While the world was full of idols and little gods,

1004.         the Cross went out and toppled them like a warrior.

1005.              And now that all creation has shined through the Son of God,

1006.         the erring learned men have introduced and put someone else with Him!

1007.              The pagans have affirmed that the Son of God hung on the Cross,

1008.         and see them worshipping Him since He is God with His Begetter!

1009.              But how the children of the house of faith rave

1010.         and fear to say “God died” lest He be insulted!

1011.              He does not fear shame or death,

1012.         for He is not diminished by the small things that cling to Him.

1013.              The errant fool is not ashamed to worship before Him when he worships,

1014.         but he is ashamed to say that He is God!

1015.              O wise one, if He is a human, do not worship Him,

1016.         and if He is God Who came in the flesh do not be ashamed by Him!

1017.              Either believe in Him as God and fall and worship Him

1018.         or do not worship if you do not affirm that He is God.

1019.              Who are you worshipping when you worship

1020.         and for what reason and why and how do you worship Him?

1021.              See that you do not make a blot in the beauty of your faith,

1022.         for faith has seen the Son of God on the Cross –

1023.              the Only-Begotten Who is glorified and worshipped with His Begetter,

1024.         and to Whom all worship is due, since He is God.

1025.              I have always wholly known Him to be God

1026.         and without investigation affirmed Him to be the Son of God.

1027.              There are the learned and wise and disputatious

1028.         and Greeks, and those who rely on knowledge.

1029.              I, deficient, am neither wise nor disputatious

1030.         and do not know how to investigate the Son of God.

1031.              To me, He is God Who was born in the flesh from the house of David

1032.         even as He stood among the sufferings of crucifixion.

1033.              When the wise stir up His story I do not approach,

1034.         for what is there between me and the wise, since I am unlearned?

1035.              When the learned investigate His story, I learned to be quiet,

1036.         for I am a stranger to learnedness and wisdom.

1037.              And when the intelligent dispute Him, I do not listen,

1038.         for I do not rely on knowledge that examines the Son.

1039.              And wherever they seek to divide the Only-Begotten,

1040.         I become very obtuse and do not know what they say.

1041.              And wherever they reject His bodiliness, I have become deaf,

1042.         for I do not have an ear to hear their explanations.

1043.              And I have not learned to speak the language of one

1044.         who says it was not God Who hung on the Cross.

1045.              And whoever thinks he has known the Son completely

1046.         is a stranger to me, for I do not know.

1047.              In whatever language a person learns, he speaks –

1048.         in his own alone, ever since infamous Babel.

1049.              I speak the Son of God in the language of faith,

1050.         and I do not know any other one.

1051.              And because in the world there are learned and wise people

1052.         and interpreters, everyone speaks according to his knowledge.

1053.              My knowledge has ascended up to this point:

1054.         to understand and know the Son of God is unspeakable.

1055.              I do not seek to be raised to a higher level,

1056.         for I know that if I seek I would not find.

1057.              I do not run to catch the wind with footsteps,

1058.         for I see that if I run I would not overtake [it].

1059.              I do not venture to measure the sea and count its sand,

1060.         for I know Whose hand measures the flood!

1061.              I do not attempt to measure the firmament or probe the depth,

1062.         for I do not forget I am limited to three lengths!

1063.              I do not desire to touch fire and flame,

1064.         for I have a body that greatly fears being burned.

1065.              I do not attempt to define the Son of God,

1066.         for it suffices for me that His knowledge is undefinable!

1067.              And I will know that this thing I have known is not definable –

1068.         it is a gift to me and gives me rest since I do not examine!

1069.              If I continued thinking I could define [Him],

1070.         I would have become weary, searching without finding.

1071.              But our Lord granted me like a gift full of light

1072.         that I knew I would know that I do not know how to examine the Son!

1073.              His Father knows Him as He also knows the Father –

1074.         glory to the Father Who knows the Son Who is uninvestigable!

1075.              Let the learned stop investigating the Son of God,

1076.         for His story is hidden from speakers and listeners.

1077.              His speech is greater than the eloquent and silent

1078.         and seeking Him out is hidden from the high and lowly beings.

1079.              The Son is in His Father, and who would not fear to examine the Father?

1080.         For the beloved Son is in His bosom and He knows Him.

1081.              No one can find Christ outside of His Father,

1082.         and who would dare to touch the bosom of flame?

1083.              Whoever steps forth to examine the Son insults the Father,

1084.         for He is hidden and glorified in His Begetter and is more concealed than all.

1085.              For who would venture to bind the rays of the sun

1086.         without seeking to seize the sun if he could?

1087.              If he could seize a small beam from the luminous body,

1088.         he would also seize the whole sun, according to you.

1089.              And who is the person who would ever so rave and dare

1090.         to seize light as a body in his fingers?

1091.              A ray from the sphere of the sun has descended to you –

1092.         shine through it and be silent – do not seize it to be subject to you!

1093.              Though the sun’s dawn is very close and proceeds with it,

1094.         it is hidden from you because the sun is its begetter.

1095.              The sun is on high and its dawn descends to our vicinity –

1096.         not so you can seize it, but so you can delight at its brilliance!

1097.              And if you want to seize the dawn because it has approached you,

1098.         then it would be easy for you to seize the sun, according to you!

1099.              The Son of God came from His Father’s high place

1100.         to be near us with us in our land for our sake.

1101.              And if you want to examine Him because He has come near you,

1102.         you have led yourself astray, for the Child is hidden like His Begetter.

1103.              Since He humbled Himself and came to us to visit the earth,

1104.         you imagine He can be easily investigated, since He approached you!

1105.              Therefore you would seize the sun’s dawn, which came down to illumine the earth,

1106.         because it approached our vicinity!

1107.              The Savior dawned on the world to illuminate humanity

1108.         and while He was with us, He was with His Father in His high place.

1109.              For He was in the world before He came to the world in the flesh,

1110.         and He was with His Father while He was in our world bodily.

1111.              The Son of the Most High Who descended and became from lowly beings

1112.         also remained in His place while He lowered Himself to our land,

1113.              and the place on high did not suffice when He descended,

1114.         and when He was with us it did not distance Him from His Father.

1115.              Yet because He willed to become with us for our sake,

1116.         the audacious have stepped forth to investigate Him with their disputations!

1117.              See how all creatures are full of wonder in their natures –

1118.         let whoever wishes to investigate be cut off by them!

1119.              Rise, you venturer, and measure the heights with their boundaries,

1120.         go down, probe the depths, and come show me their levels.

1121.              Measure the sea and confine its waves and number its sand,

1122.         and weigh the mountains if you are mighty in your deeds.

1123.              Investigate first your equals in you can,

1124.         and then raise your voice to speak about your Lord.

1125.              Look at the firmament – the wonderous garment above you –

1126.         consider it and wonder at it and be cut off by it.

1127.               [Look] at the stars of light so mighty in their risings,

1128.         at the heavenly hosts revolving without ceasing,

1129.              at the swift rush of the great path they hasten on,

1130.         and at the circuit of the clockwork course they are fixed on,

1131.              at the sun sitting on the chariot of great light,

1132.         going out and visiting the whole world quickly,

1133.              at the moon stepping through phases and all [its] courses,

1134.         rushing to carry the world’s times toward completion,

1135.              at the wheel carrying nights into days,

1136.         at the rushing course pulling the world down to expire,

1137.              at morning and evening who, like residents and travelers,

1138.         hold to the fluctuating path of times to transition,

1139.              at this rush of the great unending circuit –

1140.         fasten your mind onto investigating [this] if you can!

1141.              Let your contemplation be on the names of the house above you;

1142.         if you have defined it, then rise to the place higher than it.

1143.              Next the great sea, suspended and stationary, will meet you –

1144.         it is clear and still, without waves stirring it up,

1145.              nor are there ships or sailors tossing in it,

1146.         nor winds or storms being stirred up in it.

1147.              The waters are confined above on high as if in a wineskin,

1148.         and they are not poured out to the empty height below them.

1149.              The hidden Signal gave them borders and bound them,

1150.         and see them dwelling above as they were bounded by the Most High!

1151.              Be silent here, like the sea above is silent,

1152.         and may the waves of the learned not stir you up with their disputations!

1153.              The Son of God sits at the peak of heaven –

1154.         why do you set upon going to reach Him when you cannot?

1155.              Examine the firmament and the flood above it

1156.         and rise again there at the place of limitless light.

1157.              And if you can see, look at high heaven above –

1158.         if the light lets you look and see it.

1159.              A little light from there dawned on chosen Paul,

1160.         and he was blinded, for he was awestruck at that light above.

1161.              And a small particle from there reached Ezekiel,

1162.         and he fell on the ground, unable to look at it.

1163.              And as for you, O audacious one, if the light allows you to examine,

1164.         look at this heaven above and see the wonder:

1165.              ardent crowds of glorifiers without number,

1166.         myriads of heavenly hosts without count,

1167.              fire standing, sides upon sides, to give glory

1168.         to that Majesty, with trembling and shaking,

1169.              the flame giving forth a sound of every jubilation

1170.         and all blessings and praises from every side.

1171.              If you can, be raised again above these things

1172.         and then other heavenly hosts will encounter you there:

1173.              clothed in brilliance, wearing splendor, fearful of voice,

1174.         singers of glory with ardent mouths of flame.

1175.              And above them there are still high ranks

1176.         near the variously-visioned and wonderful chariot:

1177.              fearful sights and the sounds of rational wheels,

1178.         and great thunder and the fully-shaking sound of blessings,

1179.              the living wind within the rational wheels

1180.         and fearful fire surrounding the Son of God,

1181.              the throne of glory resembling precious stones,

1182.         and the Most High sitting like a Son of Man in great glory,

1183.              the flame constrained by Him lest it be burned,

1184.         and the wind standing apart, shaking and fearing Him,

1185.              and He, concealed from the ministers who do not see Him

1186.         but send forth a sound with blessings to the height of His place,

1187.              and the voices of these lower ranks rising

1188.         and those of the high ranks mingling with these praises,

1189.              and the great thunder of great glory from the middle beings –

1190.         and between these things, what can you say, O weak one?

1191.              How can you dispute, how can you examine, how can you dare?

1192.         Who will hear you, who will heed you, who will answer you?

1193.              Who will give you space to approach and observe

1194.         between these thousands upon thousands of heavenly hosts?

1195.              How can you push to enter and examine the Son of God

1196.         between these myriads upon myriads of heavenly hosts?

1197.              How can you enter and bring dispute without fearing

1198.         the legions of fire and spirit surrounding Him?

1199.              There is not even room for you to give glory among these,

1200.         so how could you seek to examine the Son among His legions?

1201.              Consider the seraph. Unless he hides his face with his wings,

1202.         he cannot even cry Holy to the Son while looking at Him.

1203.              He hides his feet with his tightly-packed wings of flame

1204.         and fears to step toward the Majesty lest he be burned.

1205.              He knows how to cry Holy, and if he is asked to explain,

1206.         he would be too afraid to dare to reveal his face to speak,

1207.              so that he might not be confounded by questions and explanations

1208.         and lose the song of Holy on which he meditates.

1209.              Let your mind enter and stand there spiritually

1210.         among the crowds of ministers – see and fear

1211.              their appearances, their fires, and their brilliance,

1212.         their voices and the shout of their hosannas,

1213.              the sound of wings and the songs of Holy and the sound of Blesseds,

1214.         for it is a great shaking and fearful thunder and great wonder.

1215.              They pasture with songs of praise as if in meadows

1216.         and their mouths speak no empty word.

1217.              From the Tree of Life they all pluck life

1218.         and the heavenly hosts bless Him without examining Him.

1219.              Their make-up is fire, they are clothed in splendor, their garment is radiance,

1220.         and in brilliance they glorify the Son with His Begetter.

1221.              There, there are no questioners or explainers

1222.         nor examiners or disputers of hidden things.

1223.               [Yet] among this weak, feeble crowd, full of passions

1224.         and carrying impulses, there are examiners of the Son of God!

1225.              Among humans there are contentions and evil divisions

1226.         which examine the Son and investigate Him with their questions.

1227.              Among the heavenly beings, they sing praise with their hosannas,

1228.         but among the lowly beings, they dispute His story with their tongues!

1229.              Above the wheels He is glorious and glorified and full of blessings,

1230.         but since He came to us, now He is made light of by examiners!

1231.              He set out His path and came to our world bodily,

1232.         and because He revealed Himself, they have disputed Him audaciously!

1233.              The sick who fell from the bites of the great serpent

1234.         came to be healed and set out against Him bitterly.

1235.              His Father sent Him to heal the sick and stricken,

1236.         but how they rave to examine His path iniquitously!

1237.              He dwelt in a daughter of man to make Himself related to humanity,

1238.         but see them disputing Him while His story is exalted and they cannot attain it!

1239.              The Lord of servants took the form of a servant from the womb

1240.         and became a servant to free the servants of His Father.

1241.              A virgin carried Him and He became unspeakable contention,

1242.         but see how He is spoken by trivial people, though He is inexplicable!

1243.              He walked on earth and uprooted her thorns and gave life to her dead,

1244.         but see how they investigate Him with an abundance of superfluous words!

1245.              He ascended the Cross and created commotion among the rulers,

1246.         for as they were crucifying Him, they did not know Who they crucified.

1247.              And while He was exposed, He exposed them and put them to shame

1248.         and reproved them and brought them down from their ranks.

1249.              He took and drank the cup of the death of crucifixion

1250.         and crushed the serpent who killed Adam in its place.

1251.              He descended and probed Sheol and pulled Adam out of the whirlpool

1252.         and gave him the Garden he had been expelled from and could not enter.

1253.              He freed the prisoner from the darkness in which he was sitting

1254.         and brought him up with Him to the land of light he was gazing at.

1255.              He made His light dawn in the hollow depths under the earth

1256.         and led out the confined captives and went out.

1257.              He was among the dead for three days, and visited them

1258.         and gave them light and made those mourning delight.

1259.              He healed the wounds of Eve, whom the snake bit in Eden

1260.         and took away her shame which had killed her.

1261.              He ascended from slaughter, and mightiness clung to Him,

1262.         and His path is the most exalted of paths and is uninvestigable.

1263.              He tore the bill Eve wrote up among the trees

1264.         and freed her children from the many debts.

1265.              He laid Himself in the sea of the dead like a diver

1266.         and went down and brought up the priceless pearl.

1267.              He sought the image of His Father which had fallen and been lost in the depth

1268.         and took it out of the ruin in which it wore away.

1269.              He scattered on His path every blessing and good thing

1270.         and every delight for the whole race of human beings.

1271.              In death He began; in death He finished, and He returned to His place

1272.         for the common debt was repaid through this Child.

1273.              And since He began, He began to make babies leap for joy

1274.         and when He was finishing, the dead were awakened to give praise.

1275.              On the day of His nativity, a star of light was His messenger,

1276.         and it brought the Magi with offerings to offer Him.

1277.              At His conception, babies; at His birth, a star; at His death, the dead

1278.         were stirred by Him to minister to Him on the path He laid out.

1279.              Babies leap for joy, stars rush, the dead rise

1280.         for the wonder of His path set them out to give praise.

1281.              And His dawning moved the high, middle, and lowly beings

1282.         to glorify Him in their settings.

1283.              He dwelt in a womb, and from wombs babies gave praise,

1284.         and He came to birth, and made a commotion among the luminaries.

1285.              He ascended the Cross, and the rocks and stones split their bellies,

1286.         and since He descended to Sheol, the ranks of the dead went out to honor Him.

1287.              In a barren womb, a closed-in child leapt to meet Him,

1288.         and from among the hosts, a star of light ran to honor Him,

1289.              and at His crucifixion, all creatures shook

1290.         in their settings, in their dominions, in their natures.

1291.              Innocent natures, even without a voice, gave voices

1292.         and trembling alarmed all silent creatures.

1293.              The day shook and changed its color, for it saw His shame,

1294.         and night stepped forward and rose in a dwelling not its own.

1295.              Light fled and hid itself behind the world,

1296.         and darkness came from all sides upon creation.

1297.              The sun and moon tore and cast off their garments

1298.         and stripped themselves and stood naked out of their tremblings.

1299.              The earth shook and entirely quaked like Mt. Sinai

1300.         when God descended and dwelt on it and gave the Law.

1301.              Day left so as not to look at its Lord crucified,

1302.         and night came to see the unfolding tragedies.

1303.              Creatures, too, like maidservants, were agitated,

1304.         for the wonder of His death stirred up and incited them.

1305.              And He agitated them to glorify Him in their forms.

1306.         His death is a wonder and inexplicable by the wise!

1307.              And His path is exalted, and all examiners cannot reach it,

1308.         for His path is exalted beyond high and lowly beings.

1309.              He descended to Sheol like a Mighty One and uprooted her walls

1310.         and destroyed her treasures and freed the once-confined prisoners.

1311.              When He descended, the dead received Him at Sheol’s gate

1312.         and when He ascended, the angels moved in their white garments.

1313.              He descended and ascended, and the learned cannot comprehend His path –

1314.         for He Who descended is He Who ascended, as it is written.

1315.              The height and depth, at His rising and descending, were blessed,

1316.         and they were pacified, and He mingled those who had been divided.

1317.              He made peace and reconciled those who had been at enmity,

1318.         for He made peace reign between the high and lowly beings.

1319.              At His descending and ascending He uprooted the foundation the snake built

1320.         and opened the Garden and returned the exiles to their settings.

1321.              He crushed the viper on the pure wood of crucifixion

1322.         and opened the path leading to Eden, which had been closed.

1323.              He accepted the spear and opened the Garden and made peace,

1324.         reconciled the enemies, returned the exiles, and gave life to the dead.

1325.              His whole path is full of blessings and light and life,

1326.         and it is clear and exalted beyond obstacles and inquiries.

1327.              Neither the learned nor disputers can walk on it,

1328.         nor examiners nor the wise with their questions.

1329.              The simple have stretched out the path of life to the whole world,

1330.         and it runs among the innocent, and is beyond contentions.

1331.              The Cross is set on it and is like a lamp of great light,

1332.         and the King’s servants walk on it without confusion.

1333.              Whoever examines falls, but the path is clear for the clear-hearted,

1334.         for it is trod out by fishermen without contention.

1335.              Investigators cannot comprehend faith,

1336.         for it walks on the Son of God’s path without examining.

1337.              A spear and nails and crucifixion it has for weapons,

1338.         and it pierces whoever examines the Son of God.

1339.              It repeats His sufferings with a loud voice among the congregations,

1340.         and cries out that He died, and faith is not ashamed of Him!

1341.              Through crucifixion He made salvation for the whole world.

1342.         Glory to the Hidden One Who came to the open and is uninvestigable!

 ܀܀܀܀܀

[1] I have read the text of this homily according to Bedjan’s edition and according to Vatican Syriac 117, ff.476r-484r. I have kept some of Bedjan’s section divisions and created several of my own.

[2] “the soul’s uncontentious love” lit. “with the love of the soul, without contention.”

[3] “speeches”: mimre. Also in line 10.

[4] “The children praised You” is a reference to Palm Sunday. For the second couplet of this line, I have chosen to go with the variant found in Vat.sir.117 (ܐܢܬ ܡܠܠ ܒܝ). Bedjan’s main text has, “but You are too difficult for the learned! May it be spoken in me (ܐܬܡܠܠ ܒܝ) since I do not examine!”

[5] Lit. “The fiery mouth of flame does not dare / to investigate You, Lord, as You are investigated with (i.e., by or among) us!”

[6] See Jacob’s much-loved story of the divine chariot in Ezekiel 1.

[7] A) Proverbs 30:19. According to the Peshitta: “Three things are hidden from me, and I do not know the fourth – the way of an eagle in heaven, the way of a snake on stone, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man in his youth.” B) Hebrews 5:7. The phrase “the days of His flesh” is found in the Greek version of the letter, though the Peshitta has “So too, when He had put on flesh.” (ܐܳܦ ܟܰܕ ܒܶܣܪܳܐ ܠܒܺܝܫ ܗ̱ܘܳܐ)

[8] The word I am translating as “disputed” in this homily, from the root ܕܪܫ, can also have the meaning “to tread [out a path].” Jacob is making a pun on these two meanings here.

[9] Lit. “and therefore His traces are not known (or understood) by the learned.”

[10] The meaning of this line is very unclear to me. I am taking “ܘܠܐ ܡܫܬܟܚܐ” as in agreement with ܒܥܬܐ. The word can either mean that the ܒܥܬܐ is “not possible” or “not found” – the latter translation makes sense in contrast to ܒܥܬܐ, “search,” but I have translated it as “unattainable searching” in an attempt to capture the sense of both words, and to make for easier English. The other major difficulty is how to construe “ܕܫܳܠܶܡ ܥܳܠܡܳܐ” – the participle must either have as subject the “world” or the errant person, of which the former appears more likely. I do not know of other cases where ܕ means “until,” but I was unable to find a better way to take the ܕ here.

ܢܦܰܠ ܒܰܒܥܳܬܳܐ ܕܫܳܠܶܡ ܥܳܠܡܳܐ ܘܠܳܐ ܡܶܫܬܰܟܚܳܐ

[11] Or, “synagogues.”

[12] The syntax of these two lines is a bit unclear to me.

ܘܡܶܛܽܠ ܪܳܡܳܐ ܕܪܳܡܳܐ ܐܽܘܪܚܶܗ ܡܶܢ ܟܽܠ ܪ̈ܰܘܡܺܝܢ܆ ܐ̱ܢܳܫ ܐܰܝܟ ܕܨܳܒܶܐ ܒܳܕܶܐ ܡܡܰܠܶܠ ܡܰܪܳܚܳܐܺܝܬ

[13] Isaiah 9:6, according to the Peshitta version. See Jacob’s homily on this verse, in which he reflects much on the name of Christ as “wonder”: https://www.syriactexts.com/jacob-of-serugh/on-isaiah-96.

[14] The word translated as “definitions,” ܣܳܟ̈ܶܐ, can also mean “limits.” The idea is that Jacob did not find Christ in anything bounded or capable of being defined.

[15] A) See especially Exodus 3:2-6. B) Genesis 18:1-15.

[16] Lit. “as if contained”: ܐܰܝܟ ܕܰܒܣܳܟܳܐ

[17] Lit. “suffice and define (i.e., bound/set borders around) Him.”

ܠܳܐ ܓܶܝܪ ܐܰܬܪܳܐ ܪܰܒܳܐ ܣܳܦܶܩ ܘܰܡܣܰܝܶܟ ܠܶܗ

[18] “small places” lit. “a place that is small.”

[19] In Syriac, the word for “bush/thornbush” (ܣܰܢܝܳܐ) can also mean “hateful,” “despicable,” “ugly.”

[20] Lit. “He dwelt among the thorns of a bush and was not ashamed.”

[21] “despicable”: this is the same word for “thornbush” (ܣܰܢܝܳܐ) (see note 19 above).

[22] Genesis 1:26-27.

[23] Genesis 2:21-22.

[24] “in her” or “in/through/with it”: this can either refer to “Eve” or to the “rib,” which are both feminine.

[25] John 1:11.

[26] Philippians 2:7.

[27] ܕܰܡܠܶܐ ܡܫܽܘܚܬܳܟ ܒܳܥܶܝܬ ܐܰܬܪܳܐ ܘܟܶܢ ܐܳܚܶܕ ܠܳܟ

Or, more literally, “you seek a place that would be full of your stature, and then it would contain you.” The syntax is a bit difficult for me and I am unsure if I am translating it well, but the sense should remain the same.

[28] This line has the same form (and therefore syntactical difficulties) as line 204:

ܕܰܡܠܶܐ ܡܫܽܘܚܬܶܗ ܢܶܒܥܶܐ ܐܰܬܪܳܐ ܘܟܶܢ ܫܳܪܶܐ ܒܶܗ

[29] Matthew 27:50-53. Jacob describes Christ’s dying cry from the Cross and the resulting response of nature and the dead as witnesses to His divinity.

[30] Lit. “the loud voice which the dead heard, and they shook and were astonished.”

[31] Lit. “The Son of God’s death was the Death-bringer of Death, and His suffering was the Suffering-causer of sufferings in great wonder.”

ܡܡܺܝܬܳܢܶܗܽ ܗ̱ܘ ܕܡܰܘܬܳܐ ܡܰܘܬܶܗ ܕܒܰܪ ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ܆ ܐܳܦ ܡܰܚܫܳܢܳܐ ܕܚܰܫ̈ܶܐ ܚܰܫܶܗ ܒܬܶܗܪܳܐ ܪܰܒܳܐ܀

Compare the very similar line found in Isaac of Antioch’s Homily On the Passibility and Impassibility of the Word of God: “His death was the Death-bringer of Death, and His suffering was the Suffering-causer of sufferings.” See: Paul Bedjan, Homiliæ S. Isaaci, Syri Antiocheni (Otto Harrassowitz, 1903), 730. https://archive.org/details/homiliaesisaacis01isaauoft/page/131.

ܡܡܺܝܬܳܢܶܗ ܕܡܰܘܬܰܐ ܗ̱ܘ ܡܰܘܬܶܗ܆ ܘܡܰܚܫܳܢܳܐ ܕܚܰܫ̈ܶܐ ܚܰܫܶܗ܀

[32] This refers to Palm Sunday.

[33] These lines are full of synonyms that are hard to translate well into English.

 ܗܽܘ ܐܶܬܓܰܫܰܡ ܗܽܘ ܐܶܬܒܰܣܰܪ ܗܽܘ ܐܶܬܒܰܪܢܰܫ܆ ܗܽܘ ܗܘܳܐ ܒܶܣܪܳܐ ܗܽܘ ܠܒܶܫ ܦܰܓܪܳܐ ܘܰܗܘܳܐ ܐܢܳܫܳܐ܀

[34] “the dead-bearing womb”: i.e., the human womb, which always bore mortals.

[35] Or, “a spiritual one.”

[36] Lit. “The reason of His death – this was the [reason] He became incarnate.”

[37] The word became (ܗܘܐ) is theologically important in reference to the Son’s incarnation. Jacob says, as he will elaborate later in the homily, that to become is not the same as to change. The Son’s becoming human was not the same as the Son changing into a human.

[38] A) Psalm 82:6. B) Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2.

[39] “to travel to the dead” lit. “to become a traveler toward the dead.”

[40] “Luxuriant One”: a common title of Sheol that Jacob uses. (ܡܥܕܢܬܐ)

[41] Lit. “To whom has appeared a dead man…” Or “By whom has a dead man been seen…” The dead “worship” Christ when they rise in response to His cry on the Cross (Matthew 27:50-53).

[42] Genesis 49:9-10.

[43] I have translated ܐܝܬܘܬܐ as “Essence” in this homily.

[44] “activity”: ܥܳܒܽܘܕܽܘܬܳܐ

[45] Lit. “which is unspoken [or, unspeakable] by speakers.”

[46] Lit. “to number and to hold them without forgetting/going astray.”

[47] Lit. “her mouth is put”

[48] John 19:34.

[49] Lit. “He has been audacious at times, he who raved to say…”

[50] 2 Corinthians 11:2.

[51] John 1:14.

[52] Philippians 2:10.

[53] Psalm 72:17. According to the Peshitta:

ܘܢܶܗܘܶܐ ܫܡܶܗ ܠܥܳܠܰܡ. ܘܰܩܕܳܡ ܫܶܡܫܳܐ ܐܺܝܬܰܘܗܝ̱ ܫܡܶܗ. ܢܶܬܒܰܪܟܽܘܢ ܒܶܗ ܟܽܠܗܽܘܢ ܥܰܡ̈ܡܶܐ. ܘܟܽܠܗܽܘܢ ܢܫܰܒܚܽܘܢܳܝܗܝ̱.

[54] John 1:10.

[55] John 1:11.

[56] Luke 1:78.

[57] Hebrews 13:8.

[58] Philippians 2:6.

[59] Daniel 7:9.

[60] Isaiah 44:6.

[61] “He did not come into being” means there was never a time when He did not exist and needed to come into existence; He is co-eternal with the Father and Holy Spirit, without beginning or end.

[62] John 8:58.

[63] John 16:15.

[64] Isaiah 42:8.

[65] John 1:3.

[66] A) Genesis 1:3. B) John 1:4-5, 1:9; See also John 8:12.

[67] Genesis 1:6-8.

[68] A) Genesis 1:9-10. B) 1 Corinthians 1:24.

[69] Genesis 1:14-19.

[70] Genesis 1:20-21.

[71] Genesis 1:26-27.

[72] ܘܝܺܠܶܦ ܥܳܠܡܳܐ ܕܶܠܳܐ ܣܓܺܝ̈ܕܶܐ ܠܳܐ ܢܶܣܬܰܓܕܽܘܢ

[73] Philippians 2:6.

[74] Hebrews 2:9.

[75] Philippians 2:7.

[76] Luke 23:46.

[77] I.e., His deeds are unable to be done by others.

[78] I am unsure of how best to translate this the last clause of this line – “He has no opposite or opponent.” The two words Jacob uses can both mean “opposite” or “opponent.”

ܠܰܝܬ ܠܶܗ ܬܚܽܘܡܳܐ ܠܰܝܬ ܣܰܩܽܘܒܠܳܐ ܘܠܰܝܬ ܕܰܠܩܽܘܒܠܳܐ

[79] I am taking ܐܰܪܓܶܫ as the feminine plural, whose subject is “understandings.” Bedjan usually eliminates the silent yudh.

[80] “Eternally Mighty One” or “Mighty One of the Ages/Worlds.” This title of Christ, difficult to render into English, is one Jacob commonly uses. It is derived from Isaiah 9:6: ܓܰܢ̱ܒܳܪ ܥܳܠܡ̈ܶܐ.

[81] Malachi 4:2.

[82] Lit. “and the world of the dead was attended to by Him, and He returned to His land.”

[83] Lit. “And as he was confident that he would put Him among his loot…”

[84] Lit. “who had been devoured by him [i.e., Death].”

[85] “at it” or “at Him.”

[86] “qnumo” is the Syriac word often used to render the Greek hypostasis. I have left it untranslated due to the different meanings the word may entail in Syriac, the full spectrum of which I am unqualified to parse between. The accusation in these lines is that some people – i.e., those who confessed two natures, and the Church of the East, which additionally confessed two qnume for Christ – separated Christ’s divinity and humanity by assigning His miracles and divine acts to His divinity, while ascribing His passions and sufferings to His humanity. Jacob affirms Christ’s full humanity and full divinity. His main problem here appears to be the attempt to number Christ.

[87] “proper things”: ܕܺܝܠܳܢ̈ܳܬܳܐ

[88] Hebrews 4:15.

[89] 1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 2:14-16.

[90] There is an important distinction between “becoming” and “changing.” God by nature cannot change, so the Son’s incarnation was not a change. He did not change into a man but, instead, Jacob insists, He “became” man. This theological distinction is important in Miaphysite Christology. The Syrian Orthodox liturgy begins with a hymn declaring: “without change, He became man” (ܕܠܳܐ ܫܽܘܚܠܳܦܳܐ ܗܘܳܐ ܒܰܪܢܳܫܳܐ). In English the phrase “He became” on its own sounds odd, and seems to require a complement. However, due to its theological importance I have kept the construction here and throughout the homily. The line in question in this homily reads:

ܘܩܰܘܺܝ ܒܰܐܒܽܘܗܝ ܡܶܛܽܠ ܕܰܗܘܳܐ ܘܠܳܐ ܐܶܫܬܰܚܠܰܦ

[91] “Son of the Essence” or “Consubstantial”: ܒܰܪ ܐܺܝܬܽܘܬܳܐ. I have kept the former translation to preserve the parallel between this term and “Son of Mary.”

[92] Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25.

[93] See John 4.

[94] ܥܰܠ ܪ̈ܳܡܳܬܳܐ ܘܥܰܠ ܡܳܟ̈ܳܬܳܐ ܡܶܣܬܰܡܰܟ ܗ̱ܘܳܐ

[95] 1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 2:14-16. “in Himself” uses the word qnumeh and may be emphatically referring to Christ’s one qnumo.

[96] John 1:11.

[97] Matthew 21:33-41.

[98] John 10:11. See also Matthew 18:12-13 and Luke 15:3-7.

[99] ܒܡܰܡܠܠܳܐ ܕܣܳܦܪ̈ܶܐ ܟܡܳܐ ܕܰܢܙܺܝܥܽܘܢ ܫܽܐܘܳܠܰܝ̈ܗܽܘܢ܆ ܠܳܐ ܡܶܬܡܰܠܰܠ ܒܰܫ̈ܟܳܚܳܬܳܐ ܕܦܶܬܓܳܡ̈ܰܝܗܽܘܢ

[100] The syntax of this line is a bit tricky for me to parse exactly – whether the Son is the subject of “speaking” or is being spoken about.

ܕܢܰܪܓܶܫ ܥܳܠܡܳܐ ܕܥܰܠ ܕܰܐܠܳܗܰܐ ܗ̱ܘ ܗܰܘ ܕܰܡܡܰܠܶܠ

[101] Lit. “And as they drew it away from gods, so they would not be worshipped, / the Crucified One showed it to worship Him since He is God.” The word for “Crucified One” and “Cross” is the same in Syriac (here, ܙܩܝܦܐ), leading to double potential meanings.

[102] Galatians 6:14.

[103] John 4:6-8.

[104] Lit. “but if there were wisdom or cunning / in the evangelist, he would not have proclaimed these words.”

[105] “or hide” lit. “to hide.”

[106] 1 Corinthians 1:23.

[107] The idea being that if people are worshipping Christ, they should know that He is God, for only God is worthy of worship. If they “stumble” or hesitate over the idea that someone who is crucified could be God, they should not worship Him, for then they would be worshipping someone they thought was not God. Jacob appeals to practice, here, as he says that all the world worships Christ and therefore all the world should confess that He is God.

[108] Or, “He accepted everything He could on the path of Death.”

[109] “Great power” may also be a title for Christ – “the Great Power is on the Cross.”

[110] ܘܫܡܥܝܢ ܨܥܪܗ ܘܠܐ ܡܬܬܩܠܝܢ ܚܝ̈ܠܘܬܐ܆ ܕܥܡܡ̈ܐ ܕܐܪܥܐ ܡܐ ܕܣܓܕܝܢ ܠܗ ܥܠ ܕܐܠܗܐ  ܗ̱ܘ܀

[111] Lit. “and bent is the back of the inhabitants of the earth, and of its judges.”

[112] “Companion of calves” indicates the Israelites’ worship of the golden calf in Exodus.

[113] Lit. “To worship before Him, he is not ashamed when he worships Him, / but to say that He is God he is ashamed – the fool who has gone astray.”

[114] ܐܶܢܳܐ ܡܶܡܬܽܘܡ ܟܽܠ ܕܰܐܠܳܗܰܐ ܗ̱ܘ ܝܳܕܰܥ ܐ̱ܢܳܐ ܠܶܗ

[115] “Greeks” i.e., philosophers.

[116] “what is there between me and the wise”: ܘܡܳܐ ܕܚܰܟܺܝ̈ܡܶܐ ܡܙܺܝܥܺܝܢ ܫܰܪܒܶܗ ܠܳܐ ܩܳܪܶܒ ܐ̱ܢܳܐ܆ ܠܺܝ ܓܶܝܪ ܡܳܐ ܠܺܝ ܕܗܶܕܝܽܘܛܳܐ ܐ̱ܢܳܐ ܘܰܠܚܰܟܺܝ̈ܡܶܐ܀

I am translating this in the style of, for example, John 2:4:

ܐܳܡܰܪ ܠܳܗ̇ ܝܶܫܽܘܥ ܡܳܐ ܠܺܝ ܘܠܶܟܝ ܐܰܢܬܬܳܐ ܠܳܐ ܥܕܰܟܺܝܠ ܐܶܬܳܬ ܫܳܥܰܬܝ

[117] Genesis 11:1-9.

[118] Lit. “by Whose hand the flood is measured!” See Isaiah 40:12.

[119] John 10:15.

[120] “speech”: ܡܐܡܪܗ

[121] The syntax of the second line of the couplet is difficult for me to understand and I am not sure if I am translating it correctly.

ܡܰܢ ܡܰܡܪܰܚ ܓܶܝܪ ܕܰܠܙܰܠܺܝܩ̈ܶܐ ܕܫܶܡܫܳܐ ܢܶܦܟܽܘܪ܆ ܕܠܳܐ ܠܶܗ ܠܫܶܡܫܳܐ ܒܳܥܶܐ ܕܰܢܨܽܘܕ ܐܶܠܽܘ ܡܶܫܟܰܚ܀

[122] ܢܗܰܪ ܒܶܗ ܘܰܫܠܺܝ ܠܰܘ ܬܶܠܒܽܘܟܳܝܗܝ ܡܶܫܬܰܥܒܰܕ ܠܳܟ

[123] The line is particularly beautiful in Syriac, where Jacob uses the same first-person plural suffix several times:

ܒܰܪ ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ ܐ̱ܬܳܐ ܡܶܢ ܐܰܬܪܶܗ ܪܳܡܳܐ ܕܰܐܒܽܘܗܝ܆ ܕܢܶܗܘܶܐ ܠܘܳܬܰܢ ܥܰܡܰܢ ܒܰܐܬܪܰܢ ܡܶܛܽܠܳܬܰܢ܀

[124] “their tiers”: ܡܶܕܝܳܪ̈ܰܝܗܽܘܢ. This word usually has the sense of “high dwellings” or “levels/stories” of a building.

[125] Lit. “hold to the path, fluctuating of times, to transition.”

ܠܒܺܝܟܺܝܢ ܐܽܘܪܚܳܐ ܫܓܺܝܫܰܬ ܙܰܒ̈ܢܶܐ ܠܰܡܫܰܢܳܝܽܘ

[126] Lit. “when you cannot reach?”

[127] Acts 9:3.

[128] Ezekiel 43:2-3.

[129] Ezekiel’s vision of the divine chariot, found in Ezekiel 1.

[130] Or “living spirit.” Ezekiel 1:20.

[131] Ezekiel 1:26.

[132] Isaiah 6:2-3.

[133] Lit. “and the song of Holy might cease from him, on which he meditates.”

[134] Lit. “no empty word is spoken by their mouths.”

[135] Philippians 2:7.

[136] “contention”: ܬܐܓܪܐ. This word is hard to translate; the dictionaries give its meaning as “dispute” or “contest.”

[137] Genesis 3:15.

[138] Lit. “he had been expelled from so as not to enter it.”

[139] Lit. “He healed for Eve her wounds…”

[140] Lit. “The image of His Father which had fallen and been lost in the depth, / He sought it and took it out of the ruin in which it wore away.”

[141] The line, as it reads in Bedjan, makes little sense: “for the common debt was renewed (ܐܬܚܕܬ ܗܘܐ) through this Child.” Not only is the meaning seemingly contradictory here, the form of the verb (masculine) does not agree with the feminine “debt.” I have translated the verb as “was repaid” (ܐܬܦܪܥܬ) since this is the verb Jacob usually uses in reference to Christ’s action toward the “common debt” ( ܚܘܒܬ ܓܘܐ).

ܕܚܘܒܬ ܓܘܐ ܒܗܢܐ ܥܘܠܐ ܐܬܚܕܬ ܗܘܐ܀

[142] Luke 1:41-44.

[143] Matthew 2:1-11.

[144] Lit. “His path is incomprehensible by the learned.”

[145] Ephesians 4:10.

[146] A pun on the root ܦܫܛ, which can mean both “to be simple” and “to stretch out”: ܦܫܺܝ̈ܛܶܐ ܦܰܛܽܘܗ̇ ܠܽܐܘܪܚܳܐ ܕܚܰܝ̈ܶܐ ܠܥܳܠܡܳܐ ܟܽܠܶܗ܀

[147] ܕܒܳܨܶܐ ܢܳܦܶܠ ܘܰܐܝܢܳܐ ܕܰܫܦܶܐ ܫܰܦܝܳܐ ܗ̱ܝ ܐܽܘܪܚܶܗ

[148] Lit. “Faith is not comprehended (or: is incomprehensible) by investigators.”