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I 52
THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS
BY
THOMAS, BISHOP OF MARGA
1 IT~T L^ii *e ^- ' ""*■ ™ -- " "- ~ ~ . , ' m^f
J ^ir>w*^; ^ , n 'yv.s.^y.M^^ ^ J^. 8 5^7
THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS:
THE HISTORIA MONASTICA OF THOMAS
BISHOP OF MARGA A. D. 840
EDITED FROM SYRIAC MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BRITISH
MUSEUM AND OTHER LIBRARIES
BY
E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, Lnr. D., F. S. A.,
FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND TYRWHITT SCHOLAR,
ACTING ASSISTANT-KEEPER IN THE DEPARTMENT OF EGYPTIAN
AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM.
VOL. II.
THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION.
LONDON:
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & Co., Ltd.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD.
1893.
THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS
OR,
THE EXCELLENT HISTORIES AND STORIES CONCERNING THE
HOLY MEN AND MONKS WHO LIVED, GENERATION AFTER
GENERATION, IN THE HOLY MONASTERY OF BETH
ABHE, WHICH WERE COMPOSED BY THE
PIOUS MAR THOMAS, BISHOP OF MARGA.
C A
a
[P. 3.] By the might of our Lord Jesus Christ we begin
to write the excellent histories and stories concerning
the holy men and monks who lived, generation after
generation, in the holy monastery of Beth' Abhe/ which
were composed by the pious Mar Thomas,' Bishop of
Marga.
First, we write the headings and contents of the
Books in which all the histories are set forth.
* The geographical positions of the countries, towns, etc., will
be described in the notes to the chapters in which they occur.
* Thomas of Marga was the son of one Jacob of Beth
Shirwanaye, or Beth Sharonaye, in the district of Salakh; cf.
.;^bSx fi^dds ^eood ;io7 ^2i«A (Bk. ii. cap. 32, text, p. 109) and in 217
A. H. «= 832 A. D., the year in which Sabhr-Isho' II. became
Patriarch, he entered the Monastery of Beth 'Abhe, being at the
time a young man. (^Js^ ^laa \ku%ti ;xoj ^o^ <s1m ;Av ^1 >a
;'\^ ;«^^^^'*^ ;ajb3axo Bk. ii. cap. 40, text, p. 125). In A. H..
222 = 837 A. D. he acted as secretary to the Patriarch Abraham,
who sat from 837 to 850, by whom he was promoted to be
Bishop of Marga, and afterwards Metropolitan of Beth Garmai.
His brother Theodosius was ordained Bishop of al-Anbar,
Thomas being present at the ceremony, and subsequently became
Metropolitan of Gunde-Shdbhor as Catholicus in 852. See Wright,
Syriac Literature, p. 848; Assemani, B, 0,, ii. 435; iii. i,
pp. 204, 488, 505 ff. and 5 10; Hoffmann, Ausziige, pp. 244—245.
The 'Book of Governors', of which a translation is given in the
following pages, was written at the re(iuest of 'Abhd-IshcV, a
monk, who had for many years urged him to commit to writing
THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
THE CHAPTERS OR SECTIONS OF THE FIRST BOOK.
I. The Apology of the Author to him who asked
him to set down' [these] Histories in writing.
II. The reason why the Histories [were written].
III. The Introduction to the History.
IV. Of Mir Abhraham the head of the convent in
Mount fzla.
V. Of Mar Dadh-lsho .
VI. [p. 4] Of our Rabban Mar Yakobh (Jacob) of
Beth 'Abhe.
VII. Of the blessed Mar Babhai, the Great.
VIII. Of the corrupt men who sprang up in that holy
monastery.
IX. Of the holy Rabban Mar Eliya.
A
X. Of the things which the blessed Mar Eliya did
at break of day.
XL Of the things which Mar Babhai and all the
fathers did.
XII. Of the unlawful accusation with which the holy
Mar Jacob of Beth ^ Abhe was accused, and of the
judgment, remote from justice, with which he was
judged.
XIII. Of the things which took place in that monastery
after the departure of Mar Jacob.
the histories of the most famous of the monks of Beth 'Abhe.
In B, 0,t ii, pp. 490 — 497, No. XIII, Assemani gave a list of
the heads of the chapters, and in B. 0,, iii. i, pp. 464—501
he gave a tolerably full analysis of this work, with a few extracts.
A full description of the plan and scope of his ^Historia Mon-
astica' is given in the introduction to the present work.
* Here ^^^^ i^^ jtajLy = ;f ojafi^a^ in the heading as given
on p. 15 (text).
LIST OF CHAPTERS.
XIV. Of the dispersion of the holy fathers into all
countries, which although it might be thought to
have been wrought by means of human passion,
was, nevertheless, the Will and act of God.
XV. Of Rabban Bar Hadh-bhe-shabba, and of the
monastery which he built.
XVI. Of those men who were driven forth [from the
Great Monastery]', where they went [and dwelt]',
and how they pleased God.
XVII. Of the coming to them of the holy Abba Yawnan
(Jonah) the ascetic, from the Great Monastery.
XVIII. Of Shelemon (Solomon) bar-Garaph, the solitary,
from the Monastery of Bar-Tura, and of the
histories which he wrote.
XIX. Of the blessed Marihabh, and of the virgin nun
and recluse.
XX. Of Mar Jacob of Beth ^Abhe.
XXI. Of the coming of Mar Jacob from the desert to
the Great Monastery.
XXII. [p. 5] Of his departure from thence to the
monastery and laura* of Beth 'Abhc.
XXIII. Of king Khesro (Chosroes), the son ofHormizd.
XXIV. Of the honourable Bastohmagh, the father of
the holy Mar Isho'-yahbh [the Catholicus].
XXV. Of Grighor (Gregory) of Tell Besme, and of the
office of Catholicus which he received.
XXVI. Of the cessation of the Church after the depart-
ure of Mar Sabhr-lsho the Catholicus.
* Supplied from p. 39 (text).
^ ^ N«3? ^^ rendered by Assemani 'coUis Beth-Abe*, but
more correctly 'monastery of Beth-Abe' by Hoffmann {Attsciigr,
p. 171) and Payne Smith {77ics., col. 2920).
THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
XXVII. ()( Mar Bibhai the Great, and of the ecclesi-
astical visitation which he undertook.
XXVIIL The apology of the author to him who would
ask a question.'
XXIX. Of the coming of Mar Babhai to the monastery
of Beth ' Abhe, and of the wonder which was
wrought before him in the temple.
XXX. Of those tried men who became disciples of ^
Rabban Jacob in this monastery.
XXXI. Of Abbi Yohannan (John), the Elder.
XXXII. Of Rabban Yawseph (Joseph) of Beth Koka,
and of Abraham his brother.
XXXIII. Of Rabban Sargis (Sergius) who was surnamed
"Destroyer of the Mighty".
XXXIV. Of Sahdona, and of the works which he com-
posed.
XXXV. Of the murder of King Khusrau.
[P. 6] THE CHAPTERS OF THE SECOND BOOK.
I. The Beginning of the Book.
II. Of Rabban Jacob of [Nuhadhra, the head of]
Beth Rabban Isho'-yahbh.
III. Of Rabban Aphni-Maran.
IV. Of the departure of Mar Isho -yahbh the Catho-
Hcus, of Gedhala, and of the Bishops who were
with him to Beth-Rhomaye.
V. Of the casket of the bones of the Apostles
which Mar Isho^-yahbh brought with him from
Antioch, and placed in this monastery.
VI. Of how Sahdona foolishly turned aside from
the orthodox faith.
' Vat. reads v^2x>. ' Read -.oyofL^.
LIST OF CHAPTERS.
VII. Of Mar Isho'-yahbh the Catholicus. and of how
he wished to establish a school in this monastery.
VIII. Of Rabban Kam-fsho' and [of how] he elected
to oppose Mar Isho^-yahbh.
IX. Of the departure of Rabban Kam-fsho^ and the
brethren who were with him, from [this] monastery
to Herpa, a village of Saphsapha.
X. Of the vision which Mar Isho^-yahbh saw on the
night in which the brethren took Rabban [Jacob]
and departed.
XI. Of Rabban "^ Anan-fsho', the teacher and ascetic,
and compiler of the "Book of Paradise".
XII. Of the blessed Mar Ghiwargis (George) the
Catholicus.
XIII. Of the humility and meekness of George the
Catholicus, and of George the Metropolitan of
the city of Nesibhin (Nisibis).
XIV. [p. 7] Of another George, the Metropolitan of
Perath-dhe-Maishan , who was also angry and
wished to lift up the heel against Mar Catholicus.
XV. Of the compilation of the "Book of Paradise".
XVI. Of the death of the holy Mar George the Catho-
licus.
XVII. Of Rabban Sabhr-Ish6\ who was surnamed Rostam.
XVIII. Of Rabban Ghabhnl (Gabriel), the head of the
monastery, who was surnamed Tawerta (the Cow).
XIX. Of Rabban Mar Abraham' the head of the
monastery of Rabban Zekha Isho'.
XX. Of the other heads who lived in this monastery.
XXI. Of Abba Shem'on (Simon) who was surnamed
Sanota (the Beardless).
For ^d|fa?2 read "p^^i.
8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
XXII. Of the going down of Simon to .George
the Catholicus, and of the barrenness which
he made to flower in the city of Hadhatta.
XXIII. Of Mar John of Dailom.
XXIV. Of the famine which took place in their
days in this country, and of the departure of
John and his master to Nirebha of Beth-Gazza.
XXV. Of how Rabban John was taken captive by
the barbarians.
XXVI. Of Rabban Joseph, the head of the monastery
of Beth 'Abhe.
XXVII. Of SeHbha Zekha, the Catholicus, and of his
coming to this monastery.
XXVIII. Of the departure of Rabban Joseph to the
monastery of Rabban Bar- Idta.
XXIX. Of Ayas of Shaibna who wished to slay
Rabban Joseph, and of the flight of Rabban
from^ before him.
XXX. Of Rabban Mar John the Metropolitan Bishop
of Hedhayabh (Adiabene).
XXXI. Of Mar Dindowai Bishop of Maalltha.
XXXII. Of Mar Isho^- Zekha, Armayd, Bishop of
Selakh (or Salakh).
XXXIII. [p. 8] Of Gabriel the Metropolitan Bishop
of Karkha-dhe-Beth-Selakh, who was called
Rakoda (the Dancer), and of the discourse
which he made.
XXXIV. Of the blessed Mar Aha, head of this monastery
of Beth- Abhe, and Metropolitan of Arbela.
\ XXXV. Of the election of the holy Mar Aha to the
headship of this monastery.
— — >
' Vat. reads ^p.
LIST OF CHAPTERS.
XXXVI. Of the election of Mar Aha to be Metropolitan
of Hedhayabh (Adiabene).
XXXVII. Of kabbanMarlsho-yahbh, the head of the
monastery.
XXXVIII. Of the miracle which the blessed Mar Ahi
wrought.
XXXIX. Of the revelation and indication of that*
which should happen to Mar Aha, and of how *
he should end his days, and where he should
be buried.
XL. Of Abba Hananya who ate vegetables, and
pastured with animals, and who lived in this
monastery in the time of the holy Mar Aha.
XLI. Of Mar Maran-zekha, Bishop of Hadhatt^,
and of the Bishop who pastured camels,
whom he found.
XLII. Of Mar Sargis (Sergius) Bishop of Heniitha.
XLIII. Of Hoghir the believing nobleman, and of
the monastery which he built.
XLIV. Of the departure of the blessed Mar Aha
from [this] temporary life.
THE CHAPTERS OF THE THIRD BOOK.
The Apology of the author to the believing and
honourable Hasan.
I. Of the blessed Rabban B&bhai, the much
enlightened teacher.
II. Of the schools which Rabban Babhai founded,
and their names.
III. Of the books which Rabban Babhai wrote,
and of the end of his life.
' Read ^p. * Vat. reads ^2>o.
lO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
I. [p. 9] The history of Mar Maran-'ammeh the Metro-
politan Bishop of Selakh. The Apology of the author.
II. Of the origin of Mar Maran-^ammeh, [and of how
and by whom he was instructed in divine things.]
III. Of the Episcopate of the land of Selakh which
Mar Maran-'ammeh received, and of the miracles
which took place there by his hands.
IV. In which is set forth how Mar Maran-'ammeh was
consecrated Metropolitan Bishop of Arbela/ and
of the first wonder which he wrought in the
country.
V. Of those provinces belonging to the episcopal
thrones of the diocese which Mar Maran-'ammeh
took over to the dominion of the throne of
Hedhayabh (Adiabene), and of those which he
gave in their place.
VI. Of the revelation which Mar Maran- ammeh receiv-
ed in a vision of the angel of the Lord, to destroy
with his hands the seed that worked evil, and
the corrupt children who were in the country of
Marga.
VII. Of how the blessed man left his episcopal home
and fled, and of the angelic agency which prevented
his flight.
VIII. Of the departure of the blessed Mar Maran-
^ammeh to the country of Margi, and of the signs
and wonders which took place by his hands.
IX. Of the drought and famine which took place in
the days of the holy Mar Maran- ammeh, and of
the sign which he shewed by his rod.
' The heading of the chapter on p. 153 (text) has ^doOA^i
LIST OF CHAPTERS. I I
X. Of the sickness which smote the holy man, and
of his departure from this life of time to that
of eternity.
XL A discourse upon Mar Maran-'ammeh.
[P. lo] THE CHAPTERS OF THE FOURTH BOOK.
I. The Introduction to the Book.
II. Of the blessed Rabban Isho^-yahbh, the head of
the monastery, whence he came, of what parents
he was born, and of how he was brought up.
III. Of Mar Timothy, Bishop of Beth Beghash, and
of the prophecy which was made concerning
him by one of the old men who lived in this
monastery.
IV. Of how Timothy artfully contrived to obtain
possession of the Patriarchate, after the manner
of Jacob who by craft obtained the blessings of
Isaac his father.
V. Of Rostam Bishop of Henaitha.
VI. Of the going up of our Mar Isho'-yahbh to
Hedhayabh (Adiabene).
VII, Of the swift judgment which overtook Rostam,
and of how those who were with him were put
to shame and disgraced.
VIII. Of the repentance of the people of Adiabene,
and of the humble entreaty which they offered
to Mar Isho'-yahbh to enter into his episcopal seat.
IX. Of how Mar Isho'-yahbh was moved to pull down
the clay temple which had been built by Isho'-
yahbh the Catholicus, and to build another of
lime in its stead, and of how the monks who
lived in his days counselled him not to do so
on account of the difficulty of the work.
12 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
X. Of how God, the Lord of all, stirred up men
to put forth their hands against this great work.
XL Of the Satanic vision which Abba Isho^-dadh,
one of the old men of this congregation saw,
and of the money which he found.
XII. [p. ii] Of another treasure which Christ our
Lord gave him.
XIIL Of the miracle which our Lord wrought by the
hands of Mar Isho - yahbh.
XIV. Of the finish and completion of the temple,
and of the death of Isho^- yahbh.
XV. The history of Rabban Kuryakos (Cyriacus) of
Gebhilta, the head" of the monastery of Beth
*Abhe, and Bishop of the city of Baladh.
XVI. Of the origin of the blessed Cyriacus, and of
his coming to this monastery of Beth 'Abhe.
XVII. Of the call of Abba Cyriacus to the headship
of the monastery.
XVIII. Of the first miracle which Christ wrought by
his hands.
XIX. Of how that man came to this monastery, and
of how he rewarded it with a noble recom-
pense as was meet, and of the rest of his signs.
XX. Of the revelations which that holy man received
when he was with the whole congregation in
the refectory.
XXI. Of the coming in of ^Amran bar-Muhammad
to this country of Marga, and of how having
seized many villages and slain their owners,
he also wished to kill the holy [Cyriacus] and
to inherit this monastery.
" Read jt&p (?)
LIST OF CHAPTERS. I 3
XXII. Of how after these things 'Amran sent five
men to slay Rabban Cyriacus, and of the terrible
vision which appeared to them,
XXIII. Of another revelation which he received of
how he needs must be made a Bishop.
XXIV. Of the coming of the inhabitants of Baladh
(Baladhaye) to this monastery for the blessed
man.
XXV. [p. 12] Of the miracle which the blessed Mar
Cyriacus wrought in Baladh, and of the end
of his life.
THE CHAPTERS OF THE FIFTH BOOK.
I. The Beginning of the Book.
IL Of the origin of the blessed ShubbhaF Isho',
and of his coming to this monastery.
III. Of the punishment which this monastery justly
received for the persecution of the holyShubhhar
Isho'.
IV. Of the consecration ' of the blessed man Shubhhar
lsh6\ Metropolitan of Gilan and Dailom.
V. Of the murder of Shubbhal' Isho, and of the
glorious testimony of his coronation.
VI. Of Mar Yahbh-AUaha and of Kardagh his
brother.
VIL Of the selection of the holy men who were
sent to those countries.
VIII. Of Mar Elijah, Bishop of Mokan, and of the
countries of the Barbarians.
IX. Of the sublime kinds of prayer with which he
enriched his soul.
' Literally, "Of the laying on of hands which he received".
14 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
X. Of the election of Mar Elijah to the Bishopric
of Mokan.
XL Of the entrance of the pious Mar Elijah into
Mokan, of his preaching therein, of his return
to this monastery, and of the end of his life.
XII. The history of the holy man Mar Narsai, Bishop
of Shenna.
XIII. [p. 1 3] Of the origin of Mar Narsai, and of his
coming to this monastery.
XIV. Of the election of the holy Mar Narsai to be
Bishop of Kardaliabhadh, which is Shenna.
XV. Of the spiritual contemplation and intellectual
pleasure" in the three [kinds of] spiritual
speculations, on the corporeal, on the incorporeal,
and on the Holy Trinity, in which the holy man
Mar Narsai was trained and instructed.
XVI. Of the things which were wrought by the holy
Mar Narsai, some by spiritual vision, and some by
the working of miracles, and of the end of his life.
XVII. Of Abba Joseph.
THE CHAPTERS OF THE SIXTH BOOK.
First, The History of Rabban Kuperyanos (Cyprianus).
I. The cause of the History.
11. Of the origin of Rabban Cyprian, of his training
in the school, and of his journey to Jerusalem.
III. Of his leaving the wilderness and going to the
island of Yawan (Greece).
IV. Of the coming of Rabban Cyprianus to this
country [of Marga], and of how he revealed and
made himself known in this place.
Reading jAooao, as on page 304 (text); 1. 12.
LIST OF CHAPTERS. 1 5
V. Of the building of this monastery by the hands
of the blessed [Cyprian].
VI. Of the wonders which Saint Cyprian wrought'
VII. [p. 14] Of the end of the course of the blessed
man, and of his exhortation to his children in
the hour of his death.
THE HISTORY OF RABBAN GABRIEL.
VIII. The Apology.
IX. Of the origin of Rabban Gabhriel (Gabriel), and
of Pawlos (Paul) his brother.
X. Of the instruction of Paul and Gabriel in the
convent of Rabban Cyprian.
XI. Of the departure of Rabban Gabriel to lead the
life of an anchorite in the country of Kardo,
and of how he came back again to this country.
XII. Of the blessed Mar Yohannan (John), and of
the congregation in the holy monastery of Nerabh
Barzai.
XIII. Of the coming of Rabban Gabriel to the mon-
astery of Nerabh Barzai, of the headship [of
the monastery] which he received, and of the
death of Rabban Paul his brother.
XIV. Of the headship of the Monastery of Mar
Cyprian which Rabban Gabriel received, and
of his care for everything which had been
established.
XV. Of the ascetics and holy men who were found
in various places in the days of Rabban
Gabriel.
* Vat., Which Christ wrought by the hands of the holy man.
1 6 THOMAS OF MAKGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
XVI. Of the revelations concerning future things which
the holy man Mar Gabriel received from God.
XVII. Of the wonders and mighty deeds which were
wrought by the hands of Rabban Gabriel.
XVIII. Of the lamentable death of Rabban Gabriel, and
of his departure to the world of joy.
Here end the headings and contents of the
Histories.
[R 15] BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
THE AUTIIOr['s APOLOGy]' TO HIM WHO ASKED HIM TO
SET [the histories] DOWN IN WRITING.*
In accordance with the causes which summoned us
to converse with each other from time to time, and the
histories of the holy men, praises of whom were stirred
up in us, and the glorious stories and rehearsings of
whose histories I was shewing forth before thee, O our
brother 'Abhd-lsh6\ thy mind was filled with truth, and
thy tongue with the praise of the power Who made
them victorious, and Who moved His saints. And thy
wisdom offered to me earnest supplications, and helpful
persuasions and directions, to set down [my] stories of
holy men in writing, in order that their unwritten histories
might neither be forgotten nor sink into oblivion. And
[thou didst ask] me to give to thee written accounts
of them as a rich inheritance, and as an excellent loan,
that thy holiness might meditate upon them, and that
thy divine understanding might be sanctified thereby.
And although for some years past this wish hath never
been absent from thee, and thou wast diligently urging
me to do [this], sometimes with the living voice, and
< Literally 'the writing'. Here ;&m?K^ = Z&sKa^p ^loka jt4».
' This apology has been published from the Vatican MS.
with a Latin translation by Assemani B, O.y iii. i, pp. 464—466.
1 8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS,
- - — - ■ - —
sometimes by many-lined epistles which thou wast send-
ing to me to the place where I was, in times p^st
I did not yield" to this thy entreaty. But at one time
I took refuge in the inexperience of my speech, and
at another [in the excuse] that there was no necessity*
for these histories [to be written], inasmuch as the
Catholic Church aboundeth in histories of holy men, even
as gardens are filled to overflowing with all kinds of
fruits, — for what are these ^ feeble repetitions of mine in
comparison with [other] books which speak of holy
men? — Yet thy desire was not diminished, nor thy
ardour quenched, for by the intercession of others with
thy praiseworthy self,^ thou didst specially [p. i6] and
promptly come^ to the monastery in which I lived, together
with the sage and philosopher, the wise, and enlightened,
and excellent Rabban Paul, [who] very willingly^ joined
with thee on his own behalf in this exhortation. Thou
hast softened the clay of my understanding with the
gentle water of thy persuasion, and therefore since
I attribute all this thy earnestness to the Divine Will
I accept thy love's command with all willingness. And
behold, by the help of our Lord, I will make ready
to satisfy this thy desire with all the joyful care of
which thy honour is worthy, and I will expand my
speech to praise and glorify the ascetics and holy men
' Read £st»&M. * ;f^i for ;ir^!:^l
3 We should read here ^'on :^o7 .o&i ;a»o.
^ Reading, with Vat ^^ai^^a^.
5 Literally "ye did come". Assemani has sed intercessores
quaesivisti, tuque ipse vir laudatissime unacum illus ad monaste-
rium, ubi degebam, utrique comparati meditatique venistis, maxime
vero doctissimus Paulus. ^ N*;^LoA»y a rare word.
BOOK I. CHAPTER II. THE PROLOGUE. 1 9
who have lived in thy holy Monastery of Beth ' Abhe ;
for to write down the things concerning them thou hast
persuaded* me enough. And although I shall turn aside
from [the writings] of others, yet wherever it is neces-
sary, I shall add the record and narrative of others,
in order to piece together and to harmonize the
histories, — which in this respect require methodical
arrangement, and consecutiveness* of completing por-
tions,— and also such repetitions as shew forth the style
and manner of the lives of the holy men concerning
whom thy holiness hath persuaded me to speak. Pray
then, with love, and readiness of mind, and good will,
and charity, that our Lord, in His grace, may grant a
completion to the praise of His Godhead!
CHAPTER n.
THE CAUSE OF THE HISTORIES.
When I directed^ my thoughts to travel along the
difficult path of the strict way of life of holy men, and to
bring to light the things concerning them with my mouth,
and my tongue, [p. 1 7] and my right hand, by the hand
of Christ, and by my beloved brethren, and also by
His living word which saith, "All things, whatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive",^ and,
"All things are possible to him that believeth",^ I was
commanded to make Christ my leader and director.
' MA&A*d2 for ^4^A^2.
' ;^fi^oo2 is glossed in A by ;idA» 2&aJ& 'consecutive order*.
3 N^/k for fisJs^^. ^ St. Matthew xxi. 22.
^ St. Mark ix. 23.
20 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And since His treasury is open to faith, "Ask, and ye
shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you,"" I will become a stranger unto
all doubt, and I will believe that His graciousness will
not repulse me, and that He will not shut the door of
His gift in my face, and that He will shew forth in
my ignorance a free and full gift beyond my merit' —
even^ as in times past His all-sufficient power made
manifest speech in the she-ass of the soothsayer,* out
of the course of her nature,^ — and that through me He
will display the glory of His saints, in the one case by
His working, in the other by the praise of His majesty,
for the glorification of excellent men is the glorification
of God Who made them victorious. For without Him
they are nothing, and are even like unto the tools^ of
a craft without the craftsman, and without Him they
are incapable^ of anything, and are like unto the clay
which® can neither contend with him that mouldeth it, nor
can of its own self choose^ that it may be fashioned
according to its own will.
" St. Matthew vii. 7. ^ ^a*o^ for ^no^ox.
3 Hoffmann prefers the reading ojA&ii>.
4 /. e,, Balaam, jai^, (Numbers xxii. 28), the son of Beor,
who is described as a "Priest of idols" rsafisfli v^^ex from Harran
in Mesopotamia. See Duval, Lex. Syr. auctore Bar Bahliiley col.
401, and Payne Smith, Thesaurus^ col. 540. Zoroaster was called
the "second Balaam" because he prophesied concerning the stars;
see Budge, Book of the Bee, p. 82.
5 Literally 'above her nature'.
^ We must read ^kX^Soi ^2, striking out ;i^a. B reads, "the
instruments of the craft of the craftsman".
^ ^0^4^ 05 ^? = ^^lUistX oSa. Read ;^o>
9 ;^o for ;Ia^o. Hoffmann prefers the reading ^o/.
BOOK I. CHAPTER II. THE PROLOGUE. 21
Now, I am commanded' by the holy brethren
of the holy Monastery of Beth 'Abhe,* in which
I have ministered for many years, that of the written
and unwritten histories, and excellent stories of the
holy men who have lived therein, and have been
victorious, I should spin a thread of the stories
concerning them, formed of the matters omitted by
the compilers of written and unwritten histories, and
of a small selection of stories which I have heard from
approved and venerable men, with whom I have become
acquainted there, and that I should set forth in writing,
with much brevity, such accounts as I should find
scattered here and [p. i8] there in the narratives of
others, and in the ecclesiastical histories of ancient authors.
And since in the stories which are my own I do not
repeat untrue things, I shew forth the trustworthiness^
of theirs. And behold I will go into the gardens of
* An extract from this chapter (p. 17. 1. 15 — p. 16 1. 2) has
been printed with' a Latin translation in B, 0., iii. i. 466. col. 2.
^ The famous Monastery of Beth Abhe was situated near
the town of Beth 'Abhe (probably the Bithaba of Ptolemy vi. i)
under Mount Niphates, {B. 0., ii, p. 420, note 2) to the south
of Herpa in Saphsapha, on a mountain, not far from the right
bank of the Great Zab; it was founded by Bar-Hadh-be-shabba,
and was afterwards greatly enlarged and became famous under
Jacob of Beth 'Abhe (B. 0., iii. 2, pp. 730 and 876). It was
one of the monasteries exempted from the jurisdiction of the
bishop by Ish6'-yahbh of Gcdhala &^ ^?\ ;ei^o^« ae^ .^oau
^ fiv»a9 aotiA^ y^^p .... 3^0^ (Mai, Scriptortapt veterum nova
collection t. X. Rome 1838, p. 296, col. i, at the foot), and was called
by the Nestorians who wrote in Arabic bU b {B. (?., ii, p. 420
note 2) or ^^U b (Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 226, note 1798).
Beth *Abhe means ''the house in the forest"; in I Kings vii. 2
and Isaiah xxii. 8 it is the rendering of "Ig; T^% and "IJ^n'r^^S.
J Read ^fi^'i*.
2 2 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
their victorious deeds as into a field, and, as it were,
1 will glean and gather up together the choice and
well-filled ears of corn, and I will pile up into one sheaf
the heap of their bundles, that from thence they may
go into the threshing-floors of hearing, and be ground
in the mill of discernment, and be kneaded in the
kneading-trough of belief, and be baked in the oven of
love, and laid as a glorious offering upon the altar of
the mind' of the Holy of Holies. For it is said, "The
mind which joumeyeth to and fro in its state of nature
is able to perceive, and to see, and to believe the
glorious things of glorious men, and the accounts of
the contests of mighty warriors, at the same time
adding to its knowledge belief, even as spake he that
saith, "and to belief also, confidence; and to confidence,
excellence; and to excellence, righteousness; and to
righteousness also, holiness; and to holiness also, con-
stancy; and to constancy, hope; ^nd to hope, stability;
and to stability, strength; and to strength, love;' which
is the crown of the completion of the excellent things,
in which standeth our profession, and upon which is
laid the foundation of our doctrine." And all things
which have been, and which are, and which shall be,
inasmuch a we have not been spectators^ of them, we
' Read ^loo/p ;mi>io»
* "In the law is bound up faith, and in faith is true love
established". Wright, Aphraates, p. a^ 11. I2. 13. "A man
should first build his building upon the rock, which is Christ,
on the rock faith should be laid, and upon faith should the
whole building rise up." Wright, AphraateSy p. »« 11. 15, 16.
^ "To speak briefly, every thing is of the Spirit, and
llie whole world of spiritual things is seen and perceived by
faith. For if we do not take faith in our souls, we shall be
BOOK L CHAPTER II. THE PROLOGUE. 23
must accept the saying concerning them in faith, for
without it no single one of the things which are related,
without seeing could we accept.
Now those who only in a small degree have them-
selves laboured in the virtues of holy men, and have
participated in the smallest degree in the great joy
which is bestowed upon prosperous toilers in the ascetic
life and upon discreet penitents, [p. 19] possess from within
a firm conviction concerning these things which is not
an external matter produced by misery and rumour,
inasmuch as experience has taught them that these
things which are stated are true.
Let the reader, then, perceive clearly, and let the
listener understand, that the things concerning holy
men which my narrative recounts are not vain imagin-
ations of my own, for I have collected the materials
for them from the things which have been said concerning
them in the living speech, and from the written state-
ments which I have found concerning them in the
histories and traditions of others. And I shall finish
the contest which I have undertaken at the wish of
my brethren, and shall add according to the inclination of
my opinion, those things which are accepted by discreet
able to understand nothing that is not visible, while for the
things which are visible faith is unnecessary, for the sight of
the eye seeth them." ^.tbai^.*! -.TMrdi K'iuujki&a.i vyf^o
•:*.^cnl K^u» KllA^.1 Philoxenus on Faith (Brit. Mus. MS.
Add. 12,163, fol. 12 a, col. i).
24 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and prudent men, provided that they are not prejudicial
to the truth in any particular, not the wonderful signs
and miracles, and mighty deeds which these holy men
have wrought, but to speak as [each] occasion shall
require, and to add a word concerning each, one after
another, on the things which have been wrought by
them,* and to arrange all these things, one after an-
other, in one consecutive order, a matter which
belongeth to the care of writers, and which the order
of historical works requireth. I shall * not confound story
with story, or history with history, in such a manner
that the mind of the reader will become confused by
the mixture of matters, but I shall, with much brevity,
set down each narrative by, and to itself, that from^
here universal history may arise,'* and I shall add story
■ after story, in the form of chapters [each having] a
distinct number. I shall begin my history with Mar
Abraham the Great, the father of the fathers of the
holy men whom I have made ready my words to praise,
as the cause of the effects and as the origin of the
orders of ascetics which have sprung up after him,
even as the blessed Abraham is considered to be
the father of all nations, ^ and Israel the father of the
Israelites,^ and Aaron the father of the priests.^ And
I ask our Lord, through the prayers of Mar Abraham
and of the children of his holiness, [p. 20] and I beg
' We should read, with BC ^o»^«
* Lines 13 — 22 (text, p. 19) have been printed with a Latin
translation by Assemani, B. O., iii. i, p. 466. col. 2.
3 Read ;aae7 ^.
* Assemani *ut inde historiam universalem habeas*.
5 Genesis xvii. 5. ^ Genesis xlvi. 8.
^ Exodus xxviii. i.
BOOK I. CHAPTER III. THE INTRODUCTION. 25
and entreat Him to give me of His spirit, even as [He
gave] of the spirit of Moses to the elders of Israel,'
that I may hear and relate glorious things of Him;
that I may speak of the glorious things of Him in
His saints; that the hearing of the listeners may be
sanctified by the speech of my mouth; that His holy
name may be glorified by my polluted tongue; and that
by author and scribe, reader and listener, confessor and
believer, may be woven the rope of glorious things for
His holy name for ever and ever.
CHAPTER in.
THE INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY.
In the everlasting knowledge of the wise Creator,
the elect are set apart, and the predestined are written
down for the kingdom of heaven. And the types of
the Divine' government which were written by the
hand of Moses, testify that they indicated aforetime the
things which should happen and should be given at
the end, for the confirmation of the fore-knowledge of
the election of holiness ^ For every matter of Christ
our Lord was plainly brought about thereby, and in-
asmuch as it was given from heaven, it was inscribed
on a rock in the face of heaven, for there, on mount
Sinai, being overshadowed by a cloud for forty days,
Moses wrote down the histories of the worlds which
had been, and the commandments which had been given
* Numbers xi. 17, 25 — 29. ' Hoffmann would read i^aiHi.
3 Hoffmann would read $^^ ^^«^*a»> "prophecy of the holy
man (Moses)".
d
26 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to the seed of Abraham.' And there, by the glory
with which his face was clothed/ was it indicated that
virginity and holiness ^ should spread abroad in later
times and be exalted.
And that thou mayest know that such is the case,
follow after the footsteps of the life and conversation
of Christ, and thou shalt find that He expounded [p. 21]
and taught this plainly to His Apostles in taking them
up to Mount Tabhor (Tabor), where He was changed to
glory {i. e,y transfigured) in their sight. And He commanded
the earth and it brought up Moses, and He beckoned
to the heavens and they brought down Elijah,^ and
He shewed that the virginity and holiness which were
with Moses were counterparts of the virginity and
holiness which were with Shem^on (Simon) in the heights
of His kingdom. And He made virginity and holiness
perfect for them at the time of His Ascension from
the earthly Shalim (Salem) to Jerusalem, the great
city which is in heaven, when He lifted up His holy
hands and blessed them, and commanded them, saying,
**Go ye forth and teach all nations, and baptize them in
the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, and teach them to keep everything which I have
commanded you; and behold I am with you all the
days in which the world maintaineth the course of its
generations". ^
' Exodus xxiv. 18. * Exodus xxxiv. 35.
3 "Virginity and holiness" here mean the ascetic life.
'^ This sentence has reference to Deut. xxxiv. 6 and 2 Kings
ii. II, where it is stated that Moses was buried in the earth,
and that Elijah went up to heaven in a chariot of fire.
^ y^no^o^ ;bo^ >ae«4te ^<^?> takes the place of ^iol^a o^'osS ^^
of the Peshltta version of St. Matthew xxviii. 19,20.
BOOK I. CHAPTER III. THE INTRODUCTION. 2^
Virginity and holiness then descended from hand
to hand among all nations, but especially among the
pious armies of monks that exist in all quarters of the
earth. And inasmuch as virginity and holiness were
established in the mountains, and handed down from
them, — by Moses in Mount Sinai,* by Elijah in Mount
Carmel,^ by the blessed Elisha,^ by the sons of the
Prophets,* and by Saint John in the wilderness,^ by
those who were with Simon on Mount Tabor, ^ by the
Lord of the Prophets at the time of His fasting in the
wilderness,^ and also at the time of His going up into
the Mount of Olives,® — the ascetic fathers also went
forth into the wilderness and the mountains to preserve
the virginity and holiness which had been handed down
to them by the Apostles, and to do battle against
"principalities and powers, and with the evil spirits
which are under heaven".^ And that the Spirits and
Will of God, which completed in the one case and
maketh perfect in the other, is one, one of the saints
testifieth, and saith, [p. 22] "The power which I have
seen abiding in baptism, which giveth adoption as sons,
and freedom, to those who are baptized, I have also
seen in the dress of a brother on the day in which
he received the garb of the solitary life, and it sanctified
him for" his work."
* Exodus xxiv. 18. * i Kings xviii. 20. 21.
3 2 Kings ii. 15. * 2 Kings ii. 3.
5 St. Matthew iii. i. ^ St. Matthew xvii. i.
7 St. Matthew iv. 2. ® St Matthew xxiv. 3.
9 Epheslans vi. 12. Gr. irpoq rd nveu/aaTiKd tti^ novripJaq
iv Toi^ iiroupavioig.
'** Lines 10 — 18 (text p. 21) have been printed with a Latin
translation by Assemani, B, 0,, iii. i, p. 467, cols i and 2.
" Read ^ (?).
28 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And that the venerable army of monks may not
be despised in thine eyes by reason of the [superior]
manner of life of the Prophets and Apostles, enter, in
thy mind, into the garden of their noble deeds and
triumphs, and there, as thou readest, thou shalt be able
to understand the greatness and excellence of this pure
and venerable habit of life. There shalt thou see Abba
Piwle (Paul),* who for seventy years, more or less, was
ministered unto by a bird like Elijah the Great ;^ and
Abba Antonis (Antonius) with a company of devils
standing before him in perfect subjection; and Abba
Pambo, who like Moses ^ received the glory of the
image of Adam, and his face shone and became like
unto lightning, and he was like unto a king sitting
upon his throne; and Abba Silvanus;* and Abba
* See the Additional Notes at the end of this chapter.
* I Kings xvii. 6.
3 Exodus xxxiv. 29. ^o^ ^aja? ;ia»^ .o^md ^al \^ oooj ^Shoi
^2 ^or t*oroA^2 ^ajo .oM^doa t^ ^N*d ^'\\i9 ^l ^007 «*o7oXJo .^£0
«jb»^oib ^2 id^o ?*ArO* "They say concerning Abba Pambo
that, as Moses received the glory of the likeness of Adam, and
his face shone, so also was the face of Abba Pambo like
lightning, and that he was like a king sitting upon his throne.
Thus also were Abba Silvanus and Abba Sisoes". Paradise of
Palladius, fol. 279^, Sayings of the Fathers No. o&n.
* Probably Silvanus the comedian whose life is given in
Tillemont, Memoires, vii, pp. 88. 89. At the age of twenty he
became a monk in the Monastery of Pachomius the Great in the
Thebaid, and for some time led an ascetic life with all diligence
and care, but little by little he became careless and finally
began to sing improper songs and to dance before the brethren,
.j!^^ )^p iLx 6a«9 9k»u ^Aaooftci ^ijw^wop ^^*ax i^ ^oNo .Ofa^
BOOK I. CHAPTER III. THE INTRODUCTION. 29
Susais ' (Sisoes) ; and Abba Nastir * who [served] in the
monastery ; and Abba Arsanis^ (Arsenius) who was clothed
with heavenly light; and another* (?) [monk] whose cell
was light by night as by day. May we be sustained by
their prayers in the toilsome strife of their ascetic lives!
Pachomius (bom A. D. 292^ died about 348) rebuked him, and
threatened him with expulsion, but one Petronius interceded
for him with the angry abbot, and he was allowed to
remain. For eight years after this event he led a life of remark-
able piety y«ral» ..m&jo ho\i^ o^Ams ^ ^b^^a, and died having
acquired great renown for virtue. See Ac/a Sane forum. May 14;
and Rosweyde, Vt/ae Patrum, Antwerp, 1615, p. 128.
* A monk, a native of the Thebaid, who retired to the desert
of Scete after Antony's death. He employed his lime in weaving
baskets. He finally lived in the mountain of Clysma where
Antony died, and was there visited by Ammon, Abbot of Raithe.
He died about A. D. 429, aged 62 years. See Butler, Lives
of the Saints, July 4; Acta Sanctorum, July 6; Cotelerius,
Ecclesiae Graecae Monumenta^ t. i, pp. 662—678; Rosweyde, Vitae
Patrum, p. 508, col. 2.
2 Perhaps the abbot referred to in Payne Smith, Thesaurus^
col. 2403. Many of his sayings are extant in the /*<j?r<?£//>^ of Palladius.
3 Arsenius was born A. D. 354 and died about A. D. 449
— 50. He was recommended by the Bishop of Rome to be
tutor to Arcadius and Honorius, sons of Theodosius, about
A. D. 383; at the age of 40 he retired from this service and
went to Scete. He left Scete in 434, and lived for a time at
Troe near Memphis; shortly after he went to Canopus and lived
there until 444, when he returned to Troe where he ended his days.
See Cotelerius, Monumenta^ i- P- 353; Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum y
p. 506; Cave, Hist. Lit.^ vol. 11, p. 80 ; Butler, Lives of the
Saints, and Acta Sanctorum, July 19. For a work by him, see
Qomhtds^ Auctarium Novissitnum Bib, Pat.f Paris, 1672, p. 301.
* The word ^ia^^S is probably the corruption of a name.
^^boMu^p ^2 ;.\S^ ;oor ;^o ^or yj^o o7^AA9 ^A^ e^ ;oor Sayings
of the Fathers by Palladius No. fbN, fol. 279^.
30 THOMAS OF MARGi^, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
ADDITIONAL NOTES TO BOOK I. CHAP. III.
PAUL.
Abba Paul of Thebes, called by Jerome 'auctor vitae mo-
nasticae* is said to have retired to the Egyptian desert in the
Thebaid during the persecution of Decius and Valerian, A. D.
250, and to have made his dwelling-place in a cave at the
mouth of which were a palm tree and a spring of water. From
the age of 22, when he retired to the desert, until he was
43 years old he lived on the fruit of the palm tree, which
also supplied him with clothing; but afterwards, for the space
of 70 years, he was fed by a raven who brought him half a
loaf a day. Paul knew the Greek and Egyptian {i. ^., Coptic)
languages. By the command of God he was visited by Saint
Antony, who discovered his cell by the light which shone from
it; on the occasion of this visit the raven brought a whole
loaf each day. This visit took place A. D. 341 (Tillemont,
Menioires, viii. 34. col. 2, at the top). Antony borrowed a cloak
from Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in which to bury Paul
(who by this desired to show that he belonged to the communion
of Athanasius), and inherited his palm leaf tunic which he wore
on great occasions. Paul died about A. D. 342, aged 113 years,
and his grave is said to have been dug by two lions. On the
dates of the birth and death of Paul see Tillemont, Memoir eSy
vii. 308, and for the life of Paul see Butler, Lives of the Saints,
Jan. 15; Acta Sanctorum, Jan. lO; Jerome, Vit, St, Paidi] Ros-
weyde, Vitae Patrum, Antwerp, 161 5 fol. p. 17; and Tille-
mont, Memoir eSy vii. 55; and Verger, Vie de Saint Antoine,
Paris, 1890.
ANTONY.
Antony the Great was a native of the village of Coma,
which was situated near the town of Heracleopolis. He was
born about A. D. 251, and he died on Jan. 17, 356, aged 105
years. He probably knew the Coptic language, but it is tolerably
certain that he had no knowledge of Greek literature. Having
lost both parents about the year 270, he gave all his goods to
the poor, and retired to the desert at the age of 19; here he
BOOK I. CHAPTER III. ADDITIONAL NOTES. 3 1
stayed for 20 years. His food was bread and salt, his drink
water, and he never broke his fast until after sunset; he fasted
five days at a time, watched all night, and prayed until day-
break. He neither bathed nor anointed his body with oil, and
he lived for years in a tomb and ruined fort. When he was
55 years old he founded his first monastery in the mountains
to the east of the town of Aphroditopolis, but later he lived
on Mount Clysma, near the Red Sea. He begged that his body
might not be mummified, for he believed that Christ would
restore it to him, without blemish, on the day of the resurrection.
See Butler, Lives of the Saints, Jan. 17; Acta Sanctorum, Jan. 17;
Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, p. 35; Tillemont, Memoires, vii. 48 ff.;
Athanasius, In Vit. St. Anton.; Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., i. 13;
Socrates, Hist. Eccles., i. 21. For descriptions of the monastery
near the Red Sea which now bears his name see Sicard,
Missions du Levant, t. v; pp. 122 — 200.
The following graphic description of Antony's temptation
by devils is given in the Syriac version of Palladius (fol. 17^): —
«AtJ fiOA«i&2o .fisMybO edu^^jsl ^Nidt «*diei epo .^e^^ ^S ^ofMi&o j^!^ ^So
mAm*: aa .^Wi Jt^a^a jt^ist ^ oM ^^^toajb ^ ofiv^ao olCb ^aji oop opo
6<^^ t^of J^ oaAol aao •^e\&2 ^ Sofua ^ ^xer ^*^ .^ab»2o l&oip j>>4vi\
(Sxa^ h^an c^o .^or&efOi ^A ^bA ^oxMa M^op ^2 ^ouUa .,<Y>v\ ^2
Sfioe ;:b«*o;otsAo ^xjcS? ^oroi ^a .^2 ;^^ ^2 ^o .^ooy^aao^ ^o^^a ^t
.^/Sa ^ wJto^i ^ASiinig a*axo .^aito«aoa ^»oA^ ofrJ .^1&a:Wf ao(s ^ah*
^aao ^SMA^ lA^ Qk3«f2 .^aM2 ^fs aojso .(s«o^ i^»»a ;^ ^a^M ^ ^ ^2
;^ ^«piM «*&k^&0 .^M A^p «*AaO(S3 .^^u^ tsMSi 5uA^ ^ ^2 .gp (S*Oo7
;^ oaAoiM^a ^o UsS^'i ;S ^o^^ ^ ^epoS oy^sksa «iA^^*M aao .^a«a>oo
^AV^4«> ouAxo .J(sl^o;S ^07&j»A ^ftOTOAidef .oau*o o*Aa«^ ^2 5U2 .^Jb^x
5^1200 .^li^ofo ftaJKa .JS*o^ 2aaito ^\ «*^wl^ ^>iiy\^ ^ep ^ A^ .^a^tta^o
32 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
.^2a oy^iM* ^2 ^ila .aao/»S ^maMIo . AsaoS ^O W«\ft> ^p ^'^Od )ei^o •ka\d
^2 ^abhOf .^aXbo AfX .^ Ams fia2 ^ ^ .J^ a^2o .^t^ ^ ^2 ^2o
jsaafi>9 007 ^lo •«*o7o*Mao2d dAi\ts2o .JM^aEMs o^oaa ep A^d^Jkjo .ep ftw^
^<A^9 ^P^M* ^2 (So^?>=> A**^* tA ««M(k2 .^2 ^^^ 9A ^«Am2 p«3 son .o\)^7
«M*iNN^o ^laoo ^ ^al»\^ ^aS ^o&oib x^^^ .^^ao^o aw^ttS ^oaco .^viiA
.fia2 ^\\^ «aua^ M^^tfr^ j»ao -a^A^ N&2 ^ks .^^ML^d ^A^^^lb ^ AAo
.jaai^fi^ oj^ n^Nao!^ ^ NjBfioco .^oXmci NsJL ^ ^2 ,^1'^^^ ia^ ^ «\mP
^Laao ^2 Ai^^ .%USQi^^ ^2 ^ 6s*a4» sJsoaiool >»6i NoS ^xs «*^ fioa&N^
a^aV^ M^i^ ^2 ^OM ^2 aao .^« i^aa e^NoX^^?^ Ni2 aJjo» ^ ^*oyA^
«*om 2^?T>yn ^jjbf ^boa aoN ^^007 oBdi ^&N ^ ^N (So^aao j!ikM ^^ «Sfi>o
.«*^a^ ^2 «*070«sV^2 o2 .e7(SoS ^,&(S^a ^ »^^^ ^?? ^^V^N-V ^ «ftto9jb
^ojbd ^aa ^^ ^9 ^aoe .<S*edr ^ais 2!^ ^AUp ^&d ^(SajMf ^ ^p ^2
.niiiiYitp 2doi^ ^?^ M*9>M^ .^07 vM^^^lM ^^V^oaci 007 ^07 ,ts*aai yapaisio
^joMuoiaop 3*^>9 A>d2a .0^ »*»^a .a»3 ey^MJi. j^M^aa ^2 .v*fi^ p^ ^ja ^o^ ;S
;S>fii ^2 .^^ ^V^ ^5? ^^ -/Uacjo ^CsomMS J3\fi> Ji^i ^o&o .a*^fioo ep
jaaV^M ^er &^C1 ^ .7M*k»a opom ^ «aatal&a p^ NuSp .(S*o^ ^Jb ^a
^ oyV^ot &a3 o7£s^aM ^opM 9m 9«Aa OM*&io .^aSMa 07ts*asM0 ^J\fi> «^d>
PAUL THE SIMPLE.
Paul the Simple was one of the most celebrated disciples
of Antony, and was considered to be the first disciple of that
saint. He was alive in 338. For his life see Tillemont, Me-
fnoires, vii. pp. 66 — 99; and Sozomen, Hist. Eccles, i. 13. The
Syriac version of the account of his life by Palladius is as
follows (fol. 68^): —
^2 SON ^ lo9i Asii ^Jbo*3oSi^2 ^2a e79jiUi^N .^ttl ;^o^ ^v^f\ t^a
.ja2ft*saa ^&*a ^ aa^ •JMuMtso }\tX^ ^07 t*e70^Mia .;SoS ^07 opoata .^m^
N007 {a*^p ey!^ N007 U^^ .^uA^oop Aoe*30 ^ovmS NOk*^ Itstfil 01^ tsoer fi^o
efMaaB2o .2!^oJ 007 A»»* ^ t^ .;t>Mo* ^ AmS ^ JiaoJo .y^*\tt ^«
^^<|^ 07&b^N ^oa«\3 jia»2 .^007^ ^ 2per .^(SoJj\ ^*93ib aa ^a^^o
tAp (S*2^9S 9k*^ 9k*^ .aAo^ j&Vo (S*3aa ^i\ .^2 )«M ^ 9A .SNjjtoa p^so^
"— ^•-•^
BOOK I. CHAPTER III. ADDITIONAL NOTES. 33
^kUo(s Af2 •&»2 )S «a;S x>?>M ?AA '^^^ f&2 ^^A ^2 ^9l ^ ^ .ijkiao
.^afici Mtk aao .^d >auift\t2 «*aAop orfkAaS ^a^ A^avo •A^oy&s 9^^*^^
^2 ^ ;«A*i^ .;SoJ e^ 8kAo2 .fia2 ^^di ^ .o|^ aAo^ H^V^ ''^ ^^ ''^'^
•^ ^^uofi^ 9>3 ^^>^ 3a\ •^ 9>^2o ^0^2 »aM eor ^ ^ 4^or2^
^«ift» aA «MM^ MfeoXlle •JUaA^ ^f ^2 .i^^i^ ;S ^&*p ^offi^ ^^
^ frAito2 .^o\ft^ ^ ^^ *^^ 9^*^ ^^ ''^ ^^ "^^P X>?^ A^ '^ aJo^
fi^OiS.\ fi>>S ^ Af .7ft&*p ^o^CS? Aial ^^ t^' *^^ wftaao >^ (M2 jbtfbp
a(S* «»30m^ ^hvi h»y^ ^l A(soe|iAA ^eaauAip ^i^AaQop ^Au »??ryp» Jm2^
^or ^1^0 )!ia» ^op .Aaa!i o^ ^070 .^ abb&«S ^0* ^bdOMik ^a^^e .^2
.i^ai^o ;^&(K %m^ 'l^^? er^Mau or(s^2p ^&2p ^ ^o«9 .«•« ;S ^ 05
ey^ Ato2 .^ie; ^0769 tsft2 ^^ :S .J^ fia2 JdUs ^ .jbtfb ^ n^f .oj^ &»2 a«Ai^
;*mO ^ ^tttpfrJ aA .^&or J ^2 .(KAM2 ;(KaM2 JbAoao? ^SoJ (K*^ .)SoJ
A>d23 jia»2 .^er k»o*a &9pAU ^iSlii 390? ^^7 officiji^ioo .q^d^o ei^aae
3a\ ^07 ^ 3>*^ "^o^V^ tSUb ey^ aAo2o .oy^Ao^iA ^S\ «*&(K2e .or(S0kA\a
.flix hi«ls^ ^9ji Aa\ ^tfb oer AttM .^2 J^a\ ^2 tS2? ;ia»2 .^aiofi^
op Jl&9f2 >t^aV^ p^ ■iBniift\i2 ^tM ^ aA .auUS? ^9^ ^2 fiftVwwii*
^•o^ax ^ 007 .fiuk^ad^ «^?^ ^QJofO .^korouas i^^a^i^ ftN>^r^^^ .oj^ &M2o
.(k*^k*aid aots ^a\o .Aa\ 3^\^ ^oey^ aA ^op^ aojso •J^^V^? ^^ 0^
^o^A ^of ^»u^ t*oro^^ aAO .j*aaeio Aai^ ^e|^ oo^ o^i^l^ftJ? «^\I9
9A0 .«»efoMu*S o^\ >^ ;So 6001^2 i^o %^h jS^ .*a%m\a\fil ^9 i$-9 ^
^ :ScB ^tfb ey^ Ato2 .^aou^^p j^A& abb&«S<Ka (Ki2 ^^ .oy!^ &to2 Am» &m^ ^er
oy&*9^ \e7& 2^? ^f\^^ %»&Mi2^ or^J^ {s*2a*^* 2?or ao(So .^;S o|^ &^
^ufb i^«Aao o|^ aio2 .oyua^ oy^A^ «*o7o\^ «««V*aa ^^2 .ANiv^ftgy ^•^ax ft^o^
a«* Aaa ^or NJ? .^&2 ^0X0 3oA^ «!i> UB»ao\&2 ^olbo .^bobA JMo 7&o^il
a^M u«raitoa0 ^olbo .0007 3*au? «^\ito ^2 ^^a^ •JbJA»o2 (sx ^2 ^oyiM ^
e
34 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^'^i^tshts ^oor ^a*9 .^90^09 oo)S .aeox m1 'ptop dficio .j(»^Cs ;Sad p^o
^^ ^fi^9M3 ^ 007 .;Soi^ «070«A>U9 5^2 ^&fti^tsa(S ^XoS^k aa^ pA .^uat
ia»iftVi2 Jb^ aAO .^cau&a^ ^a^ ^n>v\tp oa(S* ^SS^ ^laoD^i^lS afioo .opa^
^07 ^*2o .^07 o&iJ^ ;{sas*{s^ ;Sad ^p faib .^b^i^ a>a6sl iS 4^0^ ^
^ opaiac aae .^1070^^013 ^ tp\^^ ^ ^007 ^aamo .07^6^ ^ >S*a>^ cj^
^p ^ .^2 1^2 K&2 J&^ ^ .;So^ 07^ a^2 .;ftaM2 ^aoXfi U^ ^A^ ^oi^ ^2o
a^2 .«*fiNU aj^ ^fc%>^ «*^ >nte ^A .iftfcioV,i2 07^ a^2 .^2 id2 .fio2 j&\\ ;^ (si2
&js:9 sojs ^a >jb .^0723 ^2 ^ ^9»? ^2 *^l? \\^ *J^ ^^2 >fite ,lSo^ 01^
.jZ^s^aa tS»\fl oA^ao ^t ^aJb^tsb^ oarsose .^o^^ jaibJkJsl&JS ao&o .^07
X»>'o\'^ ^oa^sp ^Ol^ uou»m aao -^a^^ ^?^ Jtpotffio ejp oMja ao^o
.t*ttL^ ^07 .^07 ^aulbNp x^ObAa (sj2 M*a«M .2a .07^ ^2 .oT^oa 5^2 >i\t^
aSib N*7tiUxd ^2 ^a*p ^07 ^^2 .^2 ^al ;^ ^^2 x>?>^ ^2 .^a3 07^ &^2
pA AAb ^p ^a* &^9 .ZiA*a (S*oe7 M ^a^ ^aS ia»i<v\yi2 07^ a^2 .^2
•jZ^oaao ^ aa^ tV*sdo .^07^2 p>ia epcdLs quXi ^jJ&*aa!k^a .wauioA^2 «*o7*«m
aap2o .^a2 02 ^AVio j{^^p ?ao\ 5U2 ^Soa 01^ ^ .07!^ ^P^^^^ ^^oaA^o
a^a ^ -^pp ^A*Au kd2 aC&Np .^OiA^t ^^i^a^ ^07 .^a^p ^N*2 ^07 07^
oji^po ^a*fi>ip Jdaaioio 07^ ^aoI*:^2 .^p^^ ji^ ^ >^o7epo>.>\^ ;So^ ^
jo*p ^ ^007 jftifisMp pk» ^a^al^ wa*se\&)^ osaiii .^07 ^f3 .oopo .^o*p
* ^07^ id2p .^007 ^ ^070 >^0*pp ^0^32 ^ pbM .007 ^A*p ^07 «*070fis*20 .;*xb
.^e7a*l&2p ^07 jS ^07 .^2 JC^o\i2 ^*ei7**M pAO .idp2t^o ^07 a^^ ^*^osS
^po •«e7a*fi>^p «*o7eN*2 ;Sa3p ^07 ^2 .^i^oso j^o7ato ^A ficiouN2 ;S
^07^ «*07*fiUS| ;So.d ^2 .07!^ ato^ e7(S0i^ ta^«2o .07^0^ Jbsio^l \*Aai .OAJ
^ XkV^ fia2o .;Sa3 07^ aM2 .076^*^^ At^ :nA» pAp ,^x> ^07 ^ ^p
.oa2 dttaoM .A N*2 ^3^2 ai\ ^aa^ .^2 ^^uto ;^ .Jtuse\&2 07^ ^2 .jsi2 pa^
^&xo .^& jbua ^^o^^ A^ .Ao^ ^sSb ^p >jb .o7^AjtA A«^ 07JS0S
^o .^i%3 ^07 ^ Jbodp a^2 >ft»io>\A2 ^2 .^07 .007 ja>%\ 07!^ &^^?
cA*p 2^1i^ ^ Aox .o7^'&om Aa2 ^2 Jtlds Ap >aito2o i^pSi^ pa oe; ^a*p
jba3 ii&fci<v\yi2 ^2 &Jo2p ^ <S^2 a^2o .07^ A^ op 07^ jil» t*Sd(0 -^bilb 007
•Aoil ^/A OT^^O .JC^0\l2 ^A ^Ok*p 007 007 ^^ ^9« ^ aOCS .071M
.^ox<i ^ .^MiimN 07^ ;s2 a>o2 ^2 A«2 o2 bSl OaAi .Ao^ 9^2 ^ ^Na^A
aotso .A ^07 ^S ^o .JM«aaA 07S ^2 aito2 ^2 Af2 .M2 dO^ Ap oo7i2p
.otm&oa ^ %fidio .Ao^ ^aV «*^a^ <^»u»(S2o .^2 .23lib A •aAplo tSp
BOOK I. CHAPTER III. ADDITIONAL NOTES. 35
007 ./»>t%> ^AX* «««M fial .^or aitolo tA^ 0^ X^ ^&bo .^Aabp ^ofiUp
.^2 %^2 )^o .^or 3^ ^ ^il 6wi )^3 iPxt^Sila JbOi^iJ .*M&k3 ^IttptSa
.^99 4iai ^ ^o*p odiS «ofa*^tid2 ^ ^Sl ./il ^^p ^^^ -^2 Jlp^ 2!^o
^o2 .aip2o .o^^o2 ^ ^a*3 007 f^ mOfioo^ JE)^ ai^o .oysto ^^ere^Sa.^
«J^ 3?3 )^o^? 07(SoVJcd .^2 k^^9^k» ftuVyH ^ ^l*3o2 .^2 aaptSAO ^ ^
^aa*^ 6wi ^070 t^d^ 3ath aA ^2 ^>\nya ^& ^Cs 5U2 ^070 ..^SyNjo
PAMBO.
Pambo, TTd/aPuj, TTa^^iug, the friend of Macarius and Isidore,
was famous for his labours, fasting and silence; he was a dis-
ciple of Saint Antony. He was visited by Melania the Elder
who found him making mats; he died about A. D. 393, aged
70 years. See Butler, Lives of the Saints, Sept. 6; Acta Sanc-
torum, July I ; Socrates, Hist, Eccles,^ iv. 23 ; Rosweyde, Vit, Pat,^
pp. 531,938; Tillemont, Mempires, vii, p. 65. The Syriac version
of the account of his life by Palladius (fol. 55^) is as follows: —
;i^'o A^2k» .oao^ ^t^ a\ ;iei issi ;&'oai^ ;^^ oja ^03341 ^o\ ^^
^ab^ Jbo>\^i<>ha^p 1*070^4 ^ Jfik*aL^&62po .jb»3Xl>o2ao .JB»*idto2p 3^fiift$|a
^^*i? r^*^ ■^*?^ ^^? *^^ -^^ ^2** ^«^^ ^ '^<^ »*o7ofu SaA
.^aaii^A^iS «ftto6^& ^a wkfi^*fis^a ^ ^aoaqi^ .^a\y ,j>ii'ia^ ^A Cso^
fr^'N^ ^^ ^o^ ^^? 'f^ ^^ ^ ^7'^^ '^i^?^ «*oroa^ mjXsoI tSlp 061
;o^ snI aa ^ 05 .0^0^ s»aiia ^ aola 071^ ^2 ^ aa .^a^A ^^
a^2o .^ai,i -4 A&sj ;4S; .iipjo ?oA=i ^a? .^-J^^? ^'ai^ ^^5^0
:^oa^o ^i^ fi^a ;&o^ c^llLa^ v.0M^a^o »iajb .«AfA^&o2 epax> o7k^a;^
»^ -r^rfP^ ^> «ii^ *i^» ^? <rj^o .A.Jii:^ ^H^dAM lUJU? ^j ^cJ7
36 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
vihL^ a^ )^ ^ ^ 007 .^oA ^H\pyiS ^fr^&a ^^ ^asAj^ ^^ fr^o7 *«*9>so
^3^ ^ aA^ ^l .0^ ^soA «*a.j^a ;^>^ o^ a,?! ^k^q^ioa ;faoi^ ^^?
1^ )^2^ oat ^qiS^ ^9^2 .gp^fiop 1^ «f^ ,Js*4^ ^poM fSf^t^ »ei^ jSs^aj
;^^ Off ;^a^2i o^ ^u 9A0 .^^ tf?o ^2 tf? ^ ^* s^ ;fti>;^
9^ .aa^c ^^o .^ ojoaojp «S K*^ ^2 a^ p^ ,J^ .^} ^aa>^»
;»^o .;a9>ap ^ fisa;fe ^9-^0 .offi^aoflo ;jioa era^ji!^ er^saaao .J^ ojao^
^L^ii ;Sk4 05 >Jaa« ^ 91^ -JUm}^? ^i ooj ^La^J^ o^ $2 ;5i[\& ^aa^
.&^^o $^ JBk»ak^&o2 .;^9* /aaJL^ «o7aaoa«a 00^ ^fiObJU $a^ oja diu$
;a0al ^? ..aa*> ^a^ &^2a 09^ t^4^ fe«!ro .^? 0a;f( ^ atuio^io
fi^aj9 ^2 ^^J; A* .«i9 ^?»J9 *«* ;iioai Niop 4«i ^^39^ N*N2a ^
fisj^a „^ ^ ;lo& iSo ;o^ ^o7of*2 j:>*2a ;fsolJ^ ^ jiS? .^9 ;».4^
fr^^ jl^ ^^> 01^ ^ 4^i ^ l^'i S\i ^s^mo .>^ jZ^tulfb A^
Jb^&o} .0TfijiV» ^ ^'^aop 94 «ora^ a*Jk^ 00^ ^??V»!p 4^i ^J^
\it oi ^fa ^ ^^o^^9 «^^ ^ ^2^2 Si^yN ;^'9 .^V>tv>> «o7oa=l^ JMo^io
s^?? -npj n3 ^t» •^???i ^^ rf >^> ^i -^M? ^s^ ^9 .;?='9?
^^4 49^ 99^ ^^^9 ^9^ ^^Al^ ^99^ ^<^^ -^^ ^^ \s^ n!**% ^^
,;iai viaitto ;4SJ ^9 5^^ .*p^ ^}n» ^^ tA«^ ^^^f^P $^,^ xa^9
^ fL^^ ^i^ ^o .dso^ ^ifs^ JbfiaVi ^3$ ^ w$i ;f oa&J^ ^s 2907
.&b»^ ^ ^9V? -&4 "^^ '^^ ^^? »*e70^ ^=vMi^^ Is^'aLI ^^ ^
;^ ^ ^X^ .of^ a^2 aa oai^ ^o ,;»J^ opa> li^xo .c^fisi^'A^ ^t? Afl
•«o)u2tf^ jb^ ^^ 007 .^i^ &jbo2 ^ )^> .bOfi ;ai ^^^9 "f^o .Naa^
.4^^ ^ ;boi^ e^ i^> .&aji& ;3|9 er&JLa^ oauL^ ^b' AiJ ^.9 ^^ bfya
M ^^ Mio^ ^? *^^ ^9\ ^ ^i '^^a^A 23^ j^> ^2^2 ?4o
^or^i^^ ^2903 ^2
BOOK I. CHAPTER IV. MAR ABRAHAM THE GREAT. 37
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE BLESSED R ABB AN MAR ABRAHAM* THE GREAT, THE
HEAD OF THE MONASTERY IN MOUNT IZLA.'
Now as God of old brought out the blessed Abraham
from Or (Ur) of the Chaldees, ^ and made him, by faith,
* Abraham of Kashkar (al-Wasit) or Ibrahim al-Kashkarani,
the head and father of the hermits, is said to have been baptized
in the time of the Catholicus Babhai who died A. D. 502, and
he is described as an 'old man* ^a when Sabhr-Isho' was
Catholicus A. D. 596 — 604. He was a student at Nisibis under
Abraham the nephew of Narsai. He went to Herta where he
converted some of the idolatrous natives, and afterwards visited
Egypt and Mount Sinai; he finally settled in Mount Izla, and
became the founder of the famous monastery there "in quo
coenobitarum ^gyptiorum mores omnes, atque ade6 continentiam,
adamussim observari praecepit." {B. O., iii. i. 93). He must
be distinguished from another Abraham of Kashkar who lived
at Hazzah, and who went to Jerusalem and Egypt; he returned
to Hazzah, near Arbel in Adiabene, where he lived until his
death which took place thirty years later. He was distinguished
as a philosopher, and wrote a treatise on the monastic life which
was translated into Persian by his disciple John the monk. See
Hoffmann, Auszugef pp. 172 — 173; Wright, Syriac Literature,
p. 837; B. 0., iii. I. 155, 431 ; iii. 2. 873. These two Abrahams
are confounded by Assemani in B. 0., iii. i. 154.
* Mount tzla, the JjM\ J-^ of the Arabic writers {B. O,, iii. i.
155^), is situated oh the southern edge of the mountain called
Tur Abhdin, about three farsali from Nisibis, and the river al-
Himias flows at its foot. In this mountain were four monasteries,
viz., the "Great Monastery" founded by Rabban Abraham; 'Umr
al-Za'faran (see o^f^^" /?.^ Yakut ii. 663, and for other mon-
asteries of this name see Hoffmann Auszuge^ note 1312, p. 169);
*Umr Mar Awgin (see B, (?., iii, i. 147, note 4); and *Umr Mar
YAhanna. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 1 67 ff.
3 Genesis xv. 7.
38 THOiMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the father of a multitude of nations, [p. 23] so also He spread
abroad and made to increase this holy habit of the solitary
life in all the country of the East, by the hand of [this]
spiritual man, worthy of Abraham in name, and country,
and deed, whom He established to be the father of
the army of virgins and men of abstinence. For thus
the ancients write concerning him, more particularly
Abba' John, the writer of the 'History of RabbanBar-
'^Idta','' and Rabban Rostam,^ of the Monastery of Beth
Koka,* in the History of Rabban Mar Abraham, the
* Lines 4 — 18 (text p. 23) are quoted by AssemanJ, B. 0.,
iii. I. pp. 93 col. 2, and 467 col. 2.
^ Bar-ldta, /*. ^., 'the son of the church', the founder of the
monastery which bore his name, was a contemporary of Babhai
of Izla and Jacob of BSth 'Abhe; he must be distinguished from
another Bar-*Idta, a monk in the Monastery of Selibha, near
the village of Haighla on the Tigris, who lived about 690, with
whom he has been confounded by Assemani {B, C?., iii. i. 458).
He wrote a monastic history which is quoted witli respect by
Thomas of Marga (Bk. i, cap. 23, text p. 47; cap. 34, text
p. 62; bk. ii, cap. 6, text p. 73 etc.). See Hoffmann, Auszuge,
p. 181, Wright, Syriac Literature, p. 838. The day of the
commemoration of Bar-ldta was the same as that of Jacob of
Beth 'Abhe, Bar-Hadh-be-shabba, Kam-Isho', Aphrim and
"their companions the founders of divine assemblies in the
country of Maiga and Dasen." Wright, Catalogue of the Syriac
MSS in the British Museum^ p. 187, col. 2.
3 Rabban R6stam or Rabban Sabhr-lsho' was born in Herem,
a village in Adiabene about the middle of the VII th century;
his history entitled '* Abraham of the Monastery of Rabban
Zekha-ish6'" and other works are mentioned by Thomas of
Marga, Bk. ii, cap. 17, text p. 90. See also B, 0., iii. i. 455.
4 Also called the "Monastery of Sabhr-Isho ;" it was situated
near the Great Zab in Adiabene. See Hoffmann, Aussiige, note
171S, p. 215.
BOOK I. CHAPTER IV. MAR ABRAHAM THE (iREAT. 39
•
head of the monastery of Rabban Zekha Isho'/ of the
Monastery of Beth ' Abhe. Now these writers say that
he went' to the desert of Eskite^ (Scete), where he
received and took upon himself the order of the ascetic
life. Afterwards, by the Divine command, he came
' Zekha-isho*, Isho*- Zekha, or Meshika-zekha, when expelled
from Mount fzla by Babhai, the head of the monastery, went
to Dasen (see Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 202 — 207) and founded
a monastery which was henceforth known as Beth Rabban Zekha
"sho* or Beth Rabban. Beth Rabban and Beth 'Abhe were
under one head; the former monastery seems to have been
built on a higher level in the mountains than the latter. Hoff-
mann, Auszuge^ p. 206; Wright, Syriac Literature^ p. 838.
* Assemani has aj^ ^ J^ii B, O,, iii, i. p. 93, col. 2, 1. 46.
3 ^^2, -V*«>l, ^«»fV««>J, ^J^^^ or^^*^^ ^.^ the 'Desert
of Abu Macarius* is the name given to the Nitrian valley
(c>^j^^\ ^>\^, the Nitre valley, or o^^l i^yt the Nitre-
lake), which is situated in Lat. 30" 19 N., Long 30" 16' E.
about thirty-five miles to the left of the most western branch
of the Nile; the Greeks called it iKrjTn or ZKrJTig, the Muham-
medans Wadi Habib, the Copts jyH eiiT, or ^iiit, which is
said to mean "measure of the heart" and has been rendered
in Syriac by ^ ^^, ;aaca«*? ^n^om or s^^\ ^\i^' From
the second century of this era Scete was the home of
monasticism; at the close of the fourth century Falladius estim-
ated that more than 5000 ascetics lived in this valley, and the
number at the end of the VII th century is given as 3000.
See Wright, Preface to Catalogue of Syriac MSS, iii, p. ii;
Quatrem^re, MefNoires, i. p. 45 iff.; Migne, Vitae Patrtwt,
t. 73. coll. 231,1098, lipi; and Jablonski, Opuscula, i. p. 312.
For descriptions of the Monasteries in this valley see Curzon,
Monasteries in the Levant, p. 90 ; Butler, Ancient Coptic Churches ,
vol. 1. p. 334 — 337; and Tischendorff, Rcise in den Orient, i,
p. 1 10. In Mahmud Bey's map of Egypt the valley joins the
spot where the caravan routes from Alexandria and Tripoli to
Cairo meet.
40 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and dwelt in a secret* cave in Mount Izia, in the
neighbourhood of the city of Nesibhin (Nisibis).*
And he speedily became known unto men, inasmuch
as he was ordained to be the cause of spiritual benefits
unto many, through the everlasting fore-knowledge of
Him who set him apart aforetime, that at his hands,
and by his means, the holy fathers who were to become
the founders of famous monasteries of the lands of the
Persians, and Assyrians, and Babylonians,^ might become
disciples. And the fame of his glorious deeds spread
abroad into every quarter, like the smell of choice
spices, and a multitude of ascetics were gathered to-
gether unto him. He invented this distinguishing mark
of ours, and commanded that the disciples of this holy
habit of life should have their heads shaved like a
crown;* now before the days and time of his coming.
' VS^ for JM^.
2 ^*a*gi, ^^^>^.<.;^ is a very ancient city of Mesopotamia situated
in a rich and fruitful country about 120 miles N. E. of Mosul
(Nineveh), and 50 miles N. of the western end of the Sinjar
mountains; according to Ibn Batutah, (ed. Defrdmery and San-
guinetti t. ii, p. 140) it is two days' journey from Gaziret ibn
'Omar on the Tigris. It is surrounded by the river Hirmas
which flows in several channels through the city. According
to Yakut (iv, p. 787 ff.) it contained 40,000 gardens, and was
nine farsah from Sinjar, and six days from Mosul.
3 /. e,, Persia, and Northern and Southern Mesopotamia.
* Among the Nestorians two offices for the tonsure are in
use; the author of the older and shorter office is unknown, but
the author of the younger and fuller is Pethion a monk. Ac-
cording to the former, after fifty days' probation the candidate
is brought into the 'place ot prayer', and Rabban having spread
a woollen tunic on the ground sets him upon it with his face to
the East, saying at the same time, "This tunic is the type ol
the grave, and the world is already dead to thee." Rabban
BOOK I. CHAPTER IV. MAR ABRAHAM THE GREAT. 4 1
the mark of the true Christians could not be distinguished
from the tonsure of the Sewaryane' {z, e., followers of
Severus).* And^ as formerly everyone who wished
next cuts off the hair from the top of his head, leaving a space
like a "wheel and a crown," which he sprinkles with water,
saying, "Christ will wash away the impurity of thy sins." This
form of tonsure has been associated with St. Peter, and is often
called the Roman tonsure; the shaving of the whole head is
called the Greek tonsure, and is associated with St. Paul.
For the service of three years and three months in the monastery
before receiving the tonsure see Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. loi,
note 907. In the Jacobite office "the priest takes some of the
hair from the front, and back, and each side of his head in the
form of a cross" 1^91 ^o oybfinoa ^o ^ero^aii ^ o^SSi ^ Sat ^ep
^u^^ ;ftJo\9 ;io7 ^ ;a\ AssemanJ, B. 0., iii. 2, p. 905.
* Assemani writes jLVois, ILVoad.
' /. e,, Severus, Patriarch of Antioch A. D. 512— 519. He
was born at Sozopolis in Pisidia, and in his early life practised
in the courts at Beyrut. He embraced the Monophysite doctrine
and became a monk in a monastery near Gaza ; later he joined
a Eutychian brotherhood near Eleutheropolis under the direction
of Mamas. He was called 'Acephalus' and became the head of
the Acephalai 'AK^q)aXoi, or party of Monophysites who rejected
the Council of Chalcedon in 45 1 and the Henoticon of Zeno
promulgated in 482, and who separated themselves from Peter
Mongus the Patriarch of Alexandria. Severus held that Christ
was one, and that this personal unity embraced a divine and
human element, each of which he regarded as an essence or
substance rather than as a nature. (Smith and Wace, Diet,
Christ. Biog,, iv. p. 315). Severus and Philoxenus of Mabbog
were the founders of the Jacobite form of monasticism which
obtained in Egypt. Severus died in Egypt about 540. See
Assemani, Dissert, de Monoph,, B. 0,, ii, p. 9; Evagrius, Hist.
Eccles,, iii. 33; Bar-Hebraeus , Chron, Eccles.y ed. Lamy and
Abbeloos, i. coll. 188, 190, 194, 212; Labbe, Concilia, iv. 1461;
and Assemani, B, 0., iii. i, p. 384.
^ The next sfac clauses are quoted in B. 0,, iii. i. p. 94. col. i.
42 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to learn and to become master of the heathen philo-
sophy of the Greeks went to Athens, the famous city
of philosophers, so in this case, every one who desired
to be instructed in spiritual philosophy went to the
holy Monastery of Rabban Mar Abraham, [p. 24] and
inscribed^ himself in sonship* to him. Thus after
many years, when the pursuit of the monastic life and
voluntary abstinence had greatly increased, and when,
during the lifetime of that holy man,^ fathers had gone
forth from his congregation, and had, like him, built
monasteries, he was gathered [to his fathers] in honour,
and went to incorruptible life.
CHAPTER V.
•^c
OF MAR DADH-ISHO *
Now^ this blessed man Dadh-lsh6\ who, according
to what we have learned from history concerning him,
became governor after Rabban Mar Abraham, formerly
' Read oesa«. "" Read :^oML^o.
^ Read 30^9^9 oj^ma v*o7o1!m ^o.
4 Dadh-Isho' succeeded Mar Abraham as head of the Men-
astery of Mount Izla, probably during the life-time of Abraham,
at the end of the Vlth or beginning of the Vllth century. He
wrote a commentary on the Paradise of the Western Monks,
probably meaning the Paradise of Palladius and Jerome, a dis-
course on the consecration of the cell, funeral sermons and epistles,
some works on the ascetic life, and annotations to the works
of Isaiah of Scete. The name means "gift of Jesus" juaoro^
&odU9. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 173; Wright, Syriac Lit,,
p. 838; and B. 0., iii. i, p. 98, 99.
5 This chapter is quoted in B, 0., iii. i, p. 98. col. i.
»c
BOOK I. CHAPTER V. MAR DADH-ISHO. 43
lived in Daira dhe Risha' {z. e., Monastery of the Head),
in this country of Marga," with Rabban fistaphnos
(Stephen) the Great, who was famous and renowned •
in all the East. When he had continued with him for
a period of seven years, he departed to Rabban Mar
Abraham, and was, it is said, the first to come to
' A famous monastery of Marga, in which, according to
Thomas of Marga * 'seven bishops (BC read 'seventy') dwelt at the
beginning." See Bk. vi. cap. i. (text p. 328. 11. 10, 11, and note 6).
^ The position of the town of Marga cannot be fixed exactly,
but it was not far from Mosul in a N. E. direction; it is the
Marj el'Maiisil or Marj Abu 'Obeida of the Arabic writers
^f^ E^r* ^ >^'^ ^^^^^ «>^^^ C^ >«^ cy J^4^ cr-? Yakut
iv. p. 488. The province of Marga is partially represented by
that of Mar Abraham of Gunduk (see Badger, Nesiorians and
their Rituals, vol. i, p. 392), and had as its centre the province
ofNaukur; it must also have comprised the arable plain, which
forms an irregular parallelogram in shape, measuring twenty-
five miles by fifteen, which slopes down slightly from Gebel
Maklub and the hill of 'Ain es-Safra, and which is bounded
on the N. E. and E. by the Gomel* and Hazir rivers, and on
the S. W. and S. E., by the Upper Zab and Tigris. The
boundaries of the diocese of Marga were, on. the N. the crest
of the Hair mountains, on the W. the Mezuri mountains, on
the E. Gebel Mar Daniel, on the N. E. Gebel Maklub, on the
S. the Upper Zab, on the S. E. a bend of the Hair mountains.
(Mar Daniel is about 28 miles E. of Nineveh, and *Ain es-Safra
six or eight miles N. W. of Mar Daniel; the Church of Mar
Daniel stands on the top of 'Ain es-Safra). Marga is called
;^iij Village', by Bar-Hebraeus (Chron. ed. Bruns p. 517. 1. 7,
ed. Bedjan p. 492. 1. 15). Marga must be distinguished from
* "The hill on which Mar Daniel, another old Christian Church, is
situated, and of which it occupies the highest and central point, is abrupt
on its western and sloping on its eastern side." "The river Gomel, about
as large as the Khozer, falls into the I, azir (near Mar Mattai), which in turn
falls into the Upper Zab." Rich, Narrative^ vol. 2, p. 80.
44 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
him. And he ministered unto him a long time, and
after Mar Abraham had departed from this mortal life
to that of peace, Mar Dadh-lsho' became the head and
governor of the monastery after him. And the historians
magnify him and say that in respect of the humility
which he possessed, and his despising of self, and his
abstinence and asceticism, he surpassed all others of
his time. And the name and glory of his godly habits
of life was, like that of his master, carried into all
places, and by his means that holy convent flourished,
and increased in holy men who became his disciples.
CHAPTER VI.
[P. 25] OF OUR RABBAN MAR JACOB OF b£tH- ABH£.
Now this holy man Rabban Jacob sprang from the
town of Lashom' of Beth-Garmai. * And having dwelt
Maragah ojil^iaji a city of Adhorbaijan, with which it is some-
times confounded by Assemani, {B, 0,, iii. 2, p. 762). See
Hoffmann, Ausziigej pp. 222 — 227 and the authorities quoted
by him ; Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, vol. 2,
pp. 72, 80; and Felix Jones, Notes on the Topography of
Nineveh^ p. 405 ff. (in Selections from the Records of the Bom-
bay Government, No. xlii. New Series. Bombay 1857).
* >9dx^', Arab. f^^J, is represented to-day by the village of
Lasim, about three quarters of a mile to the south-west of
Ta'uk, or Dakoka ^^'^•>, ^^^>j jaoap, apparently a town on the
great road from Bagdad to Mosul, about nine hours south of Kerkuk.
See AssemanJ, B, 0., iii. i, p. 155, col. 2 j p. 443. col. 2; Hoffmann,
Auszuge, p. 274 and note 643 ; and Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser
und Araber, p. 483, note 3. The identification ofLashom with
Dakoka proposed by *Amr bar-Mattai refers only to the bishoprics-
' v*A9S^fi>^, Arab, ^^^b The archbishopric of Beth Garmai
was one of the largest and most important in the Nestorian
Church, and its limits are roughly marked on the N. by the
Awroman-Azmir-Kandilan mountains, by the Lower Zab on
BOOK I. CHAPTER VI. MAR JACOB OF bIiTH ABH£, 45
in divers places for many years, sometimes in teaching
and exercising himself and others in the Scriptures, and
sometimes in leading the life of a solitary in quiet
places, he went up to the monastery [of Mount Izla],
and became a disciple of Rabban Mar Dadh-lsho' ; and
he lived as an anchorite' in the cell of Mar Jacob,
Bishop of Nisibis.' And this blessed man, our Jacob,
dwelt in that cell for a certain time, according to what
Sihdona^ saith concerning him, for seven years. Now
when the holy Mar Dadh-lsho' had also departed to
the life of blessedness, the holy Mar Babhai * the Great
became the head of that holy monastery. But inasmuch
as our holy father Mkr Jacob chose great humility, and
to be thought of no account at all, according to what
his disciples write concerning him, he made himself a
stranger to all positions of worldly honour, and he made
himself a servant of all that holy brotherhood. And
although before God, the Lord of all, he was a great
and honourable man, yet by reason of his nakedness
and poverty he was despised and held to be of no
account by those void of understanding. And he set
the W., by the Hemrin mountains on the S., and the Diyala
and Shirwan rivers on the E. The identification of the towns,
rivers, etc., in this diocese has been excellently worked out by
Hoffmann, Aussugfy pp. 253 ff., ^Utnfangder Diocese BethGannai^
For towns in Beth Garmai, see pp. 26j — 277.
» ;foVs^^w- ^ See B, 0,, iii. i, pp. 301, 435, 554.
3 /. e., Sahdona, a member of the Mission of Bishops which
was sent to Heraclius; he became converted to the views held
by the Jacobites by the head of a convent near Apamea. The
history of his apostasy is given by Thomas of Marga Bk. ii.
chap. 6, and the account of his writings in Bk. i. chap. 34.
^ Not Babhai, the Patriarch, who succeeded Acacius A. D. 499,
and who decreed that his successors should marry. Bar-Hebraeus,
Ckron, Eccles., ii. col. 80.
46 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
aside many conflicts and afflictions [caused] by the
rebellious devils there, to whom he appeared as one
not to be conquered by any means whatever; but they^
made a goad* for him as we are shortly about to say.
[P. 26] CHAPTER VIL3
OF THE BLESSED MAR BABHAI.^
Now this blessed man Mar Babhai came from Beth
'Ainatha,^ a city of Beth Zabhdai,^ and according to
^ Read omlSi? ' Read ^Sat.
3 This chapter has been printed with a Latin translation in
B, 0., iii. I, p. 88. col. i.
* Babhai the Great, "third governor of the Monastery of Izla,
flourished about A. D. 569 — 628 under the Nestorian Patriarchs
Ezekiel, Ish6'-yahbh of Arzon, Sabhr-Isho' and Gregory. See
B. O.y iii. I, p. 88. col. i. He must be distinguished from
Babhai bar-Nesibhnaye , who flourished under the Catholicus
§tlibha-zekha (A. D. 713 — 729), and who was famous for his
beautiful voice. On the death of the Catholicus Gregory of
Kashkar in 607, he together with Mar Abba the archdeacon
(see B. 0», iii. i, p. 93. col. i.)i guided the Nestorian Church
through a period of persecution and great difficulty. He was
appointed inspector of monasteries by the Archbishops of Beth
Garmai, Adiabene and Nisi bis, who entrusted to his care the
task of rooting out from them such men as held the doctrine of the
MesalleyanS. He performed his work with such zeal and success, and
ruled the Nestorian Church so ably during this period that, after
the murder of Chosroes II. in 628, he would certainly have been
elected Catholicus had he not declined to accept the dignity. See
Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 121 ; Wright, Syriac Literature, p. 842;
Guidi, Ufi nuovo testo siriaco sulla storia degli ultimi Sassanidi
(Actes du 8® Congr^s des Orientalistes tenu en 1889 ^ Stock-
holm et k Christiania), p. 17, at the foot.
^ j{pu4iN»9, to be distinguished from the ^'^-j^b of Yakut
(iv, p. 252) which lay upon the left bank of the Tigris in Beth
Isard6. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 173; Yakut i. 472.
^ J^\ fis^, Arab, ^jojb' ^^'' ^^ name see Yakut i. 466.
BOOK I. CHAPTERS VII, VIII. OF THE WICKED MONKS. 47
what is written concerning him, he also was, like Jacob
our father, a disciple of Mar Abraham. [And although
he was] a learned and a wise man, he was by nature
somewhat hasty of speech and harsh in command. He
wrote a lucid commentary on the works of the Fathers.*
Now when Mar Dadh-lsho' had departed this life, and
Mar Babhai had become the head of the community,
being the third head in the order of succession, Satan
began to sow the accursed tares of- the doctrine of
abominable things in that blessed field of choice wheat
sown' by excellent husbandmen.
CHAPTER Vni.
OF THE CORRUPT MEN WHO ROSE UP IN HIS DAYS IX THE
HOLY MONAvSTERY [oF MOUNT jZLa].
Now Satan, the enemy of the race of man, who from the
beginning fought with our parents in Eden;^ who wickedly
Beth Zabhdai was a district on the western or right bank of
the Tigris, adjacent to Gaziret ibn 'Omar.
* According to the statement in the Catalogue of 'Abhd-
Isho* he wrote eighty-three volumes {B. 0,, iii. i. 94), which
included: the Cause of Hosannas; the Book of Union (a work
on the two natures of our Lord) ; a commentary on the Cetituries
of Evagrius; the Book of Abba Mark; a history of the followers
of Diodorus; a work on the Festival of the Cross; a book of
hymns, etc., for the commemorations of the Virgin Mary and Saint
John, and other commemorations throughout the year; rules for
novices; canons for monks; a commentary on Holy Scripture;
letters to Joseph Hazzaeus; and a discourse on Matthew the wanderer,
Abraham of Nisibis and Gabriel of al-Katar. To these Dr. Wright
adds a Life of George, a convert, whose name was Mihramgushnasp,
and a few hymns. See Assemani, B. 0,, CataL Vat,, iii.
pp. 367 — 372; B. O.f iii. I, p. 94ff.; Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 91,
173; Bickell, Conspectus, pp. 37. 38.
^ fis^&f refers to An,.. ^ Genesis iii. i.
48 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
sowed the name of polytheism in the world; who drew
on Cain' to his own will; who made the sons of God' to
sin, and brought them down from their membership in
the divine household; who made the licentious Ham
rejoice in the shame of his father^; who taught those
senseless builders* to build a tower in Shinar to fight
against God;* who alienated Esau from a right course
of action;^ who made the sons of the prophet Moses ^
[p. 27] to cast off the yoke that they might not walk
in the glorious manner of life of their father; who made
the sons of Eli ^ and the sons of Samuel* to take bribes
and to sport with the women in the tabernacle; who
made Gehazi a stranger to the calling and manner
of life which the service of the blessed Elijah' required; —
when that enemy saw that that holy assembly, by a course
of life exalted above the body and out of the common
order, was shining with the rays of the light of purity,
he set apart for himself in that flock certain solitaries,*"*
and filled them with the spirit of whoredom, and he
confounded their imaginations with the lust of the flesh,
the mother of lasciviousness. Now if these men had
* Genesis iv. 8.
' Genesis vi. 2. For the cause of the fall of the sons of
Seth, who are identified with the sons of God, see Bezold,
Die Schatzhohle^ p. i8flf. and Budge, Book of the Bee, p. 27flf.
^oyoL^|=D^'^^fc5. For explanations of the term 'sons of God' see
Payne Smith, Thesaurus^ col. 199.
^ Genesis ix. 22. '^ Genesis xi. 2. 5 Genesis xxv. 34.
^ The allusion may be to some legend of Moses of which
many abound in Oriental literature, or to Judges xviii. 30.
7 I Samuel ii. 22. ^ I Samuel viii. 3.
^ 2 Kings V. 20. Thomas means Elisha.
*° This and the following clause are quoted by Assemani,
B, 0,, iii. I, p. 88. col. 2. For.^^o he reads )^,
BOOK I. CHAPTER VIII. OF THE WICKED MONKS. 49
at the first growth of their imaginations resisted the
wiles of Satan, and [had not made themselves] a place
of refuge' for the wicked thoughts which he was sowing
in them even for a moment, they could at once have
cast them out of their minds, and he would neither
have been able to do harm to their upright under-
standing, nor to make them the ready vessels of his
will. And it happened to them according to what Abba
Poman (Poemen)" spake, saying, "The Evil One has
three powers which go before all sin. First of all he
lays down error, ^ and after error, negligence, and after
negligence, lust. Now when error hath obtained the
mastery over a solitary brother, it taketh away the
remembrance of divine things from his heart, and
delivereth him over to negligence, that he may not be
aroused and put away from him the slumber of his
remissness; and after negligence cometh the madness
of lascivious desire, by reason of which the whole man
becometh a vessel perfected for destruction.^ What
' ;^ka>^o for ;!»&A0o.
* Saint Pcemen retired to Scete about A. D. 390, and he
died there seventy years after. For his life see Butler, Lives of
the Saints, Aug. 27 ; Rosweyde, Vitae Patrutn, p. 497ff. Cotelerius,
Monumenta, t. i. pp. 585 — 637. For ^oa we should perhaps
read ^oa; TToi^r|V. A number of the sayings of Poemen are
given by Palladius, and see also Add. 14,606 (Wright, Cat,
Syr, MSS., p. 744, col. 2) fol. 96^, and Add. 12,175 (Wright
Cat. Syr. MSS., p. 635, col. 2) fol. 194^.
3 Reading with Vat. ^q\ «<^o6^.
* In the Paradise of Palladius, Sayings of the Fathers, No.
AM&, this passage reads: — .ftyteS e^ n»2 ;^Im ;b^^ ;^a3 ^2 &»2
j^A^o ';^OJU»0yjo ^Npo .^o\ ^ayb .A>Vt> i^ p^ ^flp ^er
)^h ^o %Ji^b giM ;^OJuJ00yjo ^o xlfso»mioatio tso^ .ui^o^^ ^as2 ^aal .jtA^S
g
50 THOMAS OF MARGa, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
then? Those wretched and contemptible men, by the
evil counsel of the Calumniator, went down secretly,
and took* unto themselves women, whom, according
to what history handeth down, they brought to the
outside cells in which they lived; [p. 28] and they
continued in this corrupt and abominable course of
life some short timei But our God, that good and
gracious Being, Who is longsuffering towards sinners,
and desireth the improvement and the saving of their
lives, when He saw that penitence for the wickedness
which they were committing had not entered into
them, and that they being* themselves impure and
defiled, were living in a holy place, and among holy men,
and were not ashamed, He exposed them and put
them to shame in this manner.
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE HOLY MAN RABBAN MAR £lIYA.
Now^ there lived in that holy monastery the truly
blessed man Mar Eliya,'* who in earthly descent came
**Abba Poemen says, *Satan hath three powers which go before
all sin : the first is error, the second is negligence, and the third
is lust. When error entereth in it giveth birth to negligence,
and from negligence ariseth lust, and through lust man falleth.
Now if [a man] be watchful of error, negligence cannot come;
and if he be not negligent lust cannot arise; and if he work
not lust, by the help of Christ he will never fair." (fol. 228^).
* This and the three following clauses are quoted by Asse-
manJ, B. 0,, iii. i. 88. col. 2. ^ Read a^so or &^9.
^ This and the six following clauses are quoted in B, 0., iii. i.
p. 88. col. 2.
^ Probably the famous ascetic who built a monastery on the
Tigris by Hesna 'Ebhraya. See Guidi, Un mwvo testo Siriaco, p. i8«
BOOK I. CHAPTER IX. OF RABBAN MAR ^LIYA. 5 I
from Hirtha/ the great city of the Tayyiye' (Arabs).
He was instructed in doctrine in the city of Nisibis,
and he also became a disciple of the ascetic life in the
holy monastery^ [there]. He followed the path of mon-
astic life blamelessly, and being remote and free from
the gratification of the senses of the body, he excelled
in self-denial, and in zeal against the devils and pas-
sions of the body like his namesake [Elijah the Tishbite],
even as the holy man Abba Makaris* (Macarius) saith
I ^fli;? ;^5w**Hirtha of the Arabs" ^^.,?;:^\ al^Hirah, called
also ^a^a ^9^» or ^oip ;&^M I irtha dhe Na'man, or Jirtha
dh6 Nu'man, ''the [capital] of Naman" was the chief town of
the petty kingdom of the Lakhmite Arabs, traces of which
still exist a little to the south-east of the modern town of
Meshed 'Ali, a few miles from Kufah. See Hoffmann, Auszuge^
note 863, p. 97; Wright, Chronicle of Joshua the Sty lit e^ p. 45;
Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur t histoire des Arabes, t. ii. p. iff.;
Noeldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber, p. 25; Guidi, Un
nuovo testo Siriaco, p. 9, 1. 14.
^ TayyayS j[yl£ originally meant the Arabs of the tribe of
*L5^ Tayyi'. Later, however, the word indicated Arabs gener-
ally, and even Arabs Who had embraced Christianity.
^ Probably in the Monastery of Rabban Stephen the Great.
^ Two hermits named Macarius lived in Egypt in the fourth
century A. D; the one was named 'Macarius the Egyptian* and
the other 'Macarius the Alexandrian.' Macarius the Egyptian
retired to the desert when he was thirty years old, he lived
there sixty years and died there about A. D. 390, aged ninety.
See Sozomen, Hist, Eccles,, iv. 23; Socrates, Hist. Eccles., iii.
14; Rufinus, Hist. Eccles., ii. 4; Tillemont, Memoir es, vii. 57.
In 'Abhd-isho's Catalogue {B. 0., iii. i, pp. 44» 45)- Macarius
is stated to have written "three volumes on the ascetic life,"
^.fiy^ ft^ft^ rsao? A^ afsai. For his writings see Cave, Hist. Litt.^
for the year 373; Fabricius, Bibl. Graec.y viii. 361 ; Wright,
Catalogue of Syriac MSS., p. 1 304. Macarius was present at
52 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to the wise Mar Evagrius,' *'So long as we make the
devils rage we abide without injury." And although'
this blessed man naturally kept the strength of his
wrath [to fight] against obstacles to a life of excellence,
the death of Antony the Great. Macarius the Younger, or
Alexandrian, retired to the desert about A. D. 335. Before
349 he went to the Monastery of Saint Pachomius, where he
died A. D. 394. Like his namesake Macarius the Egyptian he
visited Antony, and also suffered banishment with his namesake.
See Sozomen, Hist, Eccles,, iv. 23; Socrates, Hist. Eccles,^ iii.
14; Rufinus, Hist[ Eccles,, ii. 4; Tillemont, Memoires, vii. pp. 57
and 102. At the end of the notice of the Macarii by Palladius
the Syriac version has the following: — ^aa^p £^2 ^o^ ^ ;i2 ;Sa
jt}i*icK6^ ^A^ito JUu»ft09i*;^p 007 ^29 .Jb*£wttto CK*33 2307 j^*SaeN ttSftti ^^a^
;t^*fiw ^»hifi»t <Sa^Ax2 &^ ^2 .^fissv^ >ft»?i\4\a .fiSk^fiUKM ^o^SA ;i^2 .^er
vnb^oSa^ :^2 .i»,\in o^^ *^l^ 6oj c^ ^iss^^ ^?o ^s^s^? .J^Sxtso ;^SmTV>
^^3fp J^O^ ^ajo^SAl M^29 (fol. 6Sd),
* Evagrius of Pontus, born at Ibora in Pontus Galatius, was
taken to Constantinople by Gregory Nyssen A. D. 381. Here
he became enamoured of a married lady of high rank, but
owing to a dream he fled from this city to Jerusalem where
he fell ill. He was received by Melania, who exhorted him to
receive the monastic habit, and about 382 he set out for Egypt,
and eventually retired to **the cells" in the Nitrian desert. He
died about 398, aged fifty-two years, having lived at Scete
seventeen years. He was the teacher of Palladius, Rufinus and
Heraclides of Cyprus, and was himself the pupil of the two
Macarii. See Socrates, Hist, Eccles, ^ iv. 23; Sozomen, Hist,
Eccles,, vi. 30 ; and Palladius, Hist, Laus.y cap. 86. According to
*Abhd-Ish6' Evagrius wrote*' three volumes ;" see B. 0., iii. i, p. 45 ;
Wright, Catalogue of Syriac MSS,^ p. 1274; and Cave, Hist,
Litt,, i, p. 275 ff. ^ We should read ^2 ;iao7 striking out aa.
1^
^t;:^-^.=yoTr iw^wrr ^ . --- r-^
BOOK I. CHAPTER IX. OF RABBAN MAR ^LIYA. 53
he abode without offence and without injury in [his]
love for man, and in the love of the exact image of
the excellence which [cometh from] the God of our
frail nature. Now by the hand of this man, who was
admirable in his manner of life, [p. 29] God, the Lord
of all, exposed the secret crime which had taken place
in that holy congregation in his days. And as God,
the Lord of all, destroyed and slew the prophets of
Baal by the hand of the blessed Mar Elijah,' so it
pleased the Lord of all to root out and destroy those
evil thorns, which were fit and ready for the fiery
furnace, that is, the unclean work" and manner of life
of those men, by the hand of this namesake and fellow-
soldier of Elijah the prophet. Now some say that he
received a revelation from God, and that in an angelic
vision he was commanded to go down from his own
cell in the night season to the cells of those men;
others say that it happened accidentally, and that he
heard the noise of the rods which the women were
using in weaving garments; and others that he found
little boys and girls, the children of those men, playing
round about the cells of their fathers, and that when
he asked them who they were, and whence they came,
they answered him saying, **We belong to this place,
and our fathers are such an one, and such an one;"^
but by whatever way it happened, we must know that
Elijah did not leave his cell without the divine com-
mand,— especially at eventide when a solitary should
be diligent in casting choice aromas into the censer of
his heart, to make from them a sweet-smelling savour
* I Kings xviii. 40. ^ Read ;i^oJp.
3 This passage is quoted in B. O., iii. i, p. 80. col. 2.
54 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
for the whole night, — merely to go down [to walk]
among the cells of the solitaries. Now when he saw
and knew [what had happened], he marvelled with an
exceeding great wonder. And since by nature heat of
temper and exciteable and fiery zeal cleave to the race
of Ishmaelites, he burned with fervour and became hot
with wrath, and like Elijah the prophet he complained
to God, saying, "The children of Israel have forsaken
Thy covenant, * they have trodden Thy law under foot,
they have forgotten Thy commandments, and instead
of the fatherhood of Abraham their father, they have
chosen for their father Satan the enemy of the race
of man."
CHAPTER X.^
[P. 30] OF THOSE THINGS WHICH THE BLESSED MAN DID
ON THE MORNING OF THAT DAY.
It was a custom in that holy monastery that the
board ^ by which the congregation was summoned should
not be struck, for any cause whatever, without the
command of the head of the convent; and whenever
this was done without the governor's command it was
a sign and an indication that they were removing the
head of the convent from his governorship.
Now when it was morning, the blessed Mar Elijah
went down to the monastery, and commanded the
sacristan to go up and strike the board to summon
the congregation. And when the sacristan heard [this],
* I Kings xix. 10.
* This chapter is quoted in B. O., iii. i, p. 89. col. iff.
^ ;xoi3&, Arab, ^y^, plur. ^y^\^^ the board which was
struck with a hammer to summon the monks together.
BOOK I. CHAPTER X. OF WHAT MAR iLIYA DID. 55
on account of the greatness and honourable position
of him that gave the command, he did not excuse"
himself and say, "I cannot do this without the com-
mand of Rabban, the head of the convent," but at the
command he did what the blessed man told him;
and all [the monks] were gathered together and came
to the church. Now the holy man Mar Babhai, who
was* head of the convent in those days, marvelled^
that, contrary to his command,* and for some cause
unknown to him ,* the board to summon the congregation
had been struck. And he called the sacristan and
asked him, **By whose command hast thou struck the
board?" and the sacristan answered and said, "Mar
Elijah the Zealous comanded me;" and Mar Babhai
called Mar Elijah and told him to reveal to him the
cause of this unaccustomed gathering together. Then
Mar Elijah answered and said, "How is it, O our
father and head, that the things^ which are done afar
off, and at a distance, are revealed to thee, while the
manifest wickedness which is [wrought] near at hand
in thy monastery is hidden from thee? How is it that
those who are not under the subjection of thy headship
tremble and hide themselves at the report of thy being
near or afar off, while in this divine inheritance Sodom
is being raised to life again, und Geba^ rebuilt? How
' Read ^2^x2. ^ Read ^erofi^ia oij.
3 Read ero^.
^ B. 0., iii. I, p. 89. col. I. 1. 16 has i>rri ;i^aA ^ ^\rr^
Isxoaa^ ;xoitt. ^ Read ;^^ 9^^ ;^ csS ^.
^ Read ^i^aib.
7 I Kings XV. 22; 2 Chronicles xvi. 6; Isaiah x. 29. lam
unable to explain the allusion here.
56 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
hath the gangrene and stinking sore" taken root and
spread in the members of the holy body of the sons*
of thy holiness?^ [p. 31] What availeth^ the blessing
of our father Abraham, or the bringing up of Mar
D&dh-lsho', or the teaching of the Gihon^ river of thy
doctrine if thy instruction hath [only] been fruitful in
bringing forth a brood of cursed snakes, which are the
children of the Serpent, the murderer, that is to say
these men of our congregation who are sitting before
thee, for behold their eyes see and their ears hear?
They have conceived iniquity,^ and brought forth
falsehood, 7 they have drunk troubled waters,* they
have eaten husks, ^ they have whored with the daughters
of Moab'° by the counsel of a spiritual" Balaam, and
they have forgotten the God" of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. To thee it belongeth, O our father, like
Phinehas'^ the zealous, to drive the spear of thy zeal
into these unclean men, and to rip open those who
have laid a blot on the congregation of the fathers
of all the children of the East. To thee, I say, it
belongeth to drive out and to destroy from Bethel,
' Read ;woao. ' Read
3 B, 0., aNox.9^p. ^ Lit. 'where.'
5 ^-r:\j lin^3, Ar. ^Ia-^siw = the Nile. In a passage quoted
by Payne Smith {T/ies. col. 708) the teaching of the four
Evangelists is compared to the four rivers of Paradise. The
teaching of St. Matthew is compared to the bursting overflow
of the Nile ois^o. <«\ ^\\ ^oM^, and there is a play on the
words «A^, *^-,A^- ^ Cf. Proverbs xxii. 8.
7 Psalm vii. 14. ® Jeremiah 2. 13.
9 St. Luke XV. 16. *" Numbers xxv. i.
" 2 Peter ii. 15. " Deut xxxii. 18.
*3 Numbers xxv. 7, 8.
BOOK I. CHAPTERS X, XL OF WHAT MAR BABHAI DID. 57
the house of the Lord God of thy fathers, those men
who appeared to me in a vision." Now when these
and other such like words had been spoken by the
holy mouth, and trembling and terror had fallen upon
every man, the holy Mar Bibhai said to him, "Thou
must indeed shew me the proof of these thy words,
and that which is proper, and that which is incumbent
upon me to do, I will do." And Elijah making a sign
with his hand, pointed out and discovered those wretch-
ed men, and said, **These are they who have erred
and gone forth from the fold of life to feed among
the thorns ; these are they who have forsaken Jerusalem,
and wished to walk among the serpents of the waste
places of Jericho ; ' these are they who have made a
calf in Horeb,"" and worshipped a molten image, and
have changed their object of honour into filth and
unclean stinkingness ! Behold there are women in their
cells, and children with them! These are they whose
wickedness hath driven me to give a command and to
do a deed^ without the command of thy holiness."
[P. 32] CHAPTER Xr.4
OK THOSE THINGS WHICH MAR BABHAI AND ALL THE
FATHERS DID.
Now when these things had been thus zealously
said and made manifest by the hand of this second
' Joshua vi. 26. Conf. Suidas s. v. TTiaXeoi^ 6q)€(Tiv, a
species of serpent found especially near Jericho.
^ Exodus xxxii. 4.
^ Lit. *'I have commanded a command, and I have done a deed."
^ The first five lines of this chapter are quoted in Z>'. 6>., iii. i,
p. 89. col. 2.
h
58 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Elijah, the hearts of those holy men were cast down ; and
they removed from [the offenders] the garb of the ascetic
life, and cut off the tonsure of their heads, and drove
them forth and expelled them from thence, together with
their wives and their children, and they kindled a flame
and burned their cells with fire. Thus they rooted out
that evil from among them, even as the children gf
Israel, when they were zealous with the zeal of the will
of the Lord, destroyed the children of Benjamin^ with the
mouth of the sword, because they had corrupted the
ways and paths of purity, and had renewed among
themselves the customs of the Sodomites; and as Ishmael
and the children of Kentora (Keturah), were driven
forth from the house of Abraham,* and made aliens,
that they might not inherit the paternal inheritance
together with the son of the free woman; and as
Manasseh also was rejected, who corrupted the holy
generations of the Lord,^ and established in the holy
temple an idol with four faces, ^ [so also were they
driven forth and rejected]. Now although these
men went forth in the disgrace of which their actions
were worthy, yet, they finally offered penitence, and
remembered Christ their Lord, and they did not bring
their lives to an end with acts of wickedness. Now,
by the hand of God, we will speak concerning these
men in the place which requireth it.
' Judges XX. 35.
^ Genesis xxi. 14; Genesis xxv. i — 6.
^ 2 Kings xxi. 7. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 7.
^ I am unable to explain the allusion here.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XII. THE ACCUSATION OF MAR JACOB. 59
CHAPTER XII.
OF THE UNLAWFUL ACCUSATION WITH WHICH OUR HOLY
MAR JACOB OF b£tH ^ABUfe WAS ACCUSED, AND OF THE
JUDGMENT, REMOTE FROM JUSTICE, WITH WHICH HE WAS
JUDGED.
Now when those guilty men had been cast forth
into exile, [p. 33] and had been justly driven away to
a great distance, and Satan saw that his labour had been
made of none effect, and that his disciples had been
condemned, he wished also to cast out and to drive away'
from that [monastery] those chosen and excellent men
who would not enter into his snares, and who could
not be caught in his nets. And he stirred up an accu-
sation against* the holy Rabban Mar Jacob, as being
one whose cell was near to the habitations of those
men, and as one who had known of their whole course
of life, and who had, during the whole time past,
sheltered instead of discovering them. And the holy
Mar Elijah according to his customary vehemence made
an attack upon him^ saying, "All this folly is thine, and
thou art guilty of all this sin; for if thou hadst revealed
the matter and shown it to me at the beginning, these
men would either have been admonished or expelled."^
And by this tumult which had risen up against him,
this most meek and humble of all men, who knew not
that any sin besides his own existed in creation, whose
eye was pure, and who never perceived wickedness in
* Read, with C, «Jti$io.
* Hoffmann would read, with C,
3 Eshtafal of ;a^ = HT se conjecit in, conflixit cum; (Tuvobeueiv
astronomice. Hoffmann.
* We should rather expect this to be the speech of Mar Babhai.
6o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
his neighbour, who never injured a man all the days
of his life, who never chid and who was never angry,
without making any answer whatever to those who
blamed him, with his looks bent to the ground, and
with his eyes full of tears, and with sorrowful penitence
in his heart, was he driven forth, and he went out from
that monastery by the order and decree of the word
of Mar Babhai. And he departed with a venerable and
holy disciple called Bar-Non who had been his companion
for a long time past, and thus they two went forth to
the mountains of Kardo' to lead the life of anchorites.
CHAPTER Xm.
[P. 34] OF THE THINGS WHICH HAPPENED IN THAT HOLY
MONASTERY AFTER THE GOINCi FORTH OF MAR JACOB.
It is evident that meekness and humility are the
most excellent of all the virtues which are cultivated
and perfected by the body and the soul, and we may
learn this from many things; and that there is nothing
worse than pride and arrogance we may also learn
from hearing and reading and seeing. If then, ac-
cording to the command of the Lord Jesus Christ,
thou art meek and gracious, and art of no ac-
count in thine own eyes and thy heart is filled with
penitence and self-condemnation, then thou shalt find
that all men [are thy] friends, and thou shalt turn the
harshness of foes to kindness, and our Lord God shall
make thee beloved in the sight of all men. And thou
' /. e,, Gebel al-Gudi of the Arabs, on the left bank of the
Tigris, over against Geziret ibn 'Omar.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XIII. REVOLT OF THE MONKS. 6 I
shalt also live uninjured with destructive beasts and
harmful reptiles, like this holy father,* who when he
was unjustly condemned, and unlawfully accused, neither
judged, nor thought himself to be like unto one of those
men who condemned him, but commended the whole
matter to God, to Whom belongeth the earth, and
Who judgeth the round world with righteousness.
Now therefore, when the blessed Jacob had thus
gone forth therefrom and the honourable head^ of the
monastery had laid a ban of many lines, [full] of denun-
ciations and accusations upon him, (let him that desireth
to know what manner of ban it was read the epistle
which the holy Mar Isho'-yahbh,^ Bishop of Baladh,^
' Read ^;5?. ' Read is.
^ Isho'-yahbh II. was the fourth head of the Monastery of
Izla. He was born at Gedhala, or Gudal J^v^^, near Mosul.
He studied at Nisibis, was made Bisliop of Baladh, and was,
on the death of Gregory, elected Patriarch (628—644). He wiis
sent in 630 by Boran, the daughter of Khosrau II., on an
embassy to Heraclius, and Bar-Hebra.*us says that when quest-
ioned by the Greeks as to his faith he confessed himself to
be of the same faith as they, whereby the faithful in his diocese
were much scandalized; when he returned he made an apology
in which he said that he had not agreed on this matter with
the Greeks. The Emperor made him take a wife like the other
A
Patriarchs. According to Abhd-Isho his works consisted of a
Commentary on the Psalms, sundry letters and stories, and a
discourse on various matters ^»;»o j^Ijjcfi^o ;^a\2o a^pp ;<sa&ao\xtf
.^Mt ^aje Ai»?. He died about A. D. 647. See Bar-Hebraeus,
Chron. Ecclcs,, ii. col. Ii4f.; B. 0., ii. 416 — 418; iii. I, p. 105;
Baethgen, Fragmente , pp. 13. 19. 108. iii; Wright, Syr. Lit.,
p. 842. col. 2. For the account of' his embassy to Heraclius
by Thomas of Marga see Book ii. cap. 4.
^ Baladh, or Eski-Mosul, is situated on the east bank of the
Tigris about forty miles above Mosul. See B. 0., ii, p. Ixix;
62 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
who afterwards became Catholicus, wrote to Mar Jacob,
from which he will learn the exact contents. I do not
set it down here out of respect for Mar Babhai, nor is
it right to make an accusation against holy men who
in common with other people, [p. 35] suffer from short-
comings or defects, especially' when the divine Will,
which maketh upright men to act according as it
pleaseth is hidden from our understanding) the holy
fathers who lived there at that time saw what had
been done, and that that praiseworthy man had
without fault been driven forth unjustly, and they all put
on indignation, and rebuked and chid the head of the
monastery and strove with him, saying, "Thou ad-
ministerest the things of God unjustly and after the
manner of men, and according to a natural disposition
which cannot be praised. Thou hast condemned the
blessed and meek Jacob without our knowledge, and
thou hast driven him away without our [consent]. Send
then after him, wherever he is, and know that if thou
dost not do so we all shall leave the convent. It is
our opinion' that he has performed the work of God in
a twofold manner, and that he has acted rightly in
sheltering the sinners, and leaving them to the Divine
examination, even though, according to what thou hast
decreed concerning him, he had seen the wickedness.
He was not constituted a ruler and a corrector for
thee, but for himself alone was he judge, and it was
Hoffmann, Aussuge^ pp. 97, 2 1 1 ; and the authorities quoted by
Payne Smith {l/iesaurus, col, 530).
' All the MSS. have N^ifL^w, but we ought perhaps to read
^ The MSS. have ^^, but read ^^.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XIII. REVOLT OF THE MONKS. 63
sutficient for him, and he purified his heart from seeing
the wickedness of others. In which of the Scriptures
canst thou shew us that we are commanded to neglect
the care of our own souls, to judge the sins of others,
after the manner of outside judges* who pursue gnats
with care, and swallow camels?* On the contrary we
are commanded to pray for our enemies, and to love
him that hateth us, and that to him who would strive
with us and who would take away from us our tunic,
we should also give our cloak.^ Moreover also, it was
thy bounden duty to correct those sinful men merci-
fully, and the women with whom they were united
would have gone forth, and the men would have been
sanctified by fasting and prayer, according to what we
learn in the Holy Scriptures was done in various places
to sinners and transgressors, even as the man in the
[Epistle to the] Corinthians* who lived with his father's
wife, [p. 36] was corrected and afterwards accepted;
and as is written in the elders,^ what Abba Poman
(Poemen) did to him to whom his wife gave birth, how
he afflicted his heart and returned to his former manner
of life; and as in the case of that elder by whose hands
God turned back the young Alexandrian who went to
him, saying, "He desireth not the death of a sinner,
but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and
live."^ Now when Mar Babhai saw that the holy fathers
' /. e.y judges of this world. ^ St. Matthew xxiii. 24.
^ St. Matthew v. 40. ^ i Corinthians v. i.
5 /. ^., in the Sayings of the Fathers.
^ Ezekiel xviii. 27. **A certain old man was asked by a toiler
in the ascetic life, *DothGod accept the repentance of the sinner*?
After the old man had taught him by many things he said to
him, 'Tell me, my beloved, wouldst thou cast away thy garment
64 THOMAS OF MARC;a, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of his congregation strove with him, and that he was
unable to make an apology for this act, especially as
he knew not whither the blessed Mar Jacob had gone,
he fell into great doubt.
because it was torn?' The toiler replied, 'No, I would sew it
up and use it again.' The old man said, *If thou hast pity
upon thy garment which is without feeling, shall not God have
compassion upon the work which He hath fashioned'?"
"A certain brother asked Father Sisoes, saying, 'What shall
I do, father, for I have fallen?' The old man said to him, 'Rise
up again.' The brother saith, *I did rise up, and again I fell/
The old man said to him, 'Rise up again'. The brother said
to him, *I did rise up again many times, and I fell'. The old
man said to him, 'Rise up again.' The brother said to him,
'Until when?' The old man said to him, 'Until thou advancest
either to good deeds or to ruin, for in that thing in which a
man advanceth he will go on, whether it be to death, or
whether it be to life'."
*'Abba Poemen said, 'I prefer the man who hath sinned and
done wickedly and become good again to the man who hath
never sinned and hath never shown repentance; for the former
hath a humble opinion [of himself], but the latter considereth
himself to be a righteous man."
^ ^alb 0070 »(\^ ^Noauj^ }oi^l >\nrty>? 007 Jp .>• ;Ji^ ^f0 faSb S^CsStl
.<*fiwabA J^ ^0^0 oi^ ^2 \l^ A2 .)^ oi^ a^^o .aa^ ai^ ^a2 2aie .((^3
.Ni2 Jb^ iPeV^S A? «*QTe^w»2^ 00; ^^ h^ ^^ fr^^a 00712 .^aJD> o^ a^^^o
aoiso Siia .007 ^2 oi^ &M2 .poja .fSA aj^ a.^2 .js\iia ^2 c^Sl^I to ,ai^
i^^^ii^ ;{»j0f N^ aofi^ .007 ^2 ais ^2 ,paa J3e£so .jaJb 07^ a»2 .fis!ils
.^atb 07S a^2 .«JSa0)^ ^a^ .007 ^2 07S aiD2 .pea aoN .^fi» o^ a.^2 .N^4^o
op ^aa p^a6s!c^ xA^ 2a*^ .j{>SadbQ3 o2 .2a*^ ^a^oi&a o2 ^^NNa ^a^
.a\o ^Sa&h ^v<9 2aa2^ ;s2 ^^ .aM2 ^o^ ^al ^}^ ^ .^osoS A .Af2
BOOK I. CHAPTER XIV. DISPERSION OF THE MONKS. 65
CHAPTER XIV.
OF THE DISPERSION OF THE HOLY FATHERS INTO ALL
COUNTRIES, WHICH ALTHOUGH IT WAS CONSIDERED TO HAVE
BEEN WROUGHT BY EVIL TEMPER AND HUMAN PASSION,
WAS NEVERTHELESS THE DIVINE WILL. AND WORK.
Now therefore, as the loadstone' collecteth particles
of iron, and attracteth them, and bindeth them to itself,
and imparteth to them some of its own force, so also
were those holy fathers, who were gathered together
and formed a part of that holy congregation, [drawn]
like particles of iron to the afore-mentioned stone, into
that matter of contention, which beginning with small
matters ended with great results, and they went forth
from that monastery because the bond of agreement
between them was broken. Now Mar Bar-Idta, an
ascetic, who possessed the powers of a seer," with the
eye of the spirit foresaw this dispersion, and one day
he cried out to the old men of his congregation, [p. 37]
and said to them, "My brethren, many matters come
to pass and are wrought in this world, which from the
trials [to which they give rise]^, or from their outward
appearance, are thought by men either to arise from
the opposition of devils, or to have been performed
^/oupt ^0703x0.^ opRii of^ ^r*rt Oil tHc "acceptance of Repentance"
from the Questions in the Paradise of Palladius, Nos. a^N
M*ifi<^, and o^N.
' .Af\ji^, ^ e., Xi6o^ MayvfiTi^, orNoS ;^«9^ ^m? ;^;^.
3 ^o^iUoaa This word is probably corrupt. Hoffmann suj^-
gests Mh^ma or ^of&o«Ma as the correct reading.
66 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
by the natural imagination of man; but our Lord' God
bringeth forth the dispensation of His Will from them,
according as He knoweth what is best, and at the end
the wise and prudent know that they were not per-
formed without His command, and that it was in no
common manner that they came to the end which stirred
up the praise of the wise, as for example, the flight of
Jacob from Esau,* the selling^ of Joseph.^ the murder
of the Egyptian by Moses,^ the persecution of David
by the hands of Saul,*^ and many other such like matters."
Thus also must it have been in this case, in respect
of the assembly of our holy father Mar Abraham, — now
the meek and lowly Mar Dadh-lsho' had departed this
temporary life — in the matter of the contention which
was about to arise, by which many of the holy fathers of
that monastery were scattered abroad in every place. "And
after a few years," ^ as the historian saith, "that is to say,
when this trouble came upon them, the holy Rabban Mar
Elijah, and Mar Hen4n-lsh6', his sisters son, came to Ni-
neveh, to the blessed Abba John the Elder, who had
been sent thither by Rabban Mar Abraham, and the
three of them built that holy monastery. And thus
Abba Benjamin, and Peter, and Paul, and John, and
Adada, and Ishai (Jesse), came to the Monastery of
Beth 'Abhe. And another Abba Jacob went to Abba
Hebhisha; Abba John to Nehel; and Ukhama {t. e,, the
' Read A». ^ Genesis xxvii, xxviii.
^ ;&AU9>0p, a rare word of which one example only is given
by Payne Smith. '* Genesis xxxvii. 28.
5 Exodus ii. 12. ^ I Samuel xix.
7 For quotations from this chapter see B. O., iii. i, pp. 255.
col. I, and p. 469 col. 2.
BOOK I. CHAPTKR XIV. DISPERSION OK THE MONKS. 67
•Black'), and Sabukht^ to Beth-Zabhdai ;' and Abba Sah-
rowai to Arzon,^ where he built a monastery; Rabban
Sabhr-Isho' to the Monastery of 'Abba Shappira;* Abba
John of Adharmah* to Dasen;^ and Abba Zekha-Isho'
and Rabban Abraham to Dasen, [p. 38]. And they,
' Read io6a6o /. e,, cu^a-^i-.*-**). The name Se-bocht means
"three have saved". See Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser,
p. 396, note I.
* A district on the western or right bank of the Tigris,
adjacent to Geziret ibn'Omar. It is the Bezabde of Ammianus
(lib. XX. 7).
3 /. e.y 'Apa2[iavTivri, a town and province of Armenia on the
borders of Mesopotamia, north of Hisn Kefa. See Hoffmann,
Auszuge, p. 174, note 1359. The province extended from
Geziret ibn 'Omar on the east to Diarbekir on the west. The
town is represented by the modem ^^-\ or Erzerum.
^ See B. C?., iii. i, pp. 255. 469.
5 w&pl .. *Loj>r The name of a bishopric and a place
situated between Nisibis and Mosul. See Hoffmann, Auszuge,
p. 203; and Yakut, i. p. 177.
^ Dasen was the mountainous tract of country called by
the Arabs Gebel Dasin, (identified with the Gara mountains),
which rising near Da'udiya in the west extends along to the
Upper Zab and away to the east into Gebel Pir Hasan Beg.
Dasen must have been bounded on the north by 'AmSdiya and
the valley of the §apna, and its most southern district was
Batnura, or BS-tann&rd, which lay along the Bedu rivulet, (a
small tributary which flows into the Upper Zab), about six or
seven hours from 'AmSdiya. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 202
— 207, and the authorities quoted by him. For Be-tanniire and
the Bedu rivulet see Badger, TAe Nestorians, vol. i, pp. 210
and 380. For AacTev of the LXX see Lagarde, Materialen,
1867, ii. 90. The modem diocese of Mar Auraham ofGunduk
which comprises a number of villages south of the Gara
mountains and those round about Akra, represents the diocese
of Dasen and a part of the diocese of Marga.
7 Or ^% ^oxf.
68 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and many others, built holy monasteries in various places,
and thus by the Divine Power which aided them, the
departure and the dispersion* which outwardly carried
suffering and strife into their hearts, at the last became*
a peace-making and friendly gathering together. And
they filled the country of the East with monasteries,
and convents, and habitations of monks, and Satan who
had rejoiced at their discomfiture was put to shame;
and they raised up to God everywhere holy worshippers
of His commandments. May we be sustained by our
Lord through their prayers, and according to His Will
may we live before him in grace, Amen.
CHAPTER XV.
OF RABBAN BAR-HADH-BHE-SHABBA, [aND OF THE MONASTERY
WHICH HE built].
Now this old man^ Rabban Bar-Hadh-bhe-Shabba
came from the village of Hadhodh,"^ and according to what
is written in the history of him, he also was a disciple
in the Great Monastery; and he also came down there-
from in this dispersion and was one of that holy body
of monks who came to Beth " Abhe. And he dwelt in
the valley which was above his village Hadhodh, and
built there a large monastery and lived in it. And there
were gathered unto him a few brethren, and he re-
mained with them and excelled in the deeds of a life
of virtue all his days; and he gave large gifts to his
' Reading, with Hoffmann, ib'poao ;2iox.
^ Read ^of. ^ ^aj^, a title of honour.
4 p^^ or po>L» see text p. 214. 6; 238. 11.
BOOK I. CHAPTERS XV, XVI. THE DISPERSION OF THE M( )NKS. 69
monastery and bequeathed to it all his inheritance of
the house of his fathers. And when Rabban Jacob came
to him on his way to Beth "Abhe, he also came with
him to this holy monastery, and tarried' with him until
Mar Jacob was established in the governorship there-
of; then he returned to his own monastery and dwelt
in it all the days of his life. His convent continued
for a great many years, and flourished and increased
through the healings and mighty deeds which were
wrought at the place where his bones were laid [p. 39].
Before our time, however, it was entirely ruined and
deserted, and his holy body was removed and laid in
the martyrium of this monastery' together with those
of the holy fathers; may our assembly be preserved
from harm by their prayers, Amen.
CHAPTER XVL
OF THOSE MEN WHO WERE DRIVEN FORTH FROM THE GREAT
MONASTERY, AND OF WHITHER THEY WENT AND DWELT,
AND OF HOW THEY PLEASED GOD.
Neither iniquity, nor sin, nor any kind of folly or
shortcoming, hath power or place before the great
might of repentance. It was this power which turned
back the prodigal son to his father s house and enriched
him with the paternal inheritance;^ it sanctified Mary
the sinner;^ it absolved the thief upon the Cross ;^ it
exalted the publican^ in the temple above him that
^ Read ^ooo. ' /. e., in Beth ' Abhe.
3 St. Luke XV. 20. ^ St. Luke vii. 48.
^ St. Luke xxiii. 42. ^ ^fteku^o for ;AaM!^.
JO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
fasted;' it delivered the inhabitants of Nineveh from
destruction;* and it also had mercy^ upon those sinful
monks, and raised up their feebleness to the sonship
of a good name.
Now when they had gone forth from that monastery,
they sent away the women to whom the devils had
united them, and they went to ,* to a
quiet place where they dwelt for a long time. And
with tears, and penitence, and spiritual suffering, and
the burning pains of conscience, and the contrition of
the understanding of their hearts, they purified them-
selves from the filthy pollution with which they had
been defiled. And from being lost, they were found;
from being cast down, they stood upright; and from
being lame, they walked firmly; from being aliens, they
became members of the household [of God] ; and from
being outcasts and abominations, they became saints
and crowned ones; for they had put away from them
all the riotous living with which they were contam-
inated [p. 40]. And their minds shone; and the
broken faculties of their understandings were brought
to life again; and they remained like a new man in
all the united power which is established by the body
and the soul, that is to say by practice and spiritual con-
templation,^ the two powers by which, when united we
please God, the Lord of all, and honour our neighbour.
* St. Luke xviii. 14. * Jonah iii. 5 — 10.
^ (sil for csi^.
* The MSS. have oy&oi^os^, but Assemani has {B, 0., iii. i,
pp. 90,470) {^Mh^aA Phugitha, and says that it is locus apud
Izlense coenobium'.
^ ^itAa )!Spo k^a^ U^9* ^u^&o jMao^t ,oi^6Us Orient. 2441. fol. 384,
coL 2.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XVII. THE COMING OF ABBA JONAH. 7 1
CHAPTER XVn.
OF THE COMING TO THESE MEN OF THE HOLY ABBA JONAH
THE ASCETIC FROM THE GREAT MONASTERY.
Now just as when God, the Lord of all, wished to
forgive the sins of king David, He sent Nathan the
prophet to him,* and by means of the allegory which
he composed, made him perceive his sin, and David
confessed that he was guilty of death, and said, *I have
sinned', and the answer was returned to him, *Also the
Lord hath put away thy folly, thou shalt not die'; and
as when He sent Jonah' the prophet, the herald of life,
to Nineveh, and he preached to them, and by his hands
the inhabitants thereof were turned back to what was
seemly; so also did He send to those brethren who
had sinned, and they were made a mockery, even as
they deserved, and they were made outcasts from the
household and inheritance of their fathers. But when
they repented and turned to God with all their hearts,
— just as did the children^ of Israel when they sent
away the remnant of the children of Benjamin^ which
had escaped from the sword of their brethren to the
rock of Rimmon, and gave them the right hand, and took
oaths to them in the name of the Lord that they might
return to their villages, and to their inheritance, and
that they might take unto themselves wives from Israel,
and might live and not die — inasmuch as [p. 41]
His whole graciousness and mercy overfloweth the
measure of our sins, and the sea of His loving-kindness
bursts forth to help and redeem us on the smallest
* 2 Samuel xii. * Jonah i. 2.
3 Read Ja^b^p* ^ Judges xxi. 13.
e
72 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
pretence of repentance which we show forth, — so by the
Divine revelation of His all-powerful Will, He made the
blessed man, the holy Rabban Jonah, come to them
from that monastery, and he forgave them their sin
and sanctified them, and he armed them with the spiri-
tual armour of the keeping of the commandments, and
so by a course of life which was pleasing to the Will
of God, they were all made perfect, and they departed
from this world with a fair name which bore praise to
the justifier of their lives, and the expiator of their
offences, Christ our Lord, to Whom be glory for ever
and ever!
CHAPTER XVIII.'
A A J
OF SOLOMON BAR-GARAPH THE SOLITARY, FROM THE
MONASTERY OF BAR TURA,^ AND OF THE HLSTORIES WHICH
HE WROTE.
There was a solitary brother whose name was So-
lomon bar-Garaph, from the Monastery of Bar-Tura, and
the period in which he lived is found to have been in
the days of the holy Mar Henan-lsho^ the Catholicus/
' This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 459, col. i f.
^ See B, O.y iii. i, p. 186. His history of Jacob of B6th
'Abhe is praised by Thomas of Marga. See chap. 24.
^ The Monastery of Bar Tura must have been near Beth
*Abhe. Both these monasteries were freed from the jurisdiction
of the bishop by Isho-yahbh of Gedhala. See Mai, Script,
Vet, Nova, Coll,^ t. x, p. 296
^ Henan-Isho I, called the Elder or the Lame, was appointed
catholicus A. D. 686, and practically ruled the Nestorian Church
until 701 ; he was buried in the convent of Jonah near Mosul
See B. 0,y ii, p. 42; Bar-Hebraeus, Citron, Eccles,, ii, col. 135;
Baethgen, Fragmente, pp. 32,1 17; and Wright, Syr, Lit., p. 843.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR-YAHBH AND THE VIRGIN. J !>
Now this man, from careful investigations and from the
reports of trustworthy men who lived in his days, and
from the traditions' of those who lived before his time,
compiled histories,* graceful of speech and elegant^ of
diction, concerning the anchorites and recluses who lived
before his time in various places, and in these he also
speaks concerning our Mar Jacob of Beth 'Abhe. And
it is from this history, [in] which he speaketh con-
cerning him, that we know from those who knew [him],
that after he went forth from the Great Monastery, he
departed to the Mountains of Kardo; and we are certain
concerning [the time of] his expulsion and his return
thither afterwards, [p. 42] But before I set down in writing
that history of our Rabban [Jacob], I will write in this
book another history which Solomon bar-Garaph ^com-
posed concerning the blessed Mar-yahbh and a virgin,
from which is made known how he returned to his cell
in the Great Monastery.
CHAPTER XIX.4
OF THE BLESSED MAR-YAHBH ^ AND OF THE VIRGIN NUN
AND RECLUSE.
One of the holy men narrated what he had heard from
the blessed Mar-yahbh, that glorious and wonderful man
' Read H^i^, ' $lS\o7b ii^.
^ Read xoi^miu&3.
♦ The greater part of this chapter is quoted in B. 0,, iii. i,
p. 106, col. if.
5 Mar-yahbh was a contemporary of Jacob of Beth *Abhe,
and besides the history of Jacob, 'to which Thomas refers in
this chapter, wrote an Epistle. See B. 0., iii. i, pp. 186,^87.
74 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
among righteous men, the memorial of whom Rabban
Mar Aphni-Maran' composed in elegant language, and
he said that the blessed Mar-yahbh repeated [the follow-
ing]:— "When I went up into the mountain that I might
find God, Who is everywhere, and is not limited to
[any one] place, I found there a holy woman, whose
garment, such as it was, was made of dried grass, and
her food consisted of the roots and wild fruits of the
wilderness. And it happened that I found a female
child with her to whom she gave suck. Now [the
cause of] the fall of our vile race was also with her
who, after having led the life of [holy and pious] men,
I should more truthfully say of holy angels, for forty
years, fell through the working of Satan. Why should
I keep silence [concerning this]? Now the girl whom
the Guardian of all mankind raised up from her was,
like Mary, in the stead of Eve, heaven instead of earth,
and a life-bearer instead of a death -bearer. And it
came to pass not long after this that the holy woman,
her mother, died having led a life of good deeds which
were pleasing to God, [p. 43] and she left the divine woman,
her daughter, in her place.*' Now this holy man Mar-
yahbh was, at rare times, accustomed to visit this blessed
woman, as he did her mother, and when he felt the
help which came from her, he used to say that, "Al-
though she was in the world, she was not of the world.
And I know not at all if she ever lifted her eyes and
' Aphni-Maran, ^\jU-^\ the monk, was a disciple of
Kam-lsho' the fourth Abbot of Beth *Abhe. He flourished
about A. D. 630 while Ish6*-yahbh of Gedhala was patriarch.
According to *Abhd-Ish6' he wrote a commentary on the Epistle
which Mar-yahbh composed .djoaead Au^jj^^o ;Na\2 o^ fi^i aoi»h^
See B. 0»j ii, p. 422. col.; iii. i, p. 187.
BOOK I. CHAPTERS XIX, XX. MAR JACOB OF bAtH 'ABHjfe. 75
looked in my face, for her mind was led captive by
the vision of God. Now when I asked her, 'Art thou
content that I should visit thee as I used to visit thy
mother?' she answered me softly in this one word, *As
it pleaseth thee'." Now this history teaches us that we
should not rely upon ourselves, even though we be
occupied with labours, but that we should take heed to
men, and be silent, according to the word of the Fathers.
CHAPTER XX.
[of MAR JACOB OF bAtH *ABHA].
Now they say concerning Rabban Jacob, him of
Beth 'Abhe, that when he went forth to that mountain
[Kardo], it was the season of autumn. And a certain
holy man dwelt near the hut of this blessed man with-
out knowing who he was, for he lived in the rock
above him, and he watched the manner of his life.
And it came to pass one day that when the blessed
Jacob went forth from his hut, the holy man went
down and placed some of the herbs upon which
he lived in the hut. And when [the blessed Jacob]
went in and found them, he thought that they had
been placed there for him by an angel of God, and
he began to bow his head and his body down to the
ground, [p. 44] and to return praise to God. Now
when he took the Book of the Gospels [in his hands]
and began to read, Satan, in the form of a serpent,
straightway flew out between him and the Book, and
because of his fear the Book of the Gospels fell out
of his hands. And immediately he heard a voice which
76 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
said, «Oh!». Now the voice was that of the holy man
who lived in the rock above him, for he was looking'
on when the blessed Jacob was overcome by the Enemy.
And he straightway rose up and went down to
him, and said to him, "Art thou thus so speedily thrown
down in the fight .'^" And he continued, saying, "Go
thou from mountain to mountain, until a woman meeteth
thee; whatsoever she shall say to thee, that do,
doubting nothing." Now when he found her, the girl'
was in a pear tree,^ and immediately she saw him, she
came down and fled away. And the elder woman cried
out to him at the top of her voice, saying, "If now
because of this snake which thou hast seen thou art alto-
gether terrified, how canst thou bear the severe onsets of
devils.'^ Rise up, and go back to thy cell, for by thy
hands God is about to make a monastery,^ which shall
be great and famous throughout all^ the East; and take
thou this my Book of the Gospels, which is somewhat
defaced, and give me thine." Now inasmuch as that
excellent man had no doubt whatever, the word of the
woman was fulfilled [to him] in unutterable wonder;
may we obtain mercy in the Day of Judgment by the
prayers of him, and of her, and of all God-fearing
people ! Amen.
* Read b}l.
* /. e,y the woman and her daughter referred to in the
preceding chapter.
^ Here the text is probably corrupt. Hoffmann suggests
that we should read i&'Mio 'on a rock'.
* Compare Guidi, Un nuovo testo Siriaco, p. 17, at the foot.
^ Read 0)\aa.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXI. MAR JACOB RETURNS TO MOUNT IZL A. ^^
CHAPTER XXI.
OF THE return' OF MAR JACOB TO THE MONASTPIRY OF
MOUNT izLA.
Now when the blessed Mar Jacob had heard these
things from the Lord by the hand of that holy woman,
[p. 45] although he would rather that his life had been
passed like that of a hermit, far away from human
habitation, and that his dwelling and place of sojourning
had been with the animals, that his mind by the rest
and quietness of the desert might have been united to
God, and that he might have been remote from all
human feelings and affairs, yet when he learnt from that
holy woman that it was the Will of God that he should
return to dwell with men, and that he should become a
father and a bringer up of ascetics and holy men, and
should cause to increase hosts of holy men, who were
to become the children and inheritors of light, he con-
formed to the Will of God which governeth* all things,
and together with his meek and lowly disciple, he re-
turned to that holy monastery [of Mount Izla]. And
[when] he had lived in his cell a little while, the
heavenly power urged him, and he was by it selected^
to depart without delay; and it moved Mar Babhai,
and by means of it Mar Jacob went forth therefrom
and came to Beth 'Abhe; but as to how* [he left] we
are silent,^ because we do not wish to appear to bring [the
charge of] strife against holy men by the hands of fools.
Now when he went forth nine brethren departed
* Lit. "Of his coming." ^ Read a^^^p.
3 Read ;^9a a9^(k2o.
* Literally "But how, we give to silence.'*
5 After ^ ^19 Hoffmann would add two points:
y^y
78 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
from that monastery with him, and they clave to him
and wished to dwell with him. And when he came to
Rabban Bar-Hadh-bhe-shabba/ according to what is
written in his history, he received him lovingly, and
rejoiced in him greatly, and went with him to Beth
'Abhe. And he prophesied to him concerning the
growth of his monastery, and of the greatness of the
honour which Christ our Lord would allot to his con-
gregation, and he tarried with him a short time; and
the blessed Bar-Hadh-be-shabba returned to his cell
and his monastery.
CHAPTER XXII.
OF THE JOY AND HAPPINESS, AND THE FESTIVAL FULL OF
GLADNESS WHICH THE MONKS MADE BEFORE HIM WHEN
THEY CAME TO THIS PLACE.
Now as there is joy and gladness to the children,
[p. 46] whose father having departed from them and
gone to trade in a far country, and having tarried there a
long while, afterwards retumeth to his house in great
prosperity because his business hath doubled many times,
and appeareth among his children in perfect health and
safety, with his face full of joy at the sight of them,
as he findeth them occupying themselves in those matters
which will give him pleasure, so also Abba Benjamin
and his companions had joy and gladness in the coming
of the holy Rabban Jacob to them. And they kissed
his holy person, and he kissed them, even like Jacob
* /. e.. Bar-hadh-bhe-Shabba who lived in Mount Sha'ran
^\^yA-U) J-^^, and whom Sabhr-Isho' nominated as his successor.
See B. 0., iii. i, p. 450, col. 2, at the foot, and p. 470, col. i.
BOOK I. CHAPTERS XXII, XXIII. THE RETURN OF MAR JACOB. 79
when Joseph his son appeared/ and they wept on each
other's necks, with a weeping which was begotten of
gladness of spirit. And he dwelt with them all his
days, in all the humility which our Lord taught the
children of His house, saying, "Learn of Me; for I am
meek and lowly in My heart: and ye shall find rest
unto your souls.'**
CHAPTER XXIII.3
OF THE TIME WHEN RABBAN JACOB CAME TO THIS COUNTRY,^
AND OF KING KHUSRAU* (CHOSROES) [tHE SON OF
hormizd].
Now King Khusrau^ (Chosroes) the son of Hormizd^
reigned in the nine hundred and first year, according
to the reckoning of the Greeks, and he lived in
his kingdom thirty-eight years. In the fifth year,^
then, of Khusrau according to what is written by
the holy Rabban Isho'-zekha, who lived in the days
of the last Mar Isho'-yahbh,^ who built the new
' Genesis xlvi. 29. * St Matthew xi. 29.
3 This chapter is quoted by Assemanf, B. 0., iii. i, pp. 458,471.
* /. e., to Marga.
5 ^^j^ or baidoa, Pers. y^Ji*^, Arab. y^J^ XocTpotiC-
^ Khusrau II. Parwez reigned from the summer of A. D. 590
to February 25,(29) 628. See Noldeke, Geschichie der Perser,
table facing p. 434; Guidi, Ufi nuovo testo Siriaco, p. 24, 1. 10.
7 Pers. >j>«^yb, Chald. T^D'lin. Hormizd IV reigned from
February 579 — 590. See Noldeke, op. cit., p. 434; Guidi, Un
tiuovo testo Siriaco, p. 7, 1. 5. ** /. e,, about A. D. 595.
9 /. e., Isho'-yahbh, the son of Bastohmagh, of Kuphlana
in Adiabene. He was one of those who accompanied Isho'-
yahbh of Gedhala on his embassy to Heraclius. On the death
of Mar-emmeh 644 — 647, he was elected Catholicus, and sat
until 657—658. See B* 0., iii. i, pp. 114,115,472; Hoffmann,
Auszuge, p. 226; Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 842.
8o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
temple,* the coming of Rabban Jacob to this Monastery
took place. And I, myself, having carefully investigated the
matter of the date, [p. 47] have found from the history of
Rabban Bar *Idta' that the time of his coming was exactly
according to the word of the holy Rabban Isho^-zekha.^
Now when King Khusrau wished to build a con-
vent* to Shirin^ his wife, in the country of Belesh-
' Though famous among the Nestorians for having built
A
a magnificent temple at Beth 'Abhe, he is equally famous
among the Jacobites for having by bribery and other means
prevented their building a church at Mosul. c^jo^^ JLiof
{JU^D {{ql^iM tnri*»o ,C^jciVi^ IL^ Jli^ViSi, ooot ^j? •afiOLa^L'^o))
•jLiAiA^oj^k^AOJUu^ «^f^? {i-^oita. See Bar-Hebraeus, Cliron,
Ecclvs., ii, col. 127, and B. 0,, iii. i, p. 1446".
* See p. 38, and Thomas of Marga, Bk. i, chap. 28, Bk 2, chap.<5.
^ A monk of Mount Izla, and the founder of Beth Rabban.
See B, O.y iii. i, pp. 255,471,472.
4 Bar *Idta probably refers to the Church of Mar Sergius.
The ^Arv:^ ;a*a is mentioned in Guidi, Nuovo testo, p. 16, 1. 2.
5 Shirin, a native of Huzistan, was of Greek parentage and
was a Christian. See B. 0., iii. i, p. 109, but especially
Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. 283, note 2; p. 287, note 2;
and p. 357, note 4. In Guidi, Un nuovo testo Siriaco, p. 10,
Khusrau's two "Christian wives", A>^'\g>^ ^ojSxi ^xS^ are
distinctly mentioned; the one ^*&^ is called yZM>»&2, and ^lu&jo
the other ;>^oc77a. Her favourite physician was Gabriel of Sinjar
*'who let blood from her arm, and who became as a son to her"
(Guidi, op. cit,, p. 14.). Bar-Hebraeus states in his Chronicle of
Dynasties^ (Bruns ed. p. 97, 11. 10, 11, Bedjan ed. p. 92, 11. 23,24)
that Khusrau built three great temples to the Mother of God^ the
Apostles, and Mar Sergius the Martyr, and that the Patriarch
of Antioch consecrated them, Jla^oV JJIaIo) {KXL o;jBia JLlao
^{ tjt^o *.{}o^.£D ^fi^A^^jao v^;:>niS.o IaaX^Xo {o^{ lyS>A^
•^Aa{^ JLd;^W^ ^"d he adds that "Christianity was spread
abroad in all Persia" iad;^ -h"^**^ {lftu^fn;-o J^&sdLlo; but
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXIIL THE RETURN OF MAR JACOB. 8 I
ph4r,' he sent to the city of Edessa," to the good man of
worthy memory, ShamtA,^ the son of the blessed Mar
Yazdin,* telling him to bring from there copies of the
that he was a heathen at heart is evident from his unseemly
conduct in the Church at Dara. See Theophylactus 5. caps.
13.14, Evagrius vi. 21. (For an account of Sergius, who is
said to have suffered persecution in the reign of Maximian, see
Tillemont, Memoires, torn. v. pp. 73,282, and Butler, Lives of
the Saints, October 7.) Khusrau ascribed the pregnancy of his
best-loved wife Shirin to the power of Saint Sergius, but his
professions of Christianity appear rather to have been due to
the influence of the woman whose wit and beauty and gift of
singing are famous in the romances of the East, than to conviction.
* The BoXoTecyiqpopa of Stephanus Byzantinus, i. e., the
town called by the Syrians and Arabs *S'-^ yJ^'C^^ Halah,
Hulwan, which was situated beyond the Tigris in Adiabene. It
was of some importance, and was one of the towns which had
the privilege of electing the patriarch. See Hoffmann, Auszuge,
p. 6Ty note 592, and p. 120; Noldeke, Geschichte der Pcrser,
p. 134, note 3.^
* ^^i\ utjC* now called Urfah. For the history of Edessa
during the Vllth century see Duval, Histoire ctAdesse, p. 222 ff.
^ For the account of Shamta's position under Khusrau and
Sherowai, see Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. 383, note 3,
and for the narrative of his murder of Khusrau, see Thomas
of Marga, Bk. i, chap. 33; and the authorities quoted by Nol
deke, op. cit,, p. 382, note i.
^ See Assemani, B, 0., iii. i, p. 392. Yazdin, or "Yezdin
the tax-gatherer" was a prominent member of a powerful and
wealthy Christian family in the neighbourhood of Dastagerd,
and as far back as the end of the fifth century, a Nestorian
Synod was held in his ancestor's house at Karkha dhe Beth
S16kh (Kerkuk). See Noldeke, op. cit., p. 383, note 3; Bar-
Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles,^ ii, col. 71. "Now at that time there
was well known in the gate of the king Yazdin of Karkha
dhe BSth Garmai, and he was an advocate for the Church like
Constantine and Theodosius; and he built churches and mon-
1
82 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Holy Scriptures,^ and Prayer Books, and Lectionaries,
which were to belong to that convent. And after he
had gone there, and finished his business, he brought
with him for Rabban a large Service book, and he asked
for Rabban's prayers and set out for his own country.
And all the books which Rabban wrote with his own
hands, were [copied] from the service book which the
honourable Shamta brought to him, and in the greater
number of them may be found written thus, "Mar
Shamta, the son of Yazdin, the prince of believers, gave
this service book."
CHAPTER XXIV.
OF THE HONOURABLE BASTOHxMAGH,* THE FATHER OF MAR
isH(V-YAHBH,^ THE CATHOLICUS. *
Now Sahdona,^ the writer of the "History of Rabban
Jacob," has omitted from his work many important
matters which he has made extraneous,^ as for example,
asteries everywhere And he was beloved by Khusrau
even as was Joseph in the sight of Pharaoh, and it is said that
on the morning of each day he used to send one thousand
^sxbi to the King." Yazdin also sent money to rebuild the
churches at Jerusalem. See Guidi, Un nuovo testo Siriaco^ pp. 17,22.
* For the manner in which he acquired books at the capture
of Dara see B, 0,, iii. i, p. 451, col. i, at the top, *>^*^ cJ^^
'i^\^\j\> ^^, etc.
^ This name means "the man with a large family." Hoff-
mann, Auszuge, note 1800.
A
^ /. e.^ sho'-yahbh III. of Kuphlana in Adiabene.
^ Lines 14 — 21, p. 47, and 11. i — 3, p. 48 are quoted in
B. 0., iii. I, p. 462, col. 2. 5 See supra, p. 45, note 3.
^ /. e,, which he has considered foreign to the purpose ol
his work and has therefore omitted. We might read ^2 aa^o
Va>a "and he has passed over them as foreign." See Payne
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXIV. OF BASTOHMAGH. 83
the coming of Rabban Mar Isho'-zekha to this holy
man; the account concerning the fire which broke out
in the monastery^ and to which he set limits, and it
was extinguished; and the account of the flood which
took place in the two valleys, against which he went
forth, and set bounds to it, and little by little he made
it go down until it subsided, that it might not tear up
the monastery and the temple in the first place in which
it was built. And concerning these things Mar Gabriel'
wrote [also] in the metrical discourse which he composed
on Rabban Jacob, saying, "He straightway extinguished
the fire which broke out in the house of the monastery,
and he made to subside the flood which rushed down
to tear up its dwelling." [p. 48] And now, according
to [the omissions made] in those things which Rabban
Aphni-Maran wrote concerning him in his small history^
of his triumphs, and according to what we have set
down in a preceding chapter^ [from the history] which
Shelemon bar-Gariph wrote, — from which the greatness
of this man Mar Jacob is well made known — so also
will I omit^ what [I wish to omit] and will make ready to
write down the following story concerning the man, worthy
of remembrance and of fair renown among the righteous,
Bastohmagh the nobleman, from the country of He-
Smith, Thesaurus, coll. 577,2783, and Noldeke in Z.D.M.G. xxv,
p. 672. Hoffmann thinks that perhaps h^^ aa& in Philoxenus ^
Gr. TrapfiXGn Tf|v ?Huj.
' ;oi^ = the assembly or community of the monks.
* Gabriel, surnamed the 'Dancer', was born at Nisibis. He was
ordained by Selibha-zekha at Kerkuk about A. D. 720. See
Thomas of Marga Bk. 2, chap. 33 and B, 0., iii. i, pp. 460—462.
3 Read ji^^^at^a,
^ Read fiiha. Compare chap. 18, p. 41 (text).
^ Read ^ii jaai»
7
84 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
dhaiyabh.' Now he possessed in this country some small
estates, among which was one called Beth Ziwa,^ and
whether it was to visit his estates, or. to be blessed by
Rabban, he was continually coming to him. And he
always passed^ over the King's Bridge, which was below
his village, the ruins of which are known to this day,
and came by Estwan, a village on the Zabha (Zab). And
it came to pass that once when he was passing over the
bridge, he saw some sorceresses washing clothes by the
Zab, and they were singing to each other the songs of
devils, and everything which was round about them danced
as they sang. Now as he drew near to them on his way a
small fragment of one of the refrains which they were
singing became fixed in his mind, and when he had
gone a short distance from them, he began to meditate
upon what he had heard. And straightway devils joined
themselves to him openly, and required of him, saying,
"Command us to do something which thou wishest us
to do." Now when Bastohmagh saw this, he feared
greatly, and he acted craftily with them and said to
them, "Gather together these stones, and pile them in
a heap," — now these stones are known to this day — "and
follow me whither I am going " [p. 49] And he drove
the mule upon which he was riding quickly along until
he came to the cell of the holy old man, and he said
or ^j-., Adiabene. The Syrians generally considered
this district to include all the land between the Upper and the
Lower Zab. See Hoffmann, Atisziige^ note 191 1.
^ Beth Ziwa lay on the left bank of the Upper or Great
Zab, and as Baslohmagh used to cross the river by the King's
Bridge to visit Rabban Jacob, Beth 'Abhe must have been
situated on the right bank, and at no great distance from the
river. ^ Read a^^ ;iai ^.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXV. GREGORY OF TELL-BESME. 85
to the devils, "Take this mule, and watch him until
I come out;" and he went in trembling, and revealed
to Mar Jacob what had happened to him. And Rabban
answered and said to him, "Repeat before me what
thou hast heard," and while Bastohmagh was repeating,
Rabban wrote down upon the ground with his finger
what he heard. And when he had finished it all Rabban
made the sign of the cross over the writing, and said
to Bastohmagh, "Repeat once more what thou hast al-
ready repeated;" and he said to him, "I know nothing
of it whatever;" and Rabban answered, and said as he
laughed, "Rise up, and look after thy mule, for the
devils have loosed him and gone away."
CHAPTER XXV.
OF GREGORY OF TELL-BESME ' [aND OF THE OFFICE OF
CATHOLICUS WHICH HE RECEIVED].
In my' first apology I made known to thy wisdom
beforehand,^ O our brother, ['^Abhd-lsho'], that when I
had written down the memorials^ of the saints which
thou hadst entreated me to write, I should be obliged to
* Syr. ;!aaai rendered "aromatarius" by Assemani {B, 0., iii. i,
p. 472) and Payne Smith (T/i€s., col. 550). We should probably
point ;Iaoj^ and translate, "the man from Tell-Besme" (See Hoff-
mann, Aussuge, p. 115). Tell-Besme jU-mo Jj, the y«ac9 An
of the Chronicle of Dionysius {B, (9., i, p. 273), was situated
to the west of Mardin, near Deyrik, and the ancient ruins of
this place are indicated on J. G. Taylor's map in Journal Geogr,
Soc. London, vol. 38, 1868, p. 355.
^ Read, with C, ,^^ha jo^aa. ^ See supra, p. 19.
^ Add some word like ^^^^ after ^0»pe7^.
II
86 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
t
insert' also the memorials of others' who were governors
of the Church in their times, where it was necessary,
in order that their period might be known, and that
[this] history might possess a consecutive, historical
narrative.
Now therefore^ at this period the blessed Mar
Sabhr-lsho'* was known to be the head^ of the Catholic
Church, and he served the office of head of the Patriarchate
for eight years, more or less, and he departed from
this world in the fourteenth year of king Khusrau^ in
the city of Nisibis, Mar Isho'-zekha, the head of the
monastery, having departed this temporary life in the
thirteenth year [of this king].
[p. 50] Now when the valiant Khusrau had captured
the city of Dara^ on the borders [of the Greek and
' We might perhaps read ^e^poro^ 14 omitting p ^.
^ Read ^x^iS^ ^2 or ^'iwA ^2.
^ Read ^o\aae. This and the seven following clauses are
quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 441, col. i.
* Sabhr-Isho' was a native of Perozabhdd a^atoa^ in Beth
Garmai; he became Bishop of Lashom, and afterwards patriarch
in 596. He died in the year 604 at Nisibis. See B. O., ii,
p. 41 5; iii. I, pp. 441 — 449; Bar-Hebraeus, Cliron, Eccles,, ii, 107;
Baethgen, Fragmente, pp. 36, 119; Wright, Syr, Lit,^ p. 838;
Guidi, Un ?iuovo testo Siriaco, pp. 10,15.
s Read ^&.
^ A. D. 604. He was buried in the monastery which he
built at ^\S^ B. 0., ii, p. 415, col. 2.
^ /. e., 29p or 2a2?, Arab. i^iJ", Adpa^ "between the borders"
{&6mts s^), or Dara of the marches, is situated about eight
hours' ride to the S. E. of Mardin. It was built on the eastern
frontier of the Roman empire towards Assyria with the view
of checking the invasions of the Persians. For an account of
its fortifications see Procopius, Bello Perstco, ii. 13. "Dara con-
tinued more than sixty years to fulfil the wishes of its
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXV. GREGORY OF TELL-BESME. 87
Persian territory], in the fifteenth year of his reign,'
the Christians demanded from him a CathoUcus; and
the king commanded that the blessed Gregory, Metro-
politan of the city of Nisibis, whom Mar Sabhr-lsho'
improperly had cast forth into exile, — which act is spoken
of in terms of condemnation in the Church until this
day — should be appointed CathoUcus. But certain of
the teachers and believing men by whom this matter
was to have been carried out, acted with deceit against
the blessed Gregory, because they were afraid of the
immeasurable zeal which that blessed man possessed.
Now there was in Mahoze* a certain expositor called
founders, and to provoke the jealousy of the Persians, who
incessantly complained, that this impregnable fortress had been
constructed in manifest violation of the treaty of peace between
the two empires." Gibbon, Decline, chap. 40. Concerning the
first fortification of Dara by the Greeks see Wright, yoshua
the Stylite, p. 70. Ibn Batutah describes it as "very old, white
in appearance, with a lofty fortress which is now ruined" (ed.
Defr^mery et Sanguinetti, ii, p. 142). The ruins have been
well described by Sachau in his Reise in Mesopotamieu^ pp. 394,395.
* Bar-Hebraeus states that Dara was captured by Khusrau
A. Gr. 915 — A. D. 604, after a siege of nine months, and that
Sabhr-Ish6\ who was with him, died there during the siege
Chron, Eccles.y ii. 107. According to Guidi {Nuovo teste Siriaco,
p. 14, 1. 18) Khusrau captured Dara in the fourteenth year
of his reign.
* Vi^^ =»^^.\jcj\ "the double city*' /. e,, Seleucia and
Ctesiphon which were situated on both banks of the Tigris
about twenty miles below Bagdad. Seleucia was on the right,
and Ctesiphon on the left bank of the river. Within the last
six years the building on one side of the famous Arch of
Khusrau has fallen, and the destruction of the whole ruin may be
expected to follow in a short time, for the fine large bricks
are carried away continually in boat loads to build new
houses and walls.
88 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Gregory/ and in respect of him they acted subtiUy,
and made him Catholicus without the Will of the Holy
Spirit, Who [alone] perfecteth the holy things connected
with the Holy Church according to His Will. And
certain other men, [who] had not acted justly in the
matter of Gregory [of Nisibis], but who felt it right to
acquiesce in what had been done until the Lord had
worked out His Will, or until Gregory had ended his
life, and had passed out of the world, wrote letters of
accusation, and painted pictures [in which they repre-
sented] Gregory* feeling a hen^ [to see] if it was fat
[enough] for his food. And the other bishops [acted]
in various ways, which it is not seemly to describe,
and they brought these painted drawings and the letters
of accusation before King Khusrau.
' Bar-Hebraeus {C/iron. Eccles,, ii 107) describes him as a
native of Kashkar, and a doctor in the Church of Seleucia.
He was an avaricious man, and his disciples bore a bad name
for which he was much reproached, not only by his own people
but by the Persian nobles. He died four years after he was
ordained Catholicus, and was buried in Seleucia. The Persians
then subjected his disciples to torture until they revealed the
hiding-place of all the money which their master had collected.
Gregory is No. 28 in the list of the Eastern Catholics given
by Solomon of Basra in the Book of the Bee, (ed. Budge,
p. 117). Gregory of Seleucia was appointed by the influence
of Shirin and her physician Gabriel of Sinjar; compare ^»a^o7
07&M 90 ^07 »o70<^*2^ ^^"^stp orXo&^aLidas ^^ 3o\»a\^ ;dAe^Jb >bA>^^2
ySn ^*3*^ ^ da\fi^^^ ^isksea aay>\\!i .^aX^ ^o^ ^01^ jd^a^ ««a3 a^ a^a
l^^ay^ ;^p ;aao3 o7fisouc^ kspo .eeo; Guidi, Nuovo testo, p. 1 5.
^ Note 6 refers to s»o7oI« r\rr^ 02 (p. 50, 1. 13) and not to
3 Perhaps alluded to in Guidi, Niwvo tesfo, p. ir.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXVI. THE STAGNATION OF THE CHURCH. 89
CHAPTER XXVI. '
OF THE STAGNATION OF THE CHURCH AFTER THE DEATH OF
MAR SABHR-iSHO THE CATHOLICUS.
Now when the king heard and saw these things,
[p. 51] and had learned that the Christians had not
enthroned as Catholicus the Gregory whom he had
commanded, but had craftily set up another, he forgot
all his love and friendship for the Christians, especially
that which he had for Sabhr-lsh6^ and he cursed them
angrily, [saying,] 'Gregory* shall not minister as head';
and he swore by the Sun, his god, saying, "As long
as I live I will never have another patriarch^ in the
country of the East," which [threat] he actually carried
out, for the disciple of Satan contrived carefully that
the holy priesthood should be removed from the
Christians of the country of his rule. And since there
was no father to beget, the children who had been
born came to an end little by little and ceased; and
so, until Khusrau died by the sword of the Christian
children of the Church, the holy Church remained without
a Patriarchate. And no Bishops and no Metropolitans
^ This chapter is quoted in B, 0., iii. i, pp. 90,91.
* Gregory died in the nineteenth year of the reign of
Khusrau — A. D. 608—609.
3 About this time the famous physician Gabriel of Sinjar
flourished. As he was a Jacobite and had great influence with
Khusrau, and was a bitter foe (a<,aui ^^) of the Nestorians, it
is probable that the king's unreasoning oath was due, in a
great measure, to this man's power over him. It is certain
that for eighteen years the Nestorians had no patriarch. See
Bar-Hebraeus, Chron, Eccles,, ii. 109 and note i. The whole
question of the appointment of Gregory of Kashkar as Cathol-
icus being a concession to Shirin the Queen and Gabriel of
Sinjar is fully discussed by Hoflmann, Aussiige^ pp. 118 — 121.
m
90 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
were consecrated, and the holy Church endured grief
through the absence of the head and governor, and
father of fathers, the Patriarch.
CHAPTER XXVII.^
OF MAR BABHAI," AND OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL VISITATION
WHICH HE UNDERTOOK.^
At this time,^ among the company of the monks,
* This chapter is quoted in B, 0., iii. i, p. 91, col. if.
^ /. e,, Babhai of Beth 'Ainatha in Beth Zabhdai, to be
distinguished from Babhai bar-Nesibhn&ye. See supra, p. 46, note 4.
^ The duty which Mar Babhai undertook was the inspector-
ship of monasteries. It will be remembered that about the
middle of the sixth century Hannana of Adiabene, the successor
of Joseph Huzaya in the school of Nisibis, had attacked the
doctrines of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and had declared his
intention of following the views of Chrysostom. As he was a
teacher of importance and had a following of eight hundred
pupils, the Nestorian Church ran a great risk of an internal schism.
The views which he brought forward were condemned at a
synod held under Isho'-yahbh of Arzon, (581 — 595), and at
another presided over by his successor Sabhr-Isho' (596—604).
Joseph of Hazza or Arbel adopted the opinions of Hannana,
and his example was quietly followed by a large number of
monks and others, and after the death of Gregory of Kashkar
the Metropolitans of Nisibis, Adiabene, and Kerkuk persuaded
Mar Babhai that it was his bounden duty to visit all the
Nestorian convents, and to expel all such as inclined to, or
professed, the views of Hannana and Joseph of Hazza, togetlier
with any of the Mesalleyane or "praying" monks who might
be found therein. Mar Babhai was qualified for his task in
every way, and the manner in which he carried it out is
warmly praised by Thomas of Marga who, no doubt, expressed
the general opinion of the Nestorian Church at this period on
this subject. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 116— 121 ; Wright,
Syr, Lit,, p. 842, col. i and the authorities quoted by him.
^ See Guidi, Nuovo testa, p. 17, 1. 18.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXVII. OF BABHAI THE GREAT. 9 1
there flourished in doctrine and in a life of excellence,
the blessed Mar Babhai the Great. Now these Metro-
politans who were allied to one another, Mar Cyriacus*
of Nisibis, Mar Yonadhabh of Adiabene, and Mar
Gabriel* of Karkha dhe Beth Slokh wrote — now by
that time holy monasteries had been built, and they
feared the wicked doctrine of the Mesalleyane,^ and the
blackness of the religion of the heretics [p. 52], lest
these regions round about should be sown by the hus-
bandmen of the Evil One, and it was not easy for them
to visit the churches through fear of the government,
lest Khusrau by whom the Patriarch had been estab-
' See B. 0,, ii, p. 416, col. i. For the letter which Isho'-
yahbh III. wrote to him see B, (9., iii. i, p. 141,^ col. 2, p. 142,
col. I (Nos. 41 and 46). According to 'Abhd-Isho' he wrote
^JboSodp ;Noj«\9ttoo ^??e a>\«i» l!^o ^Slse ^(S0JAa*orp ^a^ ''an
exposition on Faith and the Mysteries (Sacraments), the cause
of the Nativity and Epiphany, and a commentary on Saint
Paul". See B, £?., iii. i, p. 215. He was a member of the
Mission to Heraclius. See Thomas of Marga Bk. ii, chap. 4.
^•For the letters of Isho'-yahbh III. to Gabriel see B. (9., iii. i,
pp. 114, 141, 142.
3 The l^^y called by the Greeks eux6jLi€V0i or euxTiai,
Euchites, /. c, *'those who pray", were a sect of heretics who
sprang up in Mesopotamia in the third quarter of the fourth
century and spread themselves over Syria and other places;
their doctrines were current as late as the twelfth century.
They believed that each man received from his ancestors at
birth a demon which always led him on to evil. Baptism, they
thought, was able to lop off the external branches of sin, but
it could never eradicate the demon from the soul in which it
was the cause of sin. Prayer was the only means by which
the demon could be exorcised, and to do this effectually a
man must pray without ceasing, for in that alone could per-
92 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
lished should act deceitfully with them, and they be de-
livered over to dangers — to persuade the holy man and
teacher of the Church, Mar Babhai, that as it was
evident to every one that he was a solitary and not
a bishop, as long as our Lord was ordering a change
in His grace towards the Church, he should visit* the
monasteries, and convents, and monks, and repair* the
breaches and drive out and expel from the Church him
that was sick and broken in wickedness. And these
three Metropolitans did this, and they all wrote letters
and entreaties to him, and he, like a prosperous labourer
and a vigorous soldier of the faith, ministered unto the
Church, and guarded it, and glorified it until the murder
of the wicked King Khusrau. And after a Catholicus
was ordained he dwelt in quietness in his cell.
fection be found. Of them Epiphanius {Haer. 80) says "toti in
orationes intenti cetera negligebant, et, abjectis propter falsam
Evangelii interpretationem, bonis fortunae, otiosi errabant per vices
ac plateas, viris promiscue cum mulieribus dormientibus." They
refused to work, and wandered from city to city begging their
daily bread; their profession and occupation in life was "prayer."
Bar-Hebraeus {Ckron, Eccles., i. 573) calls them ;^bo\ ^lu^^.
See B, 0., i, p. 128, col. 2, (where they are mentioned by
Ephraem Syrus together with a number of other heretical sects) ;
Assemani, Dissertatio de Syris Nestorianis {B. (?., iii. 2,
p. CLXXnff.; iii. I, p. 10 1, col. 2, at the top); and Cotelerius,
Eccles. GraeC' Monumenta^ t. i, p. 302 ff. A good account of
the Mesalleyanfi is given by Tillemont, Mhnoires Ecclesiastiques^
t. viii, pp. 222 — 226; and see especially Guidi, Ostsyrische
Bischofe, in Z, D, M, C, Bd. xliii, p. 391.
' Read &a3j^. ' Read A^oAi*
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE AUTHOR's APOLOGY. 93
CHAPTER XXVm.'
THE APOLOGY OF THE AUTHOR TO HIM WHO WOULD ASK
A QUESTION.
If now any contentious man, or anyone peaceably
disposed should ask, "Had not these great Metropoli-
tans power to put an end to the wickedness which was
springing up in their dominions without [the help of]
Mar Babhai.'^" [I answer] Yes, but every Metropolitan
is not necessarily a doctor,^ neither can every doctor
know [how to decide] all questions in dispute, nor can
every doctor sucessfully contend against all the various
false religions ; one doctor hath one quality, and another
doctor has another. In the holy Mar Bibhai, [p. 53]
however, all these various qualities were found: [the
power of] arguing against heresies; [the power of]
interpreting the Scriptures; [the power of] commenting
upon the writings of the Fathers, and of investigating
the matters in them which required searching out.
And thou mayest learn concerning all his varied learning
if thou wilt read the books which he composed; now
eighty and four^ of his works on various subjects are
preserved, and are held in honour by the holy Church.
And also, the foul heresy of the Mesalleyane began
with monks, and it was even right that by monks it
should be detected, as being those to whom the
visitations of grace are [especially] manifest and
* The first 12 lines of the text of this chapter are quoted
in B, 0., iii. i, p. 91, col. i.
^ Read ;e«^ ImH^.
3 For the list of them by 'Abhd-ish6' see B, (?., iii. i. 94.
94 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the crafty workings of the devils which come upon
monks who keep in the quietness of the cell. And also
when the heresy of the Melchisedekians * broke out
at Scete in the land of Egypt through the contemptible
monks who said that Melchisedek was the son of God,^
' fJuoaudi^ for ;|ujba»{A\j0; see B, 0,, i. 386, I. 20.
^ The Melchisedekians were a sect founded by one Theodotus
an usurer who lived about A. D. 174. They first believed that
Christ was a mighty, divine power, jiieTaXnv Tiva xai Geiav
buvctjLiiv, and later this power was identified with the Holy
Ghost. To these views they added the opinion that Melchise-
dek had neither father nor mother, and that his beginning and end
were incomprehensible (See Theodoret, Haer. fab, ii. 6; and
Epiphanius Haer, Iv.). St. Jerome proved that Melchisedek
was a man, and the governor of a district in Palestine (Tille-
mont, Memoires, iii. p. 32). In the Book of the Bee (ed. Budge
p. 35) it is said that Melchisedek was the son of Malah (in
Bezold, Schatzlwhle, p. 36 Malakh) the grandson of Shem the
son of Noah, and that his mother's name was Y6zadak. On
a marginal note of the MS of the Book of the Bee which I
called A (fol 39^?) the name of Melchisedeks father is given
as Harkleim, and that of his mother Shelatheil, X^;i^, ^^Sktibor.
The passages from the lexx. quoted by Payne Smith {Tlies,
col. 2146) add that '*he sprang from foreign peoples, and on
this account [the names of] his parents were not written in the
[Book of] Generations, according to the words of Paul (Hebrews
vii. 3). And the names of his parents were made known by
revelation to the old man in the desert of Scete who, in his
simplicity, meditated upon these things, by the counsel of
Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria." For the account of
the solitary who was brought by Cyril to Alexandria to con-
sult God concerning Melchisedek's origin, see Cotelerius, Eccles.
Grace. Mon,, tom. i, pp. 423,424; and Tillemont, Memoires^ iii.
P- 32.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE AUTHOR S APOLOGY. 95
although there were doctors ' and famous bishops in their
days, yet Theophilus,* Bishop of Alexandria, allowed
the blessed Abba Macarius, a monk, to make a refut-
ation of this error; and that holy man actually did so,
and made manifest the foolishness of their opinion.
So also in the following affair which happened^ in the
holy Monastery of Rabban Selibha, which is situated
by the side of Heghla^ Omed, a village on the river
Tigris, to the brethren Abha and Thomas and Bar-
'Idta, the solitary brethren^ and ascetics, who lived in
that monastery. They were by craft falsely accused
of being Mesalleyane, although they were in no wise
allied to them, and they were ascribed to their sect by
certain men who, being envious of their strict and
ascetic manner of life, wrote letters concerning them
to the holy Mar Henan-lsho',^ the Catholicus, when he
^ Better ^Iso ;o9i (s»2.
* He became Bishop of Alexandria A. D. 385. See Sozomen,
Hist. Eccles., vii. 14; Socrates, Hist. Eccles., v. 12.
3 The remainder of this chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i,
p. 218, col. I.
4 /. e., iUU, see Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 238, note 1897. Heghi
Omed is a Persian name compounded of Hegla, and Omed «=
jc^l „hope". Compare ^mP bv nnD1« "Hoffnung auf Gotl"
in Horn and Steindorff, Sassanidische Siegelstcinc^ (in Mittlici-
lungen aus den Orientalise hen Savwdnngeny Berlin, 1 891.) p. 28,
at the top.
5 Read ;Ii^ or ;::;^o.
^ Henan-lsho* I. surnamed the 'Lame' ;^J|^ was ordained
A. D. 685, and having sat for fourteen years died in the Mon-
astery of Jonah at Nineveh A. D. 699. For a list of his works
see B. 0., iii. i, p. 154, and for an account of his dispute
with John, Metropolitan of Nisibis, surnamed the 'Leper', see
B. O., ii, pp. 421 — 424.
96 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
was in the Monastery of Mar Jonah the Prophet at Nineveh.
Now he knowing that he was' by all manner of means
bound to enquire into this matter, wrote for them, and
they came to him. [p. 54] And he answered and said
to them, "My brethren, I have never mixed myself up
in those matters which concern the manner of life of
monks, and inasmuch as I have no knowledge whatever
of these things of which ye are held to be guilty, let these
matters of which ye are accused be searched into by the
hands of men like unto yourselves." And he wrote
letters and sent them by their hands to this our con-
vent of Beth 'Abhe, when the holy Mar George^ bar-
Sayyade was the head, and the old men of the con-
gregation were Abba Nathaniel,^ Abba Selibhi, and
Abhroi, and Gabriel* who was surnamed Sephrona^
' Read, with Vat., ^2 ^9^ ^2 ^ 050.
^ ''George, the son of fishermen" came from the village of
Neshra 29^1 in Adiabene, and was Abbot of Beth 'Abhe about
A. D. 590. He was buried in the martyrium of this convent
with Nathaniel, §elibha, and Gabriel surnamed Sephrona; see
Thomas of Marga, Bk. ii, chap. 20. His life was written by
David the Bishop at the request of a Persian nobleman in the
'Book of the Little Paradise*; see Thomas of Marga, Bk. ii,
chap. 24. According to 'Abhd-Isho' he wrote the "Book of
Obedience," ;NM3Jbofiotio3 ^tssk', B, 0,, iii. i, p. 217.
^ He wrote a commentary on the Psalms of David, and
treatises against the followers of Severus of Antioch, the
Manicheans and other heretics. See B, 0., iii. i, p. 224.
^ According to Thomas of Marga, Bk. ii, chap. 20, he
became Abbot of Beth 'Abhe.
5 /. e., "Little Sparrow". ;^6h^^ is explained in Or. 2441
fol. 319^. col. I by ^\^ p^ ;,sti^ jl^^J^^ ;a9\ "A kind of bird
which sings before rain."
BOOK I. CHAPTERS XX VIII, XXIX. BABHAI VISITS BfeXH ABllt. g7
and many others. And when they had been lovingly
examined by their brethren, and had manifested before
them visitations of grace remote from all error, [the
brethren of Beth 'Abhe] wrote letters by their hands
to Mar Catholicus [informing him of this]; and thus in
justification remote from all falsehood of mind, those
blessed men returned to their cells by the command
of Mar Catholicus. This then is the reason why the
fathers who lived in the time of Mar Babhai required
of him to rule the Church, especially the congregations
of solitaries.
CHAPTER XXIX.'
OF THE COMING OF MAR BABHAI TO THIS MONASTERY [oF
bAtH ^ABUfi], AND OF THE MIRACLE WHICH WAS WROUGHT
BEFORE HIM IN THE TEMPLE.
Now when the blessed Mar B&bhai was going round
from village to village, and from monastery to mon-
astery, visiting, and asking questions, and making
enquiries concerning the orthodoxy of belief, and the
soundness of the opinions in the minds of all the monks
and heads of monasteries to whom he came, [p. 55]
he was pleased* also to enter into this our monastery.
Now he did not ask questions here on matters of belief,
nor did he require from Rabban Jacob the results of
his deliberations, for he was thoroughly well convinced
concerning his doctrine and of the correctness of the
' The first sixteen lines of this chapter are quoted in
B. O.y iii. I, p. 473.
^ Read »fa\-2.
• - - * - . *- •-
n
98 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
actions of his holiness; for he looked with his dis-
cerning eye, and he saw the manner of the life which
he led, and he smelled from him the savour of grace
which entereth into the chambers of the soul, and
maketh glad all its powers. And he required from
Rabban "that he would abolish the glorious order of
the service of readings which were read on the holy
first days of the week in honour of the atoning Mysteries,
inasmuch as it was not a thing appropriate for monks,
but only for the clergy and the laity. For the solitaries
are teachers, and are all occupied continually with the
Scriptures, and courses of readings are therefore super-
fluous for them. They have no need of command-
ments, nor of the dispensation of God which is especially
intended for the laity,' which they were originally.
And moreover in this work there are questions and
answers and speaking, and not every monk is able
to guard his mind and his tongue equally well outside
his cell as before he came out; but I would wish and
desire that the monks should go forth to the congregation
from their cells keeping silence, and that they should
return to their cells in silence, as a guard for the tongue
which is the storehouse of words." The holy Mar
Jacob said to him, "To-day let us perform the Holy
Mysteries in the customary manner, and let us rejoice
in the participation in the body of Christ our Lord,
(before] thou departest from us, and let us read the read-
ings and not change the order of our service; and
whatsoever pleaseth the Lord let us do whilst thou
art here." And this speech was pleasing in the sight
of Mar Babhai. Now there was in the martyrium a
►• »•
fc • k • _•
•'•
"^"Reaa^/ioil.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXIX. BABHAI VISITS B^TH *ABHfe. 99
certain man smitten with the palsy who had never
walked, [p. 56] but he used to crawl along supporting
himself upon his hands, and [when] he raised up his
body, he supported all his weight upon his hands. And
when the service of the Mysteries had begun, Rabban
sent the man sick of the palsy to crawl into the temple,
and he also selected for reading the passage from that
part of the Gospels where our Lord commanded the
paralytic to walk;' and he gave it to one of his dis-
ciples and commanded him to read it. And the
paralytic crawled along and went into the temple, and
the holy M&r B&bhai saw him. And it came to pass
that as the reader was reading, when he came to that
passage in which Jesus Christ says to the man sick of
the palsy, **I say unto thee, O paralytic, arise, and take
up thy bed, and go to thy house," the man sick of
the palsy leaped up in the midst of the temple, and
stood upon his feet; and wonder and astonishment
seized all the brethren, and they all turned to the
glorifying of God the Lord of all. And M4r Babhai
especially fell into wonder and amazement, and he
knew and understood that this miracle had,, for a long
time past, been reserved for the holy M4r Jacob to
work on the day when necessity required it, that it
might be a bridle and a thing wherewith to silence
those who wished to abolish the order of service which
his holiness had established in the congregation under
his rule. And Mar B&bhai, and those who were with
him, rejoiced and were glad and confirmed his order
of service, and praised the ordinances of Rabban; and
' In the text p. $6, note 2, read St. Mattliew ix. 6.'
■ :'
lOO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the blessed Mar Babhai went forth from this monastery,
full of joy and praise, to visit the other monasteries
which yet remained to be visited.
[P. 57] CHAPTER XXX.
of those tried and approved men who became dis-
ciples of rabban mar jacob in this monastery
[of b£th 'abh£].
Now wishing to write concerning the upright children
of an upright father, and the noble heirs to the inheritance
of a noble man,' and the glorious disciples of a glorious
father, it falleth to me first of all to give utterance to
the sayings of the wise man,' "The righteous man who
walketh in integrity, blessed are his children after him;"^
*'for the joy of the righteous man worketh judgment,"^
*'and his noble deeds are spoken of by his seed". And
again, "The father of the righteous man shall rejoice,
and if a father begets a wise man he will rejoice in
him."^ And seeing that his own goodness was handed
down as a goodly heritage to his children, the righteous
man M&r Jacob died; but perhaps he did not die, for
he left many behind him like unto himself, concerning
whom, by the hand of the Lord I make ready to write.
And the departure of their father was not grievous
unto them, because during his lifetime, they rejoiced
him by the beauty of their manner of life, and they
promised him that they would keep his command-
' Literally, "one who maketh to inherit.'*
J\ilef5d:)3Liw; ^ Proverbs xx. 7.
* Proverbs xxi. 1 5. ^ Proverbs xxiii. 24.
BOOK I. CHAPTERS XXX, XXXI. OF ABBA JOHN. ID I
ments for ever. And on his departure he also blessed
them, and laid his holy hands upon their heads, and
they bowed down' at the top of his staff at the time
of his going away out of their midst. Now, according
to what is written in the history of him, a large con-
gregation became disciples* of Rabban, eighty men in
number, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
[P. s8] CHAPTER XXXI.3
OF ABBA JOHN THE ELDER.
Now firstly it is known to us that the holy Abba
John was an Elder and ascetic from the country of
Beth Garmai. He was a fellow-labourer and companion
of Abba Jacob his father, and in carrying out com-
pletely all the glorious actions of an ascetic life, he
was a pure mirror* of all beautiful things, for all his
contemporaries. Now concerning this man the holy
Mar Jacob commanded that he should become head of
the monastery after him; and when he resisted, and
would not consent to this, he was compelled by ab-
solute necessity to become the head of this congregation.
Concerning him the holy Mar Isho'yahbh, when he was
Bishop of Nineveh, wrote ^ to this monastery, because
' Reading with A. eal^e.
^ Assemani has {B. 0., Hi. i, p. 203, cols, i and 2) eaiM^fi>iAa.
3 This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, pp. 203, and 474.
* Delete: before Art-ry
5 The text of this letter, edited from two modern copies
of ]sho-yahbh*s Letters which I had made at Al-K6sh,
is given at the end' of this chapter. In it Jsho'-yahbh
I02 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
on account of Abba John's obstinate refusal the monks
[of Beth 'Abhe] wished to appoint another head of the
monastery in his stead. And concerning Abba John'
Sahdona* made a second funeral oration upon him which
begins "A little time before, when we were following
our father to the grave." ^
Now when the blessed man had been head of the
monastery for half a year, according to what I have
learned from the aged Elders of whom I was a con-
temporary here, he forsook the monastery and departed
secretly to the country of Beth Garmai, to a mountain
to the south east of the village of Dakok,* to a place con-
venient for a life of contemplation, where, finally, the Mon-
astery called 'Beth Hazkiel' was built. Now this Hazkiel^
J • • • •
(Ezekiel) was the disciple of Khodhahwai ^ of Beth Hale ^
gently chides the monks of Beth 'Abhe because they had not
consulted him in the matter of the election of a successor to
Mar Jacob, and he advises them to appoint Abba John whom
Mar Jacob had nominated as his successor before he died. Isho'-
yahbh recommends the monks to appoint Abba John on account
of his having been a monk for seventy years.
* Assemani has «o7:^l&3.
^ Forthelistofhis works see chap, xxxiv (////r^;^ pp. no — 112).
3 His first funeral oration was written upon Mar Jacob of
Beth 'Abhe.
^ Dak6k=Tauk. See supra p. 44, note i. See also Mai,
Script. Vet Nova Coll., t. x, p. 296.
5 See Hoffmann, Atisziige, p. 274; B. 0., in. i, pp. 203,
204 and note i.
^ Assemani writes wi^{|oL& and w6of{^0L& (B. 0., iii. i,
pp. 151,203). ;3aa = Pers. \j^ "god".
7 ip sja, Arab, '^u^b (B. 0., iii. r, p. 155, col. 2, 1. 9) =
cr^^ y.^ {B. 0., iii. i, p. 205, col. 2, note 2). This monastery
was situated in al-Haditha near Mosul.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXXI. OF ABBA JOHN. IO3
and a contemporary of Abba John,* and he was greatly
strengthened and enlightened in his knowledge and
manner of life by the conversation and sight of that
holy man; thus by the work of Rabban Ezekiel and
the prayers of Abba John that holy monastery was
built, [p. 59] and in it Abba John ended his days and
was buried in peace. And Rabban Ezekiel wrote to
this monastery to encourage and cherish our love and
good will towards them,' saying, **May mutual love
and fellowship between these two monasteries be
preserved to the end of days." And I affirm and bear
witness, as before God, that I learned this from Narsai
the Elder, who was surnamed U4dh lsh6\ from the
village of *Ain Barke,^ and also from an Elder who
belonged to the monastery of Beth Hazkiel, when in
the days of my youth I was copying letters before the
Patriarchal throne of the holy Mar Abraham,* the
Catholicus and Patriarch. And this love was preserved
so entirely, that of everything in that monastery, of
fruits and any good things which were not to be found
here, the brethren of that monastery used to send some
here, and the brethren of this monastery used to send
' AbbaJohn wrote a history of Khodhahwai. See ^. 0., nl i,
p. 204.
^ /. e., the monks of Rabban Ezekiel.
^ A village in the diocese of Marga. See B. 0., iii. i,
pp. 204, 492.
^ Mar Abraham sat from A. D. 837—850. He was origin-
ally a monk in Beth 'Abhe, and afterwards became Abbot
of that monastery; he next became Bishop of Haditha, and
was finally elected Patriarch. See B. O., iii. I, p. 508,
note I.
T"^
104 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
there, for the sake of Abba John,' and for the sake
of the holy Mar Jacob,* for they both came from
there.
MAR ISIKJ-YAHBH TO THE MONKS OF BfiTH ^ABh6 ON THE
ELECTION OF A HEAD.
A A
Letter from Mar Isho'-yahbh to Simon, John, Kam-Isho',
Bar-Denha, Daniel and the other brethren of the Monastery of
Beth 'Abhe concerning the appointment of John the Elder as
head of the monastery.
■ftfvSft^s jfi^oVy^i* ^3 .^2 29aV^ o2 fiuid^ ^AAM ^2 -^^Ax .ai^aa .oaaM2
^Om^ e^^3e& ^2 aa^Jttoe -^0X^9 ^a^'^^d ^2 >ft4v> Ni^^A^a ^^0^20 .7i\\S?
|ibo\. .\\,>ft o^ .^07 ^2p ^tsoxj&attoa es»o6i Axafioo aaa N*;^J^3 .Jli^bt\9
^^aa .oo7tS3^3 A*ao7 ^07 .^\m .^aMAp l>«ab<so ^tsaM2 A\,v> jSl .^»xo
.^».i&mV>o ^oox ^o^ Am '^e^ ,.>v>m5 ^2 o2 .^o^2 ^o«»3 ^a»& ^ ^^
yi\\\9 ^fiJiaaa ^ssiMl^o .^jsoucSp ^^oSb .0^ ^070^*2 ^odp ^oojs
^2 «*MOJkt) ^23 CSsoaj smOJbM ..oafio«9 jaafiObLbo h*^^ j{>*A9m»2 id2 oSbA ^
' He wrote certain chapters on heads of knowledge, institut-
ions for beginners, a short Chronicle, a history of Mar Khodhahwai,
a discourse upon him, and some hymns. .jZ^sno ^^ao^ ^xA ^3fi>
.2xSa^o aoN ora^^ao See B. 0., iii. I, pp. 203 — 205; and Wright,
Syr. Lit., 843.
^ Read A*;L0«m ^am.
^ This letter is number 17 of those written while Isho'-yahbh
of Adiabene was Bishop of Nineveh.
)
ISHO-YAHBH TO THE MONKS OF BfeTII ABUft. IO5
^Maaoo M^23 ^ajo ajuu^o \6s^ai ib^-^io ^o^? l^ ^a^2 ^^tsie .^(so^
^Oms ^a^ojs ^jso^ ^jITmM ^oraoOp ^jsaV^^a ^ i*»m<s2 .a&ua9i*&^
;{)«9&ts aa^e ^oAao«»3 ^Xox^ ^ .^J&m ^aa2k^ el A*ao7 oaAstsl .^^jmoS
^•Mfiooa ^9 AVyin .^2 aafi>3 ^2 ^07? ^pojo^ Ji^i a.*\ ^^2 .^orfc>%Vv?
^oAJioa .^JSa*aAas j(sadouBU&32p ^o|Aoaae ^»i^ .^jsou«2p ^^olb ^2 ^ousa
;>ao33 |*iox ^q!^ .^ajis^ ^^? ?t\pSo>i ^ ;jsoiopp ;sL«ibau& jboL^ t^ dfiv>
JU2 :^2^Mp ^0^23 o^Msas^e 3a.3«M i^^? ^A>?i ^»^ .^o2 Jtiik^SlSa ^ox
.^2 3^2 ;!iu^& jseaN*Aii»n ,^ssb e2 A!iao o2 ^sofioo %<^S(s2 .«jjo Dn^N^ ^ooam
>«*fv'oiip ^2 ^2 ^3f ^00^3 ^aUti^e ^po^p ^A*^ .oaiM ial «MAba«p ^a^viN'VTp
^07 ^a^oAs ^9^ ^Mi^e .^L*a|ao syhfrj? ^?^ ^^ •IttAX ,Z>iiOirift:i 0^0 .^2
^2 .^^ N*2 9yJ^ 1*3^ •^ptp ^fd h\? ^ltft»\ ^oaoMi^ A ^&ittfi9
»\ A.B p^ }esh^ jU\vii ^'k^ajo ^0923 ^aaao oy»ad ^ NaA&(s2p jt^^ ^'J^
.fi0^3 ^23 * oaj .o^fioaoxNp j{)Aoaa >safil&3 >tA^ ^ A& .e^po^o^s l>£a*
^9^N %*\»fif) ^ao^^9 ^01 \ju kkV^ pid .aii^ uioroik^ o^poro^p ^Oaa ^l
A ^A3k2 >sa^ .aa3«a^ «*^&fi<2p >S9^ \io^\p ^ ;!k^JS&p ^ .ON*a;fBfli^ ^^o2k^
^Ss^aj y»,nym^\6sio ^^Aip ^07 9afi> a^V^ i^ .^por A^ jZA^ (SA2frM3
.ItSaisio^ ^ ^ ^is*ioo]l ^07 .ofis&lp ^aa2 .o^aao^ &N3 ^ *pyio ^iVvaS
o7<Koau\ )^2 ; oMto2 wiAp ^aaAo .a32p ertS^M^ «*^aM9 ts^ai a\i ^2 sao
oua^A ^ofA ^2p ^i^^ap ^oi e^ ^^ (^ ^&e^ N*^&«ado erjsaapp M^2p
«*o?oN*2 007 eaa ^o ..ftatN^ fin^yt ^D\y1 v*^op^ ^p ^e .o^aiovp ^a^a
Nk^Ax ^frt-kio *. ^ .00^ tLkjb2o .ata^ oo7p ed^p ^ ; ^aaMDO ^ ^osA
.^•tfo o^ttsx ;<so^^ ^Jba ^f ^ >Aip aaAU Ja2 A.ao7 A .^aaMDO ^3
;a^o<K ^0^2 v*S»^ A^2 07^ lefx^ Jl^ioao v*070^ ^olb op^p «JS!e2 ^ )^1
.o^<S*2 ^tap :oja*3^ opcli jaa&M ^o7p 07^0^^ ^ <au2 ^o .ortKo^oxi^p
ca^ '.^aNk A"io»N pp >saao ^2 ^aA2 .^ti*pfp ojNo^^p ^3po^ aaoib ]^ ^
^zi&ip ;inat» ^ ^ ^V^ .Ari\fi^e ^aii^ 1*0706^2 )^ .^xead ^ i^*&»
^att^oN^o ^dupt ^2p ^p y>»n\ j&^p ^ .09^ M*lfibo ^o&m^^ ^^? ^^
^oXmA ^07 ^2p ^ >s?^? «A*p Jl^»3bts JiaSo ^o**A (ijSo •^a±i ^ap J^aa
^o\\ ^&po^ pof«o )2sS pj.ajoo /a»l3(p ^A*2 )^2 .Ma}t>As3 ^S»tsxi o2 %ia\\
^VmO* i*aM ^0^2 ^1m3 .Om^p fsuau JLl o2 ^p^ Ad^ '^9^? opaac^ jUmosxNo
I06 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^ffHio y^SfScs .ao^M Wjg a^iitw ^«i± ^asn O7tse&fiv»aop ^oap oat .^bcxci
^oA^e .^^^oAftatolp ^(s j&ao9b3 ^07 >s^p ^^xo .vA^ )^3a jfsa*^*****!
.^OAXsa AA^i .0923 o^ajoo±9 i^!iAfia ^07 ^oy^ k^ii ^070 -^or ^a^ftiioe
i!^aa ;*&^o9 v*ci7o^aii .;<S3fi<ti0 ,^>iVji ikaJM ^07^ 2 ^p ^Ap ^ ^p 4^0^
eSaat t^oaloLia ^ .0^ .cajsoIaso .aa*p»^o .^07^29 ^p ^Jb ^2 .^9m
^bi^aae '^oamlSi ^oo^ jinS'rv ^07^20 .^07^2p oT&apo^ia jJSOttSp ^i^afi> ojJSoS
o^p ^oAuaaae ..oa^ji^ h^o^ ^oi^ &«^ef ^p ^jsosisojsp ^aitoo^
■tiVvSp l^p ^^aib :^>>o .oo)!^ ^a^ OAsaaa^ .omTMcjsp .^fiOb^fioeo
^ )^l ^^tiol ^k*e\ sS ^aox o^p .^«»m ^ox* .a^p «*^a^au*lv9e oyNoitV^,-!
:j^p AomI o;fSo\»^ip ^^f Oty)\v>\ >>3\p ^ii^Sva oor ?>i^p Av^t)
A*tftng> .,?>»*■ At ^poi^p ^ .0Afio*3 ^2 ^aoS^^ .^a^afi> .^otssl ^in\ ^ox
.^07 ^p ,itso\rknn p^isA .oaiao tki2 .2p wJl2 o2 ^^uiAo; od^ .^aA ^jso^oa^
.^osA .kaJjs2 .9^ ^p 007 •jo^2 ^& X^^P ^NoMk^ Aa ^JSa*ax oifeaji&Lio
^ ^ jiaJ^Kip ^a^ .jtA*aM ^aa «*o70AJb<s2 t.ofiss2 ^Moaap ^A^i ^<s&2
•^afiUptp jaaA ^mOS ^9^*3 ^»^iYi\^ Mojbua .oyi^i^S p^i^JSM epp ./i\fi)p
.^^b<^ ^0^0 jo7^2p oA*p ou^oA ..oaii*a±9p ^Knto p^ta ^A^*agOJS2p ^2
«*dpo .^^ ^2p ^'ax3 jc>yn\ ^*a^\bop AiottO Bso^sik^ ^2 Jbl^as ^ ^2
.^'a^ JS^AaoJCUbp ^Au ^ ^p^ ;9m AnaoNp ^so*2 .^2 lo£io ^307 o^p ao(s
^2 ^fisao ^ A\v> .^mX^M ^a&ikM ^oficip Am* ^ ^M .^ts&*3
2p .;^u(0 M ^2 A2 ^\to ^ ^2 ;oo7 A .^osA ae^a2 j^fiui&dp jzA^p
ep«9^ .OjA iXailM ^&p cfipjood ^p eer .^07^2 >Sm& ^ AijboN ^mNM ai2
.eiwaiiA a^Mio i*070mA iXoJ^ Ap •^^ N*3p ^»toi^i ^afit& A •M^2p
A9\ .2e .;&&<sa»o ^mIs wt^xMp &<sA ^A^oS Ap ^aaa jaoXaao ^auxs A2
i^oN*2 ^ ^p :«*fiA\ae ^po^ j{A^ AnaoS a^^A wAJu ^a*^& tso^^tama
.j&*lU^fiooo ^a^oop ^opiM ^afio ^ ^A^ .aayaA ^ a^fiid t*^^? '^^
OwfvrttS .^AifrJbM ,?>\Ari ^jsosujs A& J2 ^ aaa .^07^ A A^p ^aioCsA .2
^kAx &fiC3 ^07 A\pV> .^2 3a\ o2 M^2 ^ 007 ^\A .4*n\t JLa^ ^ojad
^aaA ..oa!^ (S9(SAp |)*aaVf ^^ .oa!^ ^l&io .a^Mp a^ ^i>n &600 .»\o7a&
a*te ^"^2? .c^*^^ ^p^ ^*^ft\i\y:i oAapo ..oa^a^ jZA^as «a^3p oftMctb
.^07 ^ ^&ai A&i •^p^2 f&2 ^^ ..o£k9 tMSfisu ^07^20 .^Wipfs a.«iddto moiS,
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXXII. JOSEPH OF b£tH KOKA. IO7
^»m3 ^&a ^Aft02 SVy^N 2ab^2 ft\^nM .^ey^ ^^?^ ^^ tXao^ ^^a2 id2
•^90^2 ^o^2a op*9^ t"^^? ^*'*^
CHAPTER XXXtt.«
OF RABBAN JOSEPH [oF bIiTH KOKa]' AND OF RABBAN
ABRAHAM-* HIS BROTHER.
How can any man praise these two blessed brethren
worthy of all blessedness? How can any man crown
these pillars of light, whose rays are more glorious
than those of the sun? How can we [sufficiently]
admire and praise [these] sons of one father and one
mother, [who are to be compared with] the [seven]
sons of the blessed woman Shamoni?* They were
brought up under the same care, and they enjoyed
the same spiritual instruction. These blessed men came
from the village of Gaphitha, which is situated to the
north of this monastery, [p. 60] a journey^ of about
* This chapter is quoted in B, O., iii. i, p. 227.
^ Near the Upper or Great Zab in Adiabene.
J According to 'Abhd-Isho' he wrote a book of 'various
questions', .^acs^ba i^loa^ ;a(SA 06 fi^ pai^i B, 0', iii. i, p. 227.
^ The text of this passage is corrupt, and it is perhaps better
to follow the reading of the Vatican MS. Hoifmann offers as
an alternative >»xoiox jmso^? oujoa ^p :^ \^i ;^m/o ^i &.• mjol^
M3;|a i^&oyifia See 2 Maccabees vii. i; and Wright, Catalogue
Syr. MSS,, pp. 185, col. 2.
5 All the MSS. have ;>&», but read 2^&m>.
I08 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
four miles. From their youth up they were disciples
in this monastery of the divine man Mar Jacob, and
everything which philosophy required and demanded,
they received from the teaching of that blessed' man.
Now the holy Abba Joseph, on his departure from the
[service of] the monastery,* came forth to this laura,^
and lived the life of a solitary in it, and never came
to the temple even on the day of the assembly. But
at eventide, when it was quite dark, and no one could
see him, he used to come and go into the refectory,
and through a large opening that was built there, —
which I also remember in that old refectory, — the
blessed man used to take, — and very old men have
also related this to me, — as much as he needed of the
hard, burnt crusts, and of the pieces of bread which
had dropped from the oven, and had been cast out,
and depart to his cave. And when the blessed Mar
Jacob departed this temporary life, Abba Joseph took
his brother with him, and the two of them departed
to Mount Zinai,'* where they led an ascetic life, and
performed unnatural austerities. And inasmuch as
Rabban Aphni-Maran^ and Rabban Sabhr-Isho', who
was surnamed Rostam,^ have written histories con-
' Read ^^.
* /. e., the general work in the monastery which every
novice was bound to take part in for a certain time.
3 Read ;&al4.
4 This mountain must have been situated near Hadhatta
below the Upper Zab in Adiabene.
A
5 A disciple of Kam-lsho' who flourished about the year 630.
For his works see B. 0., iii. i, p. 187.
^ Sabhr-Jsho' Rostam was a native of the villaije of Mcrem
in Adiabene, and entered the great convent on Mount Izla
under the Abbot Narsai, the successor of Babhai. In addition
BOOK L CHAPTER XXXIII. OF RABBAN SERGIUS. IO9
cerning these holy men, it seemeth to me superfluous
that I also should speak about them; and in asking a
prayer of those who read the accounts of their noble
deeds and contest, I pass on from them.
CHAPTER XXXIIL'
OF RABBAN SARGIS (sERGIUs) WHO WAS SURNAMED
it
tt
DESTROYER OF THE MIGHTV .
Now this Sergius, worthy of all blessedness, came
from the country of Beth Garmai; he was instructed
in doctrine in various schools, [p. 6i] but more especially
in that of Beth Rasthak,' a village in the country of
Marga, at the time when Rabban Kam-Ish6\ a native
of Beth Garmai,^ from the village of Hasha,* was an
expositor there. Now when the blessed Mar Kam-
lsh6'5 went down to Mahoze,^ he died there. And
this Sergius was a disciple of the holy Mar Jacob, and
he departed while ^ Rabban was alive, [and went] and
dwelt in Nerbha dhe Beth Gazza,^ in the cells which
to the lives of Joseph and Abraham he wrote those of Abba
Abraham of Beth 'Abhe, Abba Kam-Isho of Beth '/ibhe,
Abraham of Nethpar, and some others. See Wright, Syr. Lit,,
p. 843; B. a, iii. I, p. 455.
' This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, pp. 440, 472. Sergius
flourished at the beginning of the seventh century.
^ A place situated in the diocese of Marga. See B. 0., iii. i,
pp. 178, 440; Hoffmann, Ausauge^ p. 97.
^ It was situated on the Lower Zab. ^ See pp. 1 19, 147.
^ Seleucia and Ctesiphon. 7 Read a^a ^ib ^o.
^ A mountainous district in Beth Zabhdai.
no THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
were called Beth *Ainatha. And at the entreaty of
Rabban Jacob, the blessed Sergius composed a history
of the noble deeds and praiseworthy acts of the holy
men who had lived in the country of Beth Garmai,
and this book which he composed is to be found every-
where, and the histories contained in it make the reader
marvel, and excite praises of God in him. And he
called his book the "Destroyer of the Mighty" — now he
called it thus because he did not write about the great
men who were in the Church, but rather concerning
those who triumphed in the houses of their fathers,
and in the church* of their native villages, in simpli-
city of mien and despising of self, — and from the name
of his book he himself was called, "Destroyer of the
Mighty". The holy Mar tsho-yahbh, and Rabban K^m-
Isho' were also disciples of his, but I shall not speak
here concerning them because they have histories
which are set down in their proper places, together
with those of their brethren, further on, and because
the record of them, together with the necessary parti-
culars [of their lives], would require that I should be able
to speak without stint.
CHAPTER XXXIV.^
OF SAHDONA,^ AND OF THE WORKS WHICH HE COMPOSED.
Now this Sahdona, [p. 62] according to what we
learn from the history of him by Rabban Bar-Idta,
' Read ^jsa^^o ?
* This chapter is quoted in B, 0., iii. r, p. 453i col. 2.
3 Sahdona, /. e., the 'little martyr", was ordained Bishop of
Matioze dh6 Ariwan in Beth Garmai by Isho -yahbh of Gedhala.
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXXIV. OF SAIIDONA. Ill
came from Halmon* a village of Beth Nuhadhri.' And
after having been fully trained at Nisibis in the teaching
of Divine Books, and being wise and learned in them,
he took upon himself the garb of the ascetic life at
the hands of Rabban Jacob in this monastery. And
he zealously attached himself to the things which con-
duce to a divine manner of life, that is to say, to ab-
stinence, and fasting, and watching, and prayer, under
the guidance of Rabban [Jacob]. And it is well known
also that he felt the sweetness of the holy life, which
is grafted on to spiritual conviction, from the reflections
which he made in his works upon the venerable ascetic
life. Now he wrote two volumes on the various exer-
cises of the monastic life, and a book of "Consolations"
is also attributed to him, and other works on various
He was one of the members of the Mission sent to Heraclius
A. D. 628, and on his way back became a convert to Jacobite
views, a fact which caused great scandal in the Nestorian Church.
The text of the letters which Isho'-yahbh wrote concerning this
matter are given at the end of Bk. ii, chap. 6, in which
Thomas of Marga relates the story. See B, O, iii. i, pp. 8r,
107, 115, 142,453,457, 462; Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 842.
' Halm6n, or Halamun, (the Halamoon of Badger, Nestor-
ians, vol. i, p. 394) was situated in the north of Beth Nuhadhra,
or Beth Nuhadhrfe, on the left bank of the Upper Habur.
" ;d>(^ci N*=i, b^^^» b*^^"^^» b^^^' b*^^ "'^•^^ Region of
Nohodare" was a district or Nestorian Church province, the
southerly limit of which was Awana near Baladh on the Tigris
opposite Eski-Mosul; the boundary on the north-west was the
Monastery of Rabban Aphni-Maran dhe Khurkma, or Der az-
Za'faran, not far from al-Gezira by Gebel Giidi; and the most
northerly point was Halmon. See Hoffmann, Aussiige, pp. 208 —
216, and the authorities quoted by him.
I 1 2 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
matters. He also composed a history of Rabban [Jacob],
and of the triumphs of the ascetics who lived in the
country of the East. He wrote the funeral oration for
the burial of Rabban Jacob which begins, "My brethren,
a mighty chief has fallen amongst us this day by the
hand of death", from which, eyery one who readeth
it will perceive the high character of his intellect, and
the power of his language, and he will find that he
was a mighty man among those who compose books.
He did not continue to write to the end, for he went
out of his mind; but how his understanding was
destroyed I will relate afterwards in the place where
his history requireth it to be written.
CHAPTER XXXV.'
OF THE MURDER OF KING KHUSRAU.
Now when Khusrau, the son of Hormizd, having
exceeded all bounds in his mad greediness for acquiring
money, ^ [p. 63] had grown grey in all wickedness and
' The greater part of this chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii, i,
p. 91, coll. I. 2.
^ This statement of Thomas of Marga is supported by
historical evidence. In the eighteenth year of his reign
Khusrau "Hess die Einkiinfte aus den Steuern seiner
Lander sowie alien son.stigen Einnahmcquellen ziihlen, und da
berichtete man ihm, dass seine Einkiinfte aus der Grundsteuer
und den andern Quellen sich in diesem Jahr in gemiinztem
Gelde auf 420 Millionen Mithqal an Gewicht beliefen, was,
10 Dirham auf 7 Mithqal gerechnet, 600 Millionen Dirham
macht" (about 294,000,000 marks or 360,000,000 francs). All
this money was brought into the treasury at Ctesiphon, where
-C — ■— r»^^
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXXV. THE MURDER OF KHUSRAU. I 1 3
became old, the blessed Mar Yazdin/ the head of the
believers, died, who had crowned himself with earthly
greatness and heavenly glory, and it was for him to
inherit and enjoy the paradise of heavenly joy. And
Khusrau forgot all the good deeds of Mar Yazdin, and
seized all his wealth and possessions, and he dismissed
Shamta and Kurta, his truly believing sons, worthy
of blessing, and from being rich, they became poor,
and from being men of rank, they became of no account.
Now when the blessed Shamta* saw that the wicked-
ness of Khusrau the foolish king increased and was
added unto as he became older, he rose up secretly,
and went down to Mahoze, the royal cities,^ and he
slew with the sword the twenty-four* sons of Khusrau
there were already stored up 48,000,000 Mithqal of money
coined by P6r6z, son of Yazdegerd, and by Kawadh, son of
Peroz. "Dazu kam noch eine Menge von Juwelen, Kleidern, u.s. w.,
deren Betrag nur Gott zahlen kann." Noldeke, Geschichte der
Perser, pp. 353^-
* Yazdin was the director of the land-tax of the whole
kingdom and had amassed an enormous fortune, which the
king confiscated. See Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. 583,
note I; Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 115 — 12 1; Wright, Syr. Lit,,
P- 837-
^ Shamta here appears as the leader of the rebellion. See
Noldeke, op. cit, p. 354, note 4; Guidi, Nuavo testo, p. 23.
^ /. <?., Ctesiphon and Seleuda.
^ The number of Khusrau's sons is given as seventeen by
Tabarl. When the nobles heard that Khusrau had given orders
to slay all the prisoners in the gaols, certain of them came to
*Alpr Babil (which Noldeke identifies with al-Kasr, where Khus-
rau's sons were being educated, a body of soldiers being
stationed near to prevent their leaving the place), and taking
Sher6e they brought him by night to Beh-Ardashir where he
was proclaimed "King of Kings." Noldeke, op. cit,^ pp. 3 57 & 382.
p
114 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
who were being educated there. And he took Sheroe,
that is Kewadh, ' Khusrau s son from among them, and
he came to their palace, and opened the prison,' and
brought out all that were therein, and he mounted
them upon horses, and he armed them with implements
of war, and he made Sheroe king without the wish
and command of his father. Now because^ of his
avarice and greediness,* Khusrau had disbanded his
troops 5 and sent them away, and the blessed Shamta
went in^ to the palace of Khusrau with his servants,
and slew him with the sword ;^ and there was rest for
the churches in all quarters, and by the command of
' Khusrau had intended that Merdanshah, the son of Shirin
should succeed him. See Theophanes, Chronographiay ed. Nie-
buhr vol. I, pp. 499 — 501. Merdanshah was slain with the other
sons of Khusrau.
' "Chosrau verachtete die Menschen und schatzte gering,
was kein verstandiger und umsichtiger Konig geringschatz^.
Sein frevler Muth und seine Riicksichtslosigkeit gegen Gott
ging so weit, dass er deni Befehlshaber der inneren Leibwache
Namens Zadhan-Ferruch gebot, alle Gcfangene in seinen Kerkern
umzubringen ; ihre Zahl belief .sich auf 36,000 Mann". Noldeke,
op. cit., p. 356. The first act of SheroS when brought to Beh-
Ardashir was to release all these prisoners, who at once joined
with the nobles in proclaiming him king.
^ Read J2^\too.
^ Read o7Xai2C^o .;&oa&^ is a rare word.
5 According to Tabari Khusrau had determined to slay all
the troops which had fled from before the victorious arms of
Heraclius. Noldeke, op. cit, p. 356. ^ Read »^.
7 According to Tabari Khusrau fled to one of his gardens
called Bagh-i-Hinduwan whither he was pursued and captured;
he was afterwards cast into prison, where seventeen or eighteen
of his sons were slain before his face, and where he died or
was murdered. According to Guidi, {Nuovo testa, p. 24) oiaN
BOOK I. CHAPTER XXXV. THE MURDER OK KHUSRAU. II5
Shamta* the troops ofSheroe' proclaimed a good hope
for men.
And Sheroe commanded the Christians to appoint
a Catholicus, and Mar Isho^-yahbh, Bishop of Bal&dh,
who was called the man of Gedhala, from Gedh&li^
a village of Beth 'Arbhaye/ was appointed.^ Now
^aao t*c70*M»aa ^^Jto ^\mx ^alo .^07 iX»3u*3 ^a»2 stjojd^ tSs ^ojS JttAl
.^filtop ;aati3 ..ATOdotio For the history of the overthrow of this
king see Noldeke, op. cit,, p. 357, note 4, p. 383, note 3; Gibbon,
Decline and Fall^ chap. 46; Chron. Paschal, torn, i, p. 728, ed.
Dindorf; Theophanes, Clironographia^ p. 501 ; and Eutychius,
Annales, ii, p. 251 ff.
' Shamta suffered imprisonment and the loss of his right
hand by the order of Sheroe, and he was shortly after crucified
before the door of the Church of Beth Narkos. See Guidi,
Nuovo testa, pp. 24,25.
^ Sheroe's reign lasted eight months,
3 /. e.y Gudal, Jivx4^ near Mo.sul.
4 Beth 'Arbhaye is described by Bar-Saroshwai as the district
which extends from Baladh, opposite Eski-Mosul on the Tigris
to Nisibis. In a passage quoted by Wright (Catalogue Syr.
MSS., p. 1 136, col. 2) it is said that marauding bands of the
Persians were perpetually coming over their borders and captur-
ing cities from Ras-*Ain to Nisibis, and from the countries of
Maiperkat and Arzan to the mountains ofKardo; they captured
also Tur 'Abdin which is in these countries. To prevent these
raids two fortresses were built; one on the borders of BSth
'ArbhayS, by the mountains, and the other on the Tigris.
;.aa^ fi^a probably = BeapPae^ of Theophylact, and bbjjo of
Yakut, which is described as being near Mdsul. See also the
passages quoted by Hoffmann, AuszugCy note 170, p. 23; and
B, 0,, iii. 2, p. 507. 5 See Guidi, Nuovo tcsto, p. 24, 1. 17.
Il6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
when a synod had been assembled, all the fathers
entreated the holy Mar Babhai to be CathoHcus; but
he would not accept the office at all, for he preferred
to end his days in his cell in the monastery to be-
coming head of the monastery by strife, [p. 64] And
the Catholicus and some of the Bishops accompanied him
in honour to his monastery, and when thdy had parted
in peace, and had gone away to a distance, suddenly
the holy angel of God appeared to M&r Bibhai in the
form of a horseman holding a fiery sword, mount-
ed on a white horse. And he stood in the space
before his cell and spake with him, and said, "Since
now thou hast excused thyself from the office of
Patriarch, and another standeth therein, grant me per-
mission to follow him." Mar Babhai said to him.
**Who art thou, master?" The angel said to him, "I am an
angel commanded by God, the Lord of all, to minister
unto the patriarchal throne of the East. As long as
thou wast the vicar of the Catholicus, from the first
day even until now, I never departed from thy side;
but now it is necessary for me to cleave to him that
hath received this office." Rabban said to him , "If I
had known that thou wast with me, I would,
with all care, have accepted this great work; but now
depart in peace, and pray for me;" and the holy angel
was hidden from Rabban's sight. May the prayers of
Mar Babhai, and of all his companions be a high wall
to the holy Church, and to her children, Amen! And
here I bring this book to a close in order that its end
may be sanctified by the memory of the holy Mar Babhai.
Here endeth the First Book.
•
[P. 65] BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
[the beginning of the book].
Now as the beginning of everything which existeth
is poor and weak in comparison with the end thereof,
which is built up little by little, — even as a child is
first of all trained in simple things, and little by little
he acquireth growth and increase of power and stature,
and as when the command was given to Adam, that
he should not eat of the fruit,* the world continued
for a long time in a state of childhood without progress*
to manhood, for the gift of the Law by the hands of
the blessed Moses ^ was more excellent than that which
was given to Adam, for the latter was written upon
the tables of the heart with the knowledge of nature,
but the former was added with ink, after the manner
of books,* and also the perfection which is according
to the wisdom which is in Christ, the Lord of our
life, and which surpasseth all ancient laws and command-
ments, was given in after times according to the measure
of the perfect Man — so also was it in respect of the
' Genesis iii. 3. ^ ^fo^oiao, from y ji^, a rare word.
3 Exodus XX.
* fi^&a, literally "by writing." There seems to be no
example of this word in Payne Smith's Thesaurus,
Il8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
[ascetic life of the] divine man Mar Jacob; in the
beginning it acquired through him beauty, through the
perfect sons and glorious heirs of his manner of life,
but at the end it was crowned with glorious increase
and growth.* So also in the matter of the kingdom
of the wise man Solomon, although it gained more
might and glory than the kingdom of the blessed David,
yet the kingdom of David received no disparage-
ment, inasmuch as that of Solomon was established
by the prayers of David, and by the promises made
to him; so also although the congregation increased,
and the Monastery of Rabban Jacob became more
glorious under the dispensation of his children than it
was during his own life time, this fact did not induce
any diminution of his holiness which had existed before,
but made it [p. 66] rather the more glorious, for the growth
and prosperity of disciples give joy to diligent teachers.
So also the double portion of the spirit which the
blessed Elisha received more than his master, did not
bring upon the marvellous Elijah ^ any loss of greatness,
but rather made manifest his glory, when he said,
"Thou hast asked a great deal, nevertheless what
thou hast asked shall be to thee."^ Thus the glory
which came upon this holy monastery under the holy
Mar Isho'-yahbh, and the blessed Rabban Kam-fsho'*
increased* the glory of their spiritual father. Now in
their days the number of the monks in this holy
assembly amounted to three hundred men. When the
blessed John the Elder — now Rabban Jacob had com-
manded that he should be the head of the monastery after
Jbo&, a rare word. ^ Read Io^ms!^ fi*4^*?.
^ 2 Kings ii. 9,10. ^ Read jwoat^.
BOOK If. CHAPTER II. OK RABBAN JACOB. II9
him' — went forth and fled, Abba Paul' received the
office of head; and after him Rabban Kam-fsho' was
the head for many years.
CHAPTER ir.
OF RABBAN JACOB OK Bftxil NUHADHRA.-*
Rabban Jacob who became head of the Monastery
of Beth Rabban Isho'-yahbh, was a disciple of Rabban
Kam-Ish6\ and he came from Resha/ a province in
the country of Beth Garmai. He laboured in the
schools of Harbath Gelal,* where he was thoroughly
trained, and from his youth up he was a disciple in
this Monastery [of Both 'Abhc|, while Rab])an Kam-
isho' was head. He was a spiritual man and a teacher,
and he excelled in the ascetic life more than all his
contemporaries, [p. 67 1 He was a seer of things which
were remote, and of things which were about to happen,
and he was called by his contemporaries, "Jacol) the
Seer."
Now when the blessed Mar Isho'-yahbh^ had built the
temple in this Monastery of [Beth Abhe], he gathered
together Metropolitans and Bishops to the consecration
thereof by the office of the Holy Mysteries, wishing
' Read ^loj oyifioo. ^ See B. 0., iii. i, pp. 118,141,255.
3 Read ^s^ x»9?
^ See Hoffmann, Aussuge, p. 277.
5 Harbath Gelal or Gellal, J-^^ ^j^ was probably situated
on the Lower Zab. See Hoffmann, Auszu^i\ p. 261 ; B. 0.,
iii. ii, p. 756.
^ /. e., Isho'-yalibh III. of Adiabene.
I20 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
with pride to show forth the greatness of his monastery
in the sight of all those who were assembled. And
it came to pass that at that moment the blessed Jacob
was in the refectory, and [Mar Isho^-yahbh] sent and
called him, and commanded him to go up to the
pulpit and read the psalms. Now there was present
with Mar Catholicus a great doctor who had gone out
to the porch of the temple to meditate upon the heads
of the subject which he wished to treat in a learned
manner" in [his] exposition of the Gospel. And when
the divine man Jacob had begun to sing the psalm,
the sweetness of his voice so greatly attracted the
attention and mind of every one, that the eyes of all
were fixed upon him and were looking at him. And
when he had finished his psalm and had come down
[from the pulpit], the doctor cried out with a loud
voice, saying. "Fie upon thee, young man, for the
sweetness of thy voice and the beautiful manner of
thy singing have driven out of my mind all the thoughts
which I wished to gather together"; and as the time
had come Rabban Jacob went out to his cell.
Now God, who foreseeth what is for the benefit of
the community, in that the blessed Rabban Mar Isho'-
yahbh,' the monk, and head of the monastery was
dead, and the brethren of his monastery being troubled
by reason of the absence of a man at their head, —
now Rabban Isho-yahbh at the hour of his death had
' N^;i^. For ;^'^ read ;j^^.
^ Rabban Isho'-yahbh, the founder of the Monastery which
bore this name at Mosul, flourished about A. D. 570, while
Ezekiel was Patriarch of the Nestorians. He was surnamed
^ojo 90, or jaibojo &3y "~ ^/^y r?- For a list of his writings see
B, 0., iii. I, pp. 230, 231.
BOOK II. CHAPTER III. OF RABBAN APHNI-MARAN. 1 2 I
himself said to them, "Be not afflicted, my sons and
brethren, at my separation from you, for behold our
Lord will move the blessed Jacob, a monk of Beth
*^Abhe, and he will come to you, and will be a head
to you" — stirred up against him foolish jealousy by the
hand of certain men, such as was stirred up against
the blessed Jacob his [spiritual] father in the Great
Monastery [of !zl&], and he went forth secretly and
departed to that holy monastery. And the sons of
this monastery were greatly vexed and afflicted on his
account, and wished to make him come back here. [p. 68]
And they went down to Mar Henan-lsho'" several
times, and they brought against him letters [threatening]
excommunication, but he would not at all be persuaded
to return. Let every one who wishes to learn of his
greatness and of the great freedom of speech which
he possessed with God, take his history and read it;
and from its perusal he will be moved to the praise
of God, Who so greatly exalteth and magnifieth His
saints, and to Whom be glory for ever and ever!
CHAPTER in.«
OF RABBAN APHNI-MARAN.^
This Aphni-Maran was a disciple of Rabban Kam-
Isho', and also of Rabban Aphni-Maran of holy memory,
* See supra^ p. 72, note 4.
^ This chapter is quoted in B. O., iii. i, p. 187, coll. i, 2.
^ He flourished about A. D. 660 under George the Patriarch,
and is said to have been the founder of the Der al-Za'faran
near Mosul. See B. O., ii, p. 422; iii. i, p 187. He is one
q
122 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and he came from Karkha dhe Beth Selokh' which is
in the country of Beth Garmai. From his youth up
he was a son and heir of the holy fathers in this mon-
astery, serving perfectly the life of excellence, and being
guided to the kingdom of heaven and its happiness
by the hands and mediation of Rabban Kam-lsho',
whose own peculiar disciple he was. And God gave
him wisdom and understanding in the Scriptures, and
like a spiritual philosopher, he composed many works
and **Responses'^ and treatises on doctrine in a perfect
manner, and rivers of living water flowed from his
belly ' according to the word of our Lord. And against
this man, because he was also like unto the pillar of
light which led the Hebrews,^ and because God wished
him to be the founder of a monastery with a large
brotherhood, like his [spiritual] father, envious people
were stirred up, and they placed him on a bier for
the dead, [p. 69] and [ascribing to him] the name of
Mesalleyina,* with psalms and prayers for the dead
they brought him out to the place where they make
asses run.^ Nevertheless by his hands also the Lord
of the monks mentioned by name in the letter which Isho'-
A
yahbh sent to Beth Abhfi concerning the election of a head.
See p. 104, 1. II.
' /. e.y Kerkuk, ^oasa, "^^^^ SeeHoffmann,-4«j2'%*^, p. 267.
^ St. John vii. 38.
3 Exodus xiii. 21.
^ ;&oaI!^^P ;»X30 Hterally, "and in the name of Mesallianism."
For the doctrines of the tL!^^ see supra^ p. 91, note 3.
5 The monks who treated Aphni Maran in this manner
wished to' indicate that he was an ass, and was only fit to be
buried like an ass.
BOOK II. CHAPTER IV. EMBASSY TO HERACLIUS. 1 2 3
built and finished the holy monastery which is to this
day called by his name and memorial ; * may his prayers
be with us for good, Amen!
CHAPTER IV.'
OF THE DEPARTORE OF MAR ISHO-YAHBH, [tHE CATHOLICUS]
AND OF THE BISHOPS WHO WERE WITH HIM TO B^TH
' RHOMAVfi^ (ASIA MINOR).
Now when Isho'-yahbh* of Gedhala had become
Catholicus, after the death of their Bishop, the believ-
ing men who were in Nineveh chose as governor
and head of the pasture of their city and of all their
' The Monastery of Rabban Aphnt-Maran marked the limit
on the north-west of the church province of Beth Nflhadhra
(see supra, p. 1 11, note 2). It is placed by Yakflt not far from al-
Gezira by or upon Gebel Gudl. According to Ibn al-Athir Der
al-Za'faran or Kal'at al-Za'faran stood upon a high mountain,
near jiylio-», or Perozshabhor, which lay on the banks of the
Tigris. See Hoffmann, AussUge, p. 213. Sachau mentions
(Reise in Syrien und Mesopotamien , p. 376) "Kal'at Za'faran,
eine Ruine, 2 V2 Stunden entfernt, auf dem Westufer des Tigris
auf einem Hiigel gelegen."
^ This chapter is quoted in B, O., iii. i, pp. 105, col. 2, and
475, col. 2.
^ Literally the ''country of the Romans;" but Constantinople
was nova Roma, 'P\ii\xx\ vea, and hence the Syrians and Arabs
use the word Ua^ofi and ^^ j{, ar-Rum, to designate the By-
zantine Greeks. Wright, Chronicle of Joshua the Sty lite, p. i.
* /. e,, Jsho'-yahbh II. He sat from A. D. 628—644, and
was Bishop of Balidh at the time of his elevation to the
patriarchate. See B. 0,, ii, pp. 416—418; iii. i, pp. 105,475;
Bar-Hebraeus, Chron, Eccles., ii. 113, note i; and Baethgen,
Fragmente, pp. 13,19,108,1 1 1. Ishd'-yahbh II died A. Gr. 955 =-
A. D. 643 and was buried at KerkAk; see Bar-Hebraeus, Ckron.
Eccles., n 127, note 3; and Wright, Syr. Lit, p. 842. The
124 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
country, the blessed Mar Isho^-yahbh/ the disciple of
Rabban, and the son of th6 good and honourable man
of worthy memory, Bastohmagh, the nobleman from
Kuphlana,* a city of Adiabene. And the people of
Mahoze dhe Ariwan {or Aria van), ^ a city of Beth
Garmai, chose Sahd6n4, the disciple of Rabban [Jacob],
concerning whom we have written a short time ago.
And when Sheroe rose in the kingdom, he desired
and wished to live in his kingdom in peace, and to
be remote from the disturbances, and strifes, and raids,
and evil things which Khusrau his father had committed;
and by the command and permission of his pacific
majesty there was rest to all the churches that were
under the dominion of the Persians.* And [when] Mar
Isho'-yahbh from Beth'Arbhaye* was appointed Patriarch,
King Sheroe persuaded the Catholicus to select from
principal writings of lsh6*-yahbh were a commentary on the
Psalms, and sundry epistles, histories, and homilies. According
to Guidi, {Nuovo testo, p. 24) he was a married man.
* He was educated in the schools of Nisibis, and became
Bishop of M6§ul, and afterwards Metropoh'tan of Arbel and
M6.sul. He sat as Catholicus from A. D. 647—658. The chief
events in his life are recorded by Thomas of Marga in the
following chapters.
* All the MSS. here read ;I^oo, which is certainly a mistake
for ji^oa. See Syriac text p. 78, 1. 5.
3 Read ^ip ;?om^. See B. 0-, iii. i, pp. 116,475; iii. ii,
pp. 723,761; Bar-Hebraeus, C/iron. Eccles,, 18, note i; Hoff-
mann, Auszuge^ p. 52, note 443, p. 277, note 2180. This town
was probably situated on the Lesser Zab.
* See Guidi, Nuovo testo, p. 24.
5 isA>^^ or ia»^, v!^r*» ^ ^^^^ irovi\ the people who dwelt in
;^aA As^y ^.^T*^ J-*^ }- ^'i ^he district between Eski Mosul on
the Tigris and Nisibis.
BOOK II. CHAPTER IV. EMBASSy TO HERACLIUS. 1 25
the dominion of the East certain Metropolitans and
Bishops, that they might go up to the territory of the
Byzantine Greeks, at the cost and expense of the
[Persian] king, bearing his letters and greetings, saying,
[p. 70] "Let them make to pass away and to be blotted
out all the discord* and enmity which have existed
between the Persians and the Greeks, and by their
wisdom let them sow peace in the two countries."
Then Mar Isho'-yahbh being obedient to the command
of the good King Sheroe,* gathered together Mar
' h»* ^o-M^d, literally, "the troubling of peace."
^ The Persian Mission of peace was despatched by Boran,
daughter of Khusrau Parwez, although overtures of peace had
been made to Heraclius by Sheroe. Boran reigned only one
year and four months, but during this short period she endeav-
oured to do away with some of the ill effects of the recent wars.
"Wie man erzahlt, sprach sie am Tage ihrer Thronbesteigung:
'frommer Handlungsweise will ich mich befleissen und Gerechtig-
keit anbefehlen.' ! . . . Sie behandelte ihre Unterthanen gut,
verbreitete Gerechtigkeit iiber sie, liess Milnzen pragen und
steinerne und holzerne Briicken ausbessern. Die Steuerriick-
stande erliess sie den Leuten und schrieb an sie insgemein offne
Briefe, worin sie ihnen darlegte, wie sie ihnen wohlthun wolle,
und die verstorbenen Glieder der Dynastie schilderte
Sie gab dem romischen Kaiser durch Vermittlung des Catho-
licus Isho'-yahbh das holzerne Kreuz zuriick." Noldeke, Ge-
schichte der Perser, pp. 390 — 392. ^oaa^ l^ta^ ^o^X^ oa\»2o
'. ItStrA 1^ fsaSao^d >M^tX (S(M2 .2o9£i -oa^? ^^ ^O7fis0u^ aaso i^&o?
A
«N^*to ;*tJoJu*9 ;^oMfii ;^a«J^ Guidi, Nuovo testo, p. 26. Isho'-yahbh
met Heraclius at Aleppo, but he can hardly have given back to
him the Holy Cross, which the Persians had carried off when
they conquered Jerusalem A. D. 614 (Gibbon, Decline and Fall,
126 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Cyriacus, the Metropolitan Bishop of Nisibis, ' and Mar
Paul,* Metropolitan of Adiabene, and Mar GabrieP of
Karkha dhe Beth Selokh (Kerkuk) a;nd certain other
Bishops, who were wise, instructed and understanding
chap, xlvi), for that had been restored by Ardashlr III in 628 —
629, and the festival to celebrate its restoration took place at
Jerusalem in 629. (One writer says that ^^a^^ the general of
Ardashlr, sent the Cross back to Heraclius; see Guidi, Nuovo
testOy p. 25.) See the discussion on this point in Noldeke, op,
cit,^ p. 392, note i. In the account of this mission given by
Bar-Hebraeus {Chron, Eccles., ii. 113) Ish6'-yahbh is said to have
given the Greeks to understand that his religion was the same
as theirs, ^poao ^o* ^29 .»a.L jz^mn iS\m AiAoa 9ao. Isho'-yahbh
was far-sighted enough to make an alliance with Muhammad
the Prophet (or, as Wright thought, with Abu Bakr) through
the intervention of a Christian governor at Najran called
Sayyed, and Isho', the Bishop of the believers at that place.
Certain of the conditions of the agreement, which was ratified
by 'Omar ibn al-Khattab, are given by Bar-Hebraeus Chron,
Eccles^y ii, col. 117; see also B, O., ii, p. 418; iii. i, p. 108.
A
col. I. Isho'-yahbh stipulated that the Christians should be
protected from the attacks of their foes; that the Arabs should
not compel them to go out to war with them; that they should
not compel them to change their manners and laws; that they
should help them to repair their old churches; that the tax on the
poor should not exceed four zuze^ and that the tax on merchants
and the wealthy should be ten zuse per man; that a Christian
woman in Arab service should neither be compelled to give
up her faith, nor to neglect fasting and prayer; etc.
' See supra, Bk. i, chap. 27, p. 91. For the letters of Isho*-
yahbh to this bishop, see B. O., iii. i, p. 141, col. 2, p. 142,
col. I. After his death his cell was spoiled by orders of the
governor of Nisibis; see Guidi, Nuovo testo, p. 26, at the foot.
* See B, O., iii. i, p. 116.
A
^ See B, 0,y iii. i, pp. 141,142; where letters from Isho'-
yahbh to this bishop concerning the people of Tagrith (Tekrit)
are described.
BOOK II. CHAPTER V. THE STEALING OF THE CASKET. 1 27
men, and with them were also our holy Isho'-yahbh
of Nineveh, and Sahdoni. And thus through Christ
our Lord, the Lord of the worlds and the Gover-
nor and Guardian of the two countries and of the
whole world gave these shepherds mercy in the sight
of the Greeks, and they received their assembly and
their petition as if they had been the angels of God.
Thus those holy men were rewarded for all the care
and heavy toil of that long journey, and they returned
in peace to this country, each man to his episcopal
throne.
CHAPTER V.»
OF THE CASKET OF THE BONES OF THE APOSTLES WHICH
MAR ISHO'-YAHBH BROUGHT WITH HIM [FROM ANTIOCH],
AND PLACED IN THIS MONASTERY.
Now while these holy men who have been men-
tioned above were passing through the city of Antioch,
and while they were resting in one of the churches
of this city in which they tarried many days, [p. 71]
Mar Isho'-yahbh of Beth 'Abhe saw a white marble
casket upon which was the sign of the adorable Cross,
and to this, united to the chariot of its honour, were
two figures of cherubs. And he saw the mighty deeds
which were wrought there by means of it, and he
learned that there were inside it some of the bones
and portions of the bodies of the blessed Apostles,*
and being hot with all the desire of his love for that
casket in which these were laid, he offered up prayers
to God, the Lord of all, and frequent entreaties, that
' This chapter is quoted in B. O,, iii. i, p. 106, col. 2.
* St. Matthew died and was buried in Antioch. See Acta
Sanctorum, xlviii, Sept. 21 ; Lipsius, Apostelgcschichte , vol. 2,
p. 127; Budge, Book of the Bee, p. 106.
128 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
by means of himself it might be brought* to this country.
And having vexed and tortured himself [by scheming]
all manner of devices, and not knowing what to do,
he gave this matter to God, [asking] that while he,
that is Mar Isho'-yahbh, used all human efforts, Christ
would protect and defend him in a Divine manner/
And this actually happened, for he stole it and brought
it with him here with all the honour due to the holy
pearls which were therein. And we are certain in our
opinion and judgment that this matter was wrought^
thus, for it is spoken of to this day in the city of
Antioch, even as also it came down by tradition, and
was handed on to us by those men who were before
us in this monastery.
CHAPTER VL4
OF HOW sahd(3na [foolishly] turned aside from the
TRUE AND orthodox BELIEF.
Now when those holy men who went to the terri-
tory of the Greeks (Asia Minor) were in the land of
Apamea,^ they tarried there a few days to rest them-
* B. O. has jus^a.
^ Literally, While he, Mar Isho'-yahbh worked like a man
{^JfioS)y Christ would protect and defend him like a God (fi^UqiSki).
3 Read (s$^^fi>2.
^ This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. I, p. 107, coll. i, 2.
5 The modern Kal'at el-Medik on the Orontes. Apamea
lies on tlie western edge of the plain which extends from the
southern slope of the el-Bara mountains, and the mountains
near ICal'at Sedjar and Hama. See Sachau, Reise in Meso-
potantien, p. 71 f. Dr. Strassmaier has noted a passage on
British Museum tablet SP. i. 176, in which it is said that the
city of A-fia-afft-a is situated upon the river Si-il-hu.
BOOK 11. CHAPTER VI. OF SAHDONA. 1 29
selves; [p. 72] and there was there a certain monastery of
heretics' who had made themselves strangers to the
religion' of truth. And the holy and blessed Mar John,
Bishop of the Scattered of the country^ of Damascus,
a great and godlike man who worked signs and
wonders like the Apostles in those countries, and
whose acts of abstinence and ascetic manner of life and
exalted holiness are reported unto this day, and Mar
Isho^-yahbh of our convent, and Sahdona with him,
wished to go to these men to hold a discussion with
them. And when the sons of that monastery went
forth to them, they marvelled and were astonished at
the arguments which these three brilliant stars brought
against them, and they perceived that the stubble of
their doctrine was not able [to resist] in the very smallest
degree, the fire of the true wisdom and the powerful,
demonstrations* of the men from the East. Now the
men of that monastery had a head, a grey-headed old
man, and his disciples went into his presence and said
to him, "Three Eastern Bishops from among the
ambassadors of the King of the Persians, who^ have
come to us, have destroyed and made of none effect
all the labour and care^ [which we have spent] in
weaving compositions of words on the dogma which
we hold." Now that wicked old man who, according
to what I have learned from others by the tradition
which hath come down, was a sorcerer, commanded^
his disciples to entreat them to come in to see him,
for [he wished] more particularly to hear from them
* Not necessarily Jacobites. * Literally, "confession."
3 Read ;3oa». * Strike out the point after ^o7<s«Sm(so.
5 Read ;^ » ixOiivf]. ^ Read ^.
130 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
concerning the petition which they had moved. And when
the blessed men Mar Isho'- yahbh and Mar John excused
themselves, for they accounted the sight of that wicked
old mah as the sight of the Devil himself, Sahdona,
as it were relying upon his own enlightened under-
standing was so bold as to go in; and when his com-
panions' entreated him not to cross [the threshold] he
would not be persuaded by them. And they say that
when he had gone in to the monastery to the old
man, and had seen his grey hairs and age, [p. 73] he bowed
his head under his right hand ; and thus, they say, the
understanding of Sahdona became corrupted from the
true faith which he held. And little by little, with the
progress of time and changes, Sahdona wrote books for
those who denied* the correctness of the opinion that
there are two natures and two persons in one created
form. And when the holy Mar Isho"- yahbh of Adiabene
arose as Catholicus, he expelled Sahdona from the
Church,^ according to the prophecy which had been
[made] concerning him by the holy Rabban Bar-Idta
the ascetic in very truth.
' Read ^oaA*. ' Read Jr^aiao? ^SLa.
A
3 Among the letters of Mar Isho'- yahbh are five which
relate to Sahdona and to his conversion to the views held by the
Jacobites, and they form Nos 6,7,28,29 and 30 of those which
were written while he was Metropolitan of Hazza (Arbel) near
Mosul. Portions of them have been published by Assemani,
B. O.J iii. I, pp. 116,118 and 119, but as the defection of
Sahdona caused such a disturbance in the Nestorian Church,
and was held to be of a very serious character by Mar Isho'-
yahbh himself, and as the letters are of such importance for the
right understanding of certain parts of the history of Thomas
*e
BOOK II. CHAPTER VII. OF MAR ISHO-YAHBH. I3I
CHAPTER VII. ^
OF MAR iSHo'-YAHBH [ill], THE CATHOLICUS, AND OF HOW HE
WISHED TO ESTABLISH A SCHOOL IN THIS MONASTERY.
Now as soon as Mar Isho^-yahbh had become
Catholicus and Patriarch, and had received all the
fulness of the holy things, and the sacerdotal garments
which are given for the glory and advancement and
perfection of the holy Church, by the election of the
Holy Spirit, the cause, and giver, and perfector of all
her sublimity, he showed forth diligent zeal and care
with all the solicitude which it is right should be mani-
fested by sons for the paternal inheritance of the house
in which they were reared. And he built in this mon-
astery a splendid temple, at great expense, and with
the participation of the holy and blessed in all things,
the blessed Mar Sabhr-lsho^, Metropolitan Bishop of
Beth Garmai, and of Mar George, his disciple,
the Metropolitan of Adiabene,* [p. 74] concerning
whom we will afterwards speak, and of all the
A
Bishops of this diocese of Athor^ and Adiabene, the
temple^ was consecrated and beautified with all holy things.
of Marga, it has been thought proper to give the full texts of
these at the end of this chapter. They are edited from two
copies which I caused to be made from an old MS. at Mosul
while on a mission to Mesopotamia for the Trustees of the
British Museum. They afford an interesting insight into the
history of Sahd6na, and into the character of Isho'-yahbh, and
give an idea of the internal troubles which beset the Nestorian
Church at that period.
* This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 124, col. i.
* See Bk. ii. chaps, xii — xv.
3 /. e,y the diocese of Mosul. See Payne Smith, Thes.,
col. 421. For monasteries situated in this district see Hoff-
mann, Ausziige, pp. 175—179. ^ Read jcsudMo.
132 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And a short time after these things Mar Isho'-yahbh
wished to build a school near his cell, and to provide
it with all that was necessary, and to bring to it
teachers and masters and expositors, and to gather
together many scholars and to provide for them in all
things. And he had made ready in his mind, and had
resolved and decided to carry out this work in such
a way that for every child who was trained and
instructed therein the monastery might be near at hand
for the purpose of [his] becoming a disciple, so that
the school and the monastery might become one; the
school to give birth to and rear scholars, and the
monastery to teach and sanctify them for the labours
of the ascetic life. And he brought workmen and
builders to build what he wished.
*c
LETTERS OF MAR iSHO-YAHBH CONCERNING SAHDONA THE
APOSTATE.
I. To the clergy of Mahoze dhc Ariwan. " ^Jli ;a^i ^sa^o^
ao^ojt-. .^23 ;«aMM3 h*^>a ^?^? ^>* ^»»l'op»o ^Sa* ;rtoAti ^
SAO .^fialo ^l ;Suau oil o2 ^il^ ;idao^ ^ox^ ^mAiO^^ ^ ^Ax ^a»3 ^o^
,U^^shi? ^ ^ ^^> ^axMfraao .^nA ^^jmM y^osiJ ^ila ^07 tsaoj ;^2o
.;&*oa &.W&M ^a&As 1^ taA^ ^^^ -A^X? h^^a^ ^39.^^ ;^0N Afiviso
f^\»fn\ .»flNiM ;fi.atti Nip-»? hf^ A\i ,»? -^^»1 '-l*t>s^ ^o*^ ^*^
' Extracts from this letter have been published by Assemani,
B. 0., iii, pars i, pp. 116, 117 and 137. The passages omitted
by him are enclosed in brackets [ ].
MAR ISHO-YAHBH TO THE CLERGY OF MAHOZfi DHE A. I 33
^*.^ft\, ^9 1^ •^'^S? ^ ^ihngtS ^ojx ^^ .^abA fis»ax ^oifiisfioQaa
,ht»a o?fSftiA\.yVi*i ^u\a2 au^ i^2 ^b^ 1^0 .duofioel ^*ibA ^ofioo «at>V^
^A>a .erNaua*o7 fSfttti ^Om po^As .oiof ^ais j^a^^^^ Jli^^ tvj »329 A^o
^9 oiof .^irfoS joof >\^>^t>s ;» ogr ey!^ ftit^'oS oeor ^M*AaQo ^07 »S^Mp 3^2^
^k*3 ^a\ . 07901^9 jNfti-N^^ )Si3 w6as ^07 ^ 9AO a>^M^ ^oiiOA)Jl2
.^aiS ^a^d ^oV^39 ^A*2 ..oatso^ ^a 0107 .«e)*9dc ^*ibAe9{S&23 ;^i*^^\
3iBa& ^CS*Apo -^iJiaep 3^0^19 ^JS*a9 ^oAfra»3 ^ ^i>V^? ^''^ ^oro&SA
hMi0MiO^ .^ttAOpJS92p j^QXO^ ^ lm^l'9 07CSO£li\3 ^O* ^OA^iS^ M^ .^Aly»
.^MymvoT. .a!op ^M*atto ?7-\'** 3o^ad a^? .^iLap ^ojoip ^SA»3 b-Jlm^aa.
^oida .«*o7a32 ^Biii9 ^OAaao^fis^ fi^o^ak!^? 007 .^^ k^? jo^2 «*e706^^
AiN'wifttt ANiVxi ojp 9A djp .^b&s? aots ^oiaio^fr^o JSo^aac^o .cp^!^ tsU fA
MUO
^ <'i7v\ t;Nocpi!^29 ^SAci ;La2 ja^ w*^^ a&7 .^oJ^ao fis^^Aae jcs&op
^^efioa Aa ^0^2 ^oSy XouAa^oo Aa ^»m2 ^07^2 ^p ^t»\%\ .^aa ^»Mfia
aaS du2 kSAi Ai^» ;^o .07^ j^oi ^ Aao .^oaJS ^oaa Aao .^ot^A
po^bA ^^o ^070^^ ^A? A\:M ./>\iaS ^p^ a^^o .<*o7aM^ Ad2o 0760*3^
^^ U^^ »^p o7^0u.aM? ^o A«M»o ^ .j^iLi&Jp jZA^os AkA07 0107 .07^
■oAjU ^o7XaiaMa^ fis<.ao2 .007x^9 Noa»JbM9 ^07 ^9^2 ^ a^ .^^t« ^
^oTJba&aa o\ato .jaax^ JtA^ Aaao^ oaold .^09o\x? ^^V\c» j\3o>afi>
^ola •jZtauaa ^a^ a^? y^*o7^2 ^9 jzA» »^2o .^07^29 sjajo***, ^ o^aAAJSlo
^fis^a -lAaMa e7i<sS0b*a ^01 ^ t^S^a .oo7*^fi> aa Aaa Na^ ^uxaS»»oa
.jnSva e7fi^oaufi> «*070fis»29 .^^ .NoaNot^a ^07 fuA ^a^ .^Na ^^ao
a^\o jba^ 07^ ^A^o a^o ^N^a fbeo79 .^.a^ ^ o2 ^2 fis^o^ aalbo
^atia j&MAatto 2097&? ^ t^:*aa2 ^aao 007 Al at^ aa2 ^a oivi .oaa ^ ^^
^07 ^l ^mi2 ^ ^cpt!^ ^.Xid i^tLAtb ^1T0M\ ^aiA07 f'AaOM tSjA02
^A*2 ^ ^ .^ojXfti\y\^op ;(sA ^ AAo ^iMM&o .^07 ^2a ;^oxom
m4^o\ A2 .^07^2^ ^r^aa o7N<aa ^Nao^p ^js^ ^f^*\^ ^i«Aao9X&2p (La Nm^
134 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^(^oaXoNa Jbi>>'ftS ^iJJSf fXa^s 007 .^i*aa i>f&„ .^ki&a a^a ^oy ^ci
^s*a ^3 o^» »323 .;!k^a*ibSo73 ^07 ^im\ fi^^ aJ^ ooj ^i^a .^oi&la
22^po ^2p ^OuiJ ;^p :;£Sai»u^p ;*aa ^tts jao^x ^autbo .A^2 JuAoM
«*0r ^0^i*ajs!^ ^?^ -OM^ «*^0A2p ^oy^ ^o M^bkS ^p 007 ••36o2 ^^ ^'^^^
^ ^fis^{ SA .«^ia ^NooxSp ;tpQoxfi<^p bN3 '^0 r^ ^Omso^c .tsSiMl fiojpa^p
^o^f py» li^ajosa .^ssf ij^Ays ^aubo^ ^NoaAwo^p ,;>*ll^'n^ ^a^ ^t
tj^ ^«e7 M^fioeip ^oal oy^ Jsufio p^ ^ ejfi^^ .A»\ri ^a^p j^xp
^o .fr«^o^ ouaub aA ^p^«o7 ■«*!» o>*^ ^ "^"V^? 076^^ .a£sap %»po2 a^o
aAO ■•aiop ^&ao >>io>h\ J{^p ej£s5a(s .^^^ ^oaa ifi^V) ^07 As »32 ^2
v^f^SfrJ Aao .^%*j^ ^fi\^ fiv*^*k2^o fis^2fi<ia op t^4^ .fis»^k3 o7fiwa«2o >iXs^
aAO ..afi^fli fis^^biSp ^A*;i^ -^^^P ^&ofi^ ^ofioe2 :^^p ^JSOfu^^s ^ fi^^
.fid^b Csoaus ^ o^p £ib(S 6s^SiO>o '»^\ fiv^^a^p ftn\\p ^2 ^2 aj^soua^
^ ^ ^Js*, ^SofiA ^f at^ <S^An.^ .07^^0150*07 Aini jZ»aE*3 ^oa^ox ^ ^^2
.^ftoca o7CSa<i^ XAA aA ^fi^ ^ fisb^MO .^a^ofi>p o7(Sa£lalb N007 ^69
.«*e7O^N20 «*o7aiSakSto a^nM Af2 1^2 ^2 .p!^ )^ o7;*poos po»\-f o^ ^ 0597
^2 fiO^MX aAo i^nisb^ Bafi>2p ^A*2p papaya :o7*a>3 o^aaao^ Am*N2o
.^fit^OM^ JN&2X3 .jtsoa^EsaMO ^Ifiud oy^ (Safio tjtpeoo i^p o7fi^MLiaACSio
•oT^po A*p jZp^ j^kSa^ Jbo fiin» ^2 ^js!^ .^a^Solbp o7fa^ (SJSfr^oso
t^ .OkSpOA |OA&tf cai^ ^^2p ^2 fi^aA^o .fis^^bu\ie «070p2^ ^2 tsaaxo
JAfi aAO »Jifii^ Jl^^ ^07 ^p ^A •aas2 jbat^a ;{»^ ;^p ^iAmJ .^07
i*»mS .a&o7 ^2 ^ 07^ t*aio2ts2p ^A*2 ^l aoX v3.uxo .o^!^ ^^^7 ^*^^ ^57
oyiLM ^^o -^^^s? ^^ ^fSAiS o^JSmJo .^fiwJuS^M ^ojui^pfioo fi^)a «*aM .^07^2
^Bi5i ^Aaa .oa2 ^aeo .^07^ ^oa^ImMS jIUp ^evjoabfl ^iJlNd ajb^Nfioe
t^^ ^eaaibo •^07^2 ^^Mm'^^ ^07 ^ cbsl ^e .«*<sa^p ^XoolJ^ ^ocip j{>3«£Sa
oi^siiS Jusx fioo^ ;^p .^aao^ (S*pe^o ewpM .^007 %.ia» ^aa^p o7tsoiftifliVyN^
a^ibM 007 ^aa ^m ^p aA .^OAda*o7 JSoawklao ^i>^ fi*ift> ^ A^ia\ ./tSm
oci opi^a^ aasp iti\^S ospoxa^o ,01a fivii\ fS>yniStt)p ^tsoa^ipS if&oo7
.;o7^2 ^aMmS .o&ej ^2p <*o70p2^ ^p ^oTdJbov* &Na ^ jaM^ pa .^>^tt»p
' See 5. C, iii. i, p. 116, col. 2, 1. 23.
L
MAR iSHO-YAHBH TO THE CLERGY OF MAHOZfe DHE A. I 35
O0r .^SdOLM ^ fisO^ fiViAv*^ oy^OlO .OjfSo^S A*» ^ ^fioV^^ ^^JkOttO
jft^oan>\v"iSa Nao^b «*o7ai3wk«i9 jia«2 .A»iVto ^o^s^mO ^x*3 A^n ^SSb
ltt\^ :.oA^ < Vtt>¥y ^2 oaA ^ (soe; ^of kjikaubo^a ^adi^ (S*ao2 «*<so^9
.;Uif,'j >{>^ opc^ ^tfbo .^o\x 007 fi'iS^ »fc^g)p er^o&aab^aaa a^i^fi) t\iat^
•jfi^a^p qiAifi'j ISs^ojiOtjai AooniS fis^2 .2 :^aMi^ Oifti'nS ^^ ^A*2 ^qyS^S
■..0033 ^sax <s»u*»3 ^u^ h^ffrkfra sas <s»^ ^ oc»2p .jaasa f^&joa fivao2
%*eM09iXXo «*eMA^{S fkOu9 &«a>m 007 ?an\\ •^cpi!^23 o/JSa^ ^f^p ^ ^oi^io
.oCSi2 ^1^20 .^07 ^aa ^opd& o*AMaoSa ^ .oXxie .0107 ^ao7»«s .^oy^
jajOu^ stm^^aaxSo l\i 9aj j^a\ ^ .gSitts Wo7^2p o7JSaL5i o^^ ^ 0^07
ICsfioS ^cj ^ObVa;s^a »32 .o\*.»N> ^a*o7 •^a>^o9 A^g>2 A? ^*1 ^ .o7(Saix&p
^fi^A? WaJo2p ^07 ^\tN ^C7p ^ ^07 .j^Sob A^ fM&M^ ^?^ 3\*iohi^a3
^iI'imi uZ2 o2 ^iAM «*o7 ^^2 .^&2 Ai^i ^(Saado*o7 s*A w^tio ^2p 07aci ^
^som ^o6wk007o .^o^ ^aL^o ^t^ii ^ lat^l .oa^^a ;{)a^ jUaat^ ^A*A ^oa!^
A? ^ubaea6o^ ^aox^o .SfiU Aaaa ^uauo^ ^ey!ia^ ^Nxdbs ^o^ao ^aa
Aaa wmSi^ ^aa(Soua*o7 Noak»^d9 ^^ ^^^ *^?? ^^>\.o^ t'^ ^Xai^ ^iAa
&M Aaa ^fisoaNi^a ;^oaoyA)iS ;Am ^2 »32a A^ N*2ayiS«o .^a^a jkli
i^^^vp ^>n^rja .s)t%\'\S .oafis^OM s*iy^& ^KoayJ^ 3<^odKO %UK*a&N. Jbo .fi^fa2
Jajs2 ^oaa ^fi^fii ^ti\\ ;^o .^'lisof&a ;{>*Om^9 ^(Sa3O0uo7a ^o^ ^o^ts
.^*u9f ^9\ ^oa^ «ft^Up ^a*ao7 ^aaV^ a«a :;fisoAaAk07 SoxtSn ^ai^s^
;Av^ ^o .^aoi ;a!Sa jZ>oaA> AAri ^a '.ja&acsa ^,'\m ^ aA^ ^(S^ai
;o|S2 A&a 3po\a /ts&ep «*^ ^l^xob fiso^ :JM«aQ0a ;»oa0 ^o^sa^a ^x*3 ^01
OmS jtlu2 ^ ^ouj aA^ aMd .^p ;Sci2 Jb ^Ai^&JSarAo .07J^oAa3aao A^o
9«Ami 007 3aV. ^2 .^01^2^ ;«>^*f ^ .oa^ ^<s*^a* .f&^poatto ^o70kV»2 ^i*a
.AafiOM ^o^a^p fioaa ^01 ^oiAApo .^opci^ J^ioai ^07 ^uSa Ap t^b^a
Jt^iJdu* ^s*S& ^oaMA«*p ^dckto 007 05P j^2 .^ojubp ^baci ^o^^ ^*ao2
^a* .0M2 »32p ^2 .^Aa ^%oiX A^ ^»»i«iba jfluisAi AaoJbp ja3i2 i otOmioN
^a AaoJb ^ **^^ -^o^ Ap 007 ^aaV^ ^2 .Jb^^ .aaaa Aa id2 ^fisft2
^^ocpi!^2 ^ ^ooysa /*^ A .^poA ^o&do j^ilaM JNoMutlMpo •^07
;v«^ A^K^? ^^ ^^^ :aNa2 A^a*po7 ^^a^ o^ oc^p 5^2 ;j(SAaa2o
i^^Atb ^aa ist^fiv ^»p^ <s*;tt*aft ^a&of&p ^ottsCA^Csio A ^5 : >anVr\S
136 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
ab»2 ;!S2 .^po7 ^I3 >>»^Q\>^ ^1*i&a ^afiOiaa joe; ^ft^JO^ ;^ '.^aio ^^ «*ore6^2
c7^oiaMiS^Sto No9o\aB .^07 hAlap an».\i Jt)\iftS ^a^ ,«^ sao .op^a ^007
ao,>\"t Jl^a^Sa .^<Ay<Aa ^e; ^2aap ^Au ^'6^2 ^23 ^2 .^o\ ^307 ^aap
JmI 61 \*Avi jso>^\^y) .Oi*%'nv>S aM«aE2 ^oxaNaM^ ^?^ »*? o^e .J{>^ittio
■q\iftrt\ fis*2a33\ ^dXiS .;^UM^^^o jtJdf JcAa ^ x^Sa .oa!^ -jaaxa
.^ftuAbp ^ ^ oy^ ^^sbi? ^ual» ^ ^fioUa!S ^aaacNo .j{>xo^ Aaao^p
. Ji^o\ Aatfo^p jaopox .^2a 07^9^^ 06^.^ ^a ^o\m ^aaaua^^ A ^omASAwo
.oAm.32^ ^qa^ fivU \»A9i ^loi .jo^2a ;{>^ofi^ JZA^o .^bdiia jNopbM^ ^o\mo
^ ^pbtt ^iiib^frJa .^Om ^oofa j^fiooa ooj jafsa .^2 .jo^2a o7fSaT>\,i
X.^ .;po7 «4^o\ «*o7 aa ^*au07 ^ ijX&aVt ^07 ;{^*>ia(S A'lhaS ^Tu^
;l^a .oopu^a fisoaM.ak.A dsxa^ ^«;alfi>o .^2a ^oj^^Maa oaaMi^ 6^07
^rf-rv^ »32 .^07 jtpu^a ^1^ ^oa^ (Sbax aoN ^^070 .AA» ^o^p ^oopi
3a&> ^r^T^^ aa ^ab*o7 .ju^& a*i&M 00^ cp^!^ ^Saa^a .07fis*&^&4^ «*d7 ;i>3*Naa
^alaoo ^07 A^a2^a ^a^^ ^^°^ V^ ^7? "^^ .o7fiA!^ ^ ^007 NU ^3\
^^^s^\ ^2a fiU2»^] .^bua jSiffiii*i o;^ae2a ^A e)!^o2 o^aj0a jfSo.iTi 107^^
OA070 .jo7^2a o7^a^^ oiXaa j>to\ir\ 33a ^2 .|3u.ax» joo^ o^ Aajbo^a ^073 ^07
^07 ^^ofi> fSOtS A2 :«*07eN*2 .^a^ A? ^ouujsa ^^oJb .oo^i^Vai^ aaa .J&C7N
.007 ^JM^S »32 AiA07 oao .op M^Csx2 >fi4ft>3 ^ato .joi!^2a o7^a;^p j>!ieft\y?
.JJpsoa AnnoS? j{>x^ o7fi^o^a*Ao .<*o7a^a ^JsoXa^ ^ '*§^a ^A*A .o^pjsp
o^p ,o^ASi3 jaV^ ;%iftSo *^oaap ;&ax fs&au»a^o ^07^2 (S^a^ ;;dp ^a^o
007 7*^rr^»t? ^07!^2 ^ 0070 .^01^23 oTftSpo^a S^^iaiOiS o\iMis2 .M^2p o7^aAi
T^'^V*^^ a\ Aaa ^aaao^ 007 .^o70i^aa aN*ia aii\ Aa ^^oa^ A^a
^^2 ^oaljla hio^ ^oT^ia .^^VkTi epua^
II. To Mar Sahda the Bishop. ;bua.* ^ lo^i ^s«&o 3^]
:^2 o2 (S«eo7 aa^to ^ofi^ A -tV^oXs A^oa ^ei.^oau .;dofiia^2 l^ofto v*aM
^^ -^atts ^ataa^ A ^007 tja^a ^07 ;!:.• ^a ^UQiltf ^ati ^o ^A^a
;^os «ap N«do2 A Art ^ao aA^ 0^2 «d2o .;i2 ^^fioo ^ ^fis^aa^ »32 ^073
* The next four lines are quoted in B. 0,, iii. I, p. 137, col. 2.
- See B. 0., iii. i, p. 117, col. i, 1. 32.
MAR iSHo'-YAHBH TO SAHDA, BISHOP OF MAHOZfe DHE A. I 37
potsio A .JE>*^d^ ^oAaipo UsoiiAt^ tsoaua^ ^»oojk ^ tsjbaj ts^%L .A^fp
.*rt^\\o jfikOAoS ^^9 -tAo; ^p ^£^^&9 «^^^^ t*^f S'A^ fi^ftOi .^er 5^
^2p ^fti\4>iV> ;^po JAkd j^po ^jl^2 j^po JtA^ App oer M*A>9 :afiofiU
•£S*oe7 aua±t ^a^^ 9a ^ta «*oM^*iba «A*p uAAo »32p ooj '.pobjo^ CSiOV^
^'SmA »32p frAaftOSl ^070 i^ot^ a^o ^*ia2 ^an ^NoiAa «*of*^iAtfp ^piSi
fi*i*2l\Mabop ^A^ .«*^ tS9^fiUs2 ^of i^l «*0ra*9au^(K J^ »32o «*ora*OMN
.;^ai ^p s*at J^aJ^ ;nS2N ^^ ,\.'%^V ^2 ^ SA ^2 .fioiiop fiwak2
Jl^ttS >t»V^& ^p ^ *• ^*»t^ fAo; ^p0p ^A*2 ^*au A 6^3 <Na2 9k^ aop fr^aib
.^t«*? ^ 9l^^i^>2 J{>*po(s fikoausp >saio ^»aoo .fivkj\NaE2 ;{^*>i»fikp ^odof (saS
^oa.ai>Ma Ka^^o .kiAV^4^ac2p ^ K*aV^4^ ^f^?*^^ .^SL^ofi) ^^^2 ^ &JS*
.^6cVibax J^ NMui&As6a ^Sofi^p j^afi> 6^Am6^ ^o)^\»o .^!^^a*por ^Mulb ^t*&&
fi^oftod .^^ ^^po ^apo&p ^^oJb (SfiAtoo .jBptp 5U2 09a ^ ^ 6^^ aao
^ 9«fi^ «d2 1 ^LiiOJbS ;jaf ^2 ^p ^ fiooM^o .fia2 ^p^ ^ J9»^ ^ojs ^
MiW>h\ Saac^e .Y^pfp ^A*2 ^^0^ (s&2p .^a&ioJbp oj^ouBUJb jsoor ^fi^p ^
^a&i 4*is^ ^tsx ^ o^ ^axp orfisOA^poto a\2 ;s2po .^ JM^ ^rfa o2
oaa^ }c!Q .^o* »»a»\ ^ oiej .)aM4^N2p ^^^ ^fikO^aibp ^^js ^aaVa j«b»2p
Ad2 A2 .«*NaS ^2 ;^ ^a^olbp ;^&ofis pft»\i j^o .^a* ;^^2 .^2 oaAUo
aao .^^^tiS a*as 7>V\g> 3^ kd2 ^ oaa ^o .%*o7o\&ip ^aV^2 Cs«ao2 jb^
jZ^ ;A\S ;»V^ ;>i\g> ^la&oJbS ^oo^ >AI : ;Vi\,m ^^ S^a ^ ^pp (S>^
jaitoo^ iSD JbOtSod «a» ^omA '^^f ^^¥ni*»p ^jsos ^ fiouaai. : ^iV^S p^i^p ^
^OmP ^OMia «A*p fyof ^^^^ ^2^ ^^? '^fSOtS fi^Saxp ^er ^^o ^^
A %^o^6s^ 061 ^aft*i&^ «*<So>^ ^ts4o .^aSolbp ^a«jau2 ^ajo .^1 noa
k^iiAe; fi42 .^9^p ^I^XmOX ^oOO^ 5^2 ^^^2 ;^ ^o .i^OfiOK2p ^ ^(S^2
^ato ^0^ JbJo ^poi^ a«\ ^2 .^ oiNo^ ^^^ <Sa2 «MAxao ^ .^Om2 o2
^ ^32p «*ofOJS*2p ^aU ^^a ^ aax i^jaaS (S&2 M«aaQ9 ;^ ^s2 ^o •'^^a^
aafto .^2i^ ^as ^aSia* fivoJtl»afi>p ^^o^o ia9\ ^ .^ini>\^*i ^ o2 ^i2 ^
-.afioM <S*;aba ^2p j^S^ 5U2 ^p ^t,\»(\ ^a{^ Jitpt oMbJOCSMiSp <Si2
M^ke^ ^o «ftUO ^Naep jSof&2 fia2 ^ k^i«Ato 6a2 tfiss2 ^^ ^0p &<S^(Spo
^p jtt&oJ 6^o*aaoi ^^a iSpo ^(Mva ^^ ^^bt^naS .^^a^aap )o{^l J^Zi?
138 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
007 ^9 ^ift%? p^ p^ ,yt,Kml lU^ ;So ^(Sojudu&cs^a Jba2^ jooffi^ ^^^
eyNo&o\x A'A'iO fiypM? JZAJiepi ^b^ba^ ^ 0107 -A^? jo^l ^oau ;!^3
^^ A?o ^oV^ ^AmN ';*ide2 ^\<^ ^.^ajsp' aasM [fi^hV? &^ ^4^^^
jo^lp ^i\i ^ eN*Mauo jia^po .AnYiii ^opo ftfii*i epo ^ta op .^2 afio
^ ^ ^btsao .^bfrjKl ^tsaa ^i3\ ^oxjam ^*skto ^Lkaij ^^ap ^a\2» jaa\o
^ero .^Csad ^fraa «*aa %»ato iSi&a i&9kti ^aoi /laso ^u&ts ;A2 ^ aofis
^a9 007 »323 ^fop.^ . A^ib2 ^Op i!^A£ip ;o^2p %*070^p ^o^ ^ jp^ ;p^
^p oAor .%ftp&oa ^iisA^^ ot^9 ^oS }»*ffi^i jtaAAo pb*9 .^Auo ^*e^ ^ofp dor ^»0\X
AAtt ^p *^o\p 6ta^ ^Aa^o7p ;ftif>,V aA^ oi^r ^i] .j^'fi^ JfiL\So7 jsaS
.fi«A2 la^ A 306s AtAOf ^^pts2 .^wflXxie dpiao ^b&p ^a^ao .;<i\ ^>^^ .%«--**
josp ^aLkdo ;(soi>y4»'w> ^ afivafiJp .^daeoM ^eorp ^<s»p 007 ^fio^ ^2
X*3p ^» jb!^ad&2^ ^oiu^l ^imo* ^9M 3i3U» ^2 ^ojJKu^ ^po/oA
j^sfiA ^070 ^^^? ^A*2 >\irio>^ .^ak3c» jaUiioo iSpoatio .ooAapo • \*^^'
^OA aM*2 jejo .o»o.*'o\ ^kO^or jjl^ ^SLs^ibl a\hOV% ,J^^a^aio ^01
^pbto ^Jo .^ >Vii*ftt kd2p ^ ^'^o ^?oo70 ^"^20 ;LiJSo4&9 .joy^2p o7Noau\9
opA ^ o^ ^fis^p ^9k^ofi> 1^ .^a*p ;*&aoAo ;^pM ^ fi^^jjib fis^cuacd
;&top kd2 .^a»2 o2 tSft2 kMaaeito ^ ^»aiM ^ft3(S2 .jLkax ^p ^ft^o&o&tf ^o;*!i^B»3
MJA&op zA^ ^iVMlsao ^ocip ^07 Mox :^o^Ado ^ojjbo ^ua «*o7e(s*2
.j^Tfiw ^ofAaolb ^ i.h4Mi\ ^07 lojSa^i ^Jb.*!^ts^ (S*AAp J007 ;^po .^M^aoa
aafi> fi«A^ ^ .aiM ^ooysp o2 :^^ ^^^ ^oaoulb^Nip '-jppA n^SuNyioSo
J9ofiA iaa2 pAp aA^ ^o2 .o^niayN ^UKtittor ^a^ »32p ^2o .Na^^ ^2o ^J2
^p^tifioo ji*^& a^aAmO ;!ialb t^oJbp ^oaca ^Ttaa^ o2 .;kfiL& ;a»u*p jboxa
»32 ^07 .^^ ^A 07&N9 ^M^ 03^ Aap iSfiox .^«a.43>^froo j^aci :^a^
:JLiap 02 ^o^Sidp juaes ^oxtA (^•ao2 t^aijjs .2 ^pubp ^aaa ^o^a^ ^J2
;^MiX ,*A«J\JS» )^ .^boo&fip ^0X9 ^07 ^ p^ 02 .^^ ^noaa fi)S 02
.0^ ^*2 01^ ^»pkMMi i^oJb fi^2p &J^ jopoos Aa .fi^2 ^^ 5U2 ^hisa IS^soS
p>io^ ^O7o\&i pA ^070^^10 pM A^o t^pM 9^ ^iftiVs^ iKoauajo ^oy^ X*2 ^2
* See Assemani, j5. 0., iii. i. Ii8, col. i.
^ See Z^. (?., iii. i, p. 82, col. i, 1. 11
J The next five lines are quoted in B, 0., iii, i, p. 138, col. i.
MAR iSHO -YAHBH TO SAHDA, BISHOP OF UAllOZt DHE A. I 39
faasom^o ^^90 ^ai9 ^ oioi .^ox^ jl^u^ ^er fifieat &«\ Al ^^^itsio
^epi (s«2^ ^A*2 ^kftl ^ tMAXM ;^ .iTMiftS ;\aoJb» ^0^00 (s*ao2 ^a^
^OAfii!^o .^OJJB» ^hosa 3oy&^p .(Sft2 *AM^ Ml ««a ^»*2 .AAi>? ^kkca
•^ojjop oor o^aA^ ..OmI 02 aA^ ^ ^o^aJ -3^3 oriKoMAMa J^io eJLia^o
j<Sftt*ifttN>Dao jf^ojaoM^sop A^sbo AimO t*o7o\ii <^ juSod fi^^.^ Z«^i^0O
^<Kota*aa 30m^ 1»^ ^ ^osti .(Sai^olp ^ «*o7o\^a jb^ ^ ^^!*^bo .e|!^ N*2
AmU aa .fS*>pA»\ a(SAAo orfi^o£s*2a ^oaamIAiJo <Ko>yiT4'io .jft>a.%>M>i ey^ ftt*2
^2o Anrt^ ^aAftfiaa Ao ae^(S&a Ao US«/ufti*fr^ ^CSA*Saap j(»\m qi^ epi
£Sj2 ^ Aaofba ^o^er a»^ Xi2 .^oj ^2p AaoAso ^a ^jTia^S ^M
5U2 ^jou ^oJloja ;{^^ .^oftinSo ^o^ad!i aJ^ ^ .A^a-^or ^va>a ft*K>tt\
..xaMAoS ^(So^oya jb^ ^waaoo ^epi» a*^* x^&«a^o ^oah^ td2 ifi^2 aao fi^2p
JOAN'S Of a jliixo&a ^o^ No^ .jopaac fikO^Lierp ^o&o\x oaa ^ ^ 3«4t>o
offikak^a ^ou6a ^(Sftioft>n\e .^aaeajsa2a ^.rtn ^ax^o i^^^vp ^oai^ ^o .JEm^^m
(SOtS A^Sa .^fis&2 \-^*\^*f ^IVy&^of ^"boJ x^oAMuoia ^o^oy^ aa .^ciy^2p
007 aa o*oor ^ ^o» a»*^ «^*au2 ^aao2a ^ ..Om2 o2 ^V^^xfik ^tSA«2 ^*i^oAy
.^ouO m-^^***^*'^ ^OAol^a i^u^a ^^ofoaiao ^ «\«Aof 3^ .^ojjbo ^o^aJ
o&of .^aij ^o^&d ^ ^o^aASo .^ouojbo jNa^UfcHwo ^Muijo ^ojjb ^ OAor
.0&2 ^Aer .^S>Tiiio ^fisl ^^ooaeo ^owS^^yo ^oaLAilo ^2o 3o^aJft ^
.oaaibia ^A*2 oaafi>2 ts»^rtAP>o ..ooy^oJb osdro ^o* a*^ jow \tA9i
^oiba jbox ^o* (^o^ :oof aa o*oo7p ^a ^4p .^ tAl ^o*^\2o .0107 o^^^o
^ ^fSOMudtf .jktoo2 ftu?%*(S» 3'*^* jbi^b Asoa^AMa fi^2^ ^A*2 JbulLJ ^
A^l : ^O7^o&o\x A>yW ^2p ^A*2 & ^aM2 ^aap ^aato .^omS ^ j»o&ao . jZ^a^M
.^oa fi^o^ f&A(SNo ^c^ aiA^fS A fi^&2 ^ .o&o; .(S«^^2 ^pofo^a ^2 ^\.*n\
aaaM .^aji2 ^ ^oy*aaa ^i>Vm ^ 6u2 i\viVift\ •Jb^f? ^ .0*2 ^^fro
jfsaaftftft>42y JbaookN epp :je|!^A AsM^b «*«; jt>i^a»a :^2 02 ^ai ^l ^*^ai
^o .^AAO^JSala ^rsoa^OftOp ;»js!^ ;a*M2 jAs,oib :joyS2a ofJsoaA^ fral a.^^
140 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
•
•oa^ /f^ftlftrtft.ll? J^aoAXfik ofio ^Au ^oy^o .^lua ja\oft ^ 0007 ^>>n#2
.^o*s2 ^ i^lfta 02 ^07^ ^ (Soboi e2f ^ '.^ii>\,scj «*o7a£i3X o^o2 ^sm
«*o702aiX JUi^aiao frs>^ aai^p oej j&opa :^ ^a^)^o .^kaito23 ^2 Csoey kd2p ««dy
: oafioi^2 ^e^a ^iii ^070 .Jt»*oiS2 ^^^SoM»^^ ^ afOfioc2o .uduUSap ^
^ J9 9ito» ^Skti^ t*o7aaA)ilo .joy^23 epb&sa^a j!<&ao3^S2p l^ ft\*lN23 ^a^
o7\»m1 ;{^» ^!V^ .^07^ ^07 ^o^*fiv»2 J070. Jt>Mu«*9e jZ»au3M ^07 JU*?^ a1^
)^ ^9\? "^^ .nA\^ ;io7 ^p ^^0^07 Sb»^ ^^\>yy> ^*kV^aap Ao .}^Mo^
&*dxa ^aa ^23 ^X^a A*9 ^3070^ '.Mauau* o2 ^ aA3^2 ..^3b»^ Ayvi
«^«aAo ^ Jb9«o M*ji\A\\ oaa^fiOK^ ^2 ^2 .Jboa^ Aa ^ ^ fisJ ^(s&ao
.^^2 aiiD2p ^2 ^d* ^2 .^ «SaubMb23 M^? ^ ^ db^\*aS :^07!iA J^^V
wiOTO^Mp ^y^Sbo 9fioitob »32a 5U2 ■JS.^a^ ;ti»\So7 AaHo^ ^fio >s^ ;i;9
M*^^ ^oaao .yrti^^y AnoaS ^oiijxda ^609 ^^oi^ o2 ^9 A2 .^pos^
)^2 .^I^OmO 0^0 .;au\'&a7p 007 ^b>^io ^07 .;tl«\'&o7p JMi&fsS ^m^s ^AvV)
.^kL\So7 ^ ^a^^oa ^2 . ^n >\pSo7 ^oy;JS^ ^a»^o\aa .jtiL\ao7 .0107 &><\
^1*1^600 ^^U9 ^07 9m^ kd2 \*Aci ^07 .a^^lx <«J9o£o ^!aAopfiwS2 ^ l^aaa'
\tAOf »3^ "tt?9? ^ %A>OJ3>303fi^a2 ^a7^^ >s?^ Aaap tfi^9^23 ^ ^pto .>{>^
jodb ^ ^iriibfik(S& Its^*^ ^fivo^^o ^ ^o^ jfi^syis* ;fcwft\,>^»\p »^a^ o2
•ika^JSJS jS jliAAop o7^ft\V«o j&pib ^e .a^ots j^ ^i>^ ^!»ac^ fia2p .^07 ^^aib
)S ^NasA\^p ^bK^a ^o .^^atfs A ^A>AopN'&2p ^t^a^o ^baaep j{»lb2Nx ^o
epis 007 J9»*^ ^ktJ? ^A^<^ofi> fse^ -^oT^lp o7fiAMaa a^*^ a^p ;^2 .ubu^fi^
i^jsai&ip ^ac^ Aai^o ^ .^p ^(Ko^^o ^hstb ^ '.SbfiotiKo ;uS(s^ koaM
j^^p oer ijft»iM&io ja^ ^ ^ 0570 .oAaoad^ aa^js joyS;^ ja^ ^03^3
jtsMoaatfiA .07&aaei oAAofisaao^ ^>i>io ^&a^ 007 .otMyS H^ ^ ^2 «*o;oabk;s
III. To Hormizd, Bishop of Laphat, concerning Sahdona.
^007 ^iJSnJ AiW^ a A>a>^i aA ^^bpoT^ .\\,v> ^a£3tt>d2 p«»M&oo7 fso^pl
opoCbo jSa^AV^ ^opeiOkS ^>^tt» ovN*l ^07 .fti^fcy7»\ ^ofi^*a>^2 ^ Aaao .^*07^
^aiMiie7 AittoS >t>^\iio 07^ ^»%>T>ip .^aM2 ^^a opa& N*2 aa ..oaJSJVi^aa
aC
MAR ISHO-YAHBH TO HORMIZD, BISHOP OF LAPHAT. I4I
fi\*2 ^^A^ -^op ^ ofifoasio jillttSod \^^^ ^^fO <s»?Aya .^a ^Loaopts&l^
^aalbo .^^OAMuoj ^90 ^oof jSp %»oroJK*2po .^aaV^a o/^oJ^ ^2 ^^mA >\\ift
«d23 ^ '.^f iSaubo^o tsuln\h»u} a»j»L^ jaLa ^iS^M ^2 ^ai ^070^2 asa)
^oor ^p ^ 1^2 ^o^ ;^a .^or »d2 ^2 «Afi>oto .opo*N t^ ^or jr\c> ^s*
;N90S9 iJbMil i^23 «*fioo2 :^eyS2 ^3 j^oas^o ^1^ ^ion ^oao ySyna ;\**^
jooj »^^i\ ^afAtf ^l» a\ aA ^7070 .;b&9 ^Ko»^ NoS .^9^ ^ ^&2
^&j^ jdu2 ;i^p »32 ^ .^&Na ^^0 jkora ^07 ^ ^&o7fia fi^*a ^boao ..coj^
^^ae& ^ v*?'^^ •ao7p«s ft^aJS^o &ora«s ao(SO ^a^to &^a«i .aaoi jbaua /j^oa^jca
^007 ^p ^opoyfisiS ^U3 fiSl^i^ «*eMOfi>*^ ^<^AiAoo2 tsoauaa f-^^^*^^ ^^^^
^oasoNopA A? .^ak*i&9 «J.^o&^ ^oASdii t*^^ ^vVyViS .j^«^^ .eaXis^axfi^
kd2p ao(K lataX^iK .2o .07N01MU07 Noaua^p ^oaXao t^eao7fi>a lSc\^ ^o7oaXa
^oaao ^oAiio ^o^ fi<»2 ^07 i^La ^0701^^^ %P^V^ U^aa 0073 «*o7oafisa^
•adaiM cl2a .^m*0pa ^^fi> ^ »d2 ^ ^ ' fS*2o [•^2 e«M ^opj*3aa ^uMpo ^SfSb
Ju&(So ^kJjLo^ad au2 oTfto^lepo '.^oolSp ^&^ ^O7^o>uo*o7 Anb^S .ooTia^ dtap
^o» ^MOUB Am ttSa ^ A^\ .fi^v«^o fis^^aM ^& A»i >saM2ao .j«jb
t^opok^ ash^^ ^07 ^07 %*070^fbe aao .^07 ^p ^^V\g> ;i^a«*2 ^&^ ,^„»to\
oof <^mA t^*l&a^ fr^^a^ (S&2 A92 ^ wV^io :^£so3lmuo7 ^^SU ^07 ^ Ja
AiAMO .%»aofr«2a ^ jts2 J070 .^oueuo7 ^2 jaS2p ^ ;i2 A92a .j^^afi^ 7A^lOV^
.^bdip ^aa»o ^MiaNa ;^a dbpf ^1 .Anrit >S o2 opJlSo* AnHia ^^^^li ^*a
«Js\m ^2 JOJti^ «Ax ^o •^07 ^2a jaas o2 aofisaA o2 ato^ o2 ^ ^^»u
\tX A\,v> aa :^aaa ^Jk*2 ^^A^ ^ep »32 .^ocaa a»^<K2p ^ ^07 ;{>aoaa
.^2 «Afi>oAo jpo7 pftiA-m ■.'*MiftSo aio^Mi^o a^a«o\ ^l«^2^M .^*oa j^p a^
^axp ^SiJb t^fia2 ^ittliaM :^(S&2 ftHS^ *.^fia2 ;ftaopJsa2 s ^^s2 3oaAd2p
* See Assemani, Z)\ (?., hi. i. 118, col. 2.
' Assemani ^.^o^p.
142 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
.^a«p ji^k^oV^ JiSUAa ^^^ \»Aot o^ oa\ .^LMittoa 07^9^ ^fial ^a
jo^^ ^o .^oyiK ;i^p «*d70 Jthft ^2e ..oaiiVya ^^mSi .oA&aao ft\*iii*nS droV^ ^
^esotfb o^ A2 >^V\yi i^\ "^2? ^9 '•V^ :^07fi^» ^o^2 ^(S& ^^o .^oifr^?
>>*\o\,a ^ji^W^ ^oAo 9A 1^2 ^\\i ^ft^ 30^^ &fiv3 f^i^S\a «*0)S o^
^otfXxpo ^oft^J^aop ^o^a^p «dr :^MS*>2 ^^^^ ^^ .o^Noam^ot tsoaLaa
o7fi>wi&&^ lA'nS 6^M9« o\atio t^;*as Sfiva ^po ^«iuaa .0107 o^ aA^ ^07
^ ^a\n> ^30^ ^c;V\\a ^9^1 :Jbo«aA ^ »d2 ^&(S90 JbQ*&2p
^o^la M^ .eXauft ^t i»^i\g> ^»\ftTri ^aao ^atia*ei^o .oax ^o7^ofi>lboa
,Z>\i.f\t j^o■■!ft^l^Ka ^>\\S .oa2 ooof o\i» Ao .^&^o» 60o|a ^AU&O.^ JSOOf
offi^a^ .adi!^B>&a Ad2 .^^oiiAdla ^ajtl*2o ^ ^e|!^ 6s*2 9A .^(Sa^ ^a>ae^?
^M jbepoaca ^oa ^u^a kdl aefis ^070 .o^^a ^ ^ 0007 ^M*Aaoo jo^2p
^o^a^ Jbo^aoa^a ^afl ..oei!ia ^*Il&aip ^Naitt*07p ^m90X ^&^ 0007
^J^ao ^oaiilo j&iS^o ^fi^oSt^o j^aoao ^ ^au^o ..o\*ifH ^uxao ^tsoi^fiooa
^07 »oSia jjsoi^&ftooa ^o^a^a Jbo^&acL^a b^a ^ tooe; ^eyJSJ A^imO
^2 ^^M^ kd2 ^^^^ .%4>o^? ^oauiaKdaa ^^asa A«m» ^otus k^frod aaa
.0107 •.0073^ oafONcl aftMVi A*^?o .a»aM2 .0076^0190*07!^ ^l ^007^093^
ji^py, 02 oaaa^2 ^07 .jfii^oaoo ^^00^2 i.oo^ «Ma<Sk2 ^foox NkSa j&fiv2p
o7fika^ ^^'V^ ^ofioo A t^9k& ^ aa^ fr^P^^^? >Z>^''*=> ^^? .fri>^i\, o^po
.jo7!^2a 07^a^ o7o\^2 ^oi^&^&ooo ^NoA*ub(SM ^o^a^a JI»ae*a iSao .^07^23
^AsOa jSp ^a^ft t^i*ao7 i^ .^frM^a»a ^ ^07^23 o7^A^ 6"^^ "^.^^ S"^^ "^^
mA^ aojs ^2 .^ajb ti^ oaa&a ^^SmVyi ^o.*Aia •^07^2 ^ «ajb2a ;^^i^A
t*^ ^07 Ni4 a6oao!i ^2a >saao ■jaaxa )^N ^^0*0^0 .^Xo&*^ A\,^ ^2
d7fis^\»a Jtpooacf^ Ai^i ^ %aa2(S .^^a^^l Ju2 A\^ ;^o >j^\\v> ^ )^ .j^o^
o\nri*n\ ^ CS*2 aonSi 07340^ >^^? o^? aowVn o7fisli^^ ;^2 .^07^2 ^aja
a*fis* p^ ^^ >*NoA»n ja*^9 ^ ^o^aJft \\,io ^2o .jfiwo&^e^ j^ox^&od
3^ ^0792 ^a j&N*iio 0^ ^!fl)^o\ -^^p ^t^a ^61^073^0 ^oftdei :a.Ma»^
^ ^30 .ficifi^ .oc|!^ ^l ^^9 fdo^a^ fiots^a ^att ^ f&2 «d2o .«*e7jJUAx2
<Sa2a k^o ..007!^ frs3£sa ^*att ^a ^>\ >^\ J^ a*aii 1^9 ti^ .jaoacs ^07^ '^'^
^2 odtsoxio!^ ^No>ia.. ^^JS .20 .^tti^M «*sol^ maK*ox2o Nxad po«As
MAR ISHO-YAHBH TO HORMIZD, BISHOP OF LAPIIAT. 1 43
•M*^ ^0^2 ^3 J^Moax^a tO^? P^ myvS ^^ts ^ .^ooikaa ^oau!^ ^2
^2 ^»lx ^)x ^^2 ^Il»s JZ^o* ^o^ .ogu3^ r*^^ ^^ ^?^ Aaso
Aaa^ ^a^ ^»aM»03 A^ ^a^x aepiNs i^^a\^ ^eiaAat fi^Skd? ^ai
IV. ToHormizd, Bishop of Laphat. A^o ^000^2 a^aaoa? jso^a]
9»^ -^^P ^^? ^3 jo^aaA J9M.& ^ 9A ^^^A^ ^^oi&aa jfso\,>4M
;{Sa\^2a ^Sftft^ ^p^ ^iSp %J^a2 \po^^ ^uddd Al^ wi(Kea.»^d ^s^^oio
^Mo j&ft>*>ioH j^3 diu<s*2o ^2 .2 .^oa^ ^ ^bau*6^ Jbox^Aioja jS^ .^.^a^tsio
A^ .^2 fa^ oJaAl;^^ <^^ ?Ow\i ^mS» ^oj ^2 ^^2 .3?^ >9oAa A^ ^ep
aito2fisM ^ ^eor^o .^07? jSbf ^ Ai^)oa ft^«t<w .«*No^a ^073 ^ts^V^^ N*«hil?
fia2 ^ .^&2 ^^9 ^ Add ^u^A^ '.JtM^atS ^oa^*^ j\ai\,aB jS^ e^fiita
3N*fi^ ^3 ^o7tSo ..atso^e ^i\r? r? ^^^ '^^ ^? t*^^ :iboaJ Aa ^ ^a
^ ^2 p^ .opkAi^a ^a«3 .aa ^ait9a732 NoA2^ ^a^ ; ^»\r\i ^*0p
SmS ^{SomAuA ^^ai^ fiviiO07 tS3<Sa .^o^a ^NaV^2a Jt^JS^ba!^ ^o* J(A^ ^^9^
^<So^ ^i\Md^a ^2 AwAtSa \v^^ .afi^^ ^07 Jda« fis»2^^ ^ A^ ^^^ ^^
dyi\-in%) ^ ^ N^^boza \v^^ ' ;^2 : [^OfiUilb fi^ ^ai ft4c»o«io\ .^^ ^1^ aa
^eaoylbae .«*o7e<s*2 .o^^mk ^jAtoa ^a^a^a ^olAoMj «&^ ^^ -^^^^a
^^eorp ^oAa ^oOJbAl ^p Ohier .«3oN .eJM2pe i^oioCsJ. ojCscS ^o^^
;S ^3u*a p^iio ^oyofSbp aia^xa .eao^^ ^Sa b^af2a .Cs^^haitso jSl t'^a^ ^2
^ ;^ap t^B^^'^ ..OA*alli ^olAoMj ^a^ .aa2 .2 i^o .^07 ^a ^a^ooa
.^^Otf42uA «3efisa2 pft»i\i tsoAorp ^07 wflLl&oJ .^oaeylba op&AS )0a^ ^&^3ibfis
^ A*ao7 &a5Jb .^lioNtoa ^A*A fiv&2 p^L fis*jadfi>a &b*V^ ;&2 AiAfii ^l
' See Assemani, -ff. (?., iii. i. p. 118, col. 2.
' B. O. has vf^ H-
144 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
V. To the Bishops of Beth Garmai concerning Sahdona. '
.^of ^2yj ^ ^2^.2^o .^or .00^ aoisal \ aCs'\)n\ is^/oaj ^^ i^p P^?
fis.lAx2 djIi^Sa^f }sf^^ ^ ^fisa .o\9ae .aAal!^2 ox^V^ o^?^? }i*^ ^aIas
^{S9\2p ;^9^3 ^ ^l ^a fr^ioaeo .NJSj;m6w2 .oaNo^ aa >\»\a poM 9bA^
.3o^9bd ^ 050 ^fio\^2 ^a ^o/pe ..odtso^ ^oor^kp ^ ^au ^iilAe^id
;S 9A .^fso><bM\ ^\y«i»*fl ^o^2p or^a^p ^epo^bp jU^a^Vyii JZ>^4^ w^
;^^ .dp la^ jS ^ ^ ^o^Qftb '1*3^ ^^2p o/J^a^ )So .^^ ^opqifb
fis^^L^p ^A*2 ^ ^opoi^ ^07 kA*^^^N» '-^o{^ ^p^p ^ t^f ?^p ^oiu&pfsaoa
fSoifi'n ^o! ^bia»*io jSl .^aaaep ^0x^0*07 >\^bft\ aif^o aM2 fr<«^!iMiX&o
^apo^ o^ Xk2 aa .0;^^* 0;;^ ^ ^*^? ^?o2i^o .j^oibouorp ^^a^MSO e7fiiO&aa*o}
.^07 ^ ffciQ!y\ )So .o^^o ^a^ ^ /i\,0 i1i\,Mp jZ>i*aito ^ .^oy*aa
^1*3^ ^or ;^e fi^a^ )0Ofioo ^ «^oy^2p ^ o/ft^ab^o .^o}^2p o/j^a^^p ^odfr^ox
.diuioaub w^p ^a^o .qraa>xp ^A^.»«ioo .^^oibouojp ^ty>\.»'io 070^ o\vyii\
-.^loaeylbp 07^^^ ^*^ ^^a^ ;So ;^Na^p ;»\vv> ^ ^lepojlb jS ^i^ut aae
o2 .&i»JMi^ o2 }\hi\S o2 jfi^'>ti\ '.ffeSuatp ^Aft2 ^ftSuat ^ ^ ^2 .^>» jS
o{^ PmASi ;!sp ;^aSk^ o2 ^opoMb^ .aied %*a ^ o2 .0^ ^o7p ^2p }^Mo ^bn*n\
^ a&jsa ^a*o7 -.jaeor ^oyo>»%nVi aap -.J^A^p 07fiik09i»*07 fi\a*aAOAp ^aaox^
^0 .aito ^ a^iifSAp ^A*2 ^ Ju2 aaa i^l .Jbpf pyrt»»>io\o ^o^ofrs*! ^Ao^p
fi^ ^omj^ t ^i^ft\p o2 ^^2 .w^ax Ji^ x*^^'*? ^ r^ j^ .^>iifl>»\v) Jbo^od
.a^o .^^ofti^oucpp ^oa ^oV^p ^om ^ «orofis*2 ;So .^^a* a^^ ^n>g>So^
^i\au^p ^nia^S oj^^Mfr^ AAb ^ao^o U-^ao^p }?*ho ^i>a.p ^i>Vt :aA^ ^
^hft^N opauJS ^ijbf ^"^^30 ^pbMa :.aJkop op^a^ ^ Jbo^oSo .^oaM^ftC7p
.^007 .^a*p &tf\^ 007 ^2 .oyfiUdid {SoliiaMp >2»^ id2 ^a^MJo 3^*0 .^o*fi>'^o7p
fSo4«\it^ oyiScun^yN ^a*NSpo lo^jo aJS* ji^o ?i%>.t'Sio ^ ^opoi^ ^u>»ft^p
^iflL^ .007 ^e7p ^p .otStf^pN* ^^ .o^u.oo7p .!^2 .o^pkae .^iti>»Aio ^ ^Oidd
t?i»At ^OiMA A^ ^a6ujB2 ^07 ;!^2 aa >3a9 .opcli aui^ 0070 .\wO 007
^>^of dboaaOpo .^ lacdLM ^C77 Jl^ ^f «^f ^^cu Av ^t ^t^^^ax ^&A3^2
^07 ;«*0M*^32 .;>\o ^*x3f s»o7opon\^ ^oAiAo a^ &Mp <s<ae2 ^ftiAi ^2a
' See Assemani, B. 0., iii. i, p. 119, col. i — i2t, col. 2.
^ Assemani has fliaMip.
'rsi
MAR iSHO-YAHBH TO THE BISHOPS OF BJ&TH GARMAI. 1 45
A*in ^JCat &J^ ^is .^1 pe^ ^ij5L!^oMjo jjiU^o^olb j*SasA9 som^
fiAcs 4^^? ^"aroi^a ^oy!^ jfSft>\\^\ phmHo :^9A^ ;(S0JAa*«T ^oaoytt)
^ ^bA ^ Aa .bOidbAO ^oJe^o ^soso bo^Asa ^ ^^^S oor ;S aA .opo»iS
007 ^&jo &M ?A ^ h^ fi^^^ .^Loa jSp j<soac*^(S3 ^soAa >*oyoAirna
.^Q»lb3o7p Im^ ^ oAof .^ft»A*fcS «ftoy»&po (Sift Aftift op «M^ :^opc^p
•A^0i*lb'^o7a ^oJ^ox Naau39 ^2«a ^alJio\ .ooj^as ao^ A^aa ^o^s ><\ioNylo
^•Sd^JD A^ao .JSouaA07 AaiO ^A^p ^poV^a ^^2^ ?'**'V'^*'* aepA .afi^AO
oMs*2 ;^a ^tsdua ^^oi^o^JStop p^ ^f oiaac oor ;!s aao .^T5\? ^oja ^»oi^kAa
e}!^OiM AiriftNo ^l«o^l ^•aob AnMoS ;%*gy>i>N>ao e;&^a ^^a^: >3&a .^fi^oajsojs^
^aisL^ ^ oior *-^^*a ^fi>S6\;S ^a^iiO ^i^x&o2 ^ t&Oito a^ ^Mo .01^1*^
^ ^2 aao .^6w2 oj^Souoao; ^^ ^ AodiM^a |AAopfis!&2a jliJBAo^JO JboAe&^k
^^A^ Xo^ ^ o&^ -^^P &^ ^^o .^A^ «>^2 *. ^ y mrvtVy ^l ^ w*ax2o
^p .oiJSU ^of fisJ^i^s* ^ ^o^fioo .e;!ia^»e ^Na^ ^ ^!>V^ >^\f? ^>aJd»
A^o jloAoNtt A>i ^aojB ^ ^opo^D A^2 aA i^aj ^2a ^>ff>\rfc ^of &fici
.epo^i jsoi^ ^^o NiftA<tty» eiouo •.oiScAt'MSi A>iO or&btiU2 Avo o/jsotta^or
.ojts^ajB A^p ^ao^ At/V^w ^ M«]uie&aNp ^ .oa(Sou^ o/frA^ aNAfi^ fteor ^
Ji2 ^ ^o(s&2 ^^Ae .^sfrwM^ o^ ^l^aftcop >9aMp ^mm^ ^2 ^ ^oa!^ Spioaoo
^ ^2p .JMlAd6JB JMS^ba^p ^NoAftO/j^KM fi^»A02 |^*&iJp fioo^ ft;*^ ^ofia2
^ ^oa!^ jOMi ^OJuip^M i\Au ^o^ajtb Ap .ft tittup Nto^ ^ ^a«» «vAof
^po» ^307 3^2 ■^■>Hp ^Nodjsoaa oaA ^ o^ i\*iijm .^Om ,r»\P> t*^*? ^
^afi^ oAa Aa Ap i;U*«A2 ^fi^A&aa^M^ ^ oiai .^epoylbp oflSoaJi^ 41I
jbx»ai4 ^^^ Oi2^ ^M7 ^ ^07 fi^2 jSl9 .07ah*^ap ^2 a«ApfisMi^ ^epoya» ^
^ ^ajb .oopp ..fiiOj»*o7 AnnoSp ^^oafr^A ^&2 oAa ^A»p .^adu» ^otiAd2
.^ "^rt. ^^bAopN'B^ i^2 ^o£A*d^ Ad2 ^ oaA ^o .jJb ta^'&tse ^ci^oA
iim»SDoa ^cjja ^es ^2p >\^\ xoitsoaiss^ioao s»/3io^ioa pa\r\ p^*^ )^2
o}Cso3b^A» ^^0 «*o^Qi^p ^&QS ^o^&e .?,.>m\ jpoAo ^oJiJ a^ o^p Aa^o
aA .^o^p ^4^o2^qJ qL^As j^>\fe ^muN^^Hn laejAO &A^ afi^ .aM AAap
* Assemant'has
146 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^oitfuoy 9k9 «*07ejs*2pe i^fisoal ^^oto i^p A^ ^ ooi ^?&? opc^ A^ f^Aio
9^ ^ia AiA%\ ^fop^ao ^ :^oy^ ^op »o7eN*2 ^073 ^o^e .^of^^
^2 jOLo^o .^ fis*2 ^bouiaa ^^o .^ faVni^ta An'^^Ni ^aaioo .^e^o^attMi ^
y\s> ^ &b*N» ^2 ^oAoe .Ao^ v«^ ^2 aoxo .^tso^ui A\^ s*frAao ^so^
;!S2o .erao^ ^ ^or ^2 ^ o^^»»^ ^oaoyot^ ojtax ;Sp •^'^2p o7^on»\^
^ 9b*fi<i* ; ^\toriSp ««oro3^d ^4*^p ^SN^ ^a£lfi]^2 ;{S&^29 ^ ^07 ^007 ^*2
j&*l9 ^OA^ ^2 }^ AdAao fis*^pe .^0)92 AniiivSs ^*iaa23 «*0703^a
^2o .;wa\, ^2 02 ^9^3 ^Yo^ir ^ NjAo2 .^94d ^ o&^9f2o .^&lSeafioD
^oAadaoci .o^>To»giiS ^Astsi ^k£soA29 9bMd o^r -.oaJu^^ ^ai ^jSj ^As^s^ ^eo^fii
^^S.> ^*XfiONto ^0»!^ ^9^? ^0^«^^ J90^f O^ ;^2 t^OUOLkOrp ^\mJA09
^*i&A09N32a Jt^Moasfis ;^2 '^07^ «Usao2 XJ? ^ ^q& 9«iO JbM ^2o .J^ou
^07^2 &b^i&9 ^NSottpJSO ^N&M ^tK&SUd ^&3fi>2 O^^itfO .l^^^tSiO ^J^S OTmSOKS
^07^2 ^2 A*3fici O7fiioabauo79 ^js.09070 o9\rftS .^f9 .oopa^oao ^07 oits^^a
^61 aA^ ^9iS .09oub ;^9 epcift ydax o2 ^Max ^oJSto ;^9 007 .^Sckis ^&
0007 ^,ii\ny«o .^Qi^e 'jbo^&ojb9 ai07aaoak ^ \«ftM &b*N* ^lut ^JS^N ^079
^!kA AmA Xa o2 ^oajb 9^1*9 0^07 |>*9ofici :^0A!euo7p jt»^ ^0^9 ^9mo;3
^ ^epo^ httd2o .^N ^ o^Mp jllitfofici ^^7 ^2 p&^ •^07 ^ip ^A*2e
>\^\ ^&oufta;!s ^ax .^oM ^07 ^o ^tlwi ^079 «3o^ ^A*^e .^^jmas ofi^*ao
.^0706^29 eo7p ^ ^ .^oiia^ ^o ^2 ^9N*9\d ^ .^oo7'B9 ^^^^02^ 0olb
^^2 oi^Aa e99p '>^9 ^^MMi (ij, ^ a&07 .^2 ^6^ ^07 .^07^ ^9*0 ^tHo
^tsoA^ c^^o .^\\t1 07^0 .07600 ^ft«d&e *.J{>a9 ^o^b ^07 ^070 ..fiio2^ o&do
ov^o .^nAfcift oiikAo .^*£L9^2 oj^o .fcyA^p ^oa\ao 07^0 ^.^9i^9«^9
07^0 ^U*\i3^odo .^"^fV^ ^o7!!iao .JbOfOo J&09o&e .Ay^o c^^e .^.hitSN
■^ oT^kAo .^SoaUo ^\W^e : ^Ao4«o^e ^*i0o^e \^6t^o ^2o lepiJt^ox
^5x09 jNojuS^ ^?oAo .^caujlo^e ;Vi\,fti>\^ ^ ^£^0 .Jboadobo ^i^&e2o
t^ :^oAoA ^>xo ^9kM^e .j^KoMuiae ^9^*9 ^M^aoop VAoe ^oi^5a>aoo
'^>\,4>? ^ ^A^e ^p o^ >39m!0o .0007 ^oao ^07 o^p AMafiOC29 3a'3U[&^2
jNo&poMoe ^^aA*po ^010 ^a*ft9^ ^ajb juoutto l^,^ 'Jbo^90JB t^fiOb^
* Asseman! has ^-A^j^A*!.
' Assemani spells the name jbo\*&ojb.
3 Read, with Assemani {fio^^^j (of Longobardia).
* Assemani has {l4-^jo.
' I L ]hii^ Jlfr^ " JMBi^r*— — "■^— ">— — <ia"*^^*«»snB"*-
BOOK II. CHAPTER VIII. OF RABBAN KAM-ISHo'. 1 47
Old Im t ^»g>i* &»6wi flue jjaoA^^ ^ ooor ^*^\? ^er? -^of^ osore .^w*aQa3
'jbo^so^ M0^P ^070 .j*i^op ^ op&\(K2p ^07 ^pa ^osaa^kitti
^ .^ l^e>^es sfid ^ ^fisajki 'f»rfc\p4>p ^ oiiS2 i ^oc^f^asikauorp ^b^Mtto
o^J^ ^;*aasa60D ^ -.^^im Ap ^eaoMb^ ^ 0161 JboS^ao^ ^xliao >^ «yV4^
.^ ^or w^pe '\>^i* ^^Mip o7JsojAa*o^ ocr ^ if^^o i^^ ^»N*2 ^»v\yyo
jCSO&ftOff aao70 .^*&t> ^o^ o2 ^A^ep \*Aaf o&Om .^AMo^&a ^&2 ^ ^2o
^aMp or^9\ab «2k& js«^9au\ oMot^e .JU^p ^^oa»*o7p ;fs&a\^i\ j^
Joaao
.o\\\ •^e|^2a oy\*yi jaa^^aD ^ op9\^j3 ^er ^a i^p ,atJ^ ^fiooul:l^N2p
3o^9 ^L^ilaoap :pl<SAp fA*2 j^^yJo ^a^ ^ ^ oaap^ao .^oX^p otN&mSi
J&l^o jouMiS Zaal^e .;^o^p ;>\ft\ft1ii ^lijp^ ^ ^poy Jbx*a fi^ii ijfiuxdo
9A fka«0f .oeor ^2 ^oopdi^ ^070 .^001 00070 o!ilio oSi&6oe2 ^mImS
.oo7{so^2po ^o7fi^As&a*o7p ^Sm* ^ cici : &i^>g>'ftS 0007 ^nicifriiMo jJn«7iV^
: ^tso!uo7«!^o f^iftp fc4\oA irtVvSp ^bdi&o ^oopporoSi a^A^Jo .^oo^'&aJiaopo
07(Si>^p ^2 ;^au hU f*^ oS ^ &^ ^o -^^V^ fA^ ^»^P ^o7<s!wp
^op ^b^^ ^aaib ^ «atol& ^ t^uV^o&tsao A^ji ^atSp oiud ^ .fti\^Op
orfio^ ;tsJ&64»p ^&ilo>^ ««a& loopp .^i^, ^o«u ^ 1^1*^07 \4yM .^^»fiN^p
«^oph43 Av^p oor «jb^ ^»m&jo ;o^2 ^p 0070 .^6J^i qeoaaxfiAp ^la^lp
CHAPTER Vm.3
OF RABBAN KAM-ISHO, THE HEAD OF THE MONASTERY, AND
OF HOW HE ELECTED TO OPPOSE MAR ISHO'-YAHBH.
Now when the holy Rabban Kam-lsho', the head
of the monastery, and a large gathering of brethren
* Assemani spells the name J^o^^oja.
^ Assemani has ^a^hJ^?.
3 This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 124, col. 2.
148 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of his own opinion and manner of life saw what the
Catholicus was doing, that' he was preparing to bring*
uproar and noise upon them, and that henceforth they
must abandon the happiness and enjoyment of retirement,
and all the course of the ascetic life, the glory and
beauty of which seclusion, whether it be on the tongue,
or sight, or hearing, bringeth to a man, they were
all gathered together in the presence of MAr Catholicus,
and with gentle entreaties, and humble supplication,
they begged Mar Catholicus exceedingly to desist from
this work which would injure them in several partic-
ulars, saying, [p. 75] "It is not good for [us] monks,
while dwelling in our cells, to be disturbed by the
sound of the chanting^ of the psalms and the singing
of the hymns and the offices, and by the noise of the
voices of the school boys and of those who keep
watch [by night]/ We have neither found it in writing,
nor have we received it by report that such a thing
as this ever took place in any of the monasteries of
the fathers. We are destined for weeping and mourning
while we dwell in our cells, according to the doctrine
which we have learned from [our] books, and we have
also received [this] from our father Mar Jacob, for
during his lifetime and on his departure from us he
did not command us that one should teach the other
' Read $titsi.
' Read*;A^
3 "Neque enim,",aiebant, est hoc Monachorum opus, ut in
cellis nostris sedentes, audiamus cantiones, et sonos, et tripudia
puerorum, et noctumos vigilantium adolescentium ludos". B. O.,
iii. I, p. 126, col. I.
^ ;^^ *' Presbyter qui nocturno praesertim
officio decantando praeest." See B, O., iii. 2, p. 820 ff.
J r" ji Eg
• c
BOOK II. CHAPTER VIII. OF RABBAN KAM-ISHO . 1 49
to sing/ and to read the offices from books. Cease
then from the effort of making us to become school
boys again, and instead let each man dwell in his cell,
and let each man read by himself If,* however, thou
wishest to build a school, behold all the towns, and
villages and the lands round about them; the whole ^
land of Persia is thy dominion, build then wheresoever
thou wishest; but in this monastery a school shall not
be built, for if thou dost build a school here, we shall
all depart." And Mar Catholicus said to them. "It is
not necessary for you to be angry at a matter which
would bring you honour, and which would expand and
increase the glory of this monastery. For since two
excellent things, as it were two effectual powers, viz.,
the one being practice, which is the learning of the
Divine Scriptures, and the other being spiritual con-
templation, which is established by the working of the
mind and understanding, would be perfected in this
place, this monastery, the house of our fathers, would
become a mirror of deeds to be emulated by the wise
and diligent, and the congregation of monks would
increase by reason of those who would be instructed
in doctrine in the school. And, moreover, I have the
power [to build] for two reasons which must overcome
all obstacles; first, because I have adorned and endowed
this monastery with property and earthly possessions.
* "ut alter altenim doceremus, aut alium quempiam Uteris
imbueremus; multoque minus, ut Scholares iterum evaderemus."
B. 0,t iii. I, p. 126, col. I. ^tsoMutt /. ^., ^ jsoaojio » choral
singing.
^ Read p 00^2.
3 Hoffmann would read m^aa^ in which case we must trans-
late "thy power is in the whole land of Persia."
150 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and secondly, [p. 76] because, spiritually/ I am master
of all monasteries and convents; and it is meet for
me to honour and adorn my own monastery especially
rather than to glorify the monasteries [of others].
Therefore, by the word of our Lord, cease ye to be
obstacles to the work, for the good pleasure of God,
the Lord of all, is therein."
CHAPTER IX. »
OF THE DEPARTURE OF RABBAN KAM-ISHo' AND THE
BRETHREN [wHO WERE WITH HIm] FROM [tHIs] MONASTERY
TO herpa,^ a village of SAPHSAPHA.
Now when Rabban K4m-lsh6', and BerAz Surin*
the head of the congregation, who after Rabban Kam-
* Hoffmann would read «*^a? 3?ep?o "And in that by the
ornament of my spirit I have power over all monasteries and
convents," etc,
* This chapter is quoted in B, O., iii. i, p. 125, col. i.
3 Herpa is mentioned together with BSth B6z{, Birta, Hlepta,
Hatra, Bashosh, Resh'en in Bk. IV, chap. 21, as being situated
in the province of Saphsapha, which according to Hoffmann,
{Aiiszuge, p. 223), embraced the region extending from the
southern slopes of the Hair mountains on the north and east
of the plain of Naukur along the G6mel river, and thence
along the Upper Hazir river by Shermen and Sh6sh to *Akra.
* A name compounded of Pers. barz "high", and Suren the
name of a noble Persian family. For examples of distinguished
men who bore the name SurSn, Zoupr|va?, Zoupyivn?, and a
discussion upon it see Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. 438,
note 4. Beraz Sflrin is mentioned by name in the letter
which Ishd'-yahbh wrote to Kam-ish6' and the other monks
of BSth'Abhfi concerning the election of an abbot See supra
p. 104 and B. O., iii. i, p. 141, col. i. The famous convent
of BSth *Abhfi lay to the south of yerpa. See the following
chapter (p. 152, 1. 19), and Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 226.
BOOK II. CHAPTER X. THE VISION OF MAR ISHO -YAHBH. I5 I
Isho' obtained the headship of the monastery, saw that
they were irresistibly compelled to depart from the
monastery, because they were not able to withstand
Mar Isho^-yahbh, they together with seventy solitaries
belonging to this congregation, made ready with one
accord and at night, unperceived by Mar Catholicus, they
went into the martyrium, and took away the cofjfin of
the holy Mar Jacob their spiritual father. And thus
weeping, and crying, and murmuring, that they should
never again see this monastery, and that their departure
was for ever, they all went forth up above Herpa, a
village of Saphsapha, prepared to build a monastery in
which they might lay Rabban Jacob, and where they
might continue the course of their ascetic life and end
their days. And they had made ready to bring stones
and had prepared materials for the construction of a
temple and cells, and those blessed men did not per-
ceive that God would shortly bring them back to the
inheritance of their father Jacob.
[P. ^^\ CHAPTER X.
OF THE VISION WHICH MAR ISHo'- YAHBH SAW ON THE NIGHT
IN WHICH THE BRETHREN TOOK RABBAN JACOB AND
DEPARTED.
Now although the over-zealousness of the will of
Mar Isho'-yahbh was not praiseworthy in the sight of
these holy men, and appeared to them to be a hind-
rance,— as indeed it was, — to their ascetic manner of
life, nevertheless it appeared that the zealousness* of
Hoffmann would read^ but doubtfully opus^ ^oauV0<
152 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
will of the holy man might at the end result in a
beautiful ending, and he, therefore, determined to make
it a good thing, however much it might be displeasing
to the monks. And the Lord Christ Himself, who
saw the thoughts of both parties, on the one side
Mar Isho^-yahbh wishing to build a school for the
increase of divine doctrine* and spiritual growth, and
on the other, the monks fleeing away from this for
the sake of love for Him, that in quietness, and with-
out any disturbance, they might take pains to please
His Lordship, even as the Ashimonian^ desert in which
they lived taught them to do, showed Mar Catholicus
on the night in which the holy men went forth, when
he was lying on the bed of his holiness, half asleep*
and half awake, a vision in which a large eagle, strong
of body and long of pinions, and having many eaglets
upon his back, went forth from the martyrium where
Rabban Jacob was buried, and flew away from the
monastery towards the north; and he heard the noise
of the twittering and the chattering of the eaglets
which were upon his back as if their food had been
taken away from them. And he woke up with a start
and the dream and the vision which he had seen made
him marvel and wonder. And he called for the sacristan
by the hand of his disciple, and he came to him, and
before he could question him the sacristan said to him.
' Read oor. ^ Read ;j^^o^p.
^ ;iib»ita4. In Payne Smith, Thes. col. 406, ^om^x: is explained
by £!» A? ;^ep "a place without water," and in Duval's Bar
Bahluly (Paris 1888, pt. i, col. 307) it is said to be the name
of a place ^^ ^1. ^o»*x; = probably ribtfi^^, or ]1tS^?^\
^ The remaining part of this chapter is quoted in B, O., iii. l,
p. 125, col. 2.
BOOK II. CHAPTER X. THE VISION OF MAR ISHO-YAHBH. 1 53
"A short time ago the head of the monastery and Beriz
Suren came with seventy men, and they took the body
of Rabban Jacob and departed; [p. 78] and behold the
whole congregation is making ready to depart from
this monastery after them." And when the blessed
Mar Isho'-yahbh heard these things, he knew" that
what he wished to do was not the Will of God, and
he rose up on that day and wrote to the holy men to
come back to their monastery. And he departed to
Kuphlana his village, and he built there the school
which he had prepared to build in this monastery;
and those blessed men turned and came back to
their cells.'
* Soon after the expulsion of Sahdona from the Nestorian
Church, and the quarrel with the monks of Beth 'Abhfi, lsh6'-
yahbh found himself involved in a serious dispute with Simon the
Metropolitan of Rew-Ardashir (See Noldeke, Geschichte der
PerseTy p. 19) in Persia and of the Katrayfi, who refused obe-
dience to him as his diocesan, and who held views which were
not pleasing to him. Our knowledge of the reasons of the
dispute is limited, and can only be obtained from a series of
seven letters which Mar }sh6*- yahbh wrote to Simon and the
Bishops of Persia, and to the monks and Church of ^atar, a
district on the Persian Gulf near Bahren. In them he argues the
disputed points with considerable skilly and more than once
refers to his own work Huppakh Hushshabki, ^Sao^ ^^07 (in
Arabic \J^\ ^y^Ss> B. O., iii. i, p. 137), or "Refutation of (Here-
tical) Opinions," and they, like the letters which he wrote con-
cerning Sahdona, are excellent examples of his epistolary com-
positions. The full text of these letters is given at the end
of this chapter; and for a complete list of his letters see B, 0., iii. i,
pp. 140—143. In addition to these works he wrote '*Exhor.
tations for beginners [in the ascetic life]," thought by Assemsint
u
154 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
LETTERS OF MAR ISHo'-YAHBH CONCERNING THE DISPUTE
IN PERSIA AND KATAR.
I. To Simon, Bishop of Rew-Ardashir. ^^aaa^i ^oy^s tso^]
^$a ^^0JB>» ^ sidi^E '^**moh ^oaoaa %mio^^ ;i^ ^'p!^ Aas a«^pbe;!f9
:Sl i ySats Uimoh ^a»i e^p ^ l*ioa»a U^^ioa o^ ^2 .^2 ya^ o»2 e2 ^or
..aa!^ fi>uAo2e t^*?«* iKm)L» ^A*2 ^^2 fisj^ooeo ilsai^p ^A*2 ^ 'i^*^ ^^
i/ou^ oBAo J^ Ji2 «a\ .^po7Q^e ;^nm* <SA>i>iy jou^ :^<Aa ^^ jaMoV^pe
^SLs ^^6lo>a .jbdftp ^Safici iau2pe ;S2 .(S»Axo fro^Ap ^op po»\^ 7a>i*2p o^
&k*V^ ts^oj ^A^io ^l .^Sup ^oafi^fio 3oib ^ .k^Ajb p^ ^f lA «*(S^
^cp^la ^of oor Ji2e iSl .pOnN^ ^oy^ ^?^ o>^ Mo .M»oaap \>affiiiy ^&e\ft
^ ^0 J^ ^ jSl \ ^\>p JImj^ «b\ <Stftr>i ^07p ^A*2 A^ .^NoaAm iA
M^2p o7tkoau\ ^ 2*4''^ :^ft\^p 07^36^ oyJSooJbp ^ta ^Sm M^?
orNo^MLi^ «Ai9 ;S2 .^ft\vp O7^yoa*o «A« o2^ ^ fia2 iJl^Cs^ l6sa'eo»Jtt\
(ktt^ ^ fisi2 ^ie -j^\p ZmSoxp lMAo&d2 ^2 ;<Ka\^ ^s2 bpauo .^M^p
.^o\p ^aa(Kp jSL*9 iXiia <aK*a ^2 ««Z*^ aAo .AAb ;^p ^(so^aoo j^.itiS
jEmXhM jU^o^ ^o*Am^ ^2 A;aap ^o\p ^da <S*a3p ^^2 .^ «^$^ ^^ojbo
r.^i!i» ^00 02 ^ibltto (Sft9 ^ ^&*^] -^t^^ ^2 02 ^^Ija ^1 jb*2p [' .^or
jbJMu*a9 Wpjtt ;^e 3oA ;Se e«M ^Uib ;^ p^p ^07 S^j^baiop ^& M& oor ja*2
to have been composed while he was a monk at Beth 'Abhe, and
he arranged the "Hudhra", or service-book for the Sundays of
the whole year, and drew up the offices of baptism, absolution,
and consecration. See B. 0., iii. i, pp. 139 — 14 1; Wright,
Syriac Literature, p. 843; and Badger, The NestorianSy vol. ii,
pp. 22 — 23.
» See B, O., iii. i, p. 127, col. 2ff.
' /. e,, ^o^y the inhabitants of the capital of ^\J^\yL.
MAR ISHO'-YAHBH TO SIMON, BISHOP OF REW-ARDASHIR. 1 55
^o&o^? AoftX tAaoAo .012 N^^e .lax ^2 ea^JKM ^eyuun JSo^Sj^ pOnSi
^'SdMBp ^^ui3? ^2 JK^olb ^9 .^ ^ o2 e2 o2 .p^ )^ oa^xo .jfi^A&ofa^
^SoMAjai ^^"7 ^o&o ^aa :^e^;^ jSoi^f ^s&Ad a^ •aOb0JK2 i^ tft»\yP>^^ eeo;
j*Son»^ e&Na ;i!^p .JbaJ ei^aae ^sAsp ^j^iw fs^a acts ^2 ;ai*2o .^b^p
f^\ ^-f7 ;&9JSAlS ^20 t;&&29 ^A^p ;&9iS0S^ ;^2o i;iV^? crfiSiiS^ ^p
;oIbp 3flu^ ;^2? OCT i^V^ ^^^ ^? 3e^f poM^ ^eor ^ j^l .;^a^d
^i)i^ ^ AttB jfisapM jfSoi.vVyin? J^»M ;^2o :«ftOros5ajaB jola ^ «*o^al2
i\^ ^^2 OSA ^ ^ISaflLilb j^pe t^oAxAsa jtSo&aaoM ^3 jtsoAxMO ^fi^o&fis*M
^OA^ .NiaoS ^00^^92 3^? ;!iM*o ^$^ ;^ .^fiwaNx2 ^aou&ao ^M^io jiS»aao
..oa^ououorp 0opS .\irto>\ ^fis^AM ^fi^oatt*orp ^N^AmNo j^m* ;^2o ^(K^p
i^pi0p ^cso!^^ w^o ^o^2p oitsA^ \^ laalb ^o{^ 6^p ^2 ^ ^ ;!id2o
^po^ Sl^^o t^&9ts i2k& o^pott!^ IfC^i? atts^ Na!^ ^of ^^«jJ^2
^\wp ^asAo ^ ^po jfia\& 3^p ^^5fis^ ;!S2 ..a^p ^^oxIao ^ jfi^^P
i\^ ^<s^po2 ifroikap )0a^ %A ^9^0 SA ^07 eof ^ i^lo .^wy^ ^9^? ^^
^rl^^^^f ^ftV^ ^ A»ft^\. ;S a^ Jp .^2 &07& mi^o NbofNo .^er ^ ^^
oi^iAao ijb&^p ^&*>^aa9 «o^ ^oy^ ^07 i^o/oX^ ^auisap ^ A»\»p
i^6MAkllfrJe ji!^ %*& j&2 .^iV^? 0r<S*4K^ ^t9 ^en uA ^ t^boXsip oy*tta*'^
aokV^ aao^ ^oaa tsJ^ mA ^l 1 ja^ )0ai» ^ ^oa^ i*t>V^ ^01 ^Ao; ^ «^V^?
^aal^ ^oaa fis*^ ««a ^1 .ju^a p^ ^o^ ^oj ^4^ ^ i\>^^ lojaoM^
jlpus ^^ ^ui ;^2 JMi^p 02 I jptiap dpao^ i2k& ^^AipA^o ^Ma^^AsMp : juV^
^lu^ ^ ^ai btffi aA t^^ aa ^xom ^oA«.a2^ ^007 aJk^ &A^ o^2 .^oaA^
■^QAiSOJM*or JKo^ikMMp J(t^ 6ues*l ^2 ^p a*^ ^fiwoe^ ^AffcM&y> :^oxo&idp
^•ap .OA<KauA»or <So\*mMp j^^ evijsjp .n*3*^ .^pb»^ ^fiw^oe^ ^M«Aauoo
007 )^k*M ^(Soau\lb&Ap a*V^ ^oa^ .^03u\l&&Ap ^oauo ^ o^m ^^oap ^07
&^frvffiA ^o&a >^p ^ .Aitfl^ ^aoiiJ &A^ j>it>ifti .^e|A a^X^ A*«*ift .^oja
A& ^.aoae ^p ^ .fiwft^ ^2^^ ^p a^oua ;*S0^ )^im* epo^ ;p& ;^ .^pM^uA
^^ ^Q&*^ ^ ^ '^a^p qroNfttS ^pb^ : ^aoM^iaLdo a^i^ ^mAS ^ t JmI^
)^2o .opoji ;p& ;^ ^p ^!!kM* .^ii4>yM ^ ^ i^A&a iSp ^^oa^ oit^mmS ^2
156 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
)^2j .^f\\*;» Jb9t&S ^9k^o ^tsa^a^^ aif*3Sfi> ^ .^M.*ab9 ^lOk* ^M? ey^x ep
^07 ^ ^^p ^ofoauaija j&iJ»«*2i^ oe^ i,^ »^? ^o^f ^^ ^^eSfi^ aA^
^^Sa^p ^i*aM 01^ ^3 f^ibMo fisaoa .eoojia ^^2 &aao -^iJuaia AsP^f? ^niti'iy
^ft4o\,ne ; ^Uio5 ^ojioops ds*^o^ c*^\^ ^mAit ^aaepa ;^o* aAp ^07 .^>h4g>
^07 id2 ^2 ^eUL^o .o)L3a ^o7<SOJi»*o7 £S033? JtM>OM(S^ :^ 4S>mTV> 3 \Vm
^2 AMI ^^<^4AM<^ai V .^aijJSto jUftftfrOb^ j^atekfi^ *«^o^^ 07fsoi>\^a
.^07 ^ Nm(sSp iMA'aMi jA^OAkaJ^ ^lo i ^tsj^tiSoisaS oi^o ^tso^^oda\«»u^o
^o^^ o^MiaoKo .^M^afiocto j^ortftMte12o .^a ^oaaouore .^A^ of^oau>^
^A^osaaMo N*|fiUsd ^oas js\y\t fropaua :^cAa ^o^a ^^a*aAM A\,wo
^N^i^a ^Soa^e .oa^a JJ^^'^VgXp ^^ &*V^ o.?' '^^ ['^-so/? ^ <t>va\a
jftwfti>\0\r> ^ a*ts* ;^a1&m op ^^f\idp ^&N2 .. aS^ j^<s^ ^v*^2 N*MaJO ^o^
^ber ^ pa\(s2 3^2 .op o^ j^ju ^07 ;^2 t ^nVyft'aay ^aseaa ^ox A^ase
Jb&hd ^ o7£s^aioo .aii^fii2 007 ;S2 .ajdi^ ;!s ^N^i^ pOi.\*i 0^0 .^Aam ^2
jNo&^)»fiOQoo ^OM^aci .^^a ^ .oa2 aa^e .e^<Ju\A>aaao d^^lwa .^oa^a
U^ia ^07^2 apu ftpopa ^07 lJi\ &*V^ ^2o .^Ju^^aAp ^fioce ^Axse i^iidu^
AiOihiS? pftiiSi ;^e .^es&2 ^&b*a ^ .oa2 ^o^ ^07 t^aa^ Ava ^li^ox ^07
^Sfyp ^ajBUMO ..Noua*e7p .(m2 ^&IlauBo ^1^2 i^2 :.oo);*tS*2 ;S jNfti >\,ft»'%^p
■^^\ia ^e'latt «#a jfta.*2o '.^'S^aao ^p^a ^aakX»e -^aiMa «o7oauaj0ae
o^ t^*i&k»2 ^o'laao ^07 %^2p ^2 aA ^pore ^07Nci»ux7 oflDX ^07^*p |>!^Vi
^GjS ea»2 pom^ ^ajuxa Cf^o^^ j^l ijasBceS f^lX^ Ml o^2 ^o76wo&»*07
tso^^iid oaM2o .^\\\p ^atta*o7 ojBox ^ .<mo7 ,^oi^aaia^oi a^^^aeSo htiiTttS
^*i3«e ^oj0f ^o7*ao^a ^aa ^xma ^oy^p ,^at ^ooieuojo .^A;Sif ^«a ^itV'p
.070131 ^oTUjka tSo^i^ 3^2 .o%\ip ^oaao : >a\v\a ^ ^*^a* opo .07^
)^ ^a ; . ny jit <S»^a«»2 .Xi2 ^ .^lid^ ^07 jA\ ^aOt^ ^07 fiuo w!i\V)o
' See -5. 0,, iii. i, p. 128, col. 2, 1. 26.
*c
MAR ISHO-YAHBH TO SIMON, BISHOP OF REW-ARDASHIR. 1 57
^Om2 oi ^01 ^i& ^ a^^fiU .joySsp oi6s\mi^ ^1 ^jsoxoa^ ft^ aaotoo '.^fis* A^
Jiil^^ ^3<Mo^ ^x^OmNm ^Sfiwo* \\yt ^cy^d ;(po70Ao ^^a^^^o .^lAAoisp ?y-\%
fMAado &aa ^}o\^ ^'li^olb ^tor oe^ ^ejift^U ^atb jOLo^ M^? \<aa^^
A?nTi jo|^2p erfrooroM ^p&e N^& 3^ jiiLsuaTp ^baa ;^2 .&&^ ^6^*0^
Aai(S*o .^^opp ^oaaJk ^ ^ojia )^a* oiaJ .^(KSkS ^lojii ^p j(Kopo&ao
^^07 aft.,\i o^ •^aao 0oaftA2 a»uip jMi^2 ;<sojJi^p ^0701 ^p ^oimS
^&2 ^079 '.oy^ ^»9k0fiODp «*ei^ ^a^^e iJb^ Csoa^iop ^OmCS «*aill^ ^p
^ftlbOM ^^mS ^qcA 4S*2o .,ft*%\»y {pe7 Jb&id mojo ^^2 i^*Mlbiid ^*ts^e iA^2
»^ ^/ko* i^p» i*fiOD2 j^MMp ^0*9 t^o7 ^^ ;^Aiaud\fioo >^ ^p jbabso
^uioudp JbOJUSAOAs a«^ ^fi^2o ^a»2 o2 ^op «AiA07 &o» ^.otIo^ jNofii
tjba^p 0790^099 j^*\,ri ^p ^S^ ^ tStJp Ni2o .^fisi2 aJo2 jSp xofa
'.Am* 0^ *^ «JV^N2 :^&(S*tf Ma»9p JM^&fi^ ^^^2 ^9t)o2p ^2 ^ fiwlpe
^^pb^ 4taoaaa^ t^oS*p»^o ^oafioua oacp\^p i^[^o ^n^fsA A^ah e^^oa^
6wo^ ^ftlbOM Jia^Mo x^oiap ^»avi 2»>\m ^t^ ^i>*2 ^e1 .3\oa ^ ^or
%\oihts ^Cs \^o ^ts ^ I ^07p ^ Zi^opp jXOkdd ^o^o .^otta««7p jfli^o\i.,ip
^«4^ ^[ll '.aoiSfis &*\ ^07 9A •^0^2 cOkMpp Aft VI •^y90^p ^Q^iidu
^9k» oaaAaa!!^ ^Oim juik^Aa *. ^>f \g> ^S ^ ^ Ape .^ ^«V^ip ^A*Ao
076w^p ^"bo^ ^a«ue sAm ^a^ Ap .M2 ^pl ^2p ^p .^*ey^2 ja\» «\^
: 3V ^^ ^^B>-? ^2 .osam ^osiS osam ^ •^a:A*p ^opeskM ^ •^cp|!^2p
^&<SaA ^op«9^ ^opeli ^*9aiM ^07 pAp ^i\*2 : ^*I^^ j^p ^Xopo&ao ^
;i&^a*po .^opoouop ^po^ ^oylopA pOiAt ^»HtVio i^^ j^2p jZ^aSoa^e
X&asp .^2 ^al ^Om2 02 ^2 ^pj [.fsiidca 7*VnS fr^^ttSae ^&\ftfioo U^haao
^r\x ^ 3p<Sx2 ^2po .«<iopk0p ^fiLAofioA ^lAao jfi^9\^2e ^alaXx ^o*a»m
;^'^to ^boAx fi^Sp^ ^ ^2 oaa ^ ^07 9A ..^^p ^fiLAoAstt ^ •^aoAxp ;Ma\2o
^aia*07p jE^^fioK ^o^N^lp i^op ^souj ^9i!^fisao ^^op o^ A2 •^a^sp
* See Proverbs xxv. 20. ^ Van -_^,
^ Assemani has 6i»,iiA\. ^ Assemin! omits au
158 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^op cSo .fttVyfb'&f^p ^ QtUs^i? ■AVmi'o j<Sai»d«7 )S»»»Ny ^ep o^o
^•9 fs*r^fcN,i> ;/»«\,ft»aia3 (L:^ ItJ^hoSs ^eyJS*29 •.^'&Js*ao faao^ ^lASoV^fr^M
^d l^ai &*^ wjJo .^91^2 ^& .Om2 e2 JtpcouB fisMu*&a A*ae7 <A*f2 .*fl>0i^0id
i^e^2a oTfSftitVyi ^jImO^ ^aM^A^iba ^&l*io ^!*ax p«9 JkA^ jp& «VA03 i^ep
fis*^A&0 h^p ^>i1p ^Jttt .«X&p ^ ^fr«A^ JiefisSO »A5^0 .^07 ^dwftSOttO ^ ^
«tjfrOD .joiiSsa 07fi>kX^3 ^o\? ^o^(? 3V^ T^ 9^? ^^ '^^ t-^^^? Jt»Aoaa
er^^^ ^*iZo& ^Mp ^i\a& jpaM ^4 i^oisis «*o70&^po^ ^ (SkO^aa >3oAd
.«£^OA2p 3*^ ^ o7Ne&dmJO juu*fiOEto pot^ A aA .^AMaE ^p /ft>^ft\.i joy^2p
jaibc A*aer ^ 'flV^iM aao\^^i0 ^ov>'&a£i ^2p '>.3*Na J92p ^2 ^»^ ^^ )^2
^o^ ^^d ^a«i^ ^ fra2 0^ ^2o t A fiwikx J92p ^2 ^OmI o2 j^^aaL^ ^
j&fr^ ^V\fcb ^07 ^'li* |&2p ^p .J^ ^M^ ^2p 5ui a^fi^p ^ia^ «*jseiii^3p
^f i^\i»ftTSo .Am ^^ I&2 ^ ^ ^-^ep ^2 jdo7 p*poo ^p «*^oaNo^ fisijap
■Am ^^o ^2 ;1m .30JS ^ t^2 ^ JbatlSobJi ^aoa fra*9b»^ i^aacfis
^2 ^ acts ^ .^2 &£saio JboaAots^ fioua^oa cp .^o^Jb ^4\t>oT cfj^e
^^ «*d7 tAo^o Ae^p jb^f^p ^ ^Om^ .Aao ^^ ^ ^&^^o .^M fa^
jSi^p Jl^fiUN^ jfSftSi.iiifi «*JM ^2 NAaS •pa^oD^ fis*o^ ^^p ^oa!^ CSoo/ j^b*»x
jNo^^ss Ai^ ^A^»2o .N^p ^a2^p ^9m ^oaufi>o .fis*;*3k*fi^ ^07 AJi ^btV^?
Al ;^'aV ^&~^ <^ -v^^ r^2 ^^'^^ ^2 ^^^o -^'aV ^^^ ^?"^?
X^ ^*Ki«? ^ 'Oitso^ b^^po jeiS2p «*070X»pblsp t^iiip ^o!^2P ^9m2 p«»^^
o/frkoau\p j<soiiom^»i 1^2 «tjaJe^p |&2 ^acMo aoiso .s^tsa^ ^i7ft»» ^IS&o ^
>3J6 ^«e^2 po^Aa ^aui sa aa> ^(SOmA ai^ A*ao7 ^mo .«*(So!^p je>^2p
oni\ Aa «fte70pi*^ A^^? o^ -^^o ^»MiaM ^e^2 ^ eoro .^juSi ^ai9 fiSA2
Aoy^ : ^v\vi Mi07aMahfi a^^p ^a4o >n^'nS ^i^diilao 5Am& •.«*o/ciLlaa V\,»ip
?w\n ^^ -tf^^? ^rV>w ^2e ^oaft^2 j^cfp2 ^mXx ^^ ^t ^2 ^Vi*? jt^o*
l«^2 ^ p^ ;^oa.\, ^^^^o!^p jt>aua±i ^a^ cfj^p
II. To Simon, Bishop of Persia. ozNoaAp «»^p ;aoa2 aot^oau
^20 j&\J^ada\«Ao ^^000^2 ^AiiMX «*aAo ^^ .^a^p ioAofisd ^ai^ jo^2p
^j^M^aooo ^■o\vp opus A»3 «iba3p ^aN^p ;uou0}»o jubaaapo ^aucfio ^oJOibA)^
* Assemdnt has ^001^.
MAR 1SH6*-YAHBH TO SIMON, BISHOP OF REW-ARDASHIR. 1 59
JZdmoa ^|«o ^IomoS ^omp ^yiJAM i^;S »^l.p jHT^Np ^ fr^fi^ ^2
^2 i^or ^ ^ ^|^o2o .Att^ ^EMp A^ Im!^o2^ /ftioyi ^ (SsJSa J^il
I fis»3*<S* ^? ^^VImo .^07 ^f3 ^ea^ «^^ ^^ x^^ 6itsib\»^ Z^
opOL^ o|Sa^ xlamoi ^p ;*ax ;»& o;i»p i^eo ^^oa fi^ a^Jai A«jJ(sa^
09kaQ2^^k^^p ^00/'^ ^oiS ^2 ;S2 taM^fi^ oorp ^»a&>!^ po«Aa oS .^mAx
^&p iperoM ^ea^ AfiOp .&bM2 aa AfiooS »n\y2 t ^nSir 4&09\A fr'^it^^
^01^ tA2 A*aor ^ .wSiyo ^*>\>y ^NotYttog ^fia ^^a2o .^bb^aUS epp
«mO&7 A&po^ atto!^ t^oA^ ^^kOlftAA9 fiikoor ^duiA t^er ^ &«6wb ;i^2 ,^
No!^ t^ ftio7 .«*^ol^ ^^*&tt .^(sju9 £s4k?\? jfi^&oHaa (SiAo2 j(Sa*i&9
3o& AihoS ^ESflbo^ .^&&&oUK 9io^ mO&p iporoM ^ofiA A^aa!^ •je>^29 or6^
9tf\^ ^2 .tA^o ^oa^ifep ^(SoJMLiiop Z*d<Sft ^a^^o .^Ko^ £<^ j^e&o^p
^a*Jb ^3 ^^oaa*or ^oo»»aa9 ^N^oftfi^2» ^cs2 ^2 ^ ^(Sft2 ['lacA ^9^o ^07
jaaSioat Asi ^fi^^juo 1m>uA& JU^&^ ^2? A\» N4&^*N«o 4«2loiii )S ;*^
.^fiou>f2 ^e^2p orfi^^ AatJOiSp jAaoJttSp ^oubs J(»au9 fi^OiS ja^io .^iNa^
tjMA^a^ ^fi^OAXai!^ aasAooop ^a*2p .^N*«ap ^us ^al^ ^a ^ ^Kiaa& ^
A^o .j*aio0p jOLMftS ja«Ai ^o t^p^ ^ (S^^ua jaodA ^^9^<M
A^ p^i^ ^ ^(Skp&M .^ttN^oVvSo ^cfio^ llaaaia iJtpua ^er ^^oi&sumd
^07 l^hp .^qa AiiA ^oadds ^N*&a&o .^av^2p o^^a^p Z>*l&o»& j^oikb
Am* .ofiAMM2o .M^^ e^tsa^p ^^Sft a& ^ t^oas ja^MuAa CSa^ojd ^oa^
JSOiS ^^tKOfci^wS t^kof ^ofiA <S9<sa aao .jaaisj ^•*US2 ^erp ^2 ^(soua*07p
^fi^fSMO ^(S96^o »ft>i?>yi^M ^^ fi^a!^ ^js»a^2 leyuo ^^Alsp '^(SojMuorp ^o^
* See B, 0,, iii. i, p. 132, col. i.
' One copy omits ^^laa^ap.
l6o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^oa^fiui2 ^p :^>?Sl>\p^ ^2 o^poaoo^ .^tsoijaa ;n&\^ ^tso&o^p ;{)*aM£s
iUn^l^ ^As&oSa ^OA^ fi^&)M2JS23 ^fii^.»x3 ^ '^a*^ «*tA0 ^2 ^^2e ^luSi^'iad
ftf*>n o2 \»Aai o^4^2 .^N^»aoS9 ^N»do»e ^2 ^ ^aitso^ ^(sbMcp oqr? ^laio
^fia2p ^07 ^ &MIJS* i^oA^ rknv»\ ^\\nS ioaj fiwk2 ^x»2 >394o ^p .#ae^
.oaAs <uft^ioS •»2 jo^ ^^ ;t»iL3 ^aabJ^p ^2 a»V^ ^2o .^(s^^abi ^'vt4n
^<s*ts*2 .ofia29 .c^iAai ^07 JtHiSp ^of oor i^tSkOaua^ jo^ ^okp ^aa ^ubjo
^x^p ;!^2 «^0A^ o4ft>o'nS p^ >\fc'%V) ^ N«^o .;«ift\^ »pIm2p f&S^oae A^
jS*a^p ^2 ^ ^t*w^^ P^ '^9*^ ^*ioaAo ^OA*aau «A^ ^3^ ^07 po^^a
^ o&m .M^2p »oro&e^ ^&<s ^0^ ^a*p^^ &pa2 -.^07 ^2p Z»*Mp ^Soa0
.;&fioeoacp ;daciAfl2 j&A^&ai\ s*&i»o 'ak«kb&2p«to&oo/p ^oOibAl ^op^ «9iaa^
(So!^p .^oSp ^afi> ^003 6^20 *.^£sp^ jIImP Jbaoaii ^oa9 ^OMaaap oo»2p
..oaA^ >>o\>>yi ^oA&o^pAft .^fcVyO'S^p ^sdip h>"V> J*AXp ^l^ai di&
^06^9kM*2p Mi07 l»au9 ^0A&^ oaml^ 0^0 .^ti\,>4i* jey^2p jjsoau^ ^oa^ 'J^fioo^p
iJU£o»9 ^^oft4ift\ ^^^k ^o i^op ^fis*pk5Ap jii^ ^'&JSo» ^p oier t0p
'..o'MoftK^io ^M^ ; ^uaJo7N^ ^opo ^1*^ ^op ^!ia ^3u*p jLi«\lb'aa l^l^> \^>
•w^iiN ^ptp ^2 ^^ai^ hXlaes ^p ^o Ji^2 i^L.V9 iS ^oo\*p ^ po*^ o^p
oaibo .joT^lp 0T<Sp^ ^ ^fis#2laA^l!0 A ^a .ooyb jfSoi>y,g>V\t .ofia2 poM^e
j^o^*V ^ )a*tb ^p^^p ^07 '^^p o7«V^ ^rf>a ^ ^op ;^i«m ^p ^o^
^ i!iaofiOfi:sp .^£so^C^o^p j^opi^ tAas ofletMo] i ^»»\^ ^&li:i p^a ^o|S2p
^WT%»io ^ ^2 ^07 i(Ub ^ttutop ^ jUa*a?v^ ^2p .;a*ao2p «*d7 j^nvi
^nl'iM? i\\,in .^a:l& ^2 )^2 ^M*aQ0p 076001^ po.An ^ ..oa!^ J^tsa^ ^ImOAAoo
«*^op^^ ^ ^o<Sft2 .?jM»\t ^o»A ^oA.*p^^ ^t^Sigtip ^07 pA h32 ^^2o ..ofial
;^o|!^2p 07^^ f»p ^0909 .ft>Asp AaA ^^l2 ^uiAS .a^o^ba^p ^ ^aa0p
^^ ^AV^p j^ ^2 ^2 Ao .^bA 07^ ^lAp Aa^i .OA*p^^ ^ ^auaJ^ vJu*
:^Ok^p ^ &kJS^ ^&*pp ^oJa ^mA ^q» ^ osML^po ^^io^ erupi^oJ ^2 ^oaA^
wM^kip 007P .^aA^io >9aa >j&*pp ^oA 07^ A2 ^07 A ^2 i^^a^ ^ ^'v^.i?
' Assemani gives ;.JL9{fjLa&)oc>i^ but read &^.p&;p«M&oe7 -^ti
-^Sjf; see Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser^ p. 19, note 5.
' Assemani has A^sAo.
MAR iSHO -YAHBH TO THE BISHOPS AND PEOPLE OF K ATAR. 1 6 1
««oroaaHi'&90 o7£soau\3 .^\vSa eiMSoa^o orNoaXaS ^a^jm^s .^5|a
r«^2 ^iiiai\vS
ni. To the Bishops of the Kefraye. ' «^9\m ^oaaai ^o^9
A\>A ^ &*\ ^ •^eo;^ ^oofk &iA»p >9^o ..oo;^ ^ooo^ ^t^ (S*M ^
fial (s&2p ^o^^Ad I >^3>^? ^ ^ ^2 ^073 .^2 ^ ottjl oorp ^ '^a^a^?
jXoau\2^ j&bO ^7 &*K*7 P^o .^mJO0 ^o3u fr^Si^fc? ^e .^aoAa M^2
JUiorakaoi^ ^frjuo tA2o .eyttaei ^*>9M^ ^2^ ^A*2 aSnijhftS ooai ^^^^N^p ^&a
(S9fi^ i^o^ ^3p &Jk ^?^ .^•aoaop ^^dpo ^^^a frer o7(S^ oVs to/9il*2a
j&fiU2 ^20 A2 :e^2js^ ^qr f^ ^OM>9 t;o|^2a 07fi>^9^ ^ ^osilb^ ^Ajooxo
^ ^6a2 .A» ^ ^2^^ atJk*p ^^ oer ^0^90 ,ham Ap ^omfis ^(siio
A& ^^sOJbA aa i)a«9i« ^ ^07 j(A^ ^a»to|^2 ^erts^Ap ^^p ^07^002
A^2o .9^UK»p >99M oer fi^oMaa ;Avt» jkBuA A ^fri^AX A? ^OAStiU
(SOl^P 1m>^^ ^ ^oax&A ^fiuXa e^2^^ ^ ^^r tsoapa ^cAl? ^JSodNoaA
^Aoo^SmO ^fiofioo .^tti A? ^^ ^\i? ^^ A& (sA ^fiAf2o :je^2a ^pk^
^C^ .30^ ^o6A3o2 ^2o .^^ A? ^Q»iaE9 ^eA2 AaukM^p ^opo^
jaoA oiOjid eAaa oaa ^ ^nAmcsjOo .^tp ^^\>Virp ^&fiA ^Nopoaiop
^or ^PupjB Jbepopoft ^ 0x61 .^oy^2p ortsp^ ^2 ^o\aao .^fria^^ fL* ^p
oar 09a ^ jASi!^ £^9>!3i^ i«ibociAoCs±i ^Jib&oa fia<Aaa 1^07 ^fs NaKi4^2p
^opo jaydU ^p ^(kOii^oi ^ oftdif .^oaae^ ^^pa^ ^(Siop»b ^frd2p ^
^p ^lysft «a&& ^ ^0pdli oflM^p ^A*2p .&»\ «*^ ^^ .op ^ea2 ^MOitofiOQDp
:^<So&oidp ^to pOiiVt jojMox ^01^ hCillbp oaaAO i^1*m4( ^ ^&p ^^
* See B. 0.9 iii. i, p. 133 f.
1 62 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
yittM ft^4^ ••wyS Al» ^ *^ ^2 »}»jb ;^p ^^f^^ r*^* 'M^? "^V^
j^o^ ;ao»^ lno..flci 2^2 .^9f^ ^?^? ^ A^f"'* POmSs ^tsaV^Za a^ .A^vi
IV. To the Ketrayg. ZLi 6i ^ ^..^sDa epo- «K:^V <^]
«2kaa» ipuaii ^(SpAa ^a*»9 2^ ^IIm^ ^ai^ ^ t*oreJ^*2 oora ^or t^uau
^ofofto % ^iiiiiS ^o»S \ftiS JUamO^ ^OaO^s ^ai*MM ^mMO tA.k9Np diu^aid
&i«6wi ^2p ^ ^U9^ aao AVftViN ^ »^Sy Zj1»o& ^Ibo»i eoip ^A^a Z^J^ob
ZdUA& ^ ^1ft\t^ ^tjiiOBl .3k»6wk ^Om3 M^l^ ^OmtSX ^As^O ^ibS^ ^
,^oi ^(s ^(Sa^ ^?t? ^2 .^oa!^ ^oA*SoajbA^ ^ 0107 .^b&^kdep Z(Sa\^
^fOabJS4^ 2!^2 :^(Soi^pe ^erfi^o^p ^Om (So&miN* 90m^ o!^ ^2 ^aoaco
ftM^a^iS* opp ;&er ^fS t^o^o ^e^ Afioo^ ^e^ ^*3j^p i^^^fi^ Z&13U2
Z&Jb^ ^090 ^^OAMuo7 nitty tiS ^01^2^ o^&pA^d ^aJK* 2^kM* A^ ^e(^J9UJit>
oor Z&l\oAi '•^^Mop ^N0AMuo7p ^o>!^ .y>\% ^ 2^p ^iai*2 .^(S^ ^tp ^2
jft«i^s0 N*^9J ^2 fiou pa &bA^ >3&9 .^eoAM ^ey^p |dLM*3 Z»aft>!^ *39^?
^oiisOK ^9^ ibMO&p ^eep2p }^^ ^aid^ 6^a*ttfi^2p jaali^ ^ xl^l ^^
>9pjB ^;f(p\p J(P(«a Jt»^ ^p CS*^^ 6^x*3^2 i^oiS^ OTfioAa J^ puM2 JBxS^aop
&aao .^:mm «^0^p jboaii^ ^^'S^ Z^^aIiMuor No&o^tp ^or ^or&oa »>\An
fs>^\t^i> ^Vil ^0T&oap j»>i*^ JtA^ 0i^p .^fi^oalb |«ib2 ^2 N<a^ .^oa^ ^l
ia6 ^ o!^o .^fiOi^ 2^A* ^ a!^p ^ o&^r •^xer di;*N*2 .^^^p op&po^p jSmmI
.^^pb^ ^OAOAS jfrto&opp Zp^aobiA ^*^oMA ^oa^ ^& :^ep Am»p ^I^p ^^Oft
&a^p ;a^o*ft^o7 ^pa^p 5M '^P^A ^oa^aaAfl2 c^ ^ofl oiK-y^S aa\ 2^2
;»Xp cA*M ^ 2^2 i^opdLiS ^.Wift ^odoOAfl^ ^ofMOA p^ap ^ai .^p^ t»
MARISHd'-YAHBH TO THE PEOPLE OF KATAR. 1 63
^orftiio^ maos ^0d.)a»07^ jb^owt^ )^? i^Sip ^070 ^«lb':il 3ojBUbJ2 Jo>^3?
^aKo .^ t^p ^o^A ^oift ^p^a .079^*^? ^p U>»\tb9Ap ^^ba\ aauB ^^
JUMU0 ^«»9a •M^^ fl7^9^p ^^ fii^a^ ^ua ^po/o^ j^A^ ^oT ^9tUs*fy
^ aJ^ o!^2 i>909kAp ^pjHup oiftporo^ -A^? orNMi t^ ^ooip ^ ^m\»p
^as ^sis!^ ^fc&iiofrjuop ^AiAo Z^^^ ^07 fr& .^oftflo ^fi^9^ J9h«»*lb
^A^ttio aJto^aSp ^ ^&2p dj*'iiikdap ^ .^t^ot )Sp ^or^aft»*o7p Jb*po(Sk ^2
: jbaupu ^d^pojAp ^pa op o2 .jt^^p (Koau^p ^«^ ^aA • ^^aa Ap o^ ocoi
fijal ^ ^&ft&3B ^ouoiiorp ^fsotSk^ >kO^ ^l\au^J i^oSfi^iiMp ^bAo^p iA^^
oMkA^ ^p^ ij^aua^ its^^ia ^a ^*i>«»>7 ^ooy!^aiA ^^r -^ ooorp ^*juo&
i^or ;i!^a* ^ ^Jblil ;floAAd2 ^opdi ^ oyOftdp «^^.o .;«MaE ^p ^k^p
a(SOA jS ^*&io ^ .^&ao3p ^oae ^ j<KojM*oTp ^aaib ^ ^^h^ ollAdN2
J&oii>iftW aJ^ ^o;^ .^XmP ^&po^ ^ ^tib£SM jMSm2 fidop t^a6^ ^aib
[iMtO&p ^OA&aj^p Aiyi )Sa»^o ^ajoaa^ ^2 (s^^ aa .^CSaimuo; ^p ^aa2p
o7«\ Av<i9 ^ oaml^ •M^2p erCSpk&p ^ifroirkS Uib'!^ 3oiiAfl)S 'NAb
^^ jn^if^l ^ai9 ^*^2 ^p |*M*po];»olb ^oma ^ ji«*o& |&&pe4i /*aJtop
jauBuip ^oaoo ^^^X* ^omsi .o%\>y ^oSa^A •90'^ fis^a^ao *^pouDp
.)9pM9 ^aioaoKm ^oA2p oyNai^ ^p ^SpoJ^^ A pA i^or ^oro jAmo
oA t^ Ad2o '-^saMa «ftO70aau ^ep Am^ ^p ;&iJuA isofi^ Ao
* See ^. C?., iii. I, p. 134, col. 2.
' This clause is omitted in some copies.
164 THOMAS OF BfARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORSL
Ql^iA^ No^ t2mi^ ^aSol ottaot zpaaBOo ?B>^ii iflN Uoao msi^ 3h>mi\|^aaS
j^aao dc& a»^ JbaJn ^aj^ A.^ ^E^oaa
jo^^ aaa &A^ ^\ib ^^V^ Zo«r 3^ ^ i» &*fiw .•o.^Jbo oa» oaaS
^No&oJb o&aaoo amA^ oafro .^>a»aa ^S^nift jB^AjaD 3£o9 |esos*\lb&aa
jBopOMOftp ^aib ^ee^A^ . na^YiN N«ay )^ aa ^ p&a .^9&Qaa ^tVy^itin ^Jb
.Jbada^ ^or ^^^^ ^9^9 3ettftJ2 ^*&6^ dsSauo fioa^e 4^ao&^ Ixvf ^Nom ^
6^ ^pe «aao^ ^fioVi ^Ui -.^oa^ ^or 6ia^ ^luLasp ^Soa^Sl f*aN^e
.^oepdft i*S>\fi ^07 ^i& ^mO&p ^o\^ *\ift\ti\ .Ml fi^aSo .Jbopoi&olb
^ijy^^ ^ttta!^ ^eaaa^ JMiMOip ^aalb JdiAla ^ .^iiinff ^oop a*^A<^ap ^oa^
.oaSeyso ^albl^ ^aae J^p ^ ^ociA\Sp )^ ^mAs ^o^ .2M^aaDa or^al&
jtt^ l&op '.joi^la orNas ^a ^orfiso*aao& ^oev*aao «^ t**^^^ ?^ .>^
^jlbal (Skol^p ^ ^070 .a^AAoS T^?><3Ld ^ ^or a*\ ^or .a*fSAa odipe
o&^ ^SkMjS :oapfiOE2 ^OA^a^p ^ ^^fo .a^«2 ^oopoaUJo ^or lO&pfiod
fis«9 ^o ^aJ (S^ ^ oAl^ i3?aV.o ^toao ja^ ^ JWs?^ .>ooyi!4\i»
eoor ^a«ai&p ^2 Na!^ '•^e^2a erfr^ ^ o&p(sada jo;^23 t*oro3eya t^iaA^
.^aaoi^ ^qa!^ i\^*ifMo ^1 ^ .^(S*sa* ^ofial ^ anN^o t^oo;Js*2 fti\ft)^'»?
^ ^2 .^m^i^ o7Nas AnnaSp ^^aob ^ ^baaep ^QA*ioAAd2 ovaib ^ )^?>9ol
6ta»tJsio .^07 ^vap SyAt ^ A^p ^& fiyAt a«y ^2o ^Np ?i\yiS>t
^ o&ittp(k2 ^^ .opaAD M^2p er(sa^p ^aiatS ^p ^orNopoaADp jfSotia»Nti\
^p ^ooyiSo.»aaon ^01 ^a\^ \*^y\ Aaae .^orJSepo&M J*oxp ^ ^AyAv
t^ejA^ ^aSA ^oa&o A^p oqi ^ a*atop ^ 6^*9p ^u^jfr^ao *.^ei^^ «ora^
•.^odAjip 2mi0P2 jfSo^>y> ^ wiafi9 %jiJLMe& ^aai ,^0 ae£s ^u^]|SMo
i|oi^2p o7(spjw ^ QAMb2 ^2o aMe&2p ^07 ^i&p ;{>ab9 ^fi^ad^oac ^ ^a&^p
^&ft0 9«9 >iS>s\p (U* fsh^aaS .^^o^Jtp ^tMse ^&p ^(saftO^ ^ ^aMJae
«IJ»2 02 A»ao7 'o^p r 7^^^^ ^0^2 ^M^aacNp 3*00 ^li^ 3 i^M^Jbo a^as*
' See ^. (9., ill. I, p. 135, col. 2.
MAR iSHo'-YAHBH TO THE PEOPLE OF KATAR. I 65
oot^ ^^3 ^tiOia t^^ fM 0^ ^tia^y i^oo^p oey^ ^p9 ^oa j^ W^^^s
^ ^oop ^sma l^oor U^ )^o fr^07 ^?f aA^ ^2 *^Mp o^S^po ^wAtp
^oaap )Sl •.aiAoa opJ0e ^iari ^>T\v ^ &Js^ i ftaT^ii fis^ol jkMu*aM
^ ^opdi a»«i» ^00^ ^ka^^p ^ey^ ^^^? jNoJft^oac ^ ja«i ^ey!^
^o ^ ^ I ^o^ )\«m10 jfSoiJbs ^ev^a ^^M ^baato .|o;^2p 07^^^? j^kOiS(^AX
^£SOid(Soaep oqj0 i^2o .ea^ ^of»fi^fio ^beoiS ^a^ epp i jfSo^orift^lp ^\nml
.^opdA ^p^y&o 3^ ^&&o . : ^^«^u^ ^ey^ AesAp ^9^ 'ISLao jt 32p
.^alsM «Im2 02 \tSk9i ohi)^ .cn^aJ^ e&*^(SN2 api^ ^i\yg>p e^fl ^ ^oyb&lie
o7NoaLi\!^ ^e^ae^lp ^0*2 .^0/ j^aV^p ;NoJ^oac ^ ^&^ ^oaauli o&>^
^^* ^fis«oo7 tey^ ^*^»AQaM ^N ^ajBfiOo jper ^CSa\^? ^'^ ^ :&i3JI»»!i
I^AMfCttae .^ooysM 9b>ifiiaB»Mp ^ 007 ^o±*p ^e&p jfSfti>\y ^ 0^ »i\\p
^Aos ^ ^tVob *^^? o/fiAto A^ ^fl&sp ;i*2e .jey^2p ofCs^pa ^esatta*o/p
^tipf oy^oa JM^p^ j^MCSttX oMk^ *. Zsiboadoo ^eljab ^p ^fia2o .^070^ IS^
^fs&p ^a^ .^oa*doiii&d2 0007 ^^fr^p ^drp ^(SoJ^kOX ^ n^\i \Uboiai
^£s£2o »^i>t»oS ^&oip jA^oso ^pta .^*ioia |«ib&OA ^0^2p 07^91^ ^ ^oa^
t^aaao ««aK*pe ^fiotV^p |»*i&a^iao ;iso\\'rv> ^aoJb ^oiLA*^p ^Au jua*opo
&.JS* ^07 ^ia o^^M '.a^pe J^po ^&po ^^^kopaxappo ^a*pp ^ 0107
^tsoieyap ;«lboaoi jmuoub kS\e t .oa^kOUA*e7p f&&po^ A^ fiAaip ^
^0^ ^ .>kO^ o&p«e OkXo&j^o .^aioVvi ^a^olb A^p ^ a^fis* .^fis«A*AMM
ijMeo jbauaacfis^o ;^po«A a&^i.» ^M*aL*p ^oa!^ .2 i^Scq^m ^oiUbAl ^ey^
Z^auaxNp ^& ^pinv\ t ^mJcmp ^oa^ ^asNOM ^oyuo &*fis*p ^A*2 ^S^i^ ^
^OAi^ ^bpNsio .^oXboNsio .ox^fisse .OMXabfia ^o7p .^ey^2p o7(Sp^p Jt»»SiVw
fis*^&*K*o .0&^pf2 aotsc o&^pf2oj .^MtaQop eylbAMaa ^o^ ^^>*^p ^ya& .x&pAM
^r^VfyS ^QuOfi) ^epA .>99itta ^oal\^N jUlJ\lb JUSs^ ^ ^p o&^pf2
Jfc^^O) ^*jbfO .«*^b ^u\f&aAp fi^^^'T aA^ 007 o^*ft^ .o^^p ^^rp ^<^a»pa
Jb>VM? ^&aap I07NUS2M (Soa*9gbp 007 ;iaf ^2 1^ ^070 ,^^^^gi\ ^S^
:o7<S*Aw^p ^poMo ^OA\ poAa oS .^nO&p ^fioa ai>2 >3aittoo .^pa2p eraa
^ Assemani has V^^?o K^^o vQ^L?o v^oooui^^o ^w?.
1 66 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
o^^ '>^o|!^29 orNa^^p jao&ox *!i& ^o/fi^oM&as eaafi> aaa *^*)axp ^o£iDid2
«^A9 suU Ixajp ^lor ^lobo^ ^\,\o¥\ w^Jp :;*is oSai^ibl >!So oJipi ;^
^o|S fis*2p ^dlro ./loiSv ^iL^^ la^ ^2p ^ .o&er wd2 ^aaL^^aRl» .&ftU
ey^ :^a.iJl^ ^m^l ^p ^A*2 ;t3>^S&afS orviAifMrtftS «j^0A«Vb^ ^ ^aijod
aaSp ^^ox «^A^ 9A0 .opo^^aaaS ^^ jS ^NouV2>aa? ^^yNotS poJia
^epK^ t*?^^ |0>^^ ^pa^ex ^ ^ 0A07 *^oid\f&aAp ^paiioat ^m poM^a
oumNNM? P^ ^a> «^aSp -j^V T*^'^ t*^ep &^ ^20 .^ollp ^2
^OAMp ^tti^o *.^& hAoa ^ «Aoap ^a^ ^p oAor .A(sa^ ^i<i>*hia ^ o;^
Pmi»p ofto/ \lJboioi ^ ^po&oxo .;ajHU2 ^aja*2p ^o .jt>^p A^m^p ^m^o .^amo
.^ ^ma ^ >9pkao ey^ Afis&p OiS topa&(saea^ ^ oftA^^ ^M^aoop opomS a«*
a^k^x fti&jboiS ih>ia opp i^&p j(»9o/aM ^ cioj .o}^i*p ^ ^ ^(Ss oorp i^2
^Vinfti Am ^ K*^o& ^&p ^0^ A*m1 tje62p ^Noo^o ;ija Naouib
ijNp^ o^ KA^&d^^aao A ^90 aM^2p i;«ju*o& Aao* ^ JUaupjs ^^p>^p
ortSkSa* ^ T***^\ %i&&^po ^aiSiip 3&aAS2p ^07 .>tS.s\ «M^o ^aX&i ^
*U^^^ o7Nk(s4» >9aiM ^ Afci\^ft> >>ii\ft\^\ ^epK^ o»!iae2 aioa.be .oy^^ ^o
o^ S^2o .^\^fl>p er<S*£S^ opA ^M oor .*iAwp t^ey^ ^bvi^io Id ^oV^pae
er&9 ImV*? ^^ A\(NMo .SAb pk^o :d}A^ jauAop ^ ^tsopoajo epa ^
o^fiAMpop 3*^ ^olA >A^*l9iM /*&o/«too ;«*0i ^fo&o ^ofiA ^ ^ero .|&>92p
Ap ^4 W?^^ /*oe7p )^o^p >#*^o3i^ 0^ i^auBQi!^p jaajdo ^3uo\So '.Aaop
o&^o .Jtpeoiia ^'Viyt oybotMO i^*ao7 omob ..OmI opp JUxoop ^om ftS>iri os^
jiJb opAMio .^&oJp ^oUb oMulbo .^iftVtp ^aA^o2p epuo^ ^>A\^'to
t^*9iop Qr»\ fr'^B ^ ^oxMuio/p ^aolb ^oa^ oaibo .^o;^2p Am* «*oro^wk2p ^&p
Am* ^o^fSN oysp tjU&MOa ipdfoo (Sn^^i^ J&i&l»p ^«tti M^oac ^o
o^pjBoJ ^ jsaaoaaoo ^ao^ ^ea^ ^2 jofo •^luap ^pA* «*eroaA^ ^cAa ft^\>iniN
000/ ^ejaotsxtop ^orp l»x*a ^JSaiaoLft^ ^ : ^os^o ^^poMao ^p e^e > Aaop
*^ ^ .,Aa(SAAo A ^«iMu*d» ^oi!S Mva ^07p A^op ^oj .^^*<ofiffifl2
;^&o\;^^P ^A^ J2 ,*aai& .;noiopp hosa ;^o\lfl ^M»\4 'y»aAM ;tpE*3 ;n&o\^p
Iual&^9 o^&2 ^2 opaM ^1 ^aao ,^l^ orfr^p ;3\^ox ,ft*a^2 ;E»au3
MAR iSHO'-YAHBH TO THE PEOPLE OF kAtAr. 1 67
^oajM ^a oo7&aM ^ Jo .jUk&^ak^ ItsoxA^ ;A>ag jacioa!^ ^aftoip AAaid
^^•3^ .hMOas^ Ai^ittii ^cpy^l CK*2^ i^S,Miia\ &9^ ^aJto ^ .omAU ^i^
;&oaa^ oa\o .^'i- «^ o2 oy^M*? ^^oficie Ams t^«aor ftSiyM .JN*;^<S
.;a«eS ^pouD aoa^ ^ i JMop ;^oaJ^ oaibo .#^2^ oyi&paidi .^2p oy'^p^?
tKo&o\i3 ft\i..Nlo JUaEAflp ;fi^oaaou0p o^bAsslo .^JS&hMp ^&^ ^ %>aubp
^&aQo ^00.90011 i^o .^fi^oaafluojp ^om «^ .\\>i ^ o^polo .JiImM ^pAoJ
^94 9Ap '^m^l^ OffiOdi ^Uip ^^0M^«0 ^(SA*iA*2 i^O ..Mp O^A^HASp
^>Shm1 oe7p .^M^ ^cAmAl «^ a*poaa^o JSmmS ^ ^009 \attap ^(So<ja*2
V. Second letter to the inhabitants of Katar. ^»^3^p ;fi^9\2]
a»p ^p ^^2 : ;t VnM iILi o2 ^&^^ .a(a\p JUxi>3? ^^ VtWi\ti (S^o^p
i^v^iftN ^S*X^a Z«^Am2 jtpusp j^^ ^ ;mi^^ ^2 ^2 ao .^ea^ aofiA&
^23 07^9^^ ^9 ;<so&oJa9 ^fio ^*S&flUbdl29 (^}«x aa aA^ ^kSiti ^ .^SN^a
M^2p epft^ olidalo .A4inS ^^ytS^ ^La «^aa? ^^9^ ,a^a&lo om<KmO oofio
•<^au»e7fiU A i^l .(Sk^eifto (S9fioo (S3Ao2o AsMSiao «*oroJoll&fl2 ^auBfioop
.^SLa ^So^kibp ;»o\,.4t* ^ t,A*p jb^A* ^o^aflM ^us jaasi^ ^arar ;fld& ^e
)Bo7&92p &^ fi^j^ttt ,lnim\ ^ ^*2 ao6s *U^\op ^oa &V ^ ^^ \^
iSoAes/oa ^ eraoib JiAdp &fici ^ t^fi^ ^oaaJl29 Jm*^o ^Ia^iuoo ^aV^
oaotdfijp ;A>»> G^o ,c»^aseS «»a« |o|^2p ««A;oaE«SjB9 J9m*io .^ey^2p oyJKa^p
0007 ^"^V^ ^"^ "^P ^Bv^A ^^K*9^ ^o&oj0 ^ i^CKosAso^p ^ajoo^ ^
3^A ooci ^ooMS*2o ijd<kOi*V^aAp jb«.OM;s^ &»x ^aaopp ^^o>^ ^&£^
M.O&P ^^ao&ap ^h^ oooj ^oe^iN^ ;>^\ttp ^XaJ^o W^2p ;i&o\ (Sta ^n\,hp
^o\;&;ii&A^&L4Mo ooor ^ooy*fi>^2 ^9\0 ^*p 3oaaJl^o t^p ojCSMoaastsp 3p«i^
fti^-^** >9o7&92 ^aH t^ 3p jid^s JUsfi<9^ Ipuatik oAmt^S t^fi^^p
)m99« Am \;^aob ^ ^&p ;&a\ ^ .^ft^f ;«ioa\ ftVySon .\t«»Q40p
jpor J^ua *^oft*3ci (Mo^ Asooy ;*&oJWfp A^o .opco\o ;ki.p« ;&6U ^ h^AJO
joofip «^A^ -^.^^V^^.^ >9»Vp >3a«»2o .oAm* ^ a*fiw ox^mS Jlbo2 j|i>irv
^p 5Ui oidoJo .^p ^kO^oaupjoS j^oroMp ^eeu o2 ^fU p^^l o2 lAaaio
1 68 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^Qftlia ^frdlo .j(>MOdao A? ^>ioft\i ^&6J ^ pfvV^'oN M*aio2 t^&£^ ;oo7
aa tA2p i^&(S> ^auAM <SttMi& ^^^ ^307 aJk^ ^ .^oitK 0^070 .^(S&2 ^As
i^po ^ ji^p ^(Sft2 :^&M ^ o*i;fQo!^ ^y^2 tA2o \m^ iX^Nmo ^al^Sio
«!iA3 ^o^^a ^ JUAa iSngvw fisii^ i^oAi^iS*! ^u^ O^ao J(»^ Apo ^ouV^ito
)^2o .^fii^adaflUb^l ^aas JlkJu^pkio k^oyfio^aaa ^^o^? %^ui ;\,>S.v ^s^ ^ i^La
.^QA*p^ 09A ^ 06 &bS6A2 ii&o\at>%>\pil >U9 ^QA*p^ ^fi^^ip li\fb jauiib ^p
^oaui ^aaib ^ fiw2 l&L^^Jb2 J^p ^sao ^tJix>m ^ .a^AAoS ^ij^ ^^ ^^oXa
^Si^oAip ^aua juoaaoop a^^ ^»a .a^fisft2 ^07 tA2p ^2 Cs*^fiuacd &b^<SAMp
^ ^ei^2p fciV^i pgii^a o^ ^fiss2o i^erp ^ui ^&<S^ mA^ ^er ^>V\P)
.j^a^ ^ oaa ^ ^tV^ .^6s*jBfai j>ab9p 0Noac ^2 &aa )^2 i^fiM^^tfi^fisM
i!S\MO .j»i2k& J^ ^^Mi^ J9k*A^P ^ >^afck3 «^a\& o^ p^^a ^aAv ^ oio7
ju2 o2 ^(sauo^epe ^fictJAS o&^ptjp .|&2 taAM ^ ^2 oumP ^ ^07
oa*s2o .^&js^ N*2p ;tp& Jlpua o^mO .^fi^koxo^p ^il^ OMOfisdo .ft>>^P)%'%
.oasamP jii^2 o^ozdo .^(saua*orp ^\?i»*» .NntiftS •^paap ^uA^ fka^»ittM
.;o62p ^9 OI^A OXa^O .OI^Mftp ^O^aO ^MO o\*yN2 0^2 .j(pK^ ^OA<Af<S O^p
jC^ MHO ^*\^\ym hMiSki .Mop 0u&pe4ip A>"0 •^b'*3 ^b2(^ ^o«Ax^p
o&^pf2o .^iVvSp ^p 3ato ^Ipuu ^oy^ ^9^ ooaaM^ ^amMcNp .^CKaai^p
a*i;fao^ ^»^p»» Ap >^CKo^p l^f^lp «i«ro9uafii3 X*;bi>^ oin>io*»o fis*^9*CK*
..aaop »o7oau9ij ^a ^&pa^ i^ ^^*iiJib fc^^&.iN* 0pa ^ ^o i^&iS2 ^
^2 ^pcA ^odAsofiotfi^p .^'si^ ^"^aA^p ^uMuso ^Moap ^t\i ^oe^
Aao ^ ooTO •t*^aa\ i^p 3aV^ ^«A^ )Sp ^^la *^oroip AS\iiVi -J
.ftftifM ASittO .|*0^2 ^Ottft «A^p ^U\3 ^ftwOlMUiOT w*^ ^t»i«\>0 lh»
F^^aMAm 00070 ^Vyyp Jt^O* ^00^ 1011^9^ ^^"^^ ^a>90?>3
VI. To the solitaries in the country of the JCetrayfi. cso^p]
Iml o2 ^IcXhoS ;ibo»i n^Mp ^oAMouB AsoLklxp ^bi^^ ^^a\o fi^^asp
.^Xftttp .ft>y>Sft^^\p>io fdojaaJ2 jolA^&oA^ s*&i» j^fluao ^om2 A «i>*2 .|
oaa ^p ^A*2 i^ ^oa^ ^2 ^poM ao .ftaV'ty ^07 jNaV^^ ^^wV^S fi^^blbo
or&adc «A^p j&^ As\? iM^2f jfi^ 02 a*!^ ^fis*^a* .Sik^dbMi^ ^fit^ax ^2
,^tKp^ ^mSosb 9^)0 )BU&2 i^Mffi^ ko^o )B^ ^9 Me7oai*9k0 ^oiSa^ t joiiS2p
MAR iSHO-YAHBH TO THE INHABITANTS OF KATAR. 1 69
JUaan es»^^ «*oroK*2 m^a ^ a*e^ aoJia I&07 i^2 t^o|!^2^ ^Zts^a joepa^
;^a ^ 0$ ^^^ tj^acois Ji^p ^7 ju^ .^oo^'&AMx^ ^utto ^oy^2 (ko^p
Noaoaa ^ey*6te2p ^^^07 .J{»*V*^ )^o^o ^^jm& tSatio!^^ ^^os .^cpy^2f 3^^^
K*'*"^ ^ ^1^ ^uam^o i3\ ^c^2p JI>a& &m\ 0T<Soau^^ *jc^2 Antto>\ ^p
'p^ ^tp .&«l»2p 007 ^&*MdE ^f ^ fiw2 aa .^pp ^o\A ^^^ ^4^^ >Sibo\
.J^^ •»2 &aa ^paS ^a»9 fuoo •^o;^2p ^^^Mtp ^2 .j&kttap ^07 Ji^ ^Om^p
^Li^fislbe ■^p*ab» ^u^M ^LkSaA ^ op .&^2o ^MoSp ^fio&up ^pA> <a&& ji^M
ojfKoivioNynS ^S^ Jia ^i^aso .^e^2p O7fio>9^ AnrioS ^&£s(Mop ^e& J^o jltSbeM^
^ojki^<^aoo i^N^p ft^AM .^*ua*oyM ^p .0107 ^ l^^ats >nviftS ^&*a4^o .^Madop
^uA^ A2 f*oj^ ^^a^ ^ob^«M ^&m2 o^ i^tJO^A 9«V^ ,*^or .^*uou«f[»p ^A^P
^&o> «*aix «\a ^p ^a*aAoe ^asp ^ ^ftiM a^*!^ «a»2 ^ •^oi^2p oihhat aKu^
.^0^1^ ;A9AmJ^ «aa}o )!^&^ ^liSyittS aAs^ \\ti >po«A9 ^u\ ^10 Ji^2 i^o|!^2p
%<A9e «^2oaaK ao^k ^xi ^e .^Oiaip ^&o^ ^ore ^ifvVio jaAJ cfiM ^pjco
«*^ ^2 aoJS ^A ^o *jc^2p j&o^ (S^p jubAM ju\ ^ i^2 i^Moio hisa
;«3ip ^^*»p )V\pW ^e t.!i*ait»*p ^a^ i^auBo^p ^«^ ju^ ^ i^2 t^oj &(S9
: jfSOwA'n «*^ ^«^p ^& Jbo&^d ao(S ^bU ^e . jfiC^Sii ^oy^ ^070 .^^maS
^Ti* ^o : 3^*1x0 ^jjmP ^om ^o tt\*aA*p ^ep «*9Sp j^oAAdiM ^ i^2
4»>*aox ft>So\ Jbo^od ao6^ jb*2 ^o .^aJ>o ^i>\\y» ^o^uj^^ ^nioa^S ^e& ^p
0^ .;*ax fisM»A^p 3^a& ^oof^oa :;{puaub ^p^ Imjumxp /teJn^i ^&^ b^ane
«^k^^^p ^*x>^ ^cf^ >\ndft\ t».o^S9 ftnfai ^cf^ ^ 9JSi*p >\\^ ^07
ijtpcois «S^p ;nVyS A.\i»p ^oX^ 0^ Ji^ta ^ A pao IimX^M ;C«^ ^i\i
<Si\^ teiu^p ;^MM ,A*f2 i^p^p ^&aSo ^ilAyp ^Sp ^oy\nMOi\ ^^2 p«3
s»aat ^eilbp ^ 4&OJJS\fi>2 aofr» ^2 ^o .^&o«\ ^p ^dySp ^okiApNtt
^o;^ ^ ^xMoo 1^0^ frto^p ^ojAaiM fM ^007 j!^ .^poubp ^&e^
^uHb ^pa ^oVft» '^^^ «y&^ Ji^p ^01 ^!u\9 ^2 i^&AMpNp ^^SimOVi
1^07 ^ ^2 ^Mtjk ^ero .^07 ^aik&p «ft07QLZM^ a.&aA(k2o ^SI^sod ^oms OkXpiaN2
I70 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^070 .^or ^"nVA? o7ajBU^ omaaajsi ^^Siltw ^^0^0 .^t^Vnirifi «oISaftA^
^070 >^o|!^2p opfl^ l&Spo^p ji*i^ •^?'^ ^ojlopo&p l&poTO^ ^o* «*07e(Sii
^ a\l& >9aAD ^uSiM^i A^ t^e7JS0JMuep ^opo^ ^oyA^ (^^? ^oy^ a»V^
Jlpo^Ott^ OnOfioOo x^aj ^2p ^aiXi jo^Sl ^ oXttt t^ej!^2p ora^ %S^p ju^^
/ft3*3 ^fioafikM frJui^M aA t«M0&3 ^o\2p ^^b^o^^ i^^aor ^op .^\s>\a f^p
AntioS .J^xo0 i^SiQ ^uV ^^o»* >U*<S«* ^op :jauaM 4^^ ^2 ^abMoap ^er
^:ii^ ^ ^opel& ^ 090020 .^fi^osjsoisa 3^^ ^opBd&S Aio^^ft 000/p ^^r
js«;>^*^ ^h\ft\ ^or oaaEa2 )Sp ,^\mO .op 00^ ^opofsMop ^£so^oaa^2p 3*0*20
><V\Sip ^u^ ^ ^o* ^w }ai »ltXmioh ^oiMli ..sXmP ^iiyi ^e7^2p o/SadS
i^Sn»:» ^^ ^ii>y «s!iM •J0^2p ojfrka^ ^ ^eo fita»> ^oa^ «*s^Ma .^pts
^OAMuojp jajdL*2o ^ax .^OAjSo^^o<^a ^(s;^ ^oaa a\&<S2o .^o;^2p o/Na^
o^ ^por (So^ '.^^Avp ^ey^2p «*o/ouu«!&p j6>o\>Vyip A\,Y)o .0;^ ^3? ^oaci
>\\^ faiat ^taafis^ &fiU Jiaa ^(SououoTp JtM*oaa:sp ^sa*2 i^odN*Vo ^A^afi^^M
tA2p .ji>i(Si&iM jor oaA fM J^ ^p M0) ^^ : ^07^2^ o/a&at ^A^^a ^s^ ^^ii\,
^MtVift ^oae» Atop .^A\ jey^2p orts^ai^ 61^ ^o ^ ^o/n ijt>&*to2 ^o^^
^ouolmop ^wi>irw SktoLibi Obi^p ^^vi\ma .oueaa ^bStsac^ A^iip .o/fiwoaaccsp
91& oa&Otfi^ .OmOa^ ..OAJSib^fisxo .OAajd^ Ob*^ ^009 pA .^o^a .OAJSoaiiao
oyMaoxp l>^ak*9 ^atso .^do ^&o2o ^flboo^o ^o& ouo t ^r *>h ^e;^
Jia ^ &*N* Aiyi ^^p ^p oei!^ •|o;^2p ^oto oy^aa ^o\to60Ko .^i^ihop
JWoaaOs o;^ i^ oJkNAsop q^^ 5M •^bo ^^^ ^ ^ a^fiuo '.^ >'!0>'o\
JMo\ ^<s&\2 ^^2 ^fc'A^\ «t5i\vp T^p ^o)^A9 i^ImJUo ^oaua aiCs^^a
\ts»t\u\p ^tsil ajo^Aja .^OA&fiUp ^uS^opo ^oy^a^ ^nii>\ri ^ojI^a^ j^^ai^?
^o»io ^adep ^&o2 ^2 oAposo .jitoue^po ^rtn'iVjba ^aai^d^ ^ey^ P^
0A^oaahd2 fSoSo ^:so^ frafisa6i2p .oeupeuoib ^a\^A ^2 ^070 .^Na^^
^^'*\^ ^oi2L^ ^*\ tsh^ i^Iiuae^^'2A*a ^VYit >^>yiop ao(S .^^o -^uajb ^
oer .o>»tS 01^ .^kpjb ^ I&2 ^3Nap ^a\^2a ^^ tA2 aoN (S&aJKO .«A*p
.o/^o^p }3\ Ji*p ^^^ ^p ^pts ^aA^ aap .a««p&2o;ap ;doaAfl2 ;&isAoop
^n3>wS ^of ^fS oyNo\p4wV>\ IS*o^ ou^p ^ i}o^l fr>^»>ip o7fSot\p4i«ip ^o
^o&oJbi^ j*aJof ^oXao 00/ ^aiAi Wo;^2p 071^9^^ e^^po opdAp ^bpo^p ^2
^y ^2 aofi>^ ^^9SM .^oo^p A^ ^oAasA iA2 oja^ aJa2o i^otiVyft>a%ip
A^*2&*A^ '.^oj \\'n kd2p jia»2 106 ^96^ /l^»»^ ^ aNap .^JS&m^ ^^2p
MAR iSHO'-YAHBH TO THE INHABITANTS OF ICATAR. 171
Jb»AM9 pyio^ o\>$m1 XkAof o^ostb .^nvmS ^OA^ «<*?«? ^?^ ^A^(k
■jMoSynl oaoNao .^^Vap ^o\ (Ko!^p jfii^a^j^ ^^^Ap ^ia«2 i^^a oris^^^ao
» ^ttitSo oocro ^fi2im^ too* ^oi!ift jk>>Sft*i
Vn. The second Epistle to the solitaries in the country of
the I^etrSyS. ^A\io^ olusa «^aV* fi^^as? ;»>r.M? ^oCKoSp aoA^
o&^ .^Oi*opop ^Mi^ ^ooyip ^LasDs ^ >a>tiiS^p ^aJtop fc»i»y oimoJ omS^ •^bc*^
^A*2 ^iioi^ ^ .^ou0po ^p ^ft4^ ^oup wAaeM )BaJto »m j^2p i^Asoaft
^oc»p Maaaoo p^ %m )^2 tj^al^ao Z^aJp i^Aib ^ (s^^ba oeraAfiU
^"Bfi^ ^ .SAU t^Aaa ^oi^lp ono^ ^wZ'^irp ^Aj ^m^ ^ i^tnisci^o ^oitto
:^o&»9iJp ^^op ^ ^ oftof .jk^lbaAp ^a*»\ ^aa»*flv ^&&frdOo A^Om^
^ 050 .^f&l ^^MS ^ ^bAO ^&p ;^.Mft O^OS OMplip >\\^ .^OMpfid
jo|2^2p ipupjB o^jspji!^ aoUS2p .^eya i^ ^ ifis*^^ fr^pt ao^AJs ^&
Aa^o t^ ^MfSEMp jbaupu or^SiM (k4»ejy0 ;p&p t ;!!■*■ A v ;^c»9o ^>ift>ib^
^ ^w\S T*^A\ jor 4*'!&V^?o ^Up ;!^aJb ^ ene^ uboJ ^^o* ^or ^p
J2 ^^Ai ^aaib2 iA2 ^ofoLja ^ «Aaa0O .^oI^ ^ &iis« .Am j^Maop Ax»a)a
.^9*M* ^ OAof .013 ^frA2 ^»&tiUSiaoo 00 ^oaJS*2 ^o<^2p o«if .^a^jdu ^Imi
)^20 .^OAMK ^O MiOAtbl ^ MKop ^^{^ fCKOMSAO )^0 . ^^feitlSp ^
fi^*^pf idua&p o^ t^? o^&pa^ jfr^ Ai2o lAsofi i^VmP ^oau^ ]S
\\» )S2 .J^to ^acAl ^3A ^(koi»*or Atnift to i^V^o .^oaXoiaokor (KftSiM^
^qa!^ ^h i^2p or^p^^p ;^A* ^ o^p «lj^ )S2 t^to «att2 &ao ^OACSOftqa
^•adS >j^>»w\vi itsfk\Kii»tao ^hjb ^PyS )^2 .^^f^ ^oiaaa ^oia j^m*
172 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
o}^ ^pop ^o/ »^\i0O .jtM4(S9^ ^oAopp ;^im1 o]Mi^ <k*2 ^ ;Se .^Aam
^Afiu!ito*o^o ^fial ;!^2o .^oy^lp O7fi^oa«\9 jI»ao/oM oSimviSo Is^^ oa^
.^.'&\tip ^ ^p ^9dbo ^!*Sii^ fis»^ ^ftiNilp ^6a2o tjey^lp 076^9^ Ji^ttoSo
^0^0*0; <sa\>ii^S K*|307aib» ^(sai^070 .^^^ka .efroEaJbo -^-^tf .ofiwfi^
jiooaa ^Jo^ ^ooa^oI i^ ^ ^frcidoo .^opo^ t*'^*^ ^oaoMO .^ooAiAp
^oftop &i\ 0^2 .^oa^^ j^tSii ^^0JM«ejS ;^o/ J^^ ^bouA ca^ .^^^*a&^
ft»N>iftS J^ 00^ ^Mt^M P?ioa a^*!^ i^l .«j^o!^ ^^^^^ fs^oo/ a&o .eo;^ i^io
.^sib ^2 0^334^0 .^ai6sob6^^ ^^iol ^Alo ^&atb ^orp ^ t«*JSo^ ^j
o^^ ^ ^fi^ :Am ^m*»o? JbaLAti 07(Sa^p ^ oft^ ^^ aA^ ^au6
^ ^^oax&o .d^p ^ ;s'&m2 ^ inftiniN o!^o xjaa^ kd2o ^a^ qy^ ^ .|&'&m)S
.;»p& Ui^9S ^&oia o!^o .^p& ;ojS2p er^9^ ^ o^p i\\,in .;*^^po Uo>^p
^&Ai ^o\aao M^a^ «*omo^Mp ;!^2p 01^ ^a^ )S^ .|M*attop craa^ax ^
jy^o^'^V*^ ^fi^ ^afliAd2 ^&A^ ^ aJK* &A^ ^07 .^&*p ^ oyaa^ox ^
i^addaakd2p ^a^iv^ib ^Aatiao ft\n,B |o;^2p orcsa^s ^p ^A*2 .^aas 6mJ
.jA^A^ ^2 ^*>i9 ^ ^2o t^oitp jaV^oi ^ }oi ^cS ^ ^opjc a^l jSo
i^auBfisa aa .^ei^2p or^aA >i&p ^^a^<Sasl j!flu*eaa .oo7No5oJBLA»d2 ^iaoi;|:M ^l
^07 ^2p o!^2o >^0^ ^uafioo ^ ^fisfio .^pts .oerJSo&epp ^aas ^
^0|!S ^00/ ^kiir potsio A i^'&\lijp0 ^^p ^baxp ^on»Al ooaj ^eMS*2
.«*o^ ^A^AM ^jsosep xoa ^ou^p ^A»A ^o^ ^AoAo Jl^Io .^oS ^(S^p
^ Ml jJ^ii&MO .^Aftopp A»»«N ^2 ^*^0A 1^07 ^ojftCS*2 ^ J^aao
^vna^ ^JSeftiSB^p ^oa!^ oA^a!^ : ^ ^(s!^^ N*^^aJbo .^pl^^ ojts^
^&p ^^oau\p i^M^ ^ep (sAp i^\» .^eooa ^•aaofiooop ^eb ^^oibai
^M oorp ojaa t ^oA90 ^ii^dhfeaja j^KoMaJp ^aao ^o| N*2 aA^ a^2 .jaoottp
.^fi^o^p jx*Si0 juV^"^ ^*vAt i^p ^2p ..o<s*e^ ^Aa^^AM ^fia2 ^a^^Jp
MAR ISHO-YAHBH TO THE INHABITANTS OF KATAR. I 73
.^oOASi ^oopo^ ^d&oaJl ^>\i\T ;^ ^ai .^lodaJl p^As fLiut hof^
00^ ^fc>n^ ^0^ ^07 \UBfikA ^ a*(S* ^M^ 09^ ^t\f\tt» ;^ ^o .Xm»
^t>*iVi ^^ pA ^ .^Ao4^\p>w ^91^ ^•Apoatjoo .^AMdl y^n^ m^ ^aj
^a4o ^or .^07 ^aa>i ^^ aa ;^2p ^a^s .fln\t>S ^07 I601 >!Sp ^iA»2
;ak*S9 ^2 .;i»>yg)Vfc ^oMK*2 joy^29 orfio^ ^9'«>3»a o!^p tp^?^ .jNo«\aK ^poi^
/(^oau^AaAp ^ ^>>in» ^oytsa*^^ jakJbo .ooaJb Itf^ta or(sa^ ^ ^er
/lAor .2 ^6a2o .^eyS2p ojA^abSr ^osp ^oJtSAaco ja««>9 o^o .^No^aaA32p9
epLMa ^as^ ^Xs2 ^*^ ^&£sa* ^ 2^2p ^ ^CSOAao^iop ^fia2 ^>\mV)
eibo\(s2o ai^&e70 .^x'& ^i^p j^odNox ^ poM^ ^^Tty 0990X t^oai*^*!
.^Odu^p £11^ Oi^ft?ft>>o >fi^4bpf ^o&p ^M>*ii\p*i o\Mftot2o .^e^2p oyfi^p^ya
as ^o&h&MA (ko^ ^*opAoo .^Pmm ^e^'&d £sa^ ^kopjeo t^tep ^oiLbd)^
^hoiSaSp Cs*oo7 aaubps ii^o^lintp ojtso^ pi ^«a ^2 A^&^aEO .^^^ ^ &fi^op
.•aa^ tftOM ^aC^im ^a^ ;^o :^ ^ a^a ^ oorp ^io .^"^^Nap ae^. >tt\'^\
.20 .afridftJ ^^2 A^p ^01^ 1^20 ;^2 ia<Sa(k2 orA^A^p ^e^ ponVi o^
e^ fro^pASp J(»Su6^ ^ft0|^ ofiio o^a ^p ^fia2 .aiJb j(p& |>ac*9 i&^4b j&ao;
■.^•&Mp oyfiAMp ^3 jSiip du2 ^A^ fis*2 aaap •isa^a ^aii ^2 oa^tto .^'&w}So
^mA^ A^ aafto t^2 t^abo!^p ^^dco^ ^A\Hp ^no^ ^o\aop jtpua ^ .^^to
^»sp ^S<3UbiS2p ^a^o^aSx J^ ^«ils^4^&J»o ftatA^Aoo aaa .^^^ajjbo ^ais aap
.«4^o\!S ^aa^Aociop /Mxp ^sJi^'Sap ^a*ep «^o }6s^^b A^o .^*&S^ A^*9p
oMiikx *.9P .e«KUK*2p Af»*ii ^Axi^ak )^ tfraA^Ap fA«29 .oaiu a^ aa i32 .20
174 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
.^sLu ^Mla «^4AM o^ /aafo .obissia ^ ^"^oiDa^ ^ocj^Om osa ^ aao ^o^
^SbS .^»tA> «Sa ^ iPkajb 07(k9b^ epjua &\uo oj^o^ >^ Jbomi U^^
^\\an eg^a^ ^iVVftS ^b^Ja ^iioo ^^iK.. 05070 Xk ^2 ^>\i*l opA^
CHAPTER XI.«
« ^ __* __ * *C 2
OF RABBAN ANAN-ISHO ' THE DOCTOR, AND MONK, AND
COMPILER OF THE **BOOK OF PARADISE."^
It is not right that the glorious memory of the
holy Ahhk *Anan-lsh6'* should drop out from our
mind, or that we should suppress the mention of his
indefatigable zeal, on the contrary, let us place his
noble acts among [those of] his companions, for happi-
ness at the right hand of our Lord Christ is [also]
laid up for him with them. Now this blessed man
'An4n-lsh6' and Isho'-yahbh* his brother came from the
country of Adiabene; they were both trained in doctrine
in the city of Nisibis, being children of the school and
love and household of the blessed Mar Isho-yahbh [of
Adiabene]. They became disciples in the Great Mon-
astery [of Izla], as the books which belong to them in
the library of this monastery testify, for they shew that
' Parts of this chapter are quoted in £. 0., iii. i, pp. 139,144.
^ Properly *Ana-n[i]-Ish6'. See Hoffmann, Opuscula Nes-
toriana, p. iv.
3 See infra^ p. iSgf.
♦ 'Anan-Jsho' and his brother I sho'-yahbh were fellow-students
at Nisibis with Isho'-yahbh III., and afterwards entered the great
convent on Mount izla; they flourished about the year 645.
See Wright, Syr. Lit,, p. 843; B, 0., iii. i, p. 144, col. I.
5 He afterwards became Bishop of ^^ardaliabhadh. (Seep. 177).
C W A « AC
BOOK II. CHAPTER XL OF RABBAN ANAN-ISHO . 1 75
they were written by their hands there. Now Abb4
Anan-lsho* having lived the life of an ascetic with all
excellence, and having his mind constantly fixed upon
the works of the ascetic fathers, determined to go and
worship in Jerusalem. And from there he went to the
desert of Scete,* where he learned concerning all the
manner of the lives of the ascetic fathers, whose
histories and questions are written in books, [p. 79]
and concerning their dwellings, and the places in
which they lived. And when he turned to come back
he made his journey by way of the [monastery of the]
holy Mar John, Bishop of the Scattered, of whom I
have made mention a little way back,' that he might
be blessed by his holiness,^ and enjoy his conversation.
And after he had come to his own monastery,* he
took his brother, and they came to this monastery
[of Beth 'Abhe] by reason of the annoyance and con-
tention which had taken place there, for certain men
who were slanderers, and who set themselves against
holy men, had risen up there, and they drove out the
holy Rabban Narsai, the disciple of Mar Babhai, who
finally became head of the monastery ^ and was renown-
ed for a life of excellence. And concerning Mar
Narsai the holy M4r Isho-yahbh, when he was Bishop
of Nineveh, wrote a letter to the Great Monastery,
blaming^ them, and saying, "Ye have not acted rightly
towards that [holy] man in making him a stranger
* See supra, p. 39, note 3. ' See supra, p. 129.
3 Read o7^ox*9^. * /. e,, Mount Jzla.
^ See chap. 18. Narsai succeeded Babhai as head of the
Monastery of Izla after A. D. 628. See B, 0,, iii. i, p. 455,
col. 2. He is probably the Narsai to whom Isho'-yahbh wrote
Letters Nos. 29 and 50.
176 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to your congregation." ' Now when they came to this
monastery, and dwelt in silence according to the rule
of ascetics, Rabban 'Anan-lsho' the wise of under-
standing laboured so hard in the study of books, that
he surpassed all who were before and after him in his
knowledge. And when Mar Isho'-yahbh was Metro-
politan of Arbel (Arbela),' and wished to draw up in
* Thomas is no doubt quoting from a letter which he had
at hand, but of which no copy seems to have come down to
A
us. No. 16 of the letters written by Mar Isho'-yahbh while he
was Bishop of Mosul is addressed to the monks of the Mon-
astery of Mount Izla, and refers to the expulsion of some of
the brethren. He says that he has twice written to them, and
that inasmuch as he has received no answer he is afraid that
what he has heard by rumour of the quarrel which had broken
out among them, but which he never expected could be true,
has really happened. He describes the quarrel as the work of
the devil in the form of a man, and in a long exhortation ad-
vises them to remember their past glorious state, and to en-
deavour to bring it back again. Finally he says, '*Go forth after
your brethren, and gather them together, and if it be necessary
for you to endure suffering, shrink not from it until ye have made
them dwellers together with you, and loving associates." 006^0
^0^ ;d^oaco ;&»yM Jb ^o^ ^2 (fol 17^.). It is probable that
w A ^ ^ A
'Anan-Isho and his brother left the Monastery of Izla on ac-
count of the disturbance referred to in the above letter.
* The chief town of Adiabene, situated about 70 miles east
of Mosul. Of Arbel, Arbil, or Irbil, Jjji (Yakut, t i, p. i86ff.)
Bar-Bahlul says ij^ >)L^^ doy» .au^ ^2 02 ^m^ vau^ ^ ^^^i
iCtS^oioo &0M0 ;<s^ J*^^^ iSjL^ ^^W<^^ K,,^^^yyJJ Duval, Syr, Lex.,
col. 280. The site is a very old one, and is mentioned in the
cuneiform inscriptions. See Schrader, Keilhtschriften und das
Alte Testament, p. 441.
BOOK U. CHAPTER XL ANAN-ISHO AND ISHO-YAHBH. 1/7
order a book of the Canons ^ that he might send copies
of it to all the countries of his patriarchate, he made
the wise Abba 'An4n-lsh6', the love of whom is very
dear and sweet to me,* to sit with him during the
drawing up of the canons, because of the institutes
and rules which he had composed, and because he
found that he^ alone possessed in a sufficient measure
a clear mind, and a natural talent for the art of music,*
and a knowledge how to arrange words.
Now the excellent man, and elect of God, Isho'-
yahbh, the brother of 'Anan-lsho*, was appointed Bishop
of Kard41iabhadh,5 that is Shenna a city of Beth
Ramman. And the noble *Anan-lsh6* composed defi-
* The librum horarum Canonicarum of AssemanJ, B. 0., iii. i,
p. 145, col. I. For the regulations made by Isho'-yahbh for
times of prayer, etc,, see B, O,, iii. i, pp. 139, 305, and espe-
cially p. 526.
* Compare p. 88, line 3 (text) where Thomas says "I am
consumed with love for him," /. e,, *Anan-Ish6'. Strike out
note 2.
3 In note 3 read eyS au. Assemani has ^e^ol^^ (B. 0,, iii,
p. 139, col. 2).
• • •
5 Kardallabhadh, >bT ^j\>j^ is the old name of Shennd dhe
Beth Ramman, or Sinn Barimma, U^b ^^ which was situated at
a distance of ten farsah from Tekrit, s::^^^^, on the east ban^c
of the Tigris, below the spot where the Lower Zab flows into
the Tigris. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 189,253. Uojil Ujb^
t?^ir 5^ JUUi J^\ .^^ U^\^ J^^\ iX^. Ji^ ^ i..y
Yalkut, t. I, p. 464, 11. 20 — 22. According to B. M. Rich 7203,
fol. 161^, col. I, and B. M. Orient. 2441, fol. 346^, col. 2,
;aV?9i> also « ^:_y^\ ^.J^. Hoffmann suggests that Kardalia-
bhddh -» Kardm-abad (k Rubtl for Reuben), /. ^., ''KardWs
colony." Cf. Yazdin-abad (text, p. 234. 19, 386. 16).
1 78 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
nitions and divisions of various things,' [p. 80] which
were written upon the walls of his cell. And when his
brother Mar Isho^-yahbh came to pray in this mon-
astery, and saw the divisions of the science of philo-
sophy of his brother 'Anan-lsho', he begged him to
write a commentary on them for him, and to send it
to him, which 'Anan-lsho' actually did. And he wrote
to him a clear exposition in many lines, from* which
will be apparent to every one who readeth therein the
greatness of his wisdom; now the title of this work is,
"A letter 3 which a brother wrote to his brother; to
the excellent and holy Mar Isho^-yahbh the Bishop,
'Anan-lsho' in the Lord, greeting." He also* wrote a
work on the correct pronunciation of the words and
of the difficult words which are used with different
significations^ in the writings of the Fathers, which
' Read p^9. ^ Read c^up.
3 Read ;6^;?.
* Compare the entry in *Abhd-Ish6s Catalogue {B. 0,, iii. i,
p. 144) ju»9«? ^odo ?^\..ftY 'ptb ^eaiMi,, Asscmani refers to an
Exposition of obscure passages from the Book of Paradise^ in
which unfortunately the name of the author is not given, but says
'an hujus Ananjesu sint, non ausim definire* {B, O., iii. i, p. 146,
col. 2, at the foot). The famous "Book of Paradise" redacted
by 'Anan-isho* is described by Thomas in chapter 15 of this
book; see p. iSgf. His work entitled Liber Canonorum de Aequi-
iitterisy i. e., on the different pronunciation and signification of
words that are spelt with the same letters, has been published,
with the additions of Honain ibn-Ishak of al-Hirah, (died in 873)
and another compiler, by Hoffmann, Opuscula Nestoriana,
pp. 2—49.
5 In this work he followed in the footsteps of Joseph
Huzaya, and anticipated Jacob of Edessa and the monks of
ICarkaph^tha. Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 843, col. i.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XII. OF GEORGE OF bAtH GAWAYA. 1 79
exists among the books in the library^ of this convent,
and which surpasses all other collations in its accuracy;
and according to what I have learned concerning these
his [books] from the aged Elders, they were com-
pleted and given to us by him. Now when the
blessed Mar Isho'-yahbh the Catholicus departed this
temporary life,' the holy M4r^ George became Patriarch
after him.
CHAPTER Xn.4
OF THE BLESSED MAR GEORGE,* THE CATHOLICUS.
This holy man Mkr George came from Kaphra^ in
the province^ of Beth Gawiya, which is in the® country
of Beth Garmai; he was the son of rich and noble
<
' We must read here Bhi fis*aa fi^ juIa* «&oda ;ts^2p ;S(sap.
See Hoffmann, Opuscula Nestoriana^ p. V.
' Read la%^ & <»• ^ Strike out ^ after i*&».
* This chapter is quoted in B. (9., iii. i, p. I49f.
5 George, the disciple of lsh6*-yahbh, was first Bishop of
Mosul, then Metropolitan of Adiabene, and finally Patriarch of
the Nestorians; he succeeded his friend ish6*-yahbh A. D. 661
and sat until 680. He wrote ;<sa^o ;^o«oSAo jZmSoso ^Ilauo^
;iojybo kSAtt jaM^aoo. See B. 0,, iii. i, pp. 153, 708.
^ f&^ =s L^y^f ^ place on the naphtha mountains between
Tiiz Hurmatli and the Diyala river. See Hoffmann, AusBiige,
p. 277.
7 ;0Jsfi>9&, a tract of land, Pers. jl^j, plur. ^'Uoj, Arab.
J\$3^, plur. C)li*\^3;> ^^ <3^-^05' '^^^^ word is compared with
the Pehlevi pft^tDDII by J. Miiller; see Lagarde, Gesatnmelte Ab-
handlungen^ 1866, p. 81.
^ Read »(M9^.
l8o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
» — . — — — ■ ■
parents, and his father possessed in this country [of
Marga] two estates, Telia dhe Zalle, that is Tell-zallah,
and Beth Habba,* and he was sent by his parents to
watch and govern the affairs and business of these
estates, [p. 8i] And when he went into the monastery
to pray and to be blessed by the ascetics and those
who dwelt therein, their manner of life was pleasing
in the sight of the blessed man, and he also wished
to inscribe himself with the seal of their divine service.
Now according to what I have learned from his kins-
folk, who possess written records of him, he became a
disciple after the death of Rabban [Jacob], and the
time itself shews us that it must have been subsequent
to this event, for at that period he had not yet arrived
at the age for being a disciple. It is probable that he
received the tonsure before Rabban Kim-lsho* received
the office of head of the convent. And when his father
departed from this world, George entreated his brethren
that the village of Beth Habba might be given to him
as his share in the division of the inheritance, and he
gave it to this monastery [of Beth ' Abhe]. Now when
the blessed Mar Isho'-yahbh was Bishop of Nineveh
he saw the intelligence and good disposition and
humility of the young man George, and was drawn
to love him as the blessed Nectarius' loved Evag-
* See Hoffmann, Auseiige^ p. 227 and note 675 (p. 74).
Telia dht Zall6 and Beth I. abba must have been situated very
near Bfith *Abh&.
* Nectarius, the^ senator, a native of Tarsus, was made
Bishop of Constantinople by Theodosius; he died about A.D.397.
Thomas of Margd probably means either Basil the Great or
Gregory Nazianzen. Socrates says {HisL Eccles.^ iv. 23) that
Evagrius was ordained at Constantinople by Gregory Nazianzen,
BOOK II. CHAPTER XII. OF GEORGE OF BfeXH GAWAYA. l8l
rius,V and brought him to be his disciple. And when Mar
lsh6*-yahbh became Metropolitan of Adiabene" he took
the excellent and humble George with him; and when Mar
Isho'-yahbh became Catholicus he made him Metropolitan
of this country (Marga) in his place. So also when
he became Patriarch this same Mar Isho'-yahbh was
appointed general governor of the dominion of the
countries which were far away.^ And he had many
disciple and intimate friends, and one of them, George,*
he made Metropolitan of Perath dhe Maishan,^ and
another George, to be distinguished from our George,
he made Metropolitan of Nisibis, by whom was com-
posed the hymn of praise for the consecration of a
church which begins: —
'*Glory to Thy mercy, Christ, our King,
''Son of God, adored by all."^
and Sozomen relates {Hist. EccUs., vi. 30) that when Gregory
occupied the see of Constantinople, he made Evagrius his
archdeacon. See also B. O., iii. 1, pp. 45, 151.
* Evagrius of Pontus born about A. D. 345, died 399.
^ /. e., };azza or Irbil, Arbela.
3 He claims that in the East (/'. ^., Persia) more than twenty
bishops and two Metropolitans had been ordained by the "Church
of God;" see supra, p. 172, 1. 21.
^ In his first letter to the monks of ^atar Ish6*-yahbh praises
the virtues of this George. See p. 168, 1. 28.
5 ^9 fis!U, c^Lu*-^ C>^T»> i- ^'> "the Euphrates of Maishan",
a town on the Shatt al-*Arab opposite to the modem town of
al-Ba§ra, ty^a^\^ and including Mohammera. Basra is about
65 miles above the mouth of the Shatt al-*Arab, and 40 miles
below the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates (Shatt al-*Arab).
Mohammera is ten miles from Basra. Maishan was the name
given to the district which extended from Ctesiphon and
Seleucia to the Persian Gulf.
^ See B. 0., iii. i, p. 152, col. 1.
1 82 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Now both [these] Georges^ were Persians by birth.
[p. 82] Now when our Lord wished to gather [to
Himself] the holy Mar Isho'-yahbh, the fathers who
were [standing] near him entreated him, saying. "Whom
dost thou appoint, O Mar Catholicus, to become
governor of the Church after thee?" And he answered
humbly, and said, "The choice doth not rest with me,
but with the fathers [who are] Bishops; but it appeareth
to me that of all our contemporaries it is most fitting
that George should be Catholicus;" and it came to pass
that George was appointed Catholicus. And when he
was appointed, according to the command of his holy
master, George of Nisibis, the Persian, was absent on
a mission to the land of Persia, on which he had been
sent by Mar lsh6*-yahbh while he was alive. And
when he came back and heard that the Catholicus had
commanded, "George shall succeed me," and that he
had not distinctly stated which George, certain fair-
speaking/ and malignant men disquieted^ him saying,
' All the MSS have ;&&m2 abf^&Af\, but 'a^i must be corrupt.
We might read ;^i (compare ;&a«2 for IS^ in HisL of Alex-
ander^ ed. Budge, p. i, 1. 10) and translate "these last [two]
Georges," or l^'^ ;5^*, 'Tersian noblemen/' or ;jbaj i^u. Jb
or "sons of Persian noblemen."
' ;aup^os flatterers, deceivers. In B. M. Orient. 2441,
fol. 370^, col. I, and Rich 7203, fol. 179^, col. 2, we have
^ Assemani "seductus k quibusdam adulatoribus aientibus.''
{B. 0., iii. I, p. 152, col. I.)
BOOK II. CHAPTER XIII. OF GEORGE THE CATHOLICUS. 1 83
"It is meet that thou shouldst have the Patriarchate,
and there is no doubt that the Patriarch thy predecessor
made his testamentary deposition with reference to
thee." And having returned from Persia and having
arrived at Medhinatha dhe Beth Aramiye,* he did not
go in [to visit] George the Catholicus, but he despised
him and held him in contempt, and in his pride he
left him and went to Nisibis.
CHAPTER Xni.»
OF THE HUMILITY AND GENTLENESS OF THE HOLY GEORGE,
THE CATHOLICUS, [aND OF GEORGE THE METROPOLITAN
OF NISIBIS].
Now since this holy man had, from his youth up,
placed himself under the yoke of the humility of Christ,
and had held himself to be of no account in comparison
with what was excellent, and in his own opinion^ had
set himself below every [other] man, he did not med-
itate within himself and consider, saying, "I am a
[distinguished man], the Catholicus, [p. 83] and I myself
have power to despise him that despised me, and I can
make a mock of him that held me in contempt,"
even although he had the power to prevent and put an
end to his ministration, until he should come and
apologize, and manifest penitence for his haughtiness.
' /. e., Ctesiphon and Seleucia. See B. O., i, pp. 354, 356;
and Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 352, note 1997. On p. 84, 1. i
(text), ;?a.^ takes the place of j&a^.
* This chapter is quoted in B* O,, iii. i, p. 150, col. iff.
3 Read mis^^ts.
1 84 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And moreover, that humble head [of the Church] was
not moved to wrath by any of these things, neither
did his exalted position overcome him, who while
standing as the head of the Church, and as a mighty
fountain from which holiness flowed down to all ranks,
nevertheless made use of that justice which alone is
fitting [before] God: on the contrary he meditated
wisely and he judged mercifully, in that he listened to
our Lord, Who said, "Whosoever among you wisheth
to be great, let him be last of all men, and a servant
of all men."* And he rose up lovingly and he went
to the city of Nisibis to reconcile to him George the
Metropolitan, who was angry and wrathful with him.
Now the entry of Mar Catholicus into the church of
Nisibis was arranged to take place when George and
all the city were gathered together in the temple at
the time of the Mysteries' on the first day of the
week. And when the Metropolitan who was in the
pulpit, saw the Catholicus coming in at the door, he
came down from the pulpit, and went out of the temple,
and departed to his cell. Now when he had done this
thing, the people of Nisibis were ashamed, and they
were exceedingly grieved and angry with their Metro-
politan, and they went up to him forthwith, and said
to him, ''How is it that thou art not ashamed to do
this thing? How can we esteem thee a shepherd and
a head whilst thou despisest all the toil, and trouble,
and humility which Mar Catholicus hath shewn thee?
Thou must know, however, that unless thou yieldest
thyself to be reconciled to him and art penitent for
thy two acts of folly, [p. 84], namely in treating
* St. Matthew xx. 26,27. ^ The Holy Communion.
'tn
BOOK II. CHAPTER XIII. REBUKE OF GEORGE OF NISIBIS. 1 85
him lightly in M4h6ze,' and also at this present in
our city, we will neither be thy people, nor shalt thou
stand at our head;" and being compelled he came
down, and they each expressed their contrition by bow-
ing to each other to the ground. And Mar Catholicus
Said, "Why hast thou raged and cut asunder the bonds
of fatherly subjugation? and why hast thou turned aside
the shoulder of humility from the yoke, and hast disturbed
the order which is incumbent upon the paternal throne.*^"
The Metropolitan said to him, "Our Master, Mar Isho*-
yahbh, of holy memory made" a testamentary deposi-
tion that I should be Patriarch after him, for I was a
very servant working before him, and I have trodden
all Persia on his missions." The Catholicus saith to him,
"It is true that thou hast travelled in obedience to him,
but I was reared upon his holy knees. He it was who
made me wise in holy doctrine, and he it was also
who made me Metropolitan of the country of his
fathers, and I have laid my hands upon his eyes, as
Joseph laid his hands upon those of his father Jacob. ^
If thou hast worked before him he hath rewarded thee
by making thee Metropolitan of the high place of the
world, Sobha;* this should be sufficient for thee and
it is twice as much as thou hast deserved. For what
merits which thou possessest could he have given thee
the patriarchate? Or was it, peradventure that when
thou didst find that we were humble, even as we are
commanded to be, thou didst wish to magnify thyself
against us, like the company of Kurah (Korah) and
' Ctesiphon and Seleucia.
' We should perhaps add the word ^^xl? here. Seep. 82. 1. 13.
3 Genesis xlvi. 29. -♦ /. ^., Nisibis.
aa
1 86 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Dathan against Moses?' Know, however, that whilst'
we have acted according to the command of our Lord
and of the fathers, thou by this pride which thy piety
has shown, hast proved thyself to be in opposition to
it. May God^ the Lord forgive us all, Amen." Thus
by his humility M4r George reconciled George the
Metropolitan, and he bound on the crown of victory,
and the happiness which is reserved for the humble
is reserved for him in heaven, [p. 85] All these
things, O beloved M4r ' Abhd-lsho', I have learned from
the ecclesiastical histories of the saintly Mir Athken,*
who was called "Plucker out of his beard," of the
Great Monastery [of Mount Izli].
CHAPTER XIV.5
OF ANOTHER GEORGE [METROPOLITAN] OF PERATH DHE
MAISHAN, WHO WAS ALSO ANGRY AND WISHED TO LIFT UP
THE HEEL AGAINST MAR CATHOLICUS.
That holy men should live in afflictions, and that
Satan would never let them have peace, but would, at
* Numbers xvi. 1—35. George means '*Nay, we think
rather that when thou didst find that we were humble thou
didst wish" etc,
' Strike out ?a. ^ Read ;cpi^2o.
^ See ako chaps. 16 and 29. Mar Athken was originally a
monk at Mount Izla, but he ended his days in the Monastery of Mar
Aphni-Maran. Besides the Ecclesiastical Histories here mentioned
he wrote "a Disputation [addressed to] a wise brother," several
letters, a Treatise on the monastic life, etc. See B. O., iii. i,
p. 217.
5 Parts of this chapter are quoted in B. 0., iii. i, pp. I45» ^SO-
BOOK II. CHAPTER XIV. OF GEORGE OF PERATH DHE M. 1 8/
every moment, be working all manner of grievous
troubles for them, and disquieting the meek, and stirring
up temptations for them, the adorable mouth of our
Vivifier foretold, saying, "In the world ye shall have
tribulation,'*' and again, "If they have persecuted me,
you also will they persecute."" What then? As soon
as George of Nisibis had been reconciled, and Satan
saw the profound humility which the Catholicus had
manifested in respect of him, and the long road of
trouble and afflictions which he had borne, he could
not endure to leave that blessed man without other
pain and anxiety even for a short time. Now when
the Catholicus went down to Medhinatha dhe Beth
Armaye, he heard and learned also concerning George
of Perath dhe Maishan,^ how he was bringing accu-
sations against him before the heathen, and also that
he was making ready to offer resistance to him. And
although this also made trouble for him, he went down
to make peace, and to make of none effect the crafts
of the Calumniator. Now when he arrived at [Perath
dhe Maishan], George left that place and departed to
* Akole. * And since that holy man [George] was armed
with humility against all Satanic assaults, [p. 86] he
went to take refuge with the spiritual man, Rabban
' St. John xvi. 33. " St. John xv. 20.
J See supra^ p. 181.
^ ABC have ^4ai>, and Vat has ^000, which Assem^nt
{B. 0.y iii, I, p. 150^ col. a) transcribes lljoja:^. Hoffmann
would read >2{aai. The town )^om., jyljJt is o^o^, ^yJ^
al-Kilfa, a city about thirty five miles south of Babylon, ten
east of Meshed 'Alt, and twenty-four from the Euphrates. See
YA^iit iii, pp. 322—326.
1 88 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Khodhahwai, the head of the Monastery of Beth Hale, '
a man who strove to live the life of Antony [the Great]
and of Macarius, a holy man in truth, and a praiseworthy.
And that holy man served the will of Mir Catholicus
with ready mind and with all the obedience with which
it was seemly to act before the head of the Church; and
thus through the instrumentality of Rabban Khodhahwai,
and through the humility of M&r Catholicus, that George
also was reconciled.
And after these things Mar Catholicus went down
to Beth Ketraye' that he might reconcile the in-
habitants thereof, for they had cut themselves off from
obedience^ to the episcopal throne of Rew-Ardashir,*
which is Persia; and he went to the island of Diren,^
and the people thereof were also reconciled. And he
went up from there, and came to this holy monastery,
and he brought with him cloths for the altar which
had been woven for him in the island of Diren, of
Beth Ketraye. And he entreated the wise and holy
' See supra, p. 102, note 7.
' The inhabitants of Katar S^ on the east coast of Arabia^
along the Persian Gulf, opposite BahrSn. See Hoflfmann, Aus-
^^g^f P* Ii4f- We should probably read ;a\h fis^a.
3 See the letters of Mar Jshd*-yahbh on pp. 154 — 174.
^ Read &^}&2 a.Ap RSw-Ardashir, or R6v-Ardesher, later
RSshahr. This town was situated on the river Tab, on the
frontier between PSrsistan, and KhAzistan, and is to be distin-
guished from Rlshahr, near Abushehr (Bushire) on the Persian
Gulf. The residence of the Archbishop of Persia was at Rew-
Ardashir. See Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser^ p. 19, note 4.
5 A place on the chief island of Balp-Sn in the Persian Gulf.
It is the cii^> of Yakilt, ii, p. 537. See also Noldeke, Ge-
schichte der Perser, p. 57, note 2.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XV. OF THE "BOOK OF PARADISE." 1 89
father ' Anan-Isho* that he would collect the chapters and
questions which were scattered about in a confused
manner and were sown mixedly through the various
sections of the [Book] of the histories, and narratives,
and triumphs, and the questions and answers of the
ascetic fathers, — now this book was called the "Con-
versations of the Elders"' — and that he would make
each question follow that to which it belonged in con-
secutive order.
CHAPTER XV.»
OF THE COMPILATION OF THE BOOK WHICH WAS CALLED
"PARADISE."
Now this Abba *Anan-Isho, (may his memory be
for all blessings),^ who was mentioned a little way back,
was a contemporary^ of both these Patriarchs who
were anointed with oil,^ and to both he showed his
obedience; [p. 87] to Mkr Isho'-yahbh in arranging the
Canons of the Hudhri,^ and to Mar George in ar-
ranging the Book of the Fathers, which work he under-
took to do.^ And having asked for the prayers of
M4r Catholicus, and of the holy old men of his con-
' See B. 0., iii. i, p. 49.
' This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 145.
3 See Wright, Sj^r. Lit, p. 843, note 19.
« Read $si\ 9^9^.
5 Literally "sons of oil." Assemani has M^ (col. 2, 1. 37).
^ /. e,y the service book for the whole year.
7 This refers to the words, "And he entreated the wise and
holy father," etc.
I go THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
gregation, he began and finished this command [with]
which he had been commanded. And with an enlightened
mind, and a wise understanding — especially as the Spirit
had manifested in him the efficacy of His gift, — he
arranged and fitted together in smooth order, six hundred
chapters, [divided] into fifteen Canons, each containing
forty sections.* Each chapter was [followed by a]
question having direct reference* to the contents of
the chapter which it followed, (so that if a brother was
labouring in any spiritual warfare whatsoever, and
wished to pluck consolation or to take counsel on the
matter which vexed him, he might find it ready close
at hand; and the counsels were placed in consecutive
order so that he might be very quickly consoled in
his affliction and relieved, and also that he might lay^
soothing plaster* on his suffering wound), and four
hundred and thirty other chapters, which treat generally
of all kinds of excellence, and many others to which
he did not affix numbers nor did he arrange them in
order. ^ And he took from the Commentary on the
blessed Matthew the Evangelist, the Discourse which
was composed by M4r John Chrysostom^ on the praises
^ Reading, with Hoffmann, ^*:^s;b ^j^AsaK^au^ u e,, 15x40.
Asseman} has ''Divisit autem universum opus in sexcenta et
qutndecim capitula, quatuordecim canonibus et distinctionibus
comprehensa.*' {B. 0., iii. i, p. 145, col. 2).
» Read ^»» "asking".
3 Read with Vat. ^i«a&?. ^ ^2^»^dXaTMa.
5 The book contained then six hundred chapters on specific
points, divided into fifteen books of forty sections each, four
hundred and thirty chapters on general matters, and a large
number of chapters on miscellaneous subjects.
^ Bom at Antioch, A. D. 347, died 407.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XV. OF THE "BOOK OF PARADISE." I9I
of the Egyptian ascetics,' and the Questions of the
blessed Mar Abraham' of Nephthar, and other examples
and narratives which he himself had collected from the
writings of the Fathers. And he arranged the whole
work in two volumes ; in the first part were the histories
of the holy Fathers composed by Palladius^ and Jerome/
^
* This Discourse or Encomium is extant in Syriac in Brit
Mus. MS. Add. 17,174 (Wright, Catalogue, p. 1075, col. 2).
The title reads «iis&o? loxo^p ;uAo^p 1^'^ ^ ^s^? ^»a^? ^aSou
' Abraham is always called i^^, or i&^t^ by the Nes-
torians (see B. 0,, iii. i, p. 191, note i), and Jiif&^ by the
Monophysites (see B, 0,, i, p. 463, note i; Wright, Catalogue,
p. 774, col. I). The Nestorians derive the word from the
district called M^, Ji> in the province of Kashkar {u^^ ;»ajfia
^*aoiizM9 ^ ^ ^?, Payne Smith, Thes,, col. 2430), but Hoff-
mann is inclined to refer it to NiqpOap, 2 Maccabees i. 36^ where
there was a place of sacred fire, although he thinks it quite possible
that NifTer was really the birthplace of Abraham, and that he
may have identified his town with Nephthar, through a mystic
fancy. According to 'Abhd-lsho' he wrote "various compo-
sitions,*' and a work on the monastic life. See B. 0., iii. i,
p. 191, and I, pp. 463, 464; Wright, Catalogue Syr. MSS,,
p. 1075*.
3 Palladius the great friend of Chrysostom was born about
A. D. 367. He embraced the ascetic life about 387, was made
Bishop of Hellenopolis after 391^ and took refuge in Rome from
the persecution in 405. He visited several places in Palestine,
and travelled in Egypt from Alexandria to Aswan in search
of material for his history of the Egyptian ascetics, and was
the friend of a large number of the most famous of them. The
Paradise or Laustac History of Palladius is thought to have
been composed between the years 414 and 420. See Tille-
mont, MemoireSy viii, pp. 272,359; Cotelerius, Monumental iii,
563; Asseman}, B, 0., iii. i, p. 49, note i.
^ He died A. D. 420. According to the Catalogue of
192 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and in the second part were the questions and the
narratives of the fathers which he himself had brought
together. And he called this book "Paradise",^ [p. 88]
and thus it is handed down and received in all the
monasteries of the East, and the fathers everywhere
praise his ability and applaud his work. And being
inflamed by love for him I have written down his
honourable memorial among the histories of the holy
men who were his fellow workers and associates.
THE SYRIAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS.
During the winter of 1888 the Vicar of the Chaldean
Patriarch was so kind as to show me some of the Syriac
Manuscripts in his possession, and among them was a thick
'AbhdJshd' {B. 0., iii. i, p. 49) Palladius and Jerome oafi^i
^%Am JUflis^ ^^^^p ^ai^ ^^ ffj^p ;^ilaa»o ^A*p^? ^(sa. See B. 0., I,
pp. 568,608.
' The "Paradise" of Palladius contained the lives of the
western ascetics, and the "Paradise" of Joseph Hiizaya con-
tained the lives of the eastern ascetics (B. 0., iii. i, p. 102,
col. 2); both are to be distinguished from the "Paradise of
Eden" by 'Abhd-lsh6', Metropolitan of Nisibis, (B. 0., iii. i,
P- 325), and the "Little Paradise" by David, Bishop of Kartaw.
See tn/ra Bk. II. chap. 24. For the account of the Syriac
version of the Paradise of Palladius and Saint Jerome, and the
Questions of Abraham of Nephthar, which is believed to be
the redaction made by *Anan-Ish6* see pp. 192—206. A portion
of this same version appears to be preserved in Brit. Mus.
Add. 17,263 (Wright, Catalogue, p. 1079, No. DCCCCXXXI);
but Add. 17,264 (Wright, Catalogue, p. 1078, No. DCCCCXXX)
is probably the work of Gabriel of l^atar. See Wright, Syr.
Lit,i p. 843, note 19.
THE SYRIAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS. 1 93
volume containing the Lives of Holy Men by Palladius; now
the Syriac copies of the work of Palladius differ as much from
one another as the Greek, * and as the copy which I was then
examining was old and complete, and was, moreover, different
from any version of the work of Palladius then known to me,
I asked to be allowed to have a copy of it made by a trust-
worthy scribe; the permission was most kindly given and the
copy was made. Subsequent investigations and enquiries made
in and around Mdsul proved that this version was believed to
be the redaction of the great work of Palladius made by *Anan-
Isho' at the request of George the Patriarch. In the first
volume of his Bibliotheca Orientalis, (p. 608) Assemani des-
cribes a somewhat similar copy, but as frequent reference to
this redaction, although not actually mentioned by name, is
made by Thomas of Marg& in his Monastic History, and as
some important extracts from it are made in this edition the
following complete description of the copy made at M6sul may
be useful to students and others.
This manuscript consists of 353 paper leaves measuring 13V,
in. by 9. Each page is occupied by one column of writing,
generally containing 28 lines. The quires are thirty-six in
number, and are signed with letters. The volume is written
in a fine, bold Nestorian hand with numerous vowel points.
The colophon fol. 352^ runs: ^ajuaii ;f'ei?;p ^^o ^^iSii^ ^qr ttAx
:;&a»^ '■ft>\oASoy> ^oOftJi j^^aX^ v»^ ^&yio^ ^>Kf^4>^ P^f^S? ;,»>'>...
^Isoac ;4^'^o .(TTpatTT6mT0^ ToO KOlTOIVOg) ;^;7ASa^ ;ibd^ fi^o^ ^ii^a>
"Here end the histories and triumphs of the holy fathers
[and] solitaries which were composed by the holy and excellent
Mar Palladius, Bishop of Hellenopolis, which he wrote for
I For a description of the contents of Syriac MSS. of the Lives of the
Solitary Brethren by Palladius in the British Museum see Wright, Catalogue^
pp. 1070 — 1078; the "Illustrations of the Book of the Paradise" (op. cit.
p. 1078 ff.) by "a native of Katar" is a different work. See Wright, Syriac
Literature (in the Encyclopaedia Britannica^ 9th edit., p. 843, note 19.).
> Read m;V^*y"r^ The original name of this town was Ap€irdvii,
but was changed to *EXXiiv6itoXi( because Helena, the mother of Constantine,
was bom there.
bb
194 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Ldsa (Lausus) the chamberlain [of the Emperor Theodosius];
to God be glory and honour and praise and worship and
exaltation, for ever and ever; Yea and Amen."
The book was finished on the sixth day of the latter Teshrin,
in the year of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ 1890, in the
blessed village of Alk6sh, the village of Nahum the Prophet
which is laid and built by the side of the Monastery of Rabban
H6rmizd the Persian, in the days of the Catholicus and Patriarch
of Babylon of the East, Mar Eliya XIII, and was written by
*]s4 bar-Eshaya, the son of the deacon Cyriacus from the vil-
lage of Ekr6r.
^o ^«ft9Mi2 i*&x6s ^b*aa ^!m&*9 ;t»*&ib9 ^07 ^csa >9$^o \*Aai J^ijjKl
^ia^kML^ |»aoA ^M*»o i^odu .iaop ai^oaeS ^tJJKCKo ^ ^(so 3Sl tsaxp ^op
fi&p ihieo^ aS\ i^p ^090 ^OiJbp ^.su pomx^ o/fi^aJB iatojdi!^2 jbA^a^o
&\flO ,fiAA smkt^ .^(Ko^'&p ^bo .^^2? ^2 ^a»a ^i^ aCsafiU ^^2o
;ft&*&^ ;fi«.^oN« iJ^JbAibfs iSl «*&M .JSA^Om a^MOMo .3»Jb ai&2o .;i;,(s
Mal9 ;iL^ JKo^^ ,]lA^ JoJb^ oMb&OA pMi ^ ^mS^ .^wi^^p Amy
juaoMo aa 1^] ha jft^ ^ladodoo U^^ :ti*mio ^>jb afisAM «^2o ^U
^op«uap ;*^f ^ol^ cAaa l^i^Slbp lh6s^^ &o^) jbt^ ^? Jboiu&ojb
i^^i Am ^M^ifeop ;bu9 ^^ ^iM^a iaap ^d}^a^^ The title runs : — "By
the might of our Lord Jesus Christ we begin to write the Book
of the Histories and Triumphs of the holy fathers [who were]
solitary monks of the desert, and who hated this world and all
that therein is, which was composed by the holy and excellent
M&r Pulladius, Bishop of Hellenopolis, and which he wrote for
the chamberlain Lausus." a^aao^ ^&^ ;.i,inn\iO¥. ^p oii^. «1^
« fpl*^ flloi^tt ^'^A^ ojft^ MSkd^iB I^^Im* #3*^ jfivopfr k^o hSxfs^ ^fi^
mi(k»f KiiiUfim MtSf^uSmp 3«AAi2 ^au^iIa «*Sao ^Sfisiioo ^>>nS ^^a^?
4»JV*^^ ^^ '^^ ^'^^ ^o^)^ contains:—
I. I'(»l. I d» The history of the life of Antony by Athana-
fiitii, Atrhliishop of Alexandria. aofr^Aitt Aao^ o^Spa>a ^ ;^
4ki*l^**ft^l^ U%iimil Jil ^Afftik) «*ikM^ ^co^ 01^
THE SYRIAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS. 1 95
IL Part I. Foil. 41^— 109^. 'Histories of the solitary
brethren of the desert from the Paradise of Palladius. ao(s
a The letter of Palladius to Lausus the chamberlain who
asked him to write an account of the lives of the solitary monks
of the desert, ^e^ erao^p .jU*?^ j»^oA\\atp ^Aooj^i 0^*^^? j^i^i
^ ^07 e^ afrkdO UyZm* j(sop3? &aop ^ e^ aotsaap e^^p ZV-ftJ^ ^c^
3ft ^aix Ayi^Bdla^ ^o^ ;^oni^l ab^aXA
;&*I9 Ml .^(K0» ^ep ^Ap ^^p frj9 ^090 .Jt^fiU^ &frO ^n^l y;7\p) SAp
.\^ jr \e ;Sp «*o7opaJi9 &*\ o«7 a«* ^3^^^^ &»\^yM jk^p ^Mcp ;^p
•ei^ rf.>ap ^AmI fi^O .»oroN*2 «76J1 ^ oc^p A\p» .t^ A^p je^l ji^i^Oi*
jfKa*fK»Vs^ 6t^ ^ia S^^ y»\i» ^e^ ^ >«>A>4? ^6aj^o '(^ j<Ko\7»ip
^ ;U)sii^(S ^ ^^o .^^ ^ ^iidX* ^^ ^&o\ ^ t*^ -t^ ^ (sAjjto
,«\j .jaiKM^p ^0^ ^^ ^SfiOp ^^ ^Or J2 ^070 .^OpLM i!^^p jftiiCK
.^H\y Mpud MHO ^A»p ^c{^ jtso&fiyaoa Jl lAaua ^A^i»p ^oobm 9m\
^MsSp 4<>^oM&p jMp>No^o ^2 qu^4p MAf ■^■wytVr^ jt^^a^k ilia .^o)^ ^*fl^
fiM^A^ ^&»op ^ .^bbia o|9 aA eiap ^or .^iSba^p ^ ^eia ^ajBo f*p
ofi&Si ^^*Mx oor ;jJ\m ^p <*di9 .^Mi\4 &;^p ^07 ^^ ^eMS*2 .e^^ JaMop
.;d^oiJi^ di;»<SU ;v\o7 CKobasttoo ;ts5Mo J^li^^dfi) ;^ aA^ o^ .op&»o
^o j^os ^ A^v> All /e^p ««/^r .^ ;s2 &a6i .;fi<^o&fis*»p 3aopo ^iSitp ^ofK
«*o7 .iScAa ^pkfl ^^akd ^o JCKosfSfOtV^S ^o .jft^Asfi>«!ioMp ^ -Mot
o^iiKU ^07 o^ &*\ A^l .^^k^oM ^oftp 3aoo\ ^ AtSiS .^Le^2 ^OmP ^uV?
^2 ^aabo ^2 MMip «*iM o^^Lp i*0jo9N«a^^^ ^& ^sft^ ^007 &iB2 ^ .6^07
ao j!S2 .«*o7aMAs^ ^07 «ftAV^ /(ft^P ^o*^ Ntftamt 9A &A^ a^ .>i*i\i
^ %iy>s\\ ^ ^2 .^«r udu^^M mA *)^ pA .oTMo&aa ^^as ^o^ ^07 ^amM
jSo ^1^2 .fr^aMA ^oej »*ftaia.» «sS^p o2 .^p^i )^p ^ oej N*^UA*ops ^^(Sp
«^ ;(KoA» ;^op&Mp aJ^ M ^^&a UtiAtaa ^ote ^ .asbtM^ ^^ ^p^
196 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
^^ .^iAm ^Aore &aii^(Mo \»Aa! \*mtsl tM^A "P^? o^? -^^eIs ^o^
See fol. 41 ^. ^^Mttop orjssxk &^a jp& ^^ ts^^uMip «*o7 ^2 &J^ ^
6 The scope of the Book. ,fics»io 3ao? cp ^ux& ^ao ^100
■j<Stt^>fcMii? ja*iS ^oyA& oSntt? ^^r .^o^e ^^ j^cpip ^oy*»(s ^Smo^o
.^&M^ ^uaott ^07 3fii0fSp ^^ ^A*2 .^asitts 00070 jtt^ ^ GflU^lO
^or '^ii .^op ^AMAO ^oi\ft '^9^? T^cio i*ioa^ UsoeSaai^^ ^07 |w&o^o
.;U*o^2 JU^Om&o jUomA^p ^ .w^&iax ;5^*» 33^?? ^o\A ^^aaj\ jMl&^ap
^ ^2 ./iym ^oaMab* Ao ^(^oauaJB» A>SrfcSo .^»op:3a ^aS^p ^^ t*-^?
«*^ «*o7efi^ of(s*^&<sap oor .«A oa^AJ o|uop jaa\» ^"^eufta «»ojoi« .\\v>
7ii -***^ pmh oy^TKiimto .joy^A «^^«1? op^o .jk*x ^b^IS M^o|^*3ao ^\fVyft>
^&9ao .wa^ts2 X jjti!^ ^ ^*oi^ i\\,wp «*dr .^<^omo «*oro6v*2 ^kCual^'.^epo
.2 A^*^9k*(Kft .7*oy^2 ^&p )2b*M ^ ^^'^^ S^ •a±lii^2 ^ooy^p ^tSA ^jBfiotStl^ oof
.&«ji2 )a*cu ^a^ .^^A^p ^07P ^o;^ ^o^p oor i^V^ .ajo^ 3^ «A»p«
pAp ^«r .^0% ^eva2 ^o«jo ^^ ^«&Mp ^(slto 39o?s> ^^o 3>^? ^
^ofp ^op^p .00^ 3^? ^ouIm ^aattio Aiift^ ^mSo^i -^oy^A ^»a>lk
9^1 «^p ao .^ &pA2o ^ok&r liSiiSaa ^o^^KOAfp N*ay .;o)^2 fiA^pp A^A^
?iiOoi&Sp. o« ^ »oro<K*2 .«Mftp2 ^cso«oaA9 aA\s^ .ercsStKftaoS ^ob ^oiub
^& Mci ^p oor .Jbo*lbo^ /Viyi «m*^ N&2 .dMae ^07 ^2p jk»o&o ^*oi&2
i!^ ^Aap Ji*aor |i2 ^^m^^ma!^ naomS ;po7 ^oa^^ ^x«ib^^2 ^oSi^ .^<«62
>;»^ ^9i92p ;iois^^^o .Mai\ j&^ ^2 JMmO& aots M^^Ao .^l ^&
.>A*p A ^**^^ &ai>p ^a^oJp .orCKoab ^ ft^S^p .fi^^s2 A ^«jmoS /aaoa^o
tafiUiO J^p M^p .^07 ^Si^olb «^ ««aaE2p jw^ ^^^ fi^07 ^^^ .o\9bao
.(k*M9JB ^2 ^iM^Aoo ao ^ >9&a .j!*aMO& Aaoft «^o .&a!^ ^p jb^a^ -^^
;i&ft^A«a J2 aoJK ;ft2 &|mO .MAa*&i2 ;»oj ^&^oA^p e^p o7^o&fis*aop ^o>^iJL* ^
^is ^uutop JbOA*Mojb ^ J20 ^ ^2 ^p 9A .^>>.^i ^or ^l&aop ^Ajp
oj^Mi^ ^2 t^>2^ W^2p ^ftso\»^lS ^ fiJi»9JB .^p«p ^ ;(SO&&^MS»0 )^p
^ .fUym ^o)92p ^op^ |fi^^ .^2 MauJKto ^oft»ojf ejfikflhso .^a^oftp
o^ofp \7S<kA JUlI^Atsp ^20 .^ej;*aiofrA(Sp ;&p fi^^si^ <\^iaS ^A^^2 jl^9p
'^^ .^2 ^^aw 3frMj» ^^&SM&9 oaai\Aao o«*^p jLoi&2o ^&o1b 3a!^ H^*-
^^2 fhsto^p ;(Koi*xa^p .^i^i JM&lb^ ^^? InJaol^ jSip J2o ^ ^07?
^AiA •^•mM^ KkoKad i^h ^2 ^01^2 ^o^"^? ^«A*? ^ojuo^ aa .«*V>P'^
THE SYRfAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS. 1 97
4^i^ *i>if7nS ^mUd? y^o&^A(K2 ^ ^e^ 6^^.^^? A^^ A?>>^ OMabM^ ^
3ii^o 3^>MSM ^ottio jUk^Ao «^i»Ao7 ltsh:S^fia ^(si^ ^Ja« ^ooi;4I «^
i^MS \\in (Sa9ACs2 JbA^or^ JU^siaaa ^j^TmA ^Kvyon JSoj^ jWyftio ^^^Ip
^ ^Afc?S OSSfi^ ^iAi* (S*der 32? ySi*A J6^oN*<Sm t^i^Aoj ^y^Aa .jo|^2 fiJi«*pp
^iiA ^ i1ji!^p ;Su «^o .;b1bo& ;Si23 ju^ «^ .JK.S40X ^9i« ;^cp2 ^p
^07 jfSAAl^Mp jlp^ .M^2 «*Mu.'&9 ^o 3a^ tM*^ el .1m«&2 >VftS (S»«&'
;^aa2 ^ tsioa& sa .^o^ ^2p erpa^ ^&»&x ^o.»& •joi^A <s^pe j{»i»i«ito
3^?? •^M«aaop >«/^A\>S<K2 ^ 9mi fliiS^p ^q\A ^o9»^ (koer Zo^p
fL^ .^1bo& aa^ Z;l\g» ^ (s*sAob2 pA .jb^ostt^^ Zoacp ^afluio ^ .jbaittpo
J2 .^oopM j^i$^ t!S^ fi«^o2 ao .&a^« a\o >\i\» .^0iuo p«* ^m^ ooorp
^•lu .;aia^e jfSiyS J2 ^ ^po^AU ^or&Mo^p jb^op^ J2o .JtMUAVO ^fti^
;*&0(saop ^p ^2 quft^ «^p ^oaob «Sv^o -o&M^ 3aopp ?ft>fti?rtS ts^^p
.^^fi^Mp ^& )!iM^e .oaAmJKM Att*ao ;*Aw^ ^otoo^ .JUaii^ib jb^oaacts
/ip^ 9*0 ;kft^ iA^& ^ '^o{^ ^^? 7^0 pp Ziw^iSo ,^»mo^ ^latp 3\Ai9p
Z^ft\fc\mo .^aJp ^ o7^oaA^ >opo^ Z&opoxo .^0M& <k^ ^ 3o^«
See fpl. 42a
^ Counsels to Lausus ortso^p 3\m See fol. 436
1 The beginning of the Histories. Of Abba
Isidore. ^soaAU ^p «ju*i«fi9 ^o^ ^o* See fol. 47^
2 Of Dorotheos of Thebes. Jb*^^ ^p Jbb/^^ep See fol. 48a
3 Of a certain young virgin. AwAv Z?^ j^otsa See fol 50a
4 Of Didymus jbd^^ JS^ aofi^ See fol. $06
5 Of Alexandra of Alexandria. j^^iaa^2 ;bA^
;&pdjbAS2 See fol. 51^
6 Of Abba Macarius and the virgin, j^^aom
^ i^otsa \^o See fol. 52a
7 Of the Monks of Mount Netira (Nitria). li^p
Z&fV?p ;a^ See fol. 53a
8 Of Abba Ammon. ^2 ;a2 «l^p See fol. 540:
9 Of the blessed 6r. &62 ;iae\ li^p See fol. 55^
10 Of the blessed Pambo. 6suh Zuo^ «l^p See fol. 55^
K
1 98 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
11 Of the blessed Ammonius, the disciple of
Pambo jto*io»i ;i9o\ ^p See fol. 56^
12 Of Benjamin of Mount Net ira (Nitria) ^imuas See fol. 57^
13 Of ApoUonius the Merchant, ub^sdi^i See fol. 58^
14 Of the brethren Paesius and Isaiah. ;>V>^ iZi
;*ia3o jBufi>3 See fol. $8^
1 5 Of Macarius the child of the Cross. j^»ha»
oviS^ ;A\ See fol. 59^
J3U9J0 ^ 9A .A^ ^070 ,^nS^p ^(saMaa «««ro^
.0^ h^ys op ^erSoAd |>^ ^ aaS .^Aat&p ^oi
9bi» ^<s&a«i& ^007 h»^p ^? 007 .otmoS ^9^x2 A^
9bao >9^ ^fi^A^^p &A^ ^007 aalb .oaS otS
900 ^ ^2e ^A^ IM .007 CSMib? ^«»
.«7^A^ s*f709Ca a^p ^ftMa«a )^ .^&2 «!^ mximV^
^lAOMMJbo jbu^^ (KQMakS ot^sm ^aJU ^070
16 Of the blessed Nathaniel. »2k4lA^a See fol. 60^
17 Of Macarius the Egyptian, the disciple of
Mar Antony. ^2 «*atfp 07a^*M^^ ^i^^ j^^ui
ubu&oV^ ^^^ ^^^* ^'^
18 Of Macarius of Alexandria, jo^^ojo u^^ub^i See fol. 640;
19 Of Paul, the disciple of Abb& Antony.
j&o«ioV2 ^^ ;»«a^^ i^ok See fol. 6S6
20 Of Pachomius of Scete. See fol. 71^1
21 Of Stephen, the African, ^ofots^ »i UV^2
^^^l «*^o .^flUAM^AM au\ ^p l3cS y» 0701^ h^
^iJta Umi ;eo7 aKh See fol. 720:
22 Of Valens, the Palestinian. ;n.\>ftA4 jb^o See fol. 73a
23 Of Aaron, the Alexandrian. See fol. 74a
24 Of Ptolemy, the Egyptian, of Scete. Jboko!^
ia.>v*fim;ap 097 Ib&^ See fol. 750
25 Of Abraham the Egyptian. ;Av3\2 ^07^92 »lii See fol. 75^
26 Of a virgin of Jerusalem. See fol. 75 ^
THE SYRIAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS. 1 99
27 Of a virgin of Caesaraea. See fol. 75 b
28 Of a virgin who fell, and repented. See fol. y6a
29 Of another virgin who fell and repented. See fol. ^6 b
30 Of the blessed woman Tehesiya. ^0>^ See fol. yyb
31 Of Elijah, who built a convent for nuns
near Thebes. See fol. 79 a
32 Of Dorotheus, who succeeded Elijah in the
care of this convent See fol. 80 a
33 Of Pachomius the Great, and of the monks
and nuns at Thebes. See fol. 80^
34 Of the virgin at Alexandria who hid Atha-
nasius. See fol. 83 a
;!^9 joa^o .0)^ ^iiaK^o 0007 ^>V^^\fiv> ft»»Vyp>%f%\ ^fii
^IslmMo ^x«x& ^oj^ ^9 fi^^ \^m ^(SM
^i ^ fi^p .;ior ;A\i ;oy^2 «A A\ • • • • JBuAuM
or^o9^ ^ .Ma^A^ ^ i^x .;^d6<N or^A^p ;&a«J
^A^isp ot^ ^9 061 ^r»>»S ojfijdc^^o •tVAMp ot^
35 Of the virgin ^ffl. See fol. 84^
36 Of the blessed woman ;^A>vwi of Antinoe
37 Of the virgin ^Syttyy. See fol. 84^
38 Of the virgin jbo^^^. See fol. 85a
39 Of a virgin and of j&ni>\\fti\y who for her
sake fought with beasts. See fol. 85^
40 Of the holy Melania, j^a^, the elder. See fol. S6b
41 Of the blessed Melania the younger. See fol. 89a
42 Of Olympias ;»ti»d^i. See fol. 90^
43 Of Candida :^?ao. See fol. 92 «
200 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
44 Of Gelasia ;.*ib\>^. See fol. 92 b
45 Of Juliana ^lu^^* See fol. 92^
46 Of ^b&or and his wife. See fol. 92^
47 Of the blessed woman ^i^. See fol. 93^
48 Of a monk of Ancyra. See fol. 93 b
49 Of John of Lycus in the Thebaid 6oiS
jfi^^p jU*a^* See fol. 94^
0 Of Poseidon ^ajbbJ. See fol. g6b
1 Of ;^oj ^9A>6ti&A See fol. 97 b
2 Of James the lame, an acquaintance of
Antony. See fol. 98 a
3 Of Diodes, Jdolsola, the grammarian and
philosopher. See fol. 100 a
4 Of Cophiton, ^V^» ^^^ ^'^ed four miles
from Antinoe. See fol. 100^
5 Of a monk who fell. See fol. 100^
6 Of Ephraim, a deacon of the Church of
Edessa. See fol. loia
7 Of Innocent? Jb6»^6x^ (sic) See fol. loi^
8 Of Elpidius jboa^^^ who lived in the caves
of Jericho. See fol. 102^
59 OfEustathius j^t^A^^} brother of Elpidius. See fol. 103 a:
60 Of Sisinnes, jbduA^, disciple of Elpidius. See fol. 103^
61 Of Gaddaeus the Palestinian ?.*i.\ft>Vfc ^^. See fol. 103^
62 Of Elijah. See fol. 103^
63 Of ^bali ^ \ato from Jericho. See fol. 1040;
64 Of Serapion dhe Sedona ^bpjb^ ^fiUft. See fol. 104 a
65 The triumph of Eulogius. See fol. 107^
THE SYRIAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS. 20I
n. Part. II. Foil. 109^-^197^. Histories of the solitary
brethren, composed by Palladius. ;<K^92p ^Ibts^ ^frAV^ aeCK
1 The triumph of the blessed Mark the
anchorite. See fol. 109a
2 The history of Mar Paul the chief of the
anchorites of the desert. See fol. 109^
3 The triumph of a youth of Alexandria. See fol. 113*
4 The triumph of the disciple of an old man
at Scete. See fol. 116^
5 *The triumph of the disciple of another
old man. See fol. 118^
6 The triumph of the disciple of an old man
of the desert. See fol. 118^
7 The triumph of Peter, the disciple of one
of the old men. See fol. 119^
8 The triumph of a disciple of one of the
old men See fol. 119^
9 Of Aurelius jaJ^&oi of Tarsus. jboJb6\ See fol. 120 a
10 Of Abba Moses, thejudian, the servant of
Ptolemy. See fol. 120^
11 Of Abba Peor &df3 the Egyptian. See fol. 122a
12 Of Abba Moses the Libyan. See fol. 122^
13 Of a certain wanderer, ^lo;^. See fol. 123 a
14 The History of the blessed Evagrius of
Pontus, whose father was a A^ba^, and
who was appointed 'reader* by Basil, Bishop
of Caesaraea. Evagrius went to the synod
at Constantinople with Gregory Nazianzenus. See fol. 1 24 d
1*070^ ^AUB>? .J&«V\^oa ftTlo^ oaf ^ ^ ^01 ^6000
1 5 The history of Mark the monk, from ^iim
near Antioch. See fol. 126^
< Numbered o in the MS.
ec
202 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
1 6 Of Abba Bessarion ^A.ft^ii See fol. 131^
17 Of the miracles which Abbi Bessarion
wrought. See fol. 132*
18 The history of one of the holy men. See fol. 133^
19 Of Abba Mark the disciple of Abba Syl-
vanus. See fol. 135^
20 Of Abba Paul, the disciple of Mar Antony. See fol. 1350;
21 The 'AaKiiTiK6v of Pachomius. See fol. 136^
JM^aUK ;cttJfiO0p ^>fi>\,»p>l .^o^ftV'^ ;«.'du9 p6^
22 Of Sylvanus the actor ^Mfio. See fol. 138 a
23 Of the funeral of a sinner. See fol. 139^
24 Of the funeral of a holy man. See fol. 140^
25 Of the things which he heard spoken in the
air by devils as he was going to his mon*
astery in the desert. See fol. 141a
26 Of the things which he wrought when he
arrived at his monastery. See fol. 141 6
27 Of the revelation which he received from
God concerning heretics. See fol. 142^
28 Of the revelation which he received con-
cerning the ordering tft>iftiiX,ft>^i^ of the
brethren. See fol. 143 a
28 Of another revelation. See fol. 144a
29 Of the words of doctrine which he spake
when the brethren were assembled. See fol. 144^
30 How, even in the time of famine, he would
not take corn for nothing. See fol. 146a
31 How he refused to take the full value for
work of the brethren when sold. See fol. 147^^
32 Of a certain monk who lived in the mon-
. astery. See fol. 147^
33 Of the phantasm iiai^ which Pachomius
and Theodore saw when they were journ-
eying in the desert. See fol. 149^
34 Of the gift of tongues which Pachomius
received. See fol. 151^
THE SYRIAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS. 203
35 Of Yawnan, a gardener in one of the mon-
asteries. See fol. 152a
36 Of how he would not have beautiful build-
ings. See fol. 153^
37 Of how he would not allow the heretics
who once came to him to experience the
working of miracles at his hands as they
desired.. See fol. 154a:
38 The question of a monk, and the answer
of Pachomius. See fol. 154^
39 Of how he despised the man who laboured
for vain glory. See fol. 155 a
40 Of a certain holy monk of the monastery See fol. 155^
41 Of Palladius the writer See fol. 156^
III. Foil. 157^: — igya. The histories of the solitary brethren
of the Egyptian desert written by Hieronymus. jbdM&&i2.
1 The author's apology. See fol. 157 a;
2 The triumphs of Mar John, the prophet of
Lycus in the ThebaM. See fol. i $ga
3 The triumphs of the holy Abba Or. See fol. 167^
4 The triumphs of Abba Ammon. See fol. i6ga
5 The triumphs of Abba Abban. See fol. 169^
6 The history of the lives of the brethren
in Jboa&loftai Oxyrhynchus (.>) See fol. 169^
7 The triumphs of Abba Theon. See fol. 170a
8 The triumphs of Abba Elijah. See fol. 170*
9 The triumph of the blessed Apollo. See fol. 171a;
10 The triumphs of Abba Apelles ^}. See fol. 179*
1 1 The triumphs of another Apollo and John
of the desert. See fol. iSia
12 The triumphs of Abba Paphnutius. See fol. 182^
13 The triumphs of Eulogius. See fol. 185 a;
14 The triumphs of Isidore. See fol. 185^
15 The triumphs of Abb&jfe^otf and Jtof^oMJikSk^. See fol. \S6a
^04 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
1 6 The triumphs of Isaiah^ and Paul, and Noph
A
the confessors with Abba Or. See fol. 191a
17 The triumphs of Evagrius. See fol. 191 b
18 The triumphs of Abba ^&oV* See fol. 192^
19 The triumphs of the blessed fathers who
worked miracles. See fol. 192^
20 The general triumph of the brethren in the
Nitrian desert j&oai*v* ^^^ ^^' ^93^
21 The triumphs of Ammon of Nitria. See fol. 194 a;
22 The triumphs of another Ammon. See fol. 194^
23 The triumphs of Didymus, of j^^^ajs, and
of three brethren. See fol. 195 a
24 The triumphs of Philemon, of John, and
of Serapion. See fol. 195^
25 The triumphs of Apollo the Martyr. See fol. \<^a
IV. • Foil. 197^ — 350^. The Counsels of the holy old men,
and the questions and answers of the brethren. 1^^ ;a^
«;l2 fi^p ;Sa\fi^ yjodo ^loato ^SLa^
1 Questions 1—62. On fleeing from men, on the solitary
life, and on dwelling in the cell continually, compiled by
Palladius. See foil. 197^ — 205 a. ^m ;Sbusa ^p ^aoaii \^
«;tfadftkS2 .ftivVnN aA^ftftop jbAttsp /fi^oj^^so. This section con-
tains questions, etc., by Arsenius, Ammon, Sisoes ^a^jjia^^
Sarmata X^^, Antony, Theodore, Betimion ^»^>\a,
Joseph, Nestor, Poemen, j&oa], Bishop of Oxyrhynchus,
Macarius, Alonius, Pambo, Abba John, Abba Agathon,
AbbsL Moses, and many others whose names are not
mentioned.
2 Questions 63 — 103. On fasting and abstinence. See
foil. 205 a — 209^. «;sa^ )2hibi? ^&M ;fiN«Mio ;bo^ lii^ ao(K
Sa3nngs, etc., of Paphnutius, Macarius, Isaac, John, Sisoes,
Abraham, Agathon, Theodotus, Paphnutius, Serenus,
Poemen, Sylvanus, Daniel, Benjamin, and others whose
names are not mentioned.
3 Questions 104 — 134. On reading the Scriptures, night
vigils, the singing of the Psalms and continual prayer.
-"«»1
THE SYRIAC VERSION OF THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS. 2O5
See foil. 209^ — 213^. ^CsAAad ;Sopto S^sa? h'Oja ^ aoN
«j{)juao2 ^csA^^o ;Soio»»? j^^ax^o Sayings, etc., by Arsenius,
Pachomius, Joseph, Sisoes, Isaiah, Poemen, Epiphanius,
Antony, John, Daniel.
4 Questions 135 — 156. On weeping for our sins. See
foil. 213^ — 215^. t^o^V* "^ ^^^? A "^7* ^»^*^ ^ ^ •=>o(K
w^jE^ ^^fiap Sayings, etc., by Ammon, Poemen, Sisoes,
j^2d\,ab, Paul, Theodore, Macarius, Arsenius, Noah, and
others.
5 Questions 157 — 181. On self-denial. See foil. 215^ — 218^.
«;xAjb&i^ .^ aoN Sayings, etc., by Arsenius, Philagrius,
j&6i\\\>n, Serapion, Theodore, Isaac, Agathon, Poemen
and others.
6 Questions 185 — 235. On patience. See foil. 218^ — 226^.
«;fi<oi&3«ftkM v^ Sayings etc.^ by Agathon, Macarius, John,
Paul, Antony, Theodore, Chaeremon, ^;Sa, Arsenius,
Poemen, Isidore, Moses, Paesius the brother of Poemen,
and others.
7 Questions 236—245. On submission to God, and to our
parents and brethren. See foil. 226^7 — 228^. ;^.aoM^aQ9 A^
«,JUo f^Spfi (se^o ;o62 (Ko^? Sayings, etc., by John, Joseph,
Sylvanus, Daniel, Pambo, and others.
8 Questions 246 — 386. On exceeding watchfulness in our
thoughts, words, and deeds. See foil. 228^ — 247^. »iAi
«^^9Si>o ^A»o ^>nvo.i"ia ;MK*^M ;(so9uorf Sayings, etc., by
Arsenius, Ammon, H6r, Paphnutius, Sisoes, Joseph, Poemen,
Theodore, Paesius, Antony, Lot, Isaac, jb^fduA^oi, Daniel,
John, 6r, Eulogius, Pambo, Macarius, Likta, Paul, Epi-
phanius, Eugenia^ Agathon, Hyparchus, Pachomius, Alo-
nius, and others.
9 Questions 387 — ^435. On love, and charity and the re-
ceiving of strangers. See foil. 247^ — 255 ^, ^o»» li^^
« U^&Ai^ ^ojbo ;tsoiio»Sioo Sayings, etc., by Lot, Joseph,
Philip, Ammon, Macarius, Antony, Theodore, Poemen,
Sisoes, Akhfla, Zeno, and others.
10 Questions 436—547. On humility. See foil. 256^? — 269^.
206 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
«ep{^ Sayings, etc., chiefly by the above mentioned
writers.
11 Questions 548— 585. On fornication. See foil. 269a — 2750'.
«;^o«&f lii^ Sayings, etc., by Isidore, Daniel, Isaac, Poemen,
John, Zeno, Theodore, and other writers.
12 Questions 587—722 (fol. 2950;); 101—400. See foil.
27 5 « — 333^- Of the acceptance of repentance, li^^
^^dko aofiap ^ jbpf ;sa»2po ^osuN i^ajoCsio^ Sayings, etc.,
chiefly by the above mentioned writers. Some leaves
appear to have been wanting at fol. 295 ^? in the manu-
script from which this copy was made.
13 Homilies against the idle and sluggish. See fol. 333^.
^^opLlsp ^^ A? >^^No juaLiio l^'6^ ^ii5>>Ap jZm&mN
14 Homilies against those who love vain-glory. See fol. 333^.
1 5 Questions and answers of the holy fathers for teacher and
pupil. See fol. 334^. ^ui^o ;bo^p ^s^^ «*aojo i^is*
16 Admonition concerning the questions and answers, etc. See
fol. 339 a. «;k*&bp ;^»» J^p «;»\fi^ ^ojo )Saoa(«l^p;fi^oft*fioM
17 Sayings of the fathers which I have found in other books.
See fol. 341^. «;s'&^ 3fi09 ^2 fiwasSp /^Abap ^oi^p ^a&ar
(Numbered from ; — 4^).
18 Questions and answers of the fathers. See fol. 345^.
19 Of humility and how a man should hold himself to be of
none account before all men. See fol. 346^.
20 Admonition of the holy fathers. See fol. 348^.
21 A second admonition. See fol. 349^.
22 Admonition of Abba Mar John Chrysostom. See fol. 350^.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XVI. DEATH OF MAR GEORGE. 207
CHAPTER XVL«
OF THE DEATH OF THE HOLY MAR GEORGE THE
CATHOLICUS.
According to what I have learned from the his-
tories of the Church, all of which I have written down
in this book, — now some are taken from written do-
cuments, and some from oral tradition, — and according
to what I have also found written in the Ecclesiastical
History' of the excellent Mar Athken concerning Mar
George the Catholicus, the king who reigned in his
time was named Hasan bar-*Ali ip .j y^j^, and
that writer saith, "Hasan began to reign in the same
year^ in which George was appointed [Catholicus];
* This chapter is quoted in B. O., iii. i, p. 151, coll. i. 2.
* The text here appears to be corrupt, but I give what I
believe Thomas meant to say. Hoffmann would emend the
first four lines of the chapter thus: J^&9> ?>^^^ ^ ^4^ ^^
a^t^b^ ^ »^o. ^ ^ ^.ff!^ w"Sfa ^ ^ y^ofiio l^^a ^^^ ^^fi^
.;aAoNi9 jKu\&0{\ Assemani reads "Sicut didici ex Ecclesiasticis
historiis circa ea omnia, quae hie scribuntur, et alia quidem ex
codicibus, alia vero ex traditione, et historia Ecclesiastica excel-
lentis Mar Atken, hoc praeterea in historia de eodem Mar
Georgis Catholico scriptum reperio." {B. 0., iii. I, p. 153.)
3 Mar Athken is in error here. George succeeded Isho*-
yahbh A. D. 661 and sat till 680, but Hasan ibn-*Ali began to
reign A. H. 40 and died A. H. 49, when he was succeeded
by his younger brother Husen ^■;u:Cc>l, who died A. H. 61, or
about twenty-one years after Hasan began to reign. See Wright,
Syr. Li/., p. 843; Assemani, B. (?., iii. i, p. 153, col. 2;
Annales quos scripsit At-Tabari, ed. de Goeje, ser. II, t i,
pp. I, 366; Ibn-el-Athiri, Chronicon, ed. Tornberg, t. iii. (A. H.
60—05), Leyden, 1876, p. 383 flf.
208 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and when George Kad ministered in the patriarchate
and H^^n had reigned twenty-two years, both died
in the same year, that is to say when each had ruled
twenty-two years. ' Now Mir George died in Hertha, '
the city of the Arabs, and was buried with Mar Abha,^
the Catholicus and Martyr, with all the honour which
befitteth the labours and afflictions with which he wearied
himself by sea and land for the sake of the holy Church
and the flocks which had been entrusted to his hands
by our Lord. And we may learn concerning the
depth of his doctrine and the height of his wisdom,
from the address of prayer which he composed, and
which begins: —
"O God,' the Eternal, Who art from everlasting,
[p. 89] *Thou Who art everlastingly the Good Being,
'* Whose goodness never changeth "*
' Hoffmann would strike out ^'&^e ,*aib^?.
^ A town, the ruins of which lie a little to the south-east
of the modern town of Meshed 'Ali. See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 97.
^ Mar Abha was originally a Magian. He was baptized at
HSrtha and he studied at Nisibis and Edessa. He was elected
Patriarch A. D. 536, and shortly after began to teach at
Seleucia. Owing to a dispute with Khusrau I. Andsharwan
(531 — 579) he was banished to Adhorbaigan, but he returned
to Seleucia where he was thrown into prison by the king, and
died A. D. 552. His body was carried to Herthi and buried,
and the Nestorians style him Mar Abha the Martyr. For a
list of his works see B, 0., iii. i, pp. 75 — 81. See also Bar-
Hebraeus, Chron, Eccles,, ii. 89 — 95 and Wright, Syr, Lit,,
p. 836, col. 2.
♦ In pentasyllabic tripartite metre. The extract ends abruptly.
Hoffmann emends thus: —
BOOK II. CHAPTER XVII. OF SABHR-ISHO r6STAM. 2O9
And he composed for it mournful tunes which were to
be accompanied by beautifully arranged instrumental
music.
CHAPTER XVn.'
OF RABBAN SABHR-ISHO* WHO WAS SURNAMED ROSTAM.'
This Rabban Sabhr-lsho' who was called R6stam,
the beloved friend of the holy fathers who lived in
this holy monastery, and the composer of histories of
them, came from Herem, a village of Adiabene. He
was a venerable and holy man, and from his youth
up had been a disciple in the Great Monastery of the
holy Rabban Mar Narsai, the head of the monastery.
And when he had been there a short time, the fathers
who were there asked him, and he wrote [a tract] on
the occasion of the celebration of the Golden Sabbath^
Eve; he also wrote a lengthy work, in elegant language and
with a clear mind, which consisted partly of disputations
against heretics, and partly of arguments against ob-
scure opinions of various kinds. And he departed
from thence and came to our monastery, and when he
had tarried here also a short time, the monks from
the holy Monastery ofB^thKoka^ came after him, and
Assemani, considering 3^Jlox ^a^io to be no part of the metrical
composition, translates, "Quot in ea suavium Cantuum mutationes
cernere est, et quot pulcherrimo ordine succedentes sibi strophas
et modos!"
' This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 454, col, 2.
' He flourished about A. D. 650.
^ /. e., "the first Sabbath eve after Pentecost." j^^m j^okk
^\g)ftft>Vn bAop. See Payne Smith, Ties., col. 2984.
♦ On the Great or Upper Zab in Adiabene.
dd
2IO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
through their entreaties, and the counsel of the Elders
of this congregation [who gave it] for the benefit of
that holy monastery, he sorrowfully departed from
here. He wrote also another book in eight discourses
on the dispensation of our Lord, on the conversion of
the various countries by the hands of the blessed
Apostles, and on chastity and ascetic life. [p. 90J He
also composed at the request of the holy Elders who
were here, but especially of Abba Kardagh, who
occupied the same cell as Marlsho'-yahbh [of Adiabene],
the history of Rabban Mar Isho'-zekha,' of the Mon-
astery of Gassa; the history of Mar lsh6'-yahbh; the
history of Rabban Mir Abraham, the head of this
monastery, .who came here from the monastery of
Rabban Zekhi-lsho';* and of Rabban Kam-lsh6\^ He
also composed the history of Mar Abraham ofNephthar,*
of Rabban Mar Job the Persian, and the history of
Rabban Sabhr-lsho' [the founder of the Monastery]^
of Beth Koka.^ Thus with the sweat of his toil in
the vineyard of Christ dropping from his brow, he
departed from this world, and his soul had rest. And
to me when I saw in his writings the love with which
he burned for this holy house, it seemed good to make
pleasant this history with the venerable memorial of
his uprightness.
* See supra, pp. 83, 86. * See infra,' p. 213.
3 The Abbot of Beth *Abhfi. -• See su^ra, p. 191, note 2.
5 See B, 0., ii. p. 418, col. 2; and Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 215,
note 17 1 5.
^ He also wrote a history of the two brethren Joseph and
Abrahani. See supra^ p. 108, note 6.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XVm. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 2 1 1
CHAPTER XVm.^
OF RABBAN GABRIEL, [tHE HEAD OF THE MONASTERY], WHO
WAS SURNAMED THE "COW".
Among the chapters of this our history, O our friend
and master, Mar Abhd-lsho*, we will also recount the
history of the venerable Gabriel, who was rapid in
thought and zealous for glorious deeds. This man
sprang up,' according to the body, in the country of
Siarzor,^ but it did not please him to remain in that
place like a savage deprived of the instruction of
doctrine, and he set out from thence and came to the
city of Nisibis, where he laboured and acquired the
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Now this man also
was a disciple in the Great Monastery of Mar Abraham
[on Mount Izla], and he toiled in the learning of many
books, [p. 91] and his mind was diligently trained in
controversy and in disputation against heresies. Espe-
cially, however, did he take up arms against the **shom"
followers of Se verus of Antioch ^ who lived in the Mon-
astery of Kartemin,* and he had much controversy
with them, and [he composed] answers to them which
burned up the evil stubble of their hateful doctrine.
' This chapter is quoted in B. (7., iii. i, 456, col. i.
^ We should strike out ^ after ^^p.
3 /. e.f j^y^j^, ZiapcToGpo, a large tract of country in the
mountains between Arbela and Hamadan JUi-^ l^ i*-M)\^ ij^
^\S.^^ J^j\ ^^^ See Yakut t. iii, p. 340 f.
^ They shaved the whole head; see supra^ p. 40, note 4.
^ The ^.'n^ffcii? ;^ was founded before A. D. 500. See
Assemani, Dissertatio de Monophysitis ^ B, 0., ii. p. Ixxiii. It
lay to the east of Mardin, in the district of T(ir *Abhdin, which
extended from Geziret ibn 'Omar on the Tigris to Mardin. See
212 THOMAS OF MARG/, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And when Sahdonli was driven out of the Church, he
went after him to Edessa, — as he himself testifies, say-
ing, "At that time, when the wretched Sahdona was
expelled from the Church, I, Gabriel, blazed with the
burning zeal of my soul, and I went to Edessa to
him," — and there he held a controversy with him, and
defeated him. And when the holy Mar Narsai, the
head of that holy monastery, departed from this tem-
porary life to the life which endureth for everlasting,
this Gabriel composed the history' of his noble deeds,
at the end of which he wrote, "It is sufficient for me
to say in praise of Rabban Mar Abraham and his
congregation, that the holy Rabban Jacob, the founder
of the monastery of Beth 'Abhe, went forth from it,
for the Lord hath built by his hands the king of mon-
asteries;" and from then until now this passage hath
been handed down in all places, and Beth 'Abh6 is
called the "king of monasteries." Now he was head
of the monastery there for a short time, but he departed
from thence and came to this monastery. And when
Rabban Kim-lsho* departed to his dwelling place, the
blessed Beraz Surin' rose in his place; and when he
also departed, the blessed Mir Bar-Sauma — to whom
Mar Henan-lsho' wrote a letter at the beginning of his
holding the office of Patriarch — rose in his place; and
when he also had completed his days, Rabban Gabriel
became the head of this holy monastery.^ And he
Socin, Zur Geographie des T&r*Abhdift, in Z.D.M.G. Band xxxv,
p. 259. For the word ^>vi\\ri, i. e., HDfiSllp ^y{, Koupbou^ see
L5w, Aram. Pflanzennamen, p. 218, no. 162.
' Read ^^^4^. ' See supra^ p. 153.
3 He became Abbot under Hendn-lsh6* I., who sat from
686—701.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XIX. OF RABBAN ABRAHAM. 2 I 3
composed a discourse on washing the feet, [p. 92]
which was read on the day of the Passover of our
Lord, and he wrote a history of the noble acts of the
holy martyrs of Tur Bera in, ' and narratives of various
kinds. Now that discourse which was referred to in
the commemoration of Rabban Jacob does not, strictly
speaking, belong to this Gabriel, but it was com-
posed by Mar Gabriel, Metropolitan of Karkha dhe
Beth Selokh,* who was called "Gabriel the Dancer," and
concerning whom we shall write when we come to his
place.^
CHAPTER XIX.4
OF RABBAN MAR ABRAHAM THE HEAD OF THE MONASTERY
OF RABBAN ZEKHA-ISHo'.*
Now although^ [the order of] the narratives of our
work is destroyed and they do not possess the chrono-
logical sequence which it was expected they should
possess, nevertheless according to my own opinion and
according to the historical tradition which I have re-
ceived from my fathers, I have preserved the order of
* For the Syriac text see Brit. Mus. Add. 1 2, 1 74 (Wright,
Catalogue ^ p. 1133), ^'^d for a German translation see Hoff-
mann, Auszuge, pp. 9 — 16. The martyrs Adhurparwa, Mihrnarse
and Mahdukht! suffered in the ninth year of Sapor, King of
Persia.
* Kerkiik. ^ See infra, Bk. ii. chap. 33.
^ Passages from this chapter are quoted in B. C?., iii. i,
p. 255, col. 2.
5 See supra, p. 24. ^ Read ^5.
214 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the times, and of those [who lived] in them. And even
if one person should be placed a little too late, and
another a little too early, this is not a matter for blame
and reproach, inasmuch as thy wisdom, O 'Abhd-lsho*,
man of enlightened mind, lover of holy histories, did
entreat me to go round the whole circle ' of the ascetics
who have lived in this monastery and through all the
mass of their histories, and to bring them to light
before thee. Now it appears that the following account
of Rabban Mar Abraham of Beth Rabban Zekha-lsho,
which we have omitted, belongs to the period' of those
histories* which have been related by us, although we
place it a little too late. And when Rabban Abraham
was an old man he came to this holy monastery on
account of the cold of the country of Dasen,^ and on
his entrance here, [p. 93] by reason of his fame and
the exalted rigour of his ascetic life, this brotherhood
entrusted to him the headship of the monastery. And
he led those diligent sons in all the ways of a holy
life, and they made their perfection* reach to heaven,
and he wrought here mighty and exalted miracles,
which are made known by his history composed by
the excellent man [Sabhr-lsho'] Rostam.* And it came
to pass that when he was here, he was the head of
this congregation and also of the congregation of [the
Monastery of] Rabban Zekha-lsho* from which he went
' Read j&o^ojb = KiiKXog. ^ Read, with Vat. ;»*9.
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 206, and supra , p. 6y. It is
clear that the Monastery of Rabban Zekha-lsho* was on a
higher level in the mountains than Beth 'Abhe, because it was
colder to live in, but its exact situation is unknown.
^ Read ^oiu&oAa^. ^ See suprUy pp. 108, 210.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XX. OF OTHER HEADS OF B^TH A. 2 1 5
forth. And one steward and governor and guardian
ordered the affairs of both monasteries, and the monks
of that monastery did not act in any way without the
command of the steward who was elected from this
congregation, nor did the monks here oppose in any
way the commands of the steward elected from that
congregation, for it was a matter which excited the
praise of God with all men. And this thing was ru-
moured among all the monasteries of this country. And
although both Rabban Jacob and Rabban Zekha-lsho'
came forth from that holy monastery in Mount Izla
there was neither division nor severance of love on
account of this. So also when the blessed Mar Abraham
had been borne to the rest of the grave, like a shock
of corn in its season,' and the standing com at its
time [of harvest],* this arrangement,^ that one steward
and governor should minister unto both these holy
monasteries, continued for a long time after him.
CHAPTER XX.4
OF THE OTHER HEADS WHO LIVED IN THIS MONASTERY.
Now, to the lives of these [men] which have al-
ready been written, our discourse should add also some
account of the noble deeds and pious lives of the holy
fathers [p. 94] who lived in this holy monastery after
* Job V. 26. * Isaiah xvii. 5.
3 Read ;a^ ^aj,
♦ This chapter is quoted in B. 0-, lii. i, p. 217, col. 2.
2l6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
them, I mean of Rabban George of Adiabene, who
was called *Bar-Say y adhe / ' of Sama' his brother, of
Abba Nathaniel, 3 of Abba Selibha,* and of Rabban
Gabriel,* who was called *Sephr6ni', whose holy bodies
were laid in the place in the chapel where the monks
say the third service of the day;^ but inasmuch as Mir
David ^ the Bishop, of [this] monastery, hath before our
time written upon them, as well as upon others, at the
request of Khuzn[a]hir,* the believing man from the
^ /. ^., **George sumamed 'son of fishermen*", he flourished
about A. D. 650 under the Patriarch Henan-Ish6' I. See
B, 0., lii. I, p. 217, col. 2. His life was the first in the **Little
Paradise." B, O., iii. i. p. 218.
' A Persian name?
^ See supra, p. 96, note 3, For his works see B, 0., iii. i, p. 224.
* See supra, p. 96.
5 See supra, Bk. i. chap. 28, p. 96.
^ ;^afi> fi^ usually means 'refectory,' but here it must mean
the place in the church where the service was held after \^^, i. e,,
the meal which was eaten in the evening by the holy men who had
fasted all day; by laymen this service is called 'the prayer
before sleep." See Badger, The Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 18.
7 /. ^., David of Bdth Rabban Zekha-Isho, concerning the
founding of which monastery at the end of the sixth century
see B. 0,, iii. i, p. 255. He became a bishop under the
Nestorian Patriarch Timothy, who is said to have sat from
780—823. See Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 845; and B. 0., iii. i,
p. 254, where a list of his works is also given.
^ This name is corrupt. We should probably read 9^ev&9aa
— j^-obU ;\*aL, Nawaz + Nahedh, "who hath Anahid for a sup-
port," or perhaps ^j^ and j-^U Hdzan + Nahedh — heart +
Anahid. For Anahid in proper names see Horn, Sassamdische
Siegelsteine, Berlin, 1 891, p. 32.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXL OF SIMON THE **BEARDLESS". 2 I 7
village of Bashosh,' I pass on to recount the history
of those, the narratives of whom are not written
down.
CHAPTER XXI.
OF ABBA SIMON [WHO WAS SURNAMEd] THE "BEARDLESS."'
I entreat the wisdom of wise and understanding
readers, that as they advance in the study of this book,
they may hold me entirely free from blame should
it appear [to them] that one narrative is in advance
of its correct position, and another is after. For not
all narratives will admit of being written down in
chronological order, lest peradventure the root of history
being severed, the narrative should lean^ to one side,
and become like an animal which tries to walk upon
two^ of its four legs, a thing which it is not in any
way possible to do. What then?
Now in the time of Mar George, the Catholicus^
and Patriarch, of holy memory, there lived in this our
monastery an old holy man who was called Simon, on
whose face, according to what is written by his fellow
* Bashdsh, where Abraham established a school, lay near
Shalmath, in the district of Shosh, (See Badger, Nestorians,
vol. I. p. 392) in the diocese ofMarga, near M6§ul. See Hoff-
mann, Ausziige, p. 223 ff. Of Shosh Ya|<(it (iii, p. 334f0 says:—
' For ^oAi^. ^ Read ^, omitting o.
4 Read ;i\-a or ^AV,'i.
5 He sat from 661 — 680. See supra, p. i/Qff.
ee
2l8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
monks, by reason of the austerity of his ascetic life,
and .the severity of his abstinence, no hair remained
in his beard, and for this reason he was surnamed the
^'Beardless/' [p. 95] He was a great and glorious man
in his days, for by the word of his mouth every affair
of the monastery was governed by the ordering of his
wisdom. And his old age shone like a broad and
splendid beam of light through his lofty understanding,
and his exalted philosophy. " And like a wise merchant
he gathered together and filled his soul with all manner
of riches of the treasures of the Spirit, so that the
word which our Lord- spake, "Every scribe that be-
cometh a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, is like
unto a wise man, who bringeth forth from his treasures
things new and old,"' was fulfilled in him; but all the
glorious things of this man are drowned in the sea of
oblivion^ because of the length of the time in which
they happened before us.
CHAPTER XXIL*
OF THE GOING DOWN OF RABBAN SIMON TO GEORGE THE
CATHOLICUS, [and OF THE BARRENNESS WHICH HE MADE
TO FLOWER IN THE CITY OF FADHATTa].
Now when the blessed Mar George the Patriarch'
went up from the countries of Persia and Beth Katraye,^
' Point e7^eJol&2Lfl?6. ' St. Matthew xiii. 52.
3 ;foju4fio0, f^ ^, a rare word. See B. 0,, iii. i, p. 54,
1. 19.
< This chapter is quoted in B. O., iii. I, p. 183, col. I.
5 Read ji^u^ikJ^. ^ Read I3t^ fi^p.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXII. SIMON VISITS PADHATTA. 2 1 9
because he had been absent there a long time, and
because everything concerning him was a joy or a
sorrow to this holy congregation/ when all the holy
Elders heard of his coming to the paternal throne of
Beth Aramay^,' they decided to send suitable men
to meet him and to salute the father of fathers. And
they all entreated this honourable head of the mon-
astery, Abba Simon, to be the agent by whose means
the homage due to his holy fatherhood might be con-
veyed to him ; and this holy old man undertook to do
so gladly, and he and others went down to the gate
of the Patriarch. And when they had gone in to the
city of Hadhatta,^ [p. 96] a certain God-fearing man
received them into his house, and he and his wife
were childless,* like the God-fearing Shunammite woman'
and her husband, to whom, from the time that the
prophet Elisha entered into their house, God gave a
son through the prayers of the prophet. And when
Abba Simon asked those aged people how they did,
they revealed to him that they had no child at all to
be the heir of their old age; and the holy man gave
them some water in which he had washed the cross
which was upon him, and said to them, "Behold, God
will give you a male child, and his name shall be called
John;" and he went down to the door of the father
of fathers.
* /. e,, they shared in his joy and sorrow.
* Seleucia. See supra, p. 183.
3 /. e.^ ^.j^\. It was situated on the left bank of the
Tigris, about a farsah below the mouth of the Great Zab. See
Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 178, 234 and note 1501.
* Literally, *were in barrenness.' s 2 Kings iv. 17.
220 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XXIII. ^
OF MAR JOHN* OF dAlUM.^
And it came to pass that that Divine power which
cleaveth to those who fear it, and which has worked,
and [still] worketh in a marvellous manner in all gener-
ations through them, even as it worked with Sara
(Sarah) ^ and Rephka (Rebekah)^ and Hannah^ and the
' Extracts from this chapter are given in B. 0,, iii. i,
p. 183. col. I.
* He flourished about A. D. 690. See A 0., iii. i, p. 183,
col. I.
^ Arab. ^>^ a region to the south-west of the Caspian Sea,
having Adhorbaigan on the west, Kazwin on the south, and
Tabaristan on the east. With Delum, Gilan (older form Gelan)
is often mentioned. DSliim represents the steep mountainous
tract of country, covered with woods and abounding with
streams of water, which is opposite Tabaristan, while Gilan
^^U>sa. or ^)^ is the flat, fertile plains at the foot of the
mountains. J^imIU J-*a^^ J-t-*^ <^.^^ ^^^ J^.^ cr?^ Ji^
^.^\ JLo. C^^ j^\ ^ ^ J^U ^ JWb wM^ J^^,
See Geographie cPAboulfida, ed. De Slane, p. 426. The half-
savage inhabitants of Deliim served as mercenaries in the
armies of the Sassanide kings, and some of them were, as we
learn from the following extract from Yakiit (ii, p. 711), settled
near Shahruzflr. dLiCiMj U ^;^} j^jy^ y^^Ji ^^* ^IxJLJa^
JSf^'puJU ^\ \^^j^ Urt^\ \yU ^4^\j^ For the chief towns
of Delum see De Slane, op. cit, p. 428 f; for references to the
people of Delum as mercenaries see Noldeke, Geschichte der
Perser, p. 479, note ij and compare Hoffmann, Ansziigey note
1640; and B. O., iii. 11, p. DCCXLf.
* Genesis xxi. i. 5 Genesis xxv. 21.
^ I Samuel I. 20.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXIII. OF MAR JOHN OF D^LUM. 221
t»
Shunammite woman/ worked also with those believing
people, and made perfect; and according to the prayer
and prophecy of the holy old man, when the season
of the year came round, a child of their old age was
born unto them, and according to the command of
Rabban Simon they called him John. And as God
hath sanctified to His household the fruit which hath
been bom from barrenness, and by His care for them
hath made them exalted and glorious in their gener-
ations, (as for example, Isaac' and Jacob ^ and Samuel*
and others), that same Power which governeth all things,
and which manifesteth extraordinary things through
His saints, and which makes them, from being fruits
of the body, fruits of the Spirit, also established as a
witness of His effectual might, [p. 97] which is above all
things, that man of whom we now write. And the Holy
One set him apart, like Samuel, from his childhood, and
accounted him to be His own, and made him a member
of His household. And when this child had been born
to his truly believing parents, whose lives rejoiced in
him as in the air which they breathed, (for he was the
light of their consolation), with great watchfulness and
care for him they placed him in a school ;5 and because
the Lord knoweth His own, and worketh effectually
that He may be known of them, he learned in a short
' 2 Kings iv. 17. ^ Genesis xxi. 1 — 6.
^ Genesis xxxv. 11. '^ i Samuel vii. 15 — 17.
5 The school was called Beth Yulphana. ;&k^o* fi^, Beth
Derasha ^x&'p n^ and Madhreshta Jl>x^aj0, but more commonly
^oAib|, (rxoXf). For the methods employed for teaching children,
and a list of the books ordered to be read, see B, 0., iii. 11,
p. CMXXXVIIff.
2 22 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
time the Psalms and the other subjects which
it is the duty of boys to learn. And when he was
some few years old, when as yet he had experienced
neither the motions of the body nor the importunities
of the passions, he forsook those old people, worthy
of blessed memory, and everything, and came to this
holy monastery. Now although many have written
histories about this blessed man, especially Abhu Noh,'
who resteth among the righteous, I will relate briefly
a few matters concerning him. It would seem that
his coming [to this monastery] took place in the days
of the holy Mar Abraham, him of Beth Rabban Zekha-
Isho', as I will shew at the end. Now that same Divine
grace which brought the child into existence through
the prayers of the holy Abba Simon, placed him at
the door of his cell, so that just as he had been the
cause of his birth, so he should also be the guide and
leader of his early manhood in each sublime step of
the ascetic life. And when Abba Simon knew who he
was,' and whence he came, and the cause of his coming
to the monastery, for the young man informed him
concerning these things little by little, his affection
went forth to him, and he loved him much, even as
Jacob loved his beloved Joseph when he saw^ him.
And when the [other] holy Elders had learned how he
* Abhu Niih of Anbar, the disciple of Abraham Bar-Dashen-
dad of BSth-SayyadhS, sumamed the "Lame", (who flourished
about A. D. 720), was a contemporary of the Patriarchs Joshua
and Timothy and flourished about A. D. 810. He wrote the
'^Solution of the Kur'an," ^aoti? Z^aat, a "Disputation against
heretics," and "other excellent works", among which was, pro-
bably, the History of John of Delum. See B, 0., iii. i, p. 212.
' Read with A, ai|^. 3 Genesis xlvi. 29.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXIIE. OF MAR JOHN OF D^LUM. 223
had been bom, because of the majesty of that holy
old man and the honour in which he was held in this
congregation, they offered no opposition on account of
his youth to his receiving the tonsure, [p. 98] Now
when he had become a disciple he was set to do
the work of the monastery, and to be the keeper of
the vineyard of the monastery which was situated in
Dure,* a village of Nahla dhe Malka;' and he con-
tinued in this service a long time living nobly a life
of excellence, after the manner of the Elders who had
led a monastic life from their youth up. And he
made for himself of the vine branches in the vineyard
a little hut\ in which he tended the vines and watched
and laboured the whole time that he was there, and in
which, to this day, mighty deeds and healings of sick-
nesses are wrought by the prayers of that holy man. .
And the believing and God- loving people of that
village testify that they had recourse* to him in every
affliction, and having asked for the prayers of that
holy man, rest and deliverance were afforded unto them.
And the venerable old man Elisha relates: — "When I was .
sent there by the monastery to be the keeper of the
vineyard, the marks of the fingers of the blessed man
still remained in the plaster of mud with which he
had plastered that cave. And when I was in the
vineyard by myself,' and there was no man with me,
* See Hoffmann, Auszugey p. 207.
' Since this place was situated in Dasen, it may be either
Nahala, or Melik on the little river Gherasin, in Marga. See
Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 201.
3 db^ a rare word.
♦ Literally "they used to make use of him as a mediator."
s Read «>d
2 24 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the Kartewaye* came against me to carry away the
iron tools and the provisions which were with me; and
when I perceived that they were breaking down the
hedge and coming through into the garden, I cried out
to Mar John [to come] and help me. And I saw an
old man of lofty stature who appeared to me standing
at the door of the cave, clothed in glorious and shining
apparel, and when I saw him gladness came over me.
And he deceived those thieves with apparitions* and
he hid the cave from them, and having sought much
for it, and finding it not, they departed and went away.
Thus the Lord protected me and all that was with
me by the prayers of that holy man." [p. 99] Now that
blessed man planted a nut tree there, and nuts like
unto those which it produced^ were not seen upon any
other tree there, and although they took many [cuttings]
from it, and planted them, they never produced* any
tree. And, as it is written concerning the prophet
Samuel, "It was heard ^ from Dan even to Beer-sheba
that Samuel was to be a prophet of God,"^ so also
was this word spoken^ concerning this man by reason
of the miracles which he wrought from his youth up.
' The Kurds of Kartaw AJ^ljyJl lived in the region above
Arbela, to the west of the Lower Zab. See Hoffmann, Aus-
zuge^ p. 207.
* /. e., phantoms, spectres. This word is explained: —
0 >
Kt^^m m See Brit. Mus. Rich 7203, fol. 188^, col. 2; and
Brit. Mus. Orient. 2441, fol. 380^, col. 2.
^ Read y»^^» ^ Read o»&ei.
■^ Read with Vat, ^.i^fioci?. ^ i Samuel iii. 20.
7 For ^H»M Hoffmann would read ^A»^^ and translate
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXIV. OF JOHN OF D^LUM. 225
CHAPTER XXIV.«
OF THE FAMINE WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THEIR DAYS IN
THIS COUNTRY, [aND OF THE DEPARTURE OF JOHN AND
HIS MASTER TO N^REBHA OF B^TH-GAZZA.]
In the book which was composed by David, the
pious Bishop of the Kartewaye, which is called the
"Little Paradise,"* which begins with the history of
Rabban George bar-Sayyadhe,^ the head of the mon-
astery, in the history of Abb4 Selibha the Aramean*
it is made known that a great famine took place in
this country. Now from this passage it would seem
that the blessed Mar John [did not]^ receive the ton-
sure at the hands of Mar Abraham, because at the
time of this famine the blessed Abraham was dead.
And when the famine had become very severe, and
there was no help to alleviate it from anywhere, Abba
Simon, who had three disciples, one of whom was our
blessed John, gathered them together, and said to them,
"Come, my children, let us depart from this place and
go to the country of the mountains, and let us eat the
leaves of the trees and not die;" and he took them
and they departed to Nerebha dhe Beth Gazza,^ but
some say that they went to the country of Salakh.^
"the word concerning Samuel of old was fulfilled also in this
man by the signs which he was accustomed to work from his
youth up."
' This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 184, col. i.
2 See supra, p. 192, note i. ^ See supra, p. 96, note 2.
4 See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 24 and note 1997.
5 But see supra, pp. 222, 223.
^ /. e.y they retired into the more mountainous parts of
Dasen.
' The Bishopric of Salakh is, apparently, to be sought for
ff
226 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
[p. I go] And while they were thus living upon the
berries of the trees, and were being directed by the
blessed old man to the saving of their lives, the time
of the departure of Rabban Simon drew near and
arrived. And as Jacob called his sons,* so he called
his disciples, and said to them, "Come, my children,
my doctrine is to me, and I will tell you what things
will happen unto you after my departure from this
world." And when the first had drawn near him, he
answered and said, "Thou shalt take to thyself a wolf;"
and to the second he said, "No man shall follow thee,
my son, or know the way in which thou shalt depart
from the world" [and to the third he said], "As for
thee, my son John, behold, our Lord will magnify thee
with miracles and signs, and He will make thee a head
and a chief in the congregation of the brotherhood of
ascetics, and thou shalt teach the heathen barbarians;"
and these prophecies of the holy man came to pass to
the three of them, according to what is written in his
history.
CHAPTER XXV.^
OF HOW RABBAN JOHN WAS TAKEN CAPTIVE BY THE
BARBARIANS.
Now when that holy old man had departed this life,
and his three disciples remained behind in his cave,
one of them took the books which their blessed master
in the present territory of the Balik-Kurds near Rawandiz. See
Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 245.
* Genesis xlix. i.
^ This chapter is quoted in B, 0., iii. I, p. 184, col. i.
BOOK 11. CHAPTER XXVI. OF JOSEPH OF SHAHRAZUR. 2 27
had written and went down to the villages to sell
[them], and to bring back food for them [all]. And
when he had seen the world and the fairness thereof
he took unto himself a wife ; this is the man who took
unto himself a wolf. Now when the two other disciples
who remained behind had waited for some days, and
their companion did not return, the second one went
down to see what had become of him that had gone
first, and he likewise did not come back, and it is
not known what became of him ; it is said of him, how-
ever, that he became an anchorite in the inner
mountains. And when the excellent John saw that he
was forsaken by his two companions, [p. loi] and that
they were not, he also went down to see what had
become of his two brethren. And according as the
event happened and [by the working of] the Divine
Providence that brought the holy man in the way to
be the means of fulfilling the prophecy concerning him-
self, the men of Delum" went forth to spoil and to
make a raid upon the country where the blessed man
was, and thus they also carried him off into captivity,
and brought him to their country. Concerning this
holy man these [facts] must suffice, for very many and
great things are written concerning him.
CHAPTER XXVI.
OF RABBAN JOSEPH THE HEAD OF THE MONASTERY.
Now according to what we have learned from the
history of this holy Rabban Joseph, he came from the
country of Shahrazur,' and was a kinsman of the blessed
* See supra, p. 220, note 3. ' See supra, p. 211, note 3.
2^8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Rabban Gabriel, who was called the "Dancer ',' and
during the lifetime of that blessed old man he came
here, and became his disciple. He was a humble,
happy, painstaking' and abstinent man, who, according
to what is said, accounted all earthly things as ashes
and dung compared with the ascetic life. And having
excelled in the glorious works of asceticism, the mother
of life, after the heads of the monastery who followed
one after the other, the choice of the whole congregation
fell upon this holy man, and he was ordained chief
and governor over them; and when he had ministered
in the office four years, he left it in the manner in
which we are about to bring to light.
[P. 102J CHAPTER XXVn.
OF SELIBHA-ZEKHA THE CATHOLICUS, [aND OF HIS COMING
TO THIS monastery].
After the death of M&r Henan-lshoS ^ the Catholicus
and Patriarch of holy memory, the prince of fathers,
the storehouse of grace, the mighty and spiritual man,
Selibha-Zekha became the head of the Church. Now
this man, according to what ecclesiastical histories write
concerning him, was an avaricious and a haughty man.
* He was ordained Bishop of BSth Garmai by the Nestorian
Patriarch Selibha-zekha who died about A. D. 729; see Bar-
Hebraeus, Chron, Eccles,, col. 149, and note 2.
' ^fSc^, "labourer", a rare word.
3 He sat from A. D. 686—701. For his writings see
B. 0,, iii. I, p. 154.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXVII. OF SELIRIIA-ZEKHA, THE C. 229
And when he heard of the golden * Book of the Gospels
which our Mar Isho'-yahbh,* the blessed in everything,
had bequeathed to this our monastery, he came with
all his insolent pride to take it and to carry it away
with him to Medhinatha dhe Beth Armaye.^ And when
he had come unto the monastery and this assembly
had received him joyfully, even as they were wont to
receive the other Patriarchs who had come for the
worship and honour of the place, he demanded of
Rabban Joseph, the head of the monastery, that he
should bring him that Book that he might rejoice in
the sight of it. Now when he had done so, for he
had no power to withhold it, and moreover, he did
not comprehend what was in the heart of the Catholicus,
he brought the Book from the Library and gave it
into his hands. And when the Catholicus saw the
splendour and beauty of the Book, which was ornamented
with pure gold, and precious stones, he was devoured
by desire for it, and he took it and laid it in his
wallet.* Then the head of the monastery answered
and said to him, "Thou art not acting rightly in taking
our Book in this iniquitous ^ manner." And the Catholicus
said, "Ye solitaries have no need of this Book, there-
fore let the believers enjoy it;" and straightway he
commanded those that were with him [p. 103] to set
out on their way quickly. Now when this had taken
place, the board for summoning the congregation was
^ ii^vipf a rare word.
^ /. e., Isho'-yahbh III. of Adiabene.
3 /. e., to Seleucia.
^ Or, 'saddle-bags*, = Arab. ,.yi-\, and 4->\^, a leather bag*.
^ frt^o^, a rare word.
230 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
struck,' and those among the ascetics who were young
and strong ran after the Catholicus and stopped him,
even as David did Gulyadh (Goliath),' and they'
prevailed against him with stones and sticks. And when
they had come up with him they threw him off his
mule, and they buffeted him with outspread hands
and closed fists in an unseemly manner although they
had it in their power to take the Book [from him]
without striking a blow. Now the abandonment [to
this treatment] was wrought upon him by God because
he coveted that which was not his own. And when the
aged Elders heard what had been done to him by the
novices, they gathered themselves together and went
forth to appease the Catholicus, and they began to
apologize for what had taken place without their know-
ledge and consent; and in this manner they pacified
Selibha-Zekha, and he departed from them.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OF THE DEPARTURE OF R ABB AN JOSEPH TO THE MONASTERY
OF RABBAN BAR-IDTA.^
Now when the blessed Joseph, the head of the
monastery, saw what had been done to Selibha-Zekha
the Catholicus by the brethren, he abandoned the
* See supra, p. 54, note 3. * i Samuel xvii. 40.
^ It is doubtful by which Bar-*Idta this monastery was
founded. It may have been the Bar-*Idta who lived in the time
A
of Isho'-yahbh of Arzon (580—595), and who was the con-
A
temporary of Jacob the founder of the Monastery of Beth Abhe;
he is often quoted by Thomas of Marga. See supra, p. 38,
note 2.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXIX. OF AY AS AND RABBAN JOSEPH. 23 1
headship of the monastery, and dwelt quietly in his
cell. And when the brethren of the Monastery of
Rabban bar-*Idta heard [of this], inasmuch as they had
neither head nor guardian, they came after the blessed
man, and thus at their entreaty, and by the advice of
the Elders of this monastery, he went and became the
head and governor of the monastery, and ministered
in that office with all the ability which the headship
required.
[P. 104] CHAPTER XXIX.
OF AYAS* SHAIBNAYA' WHO WISHED TO SLAY RABBAN JOSEPH,
AND OF THE FLIGHT OF RABBAN FROM BEFORE HIM.
Now there lived in the neighbourhood of that mon-
astery a man whose name was Ayas, and he was a
man of the tribe of Dhuhl,^ and belonged to the family
surnamed Shaibanaye, and he was the store-keeper of
the grain* of that monastery, and of all its property.
The day of his commemoration was the same as that of Jacob
of Beth 'Abhe. See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 181. Cf. also
^,^ U,^ [read ll-jb] LLo^L \^ JUj. i^^ .^ Jj 3^1^
j^-aj\ J Ao«»'k J-o^^ dLJb js^ Tabari ii, p. 707.
* Arab ^^i- * /. e., the descendant of Shaiban.
^ See Wiistenfeld, Genealog. Tabelien der Arabischen Stdmme,
B. 18; Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur DHistoire des Arabes,
Table 9, part A (in Vol. i) and vol. 11, pp. 449, 572, 592,
599, 603; Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser, pp. 330, 338;
and cf. Yakflt ii. p. 349, 1. 18 ^^^U^^ ^r? J^^ l5^ v^^
,^U. See also Brit Mus. MS. 23,355, fol. 241^ {Kitab al-
Ansaby by al-Sam'ani.
^ Read or^S^p.
232 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And he craftily ' asked the brethren of that monastery
to give him a place in which he might build a house'
to shelter his cattle, and they in their simplicity com-
manded him to build a house wherever he chose. He
therefore built a khan^ by the side of the Kings*
highway, in the fields belonging to the monastery, and
by those who passed along the road, as well as by the
inhabitants 5 the building was called the '*Khan^ of Ay as;"
and little by little as he obtained power, he seized upon
' Read >^^.
' ^o^ N*3 a place of gathering together.
3 The Syriac word ^d» = Ji^ or iJ\^ refuge, place of
safety. See Kamus, Biilak edition, A. H. 1303, vol. 4, p. 62.
It = ^o^ fis^, or A2>o\ N-a, cf Neo-Syriac ^f^ barn, granary,
Payne Smith, Thes,, col. 2036. In Ibn Haukal we have
il*\^ C^^^ (which Hoffmann corrects into ^fy*' '-^^) ^"^
concerning which De Goeje says "proprie domus refugii adhi-
betur sensu domus spcctabilisy^ but Dozy asks *ne serait-ce pas
plutot maison fortifi^e?' See Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes,
t. II, p. 'jTJy col. I; De Goeje, Bibliotluca Geographicorum
Arabicorumy Pars secunda. Viae et Regna Descriptio Ditionis
Moslemicae Auctore Abul-Kasim ibn Haukal, p. 81, line 8, and
pars 4, p. 372. For ;^^ n*3 **Mill-house" see Thomas of
Marga (text) p. 238, 1. 11.
^ Read ;b\»?. ^ Read either ^kI, or y^a^^
^ I know of no other word by which to render 3^>o^, which
meant a place where cattle, horses, asses, camels, etc., could
be placed in safety for the night, or in time of war (compare
the Border "peel- towers"). Ayas's building was no doubt a
private khan, the like of which exist in great numbers in the
east at the present day. They are built in the form of a
quadrangle, and have usually one large, strong door which is
strengthened with heavy bars of wood, and fastened by massive
bolts. On each side of the doorway are rooms for the accom-
modation of travellers, and along each of the walls are several
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXX. AYAS SLAYS THE STEWARD. 233
all the fields round about it. ' And he slew the steward
who lived in the monastery, and thinking to act like
[Herod] Agrippa,^ who having slain the blessed James,
the brother of John, laid hands on Simon Peter also, this
daring man, having slain that blessed man and cast
his venerable body into a well of water in one of the
cultivated fields of the monastery — which is to-day
called Muharrakiyya^ — sent watchmen by night to the
blessed Joseph to spy out the place where he was and
to slay him. Now the blessed man learned this from
the believing neighbours of the monastery, [who said],
* 'Behold, this evil man has threatened to destroy thee
also." And he left [the monastery] and went to the neigh-
bourhood of the city of Baladh,^ to the region of Awana,^
stalls or chambers, usually open in the front, where the beasts
are fed and sheltered. In the centre of the courtyard the
camels are unloaded and their burdens piled up for the night.
Such khans usually have a supply of water either in a well in
the courtyard, or close at hand outside. They are more
expensive to stay at than the large public khans, many of which
have been built for the poor by rich men, and endowed with
funds to pay for keeping them clean.
* /. e,y the monastery of Rabban bar-*Idta.
^ Acts xii. I.
3 /. e,, A^/ccJ, or ^J?^^. For the name ^y£:Ji or ^yiJi
see Yakut vol. i, p. 91, 1. 18; p. 391, 1. 20; p. 451, 1. i;
p. 538, 1. 5; and vol. ii, p. 433. 12.
^ See supra, p. 61, note 4.
5 Awana, which marked the limit of the church province of
Beth Nuhadhra, lay on the east bank of the Tigris, a little
above Mosul, and nearly opposite to Eski-M6§ul. According
to Yakut the Monastery of Abba Yawseph lay on the caravan
road near the Tigris about one farsah from Baladh. See the
maps in Cernik, Technische Studien- Expedition durch die Ge-
gg
234 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
a village of Beth Nuhderan,' and there by his
hands the Lord laid the foundations of and established
that holy monastery, which has been called after his
name in memory of him, and has obtained renown,
[p. 105] Now I have learned* all these things from
the history of this holy man which was composed by
the venerable Mar Athken,^ the monk, of the holy
monastery of Rabban Aphni-Maran. *
CHAPTER XXX.
OF RABBAN MAR JOHN, METROPOLITAN BISHOP OF ADIABENE.
I should be an enemy of the truth and of the
living Word of Christ, if in these writings I attempted
to manifest flattery of [any] man, or if for the sake of
polluted gain I dared to approach matters which are
beyond my strength. Moreover, I should appear silly
biete des Euphrat und Tigris, (in Erganzungsheft No. 45 zu
Petemiann's "Geographischen Mittheilungen", Gotha, 1876); and
Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 212.
' The MSS. have ^'?o7ai n*9. Assemani has ^307a& n»9,
B. 0., iii. I, p. 477, col. 2, at the foot. On this province see
Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 208 — 216, but especially note 1662
(p. 209).
* The last three lines of this chapter are quoted in B, 0., iii. i,
p. 217, col. I.
^ For his other writings see B. (?., iii. i, p. 216.
4 The limit of the church province of Beth Nuhadhra on the
north west was marked by the Monastery of Rabban Aphni
Maran dhe Khurkma, which was called by the Muhammadans
Der al-Za*faran, and was near, or on, Gebel Gudi. See Hoff-
mann, Auszuge, p. 213.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXX. OF R ABB AN MAR JOHN. 235
and ignorant if while writing and completing and
showing forth [these histories], through my love of
God, and at the entreaty of His holy men,' I should
add any matters of my own to that order which has
come down to me by the tradition of those who recount
histories, or should introduce any thing of my own into
the accounts of the holy men, even though their beauty*
would not be tarnished by the defect of my speech,
nor [their sweetness] polluted^ by the evil smell of my
manner of treatment. Now we gather the rose from
among thorns, and when we inhale its beautiful smell
with our breath, the memory of the thorns is not pre-
sent in our mind. And those who understand the
culture of flowers and plants say that they sow garlic*
and onions and other vegetables which have an un-
pleasantly strong 5 smell round about the rose, in order
that through their nearness it may [appear to] acquire
a more beautiful smell, and to have a more splendid
colour. Let then this history which we are writing
[take the place of]^ the rose, and let our own evil
odour take the place of the leeks and onions and
garlic, [p. 106] so that these holy men may [appear
" /. e., 'Abhd.Ish6' and the other monks of Beth 'Abhe.
(See supra, p. 17.)
* If we read, with the MSS., ^07fi^&^, we must correct
^>^ into ^aLjKac^, and ^^>tM into ^07>tM.
^ After ^o7?tM some word like ^ojt^oM^Aa seems to have
dropped out.
* ;aoe^ Cf ^^^ f^^^ ^^Soijib ^ iha^ ^N Brit. Mus. MSS.
Orient. 2441, fol. 388^7, col. 2; Rich 7203, fol. 196^, col. 2.
^ Read A^ifbD.
^ After ^9j&9, the word fioop seems to have dropped out.
The reading of Vat. is better than that of the text.
236 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to] be the more glorious, and so that their glory may
increase!
Now Abba 'Anan-lsho', of whom I have written
above,' had a nephew whose name was John, and he
was a disciple in this monastery during the lifetime of
his uncle. And after the death of Abba 'Anan-lsho*,
together with the inheritance of his manner of life and
his doctrine, he inherited his . cell and every thing that
he had. Now all the books which 'An^n-lsho' and
Isho'-yahhh his brother wrote and left behind them,
this John made to pass into the library [of this mon-
astery]. And having formed within himself all those
glorious qualities by which a man is sanctified for
living the divine monastic life, for he had been born
of parents who sprang from a blessed stock, in body
and in spirit, he at length became the head and gover-
nor of this holy monastery. And the fame of his piety
was carried into all places, and he was ordained Bishop
of the country of Beth Beghosh. ' And when the blessed
M4r Simon the Metropolitan departed this temporary
life, the choice of the Bishops and of the government,
' /. e,, *Anan-]sho the compiler of the Book of Paradise.
See supra ^ pp. 189 — 192.
^ Beth Beghash, Beth Baghesh, or Beth Baghash, the ^yu^bb
or ^Ub of the Arabs, was a district which lay on the Upper
Zab between Adhorbaigan and Ardabil [read Dabil] along which
the Great Zab flows. In the eighth century of our era the seat
of the Bishop of Beghash was in the Church of Bai [see infra
chap, xxxix (text p. 125, 1. 3)], probably KaUa-i-Bai, the resi-
dence of Melik Beg, one of the first Kurdish princes of the
Sambo dynasty, who with the help of the Syrian Christians in
the fortress of Diz obtained the rule over the Hakkari region.
See Hoffmann, Aussuge, p. 227. The name Beth Beghash is
preserved in Basch Kal'e; see Hoffmann in Feige, Die Ge-
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXX. OF RABBAN MAR JOHN. 237
and of the believing men of Adiabene fell upon him,
and he was ordained Metropolitan by Mar Selibha-
Zekha, the Catholicus, concerning whom we have written
a little way back.^ And while he adorned the office
of head with all steadfastness, he made his body to
abstain from everything which was pleasant, and he
neither consented to drink wine, nor submitted to eat
unclean things. And all transient glory was a polluted
thing in his sight, because he had been nourished in
a life above all reproach by the overflowing abundance
of the doctrine of the holy and pious "^Anan-lsho', and
he nobly preserved to the end the teaching of his uncle
and master. And because of his love for this holy
house, [p. 107] every day, so it is said, he used to sit
in his cell and quietly meditate. And in the days of
this holy man the inhabitants of Beth Bore, a village
in [the district of] Nineveh, built a fine and beautiful
temple at great expense; now they had [over them] a
pious Bishop [called] Ephraim who came from this holy
monastery. And when they wished to consecrate that
temple, Ephraim came to this monastery to Mar John
the Metropolitan, and at the request of the Bishop and
of the believing people of Beth Bore who were with
him, he (Mir John) went and consecrated that holy
temple. And so after he had continued to be the
head of the monastery for a long time he died in this
holy monastery, where he had been born of the Spirit
and instructed in everything, and where he had been
schichte des Mar ^ Ablid-hho , Kiel, 1890, p. 10, no. 10,
(tex^ p. 26, 1. 14, translation p. 25, at the foot). Cf. ^yx.obb
Jh< v;;\^\ U^^^. J^>;\^ olf^^^M e^ i^U Yakut, vol. V,
p. 446.
* See supra^ p. 228.
238 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
honoured by being elected the head of the Monastery.
May he rise from the grave with the holy fathers who
begat him, and with them may he receive from his Lord
the reward of his actions! And behold, according to what
I have learned from the old men, his grave is by the
door of the screen* of the martyrium. Now although
the martyrium in which he was buried with the fathers,
was demolished for the sake of this new temple which
was built, nevertheless he and the other holy Metro-
politans and Bishops were left in their places undisturbed.
And if it be true, as I have heard from the Elders
that it is, five Metropolitans and eighteen Bishops are
buried in that holy chapel."
CHAPTER XXXI.
OF MAR DINDOWAI^ BISHOP OF Ma'aLLTHA.*
[P. 108] Now Mar John had a companion in his
cell whose name was Dindowai, and he appointed him
* iyi'Slla — (ppdKTri^. See Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 1702.
^ The last two sentences of this chapter are quoted in
B. O.y iii. I, p. 478, col. 2.
^ He flourished about A. D. 720, and seems to have been
the first Bishop of Ma'alltha; see Hoffmann, Auszugey p. 210,
note 1666 and the authorities quoted there. He was succeeded
by Mar Sergius, a monk of Beth 'Abhe, who was consecrated
by Mar Aha; see infra, Bk. II. chap. xlii.
* Ary, ^^2^ or ;I;4.1>4», Arab. l^.lAX«-<, was one of the
twelve dioceses under the Maphrian of Tekrit; see Bar-Hebraeus,
C/iron. Eccles., ii, col. 123. It is often mentioned together with
Henaitha, and was situated about one hour to the west of
Dehok, a place about thirty-five or forty miles north of Mosul.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXII. OK DINDOWAI AND iSHO'-Z. 239
Bishop of Ma'allthi and Henaitha;' he was a venerable
and holy man, and was also a disciple in this mon-
astery. And there are in the library of this monastery
many books belonging to him which bear witness to
the love and affection which he bore to this holy house.
He also was buried in this monastery with Mar Sergius,
the bishop who came after him, of whom we shall
give some account'
CHAPTER XXXII.
OF MAR iSHO-ZEKHA, THE SYRIAN, BISHOP OF SALAKH.
Now although the story of the holy Mar Isho^-zekha,
Bishop of our native country of Selokh has been briefly
told by me in another place, namely, in the history
of Rabban Gabriel, inasmuch as that history demanded
See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 208; B, O,, iii. 11, p. dcclx; and
Le Quien, Oriens C litis tianus, ii. 1584^ According to Badger,
{NestorianSy vol. i, p. 174) Ma'alltha contained twenty families
and one church in 1842 — 44. Yakut (iv, p. 578, 1. 4) makes
bliJui-* near Geziret ibn-'Omar.
' Written ^^oL, and ^m, the latter vocalization being the
correct one. Hnaitha«=the XvaiOa of Theophylact (V. 8. ed.
Bonn p. 219, 1. 9) and XajiiaiOa of Theophanes; its district
seems to have reached from the valley at the mouth of the
Rowandiz tributary of the Upper Zab to Daudija in the western
valley of the Sapna. The modern diocese of 'Amedia corres-
ponds tolerably well to the old church province of Ma'alltha,
Beth Nuhadhra and Henaitha. See Hoffmann, Aussuge, pp.
2x6—222; and the list of the villages in the 'Amedia diocese in
Badger, Nestorians, vol. I, p. 174; and Z>'. 0., iii. ii, p. dcclvii.
* See tfifra^ chap. XLII.
3 See Book VI. chap. XV. (text p. 384).
240 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
it, it nevertheless appeareth to me that I ought to speak
of his noble deeds and triumphs among the righteous
phalanx of his companions. This blessed man came
from the country of Beth Armaye,' and according to
what I have learned from the ancients, he was a
monk in this holy monastery. It is said of him that
his food daily throughout the entire year consisted of
seven* mouthfuls which he passed into his stomach.
And he made his soul a bird which was accustomed
to fly upwards always, the object of the vision and
meditation of which was beyond its body, and in his
renunciation he was free from every distracting influence.
And his cell was situated in Gar Kahne,^ according to
what I have learned from Rabban Matthew the Elder,
who heard it from his master Abba Maran-Zekha.*
[p. 109] Now when Mar John became Metropolitan of this
church province, and the Bishop of the country of Salakh
had departed from this world, they appointed Mar
John to be bishop there. And when he had gone into
this Outer Salakh^ which is called Salakh of Narses, —
' See supra, p. 183, note i. ^ Read ;iax?.
3 A pure Persian, or Kurdish name. Kahne or Kahni^^
Kurdish ^^ts** "fountain", and Gar calls to mind the al-Gar
mountain J^\ discussed by Hoffmann, Auszilge , p. 204, note
1618; see also note 2 161 where a certain ^UL^U. **pitch foun-
tain" is mentioned. Gar Kahne was probably situated near
BSth 'Abhe.
* See B, O.J iii. i, p. 187, col. 2, at the foot.
5 The church province of Salakh ^ikib? ;aM was divided into
Outer Salakh hsha ^sb and Inner Salakh Zs.o\ ^ib. Outer
Salakh represented the country round about Arbel, and Inner
Salakh lay on the border of Adhorbaigan. We must look
for this province in the territory of the Balik-Kurds. See
Hoffmann, AHS.zugi\ p. 243 — 245.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXII. ISHO-ZEKH A CURSES A VINE. 24 1
now it is also called Bananes," — [he found] there a family
of nobles who were chiefs of Salakh, and lords thereof.
And one day one of them whose name was Pharrokh-
bandadh' made a commemoration service in honour of
Mar Phranse^ in his convent, to all the scholars who
were there, — now there was a school there before that
time, and at that time, and afterwards, — and when they
had mixed the wine, and had given the first cup to
Mar Bishop, he tasted it, and behold it was acid. And
he answered and said to Pharrokh-bandadh , "Pharrokh-
bandadh", and he answered and said, "Bless, master."
The Bishop said to him, "From what vine cometh this
wine?" and Pharrokh-bandadh said, "From such and such
a vine", and the Bishop spake to him this one word
only, saying, **Let that vine wither;" and with the curse
of the righteous man wrath clothed that vine. And
when it was the morning of the next day, after the
commemoration of the holy Mar Phranse was ended,
that man went home to his house, and he learned*
that the vine had withered to its very roots in the
hour in which the Bishop cursed it, and behold the
place where it withered is as if it had been burnt with
' Assemani gives <nriit^ B, 0., iii. i, p. 479, col. i.
* /. e., Farrukhbhindadh. See Hoffmann, Atiszuge, pp. 289,
297. We should probably correct the Syriac thus: s^jaa^ft^.
3 Phranse can hardly be the Syriac form of 'Francis'. The
name is probably wrongly vo welled, and perhaps stands for
Farr+Nars6;fl>[a]iW; cf Mihr-Narse, Adhur-Narsfi. Hoffmann.
A Rabban Frans^ is mentioned together with other holy men
in the order for the burial of the priests given by Badger,
NestorianSf vol. 11. p. 307.
^ Read 3^^.
•I •
hh
242 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
fire, and is well known to this day. And fear fell
upon all that country.
And Jacob ^ my father according to the body, related
to me, and he had heard it from his fathers, that in
the district called Beth Sharonaye ' in which our village
was situated there was a great, old oak {?), which was
called the "king of the forest;" [p. no] and in the
villages round about it there were heathen who used
to burn incense to it, and who worshipped before it,
and we wished to cut it down, but we were afraid of
the heathen who worshipped it, and also of the devil
which appeared therein. Now when we heard of the
coming of the pious Mar Isho'-zekhA into our country,
and concerning the vine which he withered by his
coming, when he had drawn near to the villages round
about us, our priests went to bring him to us. And
we commanded them that in coming back to us with
the Bishop their way should be by the side of that
tree, and they took that way. Now when the Bishop
came near to the tree and saw its beauty, which was
caused by the exceeding care [she wn] to it, and learned
that it was the god of the heathen who dwelt in these
villages, without coming down from the animal^ upon
which he rode, or the matter causing him any astonish-
ment, he lifted up his eyes and hands to heaven, and
cried to the Lord, saying, "O Lord of heaven and
' The first part of this sentence is quoted in B. 0., iii. i,
p. 479, col. I.
' This is probably the village of Shirwan, lying in the
"district of Shirwan", about eighty miles to the north-east of
Mosul. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 220, and notes 1749 and
1762.
3 Read here and elsewhere opoaS.
\
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXII. MIRACLES OF ISHO-ZEKHA. 243
earth, uproot this god who receiveth together with
thee worship and tithes;" and at his word the branches
of that tree turned downwards, and its roots [grew]
upwards, and thus was brought to nought the falsehood
of the error of the devil which dwelt therein.
And ' there was a village in Inner Salakh which was
called Gol&i,' the inhabitants of which were formerly
Magians, and having become disciples of the doctrine
of Christ they built a church in their village, and set
apart certain nut trees and a small plantation^ that
there might be [always] a sum of money for the main-
tenance and expenses of the church. Now when those
old men died, their children seized the nut trees and
defrauded the church of what assistance they afforded.*
And when the holy man went to that village, the
priests of the church there complained * of being defraud-
ed by their fellow villagers, [p. iii] And while the two
parties were disputing with each other, the priests
saying, "These trees belong to the church," and the
laity contradicting [them], and saying, "This has never
been so," the Bishop said to the [priests], "Dispute ye
not one with another, for I believe that the Will of the
command of Christ, the Lord of the Church, will, if
those nut trees truly belong to this church, bring them
' The following story is apparently related also in Bk. VI.
chap. XV. (text p. 384, 1. sff.)-
* This name is spelt -Soa on p. 384, 1. 3. See Hoffmann,
Auszugey p. 245.
3 Read either ;'&flUiO or ^S^Ui ^is. The parallel passage reads:
lUSp> Vi<\^ a- ^ o^ oa?* (text p. 384, 1. S).
* "Their children made a dispute about the nut trees, and
took them" (text. p. 384, 1. 6).
5 Read
244 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to the court yard of the church, without damage and
without injury, in order that your dispute concerning
their misappropriation may be rebuked." [And to the
villagers he said,] "If those nut trees are yours, they
shall remain just as they are without injury, in the
place where they are." And that Will which main-
taineth creation by its might, and to which are easy
the things which are difficult to us and appear to be
impossible, heard the voice of the son of its house,
and brought all those nut trees near to the church.
And there was there a poor old woman to whom the
men of the village had given as long as she should
live the half of the produce of a large nut tree which *
was among those trees to provide her with food. And
when the sacristan rose up to beat the board* to sum-
mon the congregation for the office of the night, be-
hold, he saw that all the nut trees had come round
about the church, and in his joy he went to where
the Bishop was sleeping to announce to him the de-
parture of the trees; and the Bishop said to him, **I
know it [already], my son, be silent." And when it
was morning, and the people had heard this report,
the whole village was gathered together to that place,
and they* rose up with wonder and praise, and they
marvelled and wondered, and glorified God. They
saw, moreover, that the tree upon the half of the pro-
duce of which the old woman used to live, was divided
into two halves, and that one half had come ' to the church
with the other trees, and the other had remained in its
place, [p. 1 1 2] Now many other things were wrought
* On the methods employed in monasteries for summoning
the monks to prayer see Usener, Der Heilige Tkeodosius, p. 82,
1. 18, and the note to this passage on p. 179. * Read ^u
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXIII. MAR GABRIEL THE DANCER. 245
by the holy Bishop Mar Isho'-Zekhi, but because of
their number I have [only] written' these three, which
will make known concerning their greatness."
CHAPTER XXXin.3
OF GABRIEL THE METROPOLITAN BISHOP OF KARKHA DHE
BfeTH SELOKH/ who WAS CALLED THE "DANCEr" [aND OF
THE DISCOURSE WHICH HE MADE].
Now this Gabriel,^ of the city of Nisibis, having
come to this monastery after he had been trained in
the holy school there, laboured in the monastic life, as
well as in the holy study of the Divine Books. And,
as I have learned, having triumphed in the greatest
self-abnegation, — now by reason of his abstinence and
the asceticism of his nature his passions were [neither]
stirred up, nor did there remain with him any of the
inclinations of an impure mind,- — it happened to him,
because of the severity and the frequency of the fasts
and labours, which he endured beyond his strength,
that the people of the Karkha dhe Selokhaye of Beth
Garmai, at the report of his ability and self-abnegation
were moved to make him their head ; and he was set
apart for them, and was ordained Metropolitan by
Selibha-Zekha the Catholicus, together with Mar John
of Adiabene^ of holy memory. And when he was an
old man he came here to pray, and to receive blessings
^ Read tsb^?- ' Reading with Vat. ^o7^a^&.
3 This chapter is quoted in B. O., iii. i, p. 460, col. if.
* /. e., Kerkuk. 5 He flourished about A. D. 720.
^ See supra, p. 234.
246 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
at the tombs of his spiritual fathers. And it came to
pass that one day during the commemoration of Rab-
ban' he heard certain scholars complaining, and saying,
"Would it not be more meet for this wholly famous
congregation that one of them should compose a special
service for the holy Mar Jacob, [p. 113] rather than
borrow* this one which was composed by Micha
the Doctor for some one else, and recite it for Mar
Jacob as^ if he were a pauper?" And Mar Gabriel, who
on account of his mincing gait was called the "Dancer",
went straightway into the place where the deacons were,
during the first session of the Psalms,* and he took tablets
and wrote down the discourse which is now read for
Rabban [Jacob]. And if thou dost examine the
sequence of its composition, and the style of its lan-
guage, thou wilt not find therein one example of the
elegance of diction which the art of speaking requir-
eth. And beginning first of all with prayer, ^ the
discourse continueth with the words, "Let us place in
the midst one of the ranks of those who love their
Lord," and so forth. Then attacking the holy Mar
Babhai, and all that congregation from which Jacob
went forth, ^ it saith, "Mad men who were exceedingly
furious envied him with the evil imagination of their
hearts," and so forth. Now we do not think that Mar
A
* /. e.y Jacob the founder of Beth 'Abhfi.
^ The MSS. have ^»^ ^2, but Assemani has }^^^ ^.
** ^Koao. See Payne Smith, Thes,, col. 1646, and Badger,
The Nesiorians, vol. ii. p. 21.
^ The allusion is to the expulsion of Jacob from the Mon-
astery of Mount Izla. See supra p. 59.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXIII. GABRIEL S ORATION ON M. J. 247
Bibhai was stirred up to become the cause of the going
forth of many from that monastery without the will of
God, for if it had been so, not one of the holy men would
willingly have taken upon himself the labour of found-
ing a monastery. Moreover, Sahdona, who lived at
a time nearer to that dispute, in his history of Rabban
[Jacob],' praises and magnifies and glorifies that holy
monastery. And behold, this also we would make
known, that although the blessed Rabban K4m-Ish6',*
and the holy Mar Jacob, ^ and Rabban Aphni-Maran, *
and Emma^ Leontius Zinaya,^ and Rabban Joseph^
went forth from the monastery in like manner by reason
of a dispute,* and became heads and governors in
other monasteries, they neither called nor named this
monastery a "monastery of madmen." And again Ga-
briel wishing to magnify this monastery, abuses its in-
habitants and in his passion saith concerning the person
of Mar Jacob, [p. 114] "He left to them, that is to
say to the monks, no possession in the land, and of
everything which they possessed, that is to say the
estates which their fathers Mar Isho'-yahbh the Catho-
licus,^ and Mar George" the Catholicus, bequeathed
to them, behold they are entirely destitute." And again
he saith, "No person is so utterly destitute of every-
thing as they are, and although they labour, that is to
say, although they gather in and carry out, in seed
' See supra, p. 83. ^ See supra, p. 151.
3 See supra, p. 59. * See supra, p. 122.
5 /. ^., ajijid^ "abbess", a nickname, instead of Abba,
^ /. e., the man from Mount Zinai. See supra, p. 108, note 4.
"' See supra, p. i/gff. * ^^Ji^ a rare word.
9 /. ^., Ish6*-yahbh of Adiabene.
'° See supra, p. 1798".
248 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
time and in harvest, there is no profit to him that
toileth therein."' Now he' did not correct this dis-
course, and it continueth in its corrupt state. ^ And
this blessed man also died in this monastery.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
OF THE BLESSED MAR AHA, METROPOLITAN OF ARBELA,
[and head of the MONASTERY OF b£tH 'aBH6].
If now it be that the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, righteous men who
are dead, is the God of the living and not of the dead,
according to the testimony of the Divine Book,* inas-
* This appears to be the meaning of the text as it stands,
but see the two following notes.
^ /. e,, Thomas of Marga did not correct this passage.
Assemani translates: "NuUas eis (monachis suis) opes in terris
reliquit: et quoniam eas possidere maluerunt, en amisere omnia.
( Agros intelligit, quos eis Patres ipsorum legaverunt, Mar Jesuja-
bus, videlicet, et Mar Gregorius Catholici.) Prosequitur monachos
iterum sugillans: NuUus illis egentior; laborem nihilominus inu-
tilem patiuntur. (Ingressum nempe et exitum, sementem et
messem.) Hunc auctor hymnum, seu Carmen, haudquaquam
emendavit, et hactenus sine uUa correctione legitur." {B. 0., iii. i,
p. 462, col. I.).
3 Hoffmann would emend thus:
4 St. Matthew xxii. 32.
s
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXIV. OF MAR AHA. 249
much as the righteous live with Him and are not dead,
and for their sakes He keepeth the covenant, and
performeth grace, and sheweth care for the thousands
of generations, according to the word of the Lord,'
the righteous men of old, and the just men who came
after them, and the holy men who come last, are the
children of His kingdom, even as the living and life-
giving mouth of Jesus our God' maketh known, saying,
"Many shall come from the east, and from the west,
and" from the south, and from the north, and shall sit
down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the king-
dom of God."^
Now in respect of the fatherhood of the holy Mar
Jacob, we may see that the promise of the word of
the Lord was fulfilled, [p. 115] For although he worked
and laboured and strove in all the various works of
the ascetic life, and loaded to the full the ship of his
own person [with] all manner of riches and sent it forth
to heaven that it might enjoy its good things in the
times of need, he nevertheless raised up governors of
all those who have been and who will be imitators of
him in the place of his dwelling, and of his manner
of life, namely, these holy men whose histories up to
the present we have been shewing forth. Now among
these was this marvellous and holy Mar Aha, this glory
of ascetics, and object of praise of [spiritual] shepherds,
this canon of all beauty of those who hold the five
' Exodus XX. 6.
* We should expect to read ^ ^oauA "of Jesus our Lord".
On this point see Badger, Nestoriaus, vol. ii, p. 36. The ex-
pression 'Jesus our God" naturally suggests a Monophysite
writer. See Wright, Catalogue^ p. 262, col. 2, No. 5.
3 St. Luke xiii. 29.
11
250 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
talents ^ this wise and faithful steward of the kingdom
of heaven, this holder of the keys of the height and
the depth by the bestowal from on high of the Spirit
of God, concerning whom I will relate a few things.
Now although his birth in respect of the body took
place in the village of Awakh, in the district of Talana,^
in the country of Marga, yet, like the prophet Jeremiah, ^
whom the Lord set apart to know the marvellous acts
which were about to be made manifest by Him, in his
bodily presence, and in the physical form of his limbs,
God honoured him, and made him glorious and to be
admired. Hail to the beauty of the beautiful who are
made exceedingly beautiful by the Lord! Seth* be-
came beautiful by the glory of his creation and renew-
ed the glory of Adam^ his father; Joseph was beauti-
ful,^ and all the hateful things [which he endured] did
not mar his beauty; the beauty of Moses^ made him
great, and with it the Lord smote and made a mock
* St. Matthew xxv. 16.
^ All the MSS. have Ai^, but see the Syriac text p. 155. 18,
and Hoffmann, Ansziige, p. 202.
3 Thomas of Marga is probably quoting some apocryphal
book.
*> Compare "Seth the beautiful." Book of the Bee, ed. Budge,
p. 27, text p. 29, 1. 9.
5 There is a reference to the marvellous beauty of Adam in
the **Cave of Treasures" (ed. Bezold, p. 12). *'And God formed
Adam with His holy hands, in His own image and likeness.
And when these angels saw his glorious appearance, they were
moved at the beauty of his form" .>^*aA ^vo^^^a ^?;^ ;o^2 o»\a\o
dpJox ^ oy^fNNl »U*>jax aits$J^ ^A^ x^^ o*^ ?ao ,aiSoio> ^ oiDeS^n
^' Compare nfeJ^D HD^l "^Wlh'ng^^ Genesis xxxix. 6.
7 Compare 8^n D1tD"^3 Exodus ii. 2.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXIV. OF MAR AHA. 25 1
of the Egyptians; the beauty of David' used to drive
away the wicked spirit from Saul, and the beauty of
Daniel* and his companions quenched^ the flame and
stopped* the mouth of the lions: not only with the
beauty of the body, but with two-fold and double
beauty, for to the visible and apparent beauty which
nature had given them, and which grace had bestowed
upon them, [p. ii6] they united also that of the soul
and mind which is prepared for the will of God.
Thus also was it in the case of this governor [Mar
Aha] concerning whom my feeble discourse is about to
speak. And thus have I heard from those who recount
his glorious deeds, that together with the splendour of
his acts and the glorious brilliance of his doctrine, he
shone with the radiant beauty of a fine stature and a
noble presence, and he was also born of believing and
God-loving parents. Now this village of Awakh was
very famous for its fear of God, and concerning its
church it is said that there were seventy priests in it
at one time. And it came to pass that the blessed
Mar Aha and another brother called Shubhhil-Maran
were left orphans, for their father died when they were
little children, and the believing woman their mother
brought them up until they arrived at years of dis-
cretion; and they went forth from their village and
came with their mother to Shalmath, a village of
Saphsapha,^ and entered the school there. And they
were maintained [there] by the labour and care of the
' Compare '•«h nitD^ D^.r» H^^DJ? '•^1Dn« t^\7\] i Samuel xvi. 12.
' Compare ntfa -^wn?^ 31tt m^^yi Daniel i. 15.
3 Read ^p. « Read &&&>•
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 223.
252 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
venerable woman their mother, who is worthy of
remembrance for good, and they studied Divine doctrine ;
and that power which protected the beauty of Joseph
and Moses in Egypt and of Daniel in Babylon, protected
the beauty of the blessed Mir Aha from temptations.
And when they had come to the estate of manhood
they two came and made themselves disciples in this
monastery. Now the time in which nature had brought
them into existence, was, according to what is said, a
time of scarcity of food. And when they had laboured
in the monastery' and had gone forth into cells, they
brought to themselves the venerable old woman their
mother, who had toiled during her widowhood and who
had worked with her hands and reared them, by whose
counsels their youth had been guarded from wanton-
ness, and through whose care they had become learned
in the Holy Scriptures, and they rewarded her with
natural love in the manner which was her due,' [p. 1 1 7]
and until the day of her death she was never separated
from them, neither were they neglectful in ministering
unto her. Now while Rabban Mar Aha wrote books,
his brother Shubhhil-Miran was a book-binder.^ And
Rabban Mir Aha grew and increased and became
exalted in the deeds of a pious life, which are per-
fected in the body^ and the soul by those who are
ascetics in very truth. And he subdued the passions,
and purified the senses, and enlightened the movements
* /. e., had passed through the period of labour in serving
the community which was prescribed by the canons of mon-
astic life. See B. 0. iii. 2. p. 858.
' N*;fauȣi^, a rare word.
^ $oa\^. ^ Read ;iC2i^>.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXV. OE MAR AHA. 253
of the mind, and that word which one of the holy men
wrote was in very truth fulfilled in him, "Now in the
time of youth doctrine groweth up together with the
soul and is mingled with it. And it dwelleth in silence
for a long time working in the two parts, [that is] in
the spirit and in the body, according to the ordinance
of the fathers. By its labour in the body it giveth to
the needy, and receiveth strangers, and by the things
of the spirit it shineth and enlighteneth." And he was
directed and was guided [until]' necessity drove him
to the headship of the monastery and he drew near
to subdue it.
CHAPTER XXXV.
OF THE ELECTION OF THE BLESSED MAN MAR AHA TO
THE HEADSHIP OF THIS HOLY CONGREGATION.
Now when the blessed Mar John, the head of the
monastery who preceded him, was elected to the epis-
copacy of the Apostolic throne of Beth Beghash,* and
this congregation remained without his fatherly care,
and without a man to succeed him and to stand at its
head, Mar Aha knew that the election to the headship
by all the brethren was ready to fall upon him; and
he left his cell, and hid himself secretly in the mon-
astery^ for many days. [p. Ii8] And when [the conse-
cration of] the blessed John was completed by Selibha-
Zekha the Patriarch, he came here; and when he asked
" Read ojft^ ^. ^ See supra, p. 236, note 2.
3 Read ^su.
254 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
concerning Mir Aha, and they* said, "He has fled",
he adjured his brother Shubhhal-Maran to find him
wherever he was. And the brethren went to seek
him, and they brought him out of the secret place' in
which he had hidden himself, and thus by the ordinance
of Mar John, and at the entreaty of the whole brother-
hood, the blessed Mar Aha, who was beautiful in
appearance and beautiful in mind, stood at the head
of the planets, the children of the angel of light. Mar
Jacob. And he walked in all the modest manner of
life which befits the humble, without ever thinking
within his pious and lowly soul that he was the head
and governor of the monastery. And while he entrust-
ed to others the business of the management of the
internal affairs of the monastery, and of going to the
gate of princes, he himself, according to the custom of the
other governors who were before him, sat quietly in
the patriarchal chamber. And according to the tradi-
tion of his uncle, ^ there used to be sent to him each
evening from the refectory, one single kind of food,
without much water in it, and it was not even prepared
specially for him, for it consisted of ordinary bread and
a little onion with some water. And thus the ship of
his humility travelled on, with a guiding wind blowing
and with its swift sails* bellied out, and it flew on and
passed through all the storms which sink ships and
' Read ei^ie.
" i^ a hiding place. In Brit. Mus. MSS. Or. 2441, fol. 136^,
col. I, and Rich 7203, fol. 56^, col. 2, and in Hoffman, Syrisc/i-
Arabische Glosseti, Kiel, 1874, p. 166, No. 4365. pi^^
3 Read 9r.?b>. * ^ii = dfpiievov.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXV. OF MAR AHA. 255
destroy wealth without regard. And the venerable old
men, who received it from their masters, have told us
that when he came into the congregation ,* and stood
at the head of the rows [of monks], from the begin-
ning of the service until it was ended, he neither lifted
up his eyes nor looked upon any man, but that from
the beginning until the last *Amen' he kept his eyes
continually bent down to the ground In front of his
feet, and upon the top of the sandals in which they
were. And he made his passions submissive slaves,
and he brought them under the yoke of order from
the time that he was a novice; [p. 119] and he made
his soul to possess good habits, so that not even be-
tween himself and his soul, did he make free with his
body, even as his master Abba Isaias' commanded
him. And thus all the time in which he ministered
in the office of head, the sons of his congregation were
in need of no teaching, for the holy sight of his person
sufficed, as in the case of that brother who, together
with many others, used to go to Abba Antonius^ each
' Read ^mk^^.
* /. e., Isaias of Scete, who was a contemporary of the two
Macarii, Poemen, Sisoes, Paphnutius and many other famous
ascetics who lived at the end of the IVth century of our era.
See Tillemont, Memoires Eccles,, VII. p. 194, col. 2; Cotelerius,
Eccles, Graec. Monumental t. i. pp. 445, 596, 801, 808; Wright,
Catalogue of Syriac MSS,, vol. ii. pp. 458—465; Assemani,
B. 0., ill. I, p. 46, col. 2. The Isaiah referred to and quoted
so often by Palladius was the brother of Paesius, and both were
the sons of a merchant who carried on business in Spain Jb
;*4i&jb ;ooT a\fr^(s»p :;a\<s ^m^ ;m\; one brother gave all his wealth
to the poor, and the other employed his in founding and endow-
ing a monastery.
•> /. e,, Anthony the Great. See supra, p. 30.
256 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
year to see him. And when Abb4 Antonius asked him,
while all the other brethren were asking questions and
gaining instruction, saying, *'My son, how long hast thpu
been coming to me thus? and why dost thou depart
in silence.'*" that brother said to him, "It is sufficient
for me, O father, to see thee, that is to say the sight
of thee maketh me wise, and [teacheth me] to emulate
thy manner of life." Even so did this our holy father
become a mirror of divine beauties to all those round
about him, and while the eyes of all his children in
this congregation were looking upon him, heavenly
splendour filled his person like that of an angel. And
they too became benefited, and their minds were quieted,
and they became wise by [following] his holy example.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
OF THE ELECTION OF THE HOLY MAR AHA, THE HEAD OF
THIS "MONASTERY, TO THE OFFICE OF METROPOLITAN.
Now when our all blessed father Rabban Mkr Aha
•
had excelled in these and such like things, and had
led this holy congregation towards heaven for many
years, the blessed Mar John our Metropolitan, [p. 1 20]
forsook the habitation with creatures of dust, and was
united with and rested among the companies of spiritual
beings; and in a good old age, and [after] a life of
Apostolic deeds he was gathered to his fathers. Now
certain people who w^ere chief among the believers of
Adiabene, namely, the dahkane^ and noblemen, having had
* ;jiao7?, more correctly ^007?. Dihkan is the Arabic form
of an earlier daliyankana. Compare the Armenian dehkan
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXX VL AI A THE METROPOLITAN. 257
experience of the piety of the life of the divine man
Mar John the Metropolitan, and having also received
by tradition from their fathers concerning the holy
Mcir Isho'-yahbh,' and the blessed Mar George, "^ and
the excellent Simon,^ men who had become Metropolitans
over them from this holy monastery, were compelled
with all the force of necessity to consider that stead-
fast shepherds had in all generations and in all times
been appointed to them from [this] paternal congregation.
And because they had elected Mar John from this mon-
astery, they decided with one accord, saying, "So far
as it is possible for us we will not have a head^ over
the governor of a province.' In the KamQs (ed. Bulak A. H.
1303, t. IV. p. 221) ^^\lJi^>^\ is explained by ^:^^\ f^^^ ^)
4,yti ^>J\ JJ^;^^ Plurf l^liS, and c^\j^>. The difikan,
then, were a class of noble landed proprietors. See Hoffmann,
Auszugey note 1900, p. 239; Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser,
p. 446f.; Bedrossian, New English and Armenian Diet, ^ Venice,
1 87s — 79, p. 138, col. I; and Lagarde, Armenische Studien,
p. 43, no. 603 (in Abhandlungen der Historisch-Philologischen
Classe der KonigUchen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaft zu Got-
iingen. Band XXIL). According to Mas udi, Wahkert {Cj/^^)
was the first man who bore the title of dilikan, ^^jUtt^j^, and
the v^^ybb^ were divided into five classes, each of which wore
its own distinctive garments. See Les Prairies d*Or, ed. Barbier
de Meynard, tom. ii. p. 241. From Thomas of Marga we learn
that they paid tribute to the Shahrighan their superiors ^30^
^fjnm^ ^ ^a dJbtae ^fo\3e WsmmM ;^&fa ^o^id 0007 ^oAx Book iii,
chap. 3 (Syriac text), p. 152.
* See supra, p. 131. ^ See supra , p. 179, note 5.
^ See supra, p. 217.
^ Reading ^ii'xi from ;u9. Compare Lagarde, Praetcrmissorum,
t
(Bar-Hebraeus on the Psalms) p. 164, 1. 89; ^\^ ^NoiauS ^ ^atsi
Duval, Lexicon Syriacum, col. 344; Cat, BibL Vat., t. iii, p. 354.
kk
258 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
US except from among the congregation of the children
of Rabban Jacob." And they went down to the holy
father of fathers, Mar Abha the Catholicus/ and brought
a letter of prohibition* of the blessed Rabban Mar Aha,
and thus he was of sheer necessity obliged to go down
and receive the consecration^ to the great work of
the Metropolitanship of the countries of Athor* and
Adiabene. And when he came up to his country the
believing men of his diocese received him as an angel
of light, and as the Apostle Simon Peter. And they
found the head whom they had chosen for themselves
exceeded by far all the expectation which they had
formed of him in their minds, both in great and in
glorious things, and in learning and in the sanctity of
his life.
* /. €,, Mar Abha sumamed opua^^^ aa, Bar-berikh Sebh-
yaneh, from Kashkar. He was the second Nestorian patriarch
of that name and succeeded Phethion A. D. 740; he died
A. D. 750 aged one hundred and ten years, and was buried
in Seleucia. He was a learned man, and skilled in the know-
ledge of ecclesiastical works, and he is said to have passed all his
time in reading books, ^007. ^s^ 3^^? ^a^aa ogat 0^0 See Bar-
Hebraeus, Chrotu Eccles,, ii. col. 153. According to 'Abhd-Jsho
he wrote a '*Book on Generals, and Commentaries and Inter-
pretations full of learning" ;»\'&on fi^ ^07010 A^'.\Syg>ip ^^^
.j&^\, A^oe ««Ato See B, (?., iii. i, p. I53f
"" ;i2ik»— KU)Xuai?=dqpopi(y^6g«dKOivujvri(yia. See Hoffmann,
Verhandlungen der Kirchefiversammlung zii Epiiesiis am XXIL
August CDXLIXaiis einer Synschen Handschrift, p. 92, note 146,
p. 97, note 263, (in Scliriften der Universitcit zu Kiel^ Band XX,
published by the Academia Christiana Albertina of Kiel).
^ ;idva*a =- X^ipoTOvia «= ;k*i ^ufi>.
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ pp. 182, 2ioff.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXVII. OF MAR ISHO-YAHBH. 259
[P. 121] CHAPTER XXXVII.
OF THE HOLY MAR ISHO'-YAHBH THE HEAD OF THE
MONASTERY.
And when the blessed Mar Aha left the headship
of the monastery, and was exalted from glory to glory,
and passed from strength to strength, according to the
[words of the] Book [of Psalms], ' he ordained that the
blessed Rabban Isho^-yahbh should be his successor,
and that he should be the guardian of this holy con-
gregation in his stead. And finally, after many years,
after the death of the holy and pious man, the good
servant of Jesus Christ our Lord, Mar Abraham, Bishop
of Nineveh, Isho'-yahbh, the head of our monastery,
was made Bishop of the city of Nineveh ' by the hands
of Mar Ahi; and concerning this Mar Isho'-yahbh I
will relate many things at the end [of this history].
* Psalm Ixxxiv. 7.
^ /. e,, of Mosul, ( J^'^1, the place where two things join
or meet) the town on the left bank of the Tigris opposite to
the mound called Kouyunjik, which marks part of the site of
ancient Nineveh. ^J 'iXs^> ,^ ^^ *r?.i4^ ^'^.^ ^^'^ J*-^^^
^y^ iX..J^ ^^\ ^i\ y^\ ^ J^_^*\ iJU*^ ^^\ l^U.
Geographie cFAboulfeda ed. Reinaud and Mac Guckin de Slane,
p. 285. See also Yakut iv, p. 682 f. An interesting account
of this town is given by Ibn-Batutah (ed. Defrcmery and San-
guinetti ii. p. I34f.), and for modern writers on Mosul and its
district see Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, and
on the site of ancient Nineveh, vol. ii, p. 29 ff.; Felix
Jones, Notes on the Topography of Nineveh, in Selections from
the Records of the Bombay Government, No. XLIII. New
Series, p. 404 ff.; Sandreczki, Reise nach Mosul, Zweiter Theil
26o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
OF THE MIRACLE WHICH THE BLESSED MAR AHA WROUGHT.
Now if we who are under the yoke of government
judge ourselves, we shall not be judged by those who
hold the reins of government; and if we are obedient
to their good counsels, and to their wise commands,
Justice will not sharpen the sword of its vengeance
against us. If, however, we tread these under foot we
prepare ourselves for severe punishment. And how
does this apply here? Now there was in Adiabene a
man who had transgressed by a notorious' sin which
it is not necessary for me to set down here; [p. 122]
and the eye witnesses ' and those who had been injured
in the matter having come, they brought their accusa-
tion against him to that wise head while he was sitting
in the temple. And according to the express canon,
"A man is innocent in his own judgment, but when
his companion cometh he trieth him," he sent after the
offender, and rebuked him gently, saying, "If thou hast
committed this offence, confess it, and thou wilt be
Stuttgart, 1857; Sachau, Retse in Syrien und Mesopotamien,
p. 341 ff.; Cernik, Technische Studien- Expedition durch die Ge-
Mete des Euphrat und Tigris^ [forming nos. 44, 45 of Peter-
mann's Geographische7i MittheilungeUy (Erganzungsheften)], Gotha,
1875; Layard, Nineveh and Babylon^ and Fletcher, Notes frmn
Nineveh, London, 1850.
^ iU^^ In Brit. Mus. MS. Rich 7203 fol. 162^, col. i,
and Orient. 2441, fol. 348^, col. i, U^=^l^^*^, and iL^ and
^ vA*2p ?tSiiii%» el ^aV^& e2 ^^m** ^oui »o70ts*2 oSib aap ^uV^aib
^i^dts^a Brit. Mus. MS. Orient. 2441, fol. 348^, col. 2.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXVIII. AHA WORKS A MIRACLE. 26 1
accepted by God in repentance, if thou desirest ;" now
as he disputed the matter his accusers reproached him,
but neither at their testimony nor at the admonition
of the holy man was he ashamed. And the Metro-
politan answered and said to him, **Inasmuch as thou
wilt persist in remaining unpersuaded, and art no more
put to shame by us than thou art by other men, let
the Lord take vengeance upon thee for thy sin." And
he cursed him, saying, "I trust in our Lord who hath
made us servants of this pasture, and hath given us
power that every thing that we bind or loose in heaven
and in earth shall be bound or loosed, that if thou art
guilty, thou shalt receive the penalty which thou deserv-
est; but that if, on the contrary,* thou art innocent,
thou shalt be preserved free from *harm.** And hardly
were the words from the mouth of the holy man ended,
when the plastering" of the ceiling of the temple fell
down cubit by cubit upon the head of that wretched
man; and thus being exposed and made a mockery of
he fell down in the temple in the presence of the holy
man and of a large congregation, and his soul left him
and departed. And fear fell upon every man at the
words of the blessed man Mar Aha.
* Read s^iLJo.
^ ;U9\, a rare word.
J
P, i2t CHArTEX XXTCX.
HA'trZS TO Tl'tZ ilX^rTD -*^M' H . LV I^'j?. Ai A, AXD OF
ir.'.v KF -ii VLi/ e:o h:^ litz. a:v^ 'TvriZKZ^ re sh: vld
1^ #■ !•• *• ♦ ■
Now, according to the word of Mar Xysras,' '•God
loveth the soul of the righteous man, and showeth
plainly in his mind what is, and what is about to be;"'
and again, *'The soul of the righteous man is betrothed
to God, and the soul of the righteous man seeth God,
in that it bears itself before Him, according to His
will" ^ Even thus to the soul of the holy Mar Aha,
the vigorous worker of His will, did He reveal the
measure of his life, and the place of his death, and
the place where he should rest; and he constrained his
* Bishop of Rome from A. D. 432 — 440. See Butler, Lives
of the Saints, Mar. 28; and B. O., iii. i, p. 48.
^ See Gildemeister, Sexti Senteutiarum recensiones Latinant
Graecatn Syriacas conjunctim exhibuit^ Bonn, 1873. The Syriac
text has been published by Lagarde, Analecta Syriaca^ Leipzig,
1858.
^ Sapientis anima deo aptatur a deo. ipuxn aoqpoO dp^62l€Tai
irpo^ 0€6v. Sapientis anima semper intuetur deum. (del Geov
6p^.) Sapientis anima semper est cum deo (auveanv del Geiu).
See Gildemeister, Sexti Sententiarum, pp. 70, 71, N0S416 — 418.
In Lagarde, Analecta, p. 23, 1. 30, and p. 24, 11. i — 6, the
passage runs: — .jo^i &o^ ^o; l\n»*o .ao^tp p^ 01^ j^isb^ ;a^ ^s^
.JSML^ Im^l "fl^ ^'■HVffc't ^OUSfp 093a .jo^lp 0»nJ3^ >1>.itt\ ^\*f\ .>Af\i
fi^o^ jslia WtOAoa ^e2 ,^to ^e^2p .^^S^^^^la Itn^t^ ^&3 007a 09^
ooli Ota ;^ J9*a& ;e^A ^v^^a ^?f .ou^^ je^lp JZ^Im 9»3 ^0^2
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXIX. THE VISION OF AI A. 263
soul and added to the acts of his ascetic life. So then,
by the might of his prayers, I will write down the rest
of this history which is to follow, and I will show forth
to my supine companions those pillars of light [who]
went forth from this holy congregation, the histories
of whom have been allowed to fall into oblivion by
the slothful, (of whom I myself am one), and have not
been written down, and behold it is many many years
ago since thou, O beloved of his Lord, and friend of
His saints, Mar 'Abd-lsho', didst with all manner of
wrestlings and supplications require of me to set before
thee in writing those things which I had been accustomed
to sow in thine ears. But I was not* persuaded to do
this, for two reasons, firstly because [the writing of]
histories brings upon those who compose them severe
labour, and secondly because of the cessation from daily
work, and the constant urging of the mind [which is
necessary] to produce and bring forth into remembrance
the deeds and glorious acts [of holy men], which have
been laid up in its store house for a long time.
Now when [this Mar Aha] was a child and was
in the school of the village of Shalmath,' he saw a
dream in which he was clothed in the garments of
the priesthood, like a bishop, and was attired with
the mitre, ^ and held the episcopal staff. And he was
* Read :S. ^ See Hoffmann, Aus:;ugef p. 223.
^ iiltiA = q)aK€iuXiov "fascia qua caput involuebant olim
Saraceni." See Du Cange, Gloss. Script, Med. et Inf, Grae-
citatis, col. 1657. ^^^-^ is glossed in A by jk^, a word which
is explained in Brit. Mus. MS. Rich 7203, fol.(i8o^, col. 2, by
Jj»wX-U turban, the strip of cloth of which a turban is made,
and ^yvJLi^) head-cloth. In Orient 2441, fol. 371^, col. i, we
264 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
coming into the village as if he had journeyed thither
from a place some distance off, [p. 124] and because
of his weariness he sat down in the temple there.
And a man, exceedingly glorious, stood up above him,
and answered and said to him, "Behold, since thou
art weary and fatigued, rest thyself from thy labour
and trouble in this temple;" and taking the dress of
ministration off from him, he said to him, "Sleep now
until I call thee." Now in his youth he did not under-
stand this vision, but when he had received the office
of chief priest, he remembered the dream and meditated
upon it. And when Rabban Simon, the holy teacher
who finally became Bishop of Beth Beghash," was
building the temple of the village of Shalmath of stones
and lime, the holy Mar Aha came according to his
custom to visit that village like the others. And he
passed the night in the temple there, while it was yet
unfinished, and a vision was shewn unto him twice,*
the first time dimly, but the second time exceedingly
clearly; but what manner of vision it was I have never
learned. And on the morrow, when that holy teacher
went to him he asked, "How much hast thou spent
upon this temple i^'* and Mar Simon said, "I have sp^nt
so much and so much." Mar Aha said to him, "How
much more then, according to what the builders say.
have the same explanation with the addition of ^Us head-cloth,
5»^ veil, ;b»oib ( = ^bd oe; jUftdN = ^ V^j (Toubdpiov), and refe-
rence is made to the passage in Genesis xxxviii. 19, ^esjbi^
^9^;b3 fiVo,.o ^0x0 where ^ox = I^^HB. In the Book of Para-
dise ;^ox = ^^ a napkin "which Roman ladies wound round
their heads.*' See the quotation in Payne Smith, Thes,, col.
2442.
' See supra, p. 236, note 2. ^ Read ^t ^"Sn.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XXXIX. THE VISION OF AHA. 265
will be required to finish iti*" and he said to him, "So
much." And Mar Aha brought out the money fi"om his
purse, and gave to him, and answered and said, "It
hath been pointed out to me by the Lord that I shall
end my transitory life in this temple, and that it shall
be to me a place of rest until the revelation of our
Lord." And the teacher answered joyfully* and said
to him, "Thou hast announced exceedingly joyful tidings
to me, that in this temple which is built by us both,
we shall [both] be buried' until the day of the reve-
lation of the Raiser of the dead." [p. 125] The Metro-
politan said to him, "Not so, for thou buildest, but I
shall inherit." Rabban Simon said to him, "How?" The
Metropolitan said, "There is another temple in which
thou shalt be buried, viz., in the Monastery of Bai,^
which is in the country of Beth Beghash, for thou
shalt be appointed bishop by the governor who shall
come after me, and there shalt thou finish the allotted
course of thy life." And thus did it come to pass
according to the word of the holy Mar Aha, for after
his death* the blessed Maran-ammeh, Bishop of Salakh,
succeeded him, and he made Mar Simon Bishop of
Beth Beghash; and after three years he ended his life,
and was laid in the church of Bai, the seat of the
Bishops of Beth Beghash. Now I learned these things
from Rama, an old and venerable deacon of the church
of the village of Shalmath, and from Mar fsho'-zekha,
him of whom we have written previously,^ who was
' fiy;U^. ^ Reading with Vat. ;aL>fia.
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 227, and supra, p. 236, note 2.
^ The last few lines of this chapter are quoted in B. O,, iii. i,
p. 481, col. 2.
5 Chapter XXXII. see supra, p. 241.
11
266 THOMAS OF MAUGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
consecrated Metropolitan of the church of Salakh by
Mar John, who died in peace, and in whose room Mar
Aha appointed another, Mar Maran-'ammeh.
CHAPTER XL.
OF ABBA HANANYA, WHO ATE VEGETABLES AND PASTURED
WITH ANIMALS, AND WHO LIVED IN THIS MONASTERY IN
THE TIME OF THE HOLY MAR AHA.'
Now I came to this holy monastery when I was a
young man,' in the two hundred and seventeenth year
of the era of the dominion of the Arabs, [before any]
of these histories had been written by me.^ And I
used to listen to the histories of certain of the holy
men, and by reason of the fervour which burned in
me I used to make enquiries concerning them, [p. 126]
and to learn about each one of them from the old men
who were to be found here. Now therefore the vener-
' The first seven lines of this chapter are quoted in B, 0., iii. i,
p. 464, col. I.
^ Read with Vat. »2 ^1^.
^ The words yj^ PV^ are corrupt, and should probably
be omitted. Assemani has ;xo&l» >9oduA^ j^a^^outo ^^^ jsua
boo ^ors f\^, but some word like p^ seems to be wanting
before ^07?. The words ^N^ao P^o^ may be part of a clause
in which Thomas stated in years of the Christian era how long
ago it was that he came to Beth 'Abhe, or began to write,
or we might even translate them "[about] two hundred and . . .
years ago." A. H. 217 =» A. D. 832. ;ionsSb^Gr\K[X}\i%reckomng,
era, Cf. \^^*^ ^sofiuto «» era of Alexander, and Aao ^soijuib «= era
of our Lord, and see the passages quoted in Payne Smith,
Thes,, col. 2719.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XL. HANANYA THE VEGETARIAN. 267
able elder Rabban Matthew/ who had had as master
a very old and venerable man whose name was Abba
Maran-zekha, and whose cell was, as I learned from
him, in the days of his youth near Gar Kahne, used
to say to me from time to time, "Come with me and
I will shew you the cave of Abba Maran-zekha ;" and this
same Rabban Matthew informed me concerning Rabban
Mar Isho'-zekh^, who became bishop of our native
country.* And when I was rehearsing before him the
wonderful things which had happened to us in Salakh
through him, not knowing that he had lived in this
monastery, he said to me, "This Bishop whose glorious
acts thou art relating, came from this monastery, and
his cell is in Gar K&hne. And he had near him in
Gar K&hne, in a little cave, a certain companion who
was surnamed *Abba Hananya of the wild goats.'
And according to what I learned from my venerable
* Compare chap. XXXII, supra, p. 240.
» /. €,, Salakh.
^ The ;lpbN^ or ;Jlb'x is the capra Caucasica described by
Ainsworth in Jnl. Geogr, Soc, 11. 27, which is sculptured at
Gunduk, and which I myself have seen many times near the
Sinjar mountains, and between Mosul and Al-K6sh. The Arabic
form of the word is ^^C> == ,^^^\ ^U\, and the Assyrian tu-ra-
hu. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, note 133, p. 18; Dozy, Supple-
fnent, col. 144; andNoldeke, Z.D.M.G^f'Qd. xxxiii. p.331. Tu-ra-hu
is the Assyrian rendering of the Accadian DA. RA. See Raw-
linson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, i. pi. 15, col. VII,
1. 6; ii. pi. 6, 1. 10^; iii. pi. 70, 1. Sij v. pi. 50, 1. 46^; Strass-
maier, Alphabetisches Verzeichniss ^ No. 9050, p. 1 116; and
Bruno, A Classified List, No. 2947, p. 139. Brit. Mus. MS.
Orient 2441, fol. 397^, col. i has (^J^^ cr?^ = ^3^5) -•** ^^^
.07 ^*o3N ''jackal" and ^31^2 l^^k^ .Ufkhts .07 ^Ib'tk. In Brit. Mus.
MS. Rich 7203, fol. 207^7, col. i ;Labi^ =« ^^^^yJ\.
268 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
master Maran-zekha, the life of his master was extended '
until he reached a very, very old age, and once a
week or fortnight he used to carry him [on his back]
as if he had been a bundle^ and bring him to partake
of the sacrament. And the manner of life of this old
man was, according to what I have learned, that he
had neither fence nor door [to his cell], nor a place
for retreat, nor anything, except that vegetable food^
upon which, with a little bread, of which he ate in
small portions and very sparingly,^ he lived. But like
the ostrich^ which hath neither nest, nor cover, and
which leaveth her eggs on the warm sand without care,
according to the natural instinct which the Creator of
the universe hath implanted in her, so also was the
life of that old man, [p. 127] worthy of all good things.
And at night while wandering in the wilderness, and
passing the night with wild animals on the tops of
the hills, by reason of his weariness and watching and
labour, he used to prepare a little place and to lie
down with them. Now the animals had had experience
* Read, with Vat., oa\i?.
^ ;&aA = 'ij^\, more correctly ;Naa. See Hoffmann, Syrisch-
Arabische Glossen, No. 4886, page igo.
3 ;46*d)ioN==;ii»»oN,= *\j<p morning meal, ^ c^^, cJ^\a> jo<>^>
Brit. Mus. MS. Rich 7203, fol. 198a, col. 2.
^ The reading of B C J&a^No is perhaps to be preferred here,
for it is connected either with }fb'^ demensum, (TiTOjiieTpiov (Lukexii.
42), or ;e&Ji See Payne Smith, Thes,, coll 3276, 3279; and
Bezold, Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie, Bd. ii. p. 46 ff.
5 More correctly yZai/. :^ =- D^iJT^S? Job xxxix. 13. In
Awsar Raze Bar-Hebraeus explains the word: — .^ ys^Ba. ^Ais^
BOOK 11. CHAPTER XL. I ANANYA THE VEGETARIAN. 269
of him and they did not flee away from him, as in
the case of that blessed man of whom it is written in
the [Book of] Paradise, "He prayed to God that the
beasts might be at peace with him, and it was so.""
And again, "He prayed that the fire might also be at
peace with him, and it was to him even as [he had
prayed]. And he used to gather sticks of wood, and
set fire to them, and go up and sit upon them."* For
when the heart of a holy man^ is cleansed from these
five kinds of sin, namely, the love of money, and glut-
tony, and the lust of the body, and anger, and pride,
these five brethren* who were with that rich man who
was stfffering tortures in hell, even as one of the saints
made the comparison,* all creation will be found to be
friendly to him, both irrational animals^ and noxious
reptiles; even as we may learn from the histories of
holy men, as for example, that of the blessed old man
Simon^ who was ministered unto by a lion; and that
anchorite in the history of the triumphant Mar Milles*
with whom a serpent lived, and whom it did not hurt,
who made the angels his companions and helpers. But
' For accounts of the lions who were friendly with Macarius,
the serpents who were at peace with Paul, and the hyaenas
among whom Pachon lived, see Rosweyde, Vitae Pat rum,
pp. 228, 650, and 732.
^ See Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, p. 469, col. i , about the middle.
^ Read ^?ii?.
'^ The allusion is to "For I have five brethren". St. Luke xvi. 28.
5 /. e., a comparison between the five brethren and the five
sins here named. ^ Read ^aLl&^o.
7 Probably the Simeon Priscus of Rosweyde, Vitae Patrtim,
p. 809.
® See B, 0., iii. i, p. 51, and compare Rosweyde, Vitae
Patrum, p. 39^.
270 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
why should I speak of angels since he was the abode
of the Trinity, the Lord of the worlds? Now this
blessed man, according to what we have learned, they
sustained' in this monastery, so that for the sake of
his love for God, he loved the food of animals and
their companionship and their habitations. And he was
also accustomed, according to what is said of him, each
morning, which was the season of the day in which
he took his food, [p. 1 28] to light a fire, and to boil water
and to pour it upon the roots and over the dry crusts
of bread with which he used to sustain his life. Now
this was his food, and this was the season of the day
in which he partook of it; but whether this was actually
the case or whether he did this wishing either to
conceal his manner of life or to be held of no account,
I have neither been able to understand, nor have those
who related this to me been able to decide. And his
neighbours being stirred up with anger and burning
with wrath, said, "How can this most aged man
lengthen out his life in prodigality?" Now from the
mere sight of the fire did they come to this conclusion,^
but of what his food consisted, and of what he had
within his cave they knew nothing. And every time
they came to the monastery^ they repeated their re-
' Read «*&39N^ 0^, the allusion being to the angels.
^ The offence of which this old man seems to hitve been
guilty in the sight of the other monks was that he ate a meal
cooked by fire in the morning. Strict monks ate once a day,
in the evening, and they believed that the passions of the body
could not be subdued if food were eaten oftener. Not under-
standing his manner of life they appear to have assumed that
he ate a meal both evening and morning, and coqsidering
this to be a bad example for the other monks they reported
the matter to Mar Aha. ^ Read ;^a:.^.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XL. HANANYA THE VEGETARIAN. 27 1
preaches against that old man and complained of him,
saying, "The proximity of this old man leadeth us
down and bringeth us to the depth of a lax and dis-
solute manner of life." And once, the holy Mar Aha the
Metropolitan having consented, they brought before him
an accusation against that holy old man, and he answered
and said to them, "Go ye after him and bring him
[here], but take heed that he doth not flee from you."
And when they heard this they leapt up [the moun-
tain] with light footsteps, and they came up with him
and laid their hands upon him, and one of them took
his turban, and threw it over his neck, while the others
pulled it down from behind,' saying in a scoffing
manner,* "O foolish old man, how long shall we bear
reproaches for thy sake.'* Didst thou-' not know that
justice would at length rise up in judgment against
thee? Hasten thy steps, for the judge awaiteth thee.'*
And without answering them a single word he drew
near and came to the spring which we call *Rabban's
Spring', [p. 129] and he saw round about it a flock
of wild goats, and he said to them, "Peace [be] with
you, O dwellers in the wilderness, children and com-
panions of my habitation! While we were living together
in peace ye did not deny my fellowship with you,
neither did ye set yourselves afar off from my com-
pany. Behold, I am justly taken captive by the righteous,
because like you, I eat my meal in the morning; now
since your [manner of] life^ and food is the same as
mine, come and let us go together to the judgment
^ /. e., one seized the old man's turban, unrolled it, and
threw it over his neck while the others dragged it down behind
like a cowl. "^ N*^«au0, a rare word.
3 Read fi^«^. * For fi:^ ^oi.
2/2 THOMAS OF MARG^, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
chamber, so that when the judge seeth that we are
many, he may spare us because of our number, for
it might happen that he would not shew mercy upon
one despised creature; come then in the name of the
Lord." Now while the brethren marvelled at these
words which were not those of a demoniac," and [saw]*
the animals, which came running towards him, lifting
up their feet and wagging their tails on all sides round
about him like dogs when they see their masters afar
off, surround^ that holy man, they let go their hands
from him, and entreated his pardon for what they had
thought; and when they had knelt down and prostrated
themselves before him and had risen up they could
not see him at all, and thus he passed out of their
hands, and where he went and where he died until
this day no man knoweth. And when the brethren
came to the Metropolitan in grief and sorrow and shame-
facedness of conscience which rebuked them, and made
known to him what had happened, he was exceedingly
angry with them, and he answered and said to them,
"While the other monks who were your predecessors
in the place in which ye live, made that holy old man
the type and pattern of all correctness of life, and took
refuge from all their trials and temptations in his prayers,
and were delivered, you who come after them, [p. 1 30]
and who dwell in the caves and desert of holy men,
hath Satan stirred up with a foolish and empty
zeal, that he may not allow you to look upon the
correct lives of holy men in a proper manner. It is
rather to the injury of your own souls and to the shame
of your understanding, that ye have bespattered pious
^ ^o»>, /. e., one possessed of a ;©•>, « 5iajiOViC6|Li€VO^.
'^ Read jfi^o^.^ ei^e. ^ Read .^ojeSa^;..
BOOK II. CHAPTER XLI. OF MARAN-ZEKHA. 2/3
and blessed men with blemishes. But God our Lord
wiD require of you the priceless pearl which ye have
destroyed out of this monastery by your error. More-
over ye ought to be ashamed of all this wickedness
which ye have wrought, in going to the place of the
little hut where he lived, and prying into the manner
in which he prepared his food. I, however, warned
you away from there, saying, Take heed that he doth
not escape out of your hands; and I urged him to
work many great and divine things before you to put
you to shame, the like of which no man has ever
wrought in our time."
CHAPTER XLI.
OF THE BLESSED mArAN-ZEKHA, BISHOP OF HADHATTA AND
of the bishop who pastured camels [whom he
found].
Now when the holy Metropolitan Mar Ahk was
sitting on the holy throne of the church of the city of
Hadhatta,* the pious and glorious and blessed Bishop
Maran-zekha, the disciple and fellow-worker of Rabban
Aphni-Maran, was accustomed on the holy days of the
fast' of our Lord to go out and pass them in silence
' fis^y SJ^jXlX. The site of this city is marked by Keshaf,
near Sultan *Abd*ullah, which is situated on the left or east
bank of the Tigris one farsah below the Upper or Great Zab.
^^^\ ^y^\ Yakiit ii. p. 222. See also Hoffmann, Auszugc,
p. 178; and Ritter, Erdkunde, ii, p. 665, note 2, and p. 669.
^ See Feige, Die Geschichte des Mar *Abkdiskd\ p. 57.
mm
274 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
in the mountain of the village of Zinai." [p. 131] And
once when he was journeying along the road to that
mountain, he saw the figure of a man standing on the
top of a hill with his face turned towards the east;^
and as he drew near to it, — now he was to the west
of that person, — he heard him raising^ [his voice] in
the hymn of the Resurrection from the Communion
Service of the First day of the week,* which beginneth,
"Come all ye peoples, let us move our lips," and little
by little he went up and came close to him. And
Maran-zekha, before he perceived that man, wondered
how this 5 pasturer of camels was able to sing this
hymn which was so difficult that^ not every man was
capable of singing it, and where he had learned^ it.
And when the holy Maran-zekha saw him he marvelled,
and cried out in the customary way, "Peace" ; but that
blessed man answered him in Arabic,® speaking in
barbarous^ language, wishing to disguise himself. And
* A village which cannot have been very far from Hadhatta.
It is mentioned supra, p. 108.
^ On worshipping towards the East see Badger, The Nes-
(oriaiis, vol. ii. p. 413.
3 ;I&o^ jB^ means to sing, to praise. Cf Hoffmann, Opus-
cula Nestoriana, p. 93, line 2ff., where oafi)s=o-4;k; and our
English use of the words "raise the song" in '*Come, ye thankful
people, come, Raise the song of Harvest-home." Hymns Ancietit
a?td Modern, No. 382, London 1875.
4 /. e,, the service for the holy Eucharist on Easter Sunday.
The lesson for the day is taken from the XXVIIIth chap, of
St. Matthew. See Brit. Mus. Add. 17, 923, fol. 92 «, (Wright,
Catalogue, p. 184, no. 65), and B, 0,, iii. ii. p. CCCXXXII.
5 Read ;io;J^?. ^ Read o^?.
7 Read with BC .aA:. « fi^Ai-
9 ;fb^ a word used to express indistinct and hasty speech
ip^x*o ^JXXJL\ In Psalm cxiv. i. \t> D» — ^oi^ l^-
BOOK II. CHAPTER XLI. OF MARAN-ZEKHA. 275
Bishop M^ran-zekha fell down before him and affirming
with oaths, said, "I will not rise up until thou dost
promise me that thou wilt not hide from me who thou
art;" and straightway the pasturer of camels said angrily
to him in Arabic, "Rise up, master, what hast thou to
do with me? depart in peace from my place."' And
Mar Maran-zekha protested to him with an oath, saying,
"If thou shouldst kill me I will not rise up until thou
tellest me thy history. If thou art an Arab* as thou
sayest [by thy speech], where didst thou learn this
hymn of the Resurrection of our Lord which very few
men are found to have ability enough to sing? and
why were thy arms and face turned towards the east?"
And when that holy man heard these things, and saw
that he had been snared by his singing the hymn and
the oath which that holy man had laid upon himself,
he answered and said to him, "Swear to me, yea or
nay, that if I do this I shall not be honoured in thine
eyes, and that thou wilt not come to me continually,
[p. 132] and that thou wilt send nothing to me." Now
this he said knowing that he should speedily depart
from this world as soon as any man perceived him.
And he answered, saying, "Behold, Master, forty years
ago I was appointed Bishop of the Scattered who were
in the land of Egypt. ^ And when I had ministered in
;ji!>a4i=^^ *«an Arab". Compare Hoffmann, Opuscula
Nesiorianuy p. 95, line 6, and see Thomas of Marga, p. 133,
1. 17 (text).
3 AH the MSS. read ^s^ao? ;ii;3, but it is very doubtful if
Thomas of Marga refers to Egypt, where rain Is not expected
to fall regularly. Hoffmann thinks it more probable that the
jDOAtt&sp jsoa or country round about Damascus is referred to,
276 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
this office a short time, a scarcity of rain took place
there, and I gathered together the believers, and I
went forth [with them] to the desert to make suppli-
cation and entreaty to God. And those Arabs who
dwell in tents came and surrounded me, and while
every one else escaped, I remained because I thought
that they would do me no harm; and they took me
captive and brought me to their tents, and appointed
me to be the shepherd of these camels which thou
seest. And since I have determined" that this [work]
is the will of our Lord, and also that it does not in
anything separate me from a life of purity, and I am
not brought in contact with them [t\ e., the Arabs],
but am alone by myself in the desert, I praise God
continually, and I remember that many of the saints
were shepherds, and I am comforted. And as for this
hymn which thou didst hear to-day, behold I am ac-
customed each day to perform the service of one
festival of the Lord, and to watch, and to-day I per-
formed the service of the Resurrection of our Lord,
and I lifted up my voice in the hymn as if I had been
standing in the temple before the altar of our Lord.
And now, behold, for forty years I have been as thou
for we know that the Nestorians who were scattered about
there had a bishop. See B. (9., iii. i, p. 107, col. i; and iii.
ii. p. CCCCXXXI. Or ^^? i^&^? may be a corruption of
^i^ fi^a.^Mp = c^,r^ »t*^> five farsah south-west of Aleppo, to
the west of Kinneshrin and north of Idlib. See Wright, Cata-
logue of Syriac MSS,, fol. 126^; and Noldeke, Zur Topographic
und Gescliichte des Damascenischcfi Gebietes und der Hauran-
gegend, (in Z.D.M.G., Bd. XXIX, p. 420 ff.) where the list of
places mentioned in Add. 14,602 is discussed.
' Literally, "I have set it down."
BOOK II. CHAPTER XLI. OF MARAN-ZEKHA. IJJ
seest me, and our Lord hath protected me from
all evil, and [the Arabs] have accounted me as one of
their elders and as one of their brethren, because they
found me upright and obedient. And I have received
from them no compulsion to sin in any way; and I
wait for the end of my life, which shall be completed
according to the will of the Lord/' Now when the
holy Maran-zekha heard these things, he wondered
greatly and marvelled, [p. 133] and he was moved to
tears, and that [other] holy man wept in company
with him. And he answered and said to him. '^Master,
I will go back and bring money (ziiztf and will give
it [to thee] for thy deliverance, for I cannot leave thee
in this ignominious and lowly condition." And that
blessed man said to him, "Depart in peace to thy
manner of life and to thy quietness. Mar Bishop, and
disturb not thyself with any of these things; for if
during the whole period of the time which has gone
by, I had wished either to escape or to sell myself,
I could have done it. And moreover, this [work] in'
which I am [occupied] is the will of God." And he
urged the Bishop, saying, "Go in peace; and on Palm
Sunday when thou goest down from the mountain to
thy city, thou shalt come to me and shalt see me."
And when the Bishop went again at dawn on the
Sunday aforesaid, he saw a man in the place of that
man, and thinking that it was he, he went up to him.
And when he had seen him and saluted him, he asked
him, "Where is the old man who pastured these camels
^ For the Babylonian original of this word see Bezold,
Oriental Diplomacy, p. 88, London, 1893.
* Read op? Or instead of *'work" we may understand
"station" or "position in life."
278 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
a short time ago?" And he said to him, "He is dead/'
And the Bishop was grieved with a great and bitter
grief, and said to him, "When?" and he said to him,
"During these [last] days." And the Bishop took a
turban cloth from his body and gave to the man,
saying, "Take this, and go and shew me his grave, for
I am his friend." And when he had gone with him
and saw the grave afar off, the Bishop made the Arab
leave him, saying, "Go now to thy camels," so that
he might have the opportunity to weep. And he
sat down upon the grave, and wept bitterly, like the
widow who had buried her only son,^ and he said,
"Alas, my brother; alas, my brother! Why didst thou
hide thy departure from me, and why didst thou not
permit me to enjoy the sight of thee, but didst send
me away from thee as the blessed Paul sent away
Abba Antonius?"* And the blessed Maran-zekha rose
up and went to Hadhatta, and kept the festival of
Palm Sunday according to custom.
[p. 1 34] And on the second day of the week he invited
the assembly of the priests, and many believers, and
said unto them, "Come, let us go to the desert and
bring from there Elijah; come with me to the wilder-
' Luke vii. 12.
'"■ The allusion here is to Saint Paul, the First Hermit, (see
supra, p. 30) who, when he felt that the time of his death was
drawing near, sent off Antony to fetch the cloak which Atha-
nasius, Bishop of Alexandria, had given him, in order that his
body might be wrapped therein for burial. Paul wished to be
left alone in prayer with God when the summons came. While
Antony was on his road to bring the cloak he saw the soul
of the blessed Paul being carried up to heaven by angels. See
Butler, Lives of the Saints, vol. i. p. 185, Jan. 15, London 181 2.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XLI. OF MARAN-ZEKHA. 279
ness that ye may see John the Baptist; come with me
and I will give you a holy body more excellent than
[those of] the prophets." Now when they had gone
forth in fear with that holy man their Bishop, and had
arrived at the place where the grave was, they began
to say the prayers and the service for any dead per-
son.' And when they had performed the service of
the dead for a whole day and the night which followed
it, they began to dig up and uncover the grave, but
they did not find that holy body. Now they found
two woollen cloths,^ one which formed the clothing
which he put on, and the other the covering with
which he covered himself [at night], but he himself hath
disappeared unto this day; and in all sorrow they took
these garments and went away having put the earth
of the grave back in its place. Hail to this pair of
holy men, for behold [this] our history is sanctified by
the account of them, and our simple speech by their
* For the use of ^a^h^ in this sense see Payne Smith, TAes.,
col. 3292. And see Wright, Catalogue of Syr. MSS., p. 257,
col. I, No. 49; and p. 275, col. 2, No. 4, "The Commemoration
of any one Saint" ^^00*0 a^ ^p.
^ 3lZA\ /. ^., two large pieces of plain or coloured cloth, one
of which wrapped around him served for clothes by day, and
the other formed the counterpane under which he slept at night.
According to Dozy, {Supplement , ii. p. 90) iU*, or islX^ is,
properly speaking, the name of a kind of stuff. Compare
jit***^, the name of a stuff woven by the Arabs, or a large
piece of woollen stuff used both as a blanket and mantle. (Dozy,
Supplement, ii. p. 468). I have often seen the shepherds in
Mesopotamia wearing these large pieces of sheep's wool cloth,
and I have oflen been glad to borrow one from a member of
a caravan to sleep under during the night. For a couple of
hours they are proof against heavy rain.
28o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
glory ! [Hail to] this venerable yoke of holy men which
beareth upon its two shoulders the history of the holy
M4r Aha their fellow labourer; one of whom pastured
and made his habitation with the wild goats, and the
other pastured the camels and lived his life with them!
The children of men were unworthy to have near them
the bodies of these men who possessed neither bed,
nor pillow, * nor seat, nor candlestick, nor table ; the earth
was their bed, their knees were their tables, and herbs
were their food." The belly did not overcome them
by its greediness; lust did not set them on fire with
its ticklings; the blanket^ of sickness never weighed
them down; [p. 135] they never needed the medicines
of the children of Galen because of the weight of their
luxurious and dainty food. No Eve ever visited them
and used her blandishments upon them;* they never
tasted the [fruit of the] forbidden fig tree^ which is
sweet to the palate of the children of Adam; they
never sweated behind the plough in the toilsome labour
which bringeth forth thorns; they never offered their
offerings in the neighbourhood of a Cain to be envied
and slain ;^ they never drank wine and exposed their
shame 7 and became a mockery unto a Canaan which
was [only to be] perceived by the mind,* for their
» ^yB>a = ;:^. The plur. fern ;ki;id>a (Neo-Syr j^-"^) «
Heb. nines Ezek. xiii. 18.
^ ^eu<bdo6s for ^eu^&o^.
^ ;KVaM, Arab. A.Xj'w, a soft coverlet or rug with fringed
edges. See Dozy^ Supplevicnt^ p. 406, col. 2.
^ Genesis iii. 12. ^ Genesis iii. 3, 4.
^ Genesis iv. 8. 7 Genesis ix. 21.
» ;ii^fr.» cf. Payne Smith, Tlies,, col. 1562.
BOOK 11. CHAPTER XLII. MAR SERGIUS OF HENAITHA. 28 1
drink was water; they never brought burnt brick' to
the building of the Tower of Pride which was formed'
by the agreement of senseless builders ; they never saw
the scourge^ of confusion;* and they who pastured
with the gazelles upon the mountain top instead of
upon the top of that haughty tower fled from before
the punishment. All these things [did they not do] by
reason of the hope which is to come, in which although
they saw it not yet they believed, and although
it was afar off yet they accounted it to be near. They
have a righteous One Who will reward them, and
Who will recompense them in His world, not according
to their [merits], but according to Himself, and to
Whose reward all sufferings and all pains are not to
be [accounted] equal; may He make us to be partakers
with them in His joy through their prayers, Amen.
CHAPTER XLII.
OF THE BLESSED MAR SERGIUS, BISHOP OK nfXAITHA.^
Now when the holy Mar Dindowai,^ Bishop of
Ma'alltha, who had been ordained Metropolitan by the
holy Mar John, departed this trouble-bearing life, the
' In allusion to D^??^ *^ii^^ Genesis xi. 3.
^ iLa\ = TTeTTXaajidvog. Cf. Bernstein in Z.D,M.G., Bd. iii,
p. 407; and Budge, Book of the Bee, p. .«|, 1. 21 (ju^sa^ ^?^)-
^ jiv^Hifti — aKUTog, literally, the leather whip with which boys
were chastised.
4 In ;2ka^oa there is an etymological allusion to the name
Babel.
•^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 216.
^ Or Dendowai.
nn
282 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
blessed Mar Aha appointed as his successor the vener*
able Sergius, [p. 136] a monk and ascetic from this
congregation, who was trained in the Scriptures, and
who was enlightened in the understanding of them. And
he pastured his flock piously with all the humility which
befits the governors of the flocks of Christ ; and during
some small disturbance which took place in his country
through a raid of the inhabitants of Delom ' who came
to Salakh and Henaitha, he took all his books and
came here, hoping for the repose of peace and of
refreshing of spirit; and thus being insufficient for that
which was expected [from him], he ended his life, and was
also laid in this monastery of the house of his fathers.
CHAPTER XLIII.
OK HUG air' the BELIEVING NOBLEMAN, AND OF THE
MONASTERY WHICH HE BUILT.
There was a believing man, whose name was Hugair
who belonged to a noble family. And he built a mon-
astery between the village of Bashosh and Shalmath,^
not with a godly will and intention, but rather for
boasting and pride. And wishing to emulate good and
prosperous men, he named the monastery by the Persian
A
name of '*Hugair-Abad/ after the manner of the Magians
from whose race he had sprung. Now when he had
' See HofFmann, Ausziige, note 1640; Noldeke, Geschichte
der Perser, pp. 1 67, 478, 484; and vifra, Bk. v. chap. 4.
' The MSS. have =A,ft«. Hiigir.
^ See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 224.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XLIV. THE DEATH OF MAR AHA. 283
made it ready with all things, he wished it to be con-
secrated by the holy Mir Aha, and he waited for the
time of his coming to this country; and when he had
come Hugair entreated him to take the trouble to go up
with the teachers and scholars, and to sanctify the
monastery which he had built. But the holy Metro-
politan Mar Ah4 saw with the eye of the spirit that
the Lord desired not this any more than the sacrifices
to idols, and he answered and said to all those who
were near, [p. 137] "This Monastery of Hugair- Abad is
ruined while it is yet new," and he left it in its un-
consecrated condition, and departed. And it was not
consecrated afterwards, neither did the praise of the
glorious Trinity ascend in it, and the remains of its
building are well known and stand to this day.
CHAPTER XLIV.
OP^ THE DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSED METROPOLITAN MAR
AHA FROM [this] TEMPORARY LIFE.
Now I was preparing to add [to the history of]
the noble deeds of the holy Mar Aha [some account]
of the excellent work which he did in the Church of
God in respect of the two Patriarchs who lived in his
days, I mean the Catholicus Surin,^ and the Catholicus
^ Surin seized upon the patriarchate A. H. 1065 = A. D.
754 and held it for fifty-six days. "He sat after Mar Abha, and
came from Seleucia. He was not guarded in his manner of
life. He was formerly Metropolitan of Nisibis, but was trans-
lated to Halwan (/. e,, ^^^^ = -A.;., Calah). He was deposed
in the year in which a Catholicus was appointed". Bar-Hebraeus,
284 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Jacob,' and of how he went down with his Bishops,
and of how, by his firmness and the fair fame of his
life, he abolished the blameworthy Surin from being
Catholicus, and confirmed Jacob, and of how he shewed
his tact and skill in such a way that no man could stand
before him. But inasmuch as these things concerning him
are set down in the writings of others, and as, moreover,
Chron. jfeVr^^., ii. col. 155, and see B, 0., iii. I, p. 616. According
to 'Abhd-Isho {B. 0., iii. i, p. 168) he wrote -.jbofiuvSoz ^& ..a^
^iMoao ;{h>cU^o u^o>m t^l^no^o wJ^oas The Catholics who were de-
posed were Mar(i)-b6kht, Narsai, Elisha, Joseph and Surin or
Soren; see Budge, Book of the Bee, p. 120.
* "Then arose Jacob and was appointed Catholicus in Seleucia,
after the bishops had received from him an undertaking in
Avriting that he would neither trangress the law nor abrogate
the canon. In his days a church for the Nestorians was built
at Tagrith (Tekrit) by the care of Selibha-zekha, Bishop of
Tirhan, who had been cast in prison with Jacob the Catholicus.
And when he was set free he began to restore the churches in
Tirhan, and he also went to Paul the Maphrian at Tekrit and
persuaded him to give permission for the Nestorians to build
themselves a church in Tekrit. The Maphrian said, *As far as
I myself am concerned I have no objection, but I am afraid of
the Patriarch and of the people of Tekrit. I counsel thee, how-
ever, to go to Nisibis and to persuade the Nestorians there to
give back to the Jacobites the churches which they have taken
from them, for then will the people of Tekrit allow a church
to be built for you here.' And when Felibha-zekha had gone
to Nisibis, and had made supplication to the aged Metropolitan
Cyprian and to the Nestorians of Nisibis, they gave back to
our people the famous Church of Mar Domitius. And ten
Jacobite merchants who were in Nisibis went down to Tekrit,
and persuaded the people to allow a church to be built for the
Nestorians." Bar-Hebraeus, Citron, Eccles,y\\.zoVi, 155, 157. Jacob
sat nineteen years, and died A. D. 773. See B. 0., ii. p. 432;
iii. I, pp. 205, 616.
BOOK II. CHAPTER XLIV. THE DEATH OF MAR AHA. 285
we had formerly the intention to speak briefly about
him as about his companions, I have passed over all
these [as] extraneous matters, and come therefore to
speak of the mournful end of his days. Now when
he had arrived at the village of Shalmath on his visita-
tion, he knew and felt also that he had arrived at the
limit of the silence of his life, and through a short
illness to which corporeal beings are subject, [p. 138]
he like the [other] children of Adam lay down and slept
the sleep of death. And according to the revelation
and visions which had been upon him in his youth
and old age, his venerable body was laid in that holy
temple which is in this village. And he was a haven
of help to all those who took refuge therein, and may
God the Lord of all, through his prayers order that
we also like him may depart from this world with fair
renown, while lifting up praise to the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, now and always and for
ever! Amen.
Here endeth the Second Book.
■^
[P. 139] BOOK III.
THE author's apology TO THE BELIEVING AND HONOURABLE
KASAN.
Now the blessed brethren of the monastery of Beth
A
Abhe have completely set aside and made to slip from
out of the fingers of our history the account of the
holy Mar Maran-'ammeh,' the Metropolitan Bishop of
Adiabene, and it hath not been embodied' in our feeble
lines because they exhorted me to crown with my dis-
course only such holy men as have lived in that holy
monastery, and to omit [all] others. But this is not
pleasing in thy sight, and by thy divine command thou
hast required of me that I should also compose a
history of that blessed man, and set down in writing
an account of him based upon that which is handed
down by word of mouth, that it may be joined to the
equipage^ of the histories of the governors who lived
' See infray p. 304 ff.
^ ;^oMuac\ embodiment y JL»^^.\ Cf. )^ ^ott^\ and No»«aE\
i^iA Payne Smith, Thes,, col. 794.
^ ;^f. This very rare word is explained in Hoffmann, Opus-
cula Nestoriana, p. 96, I. i f. by ^kai ^o^ap ^^'^ A^? ;^^9»aJb
Sji? ^ i^ p<^ ^Ni^dp9 l^^ $?aajo ''die arrangement in order
of the furniture of chariots by means of which the chariots
follow each other closely and give forth sounds like a bell as
they move along." In Judges v. 28 07fisaa*a»? ;:^f (Neo-Syr.
BOOK III. THOMAS OF MARGa's PREFACE. 287
before and after him, O most noble Mar Has&n, beloved
member' of Christ, ready adorer of His glorious cross,
chosen freeman, son and heir of ^ the mighty one of
God, worthy of all praise, beautiful i in his majesty and
in his various acts, Mar Sabhr-lsho', Governor of Adia-
bene and Athor, who, behold, exchanged his [earthly]
wealth and possessions, for heavenly riches, that he
might go and inherit the life of happiness in the king-
dom' above with the true' believers, and who measured
the steps of his course of life that he might tread in
their footprints. I have already praised you, and I
will praise you again, O wise and understanding men,
in that being completely involved with things of this
world, and with wealth which is a stumbling-block to
others [p. 140] and the cause and substance of all
wickedness, ye made [your wealth] subject to none of
these things, but ye humbled it and made it subject
unto you, that it might not be a god to you as it is
to the foolish and wicked, but that ye might be its
master. ^ It is to be marvelled at, I repeat, that being
as thou art in the prime* of early manhood, yet behold
^P7&M&li^3 fjS^M) » Vni3310 ^VB. In addition to the native
explanations of the word given in Payne Smith, 7Aes., coll. 1140,
1 141 Duval gives y^^j^\ ,^Uko\ ^^\j^\ ^.^ J^.^ J^^ ^^j^^
^^^xsi-o Jajo l^»\j;J\^ Lexicon Bar-Balilule, col. 694.
» Lit., limb of Christ/
^ iSxt^ «= PaaiXeia =- ;&a&\» Duval, Lexicon, col. 408.
3 ^070^*2 "its gods." This custom of calling a man of rank
*'my gods" is as old as 1500 years before Christ for in the
Tell el-Amarna tablets the writers of despatches frequently ad-
dress Amenophis as "my gods" Hani-) a. See Bezold and Budge,
The Tell el-Amarna Tablets in the British Museum, p. LXI, note i .
4 ;«±f;*^dKpr) =» h^^tio. In Bar-Bahlul ;2.»3 ;mo2 =» k'LJ.\ a^U;
see Duval, Lexicon^ col. 276.
288 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
thou art standing on the highest point of the ladder
of knowledge of the wise like an old man/ and art
inciting me to collect the stories, and pieces of infor-
mation, and the triumphs of holy men, that thy soul
may pleasantly meditate upon them, and that thou
mayest make it to possess a pattern and an example
of spiritual things, and mayest enrich it with the under-
standing which is above this world. Now the abundant
virtues and the good and glorious qualities which are
stored up and which flourish in thy noble self compel^
me, with great regard to thy distinguished command,
to paint for thee in writing^ a picture of the glorious
acts and deeds of that man worthy of all good things,
the Metropolitan Bishop Mar Maran-'ammeh. At the
same time also, according to thy wish I will write
briefly concerning the coming of the blessed and enlight-
ened teacher, Mar Babhai, to this country, and of the
schools which he founded. And I will set down in
consecutive order what I have learned from the Elders
whom I have met, and from* these things which are
already written down, and I entreat and supplicate God
the Lord of all to manifest His working in me the
Ignorant and unlearned, ^ and may the praise of His
Godhead increase in the mouth of the reader, and
in the ears of the listeners, through those things which
are about to be written! And may the help and
blessings of His grace cling to thee, as the cause of,
and as the one who encouraged the writing of the
' Read ;^? ' All the MSS. read -likai.
^ Literally, "that I should make thy glorious command in
writing, and that I should paint for thee a picture."
4 Read ^2 ^o. ^ Read ;kA<..
BOOK III. CHAPTER I. BABHAI THE MUSICIAN. 289
histories of those who loved Him, and who did His
will. First of all, however, as thy wisdom requireth,
we will speak concerning the blessed Rabban Babhai,
and of the schools which he founded, and of his restora-
tion of those which had fallen into decay for want of
teachers and of people to care for them. [p. 141] And after-
wards I will rehearse in plain language my history of the
noble acts of his disciple, the chief priest, Mar Maran-
'ammeh, and though omitting to introduce the proofs which
the chapters require, so that I may not make the history
too heavy, I will glorify them by brief accounts, even
as I have praised their companions in short narratives.
Here endeth the Apology.
CHAPTER I.'
OF THE BLESSED TEACHER RABBAN BABHAI.
The holy teacher Rabban Babhai was a very enlight-
ened man, and through the healthy constitution of his
body, and the knitting together of his limbs, he was
a powerful man, and according to what is said of him,
had a high, sweet voice like a trumpet. And there
clave to him chastity, purity, love, graciousness, humility
and exceeding lowliness, and he excelled in [these] last
times by reason of these his glorious qualities like the
teachers who lived ^ in the former generations. And
the multitude of his virtues magnified his name, and
' This chapter is quoted in B, 0^, iii. i, p. 177, col. if.
^ Read eoc7>.
00
290 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
all the rules and arrangements of the schools which
through laxity and neglect had been destroyed, were
restored by him, and through him [the schools] regained
their former glory. He came from a family in the
town of Gebhilta* in the country of Tirhan,* where
first of all he laboured in spiritual work, and he begat
prosperous children who followed in the footsteps of
their parent, and who showed themselves noble heirs
of a wise father. It is found that the period in which
he lived was in the days of Selibha-zekha, Catholicus
and Patriarch, [p. 142] and the *' Questions" ' ofRabban
Babhai testify that he made enquiries of Selibha-zekha*
concerning various matters. And just as among the
people of Israel who were in Babylon the Divine praises
had fallen into oblivion^ and were forgotten,^ because
according to what is written, they did not know how
to perform the praises of the Lord in a strange land,^
>»♦»
' jSSr^V^, ^^^^4'» ^ town in Tirhan, was situated on the east
bank of the Tigris, about eighteen miles from Karti Samarra
on the road to Mosul. See Hoffmann, Aussuge, p. 188.
^ Read ^vV> ^- ^-y C^y^ lirhan was a district which is
represented to-day by the country round about Samarra, ^^oat.
See Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 188 — 191 ; and/?. (?., iii. 11, p. 785.
^ In the list of his works given in B. 0., iii. i, p. 181, no
mention is made of these i^l&t.
♦ According to Elias bar- Shindy a he sat from A. D. 713—
729; Assemani gives (B. 0., ii. 430) 714 — 728. $elibha-zekha
came from Karkha dhe P6r6z, *'which is called to-day Karkhane
(KarkhSne), from the country of Tirhan". See Bar-Hebraeus,
Chron. Eccles., ii. col. 149.
5 ^t>^iitifiop, "things fallen into oblivion." A rare word.
7 The allusion appears to be to Psalm cxxxvii. 4, **How
shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"
BOOK III. CHAPTER I. BABHAI THE MUSICIAN. 29 1
even so' in the days of the holy Rabban Babhai
were confounded^ all the tunes, ^ and melodies,* and
' The following difficult passage is thus rendered by Asse-
mani, B, 0,yVL\. i, p. 180, col. i: — "ita pariter temporibus Sancti
Magistri nostri Babaei confusi fuisse videbantur ritus Ecclesiastici
sacrarum processionum, et Cantus, modi, et hirmi, et psalmodia
universa ea, quae ad Psaimum, Domine clamavi ad te, peragi
solet; necnon et clausulae precum, et psalmorum modulationes,
et stationes, et cantiones, et hymni, qui alta voce recitantur;
ita ut unaquaeque regio, urbs, coenobium, et schola suos haberet
canendi modos, et sacrarum supplicationum ritus. Quamobrem
factum fuerat^ ut externus quisque. Uteris licet excultus et in
scholis exercitatus, extra propriam Scholam manere velut imper-
itus et rudis cogeretur. Et quemadmodum quum Judaei in
urbem Hierusalem postliminio rediissent, universa psalmodia
restituta est, et pristinam gloriam recuperavit: et quemadmodum
ante Mar Jesujabum Catholicum Adjabenum sacrarum ordinati-
onum ritus confusi fuerant, illius autem opera et auctoritate
conveniens omnibus Ecclesiis ritus et communis factus est: simi-
liter Spiritus sanctus beatum hunc necessaria sapientia instruxit,
docuitque modos suaves, et compositiones jucundas Ecclesi-
asticae musicae, suisque charismatibus implevit, et suis thesauris
locupletatum, suae doctrinae organum et spiritualem citharam
fecit." As in the early Christian Church the musical portion of
the service consisted of ipaXpoi, upvoi, ibbai TTveupaiiKai (Ephes-
ians V. 19, Colossians iii. 16), but I am unable to give exact
renderings of the Syriac technical words. See the articles
aKpoaTixicii dvaTpixiCTfLia, elpjiog, Kavoveg, 7Tpoi|;dXpaTa, qpiuvfj,
TpoTTdpiov, dbbri in Du Cange, Giossanmn, coll. 45, 73, 356,
582, 1262, 1714, 1617, 1789.
^ In the text p. 142, note i, referring to this is the observation,
"See the confusions in the musical system which the much
enlightened Rabban Babhai corrected."
J ^aaloa. Assemani generally considers that these were connected
with processions, but they seem rather to have been tunes with an oft
repeated refrain; cf. ob^^ ^^x* ei*Ua^ ^^ ;aboA Payne Smith,
T/tes., col. 1827; and see Bk. IV. chap. 20 (text, p. 237, 1. 17).
4 ;^£uaa according to Castell p. 812, is concentus, melodia,
292 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
airs,* and the signs and accents (?)* and all the songs
which are sung [with the psalm which begins], "Lord,
I have called upon Thee," ^ and the final clauses of the
prayers,* and the psalms ^ which are dispersed throughout
the services, and the "stations",^ and the antiphonal
and is rendered by Assemani Caiitus. Brit. Mus. MS. Orient.
2/^1, fol 330a, col. 2, explains it by ''song" ^o ^ido .^ ;»moo
^U.'^\ »X^tt la^M, and in Rich 7205, fol. 152a, col. i ;uiiois =
* ;jiu& rendered modi by Assemani, and metra by Payne
Smith, Thes,, col. 2367.
* All the MSS. have i^^oi. Assemani {B. 0., iii. i, p. 178,
1. 17) and Payne Smith {Thes,, col. 2280) give {i^oj, the
former rendering the word by liimii, and the latter by hymni
species. In Cardahi, Al-Lobab^ Beyrut, 1891, vol. ii. p. 97, col. 2.,
3 Psalm CXLI.
^ ZaIo&, i' e., the airs which are sung at the end of the
prayer for the night J^\ iUo ^\ ^ JUu ^^\ ^^^LImJI
Payne Smith, Thes., col. 2551. ;^afi> = ;^oaE.
5 Xa^ot, strictly speaking, the psalms which are sung before
the reading of the Epistles, cf. 7Tpoi|;dX)LiaTa (Du Cange, Glossar-
turn, col. 1262) and the ^laox of Badger, Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 20.
The reader should consult the sections Hirmos, Hauptformen,
Refrain, Akrostichis Reim, Gleichzeilige rythmische Gedichte,
in Krumbacher, Geschichte der Byzantinischen Literatur, Munich,
1 89 1, pp. 334—344^
^ The Psalter in the Greek Church was divided into twenty
sections called KaGicr^aTa, each of which was divided into three
Zrdaeiq, or ^o>v^,ft>i, "sic dictae, quod Sta Hones stantes reciient
Graeci, vel quod Lectionem finientes stent et quasi respirant.**
Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 1429. The Psalms were thus
divided among the twenty Ka0iapaTa; —
Ka0' I. Psalms 1—8. KaG' 3. Psalms 18—24.
„ 2. ,, 9—17- »» 4- » 25—32.
BOOK III. CHAPTER I. BABHAI THE MUSICIAN. 293
responses* and the anthems,' and everything which is
recited by the voice. Each country, and town, and
monastery, and school had its own hymns and songs
of praise and tunes, and sang them in its own way,
and if a teacher or a scholar happened to be away
from his own school he was obliged to stand [silent]
like an ignorant man. And as when the Hebrews had
gone up to Jerusalem all their hymns and songs of
praise which had become corrupt acquired [new] glory
and splendour, or if thou wishest, as before the time
of Mar Isho^-yahbh of Adiabene^ the Catholicus, the
orders of the services were performed in a confused*
manner in every place, and by means of this man the
services of all the churches acquired connected order,
so also the Holy Spirit made wise this blessed man,
and taught 5 him beautiful airs, and sweet blendings
of melody,^ and filled him with His gift, and enriched
him with His treasures, and made him a musical instru-
Kae'
V
)}
tf
6.
7-
8.
it
}i
tf
tt
X
33-37-
Koe' 13.
Psalms
92—101.
38-46.
„ 14-
102 — 105.
47-55-
„ 15-
106—109.
56-64.
„ 16.
no— 118.
6s 70.
„ 17-
119.
71 77.
„ 18.
120 — 132.
78-85.
„ 19-
133 143-
86—91.
„ 20.
144 — 150.
antiphonal responses of all kinds sung by clergy
9.
10.
II.
12.
and laity.
^ j^'iA^, /. e., small ijjbai sung as anthems, or ujuvoi.
^ He sat from A. D. 647 — 658.
^ x>?^.\-j, confusedly, indistinctly.
-^ Read cr^ie.
I'
^ iHo BsQialo = (TucTTTijLia, t, €., the art of singing in tune and
in unison.
294 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
ment of His doctrine, and a spiritual harp.' And he
became a father of teachers and a master of the wise,
and the Lord stirred up his heart like that of Zerub-
babel,* and he placed Gebhilta, and the schools which
were therein, in the hands of the prosperous disciples
whom he left there, and he went up and came to this
' Notwithstanding the labours of Gregory Nazianzenus
(born 329, died 390), of Romanos (Vlth century), of Sergios
and Sophronios (Vllth century), and of Andrew, Archbishop
of Crete (650—720), John of Damascus (died before 754),
and his friend Kosmas of Jerusalem (he became Bishop
of Maiuma in Palestine about A. D. 743), "vir ingeniosissimus,
omnino musicam harmoniam spirans," must be regarded as the
founders of Greek church music, from which the Nestorians
must have borrowed largely. A dissertation on this subject,
even if I possessed the knowledge necessary for writing it, would
be out of place here, but the following works should be con-
sulted by the reader who wishes to work out a comparison of
the Greek and Syriac technical names: — Vincent, 'AxiOTToXiTTiq,
(in Notices et Extraits)^ Paris, 1847; Wallis, Manuel Bryennio5\
Christ, Beitrdge ziir kirchlichen Litcraiur der Byzantinet ^ (in
Sitzwigsberichte der Bayer, Akad., phil.-hist. CI. 1870); Christ,
Uedcr die Bedeutung von Hirmos, Tropaiion und Kanon in der
Griechischen Poesic, (in Sitzungsberichtc der Bayer. Akad.^ phil.-
hist. CI. 1870); Westphal, Metrik der Griechen; Tzetzes, Ueber
die altgriechisclie Musik in der griechischen Kirche, Munich
1874; Reimann, Zur Geschichte und Iheorie der Byzantinischen
Musik \ XpucTavGoq, 0eujpTiTiK6v ju^tci Tfjq juoucTiKf^q, Trieste, 1832;
MapTctpixn?, GeujpTiTiKii Kai TipaKTiKi'i dKKXri(Tia<JTiKf| ^ouaiKf),
Constantinople, 1851; OiXoSevo^, AeSiKOV and GewpnTiKOV
aTOixeioibeq Tnq jLiouaiKriq, Constantinople, 1859; Sathas, 'laxopi-
Kov boKi^iov Tiepi ToO Gedxpou Kai xfiq jiiouaiKfiq tujv BuZ^av.
Tivujv, Venice, 1878; Bouvy, Etude sur les origines du rhyme
tonique dans Thymnographie de T^glise grecque, Nimes, 1886,
Hatherly, A Treatise on Byzantine Music, London, 1892, p. 152.
^ Haggai i. 14.
BOOK III. CHAPTER I. BABHAI THE MUSICIAN. 295
country of Adiabene. First of all he founded a large
and famous school in Kephar-'Uzzel,' a village of rich
and noble people, [p. 143] And the blessed Rabban
Babhai tarried in this school for many years during
the lifetime of the honourable Zadhnaphrokh , ' the
father of the noble Prokhzadh,^ the father of the
gentle-natured Luhrasaph* and Maslemah,* and by his
encouragement, while the holy MAr John was Metro-
politan Bishop, he afterwards passed over to the country
of Marga. And he founded there twenty-four schools,
some of them being founded for the first time, and
others being decayed schools which he restored. And
since, perchance, there may be some who coming across
these lines will consider us to be boasters^ and liars,
I will mention these schools by their names, even though
our discourse should assume at this point an exceedingly
vain and foolish^ character.
' /. ^., the Village of the Gazelle', 'uzzel being stat. abs. of
'uzzaila. Kephar-'Uzz61, /. e., sSf'j^ ^^Y ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^'^^ ^^
the Upper or Great Zab. See Hoffmann, Ausziige, pp. 236, 296.
^ Read ^o^\X Zadhan-parruh , ^ ji J6\y See Noldeke,
Geschichte der Perser, p. 356, note I.
3 Read .?*apaA Parruh-zadh, ^ij • ^.
♦» I ^'» I e r - V ^f •
4 /. e., s^..y^\^y4j 5 / e., k^
«bWh^.
6
i'haAoff a rare word. ;!»bJ4 «= a speaker of vain things, a
garrulous person — ;iix^, ^ibaa, )^b2^, i^?c^, i»ia$, iioya^ ;aa4, all
of which synonyms are explained by ikoi^ .\\yv)a 061 ''a man
who speaketh vain and foolish things." See Payne Smith,
7/ies., col. 446.
7 ^Neo^fA^, emptiness, foolishness, insipidity.
296 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER 11. '
OF THE SCHOOLS WHICH RABBAN [bABHAi] FOUNDED, AND
THEIR NAMES.
When [this] blessed man had come to the country
of Marga, he first of all gathered together the scholars
and founded the Hudhra.' and revised and corrected
the codices.^ [He next built a school] in Bashosh/ a
village of Saphsapha,^ and after this [another] in the
Monastery of Barsil(?) in the province of Garln,^ an-
other in the Monastery of Shamira,^ another in the
Monastery of Kori, another in Ekra, another in Hardes,
another in Shalmath, another in Beth-Edre, another
in HetarA/ another in Makkabta. another in Sawra dhe
Niram dhe RaawathA,^ another in Koph," [p. 144] an-
other in Nerabh Barzi," another in Gube, another
in the Monastery of Mar Ephraim, another in the
Monastery of Mar Aha, another in Maya Karire,"
* This chapter is quoted in B, 0., iii. I, p. 178, col. 2.
^ Literally *'he built the Hudhra," /. e., the service-book for
the Sundays of the whole year. See supra, pp. 153, 189.
3 Or "he corrected the sections," for ;il.l^ = nBh9« TTepiKonri,
"section", "chapter**.
* See supra J p. 217, note i.
5 See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 223.
^ Compare ^sAs.? ^M&oa, Syriac text p. 346, line 8.
' Assemani {B. O., iii. i, p. 178, col. 2, 1. 18) omits this
name.
* See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 223.
*> /. e., "the neck of Niram of the shepherds."
*" A village near Akra. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 225.
" The account of the fortifying of this place is given in Book
VI. chap. 12; see Syriac text p. 368 ff.
" See infra^ Book iii. chap. 8.
BOOK III. CHAPTER II. BABHAI FOUNDETH SCHOOLS. 297
another in Beth Asa,' another in Beth Sati," another
in Beth Kardagh, another in Hennes,^ another in Beth
Rastak/ another in Beth Narkos, and another in Beth
Tarshemaye;^ these are the schools which this wise
gardener^ planted and restored in the country of Marga.
Now some say that he had sixty disciples [who were]
teachers, and that he founded sixty schools, and ap-
pointed a master to each one of them, and that through
the zeal of believing and God-loving men, who made
the instruction [of children] in divine things their care,
he set apart for them property and funds for their
maintenance. And he came back to Kephar'Uzzel, and
twice a year he visited all the schools, in order that
laxity of discipline might not enter [into them], and that
the musical training ^ and canons* and orders of services
which he had made his disciples acquire might not be
destroyed; and thus this manner of singing was called
the "musical system of Rabban Babhai."
^ Perhaps the same as ;&i fi^. Cf B.O., ii. p. 221, col. 2, 1. 33.
^ /. e.y ;^^i9 N*3; see Syriac text p. 329. line 17.
3 The modem Bavian, situated on the right bank of the
Gomel river, about twenty-five miles nearly north of Mosul.
For an account of the Assyrian sculptures at this place see
Layard, Nineveh and Badylon, London, 1853, P- 208 ff.
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 97, note 867.
5 Assemani {B. (9., iii. i, p. 178, col. 2, 1. 28) has ;JboS^ x-a.
^ ika^^i^y formed with the Persian termination ^^b keeping,
guarding. The word is explained by ia^ gardener, ;a>*^9^9V
keeper of a garden, «= /IJLJJLm^.
7 JLd? ;nom^ /. c, the knowledge of singing in unison and
in tune.
* See Du Cange, Giossarium, col. 582; Badger, Nestorians,
vol. ii. p. 251 ff.
PP
298 THOMAS OF MAROA, THE BOOK OF (JOVERNORS.
CHAPTER III.'
OF THE BOOKS WHICH THIS RABBAN BABHAI COMPOSED, ""
AND OF THE END OF HIS LIFE.
Let no man think ^ that because [Rabban Bibhai]
was exceedingly learned in the training and culture
of the voice he was ignorant of the knowledge which
is in books, or that because he was thoroughly instructed
in the Holy Scriptures he was remote from other
knowledge, for he has left us works on various subjects;
and he wrote many discourses and treatises on doctrine
into which if any man shall enter he will find that
he was much skilled [p. 145] and fertile in philo-
sophic reasoning.* And he wrote twenty-two funeral
orations^ arranged alphabetically, which are recited by
boys on the festival of Palm Sunday;^ and **Consola-
tions" and "Blessings", according to the letters [of the
alphabet]; and many "Epistles" to divers persons; and
' This chapter is quoted in B. 0,, iii. i, p. 179.
^ According to *Abhd-Jsh6* he wrote ''Orations, Epistles,
Hymns of Praise, Histories, Admonitions and Homilies" ^^l»
iSsop'iaao ;fisa&«Mi»o ;>«^No JUaxNo ;^a.V^2o B. 0., iii. I, p. l8l.
3 Better %nftvi.
■ •
^ ;2so;^ = Geujpia •= spiritual vision, intellectual and divine
sight or understanding. Cf »^ i^^-J^^ x^^ J^.^ r^^ ^^^
y^\j^ >\jJl<« ^y» jtt'vi ;^pe j&^3 MaM> jft^^ao y^ioor .07 yUoi^2 ^%^
fu^acuoJl U^\^ Jj^^ ^4^^^ (>i^^ ^^^^ ^f^3 Orient. 2441,
fol. 384^, col. 2. So also Rich 7203, fol. 192/^, col. i.
5 ;jp\9o^, literally ''interpretations'*. See Badger, Nestorians^
vol. ii. p. 10, ;aa^ao^ = ^U^«-> t-t^-^^J rr*^ ^t^**^ Orient. 2441,
fol. 389^, col. I, and Rich 7203, fol. 198A col. 2.
^ ;b^62 -= k: njJ''Bfin Cf. Payne Smith, Tlics., col. 1639.
BOOK III. CHAPTER III. THE WORKS OF BABHAI. 299
lengthy "Blessings' upon brides and bridegrooms." And
because he was accustomed to go to the Commemora-
tion of the holy Mar Jacob of Beth ' Abhe, he composed
on that person twenty-two hymns in the **great mystery",*
in the order of the letters [of the alphabet]. And he
wrote the composition, "Behold, my days have flown,
behold, to the dead", consisting of twelve different parts, ^
and the hymn* on Mcir Nestorius [beginning], "In the
path of the just"; and the other works on sundry and
divers matters written by that blessed teacher which,
if any man wisheth, he may find in our holy monastery
of Beth ' Abhe. And after all these his excellent deeds,
his planting and watering, and begetting, and rearing,
and making to bud, and to wax strong and to grow
old, he left this country and went to his own city, and
was there crowned with all the excellent virtues of a divine
life which pleased his Master, and at a great old age he
rested from his labours and troubles, and slept in the
dust of his fathers. And his venerable and holy body
was laid in the church in which he had learned and
taught, and a glorious recompense is laid up for
^ Cf. the Blessings in the Marriage service quoted by Badger,
Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 254ff.
^ Assemani renders, "De eodem sancto Jacobo cantiones
magnis mysteriis refertas."
^ Assemani renders, "Ecce avolarunt dies mei. Et ad hym-
num, qui incipit, Ecce mortuis, cantiones duodecim." See
Bickell, Carmina Nisidaia, Leipzig, 1866, De re metrica,
pp. 31-35-
^ For a list of the hymns of Babhai extant, see Wright,
Syr. Lit,^ p. 844, col. I. The following hymn for the night of
Sunday in Epiphany week edited from Add. 14,675, fol. i/lj^^
and Rich 7156, fol. 163, will serve as a specimen of the metri-
cal compositions of this eminent writer.
300 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
him in the day of the revelation of our Lord,
together with Kiora (Cyrus),' and Narsai,' and
^sAfiSao ;30^9 ^aaa .^aoJa ^A^a ^a^ ^ \oaed -.^a& »^p wikM o2 fissa^l
^V^ ^io x'p^^Slo JbOM ^iSk^92o ^k^ .«07eqa2 N^-ap ^l&Oii ^mSJ^s '.A
.^0^9 07^0* ^<^d ^^ t ^*6>V* "A^o f^OM jo^ .^ioJ^ ^^^ ^ A t ^u^aofroo
:^*^fisito eysa ^o* oopo .^buas oy^^M* ^ JbOMase ;^o\ fis*a ^ ^oo;s ^^S
.o^^tsaoA ^^o^a*»9 :^oaaop ^ JcAa -aA^JSCSMo -^MMtd ^ ^92p ^^o^^
^9\^^ ^eop ^i&M .e&flba ^aa2 jauao ^\ i^^isio ajap j&*3 js^a odp
joihi 9hMa2 ^^o ^(Soo^A ^ox 9ao»i :*^oau*29 ^^o ^'>\ri ^i^o .^i*s^
^\v\ : ««o7opa^ ^ ;{sM.oax{S o^p i^soa m*o9.^o ^aa^o ^^ JmSax
^ ^2o ^2 ^>*n\^
* /. e,, Cyrus of al-Hirah, surnamed the Doctor, a disciple
of Mir Abha; he flourished about A. D. 550. According to
'Abhd-Isho' he wrote ''Expositions and Funeral Orations,"
;ao\'&e^ ^i ;cixad. See-ff. 0.,ii.p.4i2, col. i; iii. i,p. 170, chap. XCV.
^ L e., Narsai, called the "Harp of the Spirit" ^oSd }^
A
by 'Abhd-Isho', and surnamed ^aJL^, the "Leper." Narsai sprang
from Ma'alltha; he laboured in the school of Nisibis for
fifty years, where he was a companion of Bar-Fauma, and
at Edessa for twenty years; he fled from this latter town
to escape the wrath of Cyrus the Bishop (A. D.471 — 498), and
died at Nisibis early in the next century. He was famous as a
writer of hymns and other metrical compositions, his favourite
metre being that of six syllables. According to *Abhd-Ish6* he
wrote commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Joshua, Judges, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, the twelve Minor Prophets,
* Add. 14,675 ^a»u*ap. ** Add. 14,675 omits this clause.
BOOK III. CHAPTER III. THE WORKS OF BABHAI. 3OI
John/ and Abraham^ by whose doctrine he was him-
self enlightened, and enlightened [others], and from the
manner of whose lives he was inflamed with the desire^
to emulate them in the holy life.
Now they say concerning him that when he was
a teacher in Kephar'Uzzel the mother of Mar Abraham*
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel^ twelve volumes of metrical discourses
(360 in number), a liturgy, expositions of the Eucharist and of
Baptism, consolatory epistles and funeral orations, hymns and
sermons and exhortations, and a book entitled On the Corrup-
tion of Morals, ^Saea tso^^^Ax «^. See B. 0., iii. I, p. 65 f;
Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 830 ; and Bar-Hebraeus, Cliron. Eccles., ii.
col. jy.
^ I. e., John, sumamed Adhramah, opbSpl (see Bk. i. chap. 14,
supra, p. 67), formerly a monk in the Monastery of Mount Izla
when Mar Babhai was the abbot. He left that monastery with
Zekha-Isho and Abraham and went with them to Dasen, and
built a monastery; he is usually described as "John of Beth
Rabban." According to 'Abhd-Isho' he wrote commentaries upon
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Job, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Pro-
verbs; controversial treatises against the Magians, Jews and
heretics; discourses, prayers, a Discourse upon the death of
Khusrau, a Discourse upon the plague at Nisibis, Consolations,
Questions upon the Old and New Testaments, hymns of various
kinds, and a work upon the **tones of hymns", j^oas iuA. See
B. 0., iii. I, pp. 72, 631, 708.
* /. e., Abraham of Mount Izla, the friend of John Adhramah,
(see supra, p. 37, note i). He wrote commentaries upon Joshua,
Judges, the Books of Kings, Ecclesiasticus, Isaiah, the twelve
Minor Prophets, Daniel, and the Song of Songs; he wrote also
upon the 'Cause of the Sessions' 3^AM^ ;i>lii, and composed hymns^
See B. 0., iii. I, p. 71.
^ iis/oil^si^y the desire to rival some one.
* /. e.^ Abraham bar-Dashandad who flourished about A. D.
720, and who was the teacher of the Catholicus Timothy I.,
and of his successor Isho' bar-Non, and of Abu Nuh al-Anbari in
302 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the Lame of Beth Sayyadhe,' [p. 146] carried and
brought her son to him, and weeping before him, said^
''Master, pray for this half of a man' to whom I have
given birth." And when he had examined and felt
him he answered and said, "This is no half of a man,
and he shall become a father of fathers and a chief of
teachers, and his name and his doctrine shall be pro-
claimed in all the East;" and this actually happened as
is manifest to every man. And in the time of his old
age, when he had gone to his own city, he asked the
numerous disciples that were before him a question
unknown to us, and to which none of them were able
to give him an answer.^ And he began to weep and
to beat his face, and to pluck out the hair of his head
and to cry out and say, "O woe is me, the blinded
of sin, for while thinking that I should leave behind
me in the Church wise and understanding heirs, it hath
befallen me, the wretched and stupid man, to be like
unto a man who hath sown but hath not reaped, and
who hath not been made glad in his labour." Now there
was there before the holy man, a much enlightened
the school ofBashosh in Saphsapha. According to 'Abhd-Isho'
he wrote a book of admonition, a commentary on the discourse
of Mark the monk (see Wright, Cat. Syr. MSS., p. 482, col. i),
a disputation with the Jews, the Book of the king's way, dis-
courses on repentance, and letters upon various subjects. See
B. O.y iii. I, p. 194; and Wright, Syr. Lit., p. 844. For the
writings of Isho' bar-Non and Abu Nuh al-Anbari see B, 0., iii. i,
pp. 165, 212.
' A village in the country of Arbel or Arbela See B. 0., ii.
p. 251, col. 2, 1. 12 J iii. I, pp. 179, 343; Bar-Hebraeus, Chron.
Eccles.^ ii. col. 437.
^ ;a^ ^9^^• See Payne Smith, Tlies., col. 2140.
^ Literally, solution.
BOOK III. CHAPTER III. GURYA SUCCEEDETH BABHAI. 303
young man whose name was Gurya, and because the
Divine grace is accustomed to set apart aforetime those
who belong to it, and to set apart those who seek'
after spiritual wisdom, this young man was stirred up
by grace and said to Rabban, "Peradventure the question
which thou hast asked, Master, is thus." And the old
man being stirred up with joy, answered and said,
"Who is this then?"^ and they said to him **Gurya".
And he commanded that he should be brought near
to him, and he laid his hands and his mouth upon the
young man's head, and answered joyfully and said,
"Pray for this Gurya, for he shall become a mighty
hound ,-"^ and this actually came to pass to this young
man according to the word of the blessed old man.
For after the death of Rabban, [p. 147] Gurya became
a teacher^ after him, and he emulated his master in
his teaching and manner of life, and behold both of
them are laid in that holy church ; may their memories
be for blessing, and may we be aided by their prayers,
Amen.
Here endeth the History of Rabban Babhai the
teacher.
' Read oiLsaS,
2 0762 = nn8 2 Kings iii. 10.
3 There is a play here upon the name il&o\ Gurya which
means both a "lion*s whelp", and a "puppy".
* In Bk. IV. chap. 16 (Syriac text p. 217, 1. 11) he is
called, "the much enlightened and famous teacher, the disciple
of the master of masters, Rabban Babhai, the teacher and founder
of schools".
304 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY MAR MARAN- AMMEH THE
METROPOLITAN BISHOP [OF SALAKH].
CHAPTER I.
THE APOLOGY.
The triumphs of holy men are the boast of the
Holy Church, and the beloved rehearsings of them are
a lifting up of the head to her children. Abundant
helps for us descend from them, and they confirm in us
the love of their Lord. The glorious festivals which
we make to them, with whom we expect to receive
participation in the kingdom above, and their yearly
commemorations, proclaim the praise of that power Who
aided them here. Who led them far into His mysteries,
and Who entrusted to them the pasturing of His flocks,
and with Whom they are there [in heaven] enjoying
happiness in the glory which He prepared for them.
And, moreover, to those men who here [upon earth] be-
came an altar of prayer, which continually breathed forth
the incense of Life, who rejoiced all who were round
about them, and who were angels clothed with bodies
here [upon earth] it belongeth to speak to God. "And
as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and
settest me before thy face for ever.*'* And because I,
the wretched sinner, have in my lack of wisdom ' made
ready to rehearse the triumphs and histories of one
of these holy men, I entreat their prayers that I may
be near to be helped by them, and that our Lord may
grant that I may speak according to the power of my
' Psalm xli. 12. ^ See suprUy p. 295, note 7.
BOOK III. CHAPTER II. THE HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 305
*
poverty/ although it be not that which befitteth the
occasion. And moreover He willeth that, according to
his power, [p. 1 48] each one of us should cast his offering
before Him, like the two mites' of the widow.^ And by the
prayers of the friend of His love, the chosen and holy
man concerning whom my discourse dareth to recount
the history, may my drawing near to the rehearsal of
matters concerning him be a propitiation and not a
condemnation for me.
CHAPTER n.
OF THE ORIGIN OF MAR MARAN- AMMEH, AND OF HOW,
AND BY WHOM, HE WAS DIRECTED IN INSTRUCTION IN
DIVINE THINGS.
Now the blessed Mar Maran -*^ammeh sprang from
a family in the country ofTirhan,* and his city, which
is now in ruins, was called Hetara;* here he was bom
and brought up by believing parents. And he was
named by them *Maran-ammeh',^ a name which was
full of prayer and supplication for him that Christ our
* /. e., *'my poor power."
2 ^hsek, For the weight and value of these pieces of money
see under ;Iup. Payne Smith, Thes,^ col. 2164.
3 St. Mark xii. 42.
-* Read always ^&^ /. e., ^U^^. See Hoffmann, Ausziige,
p. 191, note 1508; Lagarde, Armenische Studien, Nr. 2245,
p. 152; B. 0., iii. II. p. 931.
5 Read 'M^, i, e,, j^U\, non, "Aipai ;>v^. See Hoffmann,
Auszuge^ p. 184, note 1440. Hatra of Tirhan must be distin-
guished from Hatra of Marga, Hatra in Athor, etc.
^ /. e., "our Lord [is] with him."
qq
306 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Lord might be with him and might dwell in him. Now
in his youth he learned doctrine in the church of his
native city. And because at that time Rabban Babhai
excelled above all others in teaching in the city of
Gebhilta, Maran- ammeh left his parents and their posses-
sions and departed to that teacher. And he was trained
and directed in all the knowledge of divine things be-
fore him, and he became learned and wise. And when
the blessed Rabban Babhai went up to this country,
the blessed Maran -'ammeh was the one man out of all
his sixty famous disciples and teachers who went up
with him ; and when he had built schools in the village of
Kephar'Uzzel, [p. 149] he established Maran- ammeh as the
teacher of this village. And the fame of his glorious
acts went forth in all this country, because his learning
shone with the purity of his manner of life, and he
made his body to abstain from every kind of delicate
food; now he used to feed himself on bread and a few
onions, just sufficient to maintain life. And he lived
in this manner from his youth up so that he might
not become an object of reproach in his old age, for
he had learned that "he who liveth delicately in his
youth shall be a servant, and in his latter end shall
groan."' When he was a young man the monks his
contemporaries held his manner of life to be marvellous,
because that in addition to that great labour of the
weight of the toil of teaching which was laid upon
him, he was able to embrace the laborious life of
voluntary abstinence coupled with great strictness of
life. And he was a teacher for many years, while the
» Proverbs xxix. 21. The Hebrew is innn«1 l^ng Ig'SD p55D
♦P9 rpni and the Greek "Oq KaTaaTraxaXqi ^k iraifeog, oiKdniq
larax, {(Txaiov hi dfeuvnOnaexai dqp' ^auTuj.
BOOK III. CHAPTER III. THE HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 307
blessed Mir Aha was Metropolitan, and the ship of
his soul travelled on in a divine and noble manner
by reason of the abundance of the beautiful things which
were therein.
CHAPTER m.
OF THE EPISCOPATE OF THE COUNTRY OF SALAKH WHICH
THE BLESSED MAR MARAN -AMMEH RECEIVED, AND OF THE
MIRACLES WHICH TOOK PLACE THERE BY HIS HANDS.
Now there was in the country of Salakh a holy
and venerable Bishop called Mar Isho'-zekha,' the hist-
ory concerning whom I have already written, by whose
hands mighty deeds and miracles were wrought in that
country, and when he departed this life of troubles
and trials for the rest of those who sleep in Christ. —
inasmuch as that country abounded in Magianism,* [p. 1 50J
and not only in the worship of the sun, moon and
stars, but [the people] in their stupidity offered worship
also to trees of beautiful foliage, and this worship of
trees existed even in the days of the old man from
whom I learned [this], — the blessed Metropolitan Mar
Aha^ was obliged to appoint and send the holy Maran-
'ammeh to that place, for he was a teacher and a
* See Book ii. chap. 32, supra, p. 239.
^ ;^oxo^, *'a heresy composed of paganism and Chaldeeism.
It adoreth the powers of nature, (lit. elements) like the heathen,
worshippeth the stars, and erreth in the computation and know-
ledge of the planets and Signs of the Zodiac, and in the ruling
of the stars, like the Chaldeans'*. See Payne Smith, Thes.y
col. 2009.
^ See supra, p. 249 ff.
308 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
righteous man, that by his knowledge and manner of
life he might root up the tares from that country. Thus
he was appointed, and he set out for that country,
having received from the Holy Spirit with [his] conse-
cration [the power] to work mighty deeds and to show
forth miracles, while the Divine love which was in his
soul, and the great purity of life which he had cultiv-
ated from his youth, exalted him in the chief-priest-
hood and in spiritual workings. Now when he had
gone forth to visit [his] districts, he came to a village
called Beth Newa,* and there was in it a man who
had brought into [his house] another wife besides his
lawful wife. And he called for him to come before
him, but he came not, and he required of him to expel
the whore from his house, but he did it not. And
Mar Maran-'ammeh cursed him, saying, "I trust in our
Lord that the Divine wrath may come upon thee, and
that both thy wives may be widows;" and it came to
pass on the morrow that the man lifted up a large
butcher's knife* to cut meat, and by the agency of God
he smote his left hand, and it fell from him, and all
his blood ran out from him and he died, according to
the word of the holy man to him; and fear fell upon
all those who heard [of it].
And from this village he set out for another called
* A village in the diocese of Salakh, which must be sought
for in the territory occupied by the Balik Kurds near Rawandiz;
it was one of the seats of the Shahrighan sect. See Hoffmann,
Ausziige, p. 245.
^ ;i»o^, Arab. ^^IXo, plur. ^1^, "a cook's large knife
with a long, thin blade". Compare ^Lo "butcher", ^..L^mj
couper en longnes ligneSy Dozy, Supplement, i. p. 652.
BOOK III. CHAPTER III. THE HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 3O9
Beth Wark, ' which is in the province of Hithr, and in
it there was a widow who had a little only son; and
it fell out that he died as the blessed man entered the
village, and many people were gathered together, and
were weeping, [p. 15 ij And when he learned con-
cerning the lonely condition of that old woman, he was
exceedingly sorry, and he commanded that they should
bring the body to the church; and he put every one
outside, and began to entreat God for the life of the
boy. And God, to Whose power all things are easy.
Who by the hands of Elijah' and Elisha^ brought
the dead back to life, granted to the blessed man his
petition for the resuscitation of the boy, and he came
to life, and Maran-'ammeh gave him to his mother;
and all the people were stirred up to gladness and to
praise.
And there were in the country certain Shahrighan,'*
who although they were nominally Christians, made
* A village in the diocese of Salakh, and a seat of the
Shahrighan sect. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 245.
^ I Kings xvii. 22. ^2 Kings iv. 35.
^ The ^"ioj*, or ^a^: were the landed proprietors of the
country, and took a higher rank than the Dihkane (see supra,
p. 256). According to Noldeke (quoted by Hoffmann, Auszuge,
p. 239) go -^-«*=ij;^\ yj^^y The explanation of the word
given in Orient. 2441, fol. 367^, col. i, agrees with that quoted
by Hoffmann from the Sodn MS. of Bar-Bahlul; but Rich 7203,
fol. 176^, col. 2, gives ^o«=^jJJ\ j»^XU\ (^l«^^\. See also
Theophylact Simocatta, ed. Bonn v. 9; Noldeke, Geschichte der
Perser, p. 446f; and Hoffmann, Ausziige, pp. 236—239. The
Shahrighan, di^^l^,^!, are said to have formed a noble class
which ranked next to the three great castes of Sawad. See
Mas'udt, Murug al-Dhahab (Les Prairies d'Or), ed. Barbier de
Meynard, torn. ii. p. 240, Paris 1863.
3IO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
confession that Christ was an ordinary man, and said
that "He was as one of the Prophets," and the Bishops
who lived in the country laboured among them, but
they did not accept the true and orthodox doctrine.'
Now when M4ran-'ammeh had learned concerning them,
he went to them on a Sabbath day, that he might keep the
first day of the week with them, and pray for them ; and he
lifted them up with him in the service, while he prayed
in his heart to our Lord on their behalf, that He
would make His light to shine into their hearts. Now
when all the people of the village were in that church,
and they had begun [to say], "Light hath dawned for
the righteous, and joy for the upright of heart,"* the
church and its court were filled with light which sur-
passed the light of the sun, and all men wondered and
were amazed. And the holy man answered and said
to them, "Now that Christ our Lord hath shewed you
His light, and hath kindled His truth in your hearts,
confess ye with us that He is the Lord and God,^ Jesus
Christ; or do ye, peradventure , need to see other
things [before ye will believe]?" They answered and
said to him, "We believe, O our father, we believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He is God;"
and at the time of the Holy Mysteries he absolved
them, and they became beloved sons of the Church
their mother,* through the wonderful thing which
Christ had wrought before them by the hand of His
saint Maran-'ammeh. [p. 152] And one of the con-
* This sentence is quoted in B, 0., iii. i, p. 482, col. 2.
* Psalm xcvii. 11.
^ Compare ^2 ^oau Book ii. chap. 34, supra, p. 249, note 2.
* This sentence is quoted in B. 0,, iii. i, p. 483, col. i.
BOOK III. CHAPTER III. THE HISTORY OF MAR AN- AMMEH. 3II
gregation had a mule' for riding upon, which had never
been subservient to him, and this was very grievous
to her owner, for she was a fine and beautiful animal;
and he spake concerning her to the blessed man who
commanded him to bring her to the church together
with her bridle. And the holy man took the bridle,
and signed it with the sign of the Cross, and he spake
to the mule as to a rational being, and said, "For the
sake of our Lord open thy mouth, and take the bit;"^
and she opened her mouth and took it in all quietness;
and every man was moved to the praise of God.
Now there was in the xhurch of our native village
Nehshon^, a large ants nest built in the wall, and it
was not easy for the believers to root it out, because
it occupied the whole wall up to the roof; and, because
that church was roofed over and made strong with
painted boards and beams, this thing was very grievous
unto them, and when the holy man came to them they
spake to him concerning this matter. And he washed
the cross which he wore upon him in water, and he
told them to sprinkle the water on the nest, and on
the morrow not a single [ant] was to be found.
Now in those days the Shahrighan* used to take
from the Dahkane^ one half of the com, and wine,
and nuts, and poll-tax, and their oppression was very
* Vat. has ;u&?aa n^o2 ;^aso, where i^oso is the Latin mu/a,
«
« ;«^, Arab. A, plur. di, and iill, and ilt (Dozy, Supp/e-
w^//, ii. p. 517, col. 2), i. e.j Pers. ^Ix).
3 A seat of the Shahrighan in the diocese of Salakh. See
Hoffmann, Ausziige^ p. 245, and B. O., i. p. 194.
4 See supra, p. 309, note 4.
5 See supra, p. 256, note 2.
312 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
severe, and their exactions were unlimited,' and the
Dahkane made complaints to their pious Bishop con-
cerning their taxes and their tribute. And he answered,
and said to them, "My children, the time is at hand
when all these villages and towns will be taken by the
Arabs, and all these Shahrighan shall go up out of the
country, and a man whose name is Hitm bar-Salah^
shall persecute them and root them up, and ye all
shall be subservient to him, because, as it is said, "the
iniquitous man shall take vengeance on the iniquitous
man, and the Lord upon them both." [p. 153] And
this actually came to pass to that country after many
years. Now it appears that at that time Hitm bar-Salah
was not yet born, but because the spirit of the prophets
is submissive to the prophets, Maran-ammeh, by the
eye of the Spirit, made known aforetime what was
about to happen.
CHAPTER IV.
WHICH SHOWETH HOW THE HOLY MAR MARAN-AMMEH WAS
APPOINTED METROPOLITAN BISHOP OF ADIABENE,^ AND
[dESCRIBETh] the FIRST MIRACLE WHICH HE
WROUGHT IN THAT COUNTRY.
Now the blessed and truly venerable and holy
Metropolitan Mar Aha, being crowned with a diadem
^ ;dUMk^ literally deep.
^ L e,, Hatim (^U.) bar-Salih (gvll^). *^*
3 In the list of chapters at the beginning of the work Maran-
ammeh is said to have been appointed Metropolitan of Arbela.
BOOK III. CHAPTER IV. THE HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 3 I 3
of light, ended his life in the country of Marga, and
his chaste body was laid in the village of Shalmath;
and the choice of the whole country, but particularly
of Loharsaph (Lohrasp)' and Maslemah,* and of the
rest of their brethren, fell upon the holy Bishop Mar
Maran -'ammeh, and he was appointed [Bishop of Arbela]
by the blessed Catholicus and Patriarch Mar Jacob.*'
And when he had come and had been received with
much pomp and with the honour which befitted his
holiness, he went up and sat on the throne of the
fathers.* Now certain insolent and thievish Arabs who
were in that country had seized upon a mill called
Beth Warda,^ which formed part of the possessions of
the house of the Patriarch, and because the holy Mar
Aha died some way off, those Arabs rose up quickly,
and with little resistance^ called it their own property.
And when the holy M4ran- ammeh had been appointed,
he and all the honourable nobles with him worked with
every possible means to take it back from those wrongful
possessors, but were unable to do so; and when he
said, [p. 154] "The mill belongs to the house of the
Metropolitan, and is [therefore] my right," they dis-
* /, e., JLi\^4J» ApooarfTTO, see Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 150.
Lohrasp stands for the old Arwataspa (see Noldeke, Geschichte
der Perser^ p. 2, note i), but the Arabic form of the name is
Bohrasp uJu*»\^.4y> (See Mas'udi, Les Praires dOr, tom ii. p. 121
T •• ^ «* ^»
^ He sat from 753—772. See Bar-Hebraeus, Chron, Eccles.,
ii. coll. 156—158.
4 /. e,, on the patriarchal throne in Arbela.
5 /. e,y **the place of roses".
^ ;2C^o^»= ;f 9&2fto7, ;xaiaLci», ;no^, J3u:iia\, contention^ resistancey
strife^ dispute.
rr
314 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
puted the matter with him, saying that they would not
give it up at all. Then Mar M4ran-'ammeh answered and
said to them, "Since ye thus dispute the matter, and
will not put yourselves away from this iniquity, come,
let us go to the mill, that we may learn from it to
whom it belongs." And those Arabs, although they
made a mock at the difficulty of these words, and neither
trusted nor believed in the power which was united
to the blessed man, agreed to this condition, and went
forth with him; and with them there were many Shah-
righan* and Dahkane* [who went] to see what would
come of his ordering. And [when] they had gone
into [the mill], M^r Maran-'ammeh answered and said
to his opponents, "Since the mill is yours, command it
to shew us that it is yours, and then we will leave it
in your hands and go away." And they answered and
said to him, "Thou must order it to shew us to whom
it belongs". He said to them, "If I command it, and it
doeth what I have commanded, will ye leave it, and
take yourselves away i^" And they said to him, "If we
see this stone obedient to thy command, then we have
no portion in it, and we will depart immediately, and
the mill shall be thine." Then Mar Maran-'ammeh
having knelt down and prayed to God, turned towards
the mill, and said, "O stone without feeling, by the
great and Divine power of the word of the Lord which
is mighty in the height and in the depth, if thou
belongest to these Arabs, then according to thy custom,
grind flour; but if, on the other hand, thou art not
the property of these men, but art the inheritance of
the Metropolitan of this country, let what thou grindest
* See suprUy p. 309. ^ See supra^ p. 256.
BOOK III. CHAPTER V. THE HISTORY OF MARAN - AMMEH. 3 I 5
be changed to ashes." And when he had said this,
ashes began to come forth from under the mill, and the
flour disappeared; and every man was made afraid and
brought to the confession of God. And Mar Maran-
'ammeh answered and said to those Arabs, "Now
although [it hath happened] thus, if the mill be yours,
[p. 155] command it to change the ashes into flour;" but they
marvelled and were put to shame, and they emptied
their hands of the mill in great disgrace. And Mkr
Maran-'ammeh having given permission the mill changed
its grinding of ashes into its usual grinding of flour, * and
this report flew throughout all countries. Praise be to
that merciful God Who worketh for His Church at all
times, and among all peoples, and Who hath never
left, nor will leave. Himself without a witness,* but
Who establisheth in His churches the chosen doers of
mighty deeds, and maketh them fathers from being
His sons, and Who restoreth by their hands the miracles,
and wonderful acts and mighty deeds of the Apostles
their fathers!
CHAPTER V.3
OF THOSE PROVINCES WHICH MAR MARAN -' AMMEH TOOK
OVER TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE THRONE OF ADIABENE
FROM THE [other] THRONES OF THE DIOCESE, AND OF
THOSE WHICH HE GAVE IN THEIR STEAD.
Now from the country of Salakh he took the pro-
^ Read ^o^. * Acts xiv. 17.
^ This chapter is quoted in B. O., iii. i, p. 483, col. i.
3l6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
vince of Debhur/ and he wrote an order* and placed
it in his episcopal house ^ to the end that from now
and henceforth the Bishop of Salakh should have no
power over it, and also that his name should not be
proclaimed in any one of the churches thereof. From
Adhorbaighan he took Inner Salakh,* and gave it to
the Bishop of Salakh in the place of the province of
Debhur. To Stephen, Bishop of Dasen, he gave the
Great Monastery, and all the province of Nahla and
Tal4na,^ which belonged to the diocese^ of Marga;
and he wrote for him an order that any Metropolitan
who should succeed him should have no power to dis-
pute [the matter] or to take it away from the throne
of the country of Dasen. [p. 1 5 6] From the pious and
holy Mar Shlemon (Solomon), Bishop of Hadhatta, he
* Assemani has ^aa(f. Hoffmann transcribes Debhwar (Aus-
ziige, p. 244 and note 1936). This place is mentioned with
Dasen ^i^\> in De Goeje, Bibl. Geogr, Arad., pars vi. p. 245,
1. 13. For Uo Hoffmann would read 3Ju4J\^.
^ ;!k^2=JLaJ\ a wriitt7i document, an order , and iLiUSy\,
an agreement^ treaty, Bar-Bahlul says that the difference be-
tween ;aV2 and }aua (covenant) is this: ;&Vac2 is that which a
man takes upon himself by the submission of love (;aa^Aaea
jZpo^), but ;aauio is that which he is bound to do under a pen-
alty. See Duval, Lexicon, col. 307. Brit. Mus. MS. Rich 7203,
fol. \2a, col. 2, explains the word by ^^J^y
3 .b«^dfiU^i ^«3»t6 ^TTKTKGTTeTov.
* From this it is clear that Salakh Gawaitha lay on the
border of Adhorbaighan, and it is probable that it is the same
place as Salak al-Audi. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 245.
5 See Bk. ii. chap. 34, supra, p. 250, note 2.
^ ;^^o} « auOevTia. See Payne Smith, Thes., col. 103;
and Duval, Lexicon, col. 97.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VI. THE HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 317
took the Monastery of Barka/ and he gave him two
districts from the dominion of Adiabene, Gamlawlohe
and Merde; and because of the holiness and the ex-
cellence of the manner of life of Mar Maran-'ammeh,
no man disputed or murmured against these [arrange-
ments], but everything which he commanded and did
was received with gladness as from an angel of the
Lord,* and behold the divisions which he made stand
to this day.
CHAPTER VI.
OF THE REVELATION WHICH MAR MARAN- AMMEH RECEIVED
IN A VISION OF THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, TO DESTROY
WITH HIS HANDS THE SEED THAT WORKED EVIL AND THE
CORRUPT CHILDREN WHO WERE IN THE COUNTRY OF MARGA.
Among the sins which are committed by man there
is none more abominable and filthy than that of the
lust of the body, for it draweth him that indulgeth
in it into all error, and driveth him out in disgrace
from every thing which is seemly; and the lawful grati-
fication^ of the desire of the body which is full* of
shamefacedness and modesty testifieth to this, for it
is performed^ in the night season and in the darkness.
* This monastery was situated on the Tigris, probably near
some sulphur spring. Mar Maran-'ammeh went thither to drink
the waters of the Tigris; see Bk. iii. chap. X.
* Compare n^rh» IJgbM i Samuel xxix. 9; CH'^^n '!I«be
2 Samuel xiv. 17; d)^ dTT^Xov 0€oO Galatians iv. 14.
3 Literally, **the legal performance." Read o7^aIfC^^A».
4 Read A^. ^ Read ;is.^A>».
31 8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And thus the working of impurity cast to destruction
the whole generation that lived in the days of Noah';
it burned the Sodomites with fire ; * it threw Judah into
disgrace;^ it drove Samson forth from the Divine care
which accompanied him;* and it laid a blemish upon
David. ^ And from this [thing] the blessed and divine
Paul hath commanded us to keep at a distance, saying,
"Flee fornication",^ and "Whosoever destroyeth the [p. 157]
temple of God, him will God destroy, for the temple
of God is holy, which [temple] ye are." ^ Now certain
men who were members of religious houses in various
places in the country of Marga, through this gratifi-
cation of corrupt and destructive lust, and by toiling in
other habits of life which provoke our Lord, put them-
selves away from what is seemly through the counsel
of the Evil One,* and others who were not deserving of
the penalty of evil were made participators with them.
* Genesis vi. I2. The state of society before the Flood is
thus described in the Cave of Treasures, ;^A•MAx nAa sido
^o .pft.Ai ^fi^Oftftf ;^2 .;i9»ii jiM^o^ ^06 20^ nAo .^ Jbp ^a*&fd
.;<ifiOEtoo .;^;» i^l .3^3.^0 ;kS ^06 2007 A^o -^M^^ 00^ ^ao^ifioue
. . . .3a\ bfrci ^er^ ;aao .;£& &(S9 ^or^ ^ -^a^a^? Itsohn^ k^jdo j^^
2a«* »^ 09dt ySAi ^l^aV^ jZ^No ^a(So .^^a^^a ^Aiob ^ a^wS a«* 0007
a^kfrk^ .^09 JSai ^2^ M>\ ^toSo .3a\ a^a ^^"^ ^ ^l ^1^070 .^M2
^076^09^^ o^aj ^%^%\io ^oM^o ^0102 •^or^afi> J&ai .a*ad JUaA^ ^
•^orjsa^^o See Bezold, Die Schatzhohle, p. 60 f.
' Genesis xix. 24. 25. 3 Genesis xxxviii. 18.
4 Judges xiv. i. ^2 Samuel xi. 2.
^ I Corinthians vi. 18. ^ i Corinthians lii. 17.
* We must follow the reading of A.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VI. THE HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 3 1 9
just as in the case of the famines which took place in
the days of Abraham,' Isaac/ and Jacob, ^ those holy
men also were participators with the wicked men on
whose account the famines arose. What then.'^ Now it
came to pass one night that when the holy man was
engaged in prayer in the cell in which he lived, that
the Angel of the Lord appeared to him face to face,
in a glorious and exceedingly sublime vision, and the
temple of the blessed man was filled with a beautiful
odour. And he was greatly moved, and answered and
said to the spiritual being, "Who art thou. Master.'^"
And the angel answered and said to him, *'I am the
Angel of the Lord who ministereth to this apostolic
throne of Arbel." And the holy man answered and
said to him, "What doth my lord command his servant
[to do]i*" And the angel answered and said to him,
"A command hath gone forth from before the Lord to
waste and destroy by thy hands a sinful people and
a people mighty in iniquity, which is in the country of
Marga, for their iniquity, like that of the people of
Sodom,^ hath gone up before the Lord, and like them
they shall receive punishment in divers ways according
to thy command." The blessed man answered and
said, "The Lord God is able to destroy them in a
moment as He destroyed the hosts of the Assyrians, ^
[p. 158] how then can my feeble intervention be required
by Him by Whose nod the worlds stand, to whom if
He appeareth they shriek violently, and at the sight of
Whom the mountains reel,^ and the earth trem-
* Genesis xii. 10. ^ Genesis xxvi. i.
^ Genesis xliii. i. ^ Genesis xviii. 21.
5 2 Kings xix. 35.
^ Psalm xviii. 7; Psalm xcvii. S; Isaiah v. 25.
320 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
bleth?"" The spiritual being said to him, **I am the
angel who hath accompanied thee in all thy adminis-
tration, and all those who have been before thee, and
I shall accompany all those who shall come after thee
until the end, and until time shall cease and be annihil-
ated; I will be a participator with thee in their des-
truction/' The blessed man answered and said to him,
**It is neither just nor seemly that I should be the
executioner* of my own children, and the slayer of
those who have been sanctified by me with baptism
and the laying on of hands, and whom I have made
to drink of the living water of the doctine of Christ;
spare me, a sinful man from doing this. The destruc-
tion of the Assyrians, ^ and the destruction of the people
of Israel which took place in the days of David,* the
many cities which were overthrown, * and the great
and mighty deeds which God hath worked from gener-
ation to generation, were not wrought by the hands
of men but by angels; go thou thyself then and do
that which thou commandest me to do." The angel
said to him, "Dispute not with the Divine command,
lest thou appear pertinacious^ and obstinate; if ven-
geance is not taken upon them by means of thee, it will
* Psalm civ. 32; Isaiah xxiv. 20.
2 ^'fcUyah — quaestionarius u e,, carnifex, qui reos cruciat,
examinat, Baactvujv uTHipdiiiq. Du Cange, Glossarium, Script.
Med. Inf, Latinitatis, col., 1025.
^ 2 Kings xix. 35.
* 2 Samuel xxiv. 15; i Chronicles xxi. 14.
5 Genesis xix. 25.
^ iHova. Compare «» or^o^ Jiasp oqi laaikio .or .^ ^^o^
;^o^a9 c|^ ^AMO ;3*&M fis*;i*M2f »o; ao(S hJi^vm «^OAd. Brit.
Mus. MS. Orient. 2441, fol. 325^, col. 2.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VII. HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 32 I
not be known that they have justly been destroyed
and have perished, and also they will [not] be a warn-
ing to others not to be like unto them;" and when
the angel had spoken these things with him, he dis-
appeared from him, and Mar Miran-'ammeh saw him
no more.
CHAPTER VII.
m
OF HOW THE BLESSED MAN LEFT HIS EPISCOPAL HOUSE
AND FLED, AND OF THE ANGELIC AGENCY WHICH
PREVENTED HIS FLIGHT.
Now when it appeared to the holy man thus, [p. 159]
and he knew that the word had gone forth from be-
fore the Lord, with tears and great grief he secretly
left his cell, and went out by night to go forth into
solitude' remote from all mankind, that he might not
be the means by which the matter which the angel
required of him [should be accomplished] ; and he turned
the impetuosity of his course with very rapid steps to
a mountain eastwards, having his eyes filled with tears,
and prayer and supplication in his mouth. But just as
the Lord . turned back the fugitive prophet in the belly
of the whale ^ unto the preaching of Nineveh,^ and com-
pleted by him that which was required of him, so also
' ;^oooM\a, a rare word.
^ '^ = Kf^Toq. This word is explained by <iC«^ **fish",
^sb ;ia» "great fish", ^i-Afs ''dragon," ^Ll^ "crocodile." Brit. Mus.
MSS. Rich 7203, fol. 148 a, col. 2; and Orient. 2441, fol. 321^^,
col. 2. See also Ahrens, Buck der Naturgegenstdnde^ (text) p. 55.
5 Jonah ii. 10.
ss
32 2 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
did He turn back this fugitive priest, not by means of
a fish, but by means of the element* of fire did He
make him afraid;' and he returned to His service. Now
when he had gone on the whole day, without food
and without water, he came to a valley in which was
a poop of water, and there were reeds ^ round about
it, and he went into the place where the reeds were
dense ^ that he might satisfy his hunger with the plants^
and herbs which were round about him. Then that
guardian angel stood above him as before, and an-
swered and said to him, "Whither canst thou flee from
before the Lord.-^ Behold the heavens and the earth
are filled with Him; thou appearest to be acting like
^ cfy^^ for ci^.?. 3 ^J for ^?.
* jSi or ^4 is the name given by the Syrians to the long",
slender reed which grows in marshy places in Mesopotamia
from four to eight feet high; the Arabs call it ^^^J^. Large
patches of the reed are found in the soft ground between hills
and mountains. A fine example of such a reedy swamp is that
which extends from the Khabur to Buhairet Khatuniyyeh, to
the west of the Sinjar Mountains; it affords excellent cover
for wild animals of all kinds. I passed it in the late autumn
of 1890, and the ride occupied more than two hours. Sir Henry
Layard saw a leopard stealing from the high grass at this
place. See Nijievek and Babylon, p. 324.
5 ;&oa^. A rare word.
^ All the MSS. have ILsa Nanhe, and according to Stoddard
(quoted in Payne Smith, Thes., col. 2387) ^ means "a kind
of hot grass." The word Im, or Hm. may be a corruption of
tfLi, Pers. U-wJ-r^i or jbo;»^ Gr. (J|Li|Lii'=»\^anjU. See Dozy,
Supplement, torn. ii. p. 632, col. 1 ; Payne Smith, Tlies., coll.
223, 229, 2362. Loew in his Aramdische Pflansennanien, No. 200,
p. 259, gives the form ;iai, «JJi} Mentha.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF M ARAN - AMMEH. 323
a Stupid and ignorant man." Mar Maran-'ammeh said
to him, "Even if I perish like a child of perdition I
will neither become a wicked shepherd, and break the
ankles of my sheep, nor the slayer of innocent lambs
over whom the Holy Spirit has set me in a place of
trust." The angel said to him, "I could take thee now
and place thee, like Habakkuk,' in thy cell, O simple
old man, I do not, however, wish thy service to be
forced but voluntary." [p. i6o] And while he was yet
disputing, by means of the spiritual being fire came
round about him, and the thicket began to burn, and
the angel said to him, "Wilt thou go now, or shall I
consume thee with these reeds?" And when the body
of the old man began to wax hot, he promised with
tears to go according to his command, and the angel
took him, and in one moment placed him in the cell
where he lived.
CHAPTER VIII.
OF THE DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSED MAR MARAN-^ AMMEH
TO THE COUNTRY OF MARGA, AND OF THE MIRACLES WHICH
TOOK PLACE THERE BY HIS HANDS.
Now when the holy man had returned from his
flight, and had tarried a little he prepared himself to
go forth to the mournful and sorrowful work which
had been sent to him; and he crossed the Zab, and
made his way direct to the province beyond the Zab^
^ See Bel and the Dragon, verse 39.
^ Read ^^t aaii> and see Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 227J and
B. O.f iii. I, p. 485, col. I {Birtha quae ultra Zabam
fluvium).
324 THOMAS OF MARG/, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
which lay to the east of Marga, and went up to a great
village, situated in the mountain, the name of which was
Birta. And he passed the night in the church [there]
according to [his] custom, and it appeared to him in
a dream that [one said to him], ''This village is one
of those which have provoked thy Lord, cast into it
one of the arrows of thy curses, and get thee forth
from it early." And with the falling of the sun upon
the earth, he mounted his ass and, went forth from it,
and he turned his face towards it, and said, "O village
full of iniquity, nevermore shall the cock, the harbinger
of peace, crow in thee, nevermore shall his voice be
heard in thee; thy inhabitants shall go forth from thee,
and be scattered, and moreover thou shalt nevermore
be inhabited." And with the word of the righteous
man there went forth fire from the four ends of the
village, [p. 161] and burnt up all the houses in a
moment, and behold to this day no man dwelleth
therein.
From this [village] he came to Beth Tehunai* in
which dwelt certain Shahrighan who possessed many
estates in the country. And one of these men whose
name was Armenazwai,^ had a wife, who was from the
village Kephar'Uzzel,^ and she was well acquainted with
' Assemani has >4o^ x*a which Hoffmann compares doubt-
fully with Tahwani {Auszuge, p. 238). In the metrical de-
scription of the destruction of this village (Syriac text p. 181,
1. 7) Beth Tahonai is said to have been situated by the side
of a river 3'o^ ?4 ^*
^ This is a iJTTOKopiaTiKOV name composed of p*1fc< + zad,
>\^ ; compare «nniD1fc< Horn and Steindorff, Sassanidische Siegel-
steine, p. 35, 'Apidinvn?, 'ApiaMevn?? etc,
^ Read Vais ^to^ &ja.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF MAR AN - AMMEH. 325
the holy man; now she was a lady of noble birth.
And there was in the village of Beth Tehunai a con-
vent of holy women/ and the husband of this woman
used to commit fornication with one of those nuns.
And when the blessed man went into the church, the
wife came^ to him as to her father and as to the one
who had reared her, and began to make an accusation
against her husband concerning the secret unchastity
which he wrought, and that he had forsaken her and
was working fornication. And he called the man before
him, and began to rebuke and to reprove him, saying,
**Thou art not acting rightly, for instead of [the] law-
ful union, thou makest Satan to rejoice through [thy]
corrupt union with strangers; moreover thou hast con-
demned thine own soul, and wilt be cast^ forth from
being a member of His household." Now Armenazwai,
instead of receiving the rebuke, and confessing his sin,
and asking [pardon] with prayers, and promising re-
pentance, abused the holy man with foul names, and
also lifted ♦ up his hand to strike him. And the holy
man answered and said to him, "I trust in our Lord
that thou and all thy village shall go down alive ^ into
Sheol, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."^ And when
* Literally "a convent of daughters of the covenant."
See Assemani, B. O., iii. ii. p. 892 (De Monialibus); and
Kayser, Die Canones Jacob's von Edessa, Leipzig, 1886, pp.
no — 112. Among the modern Nestorians nunneries seem not
to exist. See Badger, Nestorians^ vol. ii. p. 170.
^ ^^j| for (sAa. 3 Strike out the point after ;^^aboo.
^ Read ^bi.
5 For examples of x^ used as an adverb see Payne Smith,
Thes^y col. 1256.
^ Numbers xvi. 32.
326 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the wife saw the cursing of the holy old man, and it
fell upon her ears, she knew that straightway his com-
mand would be carried out, and she answered and said
to him, "Father, what shall I and these my two sons
do?" He said to her, "Get thee forth quickly, and flee
to the Monastery of Kurai,' and tarry not here for an
instant, that ye perish not." [p. 162] And it came to
pass in the morning season, when the reapers were in
the fields, that a sound like unto mighty peals of thunder
was heard, and like that of the earth being rent asunder^
under the village, and the mountain which was above
it gave forth a sound as of falling upon it; and while
the reapers of millet^ were looking on at a distance,
they saw two horsemen mounted on horses of fire hold-
ing swords of fire in their hands; and they stood, one
above the mountain, and one below it.* And the
horseman that was above answered and said to him
that was below, "Do thou destroy from below, and I
will destroy from above;" and thus the village of Beth
Tehunai sank into the earth with its inhabitants unto
this day. Now those who remember these things
told us that for quite two months before this happened,
smoke and stinking vapours were ascending from the
village; and [its destruction] became a proverb and a
saying for ever.
^ See supra f Book iii. chap. 2, p. 296.
^ All the MSS. have ^iN-i^so?, but we must read either
;iw^<s»d or 6^^N2a (compare nA'-^njIo Syriac text p. 182, 1. 5,
and Brit. Mus. MS. No 17, 153, fol. 6gb, col. i, 1. 19), for
the roots ^fi>^ and ^n^ are unknown.
3 ;L.o?, l^>y ]n^, fc^yntn. See Loew, PJlanzennamen, No. 72,
p. lOI.
•♦ Read, with BC, chwo.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF MARAN-AMMEH. 327
And from this [village] he departed and came to
Beth *Ainatha/ a village in the neighbourhood of the
village of Bashosh,' and Mar Maran-ammeh had a
vision concerning it. And as he was riding along he
stood upon a hill above the village, and lifting up his
hand against it, he cursed it, saying, **The Lord shall
make mighty winds to blow upon thee, and all thy
houses shall be swept away, all thine inhabitants shall
perish, and thou shalt never [again] be inhabited to
the end of time, and all thy lands shall the village
Bashosh inherit." And it came to pass in the night
which followed that day that a mighty south wind
came upon it, and destroyed it and wasted it, and it
became an inheritance for the people of Bashosh to
this day.
And he was also commanded by the spiritual being
to destroy another village in the neighbourhood of
Bashosh, which was called Habbushta,^ and this he did
with words of wrath and destruction.
And he left this village also, and it appeared to
him in a vision that he should go to the village of
Beth Edre.* [p. 163] Now this was the [native] village
' For B6th 'Ainatha of Beth Zabhdai see Bk. i. chap. 7,
supra, p. 46.
^ See supra, p. 217.
3 Assemani gives {B. (9., iii. i, p. 485, col. i) fK^^l^/,
Hebhshushta, i. e., **scarab", but both here, and in the Syriac
text p. 182, 1. 9, the other MSS have ;^x^. The reading
given by Assemani is probably the more correct. For the * 'Beetle
Monastery," jt^2xoabu»9 ;9i*a,see Bar-Hebraeus, Chronicon, ed. Bedjan,
p. 517, 1. 16.
+ A school was founded here by Mar Babhai : see Book iii.
chap. 2, p. 296.
328 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of the father of the holy Mar Abraham, the Catholicus '
in our days, and the name of his father was Shabhor,
and that of his brother was Kenargh.' And concern-
ing this man, a certain priest whose name was Emmanuel
from the village of Bashosh, told me that, "during the
whole course of his life he worshipped the sun, and
that he bowed down to the east, in the morning when
it rose, to the south at mid-day, and to the west in
the evening; finally he became a heathen and [after-
wards] a preacher." And the blessed Maran-ammeh
came to the village of these men. Now there was in
it a small school,^ and twelve scholars and their teacher,
and he went into it when the teacher was making
ready to have a passage^ read from the Bible, and the
passage was from Isaiah. And the blessed man asked
him what passage he was going to read, and [when
he had told him] Mar Miran-'ammeh said, "Leave this
passage to-day, and begin from where I will shew thee."
And he opened out^ the Book and shewed him [the
passage], "Howl, O village;^ cry out and complain, O
^ He was appointed Catholicus A. H. 222 = A. D. 836 and
sat for nearly thirteen years. According to Bar-Hebraeus,
{Chron, Eccles., ii. col 189) *'he was a pure and venerable man,
but on account of his lack of knowledge failed to govern the
Church;" before he ascended the patriarchal throne he was
Bishop of al-Haditha. See B. O., iii. I, p. 508.
- Jk^^aitt seems to be the title of a high office; compare
Pers. 'J3j\JS Kandrano^ ^ x^^^9^Tf^^' See Noldeke, Geschichie
der Perser^ p. 442, note 5.
3 Probably the school founded by Mar Babhai ; see supra ^ p. 296.
4 iii^ — mzfn^.
•^ J^^ literally, to open out a way.
^' Isaiah xiv. 31.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF MAR AN- AMMEH. 329
village; all Philistia is troubled; for smoke cometh forth
from the north, and there is in thee no one person of
his who striveth,"" and he added the passage which
cometh after it. And when he had finished, he an-
swered and said to the teacher and to the scholars,
*'Get ye forth from this village, and go to Shalmath
which is above you, for the ruin of the lords of the
village is nigh." And on the following day men came
from the north as they had read, and slew Shabhor,
the lord of the village, and it became a ruin, and to
this day no man dwelleth therein.
And from this village he came to Maya Karire,*
the village of the honourable Zadhai,^ [p. 164] and
there was in it a famous school, and he possessed
seventy and two estates in Marga, Goghmal^ and
Nineveh; now for what sin Mar Maran-ammeh cursed
this man is hidden from us. And he answered and
said to him, "Thou shalt fall from all this glory in
which thou art, thy estates* shall be taken from thee,
* The Peshitta has .^o/ea^a^ .ssa .^a*^? <^o«
^ A place between Mardin and Amid. Conceming its pleas-
ant situation compare "cum ad nemorosum quendam locum
vineis arbustisque pomiferis consitum Meiacarire nomine venis^
semus, cui fontes dedere vocabulum gelidi". Ammianus Marcel-
linus, xviii. 6. 16.
3 /. e., ^.^>\j'
4 v>^v^if\, or tlMoV, a place situated on Tell Gomel, about 40 or
50 miles east of M6§ul; here, however, Thomas of Marga means
the whole district of the Gomel valley. See Hoffmann, Auszuge,
note 1534, p. 194; the map in Sachau's Reise^ in which Kiepert
has fixed the exact position of this town; and B. 0,, ii.
p. LXXXIV, and p. 419.
^ Read ^Souo.
tt
330 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and finally thou shalt perish of hunger;*' which [thing]
actually took place, to the great astonishment [of all],
for his riches and glory departed, and all his estates
became the property of strangers, and that during his
lifetime and while his eyes could see it. And Shabhoran,"
the Shahrighy^ from the village of Koph,^ related to
me concerning this man, that in his old age he came
to such absolute poverty that he must have brought
in the beginning of the fast* without bread, if a certain
man of his household had not brought him a handful
of wheat, which he roasted on hot coals, and thus
brought in the fast of forty days.^
Now there was in the village which was called
Beth Kardigh,^ a certain heretic^ who dwelt upon a
pillar of limestone; now this man had dwelt for many
years on this pillar, but from the swift punishment which
* /. e.i Shahpuhran.
^ .^c^, the first example of the use of the singular of
^^oj^ in Thomas of Marga. The Pehlevi is shahrtg, or shahrtk,
in Neo-Persian shahri) see Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser^ p. 446.
3 /. ^., "Kob near Akra;" see Badger, Nestorians, vol. i,
p. 10 1; and Hoffmann, Auszuge, notes 1775, 1793.
^ I. e., when the first Sunday of Lent came he had not
even bread to begin the fast ^oo^ A^ » ^oe^ «A^d ^aaa ^ ''the
first day of the week (/. e., Sunday) of the beginning of
the fast."
5 /. e., Lent. For the seven fasts of the Nestorians, i. ^o^
6. ;oj»ip ;tee^ (or ^is^^y 7. jb^^fio? ^o^y see Assemini, B. 0-, iii. ii.
p. CCCLXXXVn.
^ Or Beth Kardagh in Marga ; see Book iii. chap. 2, suprUy
p. 297. This district is also called ;^?ajD; see the Syriac
text p. 183, 1. 5.
" /. e., a Jacobite.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF MARAN-AMMEH. 33 I
came upon him by the hands of the holy man it was
known that he performed all his labour and his dwell-
ing thereon by the wish of devils. And when he saw
the blessed man, and the multitudes that were with
him, from afar off — now they followed close after him
by reason of the wonderful deeds which he wrought,
and it is said that seventy nobles' of the Shahrighan
and of the Dihkan accompanied him, — he understood*
that it was the Metropolitan. And he called quickly
to his disciple and said to him, "Run^ fast and quickly
before the Metropolitan of the Nestorians (for behold
he Cometh from Mayi Karire), and salute him for me.
saying, *Thou knowest, my lord, the obligation by
which I am bound and that it is not easy for me
to come to salute thee; but I entreat thee by the love
of our Lord, [p. 165] to draw near to me that I may
see thee and be blessed by thee'.'* Now when his dis-
ciple met Mar Maran-ammeh at some distance away,
he bowed down before him, and repeated to him
everything which his master had said. And the holy
old man answered and said, "He who withholds a
salutation from his companion forsaketh the fear of
the Highest." Then the man in the pillar-shaped
tower, seeing that the Metropolitan had turned a^ide
into the road which went to his village, and being
confident that he was coming to visit him, thrust his
head through the window and said to the people of
his village, "Behold how excellent is my manner of life
before God! for behold the head of the wicked Nes-
' All the MSS. have i^^, but we should probably read
* Read, with BC. ^^ft>2. ^ \^^, imperative of \m'^.
332 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
torians cometh to be blessed by me while ye despise
me, and make a mock of my wishes." Now Sharzadh, "
who was afterwards, when he became a monk, called
George, and who became Catholicus,^ with his servants
had gone out to the chase; and when he saw the
Metropolitan he alighted from his horse, and was blessed
by him. And Mar Maran-^ammeh asked him, "Whose
son art thou, my son.'*" and he said, "I am the son
of Mihroi,^ from the village of Hennes;"^ and Mir
Maran-'ammeh said, "Mount thy horse, and come with
us, for we are going to thy village." And when he
had come and stood beneath the man in the tower he
answered and said to the dweller [therein], "Why didst
thou send after me.'*" and the man said to him, "That
I might salute thee and ask for thy prayers, O Mar
Metropolitan." The blessed man said to him, "I have
confidence in the mercy of our Lord, that if, as thou
' /. ^., >\jr^, "lion's son". In B. 0., iii. i, p. 485, col. i,
he is said to have been the "son of Maihruk u^oSoi^^ ;.^ i>jVa..
See Hom and Steindorff, Sassanidische Siegelsteine^ P- 4J-
* /. ^., George II. He is said to have been born in Karkha
and surnamed -Lw.aJ\ .-jjI Ibn-Essiah. He became a monk in
the^onastery of Beth'Abhe, and rose to the dignity of abbot.
He was ordained Metropolitan of Gundeshabhor by Timothy
the Patriarch, and was elected Patriarch A. H. 2io« A. D. 825,
and sat for seven years (See B. 0., ii. p. 43 5> col. 2). He
died aged one hundred years, and was buried in the Monastery
of Kelil-lsho. Bar-Hebraeus {Chron, Eccles., ii. col. 187) says
that he sat for forty years, but this is a mistake, as we see
from the marginal note in Codex L.
3 In the Book of the Bee, (ed. Budge, p. 93 text, 1. 6), the form
jBobo^ Mihardk occurs. Compare jbop? Dadhuk, Hoffmann, Aus-
ziige, note 278; and Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. ii.
♦ See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 223, and supra, p. 297, note 3.
BOOK III. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF M ARAN- AMMEH. 333
sayest, thou didst call me for the sake of greeting and
love, our Lord will cleanse thy heart from [thy] blas-
phemy concerning His manhood, so that thou may est
understand Him [as] God and Man in one person of
holy sonship ; that He will make thee a member of the
household of the true faith which we hold; that for
all thy labour up to this day propitiation may be made,
and that it may be acceptable before Him; and that
He may hold thee worthy of the enjoyment of His
kingdom with His saints. But if, on the other hand,
thou hast, [p. 166] in the scorn of thy boasting, acted
in a scoffing manner,* may the Lord smite with hail-
stones this tower upon which thou dwellest outside the
doctrine of orthodoxy, and may it fall and be destroyed ;
and may fire go forth from the hail and consume thy
body, and mayest thou be a reproach and a byword
for all generations which shall come after." And those
who were spectators tell me that with the word of the
blessed* old man, there appeared a little black cloud
rising up and coming from Mount Matthew,^ and mighty
thunders roared, and blazing lightnings played round
about it, and it came on and rested over that pillar.
And the stones of which it was built were rent asunder
and scattered abroad by mighty and violent hail-stones,
and fire went forth from the hail, and set fire to the
body of that wretched man and consumed it;^ and
^ Bf^&iuoio scoffingly. There is no example of this word in
Payne Smith's Thesaurus,
' Read 4^Sa.
^ /. e.y Gebel Maklub. See Hoffmann, Ausziige^ P- 1 75f ^o^e 1 37 1 .
♦ On the margin of the MSS. is written a verse in dodecasyl-
labic metre which reads: — **The most pious Metropolitan Maran-
'ammeh, who excelled in mighty deeds, who was fertile in
334 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
thus he became a mockery and a byword according
to the curse [laid] upon him by the old man. Then
Sharzadh, that is [to say] George, when he saw the
storm, and the things which had taken place, answered
and said to the Metropolitan, "Is the power which
cleaveth to the saints so mighty as this?'* and the
Metropolitan said, '*My son, what hast thou seen yet
of the deeds of the Apostles?"' And George said to
him, '*If it be thus, as the Lord liveth, I will become
a monk, and I will renounce the world, and everything
that I have.** The holy man said to him, **If now thou
wilt do as thou say est, and wilt make thyself a monk,
our Lord will make thee the head of all His church;"
[p. 167] and the prophecy of the holy man actually
happened to the blessed Sharzadh. For he went and
became a disciple in the monastery of Beth ^ Abhe, and
when he had become the head of the monastery he
said to the monks who were in his monastery, "My
foot hath begun to tread the ladder of preferment ac-
cording to the word of the blessed Maran-ammeh;"
and when he had been Metropolitan of Elam for twenty-
five years, he sent to the sons of his monastery, saying,
"Another step is reserved for me, according to the
word of the holy man." And when Rabban Isho^ bar-
Non' died, this George became Patriarch after him.
marvellous acts of strength, who spake and burned up him that
dwelt insolently in a tower^ avenged the blood of the righteous
Mar Nestorius/'
^ L e.y "How very little of this power of the Apostles hast
thou seen even now!"
^ ish6* bar-Non was a native of Beth Gabbare, a village in
the district of Nineveh, and lived for thirty-eight years in the
Monastery of Sa*ld near M6sul. He maintained a controversy
BOOK III. CHAPTER IX. HISTORY OF MARAN-AMMEH. 335
and he sent to his monastery, saying, "See, my brethren,
the prophecy of Mar Maran-'ammeh concerning me has,
in very deed, been fulfilled."
Now therefore the blessed Mar Maran-*ammeh went
forth from Hennes, and he went up in anger to the
province of Birta,' against the village of Hetre, and
against it he also cast the arrow of his curses, saying,
"There shall never be bread in thee, and the life of
everyone who shall dare to dwell in thee shall perish
by famine and sickness;" and this village also was clothed
with the curse, and it became a ruin for ever. And
from these [deeds] the blessed man returned to his
habitation like a valiant soldier, who had destroyed
the enemies of his lord, and who had overthrown their
lands for ever, and who had scattered to every wind
those that were left.
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE DROUGHT AND FAMINE WHICH TOOK PLACE IN
THE DAYS OF THE HOLY MAR MARAN-'aMMEH, AND OF
THE WONDER WHICH HE SHEWED BY HIS STAFF.
Now in the time of the extreme* old age of the
holy man there took place in the countries of his
against the Catholicus Timothy whom, playing upon his name,
he called Talematheos or *'God-reviler," and when Timothy
died he was elected Catholicus A. D. 820. He sat four years,
and died aged eighty- four years; he was buried in the Mon-
astery of Kelil-Isho* (See B, 0., ii. pp. 434, 435; Bar-Hebraeus,
Ckron, Eccles.f ii. col. 181). For *Abhd-Ish6's list of his works
see B. O.y iii. i, p. 165.
' See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 227.
' All the MSS. have ;a2s«&, but read ^0^0^.
336 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
dominion the great drought' which is called by the
Elders the "first drought", since this took place following
^ The ;3ax is a hot, dry wind which dries up every pool
and watercourse, and parches the ground, and destroys all
vegetable life; in Deuteronomy xxviii. 22 it is mentioned with
fever, fiery heat and mildew. Its effect upon the wheat crops
may be gathered from Joshua the Sty lite, who says that "in
the month of Jyar (May, A. D. 501) there blew a hot wind
for three days, and all the corn of our land was dried up save
in a few places,'* .^m? iboa^ o^ oixo .jK^^ j^o.. ^aoxd ;s»ob csjoAx
j^ao^f Xmaop ^ av^ (ed. Wright, text p. 41, translation, p. 35).
The country round about Mosul has always been, and is still,
peculiarly liable to great famines. The ^sox wind first dries up
everything, then the locusts appear, and after them the cholera.
The terrible famine which took place there a few years ago,
when the British Vice-Consul Mr. Russell acted so nobly, is
so recent that it scarcely needs to be mentioned; those who
are interested in the subject may, however, find details in Sachau,
Reise in Mesopotamien, p. 344.
According to Bar-Hebraeus, {Chronicle^ text, ed. Bruns,
p. 123) in the year 721 the water supply failed, and the vill-
agers were obliged to go a distance of seven miles to fetch
water. In the same year wheat and grain were very scarce, and
in the following year the locusts came in great numbers. Two
years later there was a great pestilence in Mesopotamia. In
the year 784 flying locusts came and destroyed the crops, and
made their way up the walls and through doors and windows
into the houses which were filled with them. They filled all the
water vessels, and having entered the houses from the south
side they left them from the north side; having eaten up the
grass and trees, they even devoured woollen gannents and
clothes. Three years after this plague a mighty famine took
place. (B. H., Chronicle, text, p. 134) About the year 842
there was a ''mighty famine and terrible pestilence and suffer-
ing by reason of the heavy taxes and exactions of the rebels"
(B. H., Chronicle, text, p. 160). In A. H. 234 there blew over
the whole of Mesopotamia "a mighty, hot wind the like of
BOOK III. CHAPTER IX. HISTORY OF MARAN-AMMEH. 337
the two hundred and fourth year of the Arabs;' [p. i68]
and the famine waxed very great during the drought, and
slew many by its severity. And when the blessed man
saw the orphans and widows that were dying of hunger,
he rose up and went to Hesna 'Ebhraya,* and he
began to go round and to ask alms of the believers,
wherewith he might feed the orphans and poor people
which none remembered ever to have blown before," fo^
Iv^ Ua^ ^is*\ ^ fr^^ kjojJo; see Gottwaldt, Hamzae
Ispahanensis Annalium^ Leipzig, 1844, vol. 1, p. 188; Abu-'l-
Mahasm, ed. JuynboU, vol. i, p. 801 ; and Bar-Hebraeus, His-
toria Dynastiarum, Oxford 1663, pp. 92, 93, 94, 98.
' /. e., A. D. 819, Hoffmann thinks we should read ^oy
s^ahAA (JK^Ne ,*JsM3 ''two hundred and thirty-fourth year (/. ^., A.
D. 848)." See the preceding note.
^ /. e.y the "Hebrew Fortress." Thomas of Marga may
refer to the Jewish community living round about Nebi Yunus.
This mound is called 'i^y^\ J^*, or in Syriac a^oauNp ;i!^N "the
mound of repentance," because the prophet Jonah is said to
have gathered the Ninevites together, and to have preached to
them there, after which they repented. The position of the
Monastery of Yunus ibn-Mattai, ^^J^ ^^ u/^y. f-^ ^^ described
in Yaljut, ii. p. 810. The fountain of Yunus is about one mile
distant from the mound; see Voyages d^ibn Baton tah, ed. Defre-
mery, tom. ii. p. 137. Nebi Yunus is within the walls which mark
the site of the ancient Nineveh, and is opposite Kouyunjik (Koyun-
shik) and Mosul. The excavations which have been made there
have brought to light inscriptions of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon.
For a description of the plaee see Tuch, De Nino Urbe, p. 50;
Rich, Narrative of a Residence, vol. ii. p. 44; Sandreczki, Reise
nach Mosul, part ii. p. 48 ; Sachau, Reise in Mesopotamien, p. 343.
It is also possible that the words "Hebrew Fortress" may refer to
the mound of Kouyunjik, upon which stood the ^y^ ^^j*J^' or
"Nineveh Castle;" the mound was called ;oj»i? 2&a«? ^^ the
"hill of the Nineveh Fortress," or ^y^ cr^***-, or ^y^ JP>.
See Rich, Narrative, vol. ii. p. 55; Bar-Hebraeus, Historia
uu
338 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of his country. And because they were well acquainted
with his greatness, and with the Apostolic wonders and
mighty deeds which he wrought, the believing lovers
of God gave to him abundantly/ And when he had
collected much money, and went forth to come [to his
own country], certain thieves who had watched him
from Mosul to Beth Tartar^ of the Ninevites, went
before him on the road, and lay hidden in a mountain
hollow^ and watched for him to pass by. And when
he passed by singing a psalm, they knew that he had
none of his property with him; but when his disciples
entered that hollow, the thieves rose up and laid hold
upon the possessions which were under them. And
his disciples cried out to him, and he turned back and
saw the thieves making ready to carry off everything
that he had with him. And he said to his disciples,
"Give me my staff/' and when they had given it to
him, he tied his turban cloth around the top of it,
and threw it towards heaven in anger. And he began
to weep, saying, "My soul abhorreth that which troubl-
eth it;^ how many are they increased who trouble
me;5 how many are my days^ in which thou dost not
depart^ from me, and in which I do not see evil days.'^*
Dynastiaruvi , pp. 404,441; and Tuch, De Nino Urbe, p. 49.
In Bk. iv. chap. 5 ;*aaii }%au^ is said to be in "Nineveh" and in
Bk. V. chap. 2 it is said to be a "town" ,^a^.
' fiy^^f^' "" Compare J^f^\ •
^ o^oi^b', in Neo-Syriac o^bob'. See Hoffmann, Auszuge,
note 1794, p. 225; and Noldeke, Gramma tik der Neusyrischen
Sprache, p. 39.
♦ Job. vi. 7. 5 Psalm iii. i.
^ Psalm cxix. 84. ^ Compare Job vii. 19.
^ Compare Proverbs xv. 15; Ecclesiastes xii. i.
BOOK III. CHAPTER IX. HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 339
for behold now thou hast delivered the alms', which
I have begged for the poor into the hands of the
spoilers." Now the rod stood between earth and heaven,
and a gentle wind was blowing towards the holy man,
but sparks of fire game forth from the knotted* fringes
of the turban cloth, and smote ^ the thieves in their
faces. And when they saw this wonder they were in
great fear, and they let go their hands from the mules,
and asked for alms from him like wretched beggars,
saying, [p. 169] "Consider us also, O blessed man, like
those poor people to whom thou art carrying this
money, and give us alms from it, for it is through
hunger that we have done this." And he commanded
his disciples, and they gave money to them, and thus
those thieves turned back, and travelled on their way
rejoicing; and when they came to their habitation they
proclaimed continually throughout the whole country
the wonderful thing which the blessed man had wrought.
These are [some of] the glorious things of the holy
Mar Maran-'^ammeh, and these are the miracles which
' 3W ^' ^j what is obtained by begging. Payne Smith
prefers the form V^^ (Thes., col. 1205).
^ ;adL^ ^dfi>, "the knotted fringe or tassels of the Kaffiyyek
(iiJS) or turban cloth." ^&oib = Jb^ from the singular i^
or ;Afi>. Compare ]^p^p, KJD^D, glomi filorumy (Buxtorf, ed. Fischer,
p. 737, col. 2; Levy, Chald, Worterbuch, p. 159, col. 2), and
Jifniy>=^ClJL)\ Payne Smith, Ihesaurus, col. 2682. In the east
to this day kaffiyyehs are woven with long fringes, and when
the purchaser has made his selection, the merchant hands it
over to a man or woman who plaits the fringe into thin cords,
each of which he knots at the end, or works it into a little
round ball which is often sewn over with coloured silks and
thread of gold. 3 ^ for
340 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
he wrought; it is evident that we have only written
down some few of them, for the complete accounts
have been blotted out through the lapse of time, and
through the remissness of scribes who have neglected
to set down in writing for us [all] the noble acts of
the blessed man.
CHAPTER X.
OF THE SlCKNEvSS WHICH SMOTE THE HOLY MAN, AND OF
HIS DEPARTURE FROM THIS LIFE OF TIME TO THAT OF
ETERNITY.
Now when the blessed man had arrived at infirm
old age, after he had laboured prosperously in the
vineyard of his Lord from the breasts and from tender
childhood' to the evening of advanced old age, the
glorious end of his contests drew near and arrived.
And he perceived the beginning of his fatal sickness,
and commanded and they prepared an animal for him
to ride upon,* and he went to the Monastery of Bark a ^
with the hope that he would gain benefit from drinking
the waters of the Tigris. Now when he had tarried
there ten days, and saw that every day he was going
backwards, he rose up to come to his country, and
' £s^*i ;a^ literally ''soft nails," /. e., from babyhood and
tenderest childhood. The expression also occurs in Bar-Hebraeus,
Cliron, Eccles., I. col. 729, 1. 14, and is applied to one whom
Dionysius had taught from his earliest childhood in his cell.
^ Literally, "a mount." ^bab' = ;aoab'.
^ See Book iii. chap. 5, supra, p. 317- This monastery was
probably situated near some sulphur spring close to the Tigris.
Between Mosul and Tekrit are many such, and a daily draught
of the water or bath is most beneficial in many diseases.
BOOK III. CHAPTER X. HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 34 1
when he arrived at the village of Beth Rewai,' he
went in to lie there for the night. And when the in-
habitants of Rewai saw that his departure from [this]
life was at hand, [p. 170] they would not allow him
to depart from them; and with all manner of reasons
and deeds they worked that he might finish his course
with them, and that his holy body might be laid in
their church. And Mar Maran-ammeh sent secretly
to Lohrasaph,* and he came to him; and while Lohr-
asaph was weeping in his presence, because he saw
that he was already laid in the chamber of the tomb,
the holy man quieted him, and whispered to him, say-
ing, "I desire and very much wish to lie in thy church,
and it is also the will of our Lord that I should be
laid there, for thy village is about to become a very
rich and much inhabited place; but these villagers are
scheming^ and planning all manner of devices so as
not to allow me to depart from here. Do thou then
ask for thy ten thousand zuze'' from me, and demand
from them either that they shall give thee ten thou-
sand zuze, and that thou shalt leave me here to them,
or that they shall allow thee to carry me with thee to
thy village." And Lohrasaph began to speak to the
Metropolitan in an audible voice, saying, "Master, give^
me that money, ten thousand zuze, which thou didst
borrow from me before thy departure, give it to me,
' Rewai appears to be a diminutive formed from some name;
compare Rew-Ardashir.
^ /. e,y Luhrasp^ ^^^^^ ; for this name see Hoffmann, Atis-
2^g^i P- ISO; and Noldeke, Geschiclite der Perser, p. 2.
^ Read ^a^^». ^ ;«of, drachmas or dirhams.
342 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
for it IS my children s means of subsistence;" and the
Metropolitan promised, saying, *'I am in debt to thee,
carry me away that I may go and give thee the money/*
And when the inhabitants of Rewai began to prevent
him, the holy man said to them, "If ye wish to keep
me back give this nobleman the ten thousand zuze
which I owe him, or depart from me that I may go
and give them to him while I am alive." Now the in-
habitants of Rewai were poor and were wholly unable
to do this, and he commanded that they should prepare
[p. 1 7 1 ] an animal for him to ride on, ' and when he had
come half way on the road, the soul of the blessed man
departed, and went by the hands of holy angels with
spiritual hymns of praise to Paradise, and rested with
the spirits and souls of the righteous who have been
made perfect. And the nobles and the dahkane of
the village, together with the multitudes who came
from the estates round about, paid honour to his holy
body, and bore it with the ceremony which befitted
the greatness of his person, and laid it in the
church close by the ^baA^ftub (KardcTTpuiiia) * of the ^aio
' Read ^soab'.
' According to Bar-Bahlul (Brit. Mus. Or. 2441, fol. 343^,
col. I) ;»o3\Ac is the name given to the '*two balustrades (or
banisters), between which the steps were built" ^07 i^^otb ^^a^
A^a? (sic) ^o7^w^^ ^». Another lexicon, Brit. Mus. Add. 7203, fol.
1 59a, col. 2, says that ;»o£k\A»a is **the raised platform (or dais) which
is'before the door of the altar," ^}x\ c^b f\J^ ^^\ i^l^Lil; and
India Office Lexicon, fol. 1 1 by col. 2, explains both ;»oaV^ub and ^ajio
by gvJjL\ "the altar." ;»o&v*>«*='C3'?^^ in Ezechiel viii. 16;
Joel ii. 17. ;»oaVbti is the whole area of the church before the
;a^, {not the place where the seats of the clergy stand), and
was the raised or built up floor of the choir upon which the
BOOK III. CHAPTER X. HISTORY OF MARAN- AMMEH. 343
(kotxh)/ on the right hand side, that it might be in this
— . ^ - • _ _ ^ - _ _ _ _
altar of sacrifice, :^3^^y stood. (Compare ZiuXeag, Pars templi
quae Bemati observatur, quae uno aut altero gradu aedis sacrae
pavimento eductior est. Bnfiia Sacranuw, Locus in templo ubi
consistant sacerdotes, et quern nulli Laico ingredi fas erat. Du
Cange, Glossarium^ coll. 195, 1513). The ;»oa\aob also included
the ^&&o9 A^'a?, and its pavement was three steps above the
pavement of the rest of the church. (See B. O., iii. ii. p. 802,
note I). ;»oa\iAo seems to mean primarily a **tiled pavement"
(compare Bekker, Aticcdota Graeca^ Tom. i. p. 269, 1. 27, where
KaXa|ii5a? is explained by f| Toug OnXuKoii? KaXdfiou^ tou? irpog
(Tuv6€(J|iov Toiv irXivOivujv KaiaaTpuifidTUJV tti^ oiKo5o)Liiag), and
cannot be older than the Sbacpo^ irXivOoi^ KaracTTpuJiidvov which was
laid on the ground before the temple where the altar of burnt
sacrifice was placed. ;»oaV^ua is also the "deck of a vessel;"
compare KaTacTTpuijiiaTa, if\q veiii? M^poq, Iv ^ 4<ttiut€? vaujiia-
XoOcTiv, Hesychius, Lexicon, ed. Schmidt, Jena, 1857, p. 435,
On men-of-war the KardcTTpuj^a must have been the uppermost
deck of all, as the combatants were posted on it when the
ship went into action: see Thucydides, i. 49. 1,3; Polybios, i.
44. 3; Plutarch, Themistocles, 14, Antonius, 67. On merchant-
men the KardcTTpujfia must also have been the uppermost deck,
for the depth of the ship was reckoned from the KardcTTpuifia to
the bottom of the hold: see Lucian^ navigium, V. See also
Kraus, Rtal-Encyklopadie der Ckristlichen Alterthumer, Freiburg
in Breisgau, 1880, articles AMBQN, BHMA (vol. i, pp. 43—46),
and Basilica (vol. i, pp. 109 — 143); De Vogiic, Syrie Centrale,
Planches 119, 126, 138; UEglise de Saint-Jeremie a Abou-
Gosch (Emmaus), with plans, by C. Mauss in Revue Archeologique^
3i^me S^rie, Tom. xix. p. 223 ff. and Assemani, B, 0., iii. i, p. 537,
capp. 3 and 5 ; iii. ii. pp. 795, 821,835. ^^ Assemani, Codex Liturgi-
cus, tom. ix. Appendix, p. 281, note 2, we have ^mo^v^s
explained by Cancellos ''qui Ecclesiae Sanctuariam a Navi, seu
loco fidelium separant." From ;»o&^^a£i comes the Arabic
if^yojLe balustrade en bois ou en bronze autour du cenotaphe cPun
saint. Dozy, Supplement^ tom. ii. p. 358, col. 2.
' The ;ajLd was included in the ;tooa\iAo, and strictly speak-
344 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
world before- the face of the Lord in His holy temple as
long as the world endureth, even as he will be on the
right hand of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, for everlast-
ing," in that world where there is no space of time
to be divided into seasons and years; and his holy
body is a fountain of help for the afflicted and dis-
eased, and a strong wall to the whole village. Let us
praise God, the Lord of all, Who made the holy
man victorious, and the honourable Hasan who zealously
encouraged setting down his history in writing, that
his glorious acts and deeds might not flee into oblivion,
but that they might all be brought to light. May we
be preserved from every harmful thing in this world
by his prayers, and in the next may we be neighbours
in the happiness which God hath prepared for the holy
man; and may we all together praise and glorify our
Lord Jesus Christ, and may His grace and mercy be
with us all, now and always, for ever and ever! Amen.
Here endeth the history of the similitude of the
manner of life of the holy and pious Mar Maran-
'ammeh, Metropolitan Bishop of Adiabene; to God
be glory, and upon us His mercy, Amen!
ing, meant the beginning of the ;»o&v^ya; compare l^e&ib, Payne
Smith, Thes.^ col. 2727; and ^ajLop j^^ajbi '*limina Cancellorum!^
B. O,, iii. ii. p. 821, 1. 28. In Brit. Mus. Or. 2441, fol. 342^,
col. 2, we have ^*>SX\ C^v^^ y^^ ^^^ '•^^'^ l>»a^ ^^ .07 ^^m
^^^^L^ym^ ^\j}\ ^\^j\^ ^^\ )}\ ^. )} ^S}\ ^y:-^JLU
everlastingly. A rare word.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN-'aMMEH BY THOMAS. 345
[p. 172] A METRICAL HOMILY' ALSO UPON THE HOLY MARAN-
'aMMEH which was composed by mar THOMAS,
BISHOP OF MARGA.
RESPONSE.* MAY WE FIND MERCY THROUGH THE PRAYERS OF THE PRIEST
WHOSE COMMEMORATION IS CELEBRATED WITH GREAT HONOUR IN
OUR CONGREGATION.
MY BRETHREN, BLESS YE THE LORD!
O lovers of truth, bring near to my wretchedness
the entreaty of truth,
That I may weave with my words a crown of the
praises of the pious man.
The children of the nobility of this world, ^ and of
that of Christ,
Have asked from me a petition wholly full of the
love of the righteous man.
5 The guests of light, and those who enjoy the Living
Mystery
Have made me the means [of recounting] the glorious
praises of the noble labourer.
The children of the right hand have urged my un-
instructed right hand
To paint a picture of his perfection full of beauty.
The chief of pastors, and the father of priests, Maran-
^ammeh,
10 The man who was pre-eminent in the Holy Church,
they wish to praise.
The watchful shepherd, and steward* of the trea-
sures of the Spirit,
* In dodecasyllabic metre.
* 4^Q^ can/us responsorius , sic dictus '*quod uno canente
chorus consonando respondeat.'* Payne Smith, Thes,^ col. 2927.
3 Read ^KJlidi. « ;^ba\si » dTTiTpoTTog.
XX
346 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Their command seeketh to crown by means of our
speech.
To the angel of light, to the pure and entirely holy
man,
May they and I devote our words on the day of
his commemoration.
IS And with the offering and sacrifice of truth, [p. 173]
which his vigil requireth,
We will compose a discourse in which [his] contests
shall be sung.
And while with my mouth and understanding I take
refuge in his prayer,
May my tongue well up with a pleasing discourse
on his glorious deeds.
May my feeble speech travel on with his history,
20 And may it repeat the stories concerning him, in
order, even as they were performed.
The holy man sprang from Hatre * a city in Tirhan,^
From a family* and holy race of righteous men.
Maran-'ammeh was he named by his parents.
And as in prophecy [he was named] with a noble
name [so also] his person was distinguished.
25 Our Lord Jesus was with him, and chose him for
Himself,
And from his youth up He set him aside and sancti-
fied him for His household.
To be a member of His heavenly household was the
holy man worthy,
1 ;^pV^^;=«d[eXTl(Tl?.
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge, note 1440, p. 184; ^nAsupra^ P-305.
3 /. ^., ^U-^. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, note 1508, p. 191 ;
De Goeje, BibL Geogr, Arabicorum, pars vi. p. 245, 1. 6.
* Read )^a*. A reads "from a beautiful root."
METRICAL HOMILY UPON M ARAN- AMMEH BY THOMAS. 347
And as he grew in bodily stature he increased in
the doctrine of Life.
And when the beloved youth had arrived at early
manhood,
30 He forsook his parents , and friends , and relations, ^
and kinsmen.
He despised and contemned the love of the world
which passeth away,
And he fastened his love upon Him that had chosen
him, as upon an anchor.'
The love of his Lord inflamed the mind of the noble
labourer,
And he began to walk on the way of life as to
heaven.
35 Now at that time the much enlightened Rabban
Babhai ^
Was praised by many on account of his teaching.
In his city Gebhilta [p. 174] the teacher of truth
founded a school,^
And like the Tigris a fountain of learning flowed
from his belly.
By the theory and practice of his teaching
40 He made the truth of his enlightenment shine upon
many.
Towards this man did [Mar Maran-'^ammeh] direct the
impetus of his steps at the beginning of his way.
That he might be his disciple as was Joshua ^ of
Moses the Great,
^ Read ^o;3?. ;j-jdo2, Talm. DU^p1« =» SyKivoq. For the forms
of the word see Payne Smith, Tlus,, col. 88.
3 See Book iii. chaps. I — 3, supra, pp. 289 — 298.
^ Read ;^b^i. "^ Deut. xxxiv. 9.
348 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
JBefore this [man] he was instructed in the writings of
the Spirit,
And in the expositions of Theodore/ the scribe of
truth.
^ Theodore was bom at Antioch, and was the son of wealthy
parents. He succeeded Olympius as Bishop of Mopsuestia in
Cilicia about A. D. 394, and died A. D. 429, having filled the
office of bishop for thirty-six years. In Nestorian writings he
is usually called the * 'Expositor" (see Budge, Book of the Bee,
p. 140), on account of his having written expositions or com-
mentaries on the greater number of the books of the Bible.
Whatever were his exact opinions upon the Natures of Christ,
it is certain that the Nestorians began at a very early date to
quote them in support of their own views. Ma'na, a Persian
by race, from the town of Beth Hardasher, who was resident
at Edessa in the earlier part of the fifth century, and is men-
tioned by Simeon of Beth Arsham among the distinguished
Nestorian scholars whom he holds up to ridicule, devoted him-
self to the task of translating into Syriac the commentaries of
Theodore of Mopsuestia during the lifetime of that great theo-
logian (Wright, Syr, Lit., p. 830.). According to 'Abhd-Isho ,
Theodore composed in all forty- one volumes. He wrote a
commentary on Genesis in three volumes; a metaphysical work
for the noble Alphaeus entitled ;ii.&o;^o ;&«a «mAs ; a commentary
on the Psalms in five volumes for Kerdun and his brother; a
commentary on the twelve Minor Prophets in two volumes for
Mar Turis; a commentary on Samuel in one volume for Mamari-
anus; a commentary on Job in two volumes for Cyril of Alex-
andria; a commentary on Ecclesiastes in one volume for Porphyry;
and a commentary on Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel. On
St. Matthew he wrote a commentary for Julius in one volume;
on Luke and John for Eusebius; on the Acts of the Apostles
for Basil; on the Romans for Eusebius; on the two books of
the Corinthians for Theodore; on four letters for Eustratius,
and on Galatians and Ephesians ; on Philippians, Colossians and
tqe two books of the Thessalonians for Jacob; on Timothy for
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MAR AN - AMMEH BY THOMAS. 349
45 By the vigilance of his mind* was he directed in a
straight line,'
And he received fully the doctrine of the Holy Church.
Now when the Lord stirred up the heart of Rabban
Babhai,
To go up to our country, and to sow in it the teach-
ing of Life,
He associated Maran-'ammeh with him in that going up,
so Like Jesus, the son of Jozadak and Zerubbabel. ^
They two arrived with many [people] at the country
of Arbela,*
And first of all planted a great school in Kephar'Uzzel.
Peter; on Titus, and Philemon, and Hebrews for Cyrinus; and
five volumes on the works of the other apostles. He wrote a
book on the '^Sacraments;" another on **Faith;" two volumes on the
**Priesthood;" two volumes on the "Holy Spirit;" one volume
on the "Incarnation;" two volumes against "Eunomius;" two
volumes against those who would say, "Sin is ingrained in
[our] nature;" two volumes "against Magianism;" one volume
"to Monks;" one on "obscure speech" ^aoaoi AVw»?; one volume
on "Perfection of manner of life;" five volumes against "AUe-
gorists," iXki^; one volume "on behalf of Basil;" one volume
on "the taker and that which is taken," ^auauo doas; "the Book
of the Pearl," in which his letters are collected; and a "dis-
course on the laying down of the Law", ;^oma ^uib. See Asse-
mani, B. 0., iii. I, pp. 30 — 35; iii. ii. pp. 190, 203, 227, 228;
Bar-Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles,^ i. col. 124; ii. coll. 58, 64, 74;
Fabricius, BibL Graec.y vol. x. p. 346fr.; Tillemont, Memoires,
tom. vi. p. 219 (ed Brussels 1732); and Wright, Catalogue of
Syriac MSS., p. 1329, col. i.
' Read miooj. ' ia^*^ an uncommon word.
^ Ezra iii. 2; i Esdras v. 8.
^ Arbfil, Irbil, or Erbil J->y^. See Hoffmann, Auszuge^
pp. 231, 253.
350 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And when it flourished with scholars and doctors/
He left it in the hands of Maran-'ammeh and went
away from it,
55 That he might go and plant other schools like unto it,
And place in them teachers from among his dis-
ciples.
The holy Rabban Babhai planted sixty schools,
And established sixty men, teachers of the truth,
in them.
He ordained that Maran-ammeh [p. 175] should be
established in this our [school],'
60 And he departed to Gebhilta,^ and there he died.
Miran-ammeh became a teacher in this church,
In which his venerable body was laid at the end of
his life.
By the glorious rays of his teaching and manner
of life
Every one round about him shone by the power of
the grace which clave to him.
65 He became a teacher and a preacher of the Spirit,
And he preached and taught the doctrine of his
Lord like Paul.
He planted spiritual cuttings in the courtyards of the
Church,
And he reared them upon the rain and dew which
[fell] from his lips.
' ^6d^ is explained by ^^\ J:^1j^\ cM^\ Jyi Duval,
Lexicon, col. 358. See also Hoffmann, Opuscula Nestoriana,
pp. XX. XXI.
* From this we may perhaps conclude that the village or
town of Kephar 'Uzz61 was the seat of the Bishop of Marga;
see Hoffmann, AuszUge, pp. 237, 296.
3 Here we must follow the reading of BC.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN - AMMEH BY THOMAS. 35 I
He weaned his body from the dainty things of all
manner of pleasant foods,
70 And by voluntary abstinence from a life of softness
he emaciated his body.
The mind which is devoted to the flesh is wont to
beget a thick belly,
When it remaineth barren' of the mind devoted to
spiritual things.
He sanctified himself to be an offering to the name
of the Creator,
And he cleansed his heart from all the passions of
the body and soul.
75 His thoughts shone like incorporeal light,
He made his feelings' to possess a chaste de-
meanour, and a pure report.
At every moment he made his eyes to be occupied
with the writings of the Spirit,
He also sanctified his hands by means of almsgiving.
His feet had for a firm standing-place truth and
rectitude,
80 As it is written concerning his fellows in the writings
of the Spirit.
He became a temple [p. 176] and a pure shrine ac-
cording to the command,
And was a dwellingplace for the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit,
As our Lord Jesus promised^ to the friends of His
love,
* BC read ;!kflL>. The metre requires that we should adopt
this reading.
^ All the MSS. have .^ol^a^, but we should probably read
V
^ St. John xiv. 23.
352 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
That they should be a dwelling for His Godhood in
the manner of their lives.
8s Moreover his Lord gave him the [power] of healing
all sicknesses,
And He blessed by his hand also the signs of the
Cross which he made.
From his right hand sicknesses of all kinds fled,
And by his blessings he made the sterile fruitful,
and dried up wombs he made fertile.
And although he excelled in all divine beauties,
90 Praise to his Lord was attributed by all mouths.
And from the labour of teaching the Spirit raised
him up.
To the great glory of the headship of the Holy
Church,
To the throne of Salakh, the country of Yanes (Jannes)
mentioned by the Apostles.'
His Lord distinguished him [as] a good servant to
lead His sheep.
95 The good shepherd received five talents^ from the
Spirit,
And like that wise steward he made use of them
with skill and care.
The provisions of time he made use of in an excellent
manner, [being] truly wise,
And there accrued to him the blessing of our Lord
[which is] in the Gospel.^
He went to his country and began to visit the flocks
of his Lord,
* 2 Timothy iii. 8. ^ St. Matthew xxv. 15.
3 **Well done, good and faithful servant:'* etc. St. Matthew
xxv. 21.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN - AMMEH BY THOMAS. 353
100 And to rear them, and to make them increase ac-
cording to the command.
He set out for a village which was called Beth
Nawa,' and he heard and learned
That one tare had taken root and begun to grow
among the wheat.
He tore up this tare by its root, [p. 1 7 7] and gave
it to the fire,
And it became its own murderer, like Saul.'
105 He passed over to another [village], and there
was a young man, the son of a widow,
Being carried out to the grave of the dead, with
great sorrow.
He saw the poor [mother] tearing out her hair
unsparingly,
And crying out upon her only son with tears of
suffering.
'*Woe is me, woe is me, my beloved son," she
cried out,^
1 10 **For after thee I have no other to open or to shut
for me.
'*Let the old woman thy mother die with thee, and
not survive thee,
"That her life may not be days full of death."
The tears streamed from the eyes of the watchful
shepherd for the sake of his ewe.
And he commanded them to take the body back
to the church that he might pray over it.
115 He put out all men and remained alone with the
dead,
' Read }ca n^. See Bk. iii. chap. 3, supra, p. 308.
' I Samuel, xxxi. 4. ^ Read, with BC (^ fi^ \^^
yy
354 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And began [to pray] with tears and fervent prostrations.'
His Lord Who saw the prayer and the tears which
were offered to Him,
Restored the soul of the young man to its body,
and rejoiced His servant.
With sorrow the earnest master prayed for him
that was lying there,
1 20 And like Simon [Peter] he made the young man
to stand up like Tabitha."
He took him by his hand, and gave him to his
mother, like Elijah,^
And all men were turned to the glory of his Lord
with gladness of heart.
He heard concerning certain Paulonians * who were
in the country.
That they did not confess the Godhead of our
Lord Jesus.
125 He went forth to them, [p. 178] and gathered them
together in their church,
And he made a special prayer and service on be-
half of them.
* ^t\. ' Acts ix. 40. 3 I Kings xvii. 23.
4 /jjio^oS, t, e.f the followers of TTauXcavci^ or TTauXTvo^, a
pupil of Ephraim Syrus (died A. D. 373). Paulonas or Paulinus
is probably the same who is mentioned by 'Abhd-Isho' as
having written "metrical homilies, discourses against inquirers,
disputations against Marcion, and a treatise concerning believers
and the creed.'' ilatio^p ^a^o .^^o^ ^^atja^p ;^o .^>io ^ib
.;^o&»b«7o ;s»Iop9 t^o .^o*£»ajo See Wright, Syr, Lit., p. 828;
B. 0., iii. I. pp. 170, 171, note 4; Tillemont, Memoires, torn. iv.
p. 126; Epiphanius, Haeres,, LXXVII; Socrates, Hist, Eccles.^
iii. 6. 9; Sozomen, Hist. Eccles.^ v. 12. 13, etc. Compare also
i^ ^>^o Mo^A^i B, O.y iii. I, p. 120, col. 2, 1. 9.
iTiiiirrir- iTirrigaBWi^H^^igwgg»BgE^pBiw^»^^»^?g'^?^Mgi!w^»^^gg^ '~ '
METRICAL HOMILY UPON M ARAN- AMMEH BY THOMAS. 355
And our Lord made His glorious light to shine [on
them] as on Paul,
When he went forth to persecute the apostles who
were in Damascus."
They also returned to what was seemly, like Paul,
130 And they confessed Jesus [to be] the God of all,
and the Son of God.
He subdued the untamed mule, and it received
the bridle
With quietness and tranquillity, according to his
command.
He drove away from the wall of the holy temple
a nest of ants,
And in a moment they all departed through his
prayers.
135 And while the tried priest was excelling in such-
like things.
The Spirit lifted him up another step higher than
this.
Metropolitan of all" Adiabene, and Marga, and
Hephton,^
The Spirit entrusted to him to hold the oars* of
the elect Church.
And with the advancement from grade to grade of
the pious man, our father
' Read ja^sbich'^^
' The metre requires us to read JiaS.
3 Read, with Vat. ^M^. Hephton belonged to the district of
Mosul, and the Upper or Great Zab flowed through it. See
Hoffmann, Ausziige, pp. 233, 234; and Feige, Die Geschichte
des Mar Abhdisho und seines Jiingers Mar Qardagh, Kiel,
1889, p. 31, note ^11.
I» !•
356 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
140 Was also exalted by miracles which were exceed-
ingly sublime.
Before the coming of the mighty man to this country
Certain men dared to seize the mill belonging to
the episcopal house.
And when he saw their avariciousness and obstin-
ate strife [concerning it]
He carried them to the mill that he might shew
them the truth of what he said.
145 **Let us all go to the mill, and it shall teach us
To whom it belongeth and who hath a right to it,
whether you or I".
The believing nobles [p. 179] and also the assembly
of the priests" went with him
That they might see how and what would come
to pass from that which should be wrought.
He adjured the mill, and instead of wheat it ground
out ashes,
150 He commanded it again, and it changed the ashes
to pure flour.
The large assembly of spectators who were with
him marvelled,
And the avaricious men were put to shame, and
left the miU in the hands of the righteous man.
As unto Moses* dumb things of nature were sub-
missive unto him,
' ^^ crowd, assembly y gathering of priests. Compare
6S4^\ ^^^^ (Ja^^ ^oxoaib 9a^....;sia l*^^* See Brit. Mus.
MSS. Rich, 7203, fol. 150^, col. 2; and Orient. 2441, fol. 327^,
col. I. The words ;»»Iotf)» ;s>^atto, which Assemani renders by
"fidelis plebs", occur in B, 0., iii. ii. p. 97, 1. 28.
' Exodus vii. 20 ; viii. 17; Numbers xx. 1 1 ; Psalm Ixxviii. 20; etc
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN- AMMEH BY THOMAS. 357
And he brought forth from them the power of
wonder and marvel.
155 In the country of Marga there were men of evil
life,
The Lord was stirred up to reward them twofold
into their bosom.
He sent one of the Watchers' to the soldier of the
Spirit,
That he might arm himself, and make an end of
them by his curses.
The spiritual being came, and manifested himself to
the noble labourer,
160 When he was standing in prayer and vigil according
to his custom.
The holy man saw the spiritual Watcher and mar-
velled and was astonished,
And he asked for what cause he had come to him.
**P am," said he, "the guardian angel
Who ministereth to the throne of this country by
the command of my Lord.
165 And the Nod which ruleth creation and maketh
times to pass away hath sent me,
That thou mayest go and destroy the blind people
who have trodden His laws under foot,
A foolishly wicked and godless people in the country
of Marga
Who by thy hands shall suffer death and destruction.
Take hold of the sword of the Word [p. i8o] of
our Lord without pity, '
* /. ^., angels.
* Read $i; compare iki above line 159.
^ t^^'^ pitilessly; a rare word.
358 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
170 And cast down and destroy good and evil men
without sparing."
He made answer to the Watcher, *'I cannot do this
deed,
Because the Creator needeth not for power the help
of man.
By the hand of angels He overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah, '
And now by the hand of the Watchers on high let
Him do this."
175 The Watcher answered, "Do not dispute my words,
For whether thou wilt, or whether thou wilt not,
perforce thou must go".
And when the Watcher had disappeared from him,
he departed and fled.
That he might live the life of an anchorite in the
wilderness' far away from men.
Like Jonah when he fled by sea to Tarshish,'
180 That he might not go at his Lord's command to
the city of Nineveh.
The Watcher overtook the blessed old man, and
surrounded him with fire.
Threatening him that if he would not return he
would consume him.
The Lord brought Jonah in the belly of the fish
back to land.
And He terrified our father with fire and he turned
back.
185 The mighty man arose, the charioteer mounted, the
athlete made ready.
' Genesis xix. 24. ^ Jonah i. 3.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN-'aMMEH BY THOMAS. 359
And he took in his quiver* eight arrows breathing
death,
That he might make them devour the flesh and
blood of evil men,
And perform by them the vengeance of wrath ac-
cording to what they deserved.
Like Joshua,^ holding the spear after the manner
of a warrior,
190 And being wrathful and full of fighting zeal against
the iniquitous,
He went up to the village, [p. i8i] the name of
which was Birta, and the Watcher showed him,
[Saying,] "Curse this village and its inhabitants by
the wrath of thy words."
He stood upon a hill and waved his hand like
David, ^
He took one arrow from his quiver,* and cursed
the village, and passed on,
195 And at once from every side fire went forth,
And licked it up like stubble, and it came to an
end and perished suddenly.
He came to the village of Beth Tehunai, which
is situated on the bank of a river.
' ;ttaA^«=n|B^8 in Psalm cxxii. 5; Isaiah xxii. 6; xlix. 2,=»
iX^Jl ''quiverr See Brit. Mus. MSS. Rich, fol. 154^, col. i;
Orient. 2441, fol. 334^, col. 2.
* Joshua viii. 18. 3 i Samuel xvii. 50.
^ ;^^ "quiver" = ID^B^ in 2 Samuel viii. 7; 2 Kings xi. 10 ;
I Chronicles xviii. 7. Compare HL^ ^a^V ^^ i^^ ^^^
'^ ^20 ^L-»i^\ U^ ^yo ^\ J^.^UjlJ\ ^^ c-;L11j\ dLXi^
^L.m:J\ 3As, ^AaaJstf ^ep^ ^Vt" ^oxoaib Brit. Mus MS. Orient.
2441, fol. 375^, col. 2.
360 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
In this village was a whoremonger who was ex-
ceedingly cruel.
The holy man called him and began to rebuke him,
. as he would his sons,'
200 "What I hear thou art doing is not right,
Cease from the way that leadeth to Gehenna, and
return
To that which is proper, and the hatefulness of thy
[past] life shall be forgiven thee."
The wretched man who was worthy of the death of
the Sodomites, turned,
And as Shimei cast dirt at the just man David,'
205 He sent forth his hand like Shimei (i^) against the
holy man,
And answered the master and good shepherd with
words of mocking scorn.
[Maran -'ammeh] rose up, and went forth and took
a spiritual arrow,
And shot it into him, and cursed him and his
village in great anger,
**Be thou swallowed up in the earth like Abiram*
and the wicked men his companions;
210 Thy village shall be overthrown, and the earth shall
cover it and its inhabitants."
Suddenly there appeared Watchers of fire like
horsemen,
One on the plain, one on the mountain, each facing
each.
' Hoffmann suggests that we should read ;Iu^?.
^ 2 Samuel xvi. 6.
^ ^oMs, probably a mistake for ^^mo*.
^ Numbers xvi. 32.
METRICAL HOxMILY UPON MARAN-AMMEH BY THOMAS. 36 1
The Watcher above answered, [p. 182] *'Thou below,
and I above.
Let us make the village sink into the earth, and
consume its inhabitants within it."
215 The earth reeled, and gave forth a sound like
the sea.
The mountain which was above the village thunder-
ed with violent thunders.
And the earth was opened' below it, and it was
swallowed up,
And the smoke of it began to go up like that of
Sodom. ■
Darkness remained above it for sixty days,
220 The report flew abroad, like a bird, into all countries.
[Maran-'ammeh] came and arrived at Beth' Ainatha
and yabushta, ^
And he sent two arrows flying into them* and
destroyed them.
A violent wind like that of Job' blew suddenly,
And. they fell and were destroyed [and remained]
without inhabitants for ever.
225 He passed on from these villages to the little
village "of Beth Edhre,^
And with a sharp arrow he rent it asunder, saying,
"Howl, O village,' complain, O village, for thine
inhabitants.
' Niw4its2o. See supra, p. 326, note 2.
' Genesis xix. 28.
^ Read ii^Mi^aeiu^t^Q) See supra, p. 327, note 3.
^ Hoffmann would read ^^a.
5 Job. i. 19.
^ See Bk. iii. chap. 8, supra, p. 327, note 4.
7 Isaiah xiv. 31.
Zl
362 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
For thou shalt put on mourning by the reason of
the nearness of complete desolation".
Like Belteshisar' by Darius* on the last^ night,
230 Was slain Shabhor, the Lord of the village , and
all who were therein fled.
He went forth from these villages and in his
quiver [were] three arrows,
Five had been emptied on the villages which he
had passed and they had destroyed them.
He came to the village of Z&dhoi the nobleman,
He took an arrow and drew it out from himself
for his bitterness,
235 He shot it at Zadhoi, [p. 183] and prophesied to
him what was about to come to pass,
"All the glory with which thou art clothed thou
shalt be made to put away,
And thou shalt live a life of hunger and misery."*
And this happened to the old man Zadhoi even as
[Maran-ammeh] had said to him.
* Daniel v. 30. "1?«?^'?? is the Chaldee form of the Baby-
lonian name Bel-shar-usur^ "B61, protect the King.'' See Schrader,
Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament^ p. 433; Bevan,
A Short Commentary on the Book of Daniel, p. 99; and for other
Babylonian names containing the name of the god Bel see
Strassmaier, Inschriftew von Nabonidus^ Konig von Babylon^
Heft iv. p. 52.
^ J2>6»&^ Dartbs, i, ^., AapeTo?. Other forms of the name
are «oI&^ and «oJ&^; see Bar-Hebraeus, Chronicon Syriacum, ed.
Bedjan, p. 29; and Budge, History of Alexander, p. 55.
^ Read ;I5L2. Another example of the mistake of tbJx for
il&^i occurs in Budge, History of Alexander , p. i. line 6, and
note 6.
** Read, with Vat. ^6odo. For the explanation of the word
by Bar -'All see Hoffmann, Syr, Arabische Glossen, no. 3067,
p. 109; Duval, Lexicon, col. 539; Payne Smith, Thes., col. 829.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN- AMMEH BY THOMAS. 363
In Kirdhaghia" there was a man who lived on
a pillar,
240 Like a vulture* and an unclean carrion crow seated
on a hill.
He distinguished from afar the star of dawn by his
clear light,
And the son of darkness thought and decided that
* he would make a mock of him.
j He cried out to his disciple to go out quickly to
: meet him,
I And to ask him to turn aside to him that he might
be blessed [by him],
245 He saw that the blessed old man had turned aside
to pass by his way,
And he put on boasting, and he laid out his tongue
for blaspheming.
He answered and said to the dwellers in the village
below him,
"Behold, even the head of the Nestorians hath need
of my salutation.
While in your opinion, I am of little worth, and
despicable, and of small account,
250 And ye do not confess the hidden power in which
I dwell."
' /. e., iSp\^^*=As^aajb frua; see supra, p. 330.
* ^'poa. This bird, according to Physiologus, lives '*in high
rocks and lofty mountain peaks'' ^m^ i^Baao^ ^a ;«i7fivn, or as
the Ethiopia runs J&WIC : fl>-ftt s hAtiC : *v:>t : oitOj&Ji s (D-Mt :
Oaj^^' \ (DV^ ; m-rtt : Alpi : ^•OC:: ''dwells on high mountains,
and flies about lofty places, and sleeps in the rock;" see Land^
Anecdota, vol. iv. p. 61; Hommel, Die Aeth. Uebersetzung des
Physiologus ^ p. 18; and Ahrens, Das Buck der Naturgegen-
stdnde, Kiel, 1892, p. 49.
364 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
The Strenuous soldier turned aside to the son of
destruction,
And he came to the crafty one,' and asked him
in love for what reason he had called him.
That man answered him falsely, * "That I might be
blessed [by thee]
Did I send that thou shouldst come to me, and
that I might see thy face."
255 "I have confidence in that God Whom I serve,'*
The holy man with righteous mouth made answer
to the wicked one,
"If, according to this thy word, [p. 184] thou hast
called me to be blessed^ [by me].
May our Lord draw off the veil of darkness from
thy understanding,
May He make the light of His belief to shine in
thy mind,
260 That thou mayest confess Him and know Him [to be]
God [and] Man, in one Sonship."
He took from his quiver a poisoned and fire-scat-
tering arrow,
And he added to it that which was meet from that
of Zadhoi*,
He placed it in the bow, and directed its aim to-
wards the pillar.
He stretched the string and shot the arrow, and it
smote him and passed on.
265 [Saying], "If, O servant of devils, thou hast called
me to disgrace and mock me,
' All the MSS. have Jb^, but read Jb!l4 » ;&Sl4 — ;^^&oJ
astutusy callidus.
' ^^ ''lyingiy\ 3 Read os^eC^J^^^-
♦ See supra^ p. 362, 1. 235.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN-AMMEH BY THOMAS. 365
May the Lord smite this thy tower with hailstones,
And mayest thou fall among the stones thereof into
an evil death,
May fire go forth from within the hail and devour
thy bones,
Mayest thou be a mocking and a byword to all
generations.
270 And all those who pass by the way shall make a
mock of thee for ever!"
At the words of the mighty old man, which were
filled with death,
A cloud of darkness filled with hail, and [having]
fire inside it,
Suddenly surrounded the whole tower like a garment,
To take vengeance upon the despicable scoffer who
had acted insolently.
275 And the coming down of the [hail-]stones upon the
pillar was [a sight] to see!
[They were] like the [hail-]stones which the Lord
brought down by Joshua the son of Nun.*
Every man stood at a distance looking at that
which was done.
And fear and wonder filled the hearts of the multi-
tudes that were with him.
The wretched man was beaten to pieces, [p. 185]
and fire went forth and consumed his body,
280 And the old man avenged our father Mar Nestorius.
The despicable offspring of bats, the lover of
darkness,
Threatened to make war, forsooth, with an eagle
of mighty wings.
* Joshua X. II.
366 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
His claw smote him on the head, and ripped him
open, and cast him into the darkness of his nest,
The stone crushed him, the fire devoured him, and
he remained for perdition.
285 He became a reproach for the wayfarers, and a
proverb for generations.
According to what the sanctified mouth of our
pious father said.
The head of the Holy Church was exalted by reason
of that which was wrought,
And the heretics, the followers of Severus* were
made a mockery.
The report flew like a bird into all countries,
290 And the hidden power which is in holy men was
glorified.
And to George, by the spirit of revelation, he
prophesied," [saying],
*'Our Lord Jesus will exalt thee to be the head of
all His Church",
And also to this man was this thing wrought in a
sublime^ manner,
And he was appointed Catholicus and Patriarch of
the Church.
295 He went forth from these [villages], being led
by the hand of the angel,
To the village of Hetre which is situated at the
ends of the earth.
And the arrow which was left he threw and cast
at it, and it remained a ruin.
* /. ^., the Jacobites. " Read o{^ ^tsi
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN-'aMMEH BY TOHMAS. 367
Its inhabitants forsook it, and they were scattered
about to all countries.
The Lord made to disappear and scattered from
village to village
300 Those who went forth, like brands from the fire.
Their mighty villages he left in ruin, [p. i86.]
And the stones of their buildings he piled up in
heaps like hills.
The strenuous soldier passed on and came to his
throne,
His garments were red with the blood of men like
a treader of grapes,*
305 Like a treader of grapes in the winepress had he
trodden their bodies.
And he had pierced them with sharp arrows and
had destroyed them.
May our Lord Jesus have mercy upon them through
his prayers,
And may He hold to be sufficient for them the
judgment with which they were judged in
this world.
His Nod beareth all sinners graciously,
310 And by means of them He spreadeth out His
righteousness without sparing.
His dispensation is hidden from us, namely, why
He made an end of the good and evil together.
A mighty famine took place in the days of the
good shepherd,
Want, in which there was no solace, spread over
every thing.
315 Starving men and languishing beggars and orphans
increased,
' Isaiah Ixiii. i — 3.
368 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
The blessed man saw their afflictions and was pained
and was 'grieved.
He went to the city of the Athoraye' on their
behalf,
To collect from them a sack' full of alms and obla-
tions for them.
Every man gave to him with a full and ever flowing
hand,
320 For they held him to be like unto a prophet and
an Apostle.
The things which he wrought shone brightly in
their sight,
For he was established as a mighty man in their
opinion.
He took the money which [p. 187] had been given
to him with diligent zeal.
And he went forth from thence like Abraham from
Egypt. ^
325 There met him on the way six wicked men who
were thieves.
And they dared to plunder him, and likewise to
take the money which he had with him.
' In Bk. iii. chap. 9, supra ^ p. 337, it is said that Maran-
^ammeh went to the **Hebrew Fortress" ;22ia^ ^ftOb^ to beg for
money; from this passage and line 317 above it is clear that
he went to Mosul or to some part of it. Compare "Mosul
von vielen angesehenen Juden bewohnt, deren Synagogen eher
Palasten als Gebethausern glichenj" Albrecht, Die in Tahkemoni
vorkommenden AngabcH Uder IJqrizfs Leben^ Gottingen, 1890,
p. 35.
* .g>L bagy sack\ compare Talmudic HiJ^^n (Buxtorf cd.
Fisher p. 386, col. 1), and j^, or ;&fiw saccus, pera^ Payne
Smith, Thes.y col. 1408.
^ Genesis xiii. i.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN- AMMEH BY THOMAS. 369
He took his rod, and tied his turban cloth upon the
top of it, and threw it up into the air.
And what had been done was bitter, and painful
and grievous to him.
He cried out with mournful sighs to our Redeemer
concerning his injury,
330 And he called his days a life full of every affliction.
"Behold from the time that I came into the world
I have lived an evil life,
And a little rest hath never appeared to me in the
habitation of time".
His rod stood [in the air], and that spiritual being
who accompanied him,
Surrounded it on all sides with arrows of fire.
335 He emitted and shot out sparks from the fringes''
of the turban cloth,
And they came down and lighted upon the faces
of those evil men.
They were overcome and brought low by the fiery
darts of the burning.
They sought to escape and were no longer wishful
to do harm to his holiness.
"Restrain from thy servants, O blessed old man,
the sparks* of fire,
340 Let us depart as we have come in this matter.
Famine compelled us and through necessity have
we done this thing,
Spare our lives which are come to an end and are
extinguished by the suffering of hunger".
' Or "tassels"; see supra, p. 339.
^ See Brit. Mus. MSS. Orient. 2441, fol. 365^, coi. 2, and
Rich 2703, fol. 174b, col. I. juobb^l^ ^NA. ^-^ ifcoA
^IJ\ ^^ ^U]\ CJ^^y^\ ..oMaJb M ^oro ^att.
aaa
^yo THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
The holy man took a handful of his blessings
(alms),
And made the men participators in his provisions,
and went on his way,
345 [p. 1 88] The blessed man being by what he had
done like unto
The mercy of the God of the universe in respect
of our wickednesses.
He distributed the silver and gold which he had
brought to the mouths of the starving,
And he wisely fed the orphans and the needy.
And while the glorious priest was excelling in
such things,
350 He was advancing in years, and becoming old
and grey.
He drew near, and had already come to the end
of his days
And the end of his course began to appear, and
the conclusion of his life.
Sickness came upon him, and the powers of his
body began to be enfeebled,
And little by little his body melted away, and came
to an end, and perished.
355 His ship came to rest in the harbour of peace
away from storms.
And his rich cargo went forth uninjured from among
the waves.
He forsook the dwelling of mortality, reserved for
corruption,
And in the pure path of all the righteous he ended
his journey.
His soul departed in the hands of the Watchers,
borne with great honour.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN-AMMEH BY THOMAS. 37 1
360 And with the songs and hymns of praise of the
spiritual beings,
His pious soul entered into Paradise/ and rested.
And the triumph of its labours and their rewards
are preserved in silence,
Until the day in which our Lord shall be revealed
in great glory,
And it shall return and put on glory in its temple.*
365 The multitudes and all ranks [of people] bore with
honour his venerable body,
With hymns and songs of praise of the Holy Spirit.
They laid him in the temple [p. 189] to the right
of the holy altar, ^
^ /. ^., the earthly Paradise. *'As to where the souls abide
from the time they leave their bodies until the resurrection,
some say that they are taken up to heaven, that is, to the
region of the spirit where the celestial hosts dwell. Others say
that they go to Paradise, that is, to the place which is abund-
antly supplied with the good things of the mystery of the
revelation of God; and that the souls of sinners lie in darkness
in the abyss of Eden outside Paradise. (Compare Animas
Sanctorum, statim atque corporibus solvuntur, in Paradisum
terrestrem deferri; Damnatorum ver6 Animas in inferiori loco
apud eundem Paradisum collocari; B. 0., iii. ii, p. 342, No. 4)
Others say that they are buried with their bodies; that is to
say, as the two were buried in God at baptism, so also will
they now dwell in Him until the day of the resurrection. Others
say that they stand at the mouth of the graves and await their
Redeemer; that is to say, they possess the knowledge of the
resurrection of their bodies." Book of the Bee, ed. Budge,
p. 132. See also Badger, Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 419.
^ /. e,, the temple of the flesh.
^ The whole choir, as well as the sacred table, is often
called ^9^. Thomas of MargS wishes to say that just as the
body of Maran-'ammeh was laid on the right hand side of the
372 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
A mystery [is] that position which is prepared for
him in heaven above.
May our Lord guard our feebleness by his prayers,
370 And surround with the wall of Thy care the sheep
of Thy flocks.
At his entreaty rain down Thy showers upon our
fields,'
And drive away from them granary worms, and
locusts, and hail, and the scorching wind.
May our crop become [increased] an hundredfold,
like that of Isaac,'
That the offering of the humble as well as of the
great man may come to Thy home.
375 Bless, O our Lord, the herds of our cattle, and the
flocks of our sheep.
That orphans and the needy may be clothed from
them like those of Job.-'
Prosper and bless the rich like Jacob;*
That the needy may feed at their table [as at that of]
Abraham.^
Enrich the poor with riches sufficient for sustaining
their lives,
380 That by reason of their abundance they may con-
fess Thy goodness at all times.
Support the old men with the strength of Thy
power, and make them young men.
That they may teach early manhood chastity of life.
choir, ;i.*^p ^a!^ ^ft&a? .;»oa\aij ^is :^a^^ (text. p. 171, 1. 6),
so he will one day stand at the right hand of the presence
of God.
' The text of BC is corrupt; read ^alaaE^ ''our furrows."
' Genesis xxvi. 12. ^ Job xxix. 12.
* Genesis xxx. 43. * Genesis xviii. 5.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN- AMMEH BY THOMAS. ^7 ^
Bless all young people, nourish the children, and
cherish the ailing,
Satisfy the hungry, and feed the orphans that they
may praise Thee.
385 Fill the garment of tlie widow with Thy food,
That she may not be left without the means of
sustaining her life.
Magnify and honour the reverend priests who
minister in Thy holy things,
And clothe with glory the deacons who bear Thy
altar.'
Preserve, O our Lord, [p. 1 90] this our monastery
from the spoilers,
390 And establish every thing belonging to it in Thy
mercy and by Thy grace.
Hide our lives from all our affliction in the shadow
of Thy wings,
And put away from us every sickness and every
injury.
Drive away from Thy servants the evil oppression
of those who hate us,
And may Thy compassion abound towards us at
every moment to preserve our lives.
395 May faith spring up within us like a root,
And true righteousness like the fruit thereof.
Sustain our feebleness at every moment to stand
before Thee,
As it is meet for good servants who love their
lord.
May this church, in which is placed the body of
the righteous man Thy servant,
' Cf. Numbers chaps iii. iv; Joshua iii. 17.
374 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
400 Pour out the truth of the doctrine of life for ever.
Protect our Father the Metropolitan, and increase
by his hands
The flocks of Thy sheep and of Thy pasture like
unto Paul'
Bless the priests and the Levites who are round
about him,
And according to Thy pleasure may they increase
the talents' which they have taken from Thee.
405 [Bless] believing men and women also, and all ranks
[of people]
Who go in before Thee to pray in this temple.
Make them worthy, that in the church which is in
Heaven above,
They may praise Thy name together with the hosts
of the righteous who have been made perfect.
Also upon the hands and mouth which wrote down
the triumph of Thy servant
410 Let Thy tribunal shew compassion, according to the
wont of Thy graciousness.
And him that was, [p. 191] by his entreaty, the
cause of our history,
Protect in this world, and in the next make worthy
of the festal chamber^ of Thy light.
Pardon the offences of all the children of the Holy
Church,
' Acts XV. 41.
* The reference here appears to be to the service for the
Ordination of Deacons; ^o;*aSo9 ^ ^uSuibNfioo^ ^du>.n&i ^aouoo
a^afi ;^Aa i^^p ;ii^f ;^Q>9 «oro ;i.jmu9. See B. O.y iii. ii. p. 806,
11. 19 — 22; and St. Matthew xxv. 15.
> ^oft\ for ^^, like ^sdr^b' for Z^oab'.
METRICAL HOMILY UPON MARAN- AMMEH BY THOMAS. 375
And let those who are written down by Thee,
live through 1 hee, according to Thy will.
415 From the mouth of us all, may there be praise to
Thee, and to Thy Father glory,
And to the Holy Spirit exaltation, for ever and
ever, Amen.
By the help of our Lord [here] endeth the discourse
which was composed and written by the command
of the wise and learned nobleman Mar Hasan,
the son of Sabhr-Isho', the teacher of truth,
upon the holy and blessed Mar Maran-
'ammeh, the Metropolitan Bishop.
[Here] endeth the Third Book.
[P. 192] BOOK IV
CHAPTER I.
THE INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK.
Now as among the ancient people the priest, in that
law which foreshadowed these things which we now
have, seasoned the offerings of the Lord with salt
which could be perceived* by the senses, even as it
is said, "Upon all thy offerings thou shalt sprinkle salt,
and thou shalt not neglect the salt of the covenant of
the Lord thy God",* so also let us come and season
these things which we have with the salt which can
be perceived by the mind, and let us join to our
histories, in every place where it is necessary, the
words of the Holy Scriptures. And as the offerings
of old received an additional sweetness from the salt,
so also will these our histories acquire an additional
flavour through the' salt of the words from the writings
of the Spirit. And first of all let the blessed Evagrius
cast his contribution with us into this discourse which
we are about to write upon his fellow- workers, and
let us hearken unto his counsel and take heed unto
his command, for he speaketh unto us, saying, "Look
' .g.iTrS>^&^y, the opposite of ;$^ti»«^y.
* Leviticus ii. 13.
» c
BOOK IV. CHAPTER n. ISHO- YAHBH OF MARGA. 377
into thine own self, lest for the sake of profit, or
transient glory, or that it may be well with thee, thou
darest to speak about that which is not seemly, and
art cast forth from divine circles (assemblies), like that
man who sold young doves' in the Temple". It is
necessary then, that above all things we should cleave
to the truth, and that we should carefully preserve the
order of truth, so that we may not err from what is
seemly, but that we may write [p. 193] and may make
manifest those things which stir up in the hearts of
the prudent glory to God, Who in the early, middle and
latter [generations] shewed forth and still sheweth forth
His power, and Who honoured and held to be worthy of
the same reward of one dinar those who had laboured
in the vineyard of His commandments the whole day,
and those who had laboured for some hours, and those
who had laboured for one hour [only].'
CHAPTER n.
OF THE BLESSED RABBAN ISHO -YAHBH, THE HEAD OF THE
MONASTERY, WHENCE HE CAME, OF WHAT PARENTS HE
WAS BORN, AND OF HOW HE WAS BROUGHT UP.
In the three books which precede this, which is the
fourth, the matter^ of our discourse hath undertaken
to relate the histories of holy men, some of which
have been written down by skilled writers, and some
of which have not been put on record.* Of those
histories which exist in writing we have written such
' St. Matthew xxi. 12. ^ St Matthew xx. i— 16.
3 lu^. 4 Read ^^.
bbb
378 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
things as [their writers] omitted, and which we either
found in the histories of others, or which were handed
down^ to us by hearsay; but those histories which do
not exist in writing, and which are inscribed neither
in works specially devoted to them, nor in other places,
I have learned from the very old men who were to
be found in this monastery, and according as Christ
our Lord hath aided me I have made them to possess
consecutive order,* and have laid them before thee [O
*^ Abd-lsho']. And behold now, by the help of our Lord
and by thy prayers, I will proceed with my rehearsing
of them, and with my feeble ability will relate the
histories of these holy men who a short time ago served
our Lord in this holy monastery, [p. 194] and all the
things concerning them which were luminously pointed
out to me by the holy men who lived in their days,
and who became also their disciples. At the beginning
of their histories we will place the account of the
triumphs of the holy Rabban Isho'-yahbh. Now this
Isho'-yahbh of holy memory was by race from this
country of Marga; he sprang from an honourable and
noble family, and was a kinsman of the Patriarch Isho'-
yahbh the Great. ^ The village in which he was bom
and brought up was Telli,* a village in the province
of Birta,^ and he became a disciple in this monastery
from his youth at the hands of the Metropolitan Bish-
' Read .iaufi^.
' All the MSS. have N«juji, but we should have expected ts^i,
A
^ /. e.y ]sh6*-yahbh of Adiabene. See supra, p. 131 ff.
* Telia Birta was situated in the diocese of Marga, beyond the
river Zab, reckoning from Arbela; see Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 227.
5 To be distinguished from Birta in Saphsapha; see Hoff-
mann, AuszUge, p. 227.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER 11. ISHO - YAHBH OF MARGA. 379
op Mar John, when he was head of the monastery/
And when the holy Mkr Aha,* the head of the mon-
astery, was consecrated Metropolitan after Mar John,
this holy man was elected head of this monastery; and
when the Bishop of Nineveh, Mar Abraham, of blessed
life, died, the people of Nineveh begged and entreated
that he might be their bishop, and the blessed Mar
Aha ordained Mar Isho^-yahbh bishop, and sent him
to Nineveh; and he performed the episcopal office until
he was crowned with old age. And when the pious
Henan-lsh6^^ this other Catholicus, died, and a synod
was assembled to appoint a Catholicus, the election to
the patriarchate was ordered and prepared for the bless-
ed Mar Isho'-yahbh by all the Bishops and Metropolitans
and heads of believers so that he became the Patriarch.*
^ See supra, p. 234ff. * See Bk. iii. chap. 4, supra, p. 248ff.
3 /. ^,, Henan-Isho' II., who succeeded Mar Jacob as Nes-
torian Patriarch A. Gr., 1085= A. D., 774== A. H. 157; he
died A. D. 780. For his writings see B, O,^ iii. i, pp. 155,
157. For the famous Chinese-Syriac monument of Singan-fu,*
which was inscribed during the reign of this Patriarch, see
B, 0., iii. II, p. 538 ff.; Yule, The Book of Ser Marco Polo,
vol. ii. p. I3ff.; Bar-Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles., ii. p. 166, note i;
B, 0,, iii. I, p. 156. Copies of this interesting document have
been published by Kircher, China Monumentis, Amsterdam, 1667;
Pauthier, L inscription Syro-Chinoise de Si-ngan-fou, Paris 1858;
Yule, Ser Marco Polo, vol. ii. facing p. 16 (from a rubbing by
Dr. Lockhart) ; and a new edition of these texts was promised by
Heller, Prolegomena zu einer neuen Ausgabe der Nestorianischen
Inschriften von Singan-fu (in Verhandlungen des VII Orient
Congresses in Wien, 1886).
♦ The last five lines of the text of this chapter and the first
eight lines of the next are quoted in B, 0,, iii. i, p. 158, note 2.
* The capital of Shensi, originally called Changgan. It was the metro-
polis of Shi-Hoangti of the Tbsin dynasty.
380 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
[P. 19s] CHAPTER ra.^
OF MAR TIMOTHY, BISHOP OF b£tH BEGHASH, AND OF THE
PROPHECY WHICH WAS MADE CONCERNING HIM BY
ONE OF THE OLD MEN [iN THE MONASTERY].
Now there was in this monastery a certain solitary,
who was an exceedingly old man, with whose name
I am unacquainted. Now Timothy had an uncle whose
name was George, who was Bishop of the country
of Beth Beghash,' and he sent the boy Timothy* from
him to Rabban Mar Abraham^ the Expositor, when he
was in Bashosh,* a village of Saphsiphi, and the boy
made his passage [thither by way of] this monastery.
And when that holy old man came to this community,
and saw the youth who was standing up, it was re-
vealed to him that he was to be exalted above all who
were there by Christ our Lord, and he knew that
he was to be a chief in the Church of God. And
when [the service in] the church was ended, ^ he took
him with him to his cell, and made him sit down, and
asked him, saying, '*Whence comest thou, my son, and
whither goest thou?" And the youth said to him, "I am
a nephew of George, Bishop of Beth Beghash, and he has
* See sufira, p. 236.
* See B. 0., ill. i/^pp. 196, 197, note 2.
3 /. e,, Abraham bar-Liphe who flourished about A. D. 750.
He wrote an ''Exposition of the Offices" $^2^? ^oaioA, for which
reason he is called the "Expositor". He held the belief that
souls are sentient things after they have left their bodies, and
that after the general resurrection their memory of the Trinity
would be blotted out See B. 0., iii. i, pp. 528, 53a
* See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 223.
5 Literally, "when the church was dismissed."
BOOK IV. CHAPTER m. TIMOTHY OF BiSlTH BEGHASH. 38 1
sent me that I might go to school to Rabban Abra-
ham, in the village of Bishosh". Now at that time,
according to what is said, a geridhA^ of wheat was
sold for one zuza, and [the old man] took out one zuza
and gave him, and admonished him, saying, "Go now
and buy wheat, and eat, and work fully in the study
of the Scriptures, and guard thyself from all ignoble
things, for thou shalt become Patriarch of all the
country of the East And behold , our Lord will
make thee triumphant so that like unto thee no one
hath ever been, and before and after thee no one shall
ever be. Forty [p. 1 96] and two years shalt thou stand
at the head of all the pastures of Christ, and when by
the hand of God thou hast been exalted to these things,
let thy heart be disposed to honour this holy house,
in which it was [made] known to thee that thou wert
neither of no account nor despised before God; go
now in peace, and keep those things which I have
commanded thee". And when the youth had been
sufficiently trained and had returned to his uncle, — now
George was using every means he could to adjudge
his throne to his brother's son — [Divine] grace, I say,
wrought that which was beyond his intention, and he ex-
cused himself to Mar Miran- ammeh the Metropolitan on
the ground of his old age, and resigned the priesthood.
And the young man Timothy was appointed Bishop
of the country of Beth Beghash.
/• ^., the thirtieth part of a ;&oa; see Payne
Smith, Tkes.f coll. 780, 1713; and compare Armen. griu, adTOV
in Lagarde, Armenische Studietiy p. 39, no. 536 {Abhandlungen
Kofdg. GeselL Wissen. zu G'dtHngen, Histor.-Philolog. Classe
Bd. XXir. No. 4).
382 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER IV.
OF HOW TIMOTHY OBTAINED POSSESSION OF THE PATRIARCHATE
BY FRAUD, ' LIKE JACOB WHO OBTAINED BY FRAUD THE
BLESSINGS OF ISAAC HIS FATHER. '
There are times when matters concerning heaven
and things above [this] world require human means
and help, and we may learn and prove from many in-
stances that such means and help are allowed by the
Will of God, even though they progress by cunning.^
When God the Lord of all made the blessed Isaac to
bless his sons, He moved him with the desire for
food of the chase in the desert, to such a degree that
when Esau was away, there should be the opportunity
for Jacob to carry away the blessing. And if it were
not so would not that great and rich man have said
to his son, "My son, slay me a kid of the goats, that I
may eat, and that my soul may bless thee before
I die".'^* [p. 197] but no, he sent him off upon the trouble-
some labour of hunting after fleeing and inaccessible
prey. Thus also was it when Samuel was commanded
by the Lord to anoint David, and he feared the sword
of Saul, he was commanded to take a heifer and to
say, "I am come to sacrifice to the Lord".^ Thus also
was it when the blessed Paul received a revelation
from God that not one of them should perish, but only
the ship, and he said beforehand to all those who
were with him, "Eat bread, and be not distressed, for
our Lord hath revealed it to me that no soul of us
* NfjiLaA "fraudulently." * Genesis xxvii. 27 — 30.
3 b^fiLfi^. ^ Genesis xxvii. 3, 4.
5 I Samuel xvi. 2.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER IV. TIMOTHY OF BJ^TH BEGHASH. 383
shall perish, but only the ship"; and [when] he knew
that the sailors were making ready to flee, he said to
the Romans who were with him, "If these flee we
shall all perish." * And [there are] many [other] instances
which it is not necessary for us to collect.
And in this case also, since the Patriarchate was
set apart for Timothy, truth acted with subtlety and
performed its work. And* when Timothy saw the face
of every man fixed upon our Mar Isho'-yahbh, he ad-
vised him secretly when they were alone together,
and said to him, "Thou art an old man, and thou
art notable to stand up and meet the attacks of the
envious, Ephraim of Elam, Joseph the son of Mari, and
other opponents; but do thou excuse thyself, and be-
come one of my supporters, and I will make thee
Metropolitan of Adiabene" ; and to speak briefly, Timo-
thy was appointed Catholicus and Patriarch, and was
proclaimed among the heads of the fathers. And after
a few days, because the holy Mar Maran-'ammeh,
Metropolitan of Arbela, was dead, he appointed and
proclaimed Mar Isho'-yahbh Bishop of the church of
Adiabene, and Metropolitan of all his countries.^
^ Acts xxvii. 21 — 44.
* The text of the concluding portion of this chapter is quoted
in B, £?., iii. i, p. 158, col. 2.
3 Timothy I. was a native of Hazza in Adiabene, and a
pupil of Abraham bar-Dashandadh at the school of Bashosh in
Saphsaphd; he became Patriarch about A. D. 780 and died A.
H., 204, or 205 — A. D. 819 — 820, or 820—821. The story
of Timothy's accession is thus told by Bar-Hebraeus {Chran,
Eccles.^ ii. col. 165 f.): — After Henan-1sh6* II. arose Timothy,
384 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
— — ~ I ■ ^^^^^^_
CHAPTER V.'
OF ROSTAM BISHOP OF HENAITHA.
Now when the Shahrigh&n of Kephar 'Uzzel, and
the inhabitants of the province of Beth Aro'e saw that
* This chapter is quoted in B. O.y iii. i, p. 207.
Bishop of Baghash, a diocese in the mountains of Arbela. Now
when Henan-Isho* was dead a schism fell among the Bishops
and the people. Some of them wished Ephraim, Metropolitan
of Gunde-Shabh6r to be Patriarch, some wished for Thomas,
Bishop of Kashkar, and some for this Timothy. Then Timothy
acted craftily, and having filled bags (;^§afi) with copper money
(^ B ;# Of ), he sealed them, and took them with him. And he
called the scholastics (o».vfe»Sftf\Q>) to him secredy by night,
and said to them, '1 have collected all this money, dinars and
dirhams, and I wish to spend it upon [your] school; help me
tl\en, and ye shall find good [for yourselves]". And they being
led astray believed his words, and went forth and fought against
all those who were opposed to [the election of] Timothy. And
they brought the Bishops by force, and took Timothy and car-
ried him to Seleucia and proclaimed him Patriarch. Meanwhile
Thomas, Metropolitan of Kashkar, gathered together thirteen
bishops, and they came to Bagdad and tarried in the Mon-
.istery of Mar Pethi6n, and they deposed Timothy on the third
Sunday of the forty days* fast; and Timothy gathered together
other [bishops] and excommunicated Thomas. Thomas and his
bishops then elected the monk George, but this rival died sud-
denly, and Timothy having succeeded in deceiving B6r6S the
archdeacon, vI^^'Ijl*^;^^ \S^x^,* ^^^ die heads of colleges (as
stated above), by promising them large sums of money he caus-
ed himself to be elected Patriarch. Subsequently Ephraim of
Gund6-Shabh6r, Solomon of al-Hadithah, Joseph of Merv, and
Sergius of Ma alltha held a synod at the Monastery of B6th
Hale, in which they made R6stam, Bishop of Henaitha, Metro-
politan of Adiabene in place of Ish6*-yahbh, and excommunicated
Timothy, who, in return excommunicated Joseph of Merv. Joseph
BOOK IV. CHAPTER V. OF TIMOTHY OF B^TH BEGHASH. 385
a Metropolitan Bishop who had not been elected by
them had been appointed over them, and that the
CathoHcus had considered them as if they did not exist,
they decreed with oaths ,| saying, "We will never be
obedient to Isho^-yahbh who hath been set over us
without being elected by us". And they went down
to Hedhatta' to Mar Solomon,' bishop of that place,
and there happened to be there also Joseph^ the son
of Mari, the wicked Metropolitan of Merv, who had
come thither because the holy Mar Solomon, on account
of his old age, was not able to go down to the synod.
And Joseph the son of Mari thought* that he {i. e.y
Solomon) would stir up a commotion against Timothy
when he should speak to Solomon, saying, * 'Behold,
* /. ^., al-Hadithah; see Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 178.
* He flourished about A. D. 760 — 78a He wrote certain
histories and a treatise upon the monastic life .oji^ ^^^.a^ hMis
;^a*a^d U^oi 1^0. See B, 0,, iii. i, p. 210.
3 See B. O.y iii. i, pp. 159, 208.
4 Read &afi>io.
laid the matter before the Khalif of Bagdad, al-Mahdf, but ob-
taining no support from him, he turned Muliammedan, and is
said by Bar-Hebraeus {Chron, Eccles,^ ii. col. 171) to have been
publicly convicted of sodomy. Timothy was excommunicated
a second time by Ephraim of Gundfi-Shabh6r, and retorted by
a counter-excommunication. On the whole subject see Wright,
Syriac Literature, p. 845; Bar-Hebraeus, Chron, Eccles.^ ii.
coll. 165—169; B. a, ii. pp. 433, 434; iii. i. 158—163. Ac-
cording to 'Abhd-ish6', Timothy wrote the "Book of the Stars";
a "Disputation with al-Mahdi"; a work on "Ecclesiastical Judg-
ments"; "Synodical Volumes", ;*flu?%ate ;&»<^; two hundred
"Letters" arranged in two volumes; a volume of "Questions" ; a
volume on "Chapters"; and a "history." See B, 0., iii. i.
pp. 162, 163.
ccc
386 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Ephraim of Elam wisheth also to gather together'
the Bishops and Metropolitans who are not of the
laying on of hands of Timothy, that he may cause Tim-
othy to be deposed";* and when to this wish that of the
Shahrtghan was added Joseph found the material for
his wickedness. And he led astray the holy Mar
Solomon, as Saiba [Ziba] led David astray,^ and as the
lying prophet [deceived] the prophet of God who came
from Judah to Bethel.^ And they took Rostam, Bishop of
Pjleniitha, and appointed him Metropolitan of Arbela in
the Mud Convent, which is on the Tigris, below the
Hesni 'Ebhraya^ in Nineveh, and the Shahrigh&n took
him and seated him on the Metropolitan throne of Beth
Mar Kardigh.^ And he seized the Bishop'^s throne
[p. 199] and all his income,^ and the wretched man
' B. £7., iii. I, p. 207, col. 2, 1. 11, reads .sua.
' ob^&'kb— KdOap(Ti^-» j^Ui\. According to Brit. Mus. MS.
Orient 2441, foL 351^, col. 2, the word means }^ ;nojii.*9(s»
3 2 Samuel, chap. xvi. 3, 4; xix. 29. ^ i Kings xiii. 18.
5 /. e.y the "Hebrew Fortress"; see Bk. iii. chap. 9, supra,
p. 337-
^ A^?9Jb in Turkish means "Black Mountain". Mar J^ardagh
was of noble birth, and is said to have been a descendant of
Nimrod on his father's side, and of Sennacherib on his mother's;
he was endowed with great physical beauty, and fine mental
qualities, but he was originally a heathen. He was martyred
in the forty-ninth year of the reign of Sapor 11. 1. e., A. D. 358.
For the life, history and acts of Mar Kardagh see Feige, Die
Geschichte des Mar Abhdtshb und seines Jungers Mar Qardagh,
Kiel, 1889; Abbeloos, Acta Mar Kardaghi Assyriae Praefecti
qui sub Sapore II martyr occubuit, Bruxelles, 1890; Bedjan, Acta
Martyrunt et Sanctorum, torn. ii. pp. 442 — 506, Paris, 1891.
7 Read orfi^i!^;..
BOOK IV. CHAPTER VI. ISHC^T-YAHBH GOES TO ADIABENE. 387
began to eat and to make merry, not knowing that his
stroke was at hand, and that there was none to de-
liver him.
CHAPTER VI. ^
OF THE GOING UP OF OUR HOLY MAR ISHO'-YAHBH TO
ADIABENE.
And when Mar Isho -yahbh had arrived at the village
of Haighali,' and at Estreniya,^ and had heard and
learned also concerning the things which had taken
place in the matter of Rostam, he wrote to Mar Timo-
thy, saying, "This is thy love for thy friend! Thou
hast deceived me, and hast made a laughing-stock of
me. Thou hast brought me out from the throne of
Nineveh upon which I sat, and I am deprived even of
this throne which thou hast been pleased to give me;*
take then this priesthood which thou hast given to me,
and I will go to my own monastery and will end my
life [there]". And Mar Timothy wrote to him, "Faint
not, neither be disturbed by these two tails of burning
brands^ who have appointed a Metropolitan^ without
* This chapter is quoted in B, £?., iii. I, p. 207, col. 2.
^ /. e.^ iAiU on the Tigris. See Hoffmann, Auszilge^ p. 238*
3 With the form ;aa\fi>2 compare ;iV^?M»> text p. 183, 1. 5.
The termination ya may be either the Arabic du>, or Persian
yk\ see Noldeke, Zur Orientalischen Geographies Z. D, M, G.
Bd XXVin. 94 n. I.
^ Read either £\^im6o ;o7 ^ «^£sn?, or n^^.m^2 ^^ «^ss6o.
5 Isaiah vii. 4.
^ The Metropolitan of Adiabene here referred to was Rost&m,
concerning whom see the next chapter.
388 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the [consent of] the Patriarch; go to Adiabene, and
abide in every village which will receive thee,* and the
village which desireth thee not, dispute not with it;
for the day of the destruction of the enemy is near,
and that which shall happen to them hasteneth,* for
the Lord judgeth His people, and consoleth His serv-
ants**. And when the blessed M4r Isho'-yahbh had
read these things, he took courage and went up and
came to his country. And when, according to the
agreement^ which existed between them, neither the
Shahrighan nor the Aro'aye^ went out to meet him,
he went up to the Banikiye,* and these people, and
those of all their province, and all the people of the
mountains of Adiabene, and the people of Hefthon^
received him with great joy, and with the honour of
which his holiness was worthy ; [p. 200] and he passed
over to Marga, and he remained thus visiting these,
believing people, and they rejoiced in him. And Rostam
and the nobles of Kephar 'Uzzel lived luxuriously upon
all manner of dainty foods when he first ^ came from
his throne to them, and they enjoyed themselves with
riotous living while they threatened and made ready
to drive away the blessed Mar Isho^-yahbh from the
part of the country which he held ; but they did not
know that they would be put to shame through what
they were preparing and making ready.
' St. Matthew x. 11. " Deuteronomy xxxii. 35, 36.
3 ^oAN for ^^. * /. e., the people of Bfith Aro'fe.
5 See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 238, note 1898.
^ Hepthon, Hibtun, the \^T\tT\ of Benjamin of Tudela, lay
upon the left side of the Upper or Great Zab; for its history
see B, (9., iii. ii. p. 737; and Hoffmann, Ausziigey p. 233.
" Read ^,^fii».
BOOK IV. CHAPTER VII. DOWNFALL OF ROSTAM. 389
CHAPTER Vn.'
OF THE SWIFT JUDGMENT WHICH OVERTOOK ROSTAM, AND
OF HOW THOSE WHO HAD APPOINTED HIM WERE PUT TO
SHAME AND DISGRACED.
Now while the Spirit of God was longsuffering
towards Rostam, he hardened his heart and the wretch-
ed man never brought the matter into his mind or
thought, "How can I continue in the office of Metro-
politan since I have neither been appointed by the
Catholicus nor fully installed, or how can I dare to
remain in what I have" ? But like Absalom, * he wished
to act insolently towards the fatherhood of the Head
of the East, and according to the seed which Joseph
the son of Man had sown in his ears, he awaited with
hope the disturbance [which was made] concerning the
Catholicus, even as Absalom waited eagerly for the counsel
of Ahithophel in [the matter of] the destruction of
David. ^ And while he was in the midst of these de-
liberations the Lord roused Himself like a sleeping man,
and smote [p. 201] His enemies behind Him, and He
chose Isho'-yahbh His servant, and established him [to
be] the faithful steward over all His house.
And it came to pass one day when Rostim was
riding upon a large, richly caparisoned mule [which he
had chosen] in his pride, that as he was coming to his
* This chapter is quoted in B. 0., iii. i, p. 208, but the
words ^ is*aao aa .Alba* ^oip^s &&f^ ^b^ ^2 .^ou^ofistf i^p isat6^^
i^aj ;a^^ (text, p. 200, 11. 15, 16) are omitted.
' Assemani has ^jAyii}; B, 0., iii. i, p. 208, col. 2, 1^ 24.
3 2 Samuel chaps xv. — xvii.
390 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
house from his luxurious,* riotous and licentious orgies,'
he arrived near the habitation of Beth Mar Kardagh,
and the dogs of that place surrounded him until at
last he [was obliged] to dismount,^ and as soon as he
put his feet upon the ground they leaped upon him
in a body,* and they worried him and bit him, and
brought him unto death, like that wicked woman Jezebel
* Literally "a feast of cakes of his dainty foods"; ;2Lo^«
a drinking party y a banquet. According to Lagarde, Piirim, D^l^B,
;!wo^, Manda'itic 8'nmD are derived from ^\jt^^^ the Persian name
ofafestival. TaKot (for ;ai.o^)—^^/^^j, andin Jeremiah vii. i8, translates
the Hebrew D^?}3. The word is explained by the native lexico.
graphers to mean, "sacrifices offered to idols"; "sacrifices which
were offered to devils in the time of the heathen, and which
the Arabs still make in their festival;" and ''cakes made of fine
flour, oil and honey." For the texts see Payne Smith, Thes.,
coll. 1 163, 1 164; Duval, Lexicon, col. 684. The reading ofBC
Vat. r^Nd^? is a mistake for ;'^&d^, the sing, of which fiisA\ nausea,
is also explained by "the food which burneth in the stomach of
gluttons, and which maketh smoke in the throat;" see Payne
Smith, Thes., col. 354. The form lbh4\ indigestion^ is given in
Duval, Lexicon, col. 269. Compare Armen. zoh "sacrifice".
Lagarde, Annenische Studien, p. 55, No. 792 (Abhandlungen
Kdnig. GeselL Wissen, zu Gottingen, Histor.-Philolog. Classe,
Bd. XXII. No. 4).
' Assemani translates, "Accidit enim, ut Rostamus per eos
dies dum superbo sui fastus mulo vectus ab obscoeno secessu,
epulisque impudicitiam redolentibus exsaturatus," etc. {B. 0.,iii. i,
p. 209, col. i)
^ opdab for opoab.
* This danger to strange travellers riding through villages
in Mesopotamia is sometimes very great, for the dogs rush out
in a body, barking and howling, and often endeavour to bite
the horse's legs. Nothing but a good, long whip vigorously
applied will drive them away, and I have even known it neces-
sary to shoot one or more of them.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER VIII. THE REPENTANCE OF ADIABENE. 39 1
who persecuted the prophets.' And this was a mar-
vellous and fearful thing' to all those who heard it.
And Rostams boon companions were disgraced; and
their faces put to shame; and their counsels brought to
nought; and their fellowship and the bond of love
and their breathings of death against the righteous man
[Mar Isho'-yahbh] which they had murmured over their
wine^ cups when brimming over with mixed wine were
dissolved. Then too the pious Mar Solomon wrote
a letter of excuses and resigned [his] episcopal office,
and went and dwelt in the Monastery of Rabban Aaron
imtil the end of his life, and Joseph, the son of Mari
forsook Christianity and became a heathen. Thus was
fulfilled upon them that which the pious Mar Timothy
spake, saying, "The day of their destruction is near
at hand, and that which shall happen to them hasteneth."
CHAPTER Vra.
OF THE REPENTANCE OF THE PEOPLE OF ADIABENE, AND OF
THE MOST HUMBLE ENTREATY WHICH THEY OFFERED TO MAR
iSHo'-YAHBH THAT HE WOULD OCCUPY HIS EPISCOPAL
THRONE.
Now if not every man is to be trusted to guard
the treasures [p. 202] of an earthly kingdom, but only
^ I Kings xviii. 4; 2 Kings ix. 35, 36.
^ In the text p. 201, note 7, read "Vat. j{X*a^o".
3 ;f oAfi, which Payne Smith thinks may come from a sing.
;\^ or #<\3 {Thesaurus, coll. 434, 509). Compare the Persian
^,^l5, which, according to Richardson, is "a large deep jug, in
which wine is brought to table, and from thence filled into
smaller cups." See Lagarde, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Leipzig,
1866, p. 211; Duval, Lexicon, col. 350.
392 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
those of whom the kingdom hath learned by experience
for a long time that they are fit to have its riches
entrusted to their care, how much less in respect of
the treasures of the kingdom of heaven is not every
man worthy to be an intermediary of their glory, but
only that man who is stamped with the signs of the
members of the household, who hath shown forth all
the days of his life proofs of his strenuousness, who
hath drunk like water medicines which cannot be per-
ceived by the mind, who hath driven away all [signs
of] growing old, who hath expelled from himself all
crassness, who hath been in the hospital* and hath
learned all things which are needful for healing, who
hath been made perfect in all the art of the healing
of souls, and who hath become a friend of wise physici-
ans. And because also the Divine selection, observing
beforehand the excellent qualities of many, of its ad-
ministration maketh intermediaries of those who possess
such qualities, and setteth apart physicians for the sick-
ness of the world, in such wise that when they come
to act as intermediaries with mankind they shall not
be found wanting, and shall not suffer, together with the
scattering of the collection of their good qualities, the
ruin and destruction of those who are under their hands.
Now this Rostam, the evil liver, took refuge with
men, and forgot the word of the divine man David,
"It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man",'
for "his spirit goeth forth, and he retumeth to his
earth", ^ etc. And when the Eye which govemeth all
things saw beforehand all the defects which he had
' ^oMOA^ — EevoboxeTov « ^LuL^L;-^ = i^^ ^*^ Aousf of
the sick,
» Psalm cxviii. 8. ^ Psalm cxlvi. 4.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER IX. THE NEW TEMPLE OF B^TH ABHi:. 393
already gathered to himself, and all those others' which
he was about to gather, He put him out of life in
silence by a punishment of the bites of dogs, and by
the bitings of his own tongue with which he had bitten
the bodies of the holy Mar Isho'-yahbh and Mar Timo-
thy; [p. 203] here was he rewarded with the destruc-
tion of all his body, and thus he left this life and went
to Sheol. Now when the Shahrighan and the believers
saw what had taken place, they came to the pious Mar
Isho'-yahbh their Metropolitan, and they offered him
repentance, and asked him to rise up and to come with
them to his episcopal throne. And he said to them,
"I shall remain here until M4r Catholicus sendeth me
[his] command to go in, and then I shall go in." And
Mar Timothy wrote to him an open letter,' and thus
they celebrated his entry with honour like the day of
Hosannas,^ and all the people of the country were sub-
ject to his fatherhood.
CHAPTER IX.
OF HOW THE HOLY METROPOLITAN MAR ISHO-YAHBH WAS
MOVED TO PULL DOWN THE MUD TEMPLE WHICH THE HOLY
MAR iSHo'-YAHBH [tHE CATHOLICUS*] HAD BUILT, AND TO
BUILD ANOTHER OF LIME, AND OF HOW THE MONKS WHO
LIVED IN HIS DAYS COUNSELLED HIM NOT TO DO SO BECAUSE
OF THE DIFFICULTY OF THE UNDERTAKING.
We may see by those things which have happened
from old time, in every kind of different way, through
' ^i'a^ldo for ^la^j^o.
' }!Lj^ a patent; see Payne Smith, Thes.^ col. 3338.
-J /. e,, Palm Sunday.
^ L e., Ish6*-yahbh III. of Adiabene; see supra, p. 131 ff.
ddd
394 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the administration of God which is beyond scrutiny,
that these things which are easy for the might of the
wise Creator break out suddenly, beyond all expecta-
tion and human thought, and they make the minds of
the prudent to stand up in wonder, and they stir up
praise of the excellence of His dispensation on every
tongue and in every mind. [p. 204] And moreover, we
must write down some of these our matters concerning
our own monastery that we may shew that it is easy
for His power to do every thing, and that when it
appeareth fit to him, He maketh use of the riches and
money of strangers as if they were His own, even as
He spake by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "The
gold is mine, and the silver is mine",' and, "From
between the teeth, and from the depths of the sea He
turneth back, and bringeth forth, and saveth",* as He
spake by the hand of David. And He compelleth
forcibly foreign nations who are remote from the know-
ledge of Him and His worship, to be servants of those
whom He pleasejh, and He maketh them to carry their
wealth and their glory and to place them in the hands
of those who are members of His household. For
when the coming forth of the people from Egypt by
the hand of Moses was ordained and predestined in
His everlasting knowledge, and the gold and the silver
which the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilder-
ness would require from them [was determined], He com-
manded the children of Israel, by the hand of Moses, to
borrow vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and fine
raiment of all kinds from the Egyptians, and He gave the
Israelites favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they
* Haggai ii. 8. ' Psalm Ixviii. 22.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER IX. THE NEW TEMPLE OF b£tH ABHfe. 395
spoiled them.* And again when king Solomon was
making ready to build a house to the Lord, he, so to
speak, moved every thing under heaven, and he made
the Tyrians, and the Sidonians,* and Saba, and Ophir,
and Havilah, and the remote islands to be participators
with him in the building of the holy temple in Jeru-
salem.^ So also in the case of the temple which was
restored by Zerubbabeb after the return from the capti-
vity , when the children of Judah were prevented [in
their work] by the envious nations that were round
about them, and were in despair because they thought
that this return from the captivity was not that which
the prophets proclaimed, and also because of the in-
sufficiency [of money] for the expenses of its mighty
and glorious buildings, the Lord encouraged them by
the hand of the prophet and said, "Yet once, and I will
[p. 205] shake the heavens, and the earth, and the dry land;
and I will shake all nations, and I will fill this house
with glory, saith the Lord, the mighty One, and I
will shake the house of Magog". ^ And they went up,
being prepared, with great riches, and the Lord
destroyed them all, and the children of Judah inherited
their riches and built the house of the Lord, and had
money to sparfe.
And [several] such-like things which were in no wise
of less magnitude than these did the Lord work in
this place for His chosen servant Mar Isho'-yahbh. For
' Exodus xii. 35, 36.
^ Saidnaye. See Noldeke, Kurzgefasste Syrische Gram-
matiky P- 7S> Gesenius, Thesaurus^ p. 1154, col. i, at the foot.
^ 2 Chronicles, chaps, i. and ii.
'♦ Haggai ii. 4. ^ Haggai ii. 6, 7.
396 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
when he meditated pulling down that temple which the
blessed Mar Isho'-yahbh the Catholicus had built, and
which had become old through the lapse of time and
years, and his friends were advising him not to do this,
saying, "Thou wilt never be able to finish thy building**;
and the men who were envious of him, and those who
took no pleasure in such divine matters, but were turn-
ing them back through human considerations, even as
[saith] the great and blessed Pachomius,' were hinder-
* Pachomius was bora in the nome of Esneh, (Egypt I ^
sen, Copt, cnh), about A. D. 292, and his parents were pagans;
he became a Christian at a little village called i^ieuecHT, (the
XtivoP6(Tkiov of the Greeks) which was situated on the right
or east bank of the Nile in the nome of Diospolis Parva.
He lived during the time of the persecution of Diocletian, and
at its ending he was about twenty years old. When the Persi-
ans threatened to make war against the Greeks (uipuiUAioc),
he was drawn as a recruit from his native village, and being
fed by Christians when they stopped at the town of Esneh,
he was greatly impressed by their charity. Next day he sailed
as far as Antinofe, and was met there by the news that the
Greeks had conquered the Persians, and that the recruits were
to be sent back to their homes. On his way back he came
to the ''desert village of Shenes6t, which was burnt up by ex-
cessive heat" orf ui m epHuoc xe ^euecHT eqpoKe eiTeu
HA^^iAi N NiKATUA, and there God appeared to him and told
him to take up his abode. Three years later he joined Abba
Palamon (nAAAUUiu), and became his disciple. Soon after
this his sister Mary came to Tabenna (tab6NIJhci, see Quatre-
m^re, Memoir es Geographiques, tom. I. p. 281) to see him, but
he refused to see her, and learning that she was disposed to
lead a life of good works, he sent some of his brethren to
build a habitation for her at some distance from the monastery.
A number of pious women joined her, and she became the
founder of a rule of nuns. Some time later Pachomius went
BOOK IV. CHAPTER IX. THE NEW TEMPLE OF b£th'aBHJ&. 397
ing him, saying, "We do not wish thee to pull down
the temple which the holy fathers have built. Thou
wilt begin to build another, and wilt never finish it, or
thou wilt leave it half built, and wilt go away", yet
Isho'-yahbh prevailed over both sides by the firmness
of his hope in God, and he brought many workmen
and hewers of stone , and he went with them to the
mountain of Debhar Hewton^ and he shewed them
round about the river Zabha (Zib) limestone which
they were to quarry. And he made rafts' and brought
to the north of Panopolis (i!t3UiM, Ahmim) and built monasteries
at Smine, or Tesmine (see Champoliion, L^gypte sous les
Pharaons, tom. i. p. 265), and at Phenoum, <|>ijotu, near the
mountains of Esneh. Thus in founding monasteries, in con-
firming the brethren, in healing the sick, and in working miracles
Fachomius passed his life; and died about A. D. 351, aged
sixty years. The above facts are drawn from the Coptic life
of Pachomius published by Amelineau, entitled Histoire de
Saint Pakhbme et de ses Communautes , (in Annates du Musee
Guiniet) Paris, 1889; and from Etude Historique sur Saint
Pachonte (in Bulletin de Plnstitut Egyptien de Pannee 1886,
Cairo 1887) by the same author. For the Latin and Greek
lives of Pachomius see Acta Sanctorum, May 14; for an Arabic
life see B. O., iii. i, p. 286; for his Regulae Monasticae see
Cave, Hist. Litt., ad ann. 340, vol. i. p. 208; Palladius, Hist,
Laus,^ cap. 38 (for the Ethiopic text see Dillmann, C/irestomathia
AetJiiopica, pp. XII. No. 6, and pp. 57— 69; and Wright,
Catalogue of the Ethiopic MSS, in the British Museum^ p. 171 ;
and for the Syriac text see Wright, Catalogue of Syriac MSS.,
p. 13 12); and for an account of the estimation in which he was
held see Tillemont, Memoires, tom. vii. p. 56.
^ I. e,y Debhar Hephton (^Nflu. seems to be the plain of
Harir); see also Abbeloos, Acta Mar Kardagki, p. 51, 1. 4;
and Feige, Die Geschichte dcs Mar Abhdisho, p. 3 1 (translation).
^ The dov, or ;io^, ^^, (called by the Arabs to-day ssfSs
398 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the limestone for the buttress' of the monastery, and
it was brought from there to the monastery by donkeys
kalak, pronounced vulgarly tcheletch) is a raft made of skins of
sheep blown out and tied in rows to poles. The poles are
fastened together by other poles and ropes and thus a square
or oblong structure is made. Upon it are laid planks of wood,
and upon those is placed the merchandise to be carried. A
small raft to carry four or five passengers and a fair amount
of baggage requires about one hundred and fifty skins, and
measures about 15x20 feet; but in the large wheat and alabaster
carrying rafts several hundreds are required; such rafts are
from thirty to forty feet square, and will carry from twenty-
five to forty tons of wheat packed in sacks, each of which
weighs about two hundredweight. The kalak floats down the
stream, and is guided by very long oars, at the ends of which
are tied pieces of reeds to form blades. The kalakje, or rafts-
man, every now and then pours water upon the skins to pre-
vent the escape of the air inside, but it is often necessary to
untie the neck of each skin, and to blow air into it with his
mouth through a reed, which he carries for this purpose. When
a raft arrives at its destination the poles are untied, and sold
either for building purposes or firewood, and the skins are un-
tied, emptied of air, dried thoroughly, and having been tied in
bundles, are packed upon the backs of animals and sent up
the river to be used again. The speed of a raft depends upon
the current and upon the exertions of the raftsman. I made
the journey by raft from Mosul to Bagdad in February 1889
in a little over four days; but in December 1890 the journey
required nearly seven days, while the huge rafts about forty
feet square which I passed at the junction of the Lower Zab
with the Tigris did not arrive for some days after I had land-
ed at Bagdad. Rafts which carry alabaster slabs for building
purposes or for burning into lime are much smaller than wheat
rafts, and the skins are often totally submerged. For other
descriptions of the raft see Buckingham, Travels, vol. ii. p. 87 ;
and Ker Porter, Travels^ vol. ii. p. 259.
* The word ^^x is new, and Hoffmann believes that it
BOOK IV. CHAPTER IX. THE NEW TEMPLE OF BfeTH^^ABH^. 399
and mules; and he burned the limestone and pounded
it into lime,* and he collected stones for building and
stands for either ;2Uki^ ^ "the tooth of a river bed," or ;^^ «&
"the head of a river bed." It seems that Thomas of Marga
means that he brought blocks of limestone to build a pier in
the peak of the mountain upon which the monastery stood,
where two streams joined, to form a firm foundation for the
walls of the church. The rafts would bring the stone immedi-
ately under the monastery, and mules and donkeys would bring
it up the hill.
* In M6sul, and in Mesopotamia generally, burnt limestone
is pounded by means of a large square stone, about two feet
long by ten or twelve inches square, which having been pierced
longitudinally is fastened to two chains by means of an iron
rod running through it, and is drawn over the limestone by a
horse or mule. The pounded lime is placed in basket panniers,
two of which form a good load for a donkey, and in this way
it is carried a considerable distance. Within the last few
years the pious monks of the Monastery of Rabban Hormuzd
near Alkosh have rebuilt part of the monastery on the plain,
which travellers by the permission of the father superior use
as a khan, and the monks told me on November 30, 1890,
that every load of lime had to be brought thither from the
place some miles away where it was burnt and crushed. The
new portion of the building is very good and substantial, and
the lime church is a fine specimen of its kind. Any one who
has seen a mountain monastery in the East will understand the
difficulties which stand in the way of building a church or
monastery, and will readily perceive that the objection of the
monks of Beth 'Abhfe to the pulling down of their church was
not unnatural. The lack of roads and means of transport, the
delays caused by the cold of winter and the heat of summer,
and the large sums of money required for a building like a
church would cause greater and wealthier men than the head
of a decaying monastery to pause before beginning such a
work.
400 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
burned bricks, [p. 206] And having removed the altar
to the library of the monastery, and the bodies and
the coffins (or sarcophagi) of the holy men from the
martyrium, he began with great labour to pull down
the wide and massive old walls which his fathers had
built, and a heap of earth was thrown up, which filled
the whole space round about the temple. And when
the holy Isho'-yahbh saw that, the temple having been
pulled down, the size of the [heap of] earth required
three times more space than the building itself, and
was crushed with griefs on account of this, for he had
not taken [the matter of the mud] into consideration
in the estimate^ which he made in his plan for the
whole [re]building, he made use of an artifice which
should benefit himself and others. On the day of the con-
gregation he said to the solitaries, "Ye know, O blessed
men, — and also the tradition of those who [were] before
us hath come down to us from hand to hand, for the
holy Mir Isho'-yahbh was able and sufficient to do all
things, especially since the rank in which he stood and
opportunity answered^ to [his call] — that the greater
part of this earth came from Hedhatta while that of
the other [buildings] came from Adiabene. Now there
is no mud like unto this, and it is better and harder
than lime: let therefore no one of you take away any
of it, for when, by the hand of God, we have built
this temple, we will pull down all the dwellings of the
community, and build them up again with this earth".
Now when the solitaries, some of whom were friends
and some of whom were adversaries, heard these things
3 /. r.f ''favoured him."
BOOK IV. CHAPTER X. THE NEW TEMPLE OF b6th' ABHfi. 4O I
they wished to steal from that earth, and to plaster*
their cells with it; and since Isho'-yahbh wished to be
relieved from the expense and trouble of having the
earth carried away himself he remained the whole of
that Sabbath in the patriarchal cell, and he proclaimed
concerning himself, "I am suffering from sickness". Now
when [the monks] discovered this opportunity, with
laughing and rejoicing they stole away that earth, even
sweeping the place where it had stood with a broom,
and carried it to their cells. And when Isho'-yahbh
heard concerning this thing he rejoiced with an exceed-
ing great joy, [p. 207] and when he came and saw
that the place where the earth had been was swept and
sprinkled, with a chaste and holy smile he answered
and said to them, "Ye have not so much as left behind
even a little of that earth; may the Lord pardon and
forgive us all!"
CHAPTER X.
OF HOW GOD, THE LORD OF ALL, MOVED MEN TO PUT
FORTH THEIR HANDS TO OPPOSE THIS GREAT WORK.
Now when the holy Mar Isho'-yahbh had begun to
lay the foundations of this temple, the materials [required]
and the wages which had to be given to the labourers
and the builders became more and more day by day.
And because, according to the report which I have
received by tradition, he had taken upon himself to
build [the temple] in difficult times, there rose up a
' 4^d Compare Arab, gv-i "to plaster a wall with mud or lime."
eee
402 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
certain governor and ruler of the dominion of Mosul,
a greedy and avaricious man, who afflicted this monas-
tery by the workings of envious devils, and who
mulcted this congregation of fifteen thousand silver*
[pieces]. And moreover the believing men of Adiabene
were smitten with envy against [Mar Isho'-yahbh],
and said, "Why, while the Metropolitan throne of Adia-
bene is going to ruin, dost thou build a temple in
Beth' Abhe"? All these things [happened] by the
counsel of Satan. Also in this assembly when [Mir
Isho'-yahbh] was sitting at table on one of the feast
days with the brethren, in the common room, some of
them, being incited thereto by certain mischief-makers,
rebelled* against him, saying, "Thou hast pulled down
our temple, and we no longer want thee to build a
temple for us; get thee out and depart from our mon-
astery, [p. 208] We are under [the authority of] the
Patriarch, pass on to thine own dominion, and tarry no
longer amongst us". And when the humble and gentle
man perceived secretly the working of Satan the Evil
One, "he said to them, "May God forgive you. It is
* /. ^., ^\j> dirhams. This was only to be expected in
an eastern country. There are many places to this day in
Mesopotamia where if a householder begins to make any re-
pairs to his house, or to re-plaster it with lime, the local
authorities at once assess his taxes at a higher rate and compel
him to make payment immediately. Commencing to build
a church when times were hard, money scarce, and provisions
dear, was sufficient sign to the Muhammedan mind that the
Nestorian monks of Beth 'i^bhe had more money than they
knew what to do with.
* Read ou^ai. For other instances of ;a\ tuai "to set up
the back," i. e., **to resist, to rebel," see Payne Smith, 7/ies.,
col. 639.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XI. THE VISION OF :SHO-DADH. 4O3
not you [who] are speaking these things but that being
who hath never tasted peace, and who delighteth not in
peace. I shall not depart, unless ye drag me out on
my feet, until I shall have built this holy temple". And
he spake this also unto them, "When I began to pull
down the first temple, our Lord knoweth that I was
master of one hundred and fifty zuz$\^ but for all these
expenses which ye see, for behold [only] one half
of the building has been completed, I do not know
where our Lord hath made ready : but quiet yourselves,
and fret not with care and anxiety, for our Lord will
build for Himself without taking anything either from
you or from your common funds.
CHAPTER XI.
OF THE SATANIC VISION WHICH [aBBA] ISHo'-DADH, ONE
OF THE OLD MEN OF THIS CONGREGATION SAW, AND
OF THE MONEY WHICH HE FOUND.
Now the holy Mar Isho'-yahbh was in trouble and
anxiety concerning the expenses, for the first day of
the week was near in which the builder would ask him
for seven thousand zuze, being the wages of himself
and of his workmen, according to the contract for the work
which he had taken upon himself [to do] for him. And
the brethren saw him during the after-supper service
of the first day of the week with a gloomy face, and
his colour was green by reason of weariness, [p. 209]
* The ;«of is explained by dirham. The gold dinar which
weighed from sixty-five to seventy-two grains was equal in
value to twenty dirkams, or about 10 '/a English shillings.
404 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and care and anxiety, because the morrow after the
first day of the week was the time fixed for weighing
to the builders seven thousand zuzcy although as has
already been said, he had not a single ztlza in his
possession. Now what did He Who hath the power,
and to Whom nothing is difficult, do? He uncovered
before him hidden and buried and hoarded up trea-
sures, and placed them in his hand without labour
and without toil.
Now there was in the monastery Abba' Isho'-dadh,
an old man, the master of Mar George* the Catholi-
cus, and the master of Mar Abraham^ the Catholicus
our Father,* and his cell was [situated] on the top of
the ridge [of the mountain] which is between two
valleys, to the right as thou goest up to the head of
the spring, and opposite to the fortress which is called
the *Little*.^ And when the service of the night was
ended, he went up at the conclusion of the psalms for
the morning to his cell, and as he was going along the
path God's goodness moved him, and he looked to his
* Ui\ a spiritual father, as opposed to lk\ a natural father.
* He was elected Patriarch, A. D. 825. See B. (9., ii.
p. 435j iii. i. p. 616.
3 He was elected Patriarch, A. D. 836. See B> O., ii.
p. 436; iii. I. p. 617.
^ Thomas of Marga means that he himself lived in the time
of this Abraham.
5 From this it seems tolerably clear that the Monastery of
Beth *Abhe was built upon a mountain peak between two val-
leys; in the valley on the east flowed the Upper Zab, and in
the valley on the west flowed a river or stream into which the
spring here mentioned fell. The fortress surnamed the 'Little'
was probably on the other side of the Zab, and could be seen
from the monastery.
*c
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XI. THE VISION OF ISHO-DADH. 4O5
right hand, towards the east, and he saw in an unin-
habited and ruined cell a fire burning in its little oven;
and just as the blessed Moses said, * "I will go and see
this great sight, why the bush burneth not", so also the
blessed man thought, "What can be the cause of this fire
which now burneth in the ruined cell.'^ I will go there
and see". And when he had come near, he saw Satan
in the form of a black old man eating bread which he
baked on the oven, and because, according to what I
have learned about this whole matter from the holy
Mar Abraham the Catholicus, he was a mighty and a
holy man,^ he adjured Satan by the word of our Lord
to depart. And straightway that oven was rent in
twain, and an earthen jar"" full of zuze was cast forth
at the feet of Abbi Isho'-dadh; [p. 210] and it broke
immediately, and the zuze poured out with a chinking
sound ^, and he bowed low to the ground before God
lest peradventure it was a phantasm. And when the
zitze had been felt by his hands, and he knew of a
certainty that it was money in very truth, he took the
cross which was upon his neck, and buried it among
them ; and the blessed old man girded up his feet, and
ran swiftly from the one valley to the other valley
until he arrived at the cell of Rabban. And he knocked
at the door, and the monk^ who guarded the door
* Exodus iii. 3.
^ ^oiu /. ^., aj;SsaJ\ jar. See Brit. Mus. MSS. Rich 7203,
fol. 151^, col I; and Orient. 2441, fol. 328^, col. 2.
^ The is^^M « KOivoPiaKog, was a man who had decided to
adopt the: monkish habit but who had not yet taken up his
abode in the KOivoPiov, or Vs^t^, It would seem that the
coenobium was distinguished from the outer cells, juSa j?>Ii±»,
4o6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
answered him, and he said to him, "Go in and tell
Mar Isho'-yahbh that Isho^-dcidh is at the door". And
the Metropolitan answered and said, "What can the
old man^ want of us at this time [of night]"? And
the old man having gone in, said, "Rise up, for thy
prayer hath been heard. I saw thy face of despair
in the evening and during the after -supper service,
and I knew that thou wast in need, and I offered
prayer on thy behalf to Christ that He would not
allow thy face to be put to the blush". And when he
had learned concerning that which had happened, Mar
Isho'-yahbh answered and said, "Perhaps it is a phan-
tasm of devils". And [Mar Isho^-dadh] said to him,
"Master, I went down on my knees before Go^i, and
I also felt" the zuz^, and I placed the cross which was
upon me among them; rise up and let us go [to the
ruined cell] before it dawns [when] we should be seen".
which were scattered about in the neighbouring mountains, al-
though they belonged to the congregation of the monastery.
The anchorites or solitaries, U^*»^ who lived in these cells,
were accustomed to go to the church of the monastery on certain
occasions and on Sundays to partake of the Eucharist. The
If^^ were the monks who lived in cells, which were separate
from each other, but which were grouped round about the church,
the whole cluster of buildings comprising the ;»•«, or residence
in common. The ;^o^, with its outlying cells, was a later
development of monastic dwelling; compare what is said of Job
the Monk (he flourished about A. D. 550), ^ ^1^ Jli?^! JiK^
CJ^)^^^ JJ3 ^^ CX>1^^ "and he founded coenobia and cells,
which formerly were like unto places where monks dwelt in
common." See B, 0., iii. i. p. 431, col. i, at the foot; Hoff-
mann, Auszuge, Notes 1330, 1332, pp. 171, 172; Du Cange,
Glossariiim^ col. 6tj,
^ 2ifi>, a title of honour. ^ fisii^ for NkV.-
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XII. THE NEW TEMPLE OF b6tH ABHfe. 407
And they took the monk, and the three of them ran
and took the zuze, and Rabban came back to his cell.
And the old man said to the Metropolitan, "By the
living' grave of Rabban how many thousand zuze hast
thou?" And he said to him, "Seven"; and when they
had weighed the money, the weight came out exactly
seven thousand \zuze\ Thus are the saints who are
consumed with the love of God, and who desire to
please Him in every kind of manner, perfected by His
munificent gift.
[P. 211] CHAPTER Xn.
OF ANOTHER TREASURE WHICH CHRIST OUR LORD GAVE
TO HIM.
Now when the builder had received this specified
sum [of money], seven thousand zitze, the holy man,
[trusting] in [his] heavenly Hope (on Whom those who
trust are never put to shame), made an agreement with
him as to the price to be paid for another specified^
piece of work, viz.y thirteen thousand [-s'^-a'^]. And the
days and. months having passed during the interval [of
the course of the work], behold the temple had al-
ready come to the upper rafter corbels,^ and the first
* /. e,, which shall live again on the Day of Judgment.
^ ^dtt*tt> = (TriKUJiLia. See Payne Smith, Thes.y col. 2719;
Buxtorf (ed. Fisher), p. 740.
3 ;«lf, a new word. This word seems to mean the projec-
ting stone corbels which are laid upon the uppermost layer of
bricks or stone on the walls of the church upon which rafters
or beams of the roof are to rest. Compare V\ plur. Wjn Bux-
torf, (ed. Fisher), p. 344, col. 2; Levy, Chald. Worterbuch.,
408 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
day' of the appointed week, on the fourth day of which the
builder was to come to ask for thirteen thousand zuze,
arrived. And the [bones of] the back of the pious Mar
Isho'-yahbh were broken by reason of his fear, and he
brought to the God of the universe a cry that He would not
be unmindful of His temple, and that he himself might
not become an object of derision like that foolish builder
who began to build and was not able to finish.* And
when the first day of the week had passed by, the
builder began to say to the Metropolitan, "Make ready
the zuze^ and do not forget"; now by reason of this
[speech] also, the trouble of the Metropolitan was in-
creased, because the builder, who was a heretic,^ wished
to make him a laughing-stock. And [the Metropolitan]
answered and said, "Be not avaricious, behold, the
zuze are weighed out, and are set aside for thee;"
but although he uttered courageous words with his
mouth, he bore grief and sorrow in his heart. Now
there was a very old man [who lived] opposite the
monastery from Gar Kahne,^ and he also was moved by
grace to give what he had by him for the building of
the temple. And on the morning of the third day of
the week he rose up, leaning upon his staff, — now he
was a man who was [only] able to come to the temple
to receive the Holy Mysteries [p. 2 1 2] once a week —
and with the morning he knocked at the door of the
p. 218, col. I. Hoffmann thinks that ;•<.#-« yeiaa, the projecting
part of the roof, the eaves, parapet, coping.
* Literally, "the last first day of the week," /. ^., the Sunday
of the last of the weeks of the period, at the expiration of
which Isho'-yahbh had undertaken to pay the money.
^ St. Luke xiv. 30. ^ /. e,, a Jacobite.
^ See supra, p. 240, note 3.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XII. ISHO - DADH VISITS ]SHO - YAHBH. 4O9
Patriarchal cell; and the keeper of the door answered
him, and made known [to the Metropolitan] concerning
him. And the Metropolitan being moved at the report
of his coming went out to meet him, and answered
and said to him, "Rabban, why hast thou taken all
this great trouble to come to me? If thou hadst any
reason thou shouldst have sent to me that I might
come to thee". The old man said, "However great
may be the love and ready disposition which we have
to bestow upon each other, the treasury of the Giver
is rich enough to recompense us all for our love; but
I entreat thee this day to take the trouble to go down
to [my] cell which thou seest". The Metropolitan saith
to him, "During all this long time which I have been
with thee thou hast never asked me to go down to
thy cell, until this day in which destruction taketh away
my life"; [the old man] saith to him, "Rise up, and be
not distressed, for the deliverance of thy Lord is at
hand". And when the Metropolitan heard this, [it was]
as if peace came upon his soul ; now he was accustomed
to receive such-like [consolation] from [the conversa-
tion] of Abba Isho'-dadh. And he rose up and went
down with the old man, [who] said to him, "Take this
monk with thee, for we shall have need of him"; and
he went down [with them] according to his word. And
when the breaking of bread drew nigh and he was
urging him to take some refreshment,* it was not easy
for him to make the Metropolitan take any. And the
old 'man answered and said to him, "For how much
money wilt thou sell me the keeping of thy fast this
^ Literally "blessing", because it was food given with a
blessing.
fff
4IO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
day? Know also that we monks are under thy control,
and that we know the time for keeping [the fast], and
the time and season for the loosing of love". And
when they had eaten and drunk the old man said to
him, "Mar Metropolitan, I saw thee in the spirit standing
in a dark house, and thou wast calling us all to thy
help, [p. 213] and I knew that thou wast in sore need
of money for the expenses of the building of the temple.
And I swear ' by the prayer of Rabban that I possessed
neither gold nor silver, for by the labour of my hands
have I ministered unto my life day by day as thou'
knowest. But I have a small sum of money deposited
with me, and if thou wilt promise to pay it back I
will give it to thee". The Metropolitan said to him,
"How much is that which is deposited with thee, father" ?
and he said to him, "I swear by [our] love, that I know
not. Two old women who were going to Jerusalem from
my own country of Beth Beghash came to me some
twenty years ago, and placed in my hands this napkin;^
but how much is that something which they placed [in
my hands] I know not, only I know that it is much.
And they went and never came back. And they com-
* Compare .^oau :S "I swear by Jesus;" ^s»^sk» ;^ "I swear by
Christ" (Payne Smith, T/ies,, col. 1869); and AJ^UJ^f^^ ^t ^
"I swear by the day of the Resurrection." Wright, Arabic
Grammar, vol. 11, pp. 162, 328-
* Literally, "as ye know."
^ ^oib is a word new to me. ^hto cannot ^^o^o calceus^
for it would be impossible to hide a large quantity of money
under it, but it may => iaa = crdpavov, -= jMao, Chald. «M?D,
Arab. i^iJSJ^^ or ^^^^ *'un morceau carre de toile double
et de couleur, servant k envelopper des habits ou des livres."
Dozy, Supplement, torn. i. p. 631, col. i.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIII. iSHO - YAHBH WORKS A MIRACLE. 4 II
manded me, saying, *If we return, this something be-
longeth to us, but if we are smitten by death on the
journey, then give it to this monastery'. Take then
this something, and if they return, — but they will
never return — thou must pay it back; and if on the
other hand they do not return, there will be none to
ask it from thee, and thou wilt not need to pay it
back". And when the Metropolitan heard [these things]
he received it all with joy, and he weighed the money,
which amounted to thirteen thousand zuze, and gave
it to the builders in all gladness. Now I have heard
these things from many, and as I have learned [them]
so have I set [them] down in the writing of the history
of the holy Mir Isho'-yahbh.
[P. 214] CHAPTER Xm.
OF THE MIRACLE WHICH CHRIST WROUGHT BY THE HANDS
OF THE HOLY MAR ISHO*- YAHBH.
Now when the blessed man Isho'-yahbh was building
this holy temple, every man was extending help to him
by his labour, and by gifts from what he possessed,
the rich man according to his large means, and the
poor man according to his small means. And there
was a certain gardener in the village of Hadhudh, and
this man, as I have learned concerning him, was deaf,
and this [affliction] had happened to him from the days
of his youth; and having expended much money upon
physicians that he might be cured, he was disappointed
in this expectation. Now this man also, together with
412 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the Other people who were contributing from their
wares, brought to the monastery a load of onions. And
when they received his gift there was here a monk
who was acquainted with him, and he took him and
carried him to the Patriarchal cell, to the Metropolitan,
that he might be blessed by him ; and he made known
to the holy man concerning the gift which he had
brought, and that he could not hear at all. And the
Metropolitan was very sorry for him, and he made for
him a washing from the cross of Rabban, and dismissed
him, saying, "We trust in our Lord that He will give
thee [the power of] hearing". And when he had
mounted his ass and had gone forth, he arrived at the
ascent where the young asses run about, and he heard
the noise of the wild goats which fled frightened, and
again he marvelled and was astonished, for he heard
also the sound of the footsteps of the ass. And when
he had drawn nigh to the village, and he, being filled
with wonder and amazement, heard the crowing of
the cocks and the barking of the dogs, because of
his joy he could not believe that which had happened
to him. But when he went into the door of his court-
yard, one of his children saw him, [p. 215] and he
heard the child say to his mother, "Father hath come;"
and he made known to his wife all these things; thus
was he healed by the prayers of that holy man, and
he was whole until his death. Now this [story] I heard
from the old and venerable Rabban Elisha; may his
memory be blessed! It is well known that wonders
and miracles were wrought also by all the holy men
whose histories I have written, but time in its course'
' orjJBNoXa for eUSNo^.
• *c
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIV. THE DEATH OF ISHO -YAHBH. 413
hath covered them up because they were not written
down at the time by those who were acquainted with
them.
CHAPTER XIV.
OF THE COMPLETION OF THE TEMPLE, AND OF THE DEATH
OF MAR ISHO -YAHBH.
Now when the temple was entirely built except the
roof, he left off for that year, and waited so that the
building might settle down, and in the following year
he finished both it and the martyrium, and consecrated
it. And he removed [the bodies of] Rabban Jacob,
and Mar Catholicus and the fathers who were with
them, and laid them in the martyrium. And he had
made up his mind, if life had been granted to him, to
[re]build the monastery generally* and the porter's
lodge with stones and lime. But after the fast of our
Lord, on the Friday which cometh after the Sunday
of renewal, " the hymn for which [begins], "In the Cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ", he put off the garment of
the body and the weight of its afflictions, and he de-
parted to the land of light and gladness; and he was
laid with the fathers his companions in the dwelling
' ;o^ here means the Abbot's cell and the cells of all the
other monks.
* /. e,, the first Sunday after Easter Sunday, following the
^Pbo^d^ biaKaivriai^o^, "the week of renewal," so called because
the resurrection of Christ renewed mankind each Easter Sunday.
Us^ ^3X3^^^Kvp\aKi\ Kaivfl or KupiaKf) v£a» Dominica in Albis.
See Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 770; col. 88 s. v. avTiiraaxa;
Payne Smith, TAes,, col. 1207; Nilles, De Rationibus Festorum
Mobilium utriusque Ecclesiae Occidentalis atque OrientaUs,
Vienna, 1868, p. 39.
414 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of the Metropolitan of Adiabene, that is to say, [p. 2 1 6j
in Beth Mar Kardagh. May his prayers be a strong wall
[to protect] this monastery against all injuries, Amen!
CHAPTER XV.
THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY MAR CYRIACUS, THE HEAD
OF THE MONASTERY OF BjfeTH 'ABHjfe AND BISHOP OF
THE CITY OF BALADH.
The composition of man testifieth that the constitu-
tion of [his] mortal nature hath received from Him
Who alone is, two opposing parts, between which there
is [always] contention, because each endeavoureth always
to attract its fellow to itself, and according to its twofold
character He hath prepared two habitations for it. This
[dwelling], viz.^ that in which we now are, He hath set
for the training and exercise of our rational nature, so
that by severe strivings we may gain possession of
some of the treasure of contest, and become rich in
those things which befit our rational nature, and the
honour with which we are honoured; but that [dwelling]
for which we look, hath He prepared for [our] delight
and for [our] happiness which shall be beyond all change,
that we may live a life, without the least [inclination]
to turn aside* from it, in a dwelling which is meet
to endure for ever. And He hath given [us] power
and might to possess both these [dwellings] unless our
own personal matters should hinder our freewill choice,
and therefore the choice of good things and of the
' NjijiAv^gy wanderingly .
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XVI. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 4 1 5
inheritance of the happiness which is expected [to come]
belongeth to us.
Now the blessed Rabban Mar Cyriacus, the glorious
things concerning whom we have now come to relate,
having understood this, laboured abundantly, in this
world full of strife, and abounding in contests, and
through this behaviour he followed after, and acquired,
[p. 217] and traded in all those things which are con-
venient for and befit that rest which, according to the
word of the divine Paul, ' is preserved for us in heaven,
whence we expect our Vivifier, our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who shall change the body of our humility, that it may
become like unto His glorious body.
CHAPTER XVL'
OF THE ORIGIN OF THE BLESSED MAR CYRIACUS, AND OF
HIS COMING TO THIS MONASTERY [OF b£tH 'aBHJ&].
This blessed man Cyriacus was descended from a
family of GebhiltA, an orthodox city in the country of
Tarihcin,* and he was the son of wealthy people who
were diligent worshippers in the fear of God. Through
the care of his parents he was trained in doctrine in
the church of their native city, before the famous and
much enlightened teacher Rabban Gurya,^ a disciple of
the master of masters, Rabban Babhai, the teacher and
founder of schools.^ And wishing to lead the life of
* Hebrews iv. 8 — lO; Phil. iii. 21.
' I. e.^ lirhan. See supra, p. 290, note 2.
3 See supra, p. 303.
^ For his life and the names of the schools which he founded
see supra^ p. 296.
41 6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
an ascetic, and to inscribe himself for spiritual labour
among the hosts of those who do battle against the
body and the lusts thereof, he heard concerning this
holy monastery from his teacher Rabban Gurya,* who
had heard and learned from Rabban Babhai concerning
its famous and holy men, and how their course of life
shone with splendour, for Rabban Babhai drew every man
to the sight of the glorious light of their excellent
virtues. And" Mar Cyriacus went forth, and made straight
the path of his journey, and arrived at this monastery
when Rabban Mar Aha, the glorious acts of whose life
we have written a little way back,* was its head. [p. 218]
And when he had finished his period of serving in the
monastery, the holy Mar Aha permitted him to go
forth to a [separate] cell, and he was endowed with
prayers and blessings, and he dwelt in silence. Now
if I came to write down all that I have heard con-
cerning him, and concerning the chastity and abstinence
of his life, and his labours, and his toils difficult to
bear and to carry out, it would be great and heavy
work both for me to write, and for thee to read,
[O ' Abhd-lsho"] ; but I will pass over them briefly, giving
examples of them as it were in short hand,^ and I will
make selections from them referring to different matters,
and will lay them [before thee] to please thee.
Now the old man Henan-lsho', the head of the con-
gregation, whom I met in this place, and who was
his neighbour, related to me that from the day in which
he went forth to his cell, until the end of his life, wine
never entered therein, and that he only took it at table
For the history of Gurya see Bk. iii. chap. 3, supra^ p. 303.
See supra, p. 248 ff. ^ ^o*aa*to = armeiov.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XVI. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 4 1 7
with the brethren when he felt that it was necessary
for him to hide his manner of life.* And he made
his cell a judgment hall for himself, and he set Christ
as Judge over the throne of his understanding, and of
all the thoughts which rose up in him he extinguished
the evil and watered the pure; and he was making
them appear before the Judge at all seasons. And
when, according to what I have heard concerning him,
he had passed through [his] period of novitiate, and had
[served in the monastery] a few years, as is commanded
by the fathers, "A novice shall not serve overmuch in
the service of the monastery, that he be not injured by
devils," he found excellent means for extinguishing the
emotions and impulses of the body. He made two
thick, leather straps; one of them [was] for binding
round his two knees, and when he was sitting down
and reading, or eating, or sleeping, he used to put his
bent knees inside it, so that [his legs] might neither
be stretched out, nor the sinews of the body be extended,
and the spirit be filled, [p. 219] and the passion of
the body stirred up, according to what the holy man
Basil' wrote to the blessed man Gregory^ his brother,
saying, "When thou sleepest stretch not out thy legs.
' Read oraa^p.
^ Basil the Great was bom at Caesaraea A. D. 329, and
died 379. According to *Abhd-Ish6' he wrote a book on the
"Six days, and several Questions, Discourses, and lengthy Epistles :"
JZioJa^s ;n'S\2o }biohao ijoklalb ;^2oaco ;^o* fisfiotp ^t^ ^^- See B. 0.,
iii. I, p. 21. For the Greek text of Basil's AaKr|TiKd or Con-
stitutiones Asceticae^ see Migne, Patrologiae Graecae^ torn. XXXL,
coll. 1 32 1— 1428.
3 Thomas of Marga probably refers to Basil's great friend
Gregory Nazianzenus, bom about A. D. 329, died about 389,
ggg
41 8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and behold thou wilt be at peace from this passion;"
and the other strap [was] for binding round one knee
when he was standing in the vigil of prayer. And he
used to bend one knee like a camel, and bind it round
with the smaller strap, and with the sole' of the foot
bent, and holding a rod, [he stood] in that painful
[position] on one leg" like a crane, ^ that is a kelakesci/
until he was worn out by exhaustion ^ and fell down;
then he rose up and changed the [leather] ligature to
the other leg until he was wearied, and thus he kept
his vigil until dawn.^ And the old man Henan-lsho'
told me, saying, "Inasmuch as the situation of my own
» Literally, "the hand of the foot."
* Literally, "one knee."
3 ^90A, esi^- ^^^ Payne Smith, Thes., col. 1826.
^ We should expect ;<&nSri to be equal to ^Aisius » KopaS, a
raven; but it probably stands for A&ojb, or ;ioSojo crane (Castle,
Lexicon^ pp. 830, 835). Hoffmann believes that the reading of
BC ?K>&nSn, may stand for jax^^oa and = Pers. ^ JcJl^ "crane-
Uke"; in this case it is the rendering of ;^Soa ^a»aa. For Dp^p
€agle,^>=^T^ see Lagarde, Gesammelte Adhandlungen, p. 81,
No. 208; compare also Ahrens, Naturgegenstdnde^ p. 23, No. 46;
and KaGeuboucTiv im 4v6^ ttoX6^ dvaXXa£ Aristotle, De Ajuma-
libtiSy lib. IX. chap. X. (ed. Didot, t. iii. p. 181).
5 Read, in any case, 076^03014., but we should have expected
o»^o?a«^ imbecility, infirmity; compare below (text. p. 219, 1. 12)
;om ou^? "he flagged", or "languished". Another example of
this word occurs in Land, Anecdota^ torn. ii. p. 107, 1. 24; and
supra, p. 33, 1. 21, where we read that Paul the Simple "wove
mats until he was exhausted" J^u^. In Brit. Mus. MSS. Orient.
2441, fol. 389^, col. 2; Rich 7203, fol. 198^, col. 2
• *• . /«r i_i ft • -• It ^ •_j__ Jti v^i '
o "feebleness", vJi^tcv) ^'emaciated", iiUki "emaciation".
^ On the stern asceticism of certain monks see Land, Anec^
data, t. ii. p. 230.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XVI. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 4I9
cell was higher than that of Mar Cyriacus I could see
him becoming worn out and exhausted by his vigil.
And he used to remain [in this position] for a long
space of time, and by reason of his fatigue he was
insensible of his fervour.* Now for his food he
took every evening a dry crust of bread, which he
dipped in water and salt and lived upon; and this
was the manner of his life during the whole time of
his early manhood, and as long as strength was pre-
served in his body." This was the pure heart in which,
according to what the holy man saith, God dwelleth/
and it was meet that God should hear his prayer; this
was the sincere mind in which the Trinity abideth.^
"Be thou mindful of God and thy mind shall become
a heaven," saith the holy Nilos.* Hail to the new dis-
coveries by which the holy men have become wise!
[p. 220] Each one of them hath found out some new
thing by which he was able to subdue the body which
giveth birth to passions and afflictions, viz., fasting,
prayer, bowings to the ground, vigils, standing on one
foot, together with all the severe war against the
thoughts of the mind, anxious care and weeping for
their souls, meditation upon the hour of death, medita-
* We should have expected orfiwo^ lec? A\aao ;^ orfiwoaouxu* ^o
Henan-lsho' means "I saw him becoming gradually worn out
and quite exhausted by this course of life, in which he had
persevered for a long time, and the fatigue of which deprived
him of all sense of the fervour of his mind and will."
" 2 Corinthians vi. 16. ^ iS^ for t^^
^ Nilus, the disciple of Chrysostom, became a monk in the
Nitrian desert, and lived in the first half of the Vth century of
our era; according to ' Abhd-Isho* he "composed two admirable
volumes," ;<k^;^n ^f^^ t*'^'^'^ «a\^; see B, 0., iii. i, p. 48.
420 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
tion upon the hour of judgment, and meditation upon
the hour of Gehenna; three [subjects for] anxious thought,
and three [subjects for] meditation, spiritual and mental,
for which monks in very truth should have a care, for
by them is a monk preserved and exalted, and by
them he mounteth to the grade of perfection. Now
in this world perfection is given as a pledge,' not by
insensibility to passions, God forbid, but by not being
subject unto them.
Now when the mind of this our holy father had
been trained and exercised in these things for a long
time, the covering of the passions was lifted off from
his mind, and his mind shone, and his understanding
became bright, and he became wise to guard the trea-
sures of his success by the watchfulness of his soul.
"For a man to labour in the virtues," saith one of the
Saints, "is an easy thing [to do], but to preserve them
from spoliation belongeth to the perfect." Wherefore
also when God the Lord of all saw that [Mar Cyriacus]
with all his heart and with all his soul had committed
himself to keep His commandments, and to fulfil His
will, he honoured and glorified him by the miracles
which he wrought, and by the revelations which he
received, and by the other mighty things which took
place by his hands; now this [honour] was not given
to [any] other person in his time, and little by litde,
by the might of his prayer, I shall demonstrate this
fact.
' 6^o9ora» "like a pledge." This word is not in any native
lexicon known to me.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XVII. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 42 1
[P. 221] CHAPTER XVII.
OF THE CALL OF OUR FATHER RABBAN CYRIACUS TO THE
HEADSHIP OF THE MONASTERY.
Now since for the sake of the truth the holy Mar
Cyriacus chose labours such as these, and afflictions
which humble the body, and bore, according to the
word of Mark the Monk, the suffering of the bending
of the legs and back, that he might follow after his
Master along the Apostolic road, being bound with
chains and carrying [his] cross; — that is to say, having
driven out from himself all passions, and having endured*
the afflictions which [arose] from this patience in the
knowledge of the truth, in the hope of the good things
which [were to come] afterwards, — he made his mind
like a swift eagle, which mounteth up with gladness in
the upper heights, and he bowed the eyes of his body
beneath the yoke of the burden of Christ, that they
might not stray to lying sights.
Now when there was a seeking for a head to stand
up in this congregation, the choice and agreement of
the whole brotherhood [fell] upon him to hold the
office of head over them,' and with much labour they
established him, and entrusted to him the direction^
of the manner of their lives. And he established over-
seers to superintend non-spiritual matters, and he him-
self sat in the Abbot's cell according to the custom of
asceticism, there being brought to him every evening,
according to tradition, a piece of bread and an onion
* Read aau^. ' Read ^orN^s
^ Read ;f 9^0*0.
42 2 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
from the common [table]. And it came to pass that
when want afflicted and distressed the monastery, and
[the monks] did not know where they were to find
means of subsistence, because in that year the locusts
had devoured all the seed crops, and they were obliged
to sow summer grass, he went into the town [hoping]
to borrow money at interest from the merchants, [p. 222]
and this he succeeded in doing; and while all the monks
were wondering anxiously about this matter, and where
they would be able to find money to pay it back, God
performed an act by means of the holy man, the son
of His house.
CHAPTER XVm.
OF THE FIRST MIRACLE WHICH CHRIST WROUGHT BY HIS
HANDS AND OF THE REST OF HIS MIRACLES.
Now there was in the city of Mosul a certain Arab
whose belief was akin to ours, and his offerings and
gifts to the congregations of the monks were well
known. Now this man had an only beloved son, be-
sides whom he had no other [child], and this son fell
into a mortal sickness, from which the physicians des-
paired of [all] hope of recovery* for him. And when
his father had promised to give everything which he
possessed to save his son s life.— now he was very rich,
but he accounted all his riches of no value, since the
heir was doomed to inherit' the grave — that power
which worked upon the disciples who were in Joppa^
* Literally, "they cut off from him the hope of healing."
* $&&aas Literally, "one who maketh inherit."
3 Acts ix. 36.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XVIII. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 423
to send to Simon Peter on behalf of the life of Tabitha,
and also the angel [that told] Cornelius to send to
Simon Peter* that the light of the doctrine of Christ
might come to him, appeared to that Ishmaelite in a
vision, and said to him, "There is a monk, in the Mon-
astery of Beth *^ Abhe, send and bring him, and he shall
heal thy son;" and when he heard this he went for help
to Mar Maran-zekha, Bishop of Nineveh, and entreated
him to send and bring the monk to him. [p. 223] And
when he asked him, "What is the name of the monk
who appeared to thee.'*" he told him, saying, "His name
is not known to me." And the pious Mar Maran-zekha,
holy in all things, wrote a letter to the holy Mar Cyri-
acus that he would send "a means of grace"* to that man,
and he wrote also how he had appeared to him in a
vision; and the blessed Cyriacus sent a washing from the
cross of Rabban by the hands of two brethren, and he
gave himself to prayer on behalf [of the Arab's son].
Now when those two brethren had departed and had
given the "means of grace" and God's mercy which they
had with them to the man, and he had made his son
drink it, the boy straightway stood up, and asked for
food; and his parents marvelled, and they praised and
glorified God. And this [matter] was proclaimed in all
the city, and the holy man Cyriacus became famous
and well known.
' Acts X. 5.
* ^ literally means "misericordia/' but here it refers to the
holy water which the Nestorians were accustomed to give to
the sick to drink, or to "pulvis loci, ubi martyres coronati
fuerunt, quem oleo et aqua dilutum ad extremam unctionem
adhibent." See the passages and authorities quoted in Payne
Smith, Tkes,, coll. 131 5, 1316.
/'
^
424 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XIX.
OF HOW THAT MAN CAME TO THIS MONASTERY, AND OF
HOW HE REWARDED IT WITH A NOBLE RECOMPENSE, AS
WAS MEET, [and OF THE REST OF THE MIRACLES OF
THE HOLY MAR CYRIACUS].
Now just as by reason of the glorious crown of
sublime things with which the nation of the Jews was
crowned after their going up from Babylon, it is written
in the prophet Zechariah, "The nations which dwell in
many towns shall come, and the inhabitants of one
[city] shall go to another, and shall say, 'Come, let us
go and pray before the Lord;' and many peoples and
mighty nations shall come to entreat the Lord, the
mighty One, in Jerusalem/ And ten men, from all the
tongues of the nations, shall take hold of the skirt of
a man who is a Jew, and shall say to him *Let us go
with thee to Jerusalem, [p. 224] for we have heard that the
Lord is with thee'," even thus was it wrought in this
case. For when that man saw that he had gotten back
his son safe and sound from the mouth of the grave,
and from the maw of hell by means of God's "mercy"
which had been sent to him, he decided rightly, saying,
"I will go and reward with [gifts of] love and kindness
him who hath done this act of grace for me, and who
hath delivered and given to me out of the teeth of
death the only branch which I possess, and the staff
of my old age, because of this thing;" and he took
his son and a number of his servants, and others joining
themselves to them they became a great company, and
he came to this monastery. Now when the brethren
took the old man to Rabban in the Abbot's cell, as
* Zechariah viii. 21 — 23.
^
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 425
soon as he had gone in and seen him, he answered
and said in the Arabic tongue, "This is the old man
whom I saw proclaiming to me 'peace', and saying,
'Send to Beth 'Abhe, and bring from there a monk
and he shall heal thy son "; and wonder took hold
upon every man. And he took out ten thousand zuze,
and gave to Rabban, but Rabban thought wisely, "If
I take all this money the gift will become a loss." And
he agswered and said to him, "Blessed art thou before
God, O old man, and blessed shalt thou be; but we
do not require this [money], for it is not good that
the healing which our Lord hath given us should be
[sold] for money." And the old man with entreaties
and tears spake, saying, "If thou dost not take them,
I will throw them away, for one nail of my son which
through thy prayers hath been restored to me, is better
to me than all the money and riches which I possess."
Rabban said to him, "Since it must be thus, give the
money to such and such a merchant who hath [a debt]'
against us, and thy act of grace will be acceptable
unto God the Lord of all, and to us." The Arab saith to
him, "How much hath he against you?" and he said, [p. 225]
"Eight thousand \zuze\ ; and he left here two thousand
\zuze\, and [with] the remainder he went and paid the
debt, anxiety concerning the payment of which troubled
the monks greatly; and thus were those men dismissed,
and they went away rejoicing.
The very old man Rabban Isho'-yahbli, [surnamed]
the Long, who had received the tonsure at the hands
of Rabban Cyriacus related to me the following:— "One
day at the time of the after-supper service on the first
' Strike out p'i in the text p. 224, 1. 22.
hhh
I
426 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
day of the week I was selected by the potter* to go
to the spring,* and to bring water ^ to the tank"* of the
monastery. And there was a certain old man who was
called Bakhos (Bacchus) bar-Kustoi,^ and he had near^
his cell a large olive tree from which he pressed out
thirty measures of oil every year, and the tree was there-
fore precious to him, and he took care of it, and never
missed watering it. Now this man was spying upon
me, and watching my footsteps; and when I had^gone
some distance from his cell, he went out secretly, and
opened^ the channel and drew off water and brought
it into his cell to water the olive tree. And when I
had come and had made the water to flow in the
' ;laaa, i. e., K€pa|Lieuq. Compare Hex. Jeremiah xviii. 2;
Harkl. Romans ix. 21.
* Probably the spring referred to in Bk. IV. chap. XI; see
supra, p. 404.
3 /. e., he was to make a channel so that the water might
flow down from the spring into the rock-hewn cistern of the
monastery.
4 ;KMi^« fern, of ;aJa». Compare Arab. JUi basin of water,
reservoir; and JOriTJ?^ *^12l MSj^O'^^^ Isaiah li. i.
5 «*dV2>o« a diminutive of jbfti>v%\;.C)oa, with the Persian ter-
mination oe] compare ^.5j^-
6 Literally "in his cell."
7 ^&'<s means to make an opening through which water may
flow; compare the Arabic Aiy, the mouiJi of a streamlet, the
opening of a tank^ and ^f a torrent filling the valley^ Lane,
Arabic-English Lexicon, p. 303. For examples of Y ^^^ com-
pare J^V^oSp ;^o»LM «*o7o\& ^bNNMs «»fi^2 ^9^ ;!So Wright, Kalilah
and Dimnah, p. 289, 1. 24; o^&^^2 ^*xxa ^sx^ Land, Anecdota,
t. ii. p. 172, 1. 20; AiJ^ ^5nm ;i? ibid., p. 312, 1. 20; -007 ^:s.5n
«»c7o.i^P ibid, p. 119. 24; h^^ts i^^ ibid., p. 12 r. 14.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX, OF MAR CYRIACUS. 427
channel towards the monastery, and was going away
to follow along with the water, through [my] fear of
the others, [this old man] went out, being moved so
to do by his greediness, and made an opening in the
channel to let in the water to his cell. And when I saw
this piece of folly, the fear lest the potter should
beat me being vividly depicted before my eyes, it was
exceedingly grievous unto me. And behold the blessed
Cyriacus was in the place of the after-supper service,*
and he heard my voice complaining, and he asked me,
*What aileth thee, my son.'*' And I said to him, *The
monks will not allow the water to come to the mon-
astery.' Now Rabban Cyriacus was, as every one hath
told me, of a hot-tempered disposition, [p. 226] and was
[easily] made furious with anger, and when he was
moved to wrath he was not to be controlled. And he
straightway came down in haste from the place of
the after-supper service, and went along by the side
of the water, and found that it ran into the place where
Bacchus was. And he cried out, saying, 'Bacchus,
Bacchus;' now Bacchus was silent, and was dried up
through his terror. And Cyriacus answered and said,
'Because I see that this olive tree hindereth thee from
pleasing God, even as that fig tree which was in the
monastery of the blessed Pachomius became a stumb-
ling-block to the simple youths [there], and because,
moreover, while every one [else] is occupied in the
after-supper service, thou art corrupting the Calum-
niator^ by [thy] solicitude for thy olive tree, the life
' ;>aaib 6s^ probably a part of the churchy not refectory.
* /. e., your deeds defile the Devil, and make him appear
blacker than he is otherwise.
428 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
which maketh thy olive tree to grow shall be taken
from It, and the earth in which are its roots shall be-
come salt and dried up, and God shall make it wither
during this night, and thou shalt have no gratification
from it except wood for burning and [for making] a
roof;' and so, with the morning of the [next] day, he
found that olive tree dried up from its roots, and black
as pitch/'
And again, a very old man whose name was Tumana
related to me that there was a certain monk employed
in the monastery whose name was Khusrau, and that
it was customary every week for a monk employed in
the monastery to be set apart for the purpose of waiting
upon that holy old' man in Rabban's cell. Now it hap-
pened that one week this Khusrau was set apart [for
this duty]. And when he had stood at the door two
or three days, and he could not endure [the service],
he came to the monastery to his companions without
the knowledge of the old man. And when the evening
was come, and the blessed old man was waiting for
him to bring him [his] food, Khusrau neglected him
and treated him with contempt. And behold, the old
man holding his staff came himself to the monastery —
now Khusrau by reason of his fear had laid himself
down upon a bed,* and feigned himself to be sick —
[p. 227] and Rabban called him, **Khusrau, Khusrau,"
and he answered him saying, "Master, a fever hath
seized me," And Rabban replied, saying, "I trust in our
Lord that if the fever hath seized thee in very truth.
' /. e,^ Cyriacus.
* ;^o\ something to lie upon, a bed. Compare ,j\; Payne
Smith, Thes.^ col. 745.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 429
He will visit thee and heal thee by the prayers of Rabban
Jacob; but if thou hast spoken contrary [to the truth],
may a mighty fever come upon thee;" and he left him
and departed. And the old man who told me this
thing asseverated with oaths that Khusrau began at
once to cry out and to shriek and to beat upon his head
with his hands like a man who was [actually] afflicted,
and his life was near to be destroyed if we had not
run and besought forgiveness for him from the holy
man, who sent him a "mercy" (^), and straightway he
was relieved.
And after this there was set apart for his service
Jacob bar-Babhanosh,* who was surnamed^ "the sacris-
tans son," with whom I was also contemporary for
many years, and [Rabban] knew beforehand that he
would not be an upright man, and every time that he
saw him he was pointing him* out with his finger to
those round about him, and saying, "This Jacob bar-
Babhanosh hath broken the yoke and cut the ropes
which tied it upon his neck,"^ and thus also did we
know him. I have also heard concerning him from the
aged men, that he neither drew near to the laborious
life of asceticism, nor embraced it. And in the time
of his old age when the "sacristan s son * was forced
to celebrate the sacrament standing by the priest in
* AOisa i. e., Bab «= Pap + anosh (cf. Anosh-ravan) "having
a blessed father."
^ After this word we should probably add Ijpiib h^ "the son
of the sacristan;" compare 1. 16 (text).
3 The allusion is to Jeremiah xxx. 8. .^be^ ^ 079^ a^M
jiftii ^ti&l9. The wooden portion of the yoke is called iU^^
''little goat;'' the two ropes Zbim are tied to it, one at each end,
and fastened under the neck.
430 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the capacity of a deacon' — now he used to sit [basking]
in the portico' of the nave of the church the whole
day — and when he went in to celebrate, and the wafers
were laid in the paten ^ upon the altar, he used to steal
some of them and place [them] in his bosom ; and thus
he did many times until at last we perceived him. And
from every cell into which he entered — for every man
used to invite [him] in to rest himself, [p. 228] taking pity on
his old age — if its master^ went away a short distance
from before him he took something, and placed it in
his bosom; and in this manner of life he died;
Rabban Isho'-yahbh, who was sumamed the *Long ,
also related to me that there lived in this monastery a
certain solitary named Rabban Sergius, an old man and
the head of the ministration,^ with whom also I was
contemporary. And it came to pass one day that this
old man met Rabban Gyriacus as he was going into .
the colonnade^ from the temple, and as he himself was
* "Unless a priest has a Shammasha, /'. ^., a deacon or assis-
tant to serve with him, the Liturgy cannot be cele-
brated." Badger, NestorianSy ii. 19.
^ ;o\i&2 ="(TTod, which, however, I believe we should here
x^n&^x aisle.
3 ^aefi^ also — "///^ table of the sacrament ^^ see Badger, Nes-
torians, ii. p. 239, 1. 3. This seems to be the meaning of ;Sofivfl
on p. 218, I. II (text), where we read that Mar Cyriacus only
drank wine when he was obliged to do so in receiving the sacra-
ment with the other brethren. Compare also the use of the
word in Liturgia Sanctorum Apostolorum Adaei et Maris ^ Urmia,
1890, 4to., p. 6, 1. TO; p. 23, 1. 22; p. 24, 11. 8, 13; and p. 28, 1.- 14.
^ /. ^., the occupier of the cell.
5 j^xMLK^ ab — dpxi6i(iKOVoq?? or perhaps the monk who led
the service.
^ ;s&Vb2 <s^-=Tr€pi(TTuXov (Payne Smith, Thes., col. 480),
and it seems, therefore, that by this word we should here under-
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS.
431
going into the temple from the colonnade, and that
they met one another in the place of the watchers.*
And although Sergius was a holy man, yet through
the working of Satan he said to Rabban Cyriacus, **I
would rather that Satan had met me than thou." Rabban
said to him, "Now I hope in our Lord that Satan will
stand "portico" or iTpo(TTijJOV (for a description of such a
portico see Badger, Nestorians, vol. i, p. 94). It is not pro-
bable that ;soV2>2 fis*3 = Aa«er? ^oV2>2.
* ;So» N*3, i, e., the place where the office for the night
was sung by the ;a;o* or Geuupoi. For the duties of these men
see B. 0., iii. 2, p. 82off. Judging from the details given by
Thomas of Marga concerning the church used by the monks,
the general arrangement of the main portions of the building
must have been as shown in the following rough plan: —
Jsfio i. e,, KOTXn
vaoq
TTpovaoq
1TpO(TTljJOV
l?o* ^^
§^v»>j ^^
KpTlTTiq
d(Tujvdp0r]£
dSujvdp0r]£
or TrepiaiuXov
The altar stood in the ^o9\Ati (see supra ^ p. 342), or space above the
three steps, and a path led through the iSM, or choir, to the ;i*3; the
"^%^i t. e.f qppaKTfj, or altar-screen with its veils, stood cither
in the middle or at the door of the ^jjui, above the steps lead-
ing down into the nave of the church. For the various parts
432 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
enter into thee, and that thou wilt never be rid of him
until the grave." And Rabban lsh6*-yahbh swore to
me that straightway Satan smote him in the place of
the watchers, and tore off his skin from him by jerking
him along upon the walls,* until the monks went in to
him by reason of the noise of his cries. And it was
thus until the end of his life, and even when he stood
up in the service in the temple leaning upon his staff,
fifty years after Rabban had cursed him, he was afflicted
as he stood, and he foamed, and his spittle came out
[of his mouth] and ran down upon his beard; and al-
though he was an upright man until his death, according
to the word of the holy man concerning him, he found
no rest.
And a certain evil and ill-natured Arab who was
passing from the mountains to the city came to this
monastery with a large company of followers, [p. 229]
and he had with him a hunting' dog which he had
brought with him as a gift for one of the chiefs who
were his superiors; and having tied him up in the
of the church symbolically treated see Book V. chap. 15, (text
p. 306); and also Du Cange, Glossarium^ s, v. Kpr\mq (col. 754),
\dp0r|2 (col. 986), KOTTiXO^M^va (col. 621), vaoq (col. 985),
TTpovao^ (col. 1245); Waddington, Inscriptions of Syria ^ No. 2218,
'EKTi(Tr] ^ KpHTTi^ Kai 1] k6yk[ii tou] 0toO quoted also by Graham,
Trans. Roy. Soc, Lit., vol. VI. p. 282.
» All the MSS have ;jo\, but read ;?SX. ivalls. See Hoff-
mann, Syr.'Arad, Gloss.^ No. 27C4, p. 98.
^ Probably a fine specimen of the greyhound family. To
this day in and around Mosul these dogs are much used for
liunting purposes, but I regret to say that when they become
old the natives turn them out to starve in the streets or to be
worried to death by the young and vigorous pariah dogs. They
are often taken to Bagdad as gifts for Pashas.
- 1
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 433
outer martyrium' by some chance or other the dog
died. And when it was morning, and [the Arab] saw
that his dog was dead, he was greatly grieved, and
he began to abuse and to threaten the monks, and also
to demand from them the price of the dog, saying,
"Ye have killed him." And when the monks had gone
in for necessary purposes, and the Arab was still threat-
ening them, and his striving was becoming more violent,
they went to the cell of Rabban, and informed him of
the matter. And he took the abbot's staff and came,
and when he went in and saw the Arab he said to
him, "Why art thou thus enraged," and why dost thou
threaten us?" And the Arab said, "Because ye have
killed the dog which I brought [with me] with such
g^eat trouble." Rabban said to him, "Now if thy dog
be not dead thou wilt ask nothing from us?" And the
Arab said, "God forbid that I should importune you in
anything." And the blessed old man asked for the dog,
and they shewed him to him lying outside; and he
said to the Arab, "Thy dog is not dead; rise up, and
do thou and thy companions mount your animals, and
I will wake up thy dog and he shall go with thee."
And when the Arab had mounted Rabban went and
pricked the dog with the top of his staff, saying, "Rise
up, dead dog, and die outside of our territory;" and
straightway the dog stood up. And all those Arabs
saw and marvelled, and they threw a bark-rope^ over
him, and took him away and when he came to the
' /. e.y the martyrium outside the church proper.
' ;ia&ik for ;»o&&'.
3 ;a!S^. Compare «^U5J\ ^4^/ corde pour mener les chiens^
Dozy, Supplement, t. i, p. 672, col. i.
• • •
111
434 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Edhre dhe Balas' the dog died. Thus those men went
away having harmed [us] in nothing.
One year when the wheat [which was] the property
of the monastery was being brought from Beth Ziw^
and by reason of the heat [of the day] the overseers
were urging the labourers to get up to work in the
morning while it was yet dark, they complained, saying,
"There is a lion in the reedy swamp,* and we are
afraid to go forth by night because of him." [p. 230]
And when the blessed man learned [this], he took his
staff and went on foot before them, and behold they
came to the head of the reedy swamp, and the lion
himself was there. And the holy man answered and
said to him, "In the name of our Lord Jesus, to Whom
all things are subject, mayest thou never be found here
[again]; if I see thee here another day I will smote thee
with hard blows." And he answered and said to the
labourers, "From henceforth fear not, and walk hither
by day and by night freely;" and it came to pass ac-
cording to the word of the holy man, and during all
that time that lion was never seen there. Now these
things were related to me by the old man Henan-lsho'
who was sumamed the "Red".
This man also related to me that there was a certain
widow from the village of Tidor, and that [one day]
she was collecting the scattered ears after the reapers
with her young son; now this lad was her only son.
* /. ^., "the threshingfloor of Balas." For other examples
of 3?i with proper names, see Payne Smith, Thes., col. 41.
* )^oi, a word explained by ajJ marshy land by the side
of a river, and iJujJi; see Hoffmann, Syr. Arab. Gloss., No. 357,
p. 17; Duval, Lexicon, col. 78; Payne Smith, Thes,, col. 79.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 435
And it came to pass that the boy fell down suddenly
in the field by reason of an evil spirit which had
seized him in his heart, and he died, and [his sad case]
moved every one to weep for him. And the monks
who were reaping counselled her, saying, "If thou wilt
take him to the monastery, to the head of the mon-
astery, he will make thy son to live again." And she
lifted up her son upon an ass before her, and she went
along quickly and laid him at the door of the abbot's
cell, in which the blessed man was at that moment,
and she began to weep dolefully, and to call him by
his name, and to adjure [him], saying, "O Father
Cyriacus, have mercy upon [me] a wretched woman,
have mercy* on the stranger,* for the root^ from which
life was extended for me has been cut off from me
like a dried up tree. [p. 231] O spare the woman
who looketh [for help] to the hope of thy prayer, and
turn not away thy face from me, that He also may
not turn His face away from thy petition in the hour
when thou knockest at His door. Be thou sorrowful
for the wretched old widow, for there is no life for
me now that the light of my eyes, and the breath of
my life, and the touching of my hands,* and the steps
of my feet, and the maintenance and protector of my
life [hath departed]. By that power which cleaveth to
thee, if thou entreatest Him for the life of my son He
will give it back to thee. Let thy mercy be revealed.
^ Read
^ See Payne Smith, Thes.y col. 2806.
3 ;L*&e, "Vyi, ^,jp'y see the examples in Payne Smith, TAes.,
col. 1069.
4 Read J^.
436 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and listen to my voice, even as thy Lord, Who heark-
ened to the Canaanitish' woman, and to Whom the
sin of the harlot* was not an abominable thing." Now
while the woman was at the door and was making
use of such [words] as these, and was at the same time
crying and weeping with plaintive lamentation, he had
no monk from the monastery with him at that time, and
he himself opened the door and saw the dead body
of her son, and she herself was sitting crying before
it. And he answered and said to her, "What have I
to do with thee, O woman, and what have I in my
hands wherewith to help thee ?" And he took her son
and brought him unto his cell, and when he had re-
mained a long time in prayer and supplication, the Lord
gave to the holy man the soul of that child; and he
gave him back to his mother alive, and she took him
with g^eat joy and praise, and returned to the field.
And this [miracle] was proclaimed throughout all the
country. And it also happened to that blessed man
by the hand of God that it was not^ necessary for him
to work his miracles openly, and [therefore] he hid
himself being afraid of vainglory, and he plucked out
this foul affection from* the dross of his thoughts, and
cast it far, far away. Now although a short way back
I said that the Lord honoured this holy man, so that
before and after him there was none like unto him,
there are nevertheless other [saints], and I did not
make this decision in respect of all men, nor did I by
any means intend it to include all the saints; [p. 232]
I only intended to say that by reason of the miracles
* St. Matthew xv. 22. ' St Luke vii. 36—50.
^ For &i read ^p. * For ;am^ o^ read ^erp oli!^.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 437
which took place at his hands he was superior to all
who lived in his time in this monastery. And if thy
mind, [O 'Abhd-lsho'] will hearken unto my argument
it shall be convinced [of this fact].
And there was in this monastery one of the elders
who was surnamed Solomon bar-Sabhetha, who was a
spectator of the miracle which we are about to relate;
now the account of [this miracle] was handed down
from his mouth to us, for we never knew this man in
this life. And he used to relate [it] to all those from
whom I have heard it, saying, "When Rabban Cyriacus
was the head of the monastery, I was the steward. And
when the commemoration of Rabban Jacob" came, he
gathered together the twenty-two schools of Marga,
[concerning] which also Mar Abraham the Catholicus,
of holy memory, and blessed in all things, said to me,
'There existed in Marga at that time, and flourished a
great congregation, without number.' And I, Solomon,
say that when I saw that the multitudes were very
great I was afraid to give out wine in abundance in
the butler's closet* according to custom; now Rabban
himself was sitting with the butlers and those who laid
the tables. And when the monks in the monastery
came to me to the wine cellar,^ and I had given them
wine to carry away once, and again a second time,
^ His commemoration took place on a Friday in November.
See Wright, Catalogue of Syr. MSS,, p. 187, No. 152.
' ;Se^ fis*3 /. e., "the place of those who lay the tables."
Hoffmann translates Jho^ by Tafeldecker, compare (TTpiiiTr)^,
aTpdriup and TpaireMpii^ (Du Cange, Glossariutfiy col. 1598).
See Hoffmann, Verhandlungen der Ktrckenversammlung zu
Epkesus. pp. Cjt 99 (note 304, col. 2).
438 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
they came yet a third time by the command of Rabban.
And I sent him [a message], saying, *Spare the wine a
little, for if thou givest^ it out thus abundantly to-day
thou wilt be without wine for the vigil "* of to-morrow/
And when the blessed man heard this, behold he blazed
like a furnace, and he came to me to the wine cellar,
and said, *My son, why hast thou not sent wine?* And
I said to him, 'Master, I was afraid lest it would not
hold out even for the table of the Mysteries to-morrow.
Be sparing then, for we have [to celebrate] another
vigil for the dead,^ and behold, there is gathered to-
gether to us an assembly the like of which [for mag-
nitude] we have never seen in this monastery.' And
he answered and said to me, 'While I go and give
permission for the multitudes to begin [to sing] psalms,
[P- 233] do thou make ready eight mules and skin
bottles and bags, for I have heard that there is a
caravan of Hirthaye* at the place of the crossing, at
' We should probably add ^mi after ^^6J^4^.
^ ;b'oR^ in Neo-Syriac ;fkx "church festival." For the description
of the ;?Li? ^iCx or "festival of 'Adha" (a village situated near
Supurgan, four hours north of Urmi), see Socin, Die Neii-
Aramaeischeii Dialekte von Urmia bis Mosul y Tubingen, 1882,
pp. 84, 172, notes 14 and 189.
3 The "Friday of the Dead" ^aJls? ji^aoaA fell a little before
Lent; see Wright, Catalogue of Syriac MSS,, p. 183, no. 34;
B. 0., iii. ii. p. 382, No. 28 (h^p ;&aaepe ;^^3 ^^ jZpoa^). For
a description of the festival for the commemoration of the dead
now in use among the Nestorians see Badger, Nestorians, vol. i,
p. 229. The ;bopE was celebrated in that part of the church
called ;&opK n*3, into which, on solemn occasions, the laity were
admitted.
* /. ^., people of yirtha, a place the ruins of which still
exist to the south-east of Meshed 'Ali, but it seems hardly
A
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 439
Est wan,' that we may go and obtain wine from them.
And when, by the hand of God, we have celebrated
the festival which standeth [at hand], we will bring
wine and pay them back'; and he left me and went
to the temple, as I was wondering and amazed at his
words. And because we had experience of him in all
things, I accounted this [thing] likewise as one of his
many glorious acts, and I did according to his word
which never failed. And I took two soldiers'* with
me, and [Rabban] went before us along the road which
goeth to the Zabha [Zab], and although he was on
foot in front of us and we were riding we did not
overtake him. And when we arrived at the appointed
place by the Zab he asked me, 'Have ye brought with
you any earthenware vessel?' and I said to him, *Why
do we want such a thing.'** He said to me, *That we
might borrow the wine through it, and pay it back
through it.' Now the vessel which he asked for [was
that] with which we used to fill the skin bottles from
the Zab. And when we came to the water he said
to me, *Tarry here with thy companions, for I am going
to see if that caravan is still there;' and when we had
been sitting by the Zab some time, behold the blessed
man came to us, and there breathed forth from him
A
likely that a caravan going from Kufa and Bagdad to Adhdrbai-
gan by way of Arbela would cross the Zab and make a circuit
by M6sul. On the other hand a local caravan from Hedhatta
would cross the Zab pretty soon and make its way into Margd.
For l^isi,s»^, then, we should probably read ^^fio^, to which the
readings of BC point.
^ "A village on the Zab;" see Bk. i. chap. 24, supra, p. 84
(text p. 48, 1. 12).
^ For ;JCi, read ;^.
440 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
an odour which surpassed all scents, and fear and
wonder fell upon us. And he answered, like one in
distress and said to me, *My son, according to what I
have learned, those men passed by last evening and
have gone away; but that our journey may not be in
vain, fill the bottles from the Zab and let us go [home] ;'
and we did according to his word. Now the villagers
who were with me began to laugh secretly, saying,
'Instead of wine we shall take water, which is much
cooler than that of the monastery, for the blessed men.*
And while he was walking on before us we were laugh-
ing over the water which we were carrying with so
much care, and when we came to the monastery he said
to me, [p. 234] 'Take the loads into the wine cellar, and
take heed unto them.' And we left [him], and he went
to the temple, and I dismissed the villagers also from
my presence. And I pondered that it could not be
by accident and for nothing that so great a man as
this, a man who knew the secrets of [all] hearts, who
brought the dead to life, and who had done and still
doeth other marvellous deeds, was moved to bring
water from the Zab; and I rose up and lit. a lamp,
and I opened the ear of one of the botdes, and behold
there breathed forth the smell of wine, the like of
which he used to say, "before our Lord, I never smelt
from any other wine." And I praised and glorified the
might of Christ, Who had given the power and the
promise to His disciples that they should work miracles
even as He did;* and I also determined that I would
not reveal the matter to any man, and that I would
not give out this wine to be drunk, either to-day or
^ St. John xiv. 12, 13.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XIX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 44 1
to-morrow, until this old' wine which we had brought
from the mountain should be finished. Now when the
service of the Mysteries was ended, and every one had
gone into the common-room of the brethren, Rabban
sent to me, saying, *Bring into the common-room some
of that good wine which thou hast, and give up the
intention which thou didst decide upon during the night'.
And at this [speech] also I was the more moved to
the praise of God the Lord of all, in that Rabban could
see beforehand and know by the eye of the Spirit
even the motions' of the thoughts of my mind."
Now it came to pass one year that Rabban himself
was obliged to carry the imperial^ tax which was due
from this monastery to Yazdinbadh,* a village of Marga,
and taking with him one of the monks in the mon-
astery they both departed. And while the blessed old
man, by reason of his age and feebleness, was riding
upon an ass, and the monk was marching behind, the
monk meditated the following thought: — "The head of
the monastery hath not done well in carrying with
him all this money to the government without five
other men coming with us; [p. 235] alas for the evil-
ness of the times, and alas for thieves! Perad venture
we shall meet with some opposition which we shall
not be able to stand against." And that holy man
turned, and looked at the monk, and said to him,
"Why art thou doubtful about the hidden protector
who is with us, my son, just as if the providence of
' Read U»^'
* l^. motions of the mind, germinations of thought
3 Compare St. Matthew xxii. 17.
^ Spelt also TouL^f^; see text p. 386, 1. 16.
kkk
442 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
God cometh by accident? March on in confidence in
God the Lord of all, and fear not;" thus pure and
clear was the hidden eye of the understanding of that
holy man.
CHAPTER XX.
OF THE REVELATIONS WHICH THAT HOLY MAN RECEIVED
WHEN HE WAS WITH THE WHOLE CONGREGATION IN THE
REFECTORY. *
Since now [this] ascetic* had become like unto an
altar of prayer, and with his secret, inner man his mind
had burned [upon it] ceaselessly the incense of psalms
and hymns of praise to the exalted Godhead, — like
the Watchers {i. e.y Angels) on high whose chain of
praises before the throne of Godhead is never sever-
ed,— like the spiritual powers he became wise and
understanding, by the revelations which were hovering
round about him abundantly, and he saw things which
were afar off,^ and prophesied concerning things which
were about to happen, even as the blessed Evagrius,
[who] comparing the sight of the understanding with
^ ^ ts^ or refectory y to be distinguished from ;Il2 fi^ the
common'Toofn of the drethrefi. The ^aa n*3 seems to have been
joined to the kitchen or place where the food was cooked
()iaT€ip€Tov) ; compare h» (s^as ;»^ il^ ^o^ ^2 (text p. 236,
1. 2). The y^ (Land, Anecdota, tom. ii. p. 196, 1. 22; p. 196,
1. 16;) may be compared to the ipbojia^dpioi who had certain
duties which lasted a week assigned to them in monasteries.
See Du Cange, Glossariuniy col. 339. For 3x .^xJa see Land,
Anecdota^ t. ii. p. 207, 1. 24.
» /. ^., Mar Cyriacus. ^ Read >^fiu-.'i;S.
i
\
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 443
the Cherubim spake, saying, "He that hath many eyes,
perceiveth spiritually much, and is enlightened on all
sides, [p. 236] and abideth without shadow."
Now on the day before the commemoration of the
holy Mar Jacob, in which all the brethren were accus-
tomed to bake bread in the refectory, and to celebrate
this night with psalms and spiritual praises, when they
came [to the verse] "I will sing of the goodness of
the Lord for ever, and His belief" shall be in my mouth
from generation to generation,"* the mind of the holy
man was carried away as though by some spiritual
vision. And it appeared to him in the spirit as though
he were not in the refectory, but in this holy temple,^
and he saw that of the monks, old and young, who
were there with him, two and forty persons were chosen,
and in his hearing the words, "The Grace of the Lord,"
which are usually sung* on the Festivals of the Lord,
were changed^ into those which are sung to a
' The Peshitta has aibsa^x^ ^m. ^ Psalm Ixxxix. i.
3 /. e., the temple of Beth ' Abhe.
4 Literally, "which are said."
5 Thomas of Marga means that he heard "the Grace of the
Lord" sung to a tune (ila) which was different (^suafl) from that
to which it was usually sung upon festivals relating to our
Lord. On iau^A )^ see B. 0,, iii. i. p. 529, col. 2, 1. 23.
"The Grace of the Lord" occurs in the service for festivals
relating to our Lord, and also in the service for the Conse-
cration of Bishops, but the wording of each "Grace" is different.
For the "Grace" at the Consecration of Bishops see Badger,
Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 344; B. 0,, iii. ii. p. 685, col. 2; and for
the ordinary "Grace" see Badger, Nesiorians, vol. ii. p. 222.
The verb .a^fioci refers to the tune, and the change in the tune
reminded him of the "Grace" in the festivals relating to our
Lord. Hymns with changes of tune in them were called .dX^oat
444 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
different tune at the consecration of Bishops at the
moment when the hands are laid upon them; and
he saw that there were given to them from the sanc-
tuary white turbans and staves of the laying on of
hands.* Now while he was being led away by such a
vision and was carried away by this divine sight, the
ascetics saw that his face was clothed at that moment
with the light of glory, and they knew that a Divine
visitation had united itself to his understanding. And
when he had returned to himself and had come down
from that sublimity, he sighed a deep sigh while he
was yet shining with the glory of the Divine nature; and
although they wished to ask him a question or to
draw nigh to him, yet because of this they feared, and
refrained from him. And when they had proceeded with
the service of the parts of the Psalms called HuUale,"
and with the different hymns ^ which were sung between
the Psalms, they went on with the Psalter, and came
to [the verse], "Lord, remember David and all his
humility,"* again another revelation shone upon the
blessed man; and when he came to himself again from
the vision, and knew where he was, he was sorrowful,
and shed tears, and sighed very bitterly, [p. 237] And
;iij; see Wright, Catalogue Syr.' MSS.^ p. 376, col. 2; and
B. 0., iii. I, p. 284, col. I, 16, (^ou^^o* ^i^ ;^ &^^ 3^); and
Du Cange, G/ossartum, s. v. etp^6q, col. 356.
^ Compare ;a\aM9o ;&o'ii.a3 ,«iS3^ a^ ^oua^io B. (?., iii. ii.
p. 685, col. 2, 1. 13.
' See Badger, Nestorians^ vol. ii. p. 17.
3 See B. 0.y iii. I, p. 530, chaps. 5, 6 (^icpr? Ao? Icbrail oa^o);
and B. O,, iii. ii. p. 669, col. 2 AHa a^opp epu& ^ 4^opt ^opee)
(;jKcv92p )c5»x ^*^^o ^fsAMo ^(s&oo h^o^c .;&oiao.
* Psalm cxxxii. i, in the Peshitta, cxxxi.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 445
when the service of the refectory^ was over, and each
man had gone to his cell, at mid-day, according to
custom, the brethren went in to the refectory,' and that
holy old man was at their head like the moon sur-
rounded by stars. And he answered and said to them,
"Did ye then, beloved, see me last night while these
things happened to mei^" They said to him, "Yes,
master, we have seen that two visitations happened to
thee, but what these visitations which happened to thee
[portended] we know not; and now we ask thee to
shew us." And again he answered and said to them,
"In the first vision I saw that two and forty men be-
longing to this congregation here present, old men,
middle-aged,^ and young men, were set apart [to be]
governors of the Holy Church; some of them Patriarchs,
some of them Metropolitans, and some of them Bishops.
And also in the second vision it was shewn to me that
from the glorious position in which this monastery now
standeth, flourishing with teachers, and expositors, and
sages, and wise and understanding men, it shall be
brought low, and abased, and humbled in everything
in which it excelleth, more particularly in respect of
* Vat. reads "the brethren went into the refectory," and the
other MSS. "the brethren went in to table;" compare Land,
Anecdota, t. ii. p. 243, 1. 2, for a proof that the jU« and ;&o<sJ
were united (^o^ 2007 <su ^9^ ^ ao^^o %w). For the service
of hymns to be chanted at meal-times, see Wright, Catalogue
Syr, MSS., p. 372, col. 2, No. 20.
3 In the Syriac version of Pseudo-Callisthenes ixi S^ =
\xear\\\l; see Budge, History of Alexander the Great ^ p. 10,
1 17; p. 14^ 1. 15; p. 16, 1. 5; the fern. \Mi fii2^ occurs on
p. 209, 1. 13.
446 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
teachers, until the time cometh in which [the monks]
shall be obliged tt> hire directors for the vigils,* and
[men] to carry out for them the musical parts of the
service,* and to correct and set in order the tunes
having refrains^ which are sung to the psalms and
hymns." These are the things which were foretold by
that blessed man, and I was a spectator, and was in
the midst of the whole matter, being a neighbour, and
one who gave encouraging advice. And^ it came to
pass at one time that [this monastery] was obliged to
hire the much enlightened^ man,^ Solomon of Beth
Garmai {Gartnekaya), who was sumamed Mahdi,^ to
teach all the brethren who needed it [firstly,] how to
read the service-books, and how to sing the hymns
and responses,® and secondly, how to sing the book of
hymns of consolation^ which they were wont to sing
^ ";»q»;^ vigily excubitor, apud Syros Nestorianos vocatur, qui
noctumo praesertim officio decantando praeest" B. (9., iii. ii.
p. 820.
* ;f o^oltt = Ha ^oMuti « the art of singing correctly and in tune.
3 ^aT&'oA i, e,, melodies with a refrain to which different words
are sung each time it is repeated. See supra, Bk. iii. chap. i.
p. 291, note 3 (text p. 142, 1. 5).
4 The rest of this chapter is quoted in B, 0., iii. i, p. 488,
coll. I, 2.
5 ^aajoi JHfii means doctissimus, and also M^/rf=K'3ini «'«5P,
y^^f<^\\ see Wright, Catalogue of Syr, MSS.y p. 162, col. 2.
^ We should read ^^07 «au2.
^ Compare ;{^o^ ^.^n\y B. 0., iii. ii. p. 939, 1. 18; ^i^wS^y
;ao^ th'd, 1. 20.
9 Assemani omits 3epe ;u>^a ^Sjspo. We should, however,
read }ham }*>oa.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XX. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 447
at the vigil of the dead ; ' and also to bring the much
enlightened Bauth* to our monastery for the same
purpose.
Arid as regards the Bishops [p. 238] of whom the
old man said that there should be two and forty, I will
write down without delay the names both of those
whom I myself saw, and of those which I learned from
others, who were among that blessed congregation and
who also were selected for consecration one after the
other. Firstly we will honour the holy person, the prophet
and seer concerning whom is our discourse, Rabban
Cyriacus^ who was elected Bishop of the city of Balcidh,
as we shall shew at the end [of the book];* Rabban
George the Metropolitan was elected Bishop of Elam,
and afterwards Patriarch; Mar Abraham was elected
Bishop of Hadhatta and afterwards Patriarch; M4r
Kardagh, Mar Shubhhal-lsho", and Mar Yahbh-laha were
elected Metropolitans of Gil&n^ and 'of Dailom;^ and
Thomas from Hedhodh,^ Zacchaeus from Beth Mule,*
and Shem bar-Arlaye,^ and Ephraim, and Simon, and
Ananias and David who went with them from this
* For hymns to be sung at Vigils for the Dead see Wright,
Catalogue Syr, MSS., p. 367, col. 2, No. 3; p. 370, col. I, No. 4.
* A Monastery of Ba uth C^^^ fj, existed near Baladh;
see B, 0., iii. i, p. 557, col. i, last line.
3 Read pb.
^ See Book V. chap. 14 (text. p. 302, 1. 4).
5 See supra^ p. 220. ^ See stipra^ p. 220.
7 See supra, p. 68.
^ /. e,^ Mill-house. AssemanI has {JLd^ K^a.
9 Bar-Arlaye is probably a nickname meaning **son of a
giant," and is derived from ^JLj!?, Heb. ^\fr% (Isaiah xxix. i.);
see Payne Smith, TJies., col. 379; Duval, Lexicon, col. 289;
Hoffmann, Syr. Arab. Gloss., No. i486, p. 52.
448 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
monastery were elected and consecrated Bishops of
those countries. Mar Eliya, whose history we are
about to write, was elected Bishop of Mukan,' David'
was elected to be Metropolitan of Beth Sinaye^ — now
I have learned concerning this man from the Epistles
of Mar Timothy* — together with Peter his disciple,
who was alive and held the oflfice of Bishop of the
country of Yamin^ and of San a^ when I was secretary
to Mar Abraham; Isho'-zekha was elected Metropolitan
Bishop of Karkha-dhe-Beth-Slokh;^ Burd-lsho", and
Cyriacus, and Babhai, and this Isho" who came to
Marga, all these were elected Bishops of Beth Garmai ;
* po» i, e.y vl^lSyo was situated near Gilan (see supra, p. 220)
in Armenia and AdhorbaJgan. See MacGuckin de Slane,
Geographie dAboulfida, p. 400 ^^^^ ^^ ^.'^ l5* O^^^)
<^-aJ\ i^a^ cr*); Yakut, tom. iii. p. 420; and De Goeje, BibL
Geog, Arab., p. 17, 1. 8; p. 119, 1. 16; p. 120, 1. IS; p. 213,
1. 7. The modem form of the name is ^y*. Meghan is a
steppe in the comer between the right bank of the Lower
Arras and the right bank of the Kurr. The town seems to
have been situated near Mount Heshta[d]-sar, to the N. W. of
Mount Tabhalan, and the town of Berzend, near the left bank
of the Kara-Su in Angatieft towards the hill country. See Ritter,
Erdkunde, t. viii. p. 662; t. ix. pp. 793, 796, 870.
* The rest of this chapter is also quoted in B, £?., iii. i,
p. 163, col. I.
3 /. e,, China.
^ *Abhd Ishd says of him ^^Bi^ ^"^fici? ^V^2 yj>:i» ^2 06 n*2o
^fer\\v>; see B, (?., iii. i. p. 163.
5 /. ^., l^\ see Yakut, tom. iv. p. I034f.
^ }^x^ i, e,, i\JL:Ji the ancient capital of Yemen. For Arabic
descriptions of town see MacGuckin de Slane, Geographie
d^Aboulfeda, p. 95 ; Voyages d'ibn Batouiak, (ed. Defr^mery et
Sanguinetti) tom. ii. p. 176; and YakAt, tom. iv. p. 420.
7 /. e., Kerkuk; see supra, p. 122.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XX. OF MAR^CYRIACUS. 449
Isho', who was sumamed Maran-zeklia , was elected
Bishop of Shoshan/ the city that is in Elam; Rabban
Diodorus and ''Abd-lsho' were elected Bishops of Beth
Beghash, one after the other; [p. 239] Lazarus, Gabriel,
and Jacob, these three were elected Bishops of Marga;
Cyriacus of Awakh* was elected Bishop of Nineveh; Mir
Narsai, concerning whom also our discourse is prepared
to praise, was elected Bishop of Shenna;^ and Elisha
and George were elected Bishops of Khanishabhor,*
that is Beth Wazik.^ Now [the names of] the others
by reason of the remoteness of the time have not been
handed down to me by tradition, and inasmuch as I
did not know that I should become the historian^ of
the glorious deeds of the holy man I did not enquire
beforehand concerning them from the old men who
related to me the accounts of his actions.
^ Compare "Shushan the palace", Nehemiah i. i ; Esther ii. 8.
^ For ;Iab2 read ;1^6i; for ^02 or ^62 see Bk. ii. chap. 34
(text p. 115, 1. II), and see supra, p. 250.
^ /. ^., Sinn Barimma =» Shenna dhc Bheth Remman — Kar-
daliabhadh, a place ten farsah distant from Tekrit, on the east
bank of the Tigris. See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 189.
^ A town situated on the west bank of the Little Zab just
above where this river falls into the Tigris; see Hoffmann, Aus-
siigej p. 189. jy^^ ^-^ is the Persian name of al-Bawazil<
"La signification serait soit 'musique pour (I'oreille de) Sabour'
quand on lui parle de la ville, soit 'cantatio Saporis* dans le
sens de 'laus Saporis cantibus celebrata*". See De Goeje, Bidl.
Geog. Arab,, t. vi. p. 68, note I, and p. 94 (text).
5 /. €., al-Bawazik.
6 ;^aafi>a $ait^ » ^soio.
Ill
450 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XXL
OF THE COMING IN OF "^AMRAN BAR-MUHAMMAD ' TO THIS
COUNTRY [of MARGa], AND OF HOW HAVING SEIZED MANY
ESTATES AND SLAIN THEIR OWNERS, HE WISHED ALSO TO
KILL THE HOLY MAN [CYRIACUS] AND TO INHERIT THIS
MONASTERY.
And there was a certain troublesome Ishmaelite
whose name was ""Amran bar-Muhammad, concerning
whom I have also written in the history of Rabban
Gabriel,* and he was a harsh, violent, and pitiless man,
and a murderer. Now upon [his] coming into this
country from Beth Bozai,^ he began to slay its inhabi-
tants, and to take possession of the province of Birta,
and of Helaphta, and Hetra, and Bashosh, and Herpa,
villages of Saphsapha,^ and little by little of many
others. And he determined to take possession of the
estates of this holy monastery, [and he would have
done so] if this holy father | Mar Cyriacus] had not
stood in our breaches and fenced up our paths against
his harmful acts, as did the blessed Moses,^ and Joshua
and David in their times, [p. 240] And when he made
' /. e.y j4^x4 ^^ o^j-S*. The Banu 'Imran, 0^7*^ l5^ ^^^
mentioned by Ibn Haukal as being a branch of the Azd tribe
and settled in Kurdistan. See De Goeje, Bibl. Gcog, Arab.j
Pars ii. p. 144, 1. 9; Ibn al-Athir, tom. vii. p. 117, 1. 13; and
Hoffmann, Atfszuge, p. 234 and note 1867.
' See Book vi. chap. 16.
3 /. c,y the "house of Bozai." This name appears to have
been formed originally from the Persian bdz!d\ conf. Yhdbbzedh,
Horn-Steindorff, Sassanidische Siegclsteine , p. 36. For the
situation of Beth Bozai see Hoffmann, Auszitge, p. 196.
4 See Hoffmann, Ausciige, p. 223 ff.
5 Compare Psalm cvi. 23.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXI. OF MAR CYRTACUS. 45 1
his coming to this monastery and would have com-
pelled all the brethren to sign a deed selling the monas-
tery and its estates to him, the blessed old man stood
up valiantly before him, and reproached him, and made
him despicable through the rebukes of his words, and
by the abundance of his demonstrations, saying, **I
affirm and I swear* by the hope of the Christians, O
'Amran bar-Muhammad, that this monastery shall never
belong to thee, nor to thy sons, nor to thy grandsons.
Behold all the land is before thee, get thee away from
this holy house, for as the Lord liveth, if thou departest
[from it], it will be much the better for thee, and thou
wilt do great good unto thyself; iDut if thou darest
to seek to enter the monastery by the might of thy
threats, thou shalt very soon eat the bitterness of the
reward of thy evil deeds. Behold I have warned thee,
and behold I have advised thee for good; get thee
forth from our monastery and it shall be well with
thee, lest thou go quickly to the house of the dead.
And know this also: because of all the blood of the
believers which thou hast poured out, and the wretched
people whom thou hast slain and whose houses thou
hast seized, it is written with an iron style on a
shdmir^ stone in the record chamber of the justice of
God. And this shall be to thee the sign; when thou
diest, the earth from which thou wast taken and to
which thou shouldst return shall not receive thee, but
thy body shall be cast forth, and the Evil One will
not accept thy body." Now when by all this might
of trust in divine providence, and by the fervidness
' For j^ in swearing an oath see supra, p. 410.
^ The allusion is to 'T'Pttf H^^Sl ^m IDga '*with a pen of
iron, and with the claw of a diamond," Jeremiah xvii. i.
452 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of his temperament, and by the sharpness of his tongue
he had put Amran to shame, ""Amran rose up wrath-
fully and went to Helaphta having the evil [intention]
[p. 241] in his heart to send secretly and slay the holy
man. And when "^ Amran had gone, and [the blessed
man] saw that the monks were terrified and afraid of
his threats, he said to them, **Fear not, O blessed
brethren, his words, nor any stumbling-block which
he can put in our way, for this monastery shall
be for ever and ever preserved from this man and
from all his posterity; let no man be afraid that 'Am-
ran will send here to slay any one, for, on the con-
trary, he hath made up his mind to flatter you. And
behold he will shortly send for some of you, therefore
go with him readily and be not afraid, for I will go
forth with you, and I will pour into his ears things
mightier than those which ye have [already] heard."
Now when a few days had passed by 'Amran sent
ten horsemen for certain of the old men' of the con-
gregation. And when they beat the board" for as-
sembh'ng the monks and they were all gathered
together, all the brethren were afflicted through fear,
because [the horsemen] would not allow the holy old
man to go with the [other] old men his companions,
saying, "We are not commanded to bring Rabban
Cyriacus with us." Now when [the holy man] saw that
the brethren were in despair and undone, he drew
them aside, and said to them, "Be not afraid to go,
for when ye shall enter into the presence of 'Amran ye
* /. t'.y certain of ihe ;afi> whom he specified by name.
' A picture of the board which is beaten to call the monks
toi^ether in Greek monasteries is given in Curzon's Visits to
Monasteries in the Lez>ant (frontispiece).
A
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXI. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 453
shall find me sitting before him on his seat" ; and relying
upon his hope they quickened * their steps, and set out
immediately, the horsemen leaving that blessed man
in the porch before the temple. Now until they {t, e,,
the horsemen) had passed the village of Risha he
and the brethren remained in the place of the after-
supper service, but when every man had returned to
his cell, that same Divine power which carried the
Prophet Habakkuk to Babylon,' and by which the ship
of the disciples came suddenly to the land whither they
were going,^ and which lifted up the blessed Paul to
heaven'* and to Paradise, fp. 242] worked on behalf
of this poor monastery at that time when there was
no king, and when this Arab was wishing to compel
those blessed men to transfer to him the monastery
and its estates. And, by the might of the Holy Spirit,
it took him like his companion [Paul] and made him
come into the presence of ""Amran before those old
men and the horsemen who were with them had come
in; and it hid him from his sight, as he stood above
his head^ until they had knocked at the door, and
suddenly he revealed himself and appeared among
them. And when 'Amran saw him, he looked in sa-
vage anger upon those whom he had sent and upon
the old men, saying, "Since I commanded that Cyriacus
should not come why have ye brought him with you V
And they all swore [saying], "We have not seen him
since we left him in the monastery, except at this
present." The blessed man said to him, "I am come
* Literally, *'they spread out."
^ See Budge, Book of the Bee, p» 71-
^ St. John vi. 21. ^2 Corinthians xii. 2 — 4.
5 'Amran was in bed.
454 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
hither to thee before thou couldst look in the mirror
and comb thy head and beard;' be not angry with these
venerable men, for thou shalt never inherit our monas-
tery. Cease from this [thy] wish and let thy hard
heart be softened, and let thy avarice be satisfied, for
behold, thou hast inherited much; and by these things
hast thou made thyself such that no one of thy con-
temporaries will go before thee into hell." And *^Amran,
while wondering and marvelling at the words of the
old man, recognised that all this boldness of speech
which his words had acquired, was of no ordinary
origin, and also that his swift coming and his entrance
into his presence, which had had no need of the open-
ing of a door, and his being hidden from his view
until the entrance of his companions also testified to
this, and he feared and trembled before him, and he
answered and said to them, "Rise up and go in peace
to your monastery, for I have no dispute with you;"
so the blessed men went forth and came to their cells.
[P. 243] CHAPTER XXII.
OF HOW 'aMRAN afterwards SENT FIVE ARABS TO LIE IN
WAIT ROUND ABOUT THE CELL OF RABBAN CYRIACUS AND
TO KILL HIM AND TO BRING HIS HEAD TO HIM.
Then the Calumniator, the wicked enemy of the
Christians, and especially of holy men,* gave *^Amran
counsel, and he hardened his heart, and he attributed
that which had been done to sorcery, and he judged
that Cyriacus had performed that piece of work which
' Add a point(.) after ua?o.
» /. e., men who lead ascetic lives. /
\
A
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXII. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 455
had been wrought before him by means of his en-
chantments. And he called secretly those five men of
violence whom he was accustomed to employ to shed
blood, and to do all manner of wickedness, and he
commanded them, saying, "Go to Beth 'Abhe, and
when it hath become night go down secretly to the
cell of Cyriacus and take his head and bring it to me."
And when those men had come without any man
knowing [of their arrival], and in the thick darkness
of the evening' had come down by the descent which
is called "Way to Shikon," and litde by little had drawn
nigh unto the litde hill which lay to the north of his
cell, they saw him walking up and down in the open
space before his cell, and they lay in wait until he
slept to fall upon him. Now inasmuch as the holy man
turned his nights into days, and like the blessed Ar-
senius,^ passed the whole night in watching, he went
up to the place where he used to say the after-supper
service in his cell,"* and he began to sing the psalms
from the beginning of the Psalter. And that Divine
^ /. <f., ''during the evening service which was sung late in
the night;" compare to feCTTepivov, 6 iOTrepivoq Ojiivog, Du Cange,
GiossariufHy col. 437.
^ /. e.y ^lin^^. For another place of this name see Sachau,
Rcise in Mesopotaiuicn^ p. 433.
^ See supra, p. 29, note 3. .a&jjLoai ^2 ^ ao(s oo<^ ^a^i
^0703^2 ^o^ mJSjco .ojafro&s ^ fy<ftt^ ^o^ ^£b» .^Tn>.. 0^9 j^paa ^auo^p
^ ^ojodu^ .\Ajb 9A0 .^070^^ ^xaaae ^e^ ^mA?? ^?^ *^^^^ ?^ l^ita. &va!S
^a^ ^a^? ^>iimA o^ %tt,^g)3 .^007 aio2 J2u%lb32 ^2 ^ J007 ^jo^ A^s Z*^
^;^^ ^o7ofts*2 ^ ;;^ Sayings of the Fathers on Fasting and
other labours, Nos. 105, 134. The first of these is given in
Latin by Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, p. 613.
^ /. ^., his private room for services and prayer in the Abbot's
house.
456 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
power which the blessed Elisha possessed, by which
there appeared to the young man his servant spiritual
hosts, with their chariots and horses of fire, surround-
ing all the place where Elisha" was, according to the
custom of the might of His power, which strengtheneth
all things, [p. 244] likewise surrounded with fire the
whole place where this holy old man sang the after-
supper service, and those [men] saw the fire and
marvelled. And it appeared to them, moreover, that
not only fire which could not be approached surrounded
him and shot out flames, but also that the whole of his
body was like light, and that every [time] that he bowed
himself to the earth and stood up [again], and spread
out his fingers to heaven, there went forth from them
ten lamps of light which were ascending unto heaven.
And after these things they saw another like unto him *
standing at his right hand, and those men were stupe-
fied and terror-stricken, and they thought with anxiety
that the fire would suddenly come forth from him and
consume them. And when they wished to depart their
bellies clave ^ to the ground upon which they were lying
until it dawned; and when they had been perceived
by certain of the brethren, they went forth to them,
and asked them what was the cause of their [being
there], and the men revealed to them truthfully what
the reason was. Now the old man Henan-Ish6\ the
neighbour of Cyriacus swore, saying, "I was one of
those brethren who went to the men." And when the
* Read "Elijah"; see 2 Kings ii. 11.
* /. ^., his special guardian angel; compare St. Matthew
xviii. 10 ; Acts xii. 7; Daniel iii. 25.
^ ,^139 for .iJOaa.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXIII. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 457
men had gone to him that sent them, and had repeated
to him all [these] things, he desisted from all the evil
which he was ready to do to us, and at the end of
his life he commanded his sons, saying, "The monas-
tery of Beth ^Abhe can never be yours."' And when
""Amran died the earth would not receive him, but
three times was he buried, and three times was he
cast forth from it, according to the word spoken con-
cerning him beforehand by the blessed Cyriacus.
[P. 245] CHAPTER XXIir.
OF ANOTHER REVELATION WHICH [mAR CYRIACUs] RECEIVED,
AND OF HOW HE NEEDS xMUST BE NAMED AND ACCOUNTED
BISHOP FOR A LITTLE WHILE, AND THEN DEPART FROM
[this] WORLD.
Now when the holy man our holy father Mar
Cyriacus had laboured in all kinds of asceticism, the
mother of all uprightness, in voluntary poverty, and
abstinence, and fasting, and prayer, and philosophic
reading in the cell, and holy meditation upon the
Scriptures, and contemplation* [which] pierceth into
things of the future, and the acquiring of things which
endure, and watching which purifieth the thoughts,
and bendings in double, and stretchings out at full
length in making bowings of adoration, and prostra-
tions which make the sweat to flow, like a watchful
* Literally "there is nothing to you and the Monastery of
Beth */bhe."
^ ;^JoT, a rare word.
mmm
458 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
guardian he kept a strict watch on all sides that for no
reason whatever a single duty of the ascetic life should
be neglected on his part or on that of his fellow-monks,
and he was like unto a wall to this godly flock. And
when he was waiting and wishing that the ship of the
treasures of his riches had already drawn nigh unto
rest, an angel spake with him, face to face [saying],
"Thou shalt be a Bishop, and then thou shalt rest from
thy troubles. According to the number of the fifty
years in which thou hast led an ascetic life in this
monastery, for fifty days shalt thou be called Bishop;
and then thou shalt by a peaceful death rest in peace.
Behold I am with thee in all thy labours; let thy old
age then be strong, and thy time of life' be [renewed,
and a month of days hence believing men, from the
city of Baladh, over whom the Spirit hath appointed
thee governor, shall come for thee; go with them dis-
puting nothing, for the matter is from the Lord, Who
ordereth all thy [acts] as His will pleaseth, [p. 246]
He hath helped thee that thou shouldst be saved.''
And when the angel had disappeared from before him,
he took a reed and wrote upon the wall of his cell
concerning this vision which had appeared to him, and
the brethren found this writing after his departure and
read it. And the old man Rabban Elisha, may his
memory be blessed! used to say, "I also read these
lines when I was serving in the monastery, for his
handwriting was still preserved in that cell."
' Literally, "let thy antiquity be renewed."
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXIV. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 459
CHAPTER XXIV.
OF THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE OF BALADH TO THIS
MONASTERY FOR THE BLESSED MAN [mAR CYRIACUS],
AND OF HOW THEY HAD WITH THEM A LETTER OF THE
PIOUS MAR TIMOTHY PROHIBITING HIM TO REMAIN IN
THE MONASTERY AFTER HE HAD BEEN CALLED.
Now therefore, when the report, which was filled
with the glory of Christ, of the wonderful deeds which *
He was working through the son of His house, Mar
Cyriacus, in this monastery, had flown like a bird with
swift pinions, and had been carried to every quarter
of the world, and to all peoples, and his glorious
deeds were being repeated in the streets and among
the assemblies for the glorifying of the Holy Church,
the Bishop of the city of Baladh, who had arranged
these holy matters, departed this temporary life. And
because of the glorious things of Rabban Cyriacus,
which were in the mouths of all men, the people of
Baladh sent letters to the holy Mar Timothy, praying
and entreating him, saying, *'We have elected that
thou shouldst set over us as head, and shepherd, and
guardian, and governor, Rabban Cyriacus the ascetic,
the head of the monastery of Beth 'Abhe," (now this
took place, in very truth), and they took the letter
and came for him here. [p. 247] Now a very old
monk whose name was Bar-Henana told me that the
people of Baladh made the expedition to us for the
sake of Mar Cyriacus, with horses of long pedigree,
and baggage horses,* and mules for burdens, together
' ;i9b'&3. There is usually no difference in meaning between
^opsA and ;^o:&?oA but here ^lopa^a must have the meaning of
460 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
with eagles, and panthers/ and leopards,* and hunting
dogs, an exceeding mighty host, for the Inhabitants of
this city were at that time exceedingly prosperous, and
their city was very beautiful and much to be admired.
And when they had gone in before the temple,^ and
had made known the cause of their coming, they were
received by the community with great honour. And
when they gave Mar Cyriacus the letter which com-
manded him to go down to the Catholicus, his eyes
overflowed with tears, and weeping he lifted up his
face to God like aged Simeon, and said, "Lord, dismiss
Thy servant,* according to Thy word, in peace; for be-
hold, mine eyes have seen, and my lips have pro-
claimed Thy great mercy, in that Thou hast set the
limit to the close of my life and to the end of my
years." And he answered and said to the believing
men who came after him, "Beloved, ye have wearied
yourselves for nothing, and your expectation is in vain;
ye cannot rejoice at my being appointed to be your
head, neither can I rejoice at the glory of rearing
you, for I shall [only] live fifty days in your city, and
it sufficeth. It is a mere bundle of bones which shall
be brought in to dwell in your city ; may its protection
and generation be prolonged among all the generations
of the world! And our Lord shall raise up for you
^«
the Arab. c^^>y,t plur. c^M J. See Dozy, Supplement^ torn. i.
p. 69, col. I.
* ;fi^'«a*, Pers. 3y,. See Lagarde, Gesammelte Abka?idlunge7i^
no. 139, p. 53.
' t*aafl i. e., "hunting panthers;" compare Trdpbiov Aristotle,
Hist. Afiim., ii. I. The native lexicons explain ^*?a^ by yj^\
pant/ier, and by J^r^^J^ panther.
3 /. e., into the TrpocTTiLov. ^ St. Luke ii. 29.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXIV. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 46 1
after my death a good guardian, and to him will He
grant an extension of life for a long time." And when
they took him away to go [to Baladh], a cry from
all this congregation' went up to heaven, and they
ascribed woe to themselves and to their monastery,
because they were deprived of such a head and [p. 248]
governor of their lives; thus he went down to Mar
Timothy the Catholicus and was consecrated, and he
went up that he might come to his city. Now Rabban
Elisha told me that when the boat in which he was
travelling arrived at the Hesna 'Ebhriya/ and was passing
along on this side of it, which faceth the east, the
believers of Mosul sent and stopped it iil its course, and
crowds upon crowds of Christians and Arabs came
forth to see that blessed man and to be blessed by
him (now they gave the owner of the boat much
moneys that it might stop for this purpose), and so on
the following day his boat passed on accompanied by
crowds, and went up to his city. Now his entrance
into the city of Baladh took place on the Friday even-
ing before Pentecost.
* Read ;Ixosa.
^ It is evident from this passage that ^^ajs. ^jjb^ was ;/<?/
situated on the left or east bank of the Tigris, close by the
ruins of Nineveh, and it seems pretty certain that Mosul itself, or
some part of it on the eastern side of the town, and lying on the
river bank, is meant by Hesna 'Ebhraya. In a most valuable
document published by Guidi, (L/n nuovo teste, p. 18, at the
top) mention is made of '*Mar Eliya who built a monastery by
the side of the Tigris, close to Hesna 'Ebhraya" ;»? U^\ .*a^
;*aL^ to^ ^o!v (s\jb9 ^aa\ »\^ ja^o&i (Guidi's emendation of ^*aD^
for ;.ak^ is certain). On the Monastery of Mar Elijah, /. ^., Der
es-Fa'id, see B, 0., iii. i. pp. 263, 264; iii. ii. p. 876; and see
supray p. 337. 3 For ;Sof read ;?of.
462 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XXV.
OF THE WONDERFUL DEED WHICH THE BLESSED MAR
CYRIACUS WROUGHT IN THE CITY OF BALADH, AND OF
THE END OF HIS LIFE.
Now since I have been in the habit of making
enquiries concerning every thing which relates to this
blessed man with great eagerness and desire, for stories
about him are sweet and pleasant to me, one year
when I went on certain business which called me to
the city of Baladh, I asked about his holy grave, and
I was blessed by it. And I went out to the porch'
before the great temple of the church, and I found
there a very old priest, whose name was Nekhwar,^
and with whom I was acquainted when I was the
secretary of the holy Mar Abraham [p. 249] the Ca-
tholicus in the royal city,^ and I asked that old man to
relate to me any miracles or mighty deeds which the
blessed Mar Cyriacus had wrought. And having told
me of the many cures [which he had made] and of
the devils which he had driven out from multitudes of
men, he also told me the following: — "In the days of
^ 32oai /. ^., j\ysAj, a family name or title of tolerably fre-
quent occurrence, which appears in Greek as 6 NaxopaTciv, 6
NaxoepTciv, and with the addition of Sar "Chief, 6 lapvax-
opTdvn?; see Noldeke, Geschichte tier Perser/ip, 152, note 2.
Hoffmann proposed a derivation in Feige, Mar Abdhisho und
Mar Qardagh, p. ii, note 12, but that he has now abandoned,
and he believes that the word is derived from fJ nakk (see
Lagarde, Armenische Studien, p. no, No. 1583), as in ^-^.^JC-u^aru,
and bar, i. e., "primam sive anticam aciem ducens." The form
^\bo^ occurs in Guidi, Nuovo testo, p. 11, 11. 19, 22. Here he
is called ^NoAi^s fV^ and has with him a large force of
elephants. ^ /. <?., Seleucia.
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXV. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 463
Mar Cyriacus there was in this City a Bishop of the
followers of Severus [of Antioch]/ and much friend-
ship existed between him and our Bishop Cyriacus;
and after the death of Mar Cyriacus that Bishop relat-
ed to me as follows: — 'One day I had risen up early
in the morning, and I had come from my cell to this
your church to go in and to enjoy myself with the
sight and conversation of the holy man your Bishop
Cyriacus. And while I was speaking in the porch*
and was not yet inside the church, behold the blessed
man himself came down, and when he saw me he answer-
ed and said to me, Why art thou standing here, master?
And I said to him, I have come to see thee, and to
be blessed by thy holiness. He said to me, Blessed
be thy coming! If thou hadst come to me before I
came out, I would have gone nowhere; but since we
two have met outside, come with me, and let us go
together to pray in the Monastery of Rabban Pithion;^
and," he continued, "he took hold of my right hand
with his left, and thus he and I singing a psalm went
outside the city, and entered into that monastery. And
when we had prayed, and he was still holding me by
my hand, the two of us went down to the Tigris, and
he answered joyfully, and said to me, Come now,
let us cross over and pray in the Monastery of the
holy Rabban Joseph,^ because his shrine is very dear to
* /. ^., Jacobites.
^ L €., in the Bishop's cell adjoining the church.
3 This monastery was situated on the right bank of the
Tigris below Beled al-Shabushtt, and is the ^-^^U^l i:^}
''which is between Balad and Mosul." See Yakut, torn. ii. p. 673,
1. 5; and Juynboll, Marasidy t. v. p. 553.
^ This monastery lay opposite to that of Rabban Pethion
464 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
me and because he is from my own monastery' [p. 250],
and because I have not yet seen his monastery. I said
to him, If thou hadst this intention in thy mind
why did we not cross over at the ferry instead of
troubling ourselves to come down to this [place]? And
he looked at me smiling, and said. Hast thou any
doubt that, by the power of God, we can cross over
on a wooden boat only? Now shalt thou see the
power of Christ our Lord. And he made the sign
of the Cross upon the face of the water, and another
upon his own face, and another upon mine, and we
turned to cross over. And while I was afraid lest
peradventure the waters would let us drop through
them, I perceived that they were becoming solid under
my feet* as if they were ice-bound, and thus we cross-
ed over the Tigris and went into that monastery. And
when we had come forth from there and he had dis-
missed the brethren who had come forth in honour of
us, and they had returned to their cells, we remained
for a little time on the bank of the river; now he did
this that the monks might go away to a distance and
not be able to see him. And again he answered and
said to me. Let us cross over the river [to the place] exactly
opposite to us,^ and let us go and pray in the monas-
(/. e,y TTuGiov), on the left bank of the river, about dL farsah
below Eski-Mosul. See Hoffmann, Ausj^uge, p. 211.
^ /. e., of Beth 'Abh6.
^ Of Bessarion it is said by his disciple, "Alio quoque ten>
pore, cum necessarium ei esset, fecit orationem, et transivit
Chrysoroan fluvium pedibus; ego autem admiratus satisfeci, ei,
dicens: Quomodo sentiebas pedes tuos, dum ambulares in aqua?
Et ait senex : Usque ad talum sentiebam aquam, reliqua autem
erat solida sub pedibus meis." Rosweyde, Vitae Patnwiy p. 649.
^ /. e,y '*Let us cross over to the right side of the river to Baladh.*'
BOOK IV. CHAPTER XXV. OF MAR CYRIACUS. 465
tery of Rabban Aaron/ and afterwards we will go
into the city. And I said to him, Do as it pleaseth
thy holiness. And he made the sign of the Cross
upon the waters in front of us, and holding me by the
hand he led me over the river, and we went into the
monastery and prayed, and we went forth from there
and came to the cell of the holy man. Now these
things which that holy old man' related to me, *Uth-
man, a believer of the confession of Jacob,^ who was
surnamed Bar-Khusrau, confirmed to us. And Rabban
George, the head of our monastery* told me, saying,
'*One year I went into the city of Mosul about the
taxes, and I went to the house of this believing man
'Uthman bar-Khusrau, that I might obtain some as-
sistance from him by his speaking for me a good
word to the government, [p. 251] and I found him
reading in the book Huppakh Hushshabhe,^ of our
holy Mar lsh6*-yahbh of Adiabene. And when I had
sat down he said to me, 'I love your monastery of
Beth *Abhe for two reasons; firstly, because- of this
teacher Isho'-yahbh the Catholicus, who is in very
truth ^ a great teacher and debater, and [who] standeth
firmly in the strength of his demonstrations against the
confession of the duality of the Natures in one Person,
which . those who follow the Council of Chalcedon
wickedly declare, and I meditate upon his composition
continually; and secondly, because of this story which
' See B. 0., iii. ii. p. 878, no. 15.
^ /. e,, Nekhwar. ^ /. ^.^ a Jacobite.
4 /. e., of Beth '/^bha.
5 See B, 0.9 iii. i. p. 137, note I. This work is also referred
to by Isho'-yahbh in his letter to Sahdona; see supra, p. 136, 1. 12.
^ Read, with BC, ?i«i\v> ;3&»?-
nnn
466 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
our Bishop who was in Baladh in the days of Cyriacus,
Bishop of that city, who came from your monastery,
and was sumamed 'Gebhiltaya/ ' related to me.' Now
he told me this history which I heard from our priests
in the city of Baladh, and we must be well aware that
the testimony of adversaries is more exact and more
to be believed [than our own], inasmuch as* in such
matters they have a habit of concealing certain facts,
and concerning some certain and well attested deeds,
which have been wrought by our holy men, they de-
liberately lie. Now when the celebration of the Fast
of the Apostles drew near, the holy Bishop Mar
Cyriacus died on the Friday^ evening of the comme-
moration of the [twelve] Apostles, with a name filled
with glory, and a remembrance for good, and was
buried in honour with the holy Bishops who had died
before him in that city; may his prayers be for the
whole world, and for the Catholic Church, and may
mercy be shewn to us in the Hall of Judgment, Amen.
Here endeth the Fourth Book.
' I. e., "the man of Gebhilta." The MSS. have ;:flta\.
^ Read with EC ^>a-.2.
3 /. e.y on the Friday preceding the Sunday which is called
Nusardel, the last Sunday of the Week of the Apostles, /. ^.,
the first Sunday of the New Year. The word is compounded
of the Persian nau-sard, *New Year', and el^ *God*, meaning
'the Church's New Year*. See Rosen and Forshall, CatalogitSy
pp. 3I1 SO; Wright, Cat. Syr, MSS., vol. i, p. 185, col. i,
no. lOi; 190, col. I, no. 81 ; Noldeke, Geschichte der Perscr,
p. 407, note 2; Hoflfmann, Auszuge, p. 59, note 523; Lagarde,
Anncnische Studicn, p. ill, no. 1601; Payne Smith, Thes.,
col. 2326; B. 0., iii. ii. p. 383, no. 36. {i^oax 'p^oaa ^saa^
- ^ - ^^x^^ • ■-■■—— —
[P 252] B O O K V.
CHAPTER I.
OF RABBAN MAR SHUBHUAL-lSIIo'.
O our brother [^Abhd-lsho'], let also this discourse,
which is the fifth of the books of this our history, be
received upon the table of the hearing of thy under-
standing, for by the glorious entreaty of thy electness
my feeble tongue hath run, and will further run, upon
the excellent matters of the histories of holy men,
those athletes of might and warriors of strength, who
did battle with the body and the passions thereof and
with rebellious devils, and who bound on the crown
of victory and overcame, and were crowned in the
spiritual contest of their lives which pleased God. And
we will place at the beginning of all those histories
which our speech is about to unfold the account of the
victorious deeds of the ascetic priest, and victorious
martyr, the blessed Rabban Mar Shubhhal-lsho', the
Metropolitan Bishop; and to it we will add that of the
pious and holy men who followed in his footsteps
throughout the land in which he taught. Mar Yahbh-
laha and Kardagh his brother, as well as that of the
blessed Bishop Mar Elijah, the men who were ordain-
ed by the pious Mar Timothy, the Catholicus and
Patriarch, for the countries of the barbarians who were
468 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
remote from all understanding and a decent manner
of life, and to whose part of the world no* preacher
and planter of the truth had ever gone, and where
the doctrine of the glad tidings of our Redeemer had
never been proclaimed, [p. 253] But why should
I speak of the [knowledge] of Christ our Lord [only]?
for they had not even received the knowledge of God,
the Creator of the worlds and their Governor, like
the Jews and other nations, but they offered, and be-
hold they [still] offer, worship to trees, graven images
of wood,* four-footed beasts, fishes, reptiles, birds of
prey, and [other] birds, and such like things, and they
bow down to worship fire and the stars and planets.
[Mar Yahbh Allihi, and Kardagh and Mar Elijah were]
the men who preached the doctrine of Christ in those
countries of Dailomaye and of Gilaye,^ and of the
other barbarians who live beyond them, and they plant-
ed in them the light of the truth of the glad tidings
of our Lord, and plucked out from the simple souls
that were there all the abominable thorns and tares of
evil deeds which Satan had sown in their hearts. And
they taught and baptized, and wrought mighty deeds,
and shewed forth wonderful works, and the fame of
their acts was carried to all the ends of the East.
And thou mayest learn clearly concerning all these
things from the letter which certain merchants and
kings scribes, who were going in and coming out
' The MSS. have :ij^h i^a, but read iHo^ a^.
^ The MSS. have /i^le?, but read ^ax^tto.
^ Gilan is the country by the Caspian Sea from the Russian
frontier to Resht, and Delum, or Dailom, is the mountainous
territory behind it. See supm, p. 220, note 3.
BOOK V. CHAPTER II. OF MAR SHUBHP AL-ISHO . 469
from those countries for the purposes of trade and
the business of the government, wrote to Mar
Timothy.
CHAPTER II.
OF THE ORIGIN OF THE BLESSED SHUBHI AL-lSHo' AND
OF HIS COMING TO THIS MONASTERY.
The family of the blessed Shubhhal-lsho* was de-
scended from the race of the children of Ishmael, and
his city was Herta-dhe-Na'man/ [p. 254] but his parents
departed from there, and took up their habitation in
Hesna Ebhraya,* and according to what I have learned,
the blessed man was born and brought up in that
city. And when he had become a young man, having,
by the exceeding care of his parents, been trained in
the Holy Scriptures and instructed in the literature of
the Arabic [language], which was their own tongue,
his parents departed this temporary life, and he and
one sister, who was younger than he, were left behind.
Now their parents had left them much riches, and this
he divided between the two of them, and to his sister
he left the estate and everything that was in the house,
and he took his portion and came to this monastery.
And having served in the monastery and performed
the exercises of the monks in a perfect manner ac-
cording to the command of the fathers, he persuaded
* /. e, Hertha-dhc-Taiyaye, the ruins of which are less than
half an hour distant from Meshed *Ali. See Hoffmann, Aus-
zuge, p. 97.
^ /. e., in Mosul.
470 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the community to give him Beth Habba' that he might
SOW it and give food to the brethren, according to
what they should receive from the head of the mon-
astery, from the produce of Beth Ziwa; and according
to his wish it was given unto him. And he built a
house for the ploughmen, (2'. e.y a farm) to the south
of this one of to-day, the site of which is well known,
and he bought yokes of oxen, and he hired ploughmen,
and he began to sow and to reap, and to be kind to
and to give gifts to the monks of his congregation,
and to strangers, and to the poor, like that merchant
who traded with Spain with two ships,' and [like] the
blessed ApoUonius ^ who [lived] in Mount Netira, ^
* See supra^ Book ii. chap. 12, p. 180.
* He is mentioned by Palladius in his HisL Laus,\ see the
following page, note 3.
^ The following is the account of this man from the Syriac
version of Palladius: —
jNouool \^m ^ 057 t^a^A^? ^^o\ ^ep op ^007 hA^^ »j<Ka»>*M*? ^bi3e&^ l^m
\}m ft»yio 3ira^ ^07 .^0/ ^o\3 op ^p J^i*ao7 ^ ^^oiVa .j(pa Jb»*OiiPoi
J007 ^vttso .^07 k^oM ^*oy*aa3 ^2 ^ooy^iA^o .^b9j4dA^2 ^ ^07 ^9 ^aa!^
^907 ^a^fisM SA ^JkX v^dEfi^ ^a^e .^07 JoAi aa joyi^os ^oAa ,Q^^u*ioS
fi^2 ;o^aa 012 ^p .a^2e l^b6s \it ^007 ^tf ^ -jll2p ;»SoA9e ;^aN»aa
^Aj ;iso3y ^op .;^o ;SL»e .^uau ;tiibolV,o ^o'b &Jk^ ^007 ^^ .;a&o7
;»a^ ^iflba^i oyS ^07 ajujdp .%Maac2 jasep aA^ ^ .;o7>\^S ^^.^(sm?
^007 JB^ .o4 ^bo&^ 0007 fi^^OLS? ^ ^1^2 a*V^ jaaouA .07^00*01^
^o7p oTiM ^o .07^ ^07 fi^2a ^aao joax o7^oa23 ^^A ^a^ a^o .^o^lisaA^
(fol. 58^.) ^;»\&a ^Nos^ ^ ^^9^0 «o7eKk2 ;^a^a «^ oSiia»i JtpaaxN ;po7
4 /.^., theNitrian desert near Alexandria; seej«/m,p.39, note3.
BOOK V. CHAPTER II. OF MAR SHObHHAL-ISHO. 47 1
and like that believing man,' the account of whom is
written in the histery of the blessed Paphnutius,* and
like one of those two [brethren] Pesis (Paesius)^ and
" /. ^., the rich Alexandrian who gave all that he had to
the poor monks; the account of him as given by Palladius is
as follows: —
^poj ao;*o ,Jli\\ Jftf^fs ^ ^eo; ^JLl^ ,^^l Jti^fio ^orpa .ooa ^JsSdo ^007
.o7(S*ifi Jia ^s^ ^07 059 .^*auM* (^^o ^iAtbieS .or<^&o\^*^kO o^^kUb oj^a eyS
\ojdd ^o\ ^ 05 :)i9o2^ o)^ ^07 kijUbM ^ ti^Aa ^op ^06 ^^o^
^3p .eyS &Ao2 ^^X^fS ^p 007 .^i>ny jaoj ^9 .o^^ ^007 &Ao2 t*07*u* a^
J^O .0^ aao2 ^o\ 0070 .jey^A o^^ ^2 aiuio ^pfp ^>>i^ wi6oo\^^p
,0^^ ^20 l%ii ^aVjS ysA 007 .^A2 a^lfioo ;^ ^p Ixai ^boaes ^oiii :s<i 4iio
^ep «*JSJoA ^9^^? •ei^ 9^2 ^o\o .^i^ ^Xctt ^^7 «^ ooj (SUa ^2 jaoM
M^ax ;»aj*^ ;xo7 ^2 ;^2 .fia2 a^tsio iS l^^sox ySat^o .fis&2 ^6its^ j{m^32
.fia2 A92 ^07^2 No!v ^ >^*Sih &JS9 .^(SiJbop ^o^ ^wiiftflS ^tf fiss2o. ^07
.^\\4t ^t^ibinS oTLOjap ^axa .aod 07^*9 Jb^ ^£so9«*3 eqf ^iV^N ^ 007
.aaco oW^^ad ^a<S ^ai epp .iUm 0^7 ^&<^^ opelso •^3o\^ 07^ ,fi\g> 0070
(fol. 184/^).
2 Born about A. D. 305, died about 400.
3 The account of these two brethren according to Palladius
is as follows: —
Jb .;*^2o Jiulb^ ^ajlapoaa ^itS ^2 ^9^2 K^i^iitlo Jb*Xb',^ ;*juA ^2 A^p
ft\V^ .^07032 N»M 9i:^ ^07 .0107 l^i^Sbfa ^007 &V^£S6^p :jiV^(S 9^ JsaX^
.^9A*9 ^11^2 ^kN ^9^ ^079 ^OfXiO 9mi >»Sa\ A^O ^^SIaS OjlkOXa*
^o7^JL*^ 00X^0^2 .^3o\ ^^ ^o&e70 ,%*J^kcd^ P>ioo IhaSo ^xSaSo lli^ioo
^0719 007&2 .^07 ^a\s>i op ^mA ^o\^^ ^?^ '^i?^ ob^lo oaiLfCslo
.^o;!Se ^Xaa^ ;i^p ^ fiw2 liA^i^ ^ JI2 .^2 ofa ^ojp ^9*2 ;^9o\;fio
^iilMfiOQO faueoM ^op 9ao .^V'J^S mi?^^ ^!»*3 ^^ >*^ii ;&*\ «*$^^ ^ aaae
.^LBLi ;s*>^':^9 ^9009^0 .^99^ l^io^^ ^ ^Nfi 'h?**^ ^&m2o af\ .0007
A07 .007^ 9^0 ,^xai ^9 ^«^ Jl2o .j^pitt ^2 ^ ^929 ^9^ Jllp ^*2
;!W^ /&*2p .Zlk9ad 079i^e:S3 ^OT&M Am %m\^ . w^t^O .^«1U99 AwV? fftA^^Ott
472 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Isaiah, the sons of one merchant, who did not scatter
his portion, but placed it as an offering to God for
the relief of the needy. And when the blessed man
Shubhhal-Isho^ had laboured in this course of life for
many years, and was pleasing Christ by means of His
Saints, certain wicked men in this congregation, through
the working of Satan, the father of lies, and the hater
of the love' Christ left to His disciples, rose up craftily
[p. 255] against him, like Judas among the twelve' [dis-
ciples], and like the seven tares who were among the three
hundred and eighteen Bishops,^ and besides these, like
the disciples who were from among the people who
were jealous* of Paul, and of his teaching, and others
who were among the companies of the saints, and
they were envious of that love of love which filled
his holy and believing soul. First of all they began
to make measures which were greater and fuller than
jfsoJDoel kA^o .^>iSo ^i^fetiS oTSaao .^3*3^0 Uf^A^^ epoue l^of ciSyVl
^9uU ^ 007 .N*^uao2 ^e^e ^fr^^ ^^o .^o^a l*aJS ^o >^o\^ia
^(Sol*^ ^070 „^op^ ias^ >\Ajb ^Uto .ja*p oy^ ^9 ;^2 »p^ &aa i^
,aiCso^ 000/ ^*au^a ^oy^Sa i^^ao |afi> t^AO .^tacMoo ^loal i^a .oj^ (S007
wmJMO .^07 ^feifiOQ ^ofiv^ Jb^N Jt>3xo ^ifi?** 1^0 •^cT^ M««i»o ^oo; >Snnw
(fol. 59^') ^0P>«>^ o^^A^ mti^i ^o;o .^an^Jbiop JWs
' Read ^io-a. ' St. Matthew xxvi. 48.
^ The allusion appears to be to the three hundred and eighlccn
bishops who were assembled at the Council of Nice, A. D. 325,
to discuss the Arian heresy. The '*tares" were the bishops Meno-
phantus of Ephesus, Patrophilus of Scythopolis, Theognis of Nice,
Narcissus of Neroniadis, Theonas of Marmarica, and Secundus of
Ptolemais in Egypt. See Theodoret, I fist, EccUs., i. 7; Socrates,
Hist. Ecclcs,, \. 8. ^ Acts xv. i — 35.
BOOK V. CHAPTER IT. OF MAR SHUBHHAL-ISHO . 473
those which were in current use everywhere among
the merchants, now this he endured cheerfully, but
finally they began to make him hear cruel words, saying,
"Let our corn lands alone, and depart." And having
sown much seed in the past year, and the harvest
being near, certain sinful men and evil livers, when no
one perceived, devised an artful plot to slay that holy
man, having forgotten all the good deeds which he had
done unto them; and [the words], '*They rewarded me
evil for good, and hatred instead of love,"* and again,
"The eater of my bread upon whom I trusted greatly,
hath acted craftily against me,"* were fulfilled in very
deed in the matter of that holy man. But since our
Lord God willed that those evil men should not be
partakers in that innocent blood. His graciousness did
not in any wise allow that man to be alienated from His
household. And moreover, he that feareth the Lord,
even though it be but a little, and would dare to
commit some evil act, the holy angel which cleaveth
to him alloweth not that evil act to be wrought success-
fully as he would wish, but he extinguisheth and hinder-
eth and confoundeth the manner of his work, even as
he wrought in the case of that blessed man who saw
in the country [of Egypt] the daughter of a priest of idols,
and by the agency of the Evil One he lusted after her.
[p. 256] And when he asked her from her father, he
promised to give him to her, but after he had denied
God, and the garb with which he was clothed, and
baptism, the holy angel which clave to him compelled
the Satan who dwelt in the * idol, and he returned
answer to the priest, saying, "Thou shalt not give him
* Psalm XXXV. 12. " Psalm xli. 9.
000
474 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
thy daughter, for God is with him, and He aideth
him."' Now therefore in this manner did that merci-
ful Lord act, Who beareth with all our obstinacy. Who
endureth our wickednesses, and Who doeth good unto
us, until in the righteous judgment which is to come He
will reward us according to our deeds with a measure
pressed down* and running over.
Now Rabban Isho^-yahbh the Long, from whom I
have received much material for these histories, told
me, saying: — "When I was serving in the monastery,
I was sent secretly by the monks who held the affairs
* This story according to Rosweyde ( Vitae Patrum^ p. 579,
no. 38) is as follows: — "Frater quidam impugnabatur a forni-
catione. Contigit autem eum venire in vicum quemdam Aegypti,
et videns filiam sacerdotus paganorum, adamavit earn, cjixitque
patri ejus: Da mihi eam uxorem. lUe autem respondens dixit ei:
Non possum eam tibi dare, nisi rogavero deum meum. Et abiens
ad daemonem, quem colebat, dixit ei: Ecce quidam monachus
venit ad me, volens accipere filiam meam; do ei eam? Res-
pondens daemon, dixit: Si negat Deum suum, et Baptismum,
et propositum monachi, interroga eum. Et veniens sacerdos
dixit ei : Nega Deum tuum, et Baptismum, et propositum monachi,
et dabo tibi filiam meam. Ille vero consensit. Et statim vidit
velut columbam exire de ore suo, et volare in coelum. Pergens
autem sacerdos ad daemonem, dixit: Ecce promisit se tria ilia
facturum. Tunc respondens diabolus dixit ei : Non des ei filiam
tuam in uxorem, quia Deus ejus non recessit ab eo: sed adhuc
adjuvabit eum. Et veniens sacerdos dixit illi fratri: Non tibi
possum eam dare; quia Deus tuus adhuc adjuvat te, et non
recessit a te." What follows in Rosweyde says that when the
monk had returned to his senses he went and dwelt in the
desert with a certain old man who prayed to God on his behalf.
At the end of a fast of three weeks the dove again entered
his body by his mouth.
^ St. Luke vi. 38.
AC
BOOK V. CHAPTER II. OF MAR SHUBHHAL-ISHO . 475
of the community in their hands, saying, *Go to Rabban
Shubhhal-lsho' at Beth Habba, and inform him, say-
ing, If thou dost not save thyself by flight this night
thou wilt certainly be slain by the assiduity of such
and such persons, who have taken themselves out of
everything which is seemly for the sake of thy de-
struction/ And that truthful old man swore to me,
saying, "When I had told him those things, he be-
gan to weep bitterly; and he answered and said,
'Am I worthy of the reward of being a participator in
the sufferings of Christ? This day hath it befen pointed
out to me that the labours of my loving-kindness have
reached unto heaven before God for an everlasting
memorial. I entered Beth 'Abhe with earthly riches,
and I have spent them at the word of the mouth of
Christ, according to His command, and this day I shall
go forth from it without even a wallet."' And Isho'-yahbh
the old man said, "When I saw that I was obliged to
make him set out on the road to flee to the city' without
bread, and without a wallet, inasmuch as he had noth-
ing with him except his tunic and his cloak, I gave
him my own wallet, and I put inside it three loaves*
^ /. <?., Mosul.
* ^sAo. ;bo\a (seeLand^ Anecdota/\\. p. 46, 1. i3)=«KoXXupa;
compare Talmudic pl^^p, Buxtorf, ed. Fischer, p. 1018. See
also Du Cange, Glossarium, s. ik KoXXoupiov, col. 684; and
Kayser, Die Canones Jacob's von Edessa^ p. 107. Brit. Mus.
MSS. Rich 7203, fol. 156^, col. 2, and Orient. 2441, explain
;aoits by dLots ^a round, flat loaf! and by ^^J^- Concerning
this last word Dozy {Supplement^ tom. i, p. 185) says, '*A Damas
on donne le nom de djardaca a une patisserie de froment, qui
est mince, puisqu'elle est a peine de I'^paisseur du dos d'un
couteau, grande, ronde, cuite dans de Thuile d'abricots et arrosce
de dibs tirant sur le brun."
476 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of bread, and he departed; [p. 257] and he went down
to the pious Mar Timothy the Catholicus, and inform-
ed him what had been done to him."
CHAPTER III.
OF THE PUNISHMENT WHICH THIS MONASTERY JUSTLY
RECEIVED FOR THE PERSECUTION OF THE HOLY
SHUfinHAL-ISHo".
If now earthly judges should do unto those who
work wickedness according to what the sword of justice
which they hold demandeth, and should award good
things to good men, this would be according to the
testimony of the scribe of the Spirit, the blessed Paul,
[who saith] "How just then and righteous is our good
God! for He chastiseth and punisheth, and judgeth,
and correcteth in such wise that we may not become
altogether without perception [of sin], having trodden
down conscience and cast out from our minds the
[retribution of] justice which is to come".
Now when [those men] thought that behold they
had slain the righteous man, and they would inherit his
labour, and were making ready to go out and reap
the fields which they had not sown, and to gather
in that which they had not scattered, the Lord brought
up against them only, a huge cloud of locusts, which
devoured all the crops of Beth Habba, and which did not
leave them a remnant; and year after year God sent
this punishment upon them because it was as if the
innocent blood of that innocent man had been shed
by them by murder. And if God would judge a man
BOOK V. CHAPTER III. OF MAR SIlOBHHAL-iSHtf. 477
for his readiness of intention, and would take vengeance
upon him for what he wished to do, and would punish him
according to His word, "He that looketh upon a woman
to desire her, [p. 258] hath straightway committed adultery
with her in his heart, and is already accounted an
adulterer"' — although [as in the case of the blessed man
who lusted for the daughter of the priest], it is natural
that the man who had subjected himself to that which
was unnatural should be moved with desire* for the
beauty of a woman — [how much more would He do so
in this case]? And although murder is an abominable
thing, and ten thousand evil punishments are reserved
for those who commit it, yet those men were prepared
to slay him if an opportunity for doing so had come
into their hands, and they were therefore strictly
speaking murderers and men guilty of the blood of
that holy man.
Now when, according to their custom, the monks
of this monastery were going down to the blessed
Timothy the Catholicus that he might give them help
— for he loved this monastery greatly, and honoured
it with many gifts, because it was here pointed out to
him that he should become Catholicus — he asked how
they and their crops did. And they made answer to
him, saying, "They are going on poorly and badly, for
behold, for some years [past] the locusts have eaten
up our crops in particular [and those of no one else]".
The blessed man said to them, "My sons, the locusts
which devour the fields, and those which eat up the
hidden fruits of your souls, shall not be scraped away
from you, because ye were the cause of the persecution
" St. Matthew v. 28. * Read j^ks.
47^ THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and driving away of the holy Mar Shubhhal-lsho'
from among you. For our Lord and His holy angels
have testified to me [concerning] these things which
I have learned from old monks in this monastery , and
which I have not imagined out of my own mind, but
have judged according to that which is said by the
holy man, *If an act of sin which happeneth accidentally
is deserving of seventy and sevenfold' punishment,
how many times seventy and seven shall an act of
wilful sin be punished?'" [p. 259] Assume [if ye will] that
for a man to look upon a woman is an act of accidental
sin, but the going out of those wretched men to commit
murder is certainly an act of wilful sin; even so are
these things.
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE LAYING ON OF HANDS WHICH THE BLESSED MAR
SHUBHHAL-iSHo' RECEIVED TO BE THE METROPOLITAN
OF GILAN AND DAILOM.*
If now according to the goodness of his master,
and according as he is able, a servant shall endeavour
to measure the steps of his course of life along the
smooth paths of his commandments, and shall arrange
every thing concerning himself for the good will and
pleasure of his master, he will be glorified with the
glory of his master, and will be made ruler over all
his treasures, for the treasure shall be added unto and
increased by his industrious trafficking, like the man who
received five talents and made them ten, and him that
Compare Genesis iv. 24. ^ See supra, p. 220, note 3.
A
c
BOOK V. CHAPTER IV. OF MAR SHUBHHAL-ISHO . 479
[received] two and made them into four, and both heard
[the words], "Well done, good and faithful servants, ye
have been faithful in little, and much shall be entrusted
into your hands"'. According to the might of every man
it is required of him: from him that hath received much
that he should labour much [is required], and from him
unto whom little hath been given little [is required] ; every
man according to his might, saith our Lord, to Whom
be glory. And a certain holy man testifieth [to this],
saying, "One man converteth a mighty people, and
another a small district, and another hath acquired
his own soul only; yet in excellence [all three] are
equal."
Now in respect of this man of whom we speak,
inasmuch as he was exceedingly able, very much was
entrusted into his hand. [p. 260] And when he went
down to the. holy Mar Timothy, who having learned
concerning all his affairs, and seen that he was in-
structed in the Syriac language and learning, and also
in the Arabic and Persian tongues," determined to
anoint him with holy oil, and to make him hold the
pastoral staff, and to send him as a shepherd and teacher
to the barbarian nations who had never received the
bridle of the teaching concerning God, and into whose
country none of the preachers and evangelists of the
kingdom of heaven had gone since the time of the
Apostles until the present. And when he advised him
to undertake this thing, relying upon the Lord and
upon the Divine help which would cleave to him and
which would convert those erring nations by his hand,
* St. Matthew xxv. 21.
^ This passage is quoted in B. O,, iii. ii. p. 16.
480 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
inasmuch as this work to which he was called was
from the Lord, he undertook [it] with fear and joy.
And the day of the consecration of the blessed man
was celebrated with the great ceremony which belongeth
to a festival full of all joyous things, and all the chief
men, among the believers who heard that he had
undertaken the conversion of those countries, provided
him with much money, and with the necessary clothing,
and together with the Divine power and the venerable
disciples who accompanied him, he set out for those
countries. Now MAr Abraham, the Catholicus, a holy
man in very truth, related to me fully concerning all
this matter [of Mar Shubhhal-lsho'] , and he told me
that he made his entrance there with exceeding great
splendour, for barbarian nations need to see a little
worldly pomp and show to attract them and to make
them draw nigh willingly to Christianity..
[p. 261] And when he had entered those countries he
began to teach and to shew them the true knowledge
of his doctrine, and while he was teaching with these
words, Christ our Lord was confirming them by the
miracles which he worked, by cleansing the lepers, by
healing the sick, by opening the eyes of the blind, by
making the lame to walk, by raising the dead, and by
making barren women fruitful, for the Divine dispen-
sation is accustomed to shew forth mighty works at
the beginning of Divine operations, more particularly
in the case of those barbarians who from their earliest
times and throughout all their generations had been
led captive by evil devils to the worship and service
of their corrupt things. And by the sight of the
miracles which our Lord worked by the hands of the
blessed man, he taught many cities and thickly peopled
BOOK V. CHAPTER IV. OF MAR SHUBHHAL-ISHo'. 48 I
districts,' and baptized [their inhabitants], and brought
them near to the doctrine of Divine life. And he built
churches, and established priests and deacons in them,
and he set apart some of the brethren who were with
him to teach them psalms and spiritual praises, and
he himself went further and further into the country,
until [he arrived at] the ends of the East in the great
teaching which he made among the heathen, and
Marcionites," and Manichees,^ [against] every object
* The rest of the chapter is^quoted in B, 0., iii. i. p. 491^
col. 2.
^ ^i^'sip. The heretic Marcion lived in the second century
of our era. He held that there were four unbegotten existences,
and that an irreconcileable opposition existed between the
Creator and the Christian God. He condemned marriage, he
fasted on the Sabbath, he rejected much of the Old Testament,
and only accepted the Gospel of St. Luke, which he mutilated.
For the history of the man, his views, his blasphemies and his
sect, see Tillemont, Memoires^ t. ii. pp. 122 — 130. Ephraim,
Zenobius and Paul, disciples of Saint Ephraem, Bod, the Perio-
dentes, Daniel of Ras 'Ain, and others wrote treatises against
the heresy of Marcion. See B. 0,^ iii. i. pp. 43, 63, 170, 219
and 223.
3 Mani or Manes, the founder of the sect of the Manichees,
sprang from a family of the Magians, but embraced Christianity
about the middle of the third century of our era. According
to Eusebius {Hist. Eccles,^ vii. 31) he first proclaimed himself
to be Christ, and afterwards to be the very Paraclete and the
Holy. Spirit. He selected twelve disciples and sent them out
into the world to preach his doctrine. For a history of the
sect and its title see Tillemont, Memoires, t. iv. pp. 152 — 171.
Akin to the Manichees in belief was the famous (or infamous)
Babaki sect i^U\ led by Babak al-Hurrami ^}iO\ si^^^.
He is first mentioned A. H. 201 (see Ibn al-Atliir^ ed. Torn-
berg, tom. vi. p. 231, 1. 7), and he was slain A. H. 223 (see
Tabaril ed. de Goeje, ser. iii. tom. ii. p. 1015, 1. 10). The
PPP
482 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of worship and every impure thing; and he sowed
among them the glorious light of the doctrine of the
Gospel, the mother of life and peace.
CHAPTER V.
OF THE MURDER OF THE HOLY MAR SHUBHHAL-ISh6' AND
OF THE GLORIOUS TESTIMONY OF HIS CORONATION.
If the covenant of our freedom from death, and sin,
and Satan was written with blood on the top of the
mount of Golgotha' in the body of Jesus, [p. 262] Who
collated it, and signed it and gave it to His disciples, and
if they also sealed their dispensation among all nations
— for Stephen was stoned,^ the head of James ^ was cut
off, the brains of James the brother of our Lord* were
crushed by a blow, Simon [Peter] was crucified,* Paul
doctrines and belief of this sect resembled those of the Magians
in many particulars. The Arabic text of the history of Babak
and his parentage, etc., is given by Fliigel, Kitab al-Fihrist,
Leipzig, 1 87 1, p. 343; see also Babek seine Absfammung und
erstes Auftreten^ by Fliigel in Z.D.M.G., Bd. xxiii. p. 53 iff.
' St. Matthew xxvii. 33; St. Mark xv. 22; St. John xix. 17.
^ At Jerusalem, and he was buried in Kephar Gamla.
^ /. e., James the brother of John. Herod Agrippa slew
him one year after the Ascension of our Lord. He was buried
in Akar, a city of Marmarika. See Lipsius, Aposielgeschichtefi^
t ii. 2, p. 26.
^ He was slain by a blow from a fuller's staff, and by ston-
ing. See Lipsius, Apostelgeschichtcn^ torn. ii. 2. p. 231.
5 Head downwards (opA &flo), by Nero, A. Gr. 376. See
Book of the Bee, ed. Budge, p. 104.
BOOK V. CHAPTER V. MURDER OF SHUBHHAL-ISHO. 483
was slain,' Bartholomew was flayed,^ the side of Thomas
was torn open,^ and Mar Simon,* Shihadost^ and
Barba'^shemin,^ the heads of the throne of the Eastern
Church were slain, and others in all countries — it is
then a glorious thing for disciples to be like unto their
masters, and to be shepherds slain for the sake of
their flocks, and keepers of treasure stoned for the sake
of the sacred things [under their charge]; and this is
what happened also to this person worthy of all good
things, our holy father Mar Shubhhal-Ish6\
Now when he had remained in those countries for
many years, while God planted and watered and
nourished by his hands, like the blessed Paul, he was
wishing to come [back] to the Bethel of his fathers,
* For the Nestorian account of his death see Book of the
Bee, ed. Budge, p. 107.
2 According to the Book of the Bee, ed. Budge, p. 106,
Bartholomew was crucified by Hurst i King of Armenia, where
he had been an apostle for thirty years.' See also Lipsius,
Apostelgeschichten, tom. ii. 2, pp. 59, 99 and 104.
3 Thomas taught the Parthians, Medes and Indians. The
King of India stabbed him with a spear because he had baptized
his daughter. The body of Thomas was brought to Edessa
by Habban. See Wright, Apocryphal Acts, vol. ii. p. 297;
Acta Thomaey ed. Bonnet, p. 83 ff.; Lipsius, Apostelgeschichten,
t. i. p. 236.
^ A martyr who suffered in the second year of the perse-
cution of Sapor; see B, £?., i. p. 188.
5 /. e., Pers. vlXi-^jjblio "King's friend." He succeeded Mar
Simon in the Bishopric of Seleucia, and was beheaded in B6th
Laphat, the metropolis of the HuzayS, in the second year of
the persecution of Sapor; see B. £?., i. p. 188, col. i.
^ He succeeded Shahad6st in the Bishopric of Seleucia, and
was beheaded in Ledan, a city of the Huzaye, in the sixth year
of the persecution of Sapor; see B, (?., i. p. 190, col. 2.
484 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
namely, to this monastery, and to pay back the gifts
of honour due [from him] to the monastery from which
he had gone forth, and was esteeming that which had
happened [to be] a benefit [to him] — as was the selling
of Joseph by his brethren' — and he forsook the fields
of the doctrine of life which he had sown, and the
churches which he had founded, and the temples which
he had established to the Lord, until he could come
and worship and return there.* But when the Enemy,
the hater of all truth, saw that his own doctrine was
made a mockery, and that the fire-temples^ and the
fire-altars* of his cakes^ were pulled down, he plotted
death against the blessed man by the hands of certain
workers of evil, a remnant that remained. And when
they saw that he was provided with every thing which
befitted the honour of his monastery, and that he
began to go forth from thence, they went before him
craftily, and sat down in ambush waiting for him, [p. 263]
* Genesis xxxvii. 28. * /. e,y to Beth 'Abh6.
3 ;&o^aoi N»3, literally, "things in which fire was placed."
4 V^fi^^\ a word which in A is wrongly glossed by ^^ ;&»*?,
but which is rightly explained as things ^ ;&m ^ctp ^007 ;m*>u»?
;:j\ $0^; see Feige, Die Geschkhte des Mar'Abhdtsko, text,
p. 57, translation p. 39, at the top. The word ;oos?2 is com-
posed of adar^=»^fiv€, and &k a derivative termination; compare
;0ofi>b' {KaUlag und Damnag, ed. Bickell, p. 13, 11. 11. 13;
Z,D. M, G, Bd. XXX. p. 768) from Persian ^y, ug in aa\e^,
but read aai^e^ Karugbady {Act Mart, I. 345; Patkanian,
Journal Asiatique^ 1866, I. p. 187) "chief of the workmen"
^a&a^, (papvoOxo^ (Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 95); jao?? (Hoff-
mann, Aussiige, p. 34) J A^e'i^ from parr 'feather' ; ;tiamo ;0eaV
5 See supra, p. 390, note i.
BOOK V. CHAPTER V. MURDER OF SH&BHHAL-ISHO'. 485
and at a terrible spot on that road they surrounded
him, and crowned him with swords. Thus the blessed
man departed from [this] laborious life, flowing with
the blood of the reproach and disgrace of the Cross,
to the greatly desired chambers of Paradise. And
certain Christians who had become his disciples, when
they had learned [these things], went out to search
for him and took his holy body, and according to their
power and knowledge, they buried him hastily in a
church, and mourned for him greatly; and they gathered
together from the men who had murdered him the
things which had been made for him, vails/ curtains,*
and stoles^ in which the priest administers the sacrament,
which they had taken from him, and sent them to
Mar Timothy, and some of them were handed on to
this monastery. To Christ our Lord, Who made that
' ;S2o = pf^Xa, the vail or curtain with which the door or
doorway of the choir is covered. See B. 0., iii. i. p. 532,
chap. 13; p. 533, chap. 16; p. 528, chap. 15; Kayser, Die
Canones, p. 6, 1. 13.
^ ;&ol «^2=p6X66upa, (Du Cange, G/ossarium, col. 186) and
KaTaireTdajLiaTa (Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 611).
^ ;jiS'T£tto. The sing. $!^aa^ occurs in Liturgia Sanctorum
Apostolorum Adaei et Maris ^ Urmia, 1890, 4to. p. 27, 1. 7
(^o7oASp A^ ^aofi^ ^;iSo ;i\nnv) 06 «»^o). See Duval's review of
;^aa^pe ^laaaop ^00? \w^ in Revue Critique^ June 20^ 1892,
p. 483. The ;Ainiffi seems also to be called 3xos and ;i\ft2
which the deacon or other ministrant uses for picking up any
particle of the wafer, or for wiping up any drop of the wine
while administering the Eucharist to the laity. See Badger,
Nestorians, vol. i. p. 225; and Grant in Ritter, Erdkunde^
Bd. ii. p. 611. Compare also the tbpdptov, Du Cange, Glos-
sariuni, col. 1792; and the 3&02 in Assemani, Codex Liturgicus,
tom. viii. p. 47, 11. 12, 13, 16.
486 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
noble athlete to be victorious, be glory and honour, and
praise, and worship, and may His mercy be upon the
assembly of His worshippers and friends for ever and
ever. Amen, and Amen.
CHAPTER VI.
OF MAR YABHLAHA, AND OF MAR KARDAGH HIS BROTHER.
From the whole circle of the Holy Scriptures we
may learn that the piety of the acts of [men's] lives
which are wrought secretly, and of all the good
qualities* of the soul which are perfected spiritually
in the hidden man, is not by any means hidden [on the
contrary, for] God, for the gratification of Whose will
[these things] have been wrought by righteous and
holy men, [p. 264] maketh [them] manifest straightway;
and [this we know] especially from the living mouth of our
Redeemer, [Who] saith, "When thou prayest, enter into
thy chamber and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father
Who is in secret, and thy Father Who seeth in secret
will reward thee openly."* And He will increase and
make to rejoice those of His household^ in this world,
and He will shew that they are His glorious [subjects]
and men united in concord^ by the signs and powers
of healing which are wrought by them and by their
hands in every kind of way, and will reward them in
the kingdom of heaven by making them to live before
His face with everlasting happiness. And this was
» Read Ht^o. " St. Matthew vi. 6.
^ Read ^olis^,
4 All the MSS. have ^oi, but read ^1.
V
BOOK V. CHAPTER VI. YABHLAHA AND KARDAGH. 487
what was wrought upon that holy union in blessed
brotherhood of body and of spirit, Rabban Yahbhlaha
and Abba Kardagh his brother, the Metropolitans of
the countries which have before been mentioned in
writing/ Now these two blessed men [came] from
Resh Aini,' a village of Saphsapha, in this country
of Margi, and both became disciples together in this holy
monastery. And they excelled in chastity and in all
the various kinds of observances which the sublime
monastic life demandeth, the keeping of the tongue
and of the passions, the evening fast, the watching all
night, the prayer for collecting the thoughts, and the
[keeping] pure the dwelling-place^ of Godhead, even
according to the words of the blessed Mark the monk
who in these three virtues included the whole ascetic
life, namely, "Let a man cleanse his thoughts, let him
pray without ceasing, and let him endure those things
which shall come [upon him];" with these three virtues
were these brethren adorned. Now the old man
Kardagh was younger than his brother, and he was
a beautiful writer; and Yabhlaha was a book-binder,
like the blessed Mar Aha and his brother.* And they
were praised by the tongues of all men, [p. 265] ac-
cording to what the holy Mir Abraham told me,
saying, 'In the beginning when I came [here] to be a
solitary, I worked in the monastery for the whole of
the specified space of three years, ^ and I did not know
* /. ^., Gilan and Dailom, and the remote countries be-
yond them.
^ Lying between Akra and Gunduk; see Hoffmann, Anssuge^
pp. 199, 225.
3 Read either ^io^io ts^^sk^ or ;a«kXto3 ;fi^o^p.
'^ See supra, p. 252. ^ See B. 0,, iii. ii. p. 858.
488 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
if Kardagh had ever lifted his eyes or opened them
to look upon me; and I thought, concerning him," he
was saying to me, "perhaps he is blind. The labours
and humility* of Rabban Yahbh AUaha were," he was
saying to me, "more excellent than [those of] his brother,
but in each one of them there was some one thing in
which the one was superior to the other."
Now inasmuch as the holy Ma? Shubhhal-lsho' had
finished the course of his testimony, it was necessary
that another man should be chosen to succeed him, to
go and rear the flocks which had been brought into
the fold of life by the care of that holy man. And
when Mar Timothy, of pious memory, had urged this
[service] upon every man who was able to do this,
and there was no one who would undertake the work
for God's sake like unto that man, the blessed Mar
Catholicus was obliged to send to this monastery for
these two blessed brethren, that he might consecrate
them bishops, and send them to those countries.
CHAPTER VII.
OF THE CHOICE OF THE HOLY MEN TO BE SENT TO THOSE
COUNTRIES (/. ^•. GILAN AND DAILOM).
We must learn and recount that many shepherds
have been chosen for all parts of the world from this
holy monastery, who, through their splendid triumphs,
have appeared in their generations like unto lamps set
upon the candlestick the of Church, [and we must also
Read, with Vat,
t* *
\
^
BOOK V. CHAPTER VII. OF YAHBHLAHA AND KARDAGH. 489
learn and recount that this monastery] hath been named
by the ancients the "house of the priesthood," and the
"father of the pillars of the holy Church" by reason
of the men who have in all generations gone forth
[from it], and who have become shepherds set over
the flocks of Christ, [p. 266] And they did not only
accept established and princely' thrones, which were
[situated] in flourishing towns and civilized countries,
but also [those of] the countries which were destitute of all
knowledge of Divine things and holy doctrine, and
which abounded in sorcery and idolatry and all corrupt
and abominable practices, that they might uproot the
evil and sow the good, and drive out the darkness of
error and make to shine upon them the glorious light
of their doctrine, and cast forth the devils [who were]
teachers of all uncleanness. And that this was so we
may learn from the blessed Mar Shubhhal-lsho', and
from these blessed men' who succeeded him, and who
because of their labour in other matters of the ascetic
life, did not wish to depart. And [Mar Timothy] wrote ^
here* that the blessed Yahbhl&ha* and Kardagh should
go down to him, saying that it was meet for them to
preserve and rear the [fruits of the] teaching of Mar
Shubhhal-lsho', like a goodly inheritance handed on from
one brother to another, according to what is said, "If
the brother of a man die and leave a widow without
children, let his brother take his wife and raise up
seed to him ,"^ in this latter case according to the body,
* Ifoxhi' See Hoffmann^ Syr» Arab, Gloss,, No. 1542, p. 54;
Duval, Lexicon, col. 303; Payne Smith, Thes,, col. 401.
^ For 1ai\ read ^a^. 3 Read a^}
4 /. e., \o Beth 'Abh6. s Read a^a??
^ Deuteronomy, xxv. 5—9; Genesis xxxviii. 8.
qqq
490 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and in the former according to the spirit. So the two
went down according to the rule of the Church, and
[Mar Timothy] anointed them both Metropolitans, Kardagh
of Gilan and Yahbhlahi of the people of Dailom.
And when they came up to this monastery to put their
affairs in order, there went with them according to
what I have learned, fifteen monks [who were] holy and
enlightened men, that they also might be companions
with them in the spiritual labour of the Gospel of
Christ, [p. 267] and among those men were those who
were appointed to be Bishops of the countries beyond
Gilan and Dailom." For I have read the letter of Mar
Timothy the Catholicus to Mar Yahbhlaha and the
letter which was sent by him in answer to the Catho-
licus, saying, "Through thy prayers, O our father, by
the grace of Christ, many nations have been converted
to the belief of the truth, and we want to appoint
Bishops over them from among the ascetics who have
come with us." And Mar Catholicus wrote to them
this, "Inasmuch as the ordination of a Bishop doth not
absolutely require [the presence of] three persons, and
ye in your country are free from this [regulation], ye
have permission [to do so] by the power of the word
of our Lord, in which every thing standeth and is
directed. Appoint as Bishops whomsoever ye and
the pious Kardagh shall choose, and in the place of
the third [person who should be present], let the Book
of the Gospels be laid on the [episcopal] throne on
the right hand; thus by the hand of God perform
the ordination of the first Bishop, and let others be
' The next fourteen lines are quoted in Z?. O., iii. i. p. 163,
col. I.
^1
\ I
BOOK V. CHAPTER VII. OF YAHBHLAHA AND KARDAGH. 49 1
appointed by means of [this] third [person].' May the
Divine Spirit direct and govern His sanctifications by
your means even as He did with the blessed Apostles."
And when the blessed men had received this permission
from the Patriarch, they ordained and made Thomas,
Zacchaeus, Shem, Ephraim, Simon, Ananias and David,
bishops of the countries which had been taught by their
hands, through the signs and mighty deeds which had
been manifested by them, no one of which, on account
of their number and the remoteness of the countries
if} which they were wrought and completed, have we
been able to distinguish clearly how it was worked,
or in what village or city, or in whom a healing was
performed, or from whom devils and sicknesses were
expelled, [p. 268] And I think, if we were to make
false or incorrect statements, and to attempt to paint
a picture of miracles which were never manifested to
us, that this presumption would bring great danger
upon him that should write down something with which
he was not acquainted. Now the names of those
persons among them who were elected and anointed
for the episcopacy were handed down to me by vener-
able old men — but more especially by the holy old man
Elisha — for they heard concerning them from the mouth
of Mar Yahbhlaha, who twice came to this holy
monastery from Dailom, and paid to the holy mo-
nastery* of his fathers the honour which he was bound
[to give]. Mar Kardagh, however, because he had
penetrated far into the countries which were beyond
* For the service for the consecration of Bishops and Metro-
politans see B. 0., iii. li. p. 683 ff.
^ For ^amaA read ;9joo>^.
492 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OJF GOVERNORS.
those where his brother was, never came back here.
But now if thou wishest to learn in part' concerning
the wonderful deeds which took place at their hands,
consider in thy mind, that not without cause and simply
through words divorced from deeds did those barbarian
nations of daring thieves, and plunderers, and worship-
pers of devils turn from their polluted religions, which
were established without the labour of fasting and prayer,
and despise the customary acts of the service of hateful
things, and bow their necks to the submission of the
yoke of fasting and of prayer, of vigil by nights, and
of abstinence from every [kind of] food on the stated
fasts and holy festivals. How fitting is it to quote here
the words of the holy monk Ammonius, the chosen Bishop
in the Church of God, who wrote in one of his letters
to his disciples, saying, "For this reason the fathers
lived apart in the desert, whether it be Elijah* the
Tishbite or John.^ Do not imagine that these men
who were righteous among men were able to cultivate
righteousness while they lived among men, [p. 269] for
they first of all dwelt in great solitude, and thus received
the power of God that it might dwell in them, and
then, possessing all virtues, God sent them among
men to be His stewards, and to heal the sicknesses of
men. It was, then, only when all their own sicknesses
had been healed, '^ that they were sent, for it is not
possible that a soul possessing any defect whatever
should be sent among mankind for edification. And
I, your father, also say, because I have written these
* ^^;s&&» partly. ' See i Kings xix. 9.
3 /. e.y John the Baptist See St. Matthew iii. i.
4 Read ^i^^-
>
A A
BOOK V. CHAPTER VII. OF YAHBHLAHA AND KARDAGH. 493
things to you, that I endured a great fight in the desert
and in the mountain , and then [only] did I arrive at
this condition [of perfection]." Thus far according to
the words of the blessed Ammonius.
Now this pair of holy men having been first of all
healed [of their own sicknesses], and having gathered
together treasure of the good things of heaven by
tranquil solitude and by labours of asceticism in this
holy monastery, were then sent forth as apostles by
God to the countries of the heathen to make their
souls to live. And they became like rays of light
from the height of the eminence of their course of life,
and the pure lamps of their doctrine were shining
brightly, being set not under the bushel and measure
of sluggishness, but upon a candlestick, and they
lightened all the ends of the East. And like the blessed
Apostles in their days, they also taught the erring
nations by the piety of their daily life, and by abstinence
from every [kind of] food, as the canon of the doctrine
of our Lord requireth. Who when His disciples asked
Him, "Why were we not able to heal himi^" said distinctly,
"This kind goeth not out except by fasting and by
prayer." '
And, moreover, the bread which is in those countries
is made of rice, [p. 2 70] for the blessed family of wheat and
barley is not found there, and there is nothing except
rice' and other kinds of dry grain, ^ and this we have
' St. Matthew xvii. 21.
* See Ritter, Erdkunde, t. viii. pp. 431 — 434.
^ Read, with Vat., ^epo. See Hoffmann, Syr. Arab, Gloss.^
No. 3203, p. 114; Duval, Lexicon, col. 587; Payne Smith, Thes^y
col. 938; Ahrens, Das Buck dcr Naturgegenstdndey p. 41, I. 9;
Loew, Aram. Pflanzennamen^ p. 55, foot note.
494 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
learned from the mouth of MSr YahbhlAha, of holy memory,
for the old men yenan-lsho' and Elisha told me that
he said, "As I began my journey to come here I arrived
at [the dwelling of] the pious Mar yabbibha. the
Metropolitan of the city of Rai,' and when I had
partaken of food and bread made of wheat I became
exceedingly sick, because I was accustomed in those
countries to a diet of rice-bread." And when [these
men] had laboured in that uncultivated country for
many years, and had spread abroad the Gospel of our
Lord in those rational' countries, and had taught, and
converted, and baptized and sanctified many, they all
of them ended their days there, and [their names] were
written down with the first-born, [whose names] are
written down in heaven, in the Book of the Kingdom,
and happiness is laid up for them with the Prophets,
and Apostles, and teachers, and martyrs, by whose
prayers may our Lord make priesthood to be at peace
with royalty; and may wars be abolished from the
ends of the earth, and may our Lord give to the whole
world, and especially to His Holy Church, of His hope,
and rest and peace from all conflicts, and may we all
lift up praise to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, for ever. Amen.
' /. e., "PoTaf, Rhages (see Tobit. i. 14; iv. 20; ix. 2) a
town the ruins of which are situated about 25 miles S. E. of
Teheran. It seems to have existed in the time of the last
Babylonian Empire; it was rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator who
called it Europus; and it was finally destroyed in the Xlllth
century of our era. See Strabo, xi. 9. i; xi. 13, 6; and Ker
Porter, Travels, vol. i, p. 358.
' The MSS. have ililii" but read .^i^- See p. 278, 1. 13
(text).
BOOK V. CHAPTER VIII. OF ELIJAH BISHOP OF mOkAN. 495
CHAPTER Vm.
OF THE BLESSED MAR ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MUKAN [aND OF
THE COUNTRIES OF THE BARBARIANS].
Now having walked along the path of words in the
histories of holy men, step by step, as along a ladder,
and having revealed according to the sufficiency of
my feeble knowledge, certain of their triumphs and
noble deeds, [p. 271] I have now arrived at, and drawn
near to enter into the Paradise, full of the blossoms
and the beautiful odours of the glorious acts of our holy
father Mar Elijah, the simple but wise man, the untutored
but full of understanding, the ignorant in speech but en-
lightened in mind, for he lacked nothing in his humility
[to prevent my] speech' from exalting him above
teachers. And, moreover, when the scribes and priests
[of old] considered that the simple fishermen, the
Apostles his fathers, were unlettered and ignorant men,
the Apostles rejoiced that they were worthy to be
spoken evil of for the sake of their Lord. Now this
blessed twig was the produce of the gardening* of the
divine Mar Jacob, and his village was 'Ain Bakre^ in the
country of Marga; and having forsaken it and all the
things of earth, his city to-day is heaven, and his com-
panions are the Prophets and Apostles and Martyrs
and all the ascetic Fathers, the glorious manner of whose
lives he emulated. Now when he had elected to devote
himself to the labours of the ascetic life, he himself*
^ Read ji^ ;^*^^? ^. ^ o7fisojLkj^>a4i, a rare word.
^ The fomi 'Ain Barke occurs on p. 59, 1. 6 (text); see
supra f p. 103, note 3.
^ Read miaxi ojnI^ t>M\4i3.
496 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
invented a distinct manner of life, and held fast to it
from the beginning of his discipleship ; for he possessed
neither cell, nor place for storing his things," nor [any
house] built with mud walls, and having a roof with
thick beams and a framework with strong rafters,*
nor any place which needed repairs, or expenses, or
watching [against] falling down suddenly,^ or shocks,
but [he built a hut] of reeds and grass* and of bands
[made] of the thin, pliant branches^ of trees similar to
that which watchers of vineyards, and husbandmen and
gardeners make for themselves, of sufficient [width] to
cover his body, and of sufficient [height for him] to
stand up and pray, and to perform those things which
must needs be done by all those who are fettered by
the flesh and its needs, [p. 272] And he surrounded
his booth with a hedge made of reeds and narrow
[strips] of wood, and [he made] a door of reeds similar
to that which they make for sheep-folds, and whether he
was inside or out, it was always fastened by a fastening
and shut. Now he possessed no utensils,^ for having
^ The use of Av<^a (which usually translates CfiiTH "running
waters", see Genesis xxx. 38, 41 ; Exodus ii. 16) for "rafters"
is very unusual; compare D^^l*^? Ufi'»nT (Keri lifi^HI) Canticles i. 17.
3 ^a?as, compare Arab. ^jJ.
^ See Loew, Aram. PJlanzennamen, No. 121, p. i66.
5 ;j^oa, but read ^^ Strictly speaking 2V«» are the long,
thin, young branches of poplar or willow trees. Compare ^J
longue branche detachee cPun arbre, p. e. d'un peuplier (Dozy,
Supplement f t. i. p. 571). In Muhit al-Muhit Butrus Bistani
says »^5^^ jy^ r?^-***^^ c^ J^.^ ^y a^I«J\ j^ ^^/^b-
^ The MSS. have jw'ia, but read zSria; see Hoffmann, Syr.
Arab, Ghss.y No. 4880, p. 190.
BOOK V. CHAPTER VIII. OF ELIJAH BISHOP OF MOKAN. 497
reduced himself to the lowest depth of voluntary poverty,
such things, which were held to be of great value by
others, appeared to him superfluous; but he had a
broken vessel, in which he used to put the dry crust
of bread upon which he lived, and an earthenware jar
into which he cast salt seasoned with wild thyme.'
In [the court-yard of] his cell he had a well without
a rope and without a bucket, and he made use of a
long reed to supply the place of a rope, and on the
top of this he tied a small jar, and each evening he
used to take his crust of bread, and sit by the well,
and draw up water and pour over it, and he ate and
it was sufficient for him; but as for [other] foods or
wine they never entered his cell, neither did he make
use of them. The garments which were on his body
were alike his clothing and his bed, though his ascetic
mode of life did not need a bed; but a seat against
the wall — according to what I have learned from the
pious and holy Mar Abraham — served as a sleeping
place for him, even according* to the words of the
holy Mar Evagrius, "Voluntary poverty is this, that a
man shall possess nothing except a cloak, a tunic, ^ a
Bible, ^ and a cell." Now when he went to the con-
* ;^fi^^ See Loew, Aram, Pflanzennamen, No. 270, p. 325;
and Hoffmann in Z. D. M, G., Bd. xxxii. p. 752; Payne Smith,
Thes., col. 3450. * Read ^1.
3 On the dress of monks see B. O., iii. ii. p. 898; compare
also Land, Anecdota, torn. ii. p. 156, 1. 22; and Usener, Der
HeiHge Theodosios^ p. 171.
^ Compare "Dixit abbas Evagrius, fuisse quemdam fratrem,
qui nihil habuit in substantia sua, nisi tantfim Evangelium, et
ipsum vendidit in pauperum nutrimento. Dicens quodam verbo,
quod memoriae dignum est commendari: Ipsum etiam, inquit,
rrr
498. THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
gregation' on stated days. [p. 273] he used to take'
the Bible which he read with him in his cloak, and
lay it upon the Kestroma^ of the temple until he went
back to his cell [when] he took it with him; but his
cell he left [unguarded] without fear, according to the
words of the blessed Evagrius, "The man that hath
prepared himself for voluntary poverty dwelleth in
peace of mind," and again he saith, **The monk who
hath embraced voluntary poverty is a swift traveller;
let him dwell wherever he wishes without fear." Such
things concerning his voluntary poverty and asceticism
we have thus briefly related.
verbum vendidi, quod jubet, vende omnia, et da pauperibus."
Rosweyde, Vitae Palrum, p. 582, No. 5. "Interrogatus est
senex quidam k fratre, quid faceret ut salvus esset. Ille autem
exspolians se vestimento suo, et cingens lumbos suos, atque
extendens manus, dixit: Sic debet nudus esse monachus ab
omni materia saeculari, et crucifigere se ad versus tentationem
atque certamina mundi." Rosweyde, op. cit., p. 583, No. 16.
The quotations from Evagrius made by Thomas of Marga pro-
bably form part of the Movaxog ^ irepi TTpaKTiKfig, extracts
from which are given by Cotelerius, Eccles, Grace, Monuinenta,
torn. iii. pp. 68— 1 02; by Bigot, Palladii De Vita S, Joh, Chry-
sostomi dialoguSy 1680, pp. 349—355; and by Gallahd in his
seventh volume of Bibliotheca Patrunt; see also OiXoKaXia tujv
Upujv NnTTTiKUJV, 1782, fol. pp.41 and 46ff. TTTOTUTiuTng jnovaxiKfi
bibdaKOucTa irujg bei dcTKeiv koi f|(TuxdZ!€iv and KecpdXaia irepi
biaKpicxeu)^ 7Ta0uL)v kqi Xoyktjliujv.
* /. e.y to the service in the church.
^ Read ^om.
3 /. ^., the space on the right and left above the three steps
leading to the choir. See supra, pp. 342, 431.
t
\
BOOK V. CHAPTER IX. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MOKAN. 499
\
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE SUBLIME KINDS OF PRAYER WITH WHICH HE
• ENRICHED HIS SOUL.
Among all the virtues cultivated by holy men' there
is none greater and more excellent than the wonderful
work of prayer, for prayer maketh the pure mind at
one with God, and maketh the whole man a deified
and spiritual being. It removeth him that giveth him-
self continually to it from earth, and from the anxious
care which is upon it; it made the Prophets to be
victorious; it sanctified the Apostles; it entered with
the Martyrs into every kind of contest, and by it they
conquered the threats of kings and terrible torments;
it made them like asbestos* before the fire, and they
became like wood and creatures without feeling under
the various tortures of every [kind of J affliction; [p. 274]
and it protected the recluses, and anchorites, and
ascetics in desert places, which were full of every [kind
of] harmful assaults of devils, and evil animals, and
noxious reptiles. For when our Lord Jesus, the Cause of
the redemption of our nature, walked upon earth on our
behalf in the days of His dispensation,^ and was teaching,
and commanding, and exhorting the keeping of all the
virtues which .are in His Gospel with His living mouth,
He shewed forth in His own Person the effectual
' Read, with BC, ^L^ti ^?.
^ ^o\|um}, ]1tDi'^DfcJ, djiiavTO^. See Payne Smith, T/t^s., col. 230 ;
Duval, Lexicon, col. 186; and compare Ahrens, Das Buck
der Naturgegenstdnde, No. 117, p. 80 (text p. 63).
3 /. e.y His incarnation. See Hoffmann, Kirchefiversammlung
V071 EphesuSy p. 94, note 184.
500 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
working of prayer, going at one time to the mountain
desert [by day], and at another to a solitary wilderness
to pass the night alone, so that by His immunity from
the sounds and sights which confuse the understanding,
and by His solitude, He might assist [His] occupation
in divine things. On account of this the holy fathers
the monks were more anxious about this than any other
virtue, and they have taught us to do as they did,
for the blessed Mark' the monk saith, "Being men
subject to passions it is meet that we subject ourselves
to prayer; he that subdueth himself with the subjection
of prayer is a wise athlete, for by means of his
remoteness from things which can be felt by the senses,
he sheweth forth openly the strife which is hidden."
And again he saith, "There is nothing so powerful to
help as prayer, and there is nothing which profiteth
like unto it in respect of the Will of God, for it
containeth the whole doing of the commandments; the
prayer which is without wandering^ is a sign of the
love of God to him that endureth patiently." And
again the holy Evagrius saith, "We are not commanded
to watch and fast at all times, but that we should pray
continually^ is a law laid down for us; [p. 275] for
those who would heal the part which is liable to
affections and passions need the labour of the body."
' He lived in the Nitrian desert at the close of the IVth
century of our era; for his works which are extant see B, 0.,
iii. i. p. 45; and Wright, Catalogue Syriac MSS, p. 1306.
^ Or distractioJi,
3 Compare "Nocte et die laborat monachus vigilans, in
orationibus permanens: pungens autem cor suum producit lacry-
mas, et celerius provocat Dei misericordiam." Rosweyde, Vitae
Patruni, p. 566, No. 17.
<
t
BOOK V. CHAPTER IX. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MOKAN. 5OI
And again the blessed Abba Macarius, on being asked
by the brethren, "Which of the labours of the ascetic
life hath a reward?*' answered thus: — "There is nothing
more sublime than the continuing in prayer. To the
very end the devils will wish to abolish [prayer], for
they know that their artifices* are made of none effect
thereby." And the holy Abba Isaiah places endurance
in prayer above all the glorious acts of the ascetic life,
and thus also saith the blessed Expositor' in his book
on the Mysteries,^ "Every prayer that is [made] is a
teaching concerning life to every one who is careful
and knoweth [how] to regard that which is fitting."
And again he saith, "Let him that is solicitous for [a life
of^ excellence, and is careful to do those things which
please God, have anxious regard unto prayer more
than unto any [other] thing; for it is manifest that the
man who is not careful for even one virtue, and is not
anxious to do those things which please God, will also
be sluggish in respect of prayer." Wherefore also the
holy Rabban Mar Elijah, to whose noble deeds we
bring back our simple narrative, aiming at the mark
of the holy fathers, or rather having already entered
into the experience of its efficacy, and felt through it
all the hidden treasures [which are] hidden in the Books
of the Spirit, knew and understood that without it a
man was not able to be perfect in the service of the
ascetic life. And he yoked himself to it from the
* "Dum enim voluerit homo orare Deum suum, semper
inimici daemones festinant interrumpere orationem ejus, scientes
quia ex nulla re impediuntur, nisi per orationem fusam ad Deum".
Rosweyde, Vtfae Pa/rum, p. 613, No. 2.
* /. e., Theodore of Mopuestia.
3 See B. O,, iii. i. p. 33.
i
502 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
beginning of his going into the cell, and he joined to
it bodily labours and the concentration of the mind,
[p. 276] having learned from the blessed Mark the
monk, that every prayer in which the body hath not
laboured is accounted to be an abortion" and imperfect
in its bodily form. And because these two fierce
contentions resist the man who has yoked his mind to
the concentration which is in prayer, that is to say,
disturbed wandering of the mind, and vacillating per-
plexity, Elijah was armed mightily, for he listened to the
blessed Evagrius, who said, "If thou hast overcome the
wandering of the mind, the aim of all aims, thou art
worthy of perfection." Now concerning the pious and
holy man [Mar Elijah], Mir Abraham the Catholicus told
me that he had made himself accustomed to live in a
dark spot in his cell, and that in it he used to perform
all his seasons of prayer. And to every verse of the
psalm which he said he joined a "Hallelujah! Glory
be to Thee, O God,*' in such a way that his mind was
compelled to think about the verse which was coming
next and that he might not be distracted in prayer.
And he used to do this so that by reason of [his] too
ready facility in calling the verse to mind, it might
not be too easy for his mind to wander during his
prayers, and to forget' the verse which should follow,
and that when, at the end of every verse, the mouth
followed with, "Hallelujah! Glofy be to Thee, O God,"
his mind might be compelled to make [one] verse follow
the other in proper order. And because without the
concentration of the mind divine intuition doth not give
itself to the understanding so that the understanding
* Read ;i^. ^ Read »*^a*|oo.
V
BOOK V. CHAPTER IX. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MOKAN. 503
may enter into the bosom of a divine intuition and the
ascetic cannot find the shadowless Galilee/ he made his
understanding prepared for seeing [God], even as one
of the saints saith, "The moon is not equal in all its
periphery except at full moon," and he asked those
who observe "* the mind by prayer if there were any
corners in their country.^ And because it hath been
said by the holy fathers [p. 277], "One word near is
better than a thousand afar off," he cared less about
the quantity of the Psalms [which he sang] than for
the doubling of the riches and concentration of the
thoughts which were in his mind,* and it was super-
fluous to him that others said the psalter of David
twice in a day and night, while their minds were
building up, and hiding, and judging, and con-
demning, and buying, and selling. Such were the
advantages which this most praiseworthy man learned
for himself, who although he was little cultivated in
the Scriptures, and only [knew] the psalms, and responses,
and the ordinary lessons for the day, yet included all^
the commandments in one [act, viz.,] voluntary renun-
ciation of every thing, and the crucifixion of the mind
against all [disturbing] thoughts. And when by means
of great wrestling after many years he was freed from
this defect of wandering [in prayer], he cleansed and
purified his heart, and from this time and onward he
* The allusion is to St. Matthew xxviii. 10, 16; St. Mark
xvi. 7.
^ /. e,, he asked the angels to tell him of his shortcomings.
^ /. e., if there were any inequalities to be observed from
the places where they stood.
4 We must read jioojoa.
5 We should perhaps read ^oyia^p.
504 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
forsook the first step of the ascetic life, and he changed
his manner of life to the singing of psalms without
ceasing, being silent neither day nor night. For the
holy Mar Abraham, who more than any was acquainted
with every thing concerning him, told me that even
when he was wearied in deep his mouth was not silent,
but was singing psalms audibly, «ttrd- that whilst his
soul was answering with secret hallelujaB:i>. his mouth
sang psalms as he dreamed. And as that hoJjy soul
was [engaged] in all the spiritual and external service
of the Spirit, and was dwelling in that aged and ascetic
body, that strife which existed between the spirit and
the flesh, and the flesh and the spirit, ceased, and his
two natures (lit. manhoods) were swallowed up in the
desire for the happiness of the life which is to come.
And in proportion as the body languished, and his
labour became [p. 278] less, his soul was lifted up to |
heaven on the wings of the spirit, as the holy Abba f
Isaiah wrote, saying, "The soul' that hath walked "^1
worthily by the might of Christ, and hath departed i
from [this] world , delighteth itself in these countries
whither pinions incapable of sufferings have borne it."
CHAPTER X.
OF THE ELECTION OF THE HOLY MAR ELIJAH TO BE
BISHOP OF MOKAN A CITY OF THE BARBARIANS.
i
r
There is a certain city^ called Mokan, which is "^ ,^
[situated] in a country to the north-east, near to the /
' Read ^jtis?. ' See B, 0,, iii. i. p. 492, col. i. i.'
I
BOOK V. CHAPTER X. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MOKAN. 505
border of the peoples of Dailom, and its inhabitants
are barbarians, and they worship dumb animals. Now
when the pious Mar Timothy had anointed and sent
the holy Metropolitans Mar Yabhlaha and Kardagh to
Gilan and Dailom, he wisely determined that he would
appoint to the city of Mokan also a shepherd and
prosperous husbandman to cultivate the rational souls
that were therein, which had been led captive by the
Calumniator from days of old. And because he knew
by experience , and had found out in very deed that
men of might and athletes of valour had gone forth
from the divine congregation of the holy Mar Jacob,
and because from these men Mar Catholicus had
appointed fitting persons to all regions and cities [of
the world], and because by them wonderful acts of
power and glorious cures* had been made manifest,
he chose from this stock to send to that city also a rod
of power as out of Zion,"* [p. 279] that he might obtain
dominion over the demons and devils which were in
that wretched city, [where] the sore of destruction had
spread abroad. And because he had heard about the
extraordinary manner of life of the blessed Elijah, he
wrote a letter to him with love and patience,^ like a
wise father to a son who can be easily persuaded,
[telling him] to come down to him and he would
appoint him Bishop of the city of Mokan. And the
pious Elijah answered, saying, "I cannot receive con-
secration except in the holy temple in which I am, and
' The MSS. have ;n'o&!o, but read ;t^lo.
* Psalm ex. 2.
3 fisf^fk^^ patiently, but C and Vat. have fivf.^a^ incitanter,
which is probably the better reading.
sss
»*
•«k
506 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
I would that this [rite] be performed upon me on the
holy first day of the week of Pentecost," [wishing] in
his simplicity that [he might receive the rite] on the
day in which the blessed Apostles received the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. And although the time which Mar
Elijah appointed [appeared] to be afar off to the
quickened readiness of the Catholicus, Mar Timothy
put off the time until the day of Pentecost, and he
wrote to the pious Nestorius, Metropolitan of Adiabene,
who came here {t. e., to Beth Abhe) and ordained Mar
Elijah in this temple according to his will; and Mar
Elijah went down to Mar Timothy who confirmed him,
and sent him off with certain merchants who were
going into the countries in which Mokan was situated.
And' the blessed Mar Abraham the Catholicus related
to me concerning him, that instead of a cross on his
neck he used to hang upon his breast a complete Book
of the Gospels in a small size; and he took with him
a cross of brass which, when he required to sing the
psalms where he passed the night, he placed on the
top of the staff which was in his hand, [p. 280] and
he used to drive it into the ground in front of him
and pray, and in this manner he acted when he was
travelling in terrible places. Now when he was going
along the road with the merchants in several companies,
and he was following at some distance behind that
he might have an opportunity of [singing] a psalm, a
certain man had a mule which he was [trying] to keep
close to the other animals (now this mule had a heavy
load upon his back), and when he was going up through
a high, rough and rocky pass, his foot slipped off the \
* See B. 0,, iii. i. p. 493, col. i.
r
\
•
t
■'^B^^
BOOK V. CHAPTER X. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MOKAN. 507
rugged rock, and the hoof of his foot was wrenched off
and put out of its place. And when the holy Mar
Elijah came up to the man and asked him the reason
of his staying behind his companions, behold he wept,
and cried and rent his garments, and shewed the
spiritual physician the hoof of his animal which had
fallen off. Now because that holy old man in the time
of his old age made use of olive oil with his dry crust
by reason of the cold and feebleness which had fallen
upon his stomach through [eating] dry bread and salt,
he had with him in his cloak a phial of oil. And he
answered and said to the owner of the mule, "Weep
not, my son, neither be mournful, for God will heal
thy mule easily." And he said to him, "Bring me the
hoof," and he took it, and poured upon it [some of]
the oil for his food, and salt of wild thyme' which he
ate, and he laid it upon the leg of the mule, and made
the sign of the Cross over it, and said to the man,
"Lead on quickly in the name of the Lord, that he
may not remain behind his companions;" thus he
bestowed healing on the animal and joy upon his
master. And this was known to all that company of
people which was journeying with him into that country,
and they praised [p. 281] and confessed the mighty
power of Christ by Whose disciples sicknesses were
healed without medicines and without drugs.
^ See supra^ p. 497, note i.
508 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XI.
OF THE GOING IN OF THE BLESSED mAr ELIJAH TO THE
CITY OF MOKAN, AND OF HIS PREACHING IN IT, [aND
OF HIS RETURN TO THIS MONASTERY, AND OF THE
END OF HIS life].
Now when by the hand of God his helper the holy
Mar Elijah arrived at that city of the heathen, and
went into it, and saw that the name of God, the Lord
of all, and confession of Him did not exist therein at
all, but that all the people that were in it offered up
worship to dumb trees and senseless stones, and that
it was destitute even of the Arabs and Jewjs who confess
One God, the Creator of heaven and earth, he offered
up prayer ceaselessly to Christ our Lord on their be-
half, that He, Who according to the custom of His
graciousness and longsuffering had brought all nations
to the worship of His Godhead, might by his means,
as by the hand of the Apostles, give to those people
a new heart and a new spirit, that they might despise
the images and senseless forms which they worshipped,
and be converted to the knowledge of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And together
with all these [prayers] which he made on their behalf
he bore suffering in his heart, and he placed the cross
which [he had] with him upon the top of the staff
which was in his hand, and during the whole day he
went round about in the streets and lanes' of the whole
city, and preached to the inhabitants with a loud voice,
* The Urmi New Testament of 1846, p. 234, col. i. (St. Luke
xiv. 21) has jz^aa^.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XI. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MO?: AN. 5O9
saying, [p. 282] "O men, who have erred from the true
knowledge of God, God the Lord of all hath sent me
to you to turn you from the error in which ye live.
Ye have served enough those things which from their
nature are not gods, for without knowledge, and by
the agency of daring devils, have ye offered the
worship which was due to your Lord to the trees
which the earth maketh to grow up for your honour."
And having gone round and about the whole day in
this preaching of Life, every evening he used to go
forth outside the city, and fix the cross [upon his staff],
and sing the service for the night and pray until dawn;
and when it was morning, and they opened the gates,
and [the people] came forth, and saw that he sat
openly before the cross they marvelled and were
astonished. Now in those days when he came to them,
according to the Divine command and the curse of
Jeremiah,' the evening wolves gained the mastery over
them, and all persons who were left outside the [city]
wall were devoured mercilessly. And the people having
compassion upon him said to the blessed man, 'Tass
the night with us inside the wall that the wolves devour
thee not.'* And he answered and said to them, "The
God Whom I serve will protect me from the wolves;"
and this [thing] became to them a great wonder. And
when he had tilled, and ploughed, and thrown up [the
furrows] , and cast the grains of the living wheat of the
doctrine of our Lord into their ears, and had covered
them up and made [the ground] smooth, he did not gather
from them the fruit which he expected, but at one time
they mocked at him, and at another they laughed at
Jeremiah v. 6.
5IO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
him. [p. 283] Then the good and merciful God Who
saw his labour and toil on their behalf, brought upon
them the sickness which is called ''Sharuta'^ and their
bodies were smitten with ulcers and tumours. And
when Mar Elijah saw them in the depth of their infir-
mity and saw that they were nigh unto death, he demand-
ed from them that [in return for] the healing of their
bodies, [they should] worship his God, and they by
reason of the affliction which they were suffering
promised, saying, "We will do this at once, and we
will become servants of that God Who is able to give
us healing, and we will cast aside all our [present] objects
of worship, and elect Him [in their stead]." And he
blessed the oil [taken] from the phial which he had
upon him, and by prayer, and the sign of the Cross,
and the making mention of the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, he healed them all. Now when
they were healed* of this sickness by the grace of
God, and they had seen^ the mighty deeds and
miracles which [Mar Elijah] worked among the sick,
and the devils which he drove out of many [people],
their hearts were softened to hearken unto his doctrine.
And* he began to speak before them concerning God,
" ;^;o^9^. Compare \»^y^\ ,^J!t^^\ o^y^\ B, (9., iii. i.
p. 437, col. 2, 1. 7; Baethgen, Fragmetite, pp. 36, 37; Wright,
Joshua the Sty lite y pp. 17, 19; Bar-Hebraeus, Hist. Dynastiarum^
pp. 93, 95, 96, 182; Bar-Hebraeus, Chron,^ ed. Bruns, p. 85,
1. 3, Bedjan, p. 80, 1. 22 {^ ;fa.^ 1$^ ;&o« ^ o\^n23 ^A*|o
l^^h^ N^el :Jbau3oi69 ^? j^^^oaais) and Payne Smith, Thes,,
col. 452. Brit. Mus. MS. Rich 7203, fol. 190^^, col. i, explains
the word by ^^^\ yt^ ^^"^V
^ Read o^^|. ^ Read o^^^.
^ See B. 0., iii. i. p. 493, col. 2.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XI. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MUKAN. 5 1 1
the Lord of all, and concerning the coming of our
Lord Christ into the world, and they were converted
by his words, and by the love of his God, and they
answered him with one voice, saying, "We have Yazd,
whom our grandfathers, fathers and ourselves have
worshipped, and we are afraid of the injuries which
he may do unto us, lest perad venture when we deny
him, he may destroy our lives. If, however, thy God,
in Whom thou hast made us to place our trust — for He
is [God alone], and there is none other besides Him,
and we also have chosen to be His servants and
worshippers — is able to slay and destroy him, behold
then we are before thee like matter before the handicrafts-
man, and it is in thy power to do with us according
to thy will." [p. 284] Now the holy Mar Abraham
told me — even as if he were standing before God the
Lord of all, with His holy angels as witnesses, and
I set down [here] his words without alteration — that
when those people had said this to the blessed man,
he answered and said to them, "Where is this Yazd,
the son of a whore, whom ye and your fathers have
served?" And they went with him and shewed him
from the top of a hill a mighty oak* tree, situated in
a valley, which was called the "chief of the forest,'*
and which owing to length of time and the care with
which they had tended it, had grown to a great height,*
and had acquired great breadth in its girth, and great
density^ of foliage. And he asked for an axe, and
they brought him [one], and he girded up his loins, and
* ;S^1 See Loew, Aram. Pflanzcnnamcn.y No. 9, p. 41; and
Payne Smith. Tkes.^ col. 41.
* Literally 'lield the height of heaven by its stature."
3 Literally "strength."
/
512 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
rolled up the sleeves of his tunic, and he took the
axe like a warrior, and went down to the tree, more
especially, however, against the devil which dwelt
therein, and lifting up his voice in the courage of his
confidence, saying, "The voice of the Lord moveth
the hinds to calve, and uprooteth the trees of the
forest,"' he lifted up his axe and brandished it against
the tree. And he did it a second time, and a third
time, and the tree fell, and he hewed down all its
ancient strength and thickness with three strokes of
the axe; and he smote and cut down also the rest of
the branches which were round about it, and which
those erring people called the "children of Yazd." And
he lifted up his voice, and with his hand he made
signs to those people to come down to him, and they
did so, and they gathered together reeds, and pieces
of bramble and pieces of dry wood, and laid them on
the tree and upon its branches, and burnt them up,
and thus the error of that devil ceased. And they all
lifted up their voices and glorified God Who had made
the blessed Mar Elijah to preach to them, as did those
[men] who in the days of Elijah the Prophet mocked
at Baal and destroyed all his priests;* [p. 285] in that
case heathen priests were destroyed, and in this case false
gods, which by the error of their reproof made devils
to abound to the destruction and annihilation of those
who were obedient unto them. And after the burning
of their images of accursed devils they all went up to
that city, being glad and rejoicing in the victory which
the soldier of Christ, who had been sent for the con-
version and life of their souls, had wrought. And they
all began to build the glorious building of a church,
' Psalm xxix. 9. * i Kings xviii.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XI. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MOKAN. 5 1 3
and M4r Elijah ordered it with all its arrangements,
and he baptized many of them, and ordained them
priests and deacons, and he wrote out psalms for them,
and taught them the responses, and thus little by little
they became virtuous, and increased, and the grace of
Christ grew and dwelt in them. And they received
the conviction in their hidden nature that they were
in very truth converted from error to the light of life,
and they laid fast hold upon the ordinances of the
seasons of prayer, and the receiving of the Holy
Mysteries, and they were sanctified in their manner of
life, and the sun of the mind of God shone upon them.
Who called them and brought them near, and made
them members of His household. And when they were
confirmed in their hope, and had become members of
the household of this man in all the ordering of the
Christians, that blessed man praised and glorified [God],
and gave thanks unto our Lord, that the first seed
which he had sowed in his plot of ground had come
up in seed buds,' and had given birth to ears, and
had produced wheat and a granary full of wheat and
grain.' And when he had tarried with them for many
years, the holy man was minded to come to this
^ i^3i^, a rare word.
* The MSS. have aioio, but this must be a mistake for
;fJoa^ a^oio ''and a heap of winnowed wheat and corn stored
up in subterranean pits." Compare AliJ\ jlX^ described by
Wetzstein in Delitzsch, Commentary on the Book of Job, Edin-
burgh 1876, vol. ii. p. 152. For the word ;a^o2 or ;a^o2 (which
Noldeke derives from a root n^« Eth. *A^: [Dillmann, Lex.
Aethiop.y col. 720] to collect, gather together,) see Payne Smith,
Thes., col. 65 ; Duval, Lexicon, col. 62 ; and for ;&oau;» see Payne
Smith, Thes,, col. 1 200, at the top.
ttt
514 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
country to worship in the holy monastery of the house
of his fathers, and to return. And when he had done
this, and had come here,^ he shewed to all his brethren
the conversion of those erring nations which, by his
hands, had been converted to life and redemption, and
how he had built for them a church, and how he had
baptized and sanctified them, and [how] they had become
participators [p. 286] in his joy in divine gratitude for
these things. And Mar Jacob the Bishop of the country
of Marga, came to this monastery with certain well-
known believers of this country, and he and the whole
assembly of monks entreated him not to leave this
country to return there before he had gone round
about through it, and had blessed its inhabitants, and
healed the sick, and visited the smitten that were in
it; and certain old and venerable brethren of the con-
gregation were appointed to go round about with him
from village to village. And the pious Bishop Jacob
wrote to all the believers, saying, "Behold I have
entreated the pious and holy Mar Elijah, Bishop of
Mokan, the strenuous soldier of virtue and the doer
of mighty deeds, to go forth and round about among
all the villages which ye inhabit that ye may be blessed
by his holiness. Now therefore any one of you who
hath any [cause for] judgment, or who wisheth to
receive the laying on of hands for grades of the Holy
Church, hath the power to settle the idle matters of
his contention before Mar Elijah and to receive eccles-
iastical ordination." And the venerable old man Sergius
said to me, '*I was one of those who accompanied ^
him from the monastery, and when all the believing J*'
^ /. e., to Beth 'Abhe.
I
i r
I
BOOK V. CHAPTER XL OF ELIJAH, BLSHOP OF MOKAN. 5 1 5
men heard [of him] they came out to meet us from
a great distance, and they brought us into their churches
with service and honour, and a great crowd accompanied
us from one village to another; and he healed and
made whole the sick and the afflicted, and cast out
devils by the word of his mouth. And heathen and
Jews came to be blessed by him, and by his means
the [p. 287] praise of God increased in the mouth of
the inhabitants of this country who saw the sick that
were made whole, and the deaf and the dumb who
heard and spake." Now of all his wonders and
mighty deeds which he wrought in this country I can
only describe and write down one or two, but from
these the reader will understand concerning all the mighty
deeds of his wonderful acts and boldness of speech^
with Christ Who made him victorious. And that trust-
worthy old man Sergius, who went about with him
through the whole country said, *'He never sat upon
an ass during the whole [time] of our going round
about through this country. Now he acted thus all
his life, for he walked upon his feet at an easy pace,
and a psalm was never absent from his mouth. And
at the words **Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost," which [came] between each
mannitha^ he used to bow down and prostrate himself
^ ;Noifo*&^^ from the infinitive 7Tappri(TtdaOat; see Payne
Smith, Thes,^ col. 3242.
^ The Psalter is divided into fifteen j{^'i», and each iU^h^
into four ;.^ox, and each ;^ox into three or four psalms. See
Lagarde, Praetermissorum , p. 100. 38; Dietrich, Comment, de
Psalterii usu publico et divisioiie^ P« 9; B, 0., iii. I, p. 529.
Bickell, Conspectus, p. 88. Unicuique marmithae oratio praefi-
gitur et Gloria Patri annectitur.
5l6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to the ground as a mark of honour, and he did not
refrain from this even when he was [walking] upon
stones, or briars or any other [thorny] growth, and at
every place [in the psalm] where he ought to say the
Gloria^ he bowed down until he touched the ground
with his head. Now when he had arrived at the city of
Shahrai, the people saw him and came forth to meet
him from this village, and they begged and entreated
him to go into the house of a poor Arab woman who
was afflicted with an evil devil, and pray for her, and
he did so. And when we had gone in he commanded
me to say, 'Peace', and he himself prayed and made
the sign of the cross before the woman, who was in
great atfliction and was beaten so mightily by that
devil that four women were [obliged to] hold her and
to kneel upon her that the devil might not break her
to pieces with the blows [p. 288] and beatings with
which he rent her. Now the devil through the mouth
of that woman began [to give utterance] in the Arabic
tongue to wicked blasphemies and horrible abuse of
the blessed man. And since he wore hung round his
neck the Book of the Gospels instead of a cross",
(even as I have written in a preceding passage'),
"he brought it forth from his bosom, and laid it on the
breast of that woman, at the same time anathematising
and adjuring the devil to come foi i:h from that woman.
And when the devil had acted with great insolence,
and had contended against the command of the holy
man, — now the holy man was ordering him to depart
from her with quietness, — his answers began to fail \
little by little. And he answered in the Arabic tongue .*»
* See supra, p. 506.
\x
BOOK V. CHAPTER XL OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MOKAN. 5 1 7
and said to the blessed man, "Where dost thou com-
mand me to go, O bishop?" And the blessed man
answered and said to him, "For the sake of our Lord,
thou wilt not be restrained until thou goest to Harran,
and moreover, by the word of our Lord thou art bound
not to return to this woman again." And as the entire
village being gathered together, was listening to the
words of the holy man, and the answers of that devil
to his speech, the devil began to go forth from her,
and he cried out in Arabic, saying, *'Ho,' let us go
to Harran, ho, let us go to Harran," many times, "the
road is before us, let us go to Harran."* And we heard
his voice as he cried out in the air, going towards
the west, for a long time, and [then] little by little his
voice died away and became inaudible to us in the
distance. And fear and trembling laid hold upon all
those that were there, [p. 289] and they began to
glorify Christ and to magnify his servant the blessed
Mar Elijah; and that woman received a complete
cure, and she confessed the power of Christ, and
lived freed from the attacks of the devil a life of
gratitude to Christ our Lord, and she proclaimed,
"There is no true belief except among the holy
Christian people."
And again, another woman entrusted an exceedingly
valuable pledge to a neighbour, and when she demand-
ed it back from her she denied her, saying, "Thou
hast never given any pledge to me, and I cannot pay
* ;?oo7 = \>^r=;oyc=n3n. See Hoffmann, Syr. Arab, Gloss.,
No. 3251, p. 116; Duval, Lexicon, col. 599; Neubauer, The Book
of Hebrew Roots, p. 178, note 32.
5rS THOMAS OF margA, the book of governors.
it back." And the defrauded woman drew nigh to
this blessed man , and he sent and called the other
woman, and said to her, "Behold, the pledge which
thj' neighbour gave thee is lying in such and such :i
place in thy house, bring it hither, and defraud her
not lest the anger of the Lord come upon thee;" and
when she saw that she was made a mockery, she at
once returned to that woman the things which be-
longed to her, that she might not be exposed in
other matters also. Now very many other things
were wrought by the holy man which I need not take
the trouble to write down, because I only wish to
receive some small blessing from the glorious deeds
of these holy men, and to pass on. And when he
had gone round about throughout all this country, and
had been blessed in his holy steps and had made judicial
decisions, and ordained priests and deacons, he came
into this monastery. Now when God the Lord of all
saw his troubles and afflictions, and the length of his years,
and the greatness of his age, in order that he might
not die in exile, far away from the house of his fathers,
like the blessed Moses whom He buried on Mount
Nebo' [p. 290] that he might not be disturbed by the war
o{ the Canaanitcs, and the slaughter of insolent kings,
He willed that this blessed man also should rest from
a life full of anxiety and care; and he fell sick of a
slight ailment, and so departed from [this] temporary
life to the enjoyment of everlasting life. And our
holy father Mar Abraham the Catholicus told me, saying.
"While many of us were gathered together about him
at the hour of his departure, he sat and spake with
■ Deuteronomy xxxii. 48 — 50.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XI. OF ELIJAH, BISHOP OF MCKAN. 519
US concerning his separation from us. And he com-
manded us to say the response of baptism [which runs],
"The^ doors of the spiritual marriage chamber are
opened for the absolution of men," while he sat with
his hands laid upon his knees. And when we had
come [to the passage] "Enter in then ye that are called
to the joy which hath been prepared for you," he open-
ed his mouth three times [to join in the singing], and
his soul departed from his body with the joy which
was prepared for him. And marvelling we understood
that he actually saw and beheld with the hidden eye
of his mind the happiness which had been prepared
for him, and that it was because of this he had asked
us to sing this baptismal response, and that the rest
and happiness which is laid up for the righteous baptiz-
ed firstborn whose [names] are written* down in heaven
had assumed a visible form. And he was buried with
great ceremony and honour by all the congregation of
^ The passage reads, "Open unto me the gates of righteous-
ness— The gates of heaven are opened. The gates of the
spiritual chamber of the Bridegroom are opened for the for-
giveness of the sins of men, and through the gift of the Spirit
from on high mercy and peace are now vouchsafed to all
mankind. Enter in, therefore, O ye who are called; enter into
the joy which is prepared for you, and with pure and sanctified
hearts, and true faith, give thanks unto Christ our Saviour.
Glory be to the Father, etc. O Thou true Door, open to the
lost, and call us to enter Thy treasury on high." See Badger,
Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. ii. p. 196; Denzinger, Ritus
Orientalium, Ritus Matrimonii apud Nestorianos, p. 4i9ff.
^ The allusion is to the words, "In the Jerusalem above,
before the seat of Christ, there may the names of Thy servants
be written." See Badger, Nestoriafis, vol. ii. p. 211.
520 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
his sons and brethren, and he was laid with the rest
of the Bishops and Metropolitans who were before him
in the marly rium of this monastery ; and is made ready
for him with those who are of like rank and garb the
enjoyment of heaven, namely the just and righteous in
whose footsteps he walked, and in whose manner of
life he triumphed. Glory be to Christ our Lord Who
made him victorious, and may mercy be shewn upon
us sinners by his prayers in this world, and may we
participate in his enjoyment in that which is to come,
Amen. ^
[P. 291] CHAPTER XII.
THE HISTORY OF THE BLESSED MAR NARSAI (nARSES),
BISHOP OF THE CITY OF SHENNA."
Now every spiritual gift cometh down from above
from the Father of lights, according to the words of
the divine James in the Catholic Epistle, ^ and the light
which shineth upon our holy temples beareth the mark
of spiritual knowledge, according to the affirmation of
Evagrius the spiritual philosopher, and according .to
David, the prophet of the Spirit who said to God,
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto
* Read ^L
' /. ^., Shenna dhe Beth Ramman, the Sinn Barimma of
the Arabs, /. e., Kardaliabhadh, a town distant ten farsaJi from
Tekrit on the east bank of the Tigris. See Hoffmann, Ausziigc,
p. 189.
^ St. James i. 17.
\
A
r
BOOK V. CHAPTER XII. OF NARSES BISHOP OF SHENNA. 52 I
my path," * and the Lord of the Prophets and Apostles
stated definitely that He was *the Light of the world',*
and that, even as the Scriptures say, "Rivers of living
water should flow from the belly" ^ of whomsoever be-
lieveth in Him. It is^ well known then that all the holy
men who were authors of works upon the healthful
doctrine of orthodoxy, whether of history, or doctrine,
or prayer, or admonition, have drunk from the abundant
streams of the sweetness of the Gospel, which like the
breath of life is placed for the cooling of their bitter-
ness. And they have filled the Church with the spiri-
tual light of the glorious rays of their understanding,
and they have enlightened the assemblies of its children,
and they have made them to know and to understand
that while they make use of those footsteps they must
set their own feet in the paths which lead to the height
above, where Christ our Lord sitteth on the right hand
[of God], and maketh intercession for them, although
they do not actually make perfect this ascent except
by mysteries and types, [p. 292] And I also, who am
subject to all passions, have been obliged through the
entreaty of many to write down also the history of
the blessed* and holy Mar Narses, Bishop of the city
of Kardilabhadh, ^ which is Shenna dhe Beth Ramman,
and to teach it together with those of the holy men
his companions. And because I am a man lacking all
wisdom, from the Light, the Father of light, according
to the words of the holy and wise Dionysius, I ask for
a gift and the bestowal of power, to enable me to
' Psalm cxix. 105. * St. John viii. 12.
3 St. John vii. 38. ^ Read ^lao^p.
5 For Kardaliabhadh.
UttU
522 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
speak ^ and to enter into the sanctuary of the vic-
torious deeds of the holy man concerning whom our
speech hath made ready to praise. And I beg and
entreat that as He hath bestowed a gift upon others
to the praise and glorification of His saints, he will
also bestow upon me a sinner, full of hypocrisy through
his hateful deeds, a gift that I may speak, if it be only
in part, concerning some of the noble deeds of the
blessed Mar Narses, the member of His household.
Moreover, I would make known unto those who come
across these histories, that according to what I have
learned from the gentle-souled Eustathius, the Arch-
deacon of the holy Mar Abraham the Catholicus, at
the time when he and I were deacons of the Catholicus
in the city of the kingdom of the world,* after the
death of the elect and holy Mar Narses, that by the
encouragement ofBurzadh^ his father, the head of the
church at Shenna, he collected the [accounts of J his
noble deeds and sent them to Rabban Habbibha, the
teacher of the monastery of Mar Gabriel,"* that he might
weave them into a crown, and glorify them in a history.
Now Rabban HabbibhA having departed from the manner
of diction which historical narrative requireth, composed
an account in metrical discourses which were to be
sung to the 'fourth tone' — a style of composition whi(
doth not at all aid [the writer] to make known acts
^ Read i\^ Noi. ^ /. e., Seleucia.
3 Probably abbreviated from 9 vi Soa Pers. Burzyazd == Burzi-
zad«-;o^'^^b'; compare ^oau«5o3=^ax*Ma text, p. 238, note 5.
4 Thomas of Marga probably refers to the Monastery of
Mar Gabriel near Mosul; see B. O.y iii. I. pp. 277, 284, 618;
and Hoffmann, Opuscula Ncstoriana^ p. xxii.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XIII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 523
of piety and persecutions, and moreover this style is ap-
propriate for hymns [p. 293] and for the sweet peni-
tential compositions which are sung to tunes, but not
for history. "And when we had seen it'^ he saith, "we
rejected it, and we did not miss it, and the leaves
were torn by reason of the lapse of time, and because
it was not suitable we have not copied it into our
book." But I will now set down in writing, for the
gratification of those who have commanded me, some
of the things which I have learned from Eustathius,
and from the monks who lived in the holy Monastery
of Abba Simon' of Shenna, but more especially from
the aged monks who were to be found in my days in
the holy monastery of Beth ^ Abhe, and from the Tigris
boatmen and fishermen whom I have seen; and taking
refuge in the prayers of those who told me the stories,
and of those who commanded me to write them, and
of readers, and listeners, I will go into the sweet-smell-
ing garden laid out and cultivated by the holy M4r
Narses, and I will write briefly about him, even as I
have written about his companions, some few matters
to commemorate his holiness.
CHAPTER Xm.
OF THE ORIGIN OF THE BLESSED MAR NARSES AND OF
HIS COMING TO THIS MONASTERY.
There was in the country of Beth Beghash* a famous
village called Zarn, the inhabitants of which were
* See B. 0,y iii. i. p. 225, col. i.
* See supra, p. 236, note 2.
524 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
warriors, and they all were mighty men of valour. Not
only did they pursue thieves, and make raids, but
they also shewed themselves fierce and disobedient to
the royal officers who came to them for the imperial
taxes, and many of them they fearlessly drove away
with blows, [p. 294] From this village then came the
blessed man, whose noble deeds I am about to relate,
and he and his brother whose name was Shalman, and'
his only sister sprang from a family of believers, and
from people who were prosperous as regards the affairs
of this world. And the manner of life of each
brother was as different as that of the blessed
Jacob and of Esau, for Shalman carried a sword and shed
the blood, not of the good but of wicked men. And
because the Khartewaye' had at that time begun [to
commit acts] of destruction and theft, Shalman armed
himself, and having gathered together a body of men,
he put an end to many of the Khartewaye by cutting
off their heads. And the rumour is reported of him
that every day in which he did not lie down upon the
skull of some malefactor whom he had slain with his
own hands as upon a pillow, his food was without taste
and unpleasant to him. And like Esau he was a man
•
of the chase and a man of the desert, but his brother,
the holy Narses, elected to live the ascetic life in an
admirable manner, and he firmly stamped into himself
— like the impression on a dinar — the [qualities] of the
blessed Jacob, gentleness and sweetness, and praise-
worthy obedience to his parents. Now their sister be- \^
* The Kartaw Kurds, dJ^lj^iJl lived in the region to the
west of the Lower Zab above Arbela; see Hoffmann, Auszugej
p. 207; and Baethgen, Fragmente^ p. (:6.
S
BOOK V. CHAPTER XIII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 525
came the wife of the honourable Shahdost^ from the
country of Dasen,* who was born^ at Beth Gawza, and
who begat by her the honourable Na'man, that great
and famous and rich man,* who accepted many offices
of government and received dominion over countries
from Zuraik^ and [from] his fathers [who were] gover-
' Pars. cXuj^jJbLi "king's friend;" see supra, p. 262, 1. 6
.(text); and Guidi, Ntiouo testo^ p. 11, 1. 9.
* See HofTmann, Auszuge, pp. 202 — 207.
3 ; sol = perhaps ^labi, cunae, praesepe,
4 jBL90f. Sadaka bin 'Aliya the freed man of Azd (iSj^o
>J^^ Jy" c>' c^), also called Zuraik of M6sul(^^ ^ ^^^ ^3.^3
C^^^ v5^3^^ ^*J^^), who ruled over the mountainous district
between Mosul and Adhorbaigan, together with Wagna al-Azdi,
did great mischief in Adhorbaigan in the time of al-Rashid when,
perhaps A. H. 183, Huzaima bin Pazim, ^jUL ^^ ^"^.j^* who
drove the Hazars through the gates of the Caucasus and who
fortified Maraga (see Al-Beladhori, Liber Expiignationis Regionum
[ed. de Goeje, Leyden 1863], p. 330), was appointed governor of
Adhorbaigan to resist his might (see Ibn al-Athir, torn. vi. p. 1 1 1 ;
Tabari torn. iii. p. 648). Zuraik conquered Urmiya, and to-
gether with his brother, built castles there (Beladhori, p. 331 ;
Ibn al-Fakih al-Hamadhani [ed. de Goeje 1885] p. 284, 1. 19).
Zuraik was appointed governor of Armenia and Adhorbaigan
by al-Mamun, A. H. 209, to fight against Babek al-Hurrami
^^ycyi.\ kiXjb, by whom, however, he was vanquished (Tabari,
torn. iii. p. 1072; Ibn al-Athir, torn. vi. p. 338). Previous to
A. H. 211, Zuraik made war against al-Sayyed bin Anas,
^y^\ ^^ *>-:^l, who had been Emir of Mosul and Marga since
A. H. 202, and attacked him in that year with 40,000 men and
slew him (Ibn al-Athir, torn. vi. p. 248). Muhammad bin
Humaid al-Tusi (^^^i), who had been made Wall of Mosul
by al-Mamun (see Ibn al-Athir, torn. vi. p. 287; al-Ya'kubi,
Historiae [ed. Houtsma], torn. ii. p. 564) conquered Zuraik on
the Zab A. H. 212, and compelled him to ask for protection
526 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
nors of Mosul and of all the north, and who during the
time of his rule made great gifts to the Church, and
to her children, and to her directors. And when Rabban
Mar Narses had become a 'young man, having by the
care and pains taken about him by his parents been
trained in the Holy Scriptures [p. 295J in the church of their
native village, at which time each man tumeth to the
right hand or to the left according to the nature which
is implanted in his earthy composition, and sheweth
in his manner of life either nobility or depravity of
nature, he elected to become a disciple [of purity], and
left the house of his fathers, and all the wealth of their
possessions; and he despised the love of brethren and
of relatives, and came to the holy monastery of Beth
Abhe, and worked in the monastery, as the canons of
the Fathers order; and it came to pass that an ac-
cident happened to the advantage of himself and for
the benefit of the 'purity of the body with which he
was clothed. Now. when he was with the other monks
his companions shaking down the olives from the olive
trees in the large garden of the community, having
gone up into one of the trees he slipped down be-
tween the fork of the branches, and his testicles were
crushed. And he fell into a severe illness and these
members had to be cut off from him altogether, and
and a safe-conduct, Ji>)i\ (Ya'kubJ p. 564, 1. 18). When Zuraik
came to him he sent him to the court of the Khalifa, who at
once ordered that all the wealth and possessions of Zuraik and of
his family should be confiscated. This order was not, however,
strictly carried out, for Funiaid entered into negotiations with
Zuraik's brethren, and part of Zurailj's wealth was returned to
his family.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XIII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 527
he became a eunuch/ And as it is written concern-
ing this matter by the fathers, and concerning those
who cut ofif their members, "If [the members] have
been cut ofif by sickness or by barbarians, the canon
of the Church doth not reject a man, but let him take
upon himself the grades of priesthood, and let him
minister, and this shall become to him the mferchandize
of virginity ;" and according to that which the wise *
man spake, "Woe to the man that worketh impurity
upon his couch;" and that which the blessed Evagrius
spake warningly, "At the time when [thou art] striving
against impurity, excuse thyself from going to thy friend
when he shall ask thee," and from the fact that the
fathers commanded us to be remote from the sight of
these members — for by the sight of them the fire of
desire which is implanted within us is stirred up, and
it may happen that we shall not be able to hold our-
selves against the force of passion — by the sickness
which happened^ to him Christ our Lord freed him
from the necessity of handling and touching those parts
which is an absolute loss of chastity, [p. 296] But
perhaps the Divine dispensation arranged beforehand
these things concerning him, so that when afterwards
he should be appointed to act as shepherd to the city
of his flock, he might rest in peace from the sight of
the beautiful things of this world and its losses.
^ St. Matthew xix. 12.
* /. e., Jesus, the Son of.Sirach; compare ^i^ att^jao? ;aa\
«*^ \%L a&M opdba aisle :o^9b&s j^oaex cap. xxiii. 15*
3 See the extract from Bar-Bahlul on St. Matthew xix. 12,
quoted by Payne Smith, Thes.^ col. 234; and Wright, Catalogue
Syr, MSS.f p. 568, No. 7, col. i.
528 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And when he had gone forth from service in the
monastery, he built himself a little cell far away from
the community (which is well known to this day and
in which there still exists an olive tree which the holy
man himself planted), to the east of the monastery,
and below the [Little] Fortress;^ and when he had
come to dwell in it, he made himself a place for weep-
ing, and as he regarded himself as living in a grave
he hid himself therein with humility and weeping of
tears. And although he excused himself from the society
of those who wished to increase in virtue by reading
and conversing and singing the Psalms [with him],
yet because he was a neighbour of the holy Mar
Cyriacus, whose history I have written a little above,'
he visited him, and it was sufficient for him. For they
had been fellow- workers in the monastery, and con-
temporaries; they were the children of one love, for
they were to become the children of one kingdom;^
they were the sons of one monastery, for they were
about to become heads of the monasteries which are
in heaven; one was their communion, for they lived
under one directorship; one was their doctrine, for they
had been made wise by the Master of teachers; fellows
under one yoke were they, for they had both ploughed
the same spiritual furrow; two mighty arms were they
of one body, and two ^ brilliant eyes were they of one
body; and both of them were appointed shepherds of
cities, which are [situated] on the great river Tigris,
* See supra, p. 404, note 5.
* See supra y pp. 414 — 466.
3 /. e,, the kingdom of heaven.
4 Read ^sn?.
BOOKV. CHAPTER XIII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 529
the one to Baladh, and the other to Shenna. Now
the blessed Narses so devoted himself to solitary
meditation that he was never seen outside* his habi-
tation, [p. 297] and for many days according to the
report which I heard handed down from one to another,
he never went out even to his outer chamber;* but
the gain and sweetness from this art with which a
man enricheth and enjoy eth himself is only known and
made manifest to those who have tasted it, and who
have been consumed by the vision of beauty which is
produced from thence. "For quietness of the body,"
saith the blessed Abba Isaiah,' "begetteth peace of the
mind; for by the peace of the mind, and the keeping
watch upon the body which resulteth [therefrom], and
by prayer and reading, and by the other works of the
ascetic life, the soul acquireth unity with Christ, and
becometh with Him one spirit. Blessed is the man
who endeth his life in such employments, for, being
crowned with diadems of light, as it is said, he enter-
eth into heaven." For living in solitude did not magnify
and glorify the saints^ of the new [dispensation] and
' The MSS. have o/fisfiMb?^, but read «rKfi>o&^.
^ For quotations from Isaiah the work TTepi TTiprjcreui^ toO
vooq in twenty-seven chapters should be consulted. See <t>iXoKaXia
Tujv JepuiV Nhtttikov 1872, p. 33 f.
3 y;>rt\. Note the construction of the subject with i, which
Thomas of Marga seems to have copied from Biblical language;
compare ^ooifs^ l^f^ssS .^oyA^ ^aIm m^ (s^jo Revelation ix. 11.
See Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 732, col. 2 (in the middle); Ewald,
Gram,, p. 310; Agrell, Supplementa syntaxeos Syriacae, 1834,'
p. 132, S 60, and in Appmdicula ad supplementa sua Syntaxeos
Syriacae, Greifswalde, 1838, p. S; Noldeke, Syr. Gram., % 307;
and Hoffmann, De Hermeneuticis apud Syros Arisiotdeis, p. 185,
col. I. 29 ff.
XXX
530 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the righteous men of the new [dispensation only], so that
they became gods among men, but heathen philosophers
also, before the coming of our Lord, and before the
revelation of His dispensation, gained therefrom the
riches of sublime and glorious knowledge, and they
enriched others [thereby]. Pythagoras' the master of
philosophers, from the experience which he had gained
during a. long [interval of] time, said, "Without the
lying fallow! of the body in restraint, and the silence
of the tongue from speaking, philosophy can never be
acquired." And he commanded all those who were
being taught in his school to keep silence for five years,
and the entrance to wisdom was taught by him in that
school by hearing and sight only. And the wise man
Homer, " having lived in the desert for many years
making his mind to fly about collecting knowledge,
[p. 298] ari-ived at a subtle perception which he re-
ceived through solitude and silence; and by means of
chemicals, arid fire, and a furnace he transmuted lead into
silver,^ and brass into gold, and formed precious stones
' Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus a merchant or seal
engraver, was born at Samos about B. C. 570. He is thought
to have visited Egypt, Syria, Babylonia and India. The Pytha-
gorean theory of happiness was that it consisted of the science
of the perfection of the virtues of the soul.
* /. ^./Horner the Poet, who was reputed among the an-
cients to possess a great knowledge of medicine and physical
science. See Fabricius, Bibliothecae Graecae^ Hamburg, 17 14,
torn. ii. Bk. 2, cap. 6, § 13; and Tiraquellus, De Nobilitate,
Frankfort 1597, torn. I. cap. 31, pp. 133, 138. For Homer '-S^J
the physician who flourished about the time of Melanthias, King
of the Athenians, see Fabricius, Bibliothecae Graecae^ 'torn, xiii
Bk. VI. cap. IX.
3 For the theories of Thales, Pythagoras, Empedocles, * %
t
J
^
•
BOOK V. CHAPTER XIII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 53 1
by means of a preparation of herbs, from these com-
mon things [about us], and other things from other
materials. And concerning Plato ,^ who was wiser in
philosophy than all [other men], and who obtained a
splendid reputation among the Athenians, it is said
and written that he built himself a cell in the heart
of the wilderness, beyond the habitation of man,' and
that he took the covenant of the blessed Moses, and
Aristotle, Anaxagoras and others upon metals and their alloys,
etc., see Hoefer, Hisioire de la Chimie depuis les temps les plus
rccules jusqu'h noire epoque, Paris, 1842, torn. i. pp. 6$, 108 ff.
On the whole subject of ancient Alchemy {j\^iyS!!\ al-kimiya^
from Gr. x^Mt»« or x^Mict, which in its turn se^ms to be derived
from an Egyptian word meaning "preparation of the black),"
see the excellent article Chemie by Hoffmann in Ladenburg's
Handworierbuch der Chhnie (in the Encyklopaedie der Natur-
wissenschaften , Breslau 1884), Bd. XVI. p. 2, pp. 516— 530;
Kopp, Beitrcige zur Geschichie der Chemie ^ 1869; and the
article Pie f re Philosophale in Migne, Encyclopedie Theologique^
torn. 46, col. 1 173.
^ TTXdTOv h\. 6 qpiXocTocpog, dK toiv id ircpi Tf|V vo)bio0€(Ttav
ujqpeXnOei?; see Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata^ i. xxv; and
compare the quotation from Numenius the Pythagorean in
Eusebius, Praepar, Evang,, xi. 10., at the end (Migne, Patrol
Cursus. Sen Graec. torn. xxi. col. 873). Thomas of Marga
here repeats one of the many mythical stories related of Plato.
Lactantius {Institute iv. 2) made him travel to the Magi and
Persians; Clemens {Cohortationes 46) made him travel to the
Babylonians, Assyrians, Hebrews and Thracians; others declar-
ed that he was acquainted with the doctrines of Zoroaster and with
Persian magic; but all thesestatemen ts are pure inventions, as
we may see from Brucker, Historia critica Philosophiae a mundi
incunabulis adnostram usque aetatcm deducia^ Leipzig, 1742 — 6t,
torn. i. p. 635, and Zeller, Plato and the Older Academy (trans,
by AUeyne and Goodwin), London 1876, p. 14.
^ Read ^1? ^Ami.
532 THOMAS OF MARGa, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
meditated on the verse, "Hear,' O Israel, the Lord thy
God is One," for three years, until God, the Lord of
all saw his toil and trouble and granted His mercy
unto him, and he wrote, saying, "The God of the Jews
is one in nature, and three in Persons," and behold
this composition on His similarity of nature and unity,
and on the Trinity of Persons and their attributes is
[extant] in the books of the Church. And it is said
concerning him, and written also in another [place],
that once when he was occupied in trying to think
out some speculation concerning created things, he
travailed in [his] mind, and was brought low, and [fell]
into great toil and affliction; but when he had plucked
out^ his [earthly] desires, and had become aware of
his contemplative power, and had been persuaded from
within, [saying] *' Verily I have attained unto some of
it", he remained silent in joy three whole nights and
days without any movement whatever. And the master
of physicians, and the teacher of great doctors,^ Hip-
pocrates'* the philosopher, by means of all the wisdom
which he received from solitude and silence, penetrat-
ed deeply with his mind sagaciously into the strife^
of mental investigations, and he learned to understand
how the child is nourished in the womb of its
mother, [p. 299] And if upon the heathen who are
aliens, and who are remote from spiritual knowledge.
^ Deuteronomy vi. 4.
"" Hoffmann would read here ;NoftiLfKfisto .<v\>»6 072^9 add a
3 ;ai^3;=dpxiaTpoq. See Payne Smith, Thcs,, col. 386-
4 Born at Cos about B. C. 460.
5 ;No^»a does not give very good sense, but we might read
jfso.Vy'rt"! "by means of."
I
BOOKV. CHAPTER XIII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 533
God the Lord of all bestowed the wisdom which they
sought after, or by reason of their affliction, or as it
were for the benefit of others by the labour of the
deepest tranquillity and silence and absence from man-
kind, made them glad, how much [more] to the holy
men who keep His commandments, and who train
themselves according to His will by hunger and thirst,
and suffering, and tears, and prayer day and night,
will He give not [only] the wisdom of [this] world,
which they have not sought after, but the kingdom
for which they suffer,- and make them to enjoy the
pledge of it here?
Now the holy man Mar Narses received a gift of
the fruits of a tranquil life which is beloved by all
the fathers, and which is the completion of all excel-
lence, that is to say a constant flowing of tears which
never ceased from him. And an old man from this
monastery whose name was Tfimana, whom I have
mentioned in the history of Rabban Cyriacus, told me
that when the blessed Narses came to the congregation
he used to wrap himself up in the covering of his
cap^ so that the flowing of his tears might not be
seen; now this was also said of him by the believing
men of Shenna. And when one of the brethren asked
a certain old man, saying, "How is it, father, that al-
though my soul desireth tears they are not given to
it?" he replied to him, "My son, tears are the land of
promise, for as long as a man is without tears he
journeyeth in the wilderness with the children of Israel;
but when he arriveth at the gift of tears he entereth
^ ;iaojb-5XAJ\, ^y^\, o3j<f^^ and ^.-^?Jj\ See Brit. Mus.
^^^ MS. Orient, fol. 326^, col. i.
534 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
into the land of promise.^ And because this great gift,
for which not every man is sufjficient, is much needed
for the watching of humility,* [p. 300] a man should
train himself to despise himself and to hold everything
in contempt in such a manner as not to be deprived
of this great wealth and gift/' And let him hearken
unto the advice with which the blessed Evagrius ordereth
him, saying, "Even though thou shouldst have a foun-
tain of tears in thy prayer, be not in any wise exalted
in thyself, [thinking] that thou art greater than many
[other men], for thou wilt [only] have received help
from thy prayer [when] thou hast discovered [how] to
confess thy sins with diligence, and to pacify thy Lord
by thy tears. Do not then turn to the passion of
pride that which is the destroyer of the passions, lest
peradventure thou shalt offend the more Him that hath
bestowed grace upon thee; for there are many who
have wept for their sins, but because they have for-
gotten the end and aim of tears they have been smitten
with madness." And the blessed Mark the monk saith,
"If thou hast tears in thy prayer be not lifted up, for
Christ hath drawn near to thine eyes, and thou hast
* Interrogavit frater quidam senem, dicens: Quomodo desi-
derat anima mea lacrymas, sicut audio senes lacrymantes, et
non veniunt, et tribulant animam meam? Et dixit senex: Filii
Israel post quadraginta annos intraverant in terram repromissionis.
Lacrymae igitur sunt sicut terra repromissionis, ad quas si per-
veneris, jam non timebis helium. Ita enim vult Deus affligi
animam, ut semper desideret ingredi in terram illam." Ros-
weyde, Vitae Patrum, p. 567, No. 27. "Adversus eum qui te
impugnat, gladium lacrymarum exacue". Rosweyde, op. at,
p. 613, No. 5.
^ For ;^eA.*aM^; compare text p. 308, 1. 5.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XIII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 535
obscurely seen the Light." And because in proportion
as the soul is exalted to the height of excellence,
mighty adversaries make attacks upon it, according to
the words of the holy Eyagrius, [let a man] spiritually
adorn himself with the deepest humility, and with watch-
fulness of every thing round about him through ab-
straction and contemplative power, lest peradventure
when he conquereth in the war of fornication, he
whom he hath overcome may accidentally ensnare him,
and he be led captive by the Evil One to the cruelty
of wrath, or even if he endure this he fall^ into the
abyss of envy and anger, or if he be free from these
things he be led astray by avarice and vain-glory. For
it is more difficult to preserve excellence than it is to
labour for it, even as saith a certain holy man, [p. 301] "If
thou shouldst put all the labours of virtue on one side,
and the observance' of them on the other, the ob-
servance of them would outweigh them;^ for the glory
of the actions of a man s life and the purity of his heart
are like unto the entrance into the love of his Lord,
and Christ will thus sanctify him to be a pure temple
unto Him." For in this manner doth act that gracious
Lord Who doth not withhold the hire of those who
labour in the garden of His Gospel. And when He
findeth a pure spot He sanctifieth it for the dwelling
of His Will, and crowneth it with the glorious honour
of the revelations of His wonders, and when it is
manifest to His inscrutable wisdoih that the hidden
pupils of the eyes of a man, which are within, cannot
be injured by the glorious brightness of the beauties
' Read Sii. ^ Read ;^&oVo-
^ Put a point after }L^.
536 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
of his splendours, He maketh him to be an altar of
His revelations, and He maketh the mind to be a priest
in the holy of holies of the heart,* which is within,
with secret hymns of praise which are akin to the holy
hymns of spiritual beings. And this holy man con-
cerning whom our insipid narrative relates lived in the
enjoyment of such things as these for many years and
excelled; but the time draweth nigh, indeed hath al-
ready come when he must receive the ordination* of
the five talents,** and must administer like a wise ser-
vant the treasures of his master to the members of
the house.
CHAPTER XIV.
OF THE ELECTION OF THE HOLY MAR NARSES TO BE
BISHOP OF THE CITV OF KARDALIABHADH WHICH IS
SHENNA.
[P. 302] Now since the spirit of the Prophets is
subject unto Prophets, and [since] revelations conceive
a fulfilment before the time for their being carried out
hath arrived, because they are made manifest and
pointed out by a hand which is of the Holy Spirit,
so also according to* the spiritual vision which the
blessed Mar Cyriacus, Bishop of Baladh, had seen some
years before — as I have made known above — concern-
ing the election of the holy Mar Narses and of many
others, the time drew near and came for him to be
' Read 3^?.
^ On the ordination of bishops see B. 0., iii. 11. p. 684 ff.
^ St. Matthew xxv. 15. ^ Read ^2 ^2.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XIV. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 537
appointed to the direction of the Church. Now he'
was made manifest by the hand of God through the blessed
father, Shubhhal-Maran , the ascetic and head of the
Monastery of Shenna, the murder of whom we are
about to describe in this history, and he made known
to those believing men that the Spirit of the Lord
had set apart the holy Mar Narses, the ascetic from
Beth 'Abhe, to be a shepherd and governor of their
church. And Christ also urged them through him to
go after him without delay, and they went down to
the pious Mar Timothy, and made known to him that
he must ordain as their Bishop Rabban Narses the
solitary and ascetic. And Mar Timothy wrote [and
sent] by their hands a canonical letter ordering Mar
Narses not to dispute the Divine choice, and when
this blessed man had read it,* and saw that in any
case he was bound and compelled to appear before
the Patriarchal throne, he assented to the Divine Will
and departed with them, and was consecrated by the
Patriarchal hands and by the prayers of the chief priests,
and he was reckoned like Matthias^ in the series and
company of the priests of the Church. How very
fitting is it to introduce in this place the Divine word
which was spoken by the Lord to the holy prophet
Zechariah,^ saying, **Take of [them of] the captivity,
[even] of Huldi (Heldai), of Tubhya (Tobijah), and of
Idha^ya (Jedaiah), and go into the house of Josiah the
son of Zephaniah, who hath come from Babylon; take
his silver and his gold, and make a crown and put
[it] on the head of Isho' bar-Yozadhak, the high priest."
' /. c, Narses. ^ Read w2ib.
^ Acts i. 23. '^ Zechariah vi. 10.
yyy
538 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
[p. 303] Now when [Mar Narses] had gone into his
city, and had been received with the ceremony and
honour of which his piety was worthy, the city of Shenna
became enviable* in the sight of the other cities, and
[it was] as if the psalm of the blessed David* had been
said of them, "The Lord hath multiplied to do these
[things] for us," and they had answered, "The Lord
hath multiplied to do for us, and we are glad," and
again, "The Lord hath brought back upon us His good
gifts together with His gracious acts like the water
brooks that are in the South." ^ And the holy [Mar
Narses], like a vigilant watchman of the flock which
had been entrusted to him, kept a strict and careful
watch on all sides upon the sheep of his flock that
none of those believing men under his pastoral care
might stray in the slightest degree from what was
right. And he became like a wall to that flock, and
like a spiritual boatman he held the oars of that
spiritual ship, and guided it through the storms and
waves of [this] world, and brought it to the mansions
of heaven. And like a wise gardener he cleansed and
purified from it as from a garden all the bad shoots
and stubborn roots, and he drew water for the fruit-
bearing trees, and he made the sweet herbs to grow
up and to flourish, and he protected their fruit that
^ ;ko»*A^. No example of this word seems to be recorded
in the Thesaurus of Payne Smith.
* Psalm cxxvi. 3, 4.
3 Thomas seems to be quoting from memory, for the text
reads: —
* »■ •• ^*
BOOK V. CHAPTER XIV. OF N ARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 539
they might not be injured' by the wiles of Satan their
adversary, who is accustomed to put tares in the place
of choice wheat. And in order that when the account
of their reckoning and what they had lost should be de-
manded from them, he might in very truth give an
answer on their behalf, he dihgently examined and
scrutinized and looked carefully into all the affairs of
those under his pastoral charge. And while he was
occupied and employed in working with such care as
this, and was meditating upon everything which belong-
ed to it by right, [p. 304] the Holy Spirit bestowed upon
him another gift of the power of healing, so that every
pain and sickness to which his blessing and holy right
hand drew near departed without delay from the body
in which it was. And he received the spirit of reve-
lation, and attained unto the knowledge of things which
were afar off, and as the Prophets and Apostles in
their times, the times when justice, and righteousness,
and chastity, and piety of life had fled from the
world, proclaimed peace upon all men and departed,
so the holy man triumphed,* and in his days restored
the gift of miracles which had been taken away from
the world, and the name of Christ was magnified in
the mouth of the heathen, and honour was accorded
to the solitary and ascetic life through which his holi-
ness had flourished; and until the end of his life his
city remained unharmed by any injury either secret or
manifest.^
' ;Sd at the beginning of line 15 should begin line 16.
^ Read ^^^i
3 /. e., he extirpated heresies which were the hidden diseases
of the minds of his people, and he healed their bodies of the
wounds which were open to the light of day.
540 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XV.
OF THE SPIRITUAL CONTEMPLATION AND OF THE INTELLECTUAL
PLEASURE IN THE THREE [kINDS Of] SPIRITUAL MEDITATIONS,
ON THE CORPOREAL, ON THE INCORPOREAL, AND ON THE
HOLY TRINITY, IN WHICH THE HOLY MAR NARSES WAS
TRAINED AND MEDITATED PHILOSOPHICALLY.
Certain of the fathers have written in their books
that there existeth in the heart a glorious intellectual
mirror which the Creator of natures formed from all
the visible and spiritual natures which are in creation
for the great honour of His image, and as a means
for discovering His invisibility; and He made it a tie,
and a bond, and a completion of all natures. Now
the fathers call it the "beauty of our person," and by
Saint Paul it is called the "house of love," and by the
doctors the "house of peace," and by the wise the
"house of goodness," and by others the "house of
joy,'' [p. 3P5] in which dwelleth the spirit of adoption
which we have received from holy baptism, and upon
it shineth the light of grace. And whosoever hath
cleansed this mirror of beautiful things from the im-
purity of the passions and from sin, and hath renewed
it and established it in the original condition of the
nature of its creation, can see by the light of its glorious
rays all spiritual things which belong to natures and
to things of creation which are afar off and which are
near. And he is able by the secret power of the Holy
Spirit to look into them closely as if they were all
arranged in order, without any covering whatever,
before, his eyes. And when the working of God dawn-
"<^ ii^on the souls of holy men there dwelleth and
BOOK V. CHAPTER XV. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 54 1
abideth' upon it this gift of the Holy Spirit, and He
bestoweth this gift upon the good, and maketh them
to possess life and happiness for ever. And even thus,
according to what I have heard from those who saw
his glorious deeds, was the holy man of whom we are
about to speak worthy [of this gift].
Now there was in the Monastery of the holy Abba
Simon of Shenni,' an old man whose name was Mari,
and this man related to me concerning^ the holy man,
that inasmuch as the blessed man was endowed with
the knowledge [of God], and his mind was continually
carried away towards God, he was unable to keep him-
self from this holy contemplation; and as in [the case
of], many [other] things he was prevented from going
down to the service of the Holy Mysteries on the
first days of the weeks, it was thought by the believers
that he acted thus by reason of the weight of his
old age. And it came to pass on a certain first day
of the week, when he was forced by the elect of
God, Rabban Shubhhal-Maran, the head of our mon-
asteryi to be with him in the pulpit for the performing
of the service of the church, that Mar Shubhhal-Maran saw
that he was occupied in meditating upon this subject
and in doing so he saw that he became unconscious
of every human feeling and movement, so much so that
he was utterly unmindful of the necessary acts which
' Read ;li^o.
* This sentence is quoted in B, 0., iii. i. p. 225, col. 2.
According to 'Abhd-Isho' Simon composed certain Metrical
Homilies and Funeral Orations (B. 0., iii. i. p. 226); he died
before A. D. 790.
^ The MSS. have o/csiiv^ but read o/fijiagko.
542 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the service of psalmody required, [p. 306] to sit down^
for the keryane^, and to lead off in the exordia,^
and he saw that his eyes were closed and that he
did not know where he was. And as soon as Rabban
Shubhhal-Maran had gone up with him to his cell, he
fell at his feet and took an oath, saying, "I will not
stand up again until thou shalt have revealed unto me
concerning the vision which was seen by thee in the
church." And the holy Mar Narses having required
the head of the monastery to keep this matter secret
until his death, answered and said to him, "Every
time I am in the church during the service of the
Mysteries, my mind is lifted up above the sight of
these things which are done during the service, and
above the church and its congregation, to the things
' "Before the reading of the Keryana the deacon exclaims
aloud: 'Sit down, and be silent;* and when it is ended, the
people rise at the bidding of the same minister, who then gives
notice of the short psalm which is to follow, and which is then
taken up and sung by the officiating priest. This psalm is
called Skurayuy and generally consists of two verses taken from
the Psalter to which the Gloria Patri is added The Shuraya,
therefore, appears to hold the same place in the Nestorian
liturgy, as the tractus does in the Roman, the TrpoKei^evov in
the Constantinopolitan, and the psalmellus in the Milan liturgies."
Badger, NestorianSy vol. ii. p. 20.
^ The keryane, /. e,, "Readings", consist of extracts from
the Old Testament and the Acts of the Apostles. The first
keryana is always from the Old Testament, and in a few cases
the second Lesson also; but this latter is more generally taken
from the Acts of the Aposties. See Badger, Nestorians, vol. ii.
p. 19.
3 See Wright, Catalogue of Syriac MSS in the British
Museum, p. 131, col. 2, No. 4.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XV. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 543
which are in heaven; and these things which are be-
fore my eyes are explained [mystically] by the things
which are secret and hidden from every man. The
church which is depicted before me [represents] that of
Jerusalem^ which is upon earth; the platform (Pn^a) which
is in it [represents] Zion; the altar which is in it re-
presents the ark of the Old Covenant; the cross which
is upon it, and the Book of the Gospels [represent]
the New Covenant and the throne' of Christ at the
time of His dispensation here, and the connexion^ which
both Covenants possess, each with the other ; the body
of priests which are in it [represents] the companies
of the Apostles; and the path* [leading] from the plat-
form to the cupola^ above the platform the narrow
path which goeth up to heaven.^ The three steps which
are before the platform [symbolise] the third heaven
whither the blessed Paul was taken up;^ the kestrdma
the place [which extends] from this [earth] to the fir-
mament; the screen® which is over the door of the
chancel, and the veils which are upon it indicate to
me a type of the firmament. ^ The chancel [symbolises]
* Compare the mystic comparison of parts of the temple
quoted in full in B. 0,, iii. i. p. 534, col 2. ^iAmt? a*\ ;&fta2
^ Read ^^sbho^o. ^ Read ;^al<±lAo.
^ The Ar--* seems to have been a narrow staircase leading
from the ground up to the cupola where there may have been
a gallery.
5 ^ckxtt^KOTXn- ^ St. Matthew vii. 14.
7 2 Corinthians xii. 2. ® ^"ii = qppdKTn.
9 The Artt'^> ^- ^'f "screen" or "lattice," which formed the
middle opening part of the wall of partition, separated the
544 THOMAS OP marga, the book of governors.
the place which is above the heavens;' [p. 307] the
naos' [symbolizes] the heaven of heavens and the Di-
vine Shechinah;^ and the veils' which are upon it [in-
dicate] that the Godhead is hidden even from the angels.
The altar [represents] the throne of the Deity; the
priests [represent] the angels, the three congregations
of which are in heaven divided into nine companies.
The Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones [which form]
chancel from the nave. It stood either upon the third or
highest step leading to the lain, or by the side of the lowest
step on the floor of the nave. The ^soa^^Ae seetni; to have
been the partition wall to the right and left of the door of the
;^id, and its width must have been equal to the depth of the
three steps. According to this theory the AooaVaa would very
well represent the t-xaa jb^ftSi.
' We should expect ii-oi.
' Here ^au seems to = Kipdipiov (see Du Cange, Glossarium,
col. 653), called also ;ae*;M>, the coffer or chest in which the
eucharistic elements were placed; it also was veiled. See Payne
Smith, Tlies., col. 3240. The to« must have been a central
part of the nave.
^ See the Tat^um of Onkelos on Exodus xxix. 45, 46;
and Buxtorf [ed. Fischer], s. v. SIJi'^B'.
' Compare TerpcipriXov, Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 186.
^ Compare fAer? j&aoV* ^?BiiB fy}^ ja^ {jma l^^^ ^.am iat
iiAa^ ias\ ;3aaa.Jl« fl^ttaS\.MO oaa.aiy3 .„«; dl too) ' ■f .V^tw
fl\^MW A^ l<yt\n ^^O ^p03j« JiAB.^.a'^Io .,Au» ^ft.<U0O 33fi9?0
?ft?Sri"^fr JseaSlp 7aa^ J^aao J*a.b^oo)e juauo (■■-— jNo^ase
fSMsia ;ii:^o. See B. 0., iii. i. p. 355, col. 2, cap. VIII. For
a long discussion on the nine orders of angels by Solomon of
al-Ba^ra see Budge, Book of the Bee, pp. 9— 11. "The Chem-
bim are an intellectual motion which bears the throne of the
Holy Trinity, and at their head stands Gabriel; the Seraphim
BOOK V. CHAPTER XV. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 545
the first congregation represent to me Patriarchs, Metro-
politans and Bishops; the second congregation [which
consists] of Powers, Lords and Rulers [represents] priests,
and deacons, and solitaries; and the third congregation
[which consists] of Principalities, Archangels and Angels
[represents] sub-deacons, readers, and believing laymen.
The lights which are in the chancel fill the place of
Divine splendour, and the knowledge Divine in all
things by which all the companies of spiritual beings
sparkle and shine. The censer which hath been trans-
mitted by the priests, from hand to hand, in order,
from the priests of the early [period] to those of the
middle [period], and from the priests of the middle
period to those of these last times, [represents] the
doctrine of the things which are about to come to
pass, and of the things which must needs be, and which
the Divine dispensation demandeth, and which the angels
receive by teaching from one another. And the know-
ledge of things which are about to come to pass, and
the insight into things which are hidden, and the
are a fiery motion; and the Thrones are a fixed motion. The
Lords are a motion which is entrusted with the government of
the motions beneath it; the Powers are the minister of the will
of God; and Rulers are a motion which hath power over spiri-
tual treasures. This class of angels governs the luminaries, the
sun, moon and stars. The Principalities are a defined motion
which possesseth the direction of the upper ether, of rain, cloud,
lightning, thunder, whirlwinds, tempests, winds, etc.; the Arch-
angels are a swift operative motion which governeth the animal
creation and everything that hath life, from the gnat to the
elephant; and the Angels are a motion which hath spiritual
knowledge of everything that is on earth and in heaven. The
number of each one of these classes of angels is equal to the
number of all mankind from Adam to the resurrection."
zzz
4
546 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNCASi?.
•
gratification and joy which we receive therefrom are
like unto the sweet scents which the censer breatheth
forth in our holy temples. The gathering of us all in
the church [symbolises] the universal assembling which
[shall take place] before the face of our Lord in the
celestial heights. Our choirs which face each other,
and the service which is sung by two choirs, ^ represent
those which cry each to each, and say, "Holy, Holy,
Holy, is the Lord the mighty One,"^ etc. So then by
reason of the contemplation of these things which are
before my sight, ^ O chosen one of Christ, I am
exalted to the incorporeal congregations of the spiritual
beings, and I forget myself, and I pass over by the
mental faculty^ which I abstract from these typical
objects^ to the prototype^ which is depicted upon my
understanding by these things which are above the
world, [p. 308] And on account of this many, many
times I have kept myself back from going into the
holy temple on days of assembling for holy feasts, and
since I am occupied in this enjoyment every first day
' /. e,, "antiphonally". See Payne Smith, Thes., col. 673,
s, v., ;?o\; and 'AvTicpiuva and xopo? i^ Du Cange, Glossarium^
coll. 89, 1756. On the two choirs in modern Nestorian churches
see Badger, Nestorians, vol. ii. p. 23.
^ "And one cried unto another, and said. Holy, holy, holy,
is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Isaiah vi. 3.
3 Read Ju>.
^ tkoj^ovt. An example of this word seems to be wanting
in Payne Smith, Thes,
5 ;|J!uDi3o^. See Payne Smith, Thes.y col. 1448.
^ ^^^ i, ^., "exact image". See Payne Sniith, Thes.
col. 31 13.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XV. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 547
of the week, in order that I may not be accounted a
drunkard and remote from knowledge and understanding
of those things which are being performed during the
festivals, I remain in my cell that I may not appear to
be such to the simple and pure minds of the saints.
For our Lord when pronouncing the Beatitudes spake,
saying, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see
the living God;"' and again, "I and my Father will
come, and we will make a dwelling with them";' and
again, "I will dwell in you and walk in you, and they
shall be one with us, even as Thou and I, O my Father,
are one".^
And moreover this same very aged man Mari who
related to me the things [above] concerning [Mar
Narses], also told me saying: — "Once Abba Shubhhil-
Maran asked him concerning the questions and answers
of the old men which are written in the Book of Para-
dise,^ saying, *How is it, master, that the excellent Pal-
ladius was able to carry in his memory an innumerable
multitude of questions and to set them down in writ-
ing.'* Have they not been altered since the time when
they were spoken by the fathers and by those who
asked them?' And the holy Mar Narses answered him,
saying, *The histories of the holy fathers which
have written above them [the statement] that they
were composed by him, were actually written by him,
but the questions and their answers he gathered to-
gether from the collections of the books of the Fathers.
Now on the holy days of the Passover, [p. 309] and the
Passion, and the Resurrection, when they were going forth
^ St. Matthew v. 8. ' St. John xiv. 23.
^ St. John xvii. 21. ^ See Bk. ii. chap. 15, supra, p. 192.
548 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
from the restraint of fasting, between one service and
the Other, the holy fathers were accustomed to sit
down with the novices before them, and scribes wrote
down the questions which were asked and the expla-
nations of them, and counsels, and answers, and they
placed them in writing for their own benefit, and for
the benefit of those who should come after them; and
Divine grace worked upon the holy Bishop Pailadius,
and he gathered them together'. And this thought
hath at times greatly troubled me also, but it was shewn
to me secretly that these things were written down in
this manner; and it is well known to us that the reve-
lation and knowledge of this [matter] became known
unto him by the hand of the holy angel which clave
unto him."
CHAPTER XVI.
OF THOSE THINGS WIIICII WERE WROUGHT bv THE HOLY
MAR NARSE.S, .SOME BV SPIRITUAL VISION, AND SOME BY
THE WORKING OF MIRACLES, AND OF THE END OF
HIS LIFE.
If any man desireth to learn concerning all the
wonderful acts and mighty deeds of healing which the
holy man ever wrought, let him go to that believing
city [of Shenna,] and he will hear about all the glorious
and excellent things which were performed by the
hands of that holy person, not only from priests and
deacons, and ordinary believing men. [p. 310] but also
from a host of women aud children, for behold, to this
day his wonderful acts are spoken of daily. I, however.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVI. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 549
will write down a few pleasant memorials [of him] out
of the many things which I have heard concerning
him, even as I have done in the case of the histories
of the holy men his companions, leaving out the re-
mainder which are beyond counting, for I must bring
the writing of my history to a close. Now the vener-
able Eustathius told me that there were certain be-
lieving people^ in the royal city of Bagdad who had
an only son about twenty years old, who when he
was three years of age had fallen sick of the palsy, and he
was grievously afflicted by severe pains for seven years
until he became abhorred by his parents by reason of
this disease. And they would even have preferred
his death [to his being alive]; for he received no bene-
fit at all from the physicians, and he found no relief
from the prayers and gifts which his parents distribut-
ed on his behalf among the needy. Now the blessed
Mar Narses had a man sick of the palsy in the house
of a certain rich God-fearing believer in Bagdad, and
one year the holy man went down to see the Cathol-
icus Mar Timothy. And when those people learned
and heard from many concerning the gift of healing
which the blessed man possessed, they went to Mar
CathoHcus and entreated him to write to the holy man
Mar Narses to command that the boy should be brought
to him, so that he might pray over him, that perad-
venture by [his] help he might receive healing. And
* $\ojeif the common people as opposed to the nobility.
Compare .9«o ;{p& ^a^ i^omhoa i^S ^is h\<*>o ^*'ve Ta&or ^o (Land,
Anecdota^ torn. ii. p. 315, 1. 5); Brit. Mus. MS. Oriental
2441, fol. 327^, col. I, where M^om is explained by jao^ and
;auu&33 ;o\;' and Payne Smith, Thes,y col. 3580.
550 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
he wrote through them [to him], saying, "Inasmuch as
thy hohness hath received the gift from the Holy
Spirit, which hath prepared for itself the working of
mighty deeds, [p. 311] and cures of sicknesses accord-
ing to thy piety through the virtues of the spirit and
of the body which it hath gathered together and placed
[in thee], and inasmuch as our Lord hath trusted thee
to be steward of His household, and to work wonder-
ful deeds, and hath set me in the third" grade of teach-
ing, as the blessed Paul glorieth, and inasmuch as these
believing people have required of me to write to thy
holiness to command them to bring to thee their sick
son who is struggling with disease, I entreat thee to
do this, and to let the young man be brought to thee,
and to let him be blessed by thy holy right hand; and
our Lord Christ shall heal him also of the infirmity
which hath become confirmed in him, even as He hath
healed others by thy hands". And when the blessed
man had read the letter, he commanded them to bring
the young man to him. And Eustathius swore that
they took the young man, who was lying in his bed'
upon his back and was unable to turn upon either side,
to the upper chamber of the blessed man, and Mar
Narses commanded them, saying, "Go to your house,
and at mid-day come and take away your son." And
when they had come back according to his command
and the masters of the house had informed him, he
commanded the young man, who had been made whole
and sound by the might of the prayer of the blessed
' "First apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then
miracles", i Corinthians xii. 28.
' ,fa,v4~^t'^''<'ov; see Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 801.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVI. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 5 5 I
man, and he went down the steps of the staircase of
the gallery with leaps, like the paralytic whom the
Apostles healed in Jerusalem;' and he induced and
moved all men to give praise to God, the Lord of all.
Who had visited our evil generation in the person of
this holy man; and this thing was known throughout
all the city.
[p. 3 1 2] And again there lived in the city of Shenna
a well-known believer, who had an only son, who when
he was eight years of age departed from this world
through the destructive work of magic. And when
the blessed man heard the sound of the funeral service
with which the boy was being carried to the cemetery,
and the noise of the crowd, and the weeping of his
parents as they arrived at the door of the church, he
stood at the door holding the stick upon which his
old age was supported, and commanded them, saying,
**Enter in all of you, and [bring] the dead body with
you, that we may perform a short service over it in
the church"; and the people did so, and the bier was
set down in the place where the services were held.*
' Acts ill. I — 10.
^ 2^aoAx^ ^*3, literally, "the place of the liturgy." It seems
to have been that part of the church which was just in front
of the ;au3y which was called by the Greeks awX^a (see Du
Cange, G/ossaHum, col. 1513), and to which the Nestorians
to-day give the name of Jbe&oa. The bodies of laymen are
not carried into the church as a general rule; see Badger,
NestorianSy vol. ii. p. 297. The leader of the singing was
called jt)aakN >xS /. e.y Kavovdpxo^ (Du Cange, Glossarium, col.
583). Some interesting remarks on the singing of the Psalms
and their division into kathismata, and the hours for prayer
will be found in Usener, Der heilige Theodosios^ P- 45> '• '9
552 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
And the blessed man commanded every one to bow
down m worship and to kneel, and he commanded the
parents of the boy to untie the cords and bandages
with which he was bound, and he took hold of his
hand, and said to him, "By the might of our God,
rise up". ..nH the boy sat up alive. And the blessed
man answered ^.^ ^^-^^ .^j^^ ^^^^ ^^
an act of magician^, . , , r _^, r ^ ,
shall not suffer this mischancl^°5*'^ ^^^ "°'' f*"" ^e
every one glorified God and retumedT^ /"J'^'' ^^'^
Now the blessed man had as a disciple;"' "*^"^^s-
priest whose name was Cyprian, and this mf^
[me], saying, "One night while I was sleeping lu
outer courtyard [of the house] of the holy man, al^
he was inside, he came out to me hastily, and stirrea
and roused me up, and he answered and said to me
sadly, 'Rise up, my son, and take with thee a little
bread and a jar of water, and a rope, and take with
thee a donkey, and go quickly to the ruined village
of Hammima, and go into a ruined house which is in
such and such a place, and behold there is there a
dry well into which a man has fallen, and thieves threw
him into it two days ago; draw him up and lift him
out, and feed him with bread and water, and set him
upon the animal and bring him hither', [p. 313] And I
answered and said to him, 'Be patient a little, master,
and with the dawn I will set out, for I am afraid lest
some harm should happen to me on the road during
the night time.' And the holy man answered and said
to me, 'My son, go quickly before that stranger die, and
(and note on p. 150); p. 154, and p. 49, 1. 5 {and note on
P- '53)-
\
^s^^a^r:
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVI. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 553
I will be a pledge to thee that neither evil hap nor
injury shall befall thee.' "And", said Cyprian, "through
[my] confidence in the word of the blessed man I did
what he commanded me, and I went to the ruined
village according to the indications which he had given
me. And I stood above the well, and I cried out, and
there answered me [a man] who chattered like a bird,
and I drew him up, and lifted him out, and I brought
him to the city to M4r Narses. And he remained
with him until he was healed of the bruises and wounds
in his limbs, and with a blessing he bestowed upon
him a prayer for the way, and sent him away from
his house."
"And again, one day at dawn he called me, and
said to me, *Go to-day to the banks of the Tigris and
command the sailors that not one of them unmoor his
boat to cross over to the other side, that their ships
be not broken and sunk, for a violent storm is about
to arise through a mighty wind' — now this wind
actually arrived — ; 'and the boat and all the cargo of
every man who doth not receive what I have said
shall perish', now it was the season of the great flood
when the rivers Tigris and the Little Zcib overflow."'
\
^ The overflow of the Tigris and Zab rivers is caused by
the melting of the snow in the mountains where they rise. The
first spring flood takes place about the middle of February and
in a few days the river rises several feet and floods all the low-
lying country on each side of its banks. In February 1889,
while I was at M6sul carrying on excavations at Kouyunjik
for the Trustees of the British Museum, the water reached nearly
to the mound of Kouyunjik, and about two months later it
actually touched its base which is several feet above the nor-
mal height of the river. The little river Poser (in Assyrian
aaaa
554 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
"And again, on another occasion, there began to
be a pestilence in the city of Mar Narses, and the
believers entreated him to allow them to decree a
solemn supplication to God on account of this. And
he said to them, 'That we should make a solemn sup-
plication is a good thing to do, but death, which is
your master, [p. 314] will not be stayed unless he hath
taken from among your souls according to the number
which God hath decreed shall be taken from you as
a punishment/ Now he privily made known the number
to his disciple, and when this limit was reached the
sword of death rested and stayed."
Tif T^T ^TX ^TT Cyf^ became a mighty stream, and it was
not hard to understand how very materially this river which
Sennacherib tells us he brought to Nineveh (Rawlinson, Cunei-
form Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. iii. pi. 14, L ii),
must have helped to destroy the palaces of his great city. The
yellow Tigris flowed along with its swollen stream at the rate
of sVa or 6 miles an hour, and small rafts reached Bagdad in
4V2 days, including stoppages of a few hours each night. The
distance from Mosul to Bagdad via Kerkuk is about 300 miles,
and I believe the distance by river to be about 400. The
greatest flood of the Tigris and Zab takes place in April. It
may be noticed that Thomas of Marga used the Syriac form
of the Old Assyrian word for "flood" ; /. ^., ^2^ «= Assyrian
mi'lum; see Strassmaier, W'drterverzeicknisSy No. 5294, p. 658;
Bruno, A Classified List, Leyden 1887, P- 4^» No. 11538;
Smith, Sennacherib f p. 146, 1. 52; Rawlinson, Cuneiform In-
scrip tions of Western Asia^ vol. i. pL 57, col. vii. 1. 51; and
Norris, Assyrian Dictionary^ pt. iii. p. 789. Floods on the
Tigris are often accompanied by violent south-east winds which
literally blow craft up the river or into the banks, and it is
necessary to cut the bridges of boats until the wind and stream
subside.
■SP"V""^9
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVI. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 555
"Now there was an exceedingly wicked Arab who
surpassed all those who lived in his time and after him
in his cruelty and plunderings, and his name was
Ya^le bar-Himran of Beni-Taimlah/ which is in this
country of Adiabene. And this man having brought
himself to execute all wickedness, the [shedding of] blood
and the slaughter of men were regarded by him as
the slaughter' of snakes and scorpions, and his con-
science never pricked him because of the blood of the
holy men which he cruelly shed. And this man des-
troyed the Monastery of the holy Rabban Mar Job,
and the Monastery of Beth Nestorius and the Monastery
of Margana,^ and he left many places without an in-
habitant. He rode a mare without saddle or bridle,
and none of the governors was able to overtake him
because he could travel in one night twenty farsah,
more or less, at a rapid rate, and while he was heard
of in this country to-day, to-morrow he was heard of
in a very distant one. Now^ this utterly wicked man
went down to the Monastery of the holy Abba Simon,
and he went up covertly to the cell of Rabban
Shubhhal-Maran, the head of the monastery, and slew
him. And it was revealed to the blessed Mar Narses,
and Cyprian his disciple said, *When deep sleep falleth
« /. e,, ^\\:^ Ji^. cy^ J<r^ c^ c^^.- For the name
^^jJuo see Ibn al-Athir, tom. xiv. p. 663 ; and for CJ^\ (<^^) ^
see Ibn al-Ath!r, vol. xiii. p. 197.
' Hoffmann suggests that we read ;^o&*p ^ ^^V^?-
3 Hoffmann would point $!^it>S^i Mapaifva?
4 The Hsb^y Arab, ^""f, Gr. TrapaadTm? == about three
English miles.
5 The next three clauses are quoted in B. O.y iii. i. p. 225,
col. 2.
556 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Upon man,' with sadness and tears he cried to me,
saying, [p. 315] 'Rise up, my son, and follow me, and
let us go to the Monastery of Abba Simon;' and we
went forth from the church and arrived at the Tigris,
and he made the sign of the cross over the water
and he took hold of me with his hand, and said to me,
'Come with me, and fear not.' And we crossed over,
and went into the monastery, and he sent me to cry
out and to knock at the door of the common-room,
and the brethren came out, and 1 took them to him.
And he answered and said to them, with tears, 'Woe
to you my brethren, for your chief Shubhhal-Maran is
slain;' and we all went to his cell, and we found that
blessed old man smitten with knife and sword wounds.
And upon this a great uproar arose, and that murderer
from the top of a hill answered and said to us, 'I am
Ya'le bar-^imran , and I have slain the head of the
monastery; after a time I will come and destroy you
all.' The holy MAr Narses said to him, 'If thou dost
ever return here I will dry up the mighty river Tigris.
The decree of the Highest hath gone forth against
thee, and thou wilt be slain by the governor of the
city of Hadhatta in the village of Esirenyii.' And thus
our Lord actually did to that murderer, for wishing to
come back again to Shenna, the governor of Hadhatta
slew him in Estrenya according to the word of the
holy man'."
"And also, one year when I for some reason or
other was coming up from the low countries with the
boatmen along the banks of the Tigris, there met me
* Compare Job iv. 13, and see Hoffmann, Syr. Arab. Glossen,
No. 2481, p. 88.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVI. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 557
above the city of Hadhatta a certain fisherman whose
name was Heshim,* and who having tied up his large
net was wishing to cast his gawpa^ into the river.
And he lifted it up in his right hand, and spake
with his mouth, saying, *In the name of the living God,
and by the prayer of the holy Mcir Narses.' ^ And I said
to him, *How is it that being an Arab thou didst call
upon the holy Mar Narses, a Christian teacher, to help
thee by his prayers?' [p. 316] He said to me, *Upon
which Mar Narses thinkest thou that I called?' And
I said to him, As I think, Mar Narses the teacher who
lived in Nisibis/* He said to me, 'That Mar Narses
upon whom I called was the blessed Mar Narses who
was Bishop of Shenna. For^ when I was a boy with
my father and we were fishing there, we used to see
him continually crossing over upon the water at night-
time from his city to the Monastery of Rabban Simon,
and back again from the monastery to the city. And
when he perceived that we had seen him, he sent his
disciple after us early one day, and called my father
to him, and he prayed and entreated of him that he
would reveal [this] to no man until [after] the holy man's
death. And he blessed us, and said to us, 'Every time
' Read ;a^ (^U)?
' The ^^ was a long, narrow net with spikes of palm
branches fixed in it from one end to the other.
3 The custom of casting the net in the name of a stranger
passing when fishermen are fishing is to this day common along
the Tigris.
* For Narses, "the harp of the Spirit,*' and his work in the
school of Nisibis see B. 0., iii. i. p. 63 ff.
5 The next seven clauses are quoted in B. 0., iii. i. p. 226,
col. I.
558 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
ye fish, and ye make mention of the living name of God,
the Lord of all, and the name of my sinfulness, an
abundant catch of fish shall be brought back to you
in a full net;' and from that time to this, whenever we
have made mention of that holy man, we have made
a large haul of fish in the Tigris.'"'
"And again, there was a certain Arab' who had
never taken anything from any man by fraud or injury,
and he was in want, and he went out one night to go
and plunder and steal. And after the death of the
blessed man he said, 'I went out to steal, being in
want, and 1 crossed over the Zab and went to the
neighbourhood of Ekrfinta,^ I and two members of my
household, and we took from there many sheep, and a
quantity of other things, and we left the guardians who
were there strongly bound and beaten. And when we
were in the plain opposite Shenn^, behold the blessed
man himself was coming towards us, and he met us
above the Monastery which is named after Bar-Gamesh.*
[p- 317] ^^^ when the mare which I was riding saw
him — now it was a dark night without a moon — she
pricked up her ears, and threw up her neck, and I
knew that something had appeared to her; and I laid
the pointed end of the spear on [her head] between
* Literally, "with an overflowing hand have we taken prey
from the T^ris.
' Jiliu. On the form of this word see Hoffmann, Opus-
cula Nestoriana, p. 95, 6.
3 UiAa\ i. e., "little 'A^ra," j^J-i\.
* Assemani gives .^^a^£^t t^J {B. O., iii. I. p. 495,
col. I. 1. 2), but all the MSS. known to me read toM«? &4
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVI. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 559
her ears, and let go of the bridle, and she charged
straight ahead against the blessed man who was
coming on towards us without fear. And when I saw
him I lifted up the spear and wished to drive it into
him, and he answered in the Syriac tongue, and smiling
said to me, *0 thou thit hast a spear and a mare,
smite me not' And I answered and said to him,
* Who art thou i^ And he said to me, *I am Narses the
Bishop.' And I got down from the mare and fell at
his feet, for I was acquainted with the beauty of his
holiness. And I said to him again, *How hast thou
come hither at this time [of nightj.^ and who ferried
thee across the river? and for what cause hast thou
troubled thyself [to come out] at this time [of night]?'
He said to me, *I have come out for thy deliverance,
and the Lord Who desireth not that thou shouldst
live before Him a life of theft and fraud hath sent me;
now take back everything which thou hast with thee,
and go and set free those men from their bonds, and
hand over to them everything which thou hast taken,
and come* to me to my cell to-morrow privily, and
I will give to thee more than that which thou hast
taken by wickedness.' And when I saw that the man
possessed so great renown that God had informed him
concerning the iniquity which had taken place by my
hands, and that God had not allowed me to be pol-
luted by sins which I had never committed in the days
of my youth, I promised* him that I would readily do
it, and I did according to his will. [p. 318] Next
morning I went to him without delay, and he brought
out five hundred ziize and gave to me, and he said
' Read .ft^o^ ^n^mu^o. ^ Read noo&xi.
560 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to me, 'Buy thyself two yoke of asses, and buy wheat
and sow a field, and behold thou shalt gather in a
crop a hundredfold, and our Lord will make thee rich,
and thou wilt not need to perform this disgraceful work;
and it came to pass according to his word, and I
gathered fruit a hundredfold, 'and by his blessing from
being a poor man I became rich.'"
Now if I were to write down all his acts, how
many sick he healed, how many evil devils he drove
out from men, and what temptations and trials he endur-
ed from bad and vicious men, as well as all his glorious
deeds, I think that much time would not be sufficient
for this, and that many volumes' would not contain
the multitude of mighty deeds and wonders which
Christ wrought by his hands; and from the time when
we began to write our history until now, it hath not
been our intention [to do this], but only to give a brief
account of each one of the holy fathers. So [Mar
Narses] finished the rest of his days, and rested in
peace with all the just and upright men, and his holy
body was laid in the holy church of that city, where
the holy fathers [who were] Bishops before him lie;
and his holy body in that holy church in which he
performed the duties of priest, became a haven of help
and a fountain of healing for all those who were at-
tacked by any kind of pain and temptation, whether
of bodily sickness, or affliction by cruel devils. May
our Lord also shew compassion upon us by his prayers,
that the remainder of our days may be made perfect
according to His good will and pleasure, and may we
' Literally, "many rolls of paper." te^^ii ^ ?'-\'r-
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVII. OF JOSEPH, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 56 1
make praise to ascend to the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever
and ever, Amea
[P. 319] CHAPTER XVn.
THE HISTOry OF THE HOLY ABBA JOSEPH.
The greater number of the histories which I have
written before this I have written down in order from
hearsay and from tradition handed down from one
[man] to the other; but the present history, which is
now in my hands and which my discourse wisheth to
set forth clearly, concemeth the holy and blessed life
of Rabban Joseph, of whom I was a contemporary.
And moreover I have been blessed by that God-worthy
old man, for he departed from affairs of this mortal
life to the everlasting* house of light in the first* year
of my coming to this holy monastery [of Beth 'Abhe].
Now this blessed man came from the country of Beth
Garmai, from the district called Beth Meshainane, which
is situated on the Lower Zab, and from his youth up
he was a disciple in this your monastery of Beth ' Abhe.
And from the beginning of his coming out from the
world he expelled from his heart all noxious thoughts
and emotions, and he renounced every material thing
absolutely, and he built himself a cell in that valley
which is called Dakhyi; and he dwelt therein all the
days of his life with absolute poverty of the spirit, and
he did not possess, according to what is said [about
him, the quality] which may be called friendly affection.
< The MSS. have 'p^ s^, but read ;b1^ fis.ai.
^ According to Bk. ii. chap. 40, Thomas of Marga came to
Bath 'Abhe A. H. 217 — A. D. 832.
bbbb
562 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
During the whole period of his life he had neither
companion nor disciple, and he either collected wheat
from a little plot of cultivated ground which he had
before his cell, or he went out to harvest with his
fellow [monks], and from this he supplied his want in
a very sparing manner. And in addition to all his
excellent virtues, I observed also in that holy person,
of whose prayers I am in need, the following method
which he observed for guarding his feelings: namely,
that he always looked straight before him, [p. 320] and
that even when he was in his cell he never moved his
neck to this side or to that to look at any place, so that
the nerves of his neck and shoulders which went up his
head, according to the arrangement of our natural con-
struction, had become dried up, and he was only able
to see such things as were quite near him at his feet,
but other things which were a little way off, either
to this side or to that, he could not see at all. The
very old solitaries whom I found told [me] concerning
him : "For forty years ^ he has neither lifted up [his head],
nor seen the ceiling* of this temple," even as it is
written of a monk like unto himself, "His eyes were
destroyed, and his eyelids^ were worn away, and the
' According to Palladius Abba Hor of the "Cells" dwelt for
twenty years in the church, and during this time he never lifted
up his eyes or saw the ceiling.
^ See Bk. ii. chap. 38, supra, p. 261, (text p. 122. 16).
^ According to Brit. Mus. MS. Rich 7203, fol. 202 «, col. 2,
;aA4^=«^U4''^^ and v:^^ii. "eyelids." Compare also MAft^ t^^o
Land, Anecdota, tom. ii. p. 24, 1. 19; and Neo-Syriac tilpape,
Sodn, Die Neu-Aram, Dialekte von Urmia bis Mosul, Tubingen,
1882, p. 138, col. I, 1. 21.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVII. OF JOSEPH, BISHOP OF ^>HENNA. 563
flesh beneath them was seared and blackened by reason
of the perpetual flow of his tears ;"^ and he ended his
life peacefully, wishing to be known to no man, nor to
be considered by any.
At that time when I was his contemporary the
thievish Kartew^ye' came against us in great numbers,
and they spoiled and seized all the monastery, and they
went into all the cells, and took everything which they
found ; now since we all had taken refuge in flight to
every hill, there was the greater opportunity for them
to go about ^ quietly through all the common-rooms of
the monastery and the cells, for it was daytime. And
when they had set out and departed from the mon-
astery, we all went back, and one of the brethren [who
were] the neighbours of Abba Joseph went to see what
had happened to that holy old man, and he found him
sleeping the mid-day sleep in the little doorway^ of
^ Thomas of Marga here refers to Arsenius, of whom the
following description is given by Palladius: — ^2 tS^e 0007 ^^a^i
;oo7 fis^ ^3 «*fioo2 .^07 ,aea^ ftuaa ^o^a ^ t^^^p ^Soa^ .A^Ioib^o
;^o .e^o^ad j^mA iU2 jS^ •^ai atsi ^o\lb2 &:SA9 .^&1^oa!^ ^ ^9^
(fol. 216 b), .o)^ ^07 ^ ^oauib fi^ ^o
* See suprUy p. 224, note i.
3 For the root A^ see Bickell, Camtina Nisibena, p. 63,
col. I; Payne Smith, Tkes.^ col. 3571.
4 ii^sii fem. of iio?i Chald. ^3t}, ^3^« or vho.\^. The Syriac
word jiio?! seems to be derived from the Babylonian and Assyrian
W ^y t^^ a-bul'lum "gate," which is the Semitic translation
of the Accadian KA-GAL; see Bruno, A Classified List, p. 1721
564 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
his habitation with the door open upon the old man
for coolness. And he asked him, saying, [p. 321] "Father,
whither didst thou flee from before the Kartewaye who
came against us this day, and who have carried off all
our property?" And being astonished he answered and
said, "My son, I did not perceive that thieve^had been
here;" thus did God guard that man from harm and
trouble by those thieves.
Now the pious Hakima, Bishop of Ghawkai' — now
one. day I went to this blessed man to ask for his
prayers, and to be blessed by him — told me [saying],
"When I knocked [at his door] and he opened [it] to
me, I sat down with him for a little, and [as] he dis-
missed me to go forth he brought out and gave me
a small bowl,* the like of which for manner of make
and appearance I had never seen. And he answered
and said to me, *Give this, my son, to such and such
an old man, and take it for him as a gift of grace
and say to him. Thy gift of grace is accepted, for
since thou didst bring me cooked food in this bowl
for three days [at a time] nothing was lacking to me.'
For behold the Angel of the Lord had brought food
to him even as He sent food to Daniel by the hands
No. 3892; Strassmaier, Worferverzeic/im'ss, No. 59, p. 13, and
for the form a-bu-la see The Tell el-Amarna tablets
in the British Museum, p. 87, No. 42, 1. 39. For the
Greek ?fipoXo^ see Du Cange, Glossariuniy col. 378, and for
native explanations of ;^oai see Payne Smith, Thes.^ col. 11 ;
Duval, Lexicon y col. 12; and Hoffmann, Syr, - Arab, Glossen^
No. 30, p. 6.
^ ««^ObS^ was a town of Beth Garmai which was situated near
or on the Lower Zab; see B. 0., iii. ii. p. 749.
^ The MSS. have i^ but read ^.
BOOKV. CHAPTER XVII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA. 565
of Habakkuk, from Judah to Babylon.* And I am
certain that such was really the case, for when I had
taken the bowl to that old man, and had repeated to
him these things which Abbi Joseph had said to me,
he swore to me and assured me with an oath, saying,
*It is more than a year since I went to the cell of that
blessed man.* Now the angel df the Lord in the form
of that old man, had appeared to Abbi Joseph, who
bore hunger inside the door of his cell and who never
went outside to knock at any human door to supply
his need."
Now there was in this monastery a man whose
name was Paloha, and he was a hireling of the mon-
astery, and was sent by those who were over the af-
fairs of the monastery to cut wood [and to bring it]
in a boat. Now Rabban Joseph had the day before
gone to the holy Monastery of Rabban Mar Isho'-Zekha,
which is called Gassa,' [p. 322] and at the break of
day he turned to come back, and P4l6ha saw the holy
man on the other side of the river, and he recognized
that it was he; and he saw that when he had drawn near
to the Zab he made the sign of the cross and cross-
ed over upon the top of the water, and he drew near
to him and saluted him. And when the old man saw
and knew that Paloha had perceived him care afflicted
him, and he was troubled, and he adjured him, saying,
"Thou art forbidden by the word of our Lord to make
^ Compare H^*^}!^ ^oi^asaas >\-inS «^^a^ Usohx yJSii 050,
Budge, Book of tite Bee^ p. JT\ and see Delitzsch, Der Prophet
Habakuk ausgelegt^ Leipzig, 1843; History of the Destruction
of Bel and the Dragon^ 33—39; Epiphanius, De Prophetarum
Vitisy in Migne, Patrol, Cursus, Sen Gr., t. 43, coll. 415 — ^427.
^ See Bk. ii. chap. 17; supra, p. 21a
566 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
known what thou hast seen until I depart [this] life;"
and he left him and came to his cell. And Paloha,
paying no heed to the ban, neither fearing the oaths,
related this before the whole brotherhood.
Now when I ^ lived in the service of the monastery
I used to pasture a few cattle which we had in the
monastery in the woods [which were] in the valley
near the cemetery, and I heard from within the thicket
the sound of bitter weeping, like that of one fastened
in the stocks.* And at the noise of the mournful out-
cries I went softly into [the thicket] and found Abba
Joseph sitting on the ground among the grass and
plants and flowers — now it was the time of the month
of lyar — and I saw him gathering dry grasses from
among the green grass, which he brought with
his hands before his face, and weeping bitterly he said,
"The days of man are like the grass, and he groweth
up like the herb of the field, which when the wind
hath blown over it is not, neither is its place known ;"^
and again, "Man is like unto a vapour, and his days
pass like a shadow;"^ and he laid them down upon
the ground. And again he gathered other grasses and
after he had weeded out all the old, he passed his
hand softly over the new, and embracing them said,
"Verily the generations of flesh and blood are like
unto the leaves of trees, ^ some of which fade and fall,
and some of which grow up;" and he repeated these
' Thomas of Marga is now speaking of himself.
^ ^ = ;a^o ^& ;»\oib "a large and thick fetter for the feet;"
see Hoffmann, Opuscula Nestoriana^ 153. 16.
3 Psalm xc. 5, 6. ^ Psalm cxliv. 4.
s Compare Isaiah Ixiv. 6; Psalm xc; Isaiah xl. 6, 7.
BOOK V. CHAPTER XVII. OF NARSES, BISHOP OF SHENNA- 567
[words] with mournful sighs and groans while tears
flowed down from his eyes abundantly, [p. 323] And
again he took some of the beautiful flowers, and look-
ing at them sweetly he groaned, and said to God,
"Glory be to Thee, O Creator of all [things], how
beautiful are Thy works."* Now I standing silently
above him marvelled at the wonderful things that I
saw, and how that holy old man was able to weep over
such contemptible and despicable matters with so great
a weeping which others could not have wept even
had they been beaten. And after his great weeping
and his bitter outcries, he started up with gratitude
to God, and there sprang up gladness within him, and
like David, his mouth was filled with laughter, and his
tongue with praise,* and he took some of those flowers
which were in front of him in his hand, and bringing
them near to his nose, he lifted up his voice and sang
in metre the whole of the hymn of Hosannas, "The
rose, and the lilies, and the blossoms, and the spring
flowers are very lovely in their appearance;" and without
being perceived, for he would have been angry, I left
him and went away. There are many things about
him [which I could tell], but I pass over them all that
I may not burden this discourse with too much weight,
and that it may not become longer than its fellows.
Now when this holy man died he was alone in his cell,
and he departed this life without a servant, for no man
ministered unto him during his illness; but the holy
Rabban Peter his fellow-soldier knew of it, but whether
by divine revelation, or whether because he went to
* Compare Psalm cxi. 3; cxlv. 5.
* Psalm cxxvi. 2.
568 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
visit him is hidden from us, and he made known to us
concerning his death, [p. 324] And the funeral service
was said over his venerable body and it was laid in
the common sepulchre of the monastery near the orat-
ory; may we receive a blessing through it, and may
we be helped by his prayers, Amen.
Here endeth the history of the holy men who lived
in the Monastery of Beth 'Abhe.
Permit me to inform thy love, O Mar ' Abd-lsho', and
every one who shall peruse these lines that I am not to
be blamed* because I have not been able to write these
histories with polished speech and with learned words
skilfully strung together. For I have not done it as
well as I could have wished, but according to my power
and as I was able, and that which [is done] according
to [a man's] power is beloved by God and [resteth] upon
Him. To God the Cause of all things, the Supporter of all
things, and the Administrator of all things, be glory, and
honour, and praise, and worship, and thanksgiving, now
and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
Here end the five Books of the triumphs of the holy
Fathers.
Read
[P. 325] B O O K VI.
[CHAPTER I.]
THE HISTORIES OF RABBAN CYPRIAN AND OF RABBAN GABRIEL
THE HOLY HEAD OF THE MONASTERY WHICH IS IN THE
DISTRICT OF BIRTA, IN THE COUNTRY OF MARGA,
COMPOSED BY THE PIOUS THOMAS.
According to what the holy fathers say, the rational
soul possesseth three powers, desire, anger, and thought,
and from these, as from fathers and mothers, are pro-
duced the other powers. From desire spring chastity,
love, and patience; from anger, strength and fortitude,
and from thought understanding, wisdom and know-
ledge. From these, according to what say the holy
writers on the ascetic and monastic life, is propagated
in the God-loving heart every work upon which as
by stories, the spiritual building riseth and with
which the mind, which is wise in Divine matters,
buildeth up and completeth the whole tower which
mounteth up to heaven. Now the labours and habits
of life which are wrought by holy men and which have
repentance as their aim, namely, fasting, watching, bow-
ing of the whole body and head to the ground, and*
' The MSS. have ^Iaoj? but read ^070.
cccc
570 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
prayers themselves, are the primary matters and mate-
rials for the ascetic life; and services of Psalms, self-
denial, tears,' contrition, readings of the Scriptures,
patience, seriousness, chastity, voluntary poverty, silence,
meditation on divine matters, the despising of self,
the fleeing away from men, the struggling, and the
sitting apart quietly in the cell: [p. 326] these are all
the various things which purify the understanding
[which] loveth prudence. These, and more than these,
needeth the labour of monks which is performed with
correct aim and for the sake of the glory of the world
which is to come. And the blessed Mark the monk
grouped these things under the three comprehensive
heads of the ascetic life, namely, "that a man should
pray without ceasing ; that he should cleanse his thoughts ;
and that he should endure those things which happen."
Wherefore when the soul of him that would be per-
fect in these things hath entered into them, it hath
already become a dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit;
and hath trodden the passions under foot; and hath
become exalted above the body; and hath yoked* it
beneath itself like a chariot; and like a strenuous
charioteer it pursueth after the passions and treadeth
under foot the desires of the body; and like a fire
blazing with the love of our Lord it burneth up all
humidity [of the body] which is placed as an obstacle
in the burning path of Christ; and it is filled with
love towards its neighbour, from which love for God^*^
is produced, and concerning which the divine Apostle
John saith in his Catholic Epistle, "He that thinketh he
» The MSS. have ^?, but read ;>»?.
^ Read orfis&bAo.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. OF CYPRIAN. 57 1
loveth God, but who loveth not his brother whom he
hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not
seen?"^ [Thus] thou seest that love to God is produced
by love to man. And [this] soul despiseth the hostile
disposition and all the crafty duplicity of the devils
which are its enemies, and by the Divine help in which
it taketh refuge it cutteth to pieces their snares, and
dissipateth their crafts and wiles, and becometh a man-
sion of Christ, and He, and His Father, and His Spirit
come and make their dwelling with it. And it attaineth
the heavenly rest and the Sabbath peace in that mystical
feast which the tried fathers who have penetrated
into the mysteries of the new world have celebrated
in the secrecy of their pure minds, [p. 327] by a bond of
perfect unity which is joined' to its object and which is
superior to this world, and which can never be ex-
plained by created beings with a tongue of flesh, and
which is filled^ on all sides with understanding which
is superior to the learning of books,* and the mind
plungeth into the obscure and concealed domain of their
dark hiding place, and emergeth into the splendour of
their enjoyments and forgetteth the world and every-
thing which is in it. And it happeneth that twice and
thrice a day [the mind] is absorbed there without per-
ceiving it, even as it is said concerning every one of
the holy men, and according also to what happened to
Abba Sisoes,^ who when his disciple knocked at the
^ I John IV. 20, 21.
^ The MSS. have &^;j^, but read $^itsio.
3 Read i^^ agreeing with ;a^o.«.
4 Literally, "the learning of ink."
5 See supra, p. 29.
572 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
door of his cell to come in cried out, saying, "Be gone,
Abraham,' and come not in hither, for this place will
not suffice [for thee]";* and according to that which
[happened] to Abba Bessarion, ^ and which was wrought
^ This Abraham is mentioned in Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum,
p. 570, No. 37; and p. 651, No. 14.
^ This sentence is given by Cotelerius, Eccles, Grace. Mon^^
torn. I. p. 672, No, xxvii.
3 The account of Bessarion by Palladius is as follows: —
^073 .^^2 aA «*o7oImO ojQiaop .o^auhfiua ^2a «*ojo'^*»^Cs 0007 ^Nafio
^070 >^a3p ^'ao f^saa^ ^A*2o .^^naca jZ^ad ^2 oja^oep )pSb ^007 yja\^^sA
^wjAt j^>\bp %^^ 9*^ i^ .«*07oI^ ^f oj^AiS Opels ^o^cpo ^oar,*2^ ;Sp
c;^ J{>^oa^3 ^oyaib ;S .opels giasMi£stS2 j{>*3oap j{»\aa ^o .07^w*S jsoo?
«»o70^U ^ Xhth^tta .^Obo ^ ^fro ;S .^Sa^a ^v»&d ;!^ ..tto^ e7^^07&3 ^f
^jj3X Nottaao .^0*04^.3 ^ni&'flM'o ^007 ^orofryJo .o7Noa»iA07a jt^^fioeao .^»^Of
O7f0k3a ^07 SyfcjUo .^aojtia ^\\,a^ ^007 U.070N.2 aa .^007 ^cj;! Aot^o ja^
^007 k^abfiso&o «x?^a 00^20 .5{^o7>^ ^aoMSO \^*nr £si*3 p«a aa ^bfioacp
.oo;lM*a ^f o;^ ^Onajda ^aaoa^ ^3^? ^o&ap ^2 .^uSuop ;{»*aoa^ ^fr^^o
aa ^•sp ^ia*2 .^007 afisl tsJ^^ -^a^P? ^3>^ ^ aa^ ^^^^ ^o\? ^*ft^'^^
^ af0£ss2p >3a2 ^2 ;!i}o ^007 ^o .^^sN ^ aa!^ o}^ a^* w^o^ ^a*p ^ ^a^
^v*2p ^oaMiO .^&aAk^ ^ a^i 5^2 ^07^ ov*aft2 .^2 ^ a^ JbujU a^o .^^oxm^
>3abo t^ .2 .^aaV. ^^^ ^ ^ -^ ^2 fiv*>fisfi)aM* o7£so^ ^aa^ ^o .^\vi
Aa^t ^Odb .A ^2 aoT* ^\J>i Xk2p ;»a2 ./sa2 jOUiO ^N^2p jUmSBm ^
.ai>\>ft»*i ^o\ 0070 .^^ ^aoMp jZ>aSoap ^^^od^o.aa ^a^2o .a^ ^
^07aM0 .fr^p£]o2p 0^7 »<iS*ap j&*jjb vM^s^p ^aij ^ ^07^ aap2o ^^o\^tsl v^
£Sm*£S ^oc772p ^2 ^^ ^ .^aOM frui^l^Miauo ^f wi^ap xJffpAl £s*3p tf»S^fl>
^o .«A^ J9Li:ipf2 ;^aaeMU3o .^ o^ J^ a^Jpa ai\ ^V\b>\ .ASi\*o
j^\i*o^ e70£Sis2 ^2 ^p 007 •JV^ ^m3»o ^ <S<.od70 .£S^«\^N2 <S*oe7 ^p ^bNo^
^*^o7o «.oa2 ^07 ^ ae .07^ aibo2 aa o;^£i^*o ^omS jBiIJ ^^ .07^ £\*aao ^07
OJ7 .fisa^2p ^070 ^bfisoJ^o ^O3\o ;^^2 :^o7^2 ^ ;&<bo ^aab2p ;Z^aMi2 ^axp
BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. OF CYPRIAN. 573
for the blessed Macarius^ and others. Observe then
to what [height] is exalted the dust of Adam, which
is formed with the clay of passions and moistened with
the water of wandering from what is right. So may est
thou know that when man is purified from the passions
which are within [him] and without, and his course
moveth in a supernatural place, he will be able to illu-
mine all deep places, and to throw light into the
deepest wells; and thus the spiritual eye, which is the
understanding, shineth and illumineth others, like a
polished mirror which when placed opposite the sun,
also reflecteth in the same manner' the glorious rays
which overcome the pupils of eyes of flesh. To such
degrees and to such great glory were lifted up the holy
men, who were superior to the world in their lives
and actions, and concerning whom our feeble narrative
wisheth to relate, that is to say, Rabban Cyprian the
^l ^^ A ^2 ^^ i^a .9k^3o .oj^ ^9k» aA looj i^S^ .^ooj H^l ^v*^^« ^
.^tSao vO^ ^i2 ^tMp ^2 <S<.3>*N» laoN ;^2 .^2 ^iaa ^aao2p p^ 061 .w*3^
jjuuo ;^9 J{>SL3p ^*Uj ;^oXmM ^ .^^kOto^ ^2 ^VP^^ ^oAa ^2 ^2 9A
^h^? iioo^a ^tat^'iS ^ox2 j»^?? ^^aib ^^ ^2 aauo^a ^07 .%*&a3Ma
(foi. 131^.) The abbot Bessarion lived in the fourth century
of our era. He is said to have been able to cross rivers by
walking upon the water; to have caused the sun to refrain
from setting until he had arrived at the cell of a certain sage;
to have healed the sick and to have cast out devils; and to
have been acquainted with the decrees of God before they were
worked out For his life and sayings, see Rosweyde, Vi/ae
Patrutn^ pp. 518, 532, 584, 594, 609 ff; Tillemont, Memoir es^
torn. viii. p. 348.
' See Palladius, Hist. Latis., chap. xix. (Rosweyde, Vitae
Patru7n, p. /igfT.).
^ ^^iJ^^^y a rare word.
574 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
anchorite and ascetic, by whose hands the Lord com-
pleted a holy monastery in the district of Birta towards
the end of his life, [p. 328] and with him was the
holy* Abb4 Gabriel who also triumphed in this mona-
stery. But before we involve ourselves in these histories
and write down their noble deeds for prudent readers,
we will lift ourselves above our narrative a little, and
introduce into this history [some] mention of the holy
anchorites who lived in this country, by whose rays
our part of the world was illumined, and who made
the country of Marga to possess a splendid appear-
ance* [such] as it never possessed before; and they
made it the abode of their holiness, and the scene of
their labours in the caves, and habitations, and monas-
teries which they planted therein. I speak ^ now con-
cerning the holy Monastery of Risha, in which accord-
ing to what the historians of times and kings say,
seven Bishops lived at the beginning, but in which
subsequently many [more] lived; and the Monastery of
the holy M&r Ephraim* the monk, who lived for the
whole period of his life in a double^ cave, [which was
situated] in a place called "Ammike" or "Nahla dhe
Ail the MSS. have fit^Ja^o, but we should probably read
* In the text p. 65, 1. 13, this word is pointed ;fofX, but in
the Urmi edition of the Old Test. 1852 we have ;sm (Daniel i.
13, p. 978).
3 The passage beginning on p. 328, 1. 8, and ending on
p. 330, 1. 7, is quoted in B. 0., iii. i. p. 49S, col. 2, p. 496,
col. 2.
^ See Hoffmann, Aussii^e, p. 201.
5 M^2 ;fi^a.i» = T6 CTTiriXaiGV TO biTrXoOv by which the LXX
rendered the Heb. H^Mgn JlIX?"^^^. See Genesis xxiii. 17.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. OF CYPRIAN. 575
Nahra",' far away from all human intercourse and affairs;
and also of the blessed 'Anan-lsho^ that famous and
triumphant man, whose monastery which was [situated]
above Hetara' excelled preeminently in mighty deeds and
miracles ; and of the holy Mar 1th AUaha, ^ who passed his
whole life in the perfection of ascetic acts and deeds
in a small hole in the rock above the village of Lalesh;^
and of the blessed Isho' Rihmeh, to the name of whose
piety the Monastery of Betma^ was built, the glorious
things of whose shrine are still spoken of by the wise
and prudent; and of the blessed Hebhishi whose booth ^
was fixed near the village of Hennes/ and the resting
place of whose bones and of those of the holy men
who were his companions was revealed in our days
by the hands of venarable men; — [p. 329] now when
thou goest into that cave and seest the crosses hewn
out of rock [which] hath never [before] been subject
to the [chisel of] steel, ® fixed there as marks of honour
* /. e., the Zab. See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 201, note 1594.
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 223.
3 \ia{i\ ^ seems to be the incorrect Nestorian pronunciation
of ;(^} M; compare B. 0., i. p. 394, note 2, and I^^^^jl^
'A€i0aXdg Payne Smith, Thes,, col. 174. ivi^i tsA means "God
existeth."
^ Assemani has oi^^^. This village is situated on a tribu-
tary of the Hazir, and is to be identified with the Lailesh or
Lelesh of Yakutj see Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 197.
5 /. e., The monastery of the terebinth.
^ Hoffmann thinks that j^\\%> is a modest description of a
church; compare jbofiL&oa uam .... «M*^a o7<^^\io p* 408, 1. 9
(Syriac text).
7 /. €., Bavian; see Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 223.
8 ;sii^2 = ;.att, Af^ "hard iron," i. e., "steel." See Duval,
Lexicon, p. 222 j Hoffmann, Syr. Arab. Glossen, No. 992, p. 38;
576 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
for a testimony of the holiness of those monks , and
how the tablets above their coffins* are hewn out, and
how little holes* (or channels) have been left [in the
coffins] for the sweet odour from their dust^ [to come
out], thou must marvel and admire — and also of the holy
M&r Addai, whose Monastery was called Rama, the
strength^ of which testifies to the solitude of his dwell-
ing place, in which, according to what is said, many
mighty deeds and miracles were wrought for all men.
And of this company were the holy Gregory, whose
holy monastery was [situated] near the village of
Berbeli;^ and the blessed Mar Isaac the ascetic, who
made his habitation in the territory of the village
and Payne Smith, Thes,^ col. 300. The form ;»^, /. ^., aio^uj^a
also occurs; see Payne Smith, Thes,^ col. 2601.
' Assemdni has m^ ^'onfoAV^.
^ We are here reminded of the serdabs in the Egyptian
tombs of the early dynasties, in the walls of which channels
were hewn that the dead man might smell the odour of the
incense, which was burnt by his surviving relatives and friends
in the large chamber of the tomb, on certain days of the year.
3 Assemani has .oo^*m.9.
** Assemani has ^No^^JdM^d, but ;Na&jzu»? is a better reading,
for Thomas of Marga means to tell us that the Monastery of
Rama was a strongly built structure, part dwelling-place, part
fortress, and that it was sufficiently strong to withstand the
attacks of the Kurds and other predatory tribes.
5 The village of Berbeli or Barbell is mentioned in connexion
with Telhi (JSa;^© \^\ B. 0., iii. i. p. 569, col. I. 1. 10 =
^^^^ JJj\ B, 0., iii. I. p. 564, col. 2, 1. 22), and may pro-
bably be compared with the Be-Rberri mentioned by Badger
{Nestorians^ vol. i. p. 397) as belonging to the diocese of
Gawar; see B, 0., iii. ii. p. 728; and Hoffmann, Auszuge,
p. 222, note 1762. Telia lay on the east side of the Upper
Zab, north of Walto, and south of Julamerk.
BOOK VL CHAPTER I. OF CYPRIAN. 577
Harbai/ and lived a life remote from all visible things;
and the blessed Mar John, concerning whom we will
speak later, who dwelt in a cave like unto a grave in
a place which is called Nerabh Barzai,* and who wrought
signs and wonders like the Apostles in the conversion
of the village of Koph^ to belief [in Christ]; and the
blessed Mar Abha, who built a monastery in a mountain
ravine on the Outer Risha above the village of Beth
Zeata, which is Beth Sati,'* where he ended his days,
at a good old age, and in a course of life which was
superior to the world; and the blessed Mar Abraham, ^
the dust of whose limbs worketh many mighty deeds
unto this day. And a fellow-worker of his was the
holy Mar Aha, who ended the strife of his life of an
anchorite in a little cave in a mountain gorge near
the Zab, and he was a fountain of help to all the countries
round about him. Now these men were, according to
what the early writers say concerning them, [p. 330]
bishops and ascetics. And at the time when the
abominable doctrine of Arius^ the heretic was blazing forth.
^ Assemani has u^ul», and a place of this name is men-
tioned by Bar-Hebraeus, Chronicon, p. 320, 1. 17.
^ Nerabh Barzai or Nerabh Barazi was situated not far from
Koph and near *Akra; see Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 225.
3 See Hoffmann, AuszugCy p. 225; and Badger, Nesiorians,
vol. I, p. lOI.
^ A place named after a man JSi^. According to the Syriac
version of Pseudo-Callisthenes, (ed. Budge, p. 95, 1. 14) ^00
= &o2^5, but ^i may be an abbreviation of some name like
ZaTipdpCavn?; compare Horn and Steindorff, Sassan, Gemmen,
P- 32.
5 The name of the place where he lived is omitted by
the MSS.
^ Arius, "Apeio^, was born early in the second half of the
dddd
578 THOMAS OF MARG^, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
during the reign of Valens' the Emperor and of his
wicked companions, who tyrannically persecuted* the
orthodox who would not accept their doctrine,^ by reason
of the insolence and cruelty of those who persecuted
them these men fled from the countries of the Greeks,
and came to this land of the east, and preferred rather
to live in tribulation, and in banishment from their native
lands and relatives, than to be near their persecutors,
and to be tormented* by acquiescence with the diseased
doctrine of heretics.
Now once, when [the sense of] what was right urged
me to go round about and to pray in their caves where
they had lived, I went into them with great reverence,
and I understood the affliction and tribulation of their lives,
to which the very places where they lived testify, and
I was exceedingly sorry and very much grieved, and
at once I blamed the teachers who were found in their
days, [teachers who] perhaps had been esteemed worthy
to see these men, or to behold their wonderful works,
because [the sense of] what was right had not urged
and obliged them to set down in writing some matters
of the noble acts and deeds of such anchorites as
3rd century A. D. , and died at Constantinople A. D.
336. For his life and doctrines see Sozomen, Hist. Eccles.,
I. 15; Socrates, Hist, Eccles.^ i. 4, 38; Theodoret, Hist. Eccles.,
I. 5; Epiphanius, H acres. 69. 6, 60; Rufinus, Hist. Eccles., i.
13; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. XXL
^ Emperor of the East A. D. 3^4—378- The Nestorians al-
ways write H^a//j for Valens ; see Payne Smith, T/ies., col. 1064.
2 See Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. XXV; and Tillemont,
MenioireSj torn. VI.
3 Assemani has op^^o*^.
^ Hoffmann would read ^outu^M.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. OF CYPRIAN. . 579
these; for it is more evident than the sun^ at noon-day
that signs, and mighty deeds, and noble acts must have
been exhibited by them to the believing men who lived
in their days. And when I had returned from there,
that is to say from the clefts and holes of the holy
men in the rocks above, I went also into the Monastery
of the holy Mar Cyprian the ascetic, which was situated
in the vicinity of [the caves of] these holy men, and
I enquired also concerning the holy men who were
therein, and if they had any histories of them in their
possession which I could read, and with which I could
satisfy my eager desire [to know] their triumphs. And
the brethren who were therein brought out and gave
to me some incomplete narratives, in which there were,
[p- 331] however, some few materials relating to the
triumphs of the mighty deeds of the holy Rabban Cyprian,
and of the blessed Gabriel, and of Paul his brother,
from which I could learn whence they came, and how
and where they became disciples, and how they lived,
and in what manner they ended their days. And when
I had gone through them, although they were written
in a simple manner by men who loved God, I thanked
our Lord and offered up grateful thanks for the gift of
the zeal of the ascetic brethren who lived in this
monastery during the life-time of these fathers, who
had not been negligent like the early [writers] and
passed over all the noble acts and deeds of these holy
men. And I dared — now such boldness as this is praise-
worthy, because it stirreth up those who listen to the
' All the MSS. have Avis but it is evident that some such
word as ^aenx is required.
580 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
praise of God — to collect from the materials of their
most excellent works a spiritual treatise in writing, upon
which the brethren [and] ascetics who are in this mon-
astery may meditate, as well as the priests and believing
men who are desirous of hearing about the glorious
works of these men who are [now] captains of the hosts
of the kingdom of heaven. Now first we will make ready
our discourse to speak concerning the thrice blessed
and holy Rabban Cyprian the ascetic, and we will set
down in writing the blessed things of his victorious
deeds before wise and prudent readers and listeners,
for he lived a long time before Rabban Gabriel, and
he was the origin and father of this holy assembly.
We will begin, then, to relate [his] history, and may
the Divine grace through his prayers be with us, and
may our discourse, through Christ Who strengthened
him, be a benefit [to all].
Here endeth the Prologue and First Chapter.
[P. 332] CHAPTER ir.
OF THE ORIGIN OF THE BLESSED CYPRIAN, AND OF HIS
TRAINING AT SCHOOL, AND OF HIS GOING TO JERUSALEM.
There is in the country of Marga a district, the
name of which is Birta, ' and in this district is a villag-e,
* See Hoffmann, Aziszugc, p. 223.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER II. OF CYPRIAN. 58 1
the name of which is Beth Magusha/ and it would
seem that it received its name and title from the
leaning which its former lords and inhabitants had to
Magianism, and from this village the blessed Cyprian
is said to have sprung. And having been bom of
believing parents, he was brought up by them in an
excellent manner, and carrying out the Apostolic com-
mand which [saith], "Fathers, provoke not your children,
but bring them up in the instruction and teaching of
our Lord",^ they laboured with all their might in the
teaching of the blessed Cyprian; and because a new
plant maketh use of everything, and the Lord knoweth
those that are His, grace at an early period manifested
in him the sign of its working. And having read for
a short time the Psalms and the subjects which children
are taught in their village church,^ he arrived at the
state of being a young man, when every man doeth
his own will and pleasure, without let or hindrance, and
he chose these things which belong to the Spirit, and
dedicated himself to the service of the Lord, and
wandered about as a pilgrim in foreign countries. So
then he departed to the holy school in the village of
Makkabha^ — now it was flourishing greatly during his
4-
* In B, O.f iii. i. pp. 142, 497, Assemani writes Jij
but another spelling occurs in Isho'- yahbh's letter to Mar'Ammeh
(No. 26) where, at the beginning he writes to him: — ^aa^a^a
^9 ^£S3^ j{pUsa «£sa^ «*>^CS2 t^O*p q{^^ \33t? ^f^ w«;efis*}9 ^07
^U»Aa «x6\o K«9 ^p ^aai^ 9b*3 JsmiO .^^ ^A\ ^ael 9«3 ;^ .^tsoopl
^ Ephesians vi. 4; Colossians iii. 21.
3 For an account of the subjects taught in the schools, see
B. 0*, iii. ii. p. gigff.
* This was one of the schools founded by MarBabhaij see
Bk. iii. chap. 2, supra, p. 296.
582 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
days — where he was thoroughly trained in all the
glorious doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and in the
books on the dispensation of life, [p. 333] and in
expositions of them. And when he arrived at the state
of perfect manhood, because he like Samuel, and
Jeremiah, and the other holy men, had been set apart
aforetime to be a soldier and a member of the house-
hold of the heavenly Lordship, and because he had
been ordained to be the cause of great benefits at a
time when [important] matters began to run their
course. He that knoweth hidden things, and things which
are about to happen, and things which are afar off,
did not fail to give to that blessingworthy person an
indication of His providential dispensation that he should
become and be called a portion of eternity. And with
what result? He inflamed his heart and set on fire his
mind with the desire, hotter than fire, of going to Jerusa-
lem to see the holy place where Christ our Lord
manifested to mankind His bodily dispensation for
the sake of their redemption. And being involved in
this thought and determination he prepared to begin the
plan of his journey with hot and zealous steps directed
thither, and having renounced earthly love, and made
himself an alien to the love for parents, and brethren,
and human kind, and all his kindred, he laid upon
himself the holy Book of the Gospels, and thus like
an athlete he began to depart; and he brought his
journey to an end in hot haste, letting pass places of
tarrying for rest," like a man who hurries home to his
father's house and to his family whom he hath not
Read ^oi ''halting stations."
BOOK VI. CHAPTER II. OF CYPRIAN. 583
seen' for a long time. And when he had arrived in
Jerusalem and had worshipped in all the holy places,
the place where Christ was baptized in the Jordan/
' Read ;U
2 St. Matthew iii. 13 — 17; St. Mark 1. S — 11. Two places
for fording the Jordan are mentioned in the Old Testament:
one was over against Jericho (Joshua ii. 7; Judges iii. 28), and
the other was at Bethabara (St. John i. 28)^ which is probably
to be identified with the modern Makta* or "place of passage."
It is nowhere stated expressly where Christ was baptized, but
it is thought by some that His baptism by St. John took place
at the upper ford. Tradition proves that from a very early
date pilgrims believed that the baptism of Christ took place
here, and the existence of the ruins of the Monastery of
St. John (Kasr el-Yehudi) which was built over the cave in
which St. John is said to have lived, near this spot at a short
distance from the river, lends support to the belief As early
as the time of Constantine baptism in the Jordan was con-
sidered a blessed thing, and in the 6th century pilgrims crowded
thither from all parts; see Robinson, Biblical Researches, vol. iii.
P'3S3ff-; Reland, Palaestina, pp. 271 — 279; Socin and Baedeker,
Palestine and Syria, p. 266. Antoninus Martyr, who visited
Palestine about 570, says: — " venimus in locum, ubi bapti-
zatus est dominus noster. In ipso loco transierunt filii Israel;
ibi et filii prophetarum perdiderunt securim et ex ipso loco
assumptus est Elias. In ipso loco est mons Hermon modicus.
qui legitur in Psalmo." At this spot both banks of the river
were paved with marble steps, and a wooden cross rose in the
middle of the stream .... '*est crux lignea intus in aqua et
gradus descendunt usque ad aquam ex utraque parte marmoris."
Antonini Placentini Itinerarium, ed. Gildemeister, Berlin, 1889,
8vo. pp. 7, 9. Tuch's Antonijius Martyr, seine Zeit iind seine
Pilgcrfahrt nach dem Morgenlande, Leipzig 1864, may be con-
sulted upon this subject with advantage.
584 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and the Temple,* and Golgotha,^ and the Sepulchre,^
and the Upper Chamber/ and the Mount of Olives,^
[places] in which the redemption of our race by a Son
* It is difficult to understand what Temple Rabban Cyprian
can have seen at Jerusalem. The first Temple was built by
Solomon (2 Samuel vii. 5ff.), and all the arrangements were
identical with those in the Tabernacle of Moses; the second
Temple was built by Zerubbabel when the Jews returned from
the Captivity about B. C. 510; and the third and great-est of
the Temples was built by Herod and burnt down at the siege
of Jerusalem by Titus A. D. 70. Julian the Apostate wished
the Jews to return to Jerusalem and tried to rebuild their Temple,
and before the end of the Vth century crowds of pilgrims ar-
rived yearly to visit the places made sacred by Christ. Jerusalem
suffered greatly at the hands of the Persians A. D. 614 and
many of its churches were destroyed; in 637 it was conquered
by the Arabs. It is thus clear that very little of any ancient
building can have been left in Jerusalem by the time Rabban
Cyprian arrived there.
^ See Socin and Baedeker, Palestine^ pp. 189 — 201 ; and
AntoninuSy ed. Gildemeister, p. 14, No. 19.
^ The site of the Holy Sepulchre was discovered in the time
of Constantine, but previously it is said to have been occupied
by a Temple of Venus. The church which he built there was
dedicated A. D. 336. For the topography of Jerusalem see
D'Anville, Sur rancien Jei^salem, Paris, 1747; Tillemont,
Histoire des Empereurs, Brussels 1732, torn. ii. p. 121 — 132,
tom. iv. p. 107; Le Bruyn, Voyage au Levant^ p. 288; Itine-
rarium HierosoL ed. Wesseling, p. 592; Ammianus Marcellinus
xxiii. I; Warburton, Julian, London 1751, and the passages
quoted by him; and De Vogii^, Le Tefnple de Jerusalem^ Paris,
1863; Besant, Jerusalem^ London 1888; Warren, Jertisalint^
London 1884; Wilson, Jerusalemy London 1889.
* St. Mark xiv. 14; St. Luke xxii. 11.
5 See Antoninus f ed. Gildemeister, p. 12. This pilgrim
kissed the wood of the Cross and handled the label which was
above it, and he saw the sponge and the reed (p. 15).
BOOK VI. CHAPTER II. OF CYPRIAN. 585
of our nature was completed, his soul rejoiced, and
his spirit was satisfied, and he rested from the toil and
weariness of his way; and he praised and glorified Him,
by trust in Whom he had been anxious to travel and to
see the places which the adorable footsteps [had
trodden]. From thence he set out to go to Mount Sinai
in Arabia, [p. 334] and in this mountain [he went into]
the cave' in which the blessed Moses had lived, and
in which the Lord shewed him the constitution of all
this universe, and where he composed the words of
the Spirit,' and where also God had spoken with
Elijah^ the great Prophet, and he offered up the sacri-
fice of praise to the Lord like sweet-smelling odours;
and our Lord made His light to shine upon the under-
standing of the holy young man, and He prepared
him to journey uprightly along the path in which there
is no blame. From thence he directed the course of
his journey straight to Alexandria, and from this [city]
he went to the Egyptian desert,* where he stayed
^ At the N. E. angle of the rock which bears the chapel,
which is built on a small plateau at the top of Gebel Musa
{i. e., the "Mountain of Moses"), to the left is a hollow, where
Moses is said to have stood when the glory of the Lord passed
by, and the monks show the impression of the prophet's head
and shoulders on the stone. The tradition is to the effect that
Moses remained fasting for forty days in a hollow resembling
a cistern near the mosque, while writing the Ten Commandments.
See Lepsius in Baedeker's Egypt, p. 501.
* /. e., the Ten Commandments. ;a\Nd = 0^1?^ (Exodus xx.
I). Compare **Et ascendimus in montem continuo milia tres,
et venientes ad speluncam, ubi absconditus fuit Elias, quando
fugit ante lezebel". Antoninus, p. 27.
^ I Kings xix. 9.
* /. e., the Desert of Scete. See supra, p. 39, note 3.
eeee
586 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
some time going about among the monasteries of the
holy men who lived in the desert; and he worshipped
at the graves of the righteous and holy Antonius/
and Pachomius,* and Evagrius,^ and Arsenius/ and
Macarius,^ and Serapion/ And from the sight of the
holy men who were there and from their labours he
gained a good type and example for himself. And
just as the bee that is skilful in her handicraft formeth
and buildeth up the honeycomb ^ in her dwelling from
[various] herbs and grasses, so also did this holy man
gather together habits of the monastic life from each
of the holy men and did perfect them in himself; and
having become initiated into all the monastic life, and
* See supra, p. 30. According to Antoninus Anthony was
buried at Alexandria (p. 32).
* See Book IV. chap. 9, supra, p. 396.
3 See supra, p. 51, note i.
^ See supra, p. 29, note 3.
5 See supra, p. 51, note 4.
^ Serapion the Sindonite is described by Palladius as follows: —
p^^ >\\if> .^oajibp «*^6^29 ^d*^a[fi> )o^ epoxp a^** ^o\ ^oaj N*2 ^p ae^
9.^X^0 .^coj >H\p>,^9 ?Oi*\i ^eaib ^ jSl .^0701^9 1^ e2 uAaM jS ^Jkml
^£sa ^07^ lo^ ^^k t^a^ ^ooj c^^l jS sao .^tsodbaos^iMa ^9^ aA9(s2 <s*^&e&
4ooi MiAaco j^Ahi \ioiaa ;^2 .^ft^p ^No oyNaB^iftao is,ol*^b ^e .^ ^
9»a^6ooe ^«^kA3 }o6i ^iafi^ ;^2 .007 ^ba^ ^p P^^oa ^AJf^ ^9 t^\ao
(fol. 104^). Every farthing of money which he obtained he
gave away to those poorer than himself, and to do deeds of
charity he fasted four or five days at a time. Palladius says
that he visited Rome and Athens, and that he died at the age
of sixty- two. See Tillemont, Memoires, torn. viii. p. 348,
col. 2.
7 Read jj^'iaa.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER III. OF CYPRIAN. 587
having endued himself with the venerable garb* of the
monks in one of the monasteries of the orthodox which
were there, and having laboured in the service of the
community according to the canon of the fathers, and
having lived in that monastery a considerable time, the
chosen vessel deemed that henceforth he might become
an anchorite.
CHAPTER m.
OF THE DEPARTURE OF THE HOLY CYPRIAN FROM THE
DESERT TO AN ISLAND OF GREECE.
Now the holy Cyprian [p. 335] heard of a solitary island
in the territory of the Greeks in which palms and
fruits for food were found, and although there might
be men living there he would have no need for the
services of man; and he persuaded certain traders of
the sea, and they carried him in their ship and brought
him thither. And when he had gone into the interior
he praised God, the Lord of all, who had prepared
that place for him, and he rejoiced in it and loved it,
and it seemed to him as if he were in the Paradise
of Eden. And thus he took advantage of tranquil
solitude to fast, and also* to pray and to sing Psalms,
and from these [arose] prayer and supplication, which
[lasted] day and night, to Him Who loved and Who
walked [over] sea and land to fulfil His will in the
* ^aLaib] /. ^., (Txflima habitum monachalent] see Usener, Der
Heilige Theodosios, Leipzig, 1890, p. 171 (note to p. 73. 3).
' Hoffmann would read ;(so^^ ^10070 "[he benefited by] a
contemplative disposition to pray and to sing psalms".
588 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
renunciation' of every thing. Now he tarried there a
long time without the knowledge of [any] man, de-
lighting in the desert and training himself in all the
most severe and minute details and particulars of the
ascetic' life, at the same time sparingly sustaining
his life with dates and vegetables and herbs which
he took from the earth. How many were the fierce
strifes and afflictions which this valiant athlete endured
there from the passions of the body and the wickedness
of obstinate devils it is not for us to write; but those
who have occupied themselves for a long time with
the affairs of the solitary life and with the life of an
anchorite [know] how hard it is to lead that life, and
how difficult, and what fierce enemies attack the wretched
monk, and how he eateth [his bread] day and night
with the tears of his eyes, and with bitterness. As for
consolation it is far from him; as for wars, they sur-
round him on all sides; and helpers he has none. So
then, considering contests and strifes of absolute neces-
sity he was entirely collected in his mind, and he
was afraid lest the thought which awoke in him irri-
tatingly would put an end to his contemplation, and
^ Hoffmann thinks that here there is an allusion to Xajiid
(TaPaxOavi, v^^tjoa ;i^ (St. Matthew xxvii. 46).
^ The MSS. have ^oyoSN>V, but we should have expected
^cyftWjjr "its twinings" (or twistings, intricacies, ramifications).
For examples of the use of this word compare ^iLo^ yX^
Aphraates, ed. Wright, p. 137, 1. 19; y^o^lxa ;A^ Ji^*a&e "atra
erat nox", Sancti Ephraem Syri, ed. Lamy tom. I. p. 437, 1. 10 ;
;^V>? l?^ ;fisoNx»? jiAaEo Wright, Apocryphal Acts, vol. i. p. 183,
1. 6; ^siMkiae f^iSb^ j^Iub j{^'ox ^^3 ^oy^Aisopp t\\xfi Land, Anecdota,
tom. ii. p. 216, 1. 28; and iJUuo Dozy, Supplement, tom. i.
p. 670.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER III. OF CYPRIAN. 589
would destroy in the twinkling of an eye all his life-
long labour; [p. 336] for, as Paul saith, his contest
"was not against flesh and blood, but with principalities
and powers, and against the rulers of darkness of this
world, and against evil spirits under the heavens". * His
labour was [his] furnace, that [he might go forth] like
gold which is tried and tested by the fire. There in
the desert he was victorious, and he was profited by
afflictions by which as the body melted away and
gradually disappeared, the soul shone and became
radiant to meet the riches of glorious things after its
sufferings and afflictions; for in proportion as the soul
entereth into sublime things and becometh exalted,
so do its fierce enemies attack it. So then [we cannot]
relate concerning the strifes of this mighty man of
strength, for they are secret and hidden from us.
Now after he had tarried there for the space of
many years he became known even unto the traders
in this wise: it came to pass that they once
touched that island to brace up their ship which had
been greatly shaken by the violence of the waves, and
certain of the crew wandered about hither and thither
in the island. And they had heard about him from
those who had brought him over there when he first
came to that island, and when they saw from a distance
the palm trees of his garden they knew that the man
of God dwelt there. And they went, and found him,
and drew near to him, and were blessed by the holy
man whom they sought, and they left with him some
of their provisions, and received a blessing from him
and departed. And this was the cause of his being
* Ephesians vi. 12.
5 go THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
perceived there by men and becoming well known. And
after his strugglings and strivings which [took place]
there our Lord made him to flourish in all the excel-
lence of a perfect ascetic life, and not only were healed
those who came to him, but even those who were afar
off, and who could not see him, when they called upon
the name of the God of Cyprian the anchorite, [p. 337]
speedily received healing of their sicknesses. And
likewise also the seamen who went down into the sea,
when they were in trouble through the raging of the
sea, [called upon] the name of the holy man, and the
waves became quiet by his prayer, and the billows of
the sea subsided. Now when he had lived full forty
years in that desert, and had gathered to himself
riches of which he could not be despoiled, and had
laid up all his treasure in heaven above, according to
the Redeeming* word, and had received from the Lord
all things which could perfect His will, and had become
instead of a creature of soul and body, a man of the
Spirit, the holy angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
vision, [and told him] to return without delay to the
country of Marga, and to build a monastery for ascetics
on the border of his village, and to become a spiritual
father and a director of solitaries. Now Divine Goodness
is accustomed to work in this [manner], even as it did
in the case of Moses the Great (whom after he had
been the shepherd of a dumb flock for forty years,*
it raised up to lead and direct the thousands and ten
thousands of Israel), and many others; for they were
first of all trained and exercised in the solitude of the
* St. Matthew vi. 20.
^ See Acts vii. 23, 30, 36.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER IV. OF CYPRIAN. 59 1
desert and mountains, and were afterwards appointed
by God and brought to rule over those who led the
life of solitaries, and over the Church.
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE COMING OF RABBAN CYPRIAN TO THIS COUNTRY
OF MARGA, AND OF HOW HE WAS REVEALED AND
BECAME KNOWN IN THIS PLACE.
Now this holy man, [p. 338] having received from
the Lord this permission, changed the place in which
he had lived for forty years pleasing God, as was right,
and crossed the sea, and returned to this country. And
it happened before his coming here that the village of
Beth Magushe,' which was the home of his parents,
had been laid waste, and so, Divine Grace leading him,
he came and dwelt in the wood which is below the
monastery [which he afterwards built]. Now aforetime
the place was such that fierce wild animals dwelt therein,
and even with the blessed man Cyprian, according to
what is written concerning him, during the whole of the
time in which he lived in the wood without any man
being aware of his presence, there lived two lions,
which not only did not do him harm, but stood tran-
quilly before him like innocent lambs.* His food was
' Read ;SUA^ fi^.
^ The Abbot Sergius dismissed a lion with his blessing and
the lion departed; a lion pointed out the way to an anchorite
who had lost his way near the town of Sochusj and Macarius
had two lions which brought back food to him each night and
which he named "Filioli mei, boni fratres." See Rosweyde,
■■V
592 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
grass* and other green herbs and vegetables which [grew]
on this river,* but because he had ordered and set himself
apart for the benefit of many people he did not tarry
long here before men came to know about him and to
see him. And in the days of snow the young men of
Niram dheRa'awatha, a village [situated] above the mon-
astery, went forth, and they took (crossed) river after
river that they might find wild animals to hunt, and
they had with them powerful dogs, and with slings^
and outcries they surrounded the wood, in which was
the blessed old man, for they saw the tracks of the
wild animals which were gathered together to the old
man. And when they had made much noise, being in
fear and terror of lions, and saw that there was no lion
there, they went into the wood [thinking] that perchance
they might find some animal therein; and when they
had gone in they saw a little shelter built above a
ravine, like that which wild animals make in the ground,
and when they had looked hither and thither they saw
the man of God sitting half hidden in his cave. [p. 339] And
they pointed their spears at him boldly and threatened
[to slay] him, for they did not know that he was a
holy man, but he spake with them gently, and went
forth, and blessed them, and gave them words of
encouragement, saying, "I am one of the company of
Viiae Patrtwi, pp. 228, col. 2; p. 893, col. 2; and p. 911,
col. 2.
" ;m See supra, Bk. iii. chap. 7, sziprUy p. 322, note 6.
^ /. e., the Hazer; see Book vi. chap. 6, Syriac text, p. 344,
1. II.
3 Syr. ^vStt, weapons much used by peasants; compare
;Aa3 **-.>t ;M3ais ;m2, Hoffmann, Julianos der Abtrunnige, Leiden,
1880, p. 162, 1. 16.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER IV. OF CYPRIAN. 593
wandering mendicants. I came here last night, and to-
day I shall go away. Go back to your village, and
behold a stag will meet you, take him and slay him,
and so depart to your houses;" then they went forth
from him quickly that they might inform their fathers
concerning him. Now when they had gone away about
a stone's throw, from that part of the wood' [where] the
old man [was] they found the stag of which he had
spoken to them caught by his horns in the branches of
the forest, and they took him and slew him, and went
in to their village, and they quickly informed the people
thereof concerning that old man. Then the whole
village came out, and ran swiftly to the old man that
they might see and become acquainted with the anchorite
who had been sent to help them; the wise physician
who was able to heal their sicknesses without payment ;
the merchant who was laden with much riches which
he might spend for their benefit; the spiritual father
who was able, like the son of ^'Amram,* to stand before
the breaches of those who afflicted them; and the man
who became altogether like Paul;^ that they might see
John in the Jordan, and hear his voice encouraging sinners
to repentance;* [and] Elijah the prophet who would burn
up and destroy the evil company^ of heretics as he
' ^, a rare example of the use of the fem. of ^.
^ /. e., Moses. See Psalm cvi. 23.
^ Compare Acts xvi. 23; Acts xix. 11 ; Acts xxi. 33;
2 Corinthians xi. 26, etc.
^ St. Matthew iii. 2.
5 ^L^ bandy company, flocks troopy in a bad sense. Compare
^^U-iJ\ jj^Ux^Mb \^\ jUo.^ yj^-^*^^ c^ 5tt^»AJ^ l^ Brit.
Mus. Orient. 7203, fol. 181^, col. i, and Orient, fol. i72a,
col. I.
ffff
594 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
burned up the children of Baal/ And when they had
come to him, and had gone in and seen this holy old
man they bowed themselves down to the ground before
the ascetic and recluse, and they drew near [to him] and
kissed the old rags of his clothing, [p. 340] Now the blessed
man perceived no one of them, for he remained before
them lying on his face with his eyes streaming with tears,
and the man who had led the life of an anchorite for forty
years was not able to look boldly upon [any] man in that
gathering. And while they were waiting and entreating
him that he would hold them to be worthy of the blessings
of his prayers, he answered and said to them, "Rise up
now, my children, and go to your homes, for behold
the head and governor of the churches of this country
will come to your village this evening, and as for me
I shall remain here to-morrow and the day following;"
and he blessed them and said farewell to them. Thus
they left him, and departed from him, and according to
the words of our master, "[he will come] at the eventide
of this day", there came to them the pious and holy
Metropolitan of the country, as he was going round
visiting his flocks and nourishing the people of his
pasture, according to our Lord's command to him.^ And
when they were gathered together to that holy head,
they related to him concerning the manifestation of
that mighty man of God, and at the same time con-
cerning his asceticism and his venerable appearance,
and concerning the self-abnegation and voluntary poverty
which they had seen in him, and how he had informed
^ I Kings xviii. 40.
^ St. John xxi. 15 — 17.
3 /. ^., ;^a:k3^ ^a*i? ;aog. See Bk. iii. chap. 2.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER IV. OF CYPRIAN. 595
them, saying that "at the eventide of this day the coming
of thy holiness would take place." And when the holy
father had heard these things, he went down to the
holy man in the morning of the morrow with a great
assembly of priests and teachers and scholars of the
school of Sawra; and when the blessed old man per-
ceived that it was the Head of the Church who had
come to him, he rose up without delay and went forth
to meet him. And the holy Bishop saw him from afar,
bent, and bowed, and supporting himself on a small
staff, ' and bowing, and falling down, and risiiig up, and
he hastened towards him [p. 341] and fell upon his face
before the feet of the Metropolitan. And the holy
Bishop marvelled greatly at the unexampled sight
which he saw in the blessed man, for by reason of the
long endured burden of his labours he appeared to be
like unto a spectre.^ Then the holy old man wept,
and said to the Bishop, "Why did I not come to thee,
like a servant to the feet of his lord, instead of thy
coming to me, O holy father^ [seeing that] I am a sinner
[who is bound] to bow down to thy greatness ?" (Hail
to the humility which is so superior! Hail to mind
[which] beareth wisdom!)* "For [T] know that honour
is due to the priesthood, and for this reason I have
come with tears to meet him to whom the ministry of the
priesthood hath been entrusted, and not like a man who
hath been reared in a desert country, and who is not
^ ko^om or ;ioaV*» ^^^^ diminutive from ;a\aM.
2 aj^^fijto Ethpha'al "bowing himself down."
3 i;,tS\ from Y ^'> see Payne Smith, T/ies., col. 1470;
Duval, Lexicon, col. 809.
^ This is a parenthetical observation by Thomas of Marga.
\
596 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
acquainted with the estimation in which the fathers are
held, and who hath in his hole in the rock become
neglectful and remiss, and who considereth the honour-
ing of that man not to be among things which are
necessities." And when both of these holy men had
been blessed by each other Mar Bishop asked the
^lessed man by degrees to tell him about the manner
is coming here, and from what place he made his
^I^V,^; and having informed him about lesser
1 T^. 1 ^siitted [to speak] of pfreat matters. Then
the Bishop rose rSL , , 7 11 1 1 •
, , 111,, "^^ip and took the old man by his
hand and led him roTS^ 1 .1 • 1 1 ^ 1 j
- - - - ^to>d this place where a temple and
monastery should be, aira - , . ^, , r ^1. t j
1. • 1 ^ 1 • ..^^ . . 1 ^*%IP the words of the Lord
he said to him, "Ihis is thy pL . , i_ m , r • u
, , , , •; \ T'-'Kjrtion , ' build, finish,
receive the brethren, and teach disciph^i , ^1
Tjvi jtiit ,% ^ies, and may the
Lord be pleased by thy labour, and by all^^ th k
which thou runnest in His commands. For nl^i if u
increase and become abundant, and thy seed shaBfibi^iitr •
iWii V III"
herit the lands which are round about thee., and -^^j^tj^j^ .,1
the hosts of ascetics which thou shalt beget shalt^^Thoj. ,
meet the face of the Judge on the day of His comingSj^^v
and he marked out for him the dimensions of the^^W
temple and of the sanctuary,* and he departed from
him to [continue] his visitation.
' Compare Leviticus vii. 35.
* ^ojb fi^, the place of the altar in the apse.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER V. OF CYPRIAN. 597
[P. 342] CHAPTER V.
OF THE BUILDING OF THIS HOLY MONASTERY BY THE
HANDS OF THE BLESSED MAN.
Then the believing men from these and many other
villages came with all solicitude to the blessed man to
build the temple and the buildings for the community, *
and in a few days the building received conclusion.
And there were gathered together to Rabban an as-
sembly of ascetic brethren, fifty men who were proved
by their wonderful works, and who were stamped with
the likeness of their spiritual father; but the wax' did
not receive the impressions of the gems of the ring,
even although they inscribed upon them the likenesses
of the holy Cyprian, until there lived among them
ascetics who had wrought holy and mighty deeds in
this world. And our Lord sustained [them], and pro-
vided abundantly all things which were necessary for
their use, and little by little the belief of our Lord was
fully spread abroad by them, -and the renown of the
congregation of the holy man was carried into every
place ; and [one] might see that through the prayers of
this holy man, this congregation [was] the fountain of
all help which flowed into all parts [of the country].
Now Rabban lived here, from his coming to the day
of his death, twenty years, more or less. And the
^ ;iS^ == ;&Mas, i. ^., the buildings for the common use of
the monks; the private cells are not included in this term.
' ^h^i, Gr. Kiip6g. Compare ^fiso&^tj ^2 ;^oA\p? '.^p ao^ l>^o
\6tJ^ i^jii hm^ ^? p^ odjp ^^s\ 3^^rt«ap j^a^& Land, Anecdota,
vol. ii. p. 121, 11. 21 — 23. ;^o&;»<«(^ Brit. Mus. Or. 7203,
fol. 148^, col. I. See also Payne Smith, Tkes,^ col. 3737.
598 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
blessed man became old and gray, and reached a pro-
longed old age, and his limbs became infirm by reason
of the asceticism of those years which had passed
over him, for he had lived forty years in that island,
and it is well known that he lived [there] upon the
meagre fare of green herbs and of the fruit of palms,
and [during] the twenty [years] which he lived in this
monastery he supported his life with dry bread only;
[p. 343] for one of the monks who served in the mon-
astery used to bring to him every evening a piece of
ordinary bread, and a draught of common water only.
And once when the brethren urged him to take part
with them in a meal of cooked food,^ and he did what
they wished, that food became the cause of an illness,
for he was not accustomed to [eat] such food as that,
and by reason of feebleness in this respect his illness in-
creased, and the end of his term of years arrived, and
the athlete of Christ, who had borne the burden of
the day and its heat from the morning of youth to
the evening of old age in the service of His vineyard,
drew near to rest from his labour; and the conclusion
of the end of the days of this strenuous worker of the
house of our Lord took place with sweaty labours
dripping with the sweat of the new life. He received
revelations from his Lord, and he wrought among us
the mighty deeds and miracles of the Prophets and
Apostles, concerning which, selecting certain parts from
their whole [mass], it is time for us to narrate, and
thus the course of our history draweth towards the
end of the contest of our holy father; and it will be
possible for us by means of the small portion which is
jAiJ^.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 599
[here] written down, to explore for wise and under-
standing [readers — if indeed we have them — ] the depth
of all his wonderful deeds, for "he that is faithful in a
little shall become master over much,"' according to
the word of Him that laid down the contest [for us].
CHAPTER VI.
WHICH MAKETH KNOWN CONCERNING THE WONDERFUL
DEEDS WHICH THE BLESSED CYPRIAN WROUGHT.
The first of the wonders which the blessed Cyprian
wrought in our country is the following, [p. 344] and
the village in which the working of mighty deeds began
was that which first of all perceived his manifestation.
Now it came to pass that while two young men from
Niram, a village of the Shepherds, were tending their
cattle in the fields, it fell out that they were afflicted by
devils in one day; but when their parents had brought
them to Rabban, the power of the Evil One departed
from them straightway, and they ended their lives in
freedom [from him].
And while a certain man was passing at night along
the road by the side of a fire temple of the Magians
which had been a ruin for some time, devils sprang
out upon him in the form of black ravens, and they
entered into him and convulsed him; and since his
kinsfolk and relations had heard concerning the wonders
which had been wrought by the hands of this our Elisha,
they led him in bonds to bring him to him. And when
' St. Matthew xxv. 23.
600 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
they had crossed the river Hazer to come to this mon-
astery, those devils answered and said to them, "If ye
are going to that impostor Cyprian, we are going to
remain here;" so they departed from the man and left
him. But they nevertheless brought him to Rabban,
and he commanded him not to deprive himself of the
attendance at Church, and the receiving of the Holy
Mysteries, [saying], "the devils shall not be able to draw
nigh to thee again;" and the man undertook [to do
this], and departed in joy.
And on another occasion they brought to him from
the village of Beth Kaddishe, a woman bound with
cord, and with her garments rent by reason of the
violence of the struggling of a devil [with her]; but
when they had brought her and a Henatta to Rabban,'
■ The jJi- was composed of the dust of some martyr and
oil and water, and was made in the following way: — ""Bring,
master, dust from the place in which martyrs have been crowned,
and cast [it] into a vessel into which nothing has fallen except
water and olive oil , throw the dust into the vessel and cast water
thereupon and knead it well together. Bring a little oil in an-
other vessel and take a portion of the mass [from the first
vessel], and besmear it with that oil upon thy hand, and then cut it
into pieces like the seals of the $L,. Take each single piece
which hath been cut and roll it upon thy left hand, with the
finger of the right hand next to the thumb, until it becometh
as fine as a thread, and lay it upon an outspread napkin which
thou shouldst have before thee, until [the dust] hath come to
an end. Let it dry for one day and one night, and then bring
a )b>a3^ of Mar Thomas (i. e., a )u~ made of the relics of
Mar Thomas the Apostle) and cast it in the form of a cross
into that vessel in which thou hast made the mass of dust, oii
and water, and say, 'This ^ is signed and sanctified by this
Jfivoa^ of Mar Thomas the Apostle to the healing and cure
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 60I
he signed the sign of the Cross over her, and she was com-
pletely healed, and her kinsfolk and relatives took her
and went away with gladness.
And a certain man from Margi had a paralytic son
who from the womb had never walked, and this man,
having heard of the influence which the prayer of
Rabban possessed with God, [p. 345] and that our
Lord brought to a satisfactory issue every thing
which he commanded, laid the boy upon an ass in
firm belief, and came to this our Simon; and when
he had set him before the feet of the holy old man,
he entreated him with tears to have mercy upon
him. Then Rabban brought forth the oil of prayer
from the sanctuary — now it was a custom of Rabban to
of the body and soul, in the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Ghost.'" fy<nsb ofa ol^Mp j^osa ^al^ «^ 02 jt^i
079 ^a^ ^io'ilo .JUfO flio ^ 9\fi> ^YiyS p>i6 ofpi q\1& ;^3 ^jaa ^&2o
^SmI ii^ioa jU9 AAb J{>*2o .<Sii^i\, «*o7oaco^ .^ ^o^oX:^ ^32o .^^Ma
Ssoiosba mo)ujoo4&^ ^o •^3kii \& Jts*f 007 \& ^ojiAMo jt^SoaV^ 29^* JS^Jaato
^4? ^A*a^ ^oaib k^ ^*jo^*a>o^o .^JK^ fi^ol^p A^^Mua ^^ A^Om 5U2
^tsoa^ jM ^ao .;A^ a^o ^o* a^ isaua Jdoaato ,oj^ aM\ ^ ^>ki
^aacaXtf .^lo .oja «*o^fis^aV^p ^^ odp jbu!i^ ^«tttc>\^ ^32 :^o^ ^atop
^Ci^jaJbjSo ft*ft\o«,S ^lAir ^aoo^ ^iSitop 2307 ;<soa\9 ^07 ^um npJdisioo
^;x?ojap l^ho ;39o ^2 'paa ^xAsso ;&^3 See ^. O.f iii. ii. p. 278;
Payne Smith, T/ies., col. 1316; Duval, Lexicon, col. 764; Mai,
Scrip torum Veterum Nova Collectio , torn. v. p. 21. The
Christians who went to Malabar and visited the spot where
Saint Thomas was slain were in the habit of bringing back
with them some of the dust or earth which they mixed
with water and gave sick folk to drink; see B. 0., iii. ii.
p. 279.
gggg
602 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
have the horn' [of oil] carefully placed in the kotxh* —
and when he had anointed the whole body of the boy,
he stepped back from him about ten paces, and calling
the boy by his name, said, "Rise up, and come to me,"
and at the word the boy rose up readily and went to
Rabban. Then Rabban laid his hand upon his head,
and blessed him, and his father took him and went to
his house rejoicing, and every one marvelled and
praised God.
And about that time a pestilence fell upon the
camels in the country of Beth Garmai. And the be-
lieving men sent to him and asked him to pray
for them, and as soon as their messenger had gone
into the monastery on that very day the pestilence ceased
from their camels; and having received a Henina and
returned, they asked him concerning the day on which
he had seen Rabban, and they knew that' it was at
that hour that God had manifested His help to them;
and they praised and glorified God for the power which
the prayer of the holy man possessed, in that while
he himself was in the country of Marga, his prayer
was doing battle with the pestilence^ in Beth Garmai.
One day they brought a boy to him from Birta, a
village of Rustaka, with his face turned behind him by the
agency of Satan; and when they had brought him in
to Rabban, he received healing by the holy right hand
of this our father, and he set his face straight, and he
became as he was in former times.
' Compare ]ttB^n HlJ-HiJ of i Kings i. 39; and pDB^n ije
2 Kings ix. i.
* ^Axa see supra, 431.
3 All the MSS. have ^a^ko^ but it is pretty certain that we
should read ^^o^o.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 603
Once there came to Rabban a man from the country
of Beth Beghash/ whose name [was] Yahbh Miran,
[p. 346] who although he had lived with his wife
for many years had not become the father of children,
and he entreated Rabban that he would consider him
worthy of the help of his prayer. And Rabban
made the sign of the Cross over him with a hendnd*
three times, and having dismissed him to his journey
with prayer he departed to his [own] country, and
there were bom to him two sons and one daughter.
And they brought to him from Seyan, a village of
heretics, a woman whose two legs were paralysed, and
after she had continued in the monastery two days,
lying in the chapel, our Lord gave her healing by the
prayers of the holy man.
And again they brought to him from the province
of Garin^ a woman who was blind in both eyes — now
this woman belonged to a noble family of rich people,
and she was exceedingly beautiful in appearance — and
by the prayers of the holy man she also received a
complete cure in the appearance and beauty of both her
eyes, and every man praised and glorified God when
they saw the help which that woman had obtained.
[One] night a devil beat a youth from Berbeli* severely,
and made him foam at the mouth, and on the morrow
in the morning his parents carried him and brought him
^ ix^ N*3 or ^lib was a district situated between Adhor-
biiigan and Ardabil; in the eighth century the seat of the
Nestorian bishop was in the church of Bai ,^? ^Na^ See Bk. ii.
chap. 39, supra, p. 236; and Hoffmann, Aussuge, p. 227 ff.
* See supra, p. 600. ♦
^ This province is also mentioned in Bk. iii. chap. 2, supra,
p. 296.
^ See supra, p. 576, and Hoffmann, AussUge, note 1762.
604 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
[to the holy man]. And when they had taken him in
to Rabban, he sealed him with the sign of the Cross,
and rebuked the devil according to the word of our Lord/
and all the brethren being gathered together before
him, he went forth from his mouth like a carrion crow
and flew away and departed; and that boy received
healing and became as he was aforetime.
And they brought to him from Nahermeshi^ a
woman who was persecuted by a wicked devil, and by
the prayer of this holy man, the power of our Lord
freed her also from the conflict with that devil.
And a certain man from Seyan brought to Rabban
his only son who was smitten with a putrid sore, [p. 347]
and Rabban commanded him to go down to the river ^
which ran under his cell and to bathe, and by this [means]
he sent away [from him] the whole garment of
that evil sore; and being healed his father took him
with joy and praise of God, and departed to his village.
Once a man from the village of Beth Talai, who
believed in God and loved Him wholly, fell into a severe
illness, and by reason of its. violence his soul was well
nigh departing [from him], and like Hezekiah* he sent
to this our Isaiah [asking] that he would visit him with
his prayer. And when the youth had gone forth from
him to come to the monastery, that believing man saw
the angel of the Lord standing above him in the form
of Rabban as if he were offering up prayer on his
behalf, and he was healed completely, and he sat up
' St. Matthew xvii. 18.
^ See Hoffmann, Ausziige^ p. 217, note 1732.
3 Probably the SjjJl.
^ See Isaiah xxxviii. i.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 605
in his bed, and he praised and glorified God; and by
reason of the sound of his praise the people of his
house were disturbed, and they went in and saw [him]
sitting on [his] bed praising God, and he stood up forth-
with and walked. And when the youth came to Rabban
he informed him that he that had sent him was made
whole; and those and such-like wonders were wrought
by this holy man.
Once Satan appeared to a man by night in the
form of a mighty man, and as he neither distinguished
the vision nor the strange power, when Satan called him
by his name, the man answered him readily and as
he spoke Satan entered into him and tortured him.
And his kinsfolk and relatives brought him to Rabban,
and by the holy oil, and the mediation of his right
hand, and by proclaiming over him [the name] of the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, he received
healing and remained whole all his days.
And they brought to Rabban from the village of
Shamrakh a man who was vexed by Satan [p. 348]
and he lacerated all his body with bites; he also
was quickly made whole by the prayers of Rabban,
and returned to his house rejoicing and praising God.
And a certain man had a plot' of land which was
sown with beans, ^ and when the fruit was in the pod,^
* ;fka«2, a small plot of ground in which corn or vegetables
were sown. ;^ ;aAx2 = JTlb^n rij?^n in 2 Samuel xxiii. ii. See
Payne Smith, T//es., col. 407.
" ;yoi^ = ^yJop:}\. The word ;»a\ is derived from the
Greek Kua/iO^, jbo^iou; see Payne Smith, T/ies., col. 680 ; Duval,
Lexicon, col. 465.
3 ;alSos is the sack or bag in which the seeds of a plant
6o6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the worm fell upon all the pods, and tore them to
pieces mercilessly; and when he had brought some of
the pods and shewed [them] to Rabban, Rabban gave
him some water in which the cross which [he wore]
upon him had been washed, and commanded him to
sprinkle it over all his plot of land, and straightway
the plague ceased, and the praise of God increased
through him and flourished.
And again, a certain man had large flocks of sheep,
upon which there once fell a pestilence, and many of
the sheep perished. And the man came to this holy
old man and entreated him to pray against that affliction,
and on the day when he returned from us, and had
distributed the henana over his flock, by the help of
our Lord the pestilence ceased.
And when they had brought to this servant of Jesus
the God of all, a woman whose blood had flowed from
her for a long time, and she was nigh unto death, she
was healed by the prayer of this blessed old man like
the woman whom Jesus healed.*
In a district called Sawra, which was situated above
the monastery, there lived a famous family of Magians,
are contained; compare J-to O^^^ y^i Ua<^ o^^. V**^ ^io»
ty^^ '-r^y^ o^'^J^^ Brit. Mus. Orient. 7203, fol. i8o^?, col. 2;
^iio, plur. s3r^\J^ Dozy, Supplement^ torn. i. p. 754, col. i;
Lagarde, Praeterntissorum^ p. 122, No. 56. The plur. ^aoae
occurs in Ahrens, Das Buck der Naturgegenstdnde^ text, p. 37,
1. 17, trans, p. 60, note 3. In Brit. Mus. Orient. 2441, fol.
371a, col. 2, we have:— L5* o^^. yS^^ «^ ^ «3^^/^^ ^^9*
^\ yb^ e5^V^ ^^ »«^ '=»®«^ 5^;n»o ^JJ\ ^Lop\ yZ;^ ^U jJ\ \
* St. Matthew ix. 20.
\
V
\
\
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 607
who had not yet taken upon themselves the bridle of
the worship of God the Life of the worlds, but accord-
ing to the custom of their parents they worshipped fire
and the heavenly bodies. And when thesis men saw
the mighty deeds and signs which were wrought by the
mediation of this wonderful man, [p.'349] they were over-
come [by] a noble-minded victory, and they spat upon the
object of their worship, and despised the impure doctrine
of Magianism, and came to this light of Christianity,
and entreated him that through him they might become
members of the household for the worship of his God,
for, said they to him, "The God who is worshipped
by thee, O our father, is the tnie God, and we will be
His servants and adorers as long as He permitteth us
to live in this world, and Magianism is to be denied, to-
gether with all its unclean and polluted muttered prayers. '
Then he with great joy shewed and made clear before
them all the glory of Christianity, and of the living
doctrine of the Gospel of Christ our Lord and of those
good things which are above [this] world, and which
are laid up for holy Christians in the world which is
to come, and how in all generations holy men have
pleased God the Creator and Maker of all created
things, and of God the Cause of everything which
exists and is made. And he commanded and made
ready everything which was necessary for the Mys-
teries* of holy baptism, and according to the order of
the service of the Holy Church he baptized them with
' Compare '*indem der murmelnde Priester mit der Diener-
schaft zwanzig Ellen vom Feuer entfernt sitzt," u. s. w., Hoff-
mann, Ausziige, p. 297.
* Read iv^U-
6o8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
his hands in the name of the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost. And he commanded their wives
and children [to be brought], and he baptized them in
the church of Sdwra their village, and he admonished
them, and said to them, "This day is a marriage feast
made in the heights of heaven above among the ranks
of the holy angels, for if our Lord said,* *The angels
who are in heaven rejoice over the conversion of one
sinner that repenteth', how very much more [will they
rejoice] over the many who have gone into the courts
of the Holy Church, and [whose names] have been
written down and inscribed with the royal stamp of
the money of the kingdom! This day have your names
been written down with [those of] the first who have
been inscribed in heaven; this day have ye cast off
the black garment which the error of the worship of
fire wove for you; [p. 350] this day have ye made
white that soul which was spotted with the polluted
passions of the doctrine of erring devils. Now there-
fore, my beloved, seek the things which are above,*
and let be earnestly desired the things which are above,
and not those which are upon earth, where Christ Whom
ye have put on dwelleth in heaven, for ye are dead
to yourselves, and your lives are hidden with Christ in
God,^ and when Christ, Who is our Life, shall be re-
vealed, then will ye also be revealed with Him in glory.
Mortify then your members'^ which are upon earth, forni-
cation, uncleanness, theft, avarice, and idolatry;^ try
' St. Luke XV. 7 — 10.
* Colossians iii. i.
3 Colossians iii. 3. * Colossians iii. 5.
^ The Peshitta has ;^a^ ;^o*s9 .?^a^? ^o&^aor ^07 ots^i
.^aa6^ As^p ^tut ^o^a ^oo^o .;^x*a <s\ao ^^o
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 609
everything, ' and lay hold upon that which is good, and
flee from every evil thing." And the Magians hearkened
unto him graciously and simply, and undertook [to do]
those things which were said by him to them, and they
were mingled among the Catholic Church; and they
were changed from their former manner of life of marry-
ing their mothers, and sisters, and daughters, and they
acted according to the rule of life which Rabban taught
them. And they brought an enlightened and learned
man, and he taught them the psalms, and hymns, and
holy customs, and observances; and thus they were
made perfect holily in the new man which they had
put on.
And a certain Persian woman having been made by
devils their abode, the poor creature was grievously
vexed by them, and she used to come against every one
who passed near unto her with foul abuse and stone-
throwing; and her kinsfolk having brought her to
Rabban, she tarried in the martyrium the whole night,
and with the dawn our Lord gave to her freedom from
the subjection to the devils. And after she had been
made whole she related to her neighbours, saying, "An
old man came to me in the night, and he laid hold of
those black beings' which clave to me, [p. 351] and he
smote them, and with adjurations forbade them to come
near to me again, and they fled and they have not
[come] again"; and thus being made whole she returned
to her house.
And again, a certain thief once came in the night
' Thessalonians v. 21.
* fiScoa, literally, '^Ethiopians". Devils often appeared in
the forms of black men; see supra, p. 405.
hhhh
\
6lO THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and began to dig through the wall of the kotxh of
this monastery that he might carry off the books and
property of the monastery, and having struck two
blows his right hand straightway withered. And in the
morning he went in to Rabban and confessed his folly,
but although Rabban laboured much, and made much
supplication in prayer on his behalf, the man did not
receive healing, and rightly, for it was meet that the
man who had dared to break into the house of God's
worship, which had [but] newly been built, and to
which the blessed brethren had been [but] recently
gathered together, should remain with an uncured
stroke. For in every beginning of [progress] in Divine
things fear and awe are necessary, just as the word of
Simon, the chief of the Apostles, cast fear upon Ananias'
and Sapphira at the beginning of [his] preaching; and
it is written moreover, "If a man sinneth against a
man, let him entreat the Lord and it shall be forgiven
him; but if he sin against the Lord, whom shall he
entreat?"* So that wretched man remained with his
withered arm, like Cain in Genesis,^ and as he was
unable to find food to sustain his life, when he went
begging from door to door and from village to village,
he became the herald of his own punishment. \^
On another occasion a certain man took awaj^^^
silken* veil from the martyrium, and as soon cfe*.
"*- ^
* Acts V. I — 6.
^ I Samuel ii. 25. The Peshitta has ;^ai fii\i ^aa\ ^,^-ri 2
Kt^^ai ^ ^ ^&a\ ^V*^ U^ioa Ao lU^^ P^ ^
3 Genesis iv. 15.
^ Compare U^^ ^i^Sx Jii, Budge, Alexander, (text), p. 195,
1. II.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 6X1
brought It into his house all his children were vexed
by a devil. And when he saw this he went back to
the monastery, [having] the veil with him, and he bowed
down before Rabban, and confessed his sin, and Rabban
gave him a henana and commanded him to give it to
his children to drink, [mixed] with water; and when he
had done this they straightway received healing.
On another day a certain heathen went into the
garden of the monastery, [p. 352] wishing to gather
figs, and the Lord smote him with the sickness of
blindness, and he remained the whole night sitting on
the wall. And when it had dawned and the monks
who served in the monastery came and found him, he
confessed the sin which he had committed, and they
took him in to Rabban who passed his hand over his
eyes, and he received perfect healing and undertook
never to do the like again.
Now when Satan, the father of lies, who from the
beginning fought with our parents in Eden' and who
hath in all generations inflicted injury upon our race
in many things — and he it is who hath sown bitter
tares among the chosen wheat of the congregations of
the Cross — saw that the monastery of the triumphant
man was adorned with every kind of virtue and that
its monks performed their duties and observed with
diligent care the stated seasons of prayer, and that
they completed with joy all the singing of the Psalms,
and the praise of Christ which was formed in the mouth
of those who daily went in and came out' [of it], he
' Genesis iii. i — 6.
* We should have expected ;Sa»& for Iplis usually means
"penitent"; see B. 0., ii. p. 173, 1. 4. The words ;3u^o l^^^ here =
' 'the visitors going and coming ;" compare ^.auAo y^%\ text, p. 3 5 3» 1- 7 •
6l2 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Wished to make those ascetic brethren to cease from
service of the spirit, through the service of the table,
and to pour into and to fill their cells with the votive'
offerings of meat and drink of the will of Satan, and
[to occupy them] with services for the villagers of the
country round about and for people of all ranks in the
world whom he invited and brought to this poor mon-
astery, instead of the standing up in service before
God.' And he worked upon a certain erring monk
who [belonged] to the corrupt confession of the follow-
ers of Severus of Antioch,^ and he brought with him
some rancid* oil, and he came to this monastery, forsooth,
^ For fiisoi see Bk. iv. chap. 7, sufira, p. 390.
* Thomas means to say that as the fame of the Abbot
Cyprian spread abroad in the countries round about people of
all ranks flocked to his monastery, and that they either made
offerings in money, or in kind, to it, or gave gratuities to the
monks to conduct services and prayers on their behalf. The
offerings in kind were eaten at a common table by monks and
visitors, and the gifts in money enabled them to indulge in
many of the comforts of life. In a short time the monks lost
their keen appreciation of the pleasures of the ascetic life and
grew to love the services of Saints' days and holidays, and
Satan was enabled to work his will upon them. At this time
the Abbot by means of a flask of bad oil, which was introduced
into the monastery by a heretic, showed them that this per-
petual and wearisome crowd of visitors was as injurious to
their spiritual life as was bad oil if used to anoint children and
sick people before baptism, and that the odour of such visits
was symbolically as the smell of bad oil; he caused the flask
of bad oil to be burned, and thus symbolically burned up the
disease which was eating away the spiritual life of the ascetics.
^ For ^^o^ib see supra^ p. 41, note 2.
^ Literally, *'oil of wickedness," which typified a wicked
spirit.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VI. OF CYPRIAN. 613
to pray. And he tarried here the night, and in the
morning he took out from his bosom a little horn of
that abominable oil, and gave it to the steward, saying.
"Keep this prayer^ oil for me until I come back from
a journey which I must needs make" ; now the brother
in his simplicity took the oil without asking any questions,
[p. 353] and hid it in one of the windows of the monastery, *
until its owner should come and take it. And what
did Satan our adversary do? As long as that stinking
oil remained here, he stirred up [the people of] every
country and district to come and pray in the monastery
of Rabban Cyprian, and [they came] not only [from]
Marga, which was near, but from Beth Nuhderan,^ and
there came Arabs, and Ninevites, people of Adiabene,
and the people of Beth Garmai, Beth Beghash, Dasen,
and the field of Hepton. * And he caught and brought
hither such crowds upon crowds of people that the
monastery and the temple and the cells of the brethren
could not hold the multitudes that were going and
coming, and that belonged to the congregations which
established the will of Satan. And when Rabban, the
holy Mar Cyprian, saw this thing which was not accord-
^ ;^oS^ Uaoo the oil with which children, catechumens and
sick people were anointed before baptism; see Payne Smith,
Thcs,, col. 2240.
^ I have usually translated ^oi^ by "monastery", but it is
quite clear that a very large room or building destined for the
use of ^3Mii in common is intended, where the monks had
their kitchen (Thomas of Marga, text, p. 343, 1. 2) and place
for eating and sleeping (compare ^csoai ;o\3 B. 0., ii. p cxxxviii).
^ See Hoffmann, Auszugey pp. 208 — 216.
4 A province belonging to Mosul; see Hoffmann, Aiisziige,
p. 233; Feige, Die Geschichte des Mar 'Abhdish6, p. 31 (trans-
lation); and supra, p. 397.
6 14 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
ing to custom, he called to the brethren and said to
them, "O my sons, the tumult of all this changing
multitude is very foreign, in my opinion [to our
life]. Who am I, and what is my righteousness, that
my fame hath stirred up all countries to weary us ? Shew
me if ye have wrought any thing contrary to [our
rules], or if there is among you a man who hath as-
sociated himself with heretics and hath learned any
thing from them; for I know that God is not the cause
of all these assemblies." Then the brother who had
received the oil from the heretic came and fell down
before Rabban, and he answered and said to him,
"Master, forgive me, for I have committed sin un-
wittingly. A certain monk of the followers of Severus
of Antioch gave me this vessel of oil," and he said
to me, *Keep it until I return from the journey which I
must make'; but what was the object of it I knew not."
And when Rabban saw it, he smelled from it the rancid
smell of the wicked, and he knew tHat it was the cause
of this damned weariness; and he commanded, and the
furnace was made hot, and he threw it into the fire
together with the vessel [that contained it]. Thus was
extinguished the flame of that spiritual sickness, [p. 354]
and those people who were on the roads turned back,
and those who were making preparations in their houses
to come left off making ready, and we received the
grace of God that the heretical doctrine of the Evil
One was corrected by the mediation of our holy father.
And a certain woman from Sawra had a daughter
who was one day vexed by Satan, and she brought
^ ^A?, a vessel in the shape of an acorn \ see Payne Smith,
Thes.j col. 532.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VII. OF CYPRIAN. 6 1 5
her to this driver away of devils. And when she
had laid her at the feet of his holiness, he stood up and
prayed over her, and we were all looking on, and wasps '
vicious as those excited by smoke came forth from her
mouth, and thus our Lord speedily gave her healing;
and the woman took her daughter and went out from
before him confessing and glorifying God with us. But
why should we strive as if, forsooth, we were able to
relate [all] the wonders of this holy man? For who
knoweth the mighty deeds which he wrought in that
island, and in the deserts of Egypt and Scete, where
he lived for forty years.'* The things which he wrought
here he wrought secretly, and we have written down
a few of the many things which he did, [being] those
which were wrought before us, but we have omitted
[to notice] the rest because of their great number.
CHAPTER VII.
OF THE END OF THE COURSE OF THE BLESSED MAN, AND
OF HIS EXHORTATIONS TO HIS CHILDREN IN THE HOUR OF
HIS DEATH.
Let US now shew forth the crowning of the course
of this warrior, and how he who for sixty years had
not rested, either day or night, from his ardent course
towards his Lord, [p. 355] rested from the trouble of
his wandering in strange lands. Now after he had
^ ;'^6a» 'wasps', but JUSoap 'bees'. Compare ^unm ;Soad
Deuteronomy i. 44; and see Hoffmann, Syr. Arab. Glossen,
No. 3018, p. 107; Payne Smith, Tkes., col. 814.
6l6 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
completed twenty years of life here, and after he had
made his monastery to flourish with many brethren, and
with the books of the Holy Scriptures, and with readers
and ascetics, like the other monasteries of the holy men his
contemporaries, the day drew nigh and arrived in which
he should rest from his labour, and should finish his
contest in glorious perfectness. And he knew and felt
that the hour of his departure had arrived, and he
called to his holy sons, and spake to them, saying,
"Now, my sons, abide in peace, for my time is come,
and the moment of the end in which I shall go the
way of my fathers, and along the road of all the race
of Adam, hath drawn nigh. Take good heed, my sons,
to yourselves, and to all the doctrine which ye have
received from me; be not neglectful of the seasons of
prayer, nor of sitting [in meditation] in your cells, nor
of penitential bowings and prostrations to the ground
which I have committed to you, and in token of regret
for the worldliness of your lives, commanded you to
perform. Let not your lives pass away in idleness, for
the hour of death is hidden from us, and when it hath
come [to you] ye will repent of your days which [ye
have passed] in slothfulness. With all your might
take good heed that ye be not mingled with profane
heretics, and let your souls abominate all their doctrine,
for they are enemies of your manner of life, and of
your peace of mind, like Satan who is in them. My
sons, enter not into their monasteries, and mingle not
with the pure gold of your belief the abominable brass
of their subtilties ; for they are cut off from belief, and
are empty of hope, and that their work is Satanic
the polluted oil which [we burned] a short time
ago [and which] gathered all countries against us, will
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VII. OF CYPRIAN. 6 1 7
teach. Take heed moreover, my beloved, unto the love
of those who are in the world and exchange not the
love of your Lord [p. 356] for the love which ye once
denied before many. Possess neither gold, nor silver,
nor clothes more than ye need, that ye fall not, like
Gehazi,* from the household of our Lord; for just as
our Lord is greater than Elisha, so also is the punishment
of those who tread His commandments under foot greater ;
ye shall give answer to our Lord on the Day of Judgment
if ye transgress one of these commandments." And
when he had admonished and exhorted them, he com-
manded them and they came near before him, and he
kissed each one of them, and said farewell to them;
and all the brethren wept with a great weeping at the
parting of the righteous man from them. And when
he had saluted them, he bowed on the top of his staff,
like Jacob,* and prayed, and he blessed the Church and
her children, and pastors, and masters, and kings, and
governors; and he made the sign of the holy Cross
over his monastery, and thus with his mouth full of the
glory of God, and his tongue [of] praise,^ he stretched
out his legs without sickness and without suffering, and
he opened his holy mouth and delivered up his spirit
in peace. And as he was gentle and gracious in his
life, and never chid any man or behaved harshly [to
him], so let him sleep happily until the Voice which
shall raise him up alive calleth him, and lifteth him
up to heaven with all his holy fellow-labourers. And
[the people of] all the village, together with the teachers,
' 2 Kings v. 22.
^ Hebrews xi. 21.
3 Psalm XXXV. 28; Hv. 14; Ixxi. 24.
• • • •
uu
6l8 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and scholars, and priests, and deacons were assem-
bled with the congregation of his sons, and they
celebrated the day of his commemoration with the
praises and canons according to custom, day and night,
and he was laid in the martyrium with the honour
which befitted his holiness; and on the following day
they kept a vigil for him a second time that he might
be an intercessor with his followers* for them on the
day when he shall be paid the wages of his trials and
troubles, and that they might sit down happily at the
feast of the kingdom above. Amen.
Now after the death of that holy chief our Lord
wrought a miracle at his grave, [p. 357] the [like of]
which had never been worked by him during his life,
that it might be known unto all men that he was alive
and with our Lord, and that now he was more near
to Him, and that he had obtained freedom of speech
before Him. A certain believing woman from the village
of Beth Maruth, who during the lifetime of Rabban
had had experience of the signs [which he worked],
had a son, who had been given to her by the prayer of
Rabban through a henana which she had received from
him; and this son contracted a serious disease, and it
waxed grievously sore in him. Now when his mother
understood that he was a dead man, for he was nigh
unto death, that believing woman, who is worthy of
being remembered for good, was, in her faith, like unto
the Shunammite* woman of Elisha, and she said to her
husband, "Rise up, and make ready a she-ass for me,
that it may go with my son to my Elisha, Mar Cyprian,
* ^i^^, companions^ followers, train,
* 2 Kings iv. 24.
V
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VII. OF CYPRIAN. 619
the ascetic, the spiritual father of my son". And although
every man advised her [saying], "Give up this idea,
for when the boy's body is shaken by the motion* of
the ass, he will die immediately", she was not at all
persuaded, but said, '*If he die there I will bury him,
and if he is made whole it will be the power of God
that, by the prayer of the holy mg^n, shall bestow healing
upon my son". And having set herself and her son
upon the she-ass, she commanded her servant to lead
on quickly, and when she had come a distance of three
farsah the soul of the lad departed from him. And
she alighted from the ass, and she bandaged (?)* him,
and wrapped him round, being strong in her faith. And
she came to this monastery and went into the mar-
tyrium, and laid him before the grave of Rabban [p. 358],
and she gave herself to prayer like the holy woman
Hannah,^ the mother of Samuel, and in a voice which
could be heard she spake mournfully, so that every one
round about her wept, saying, "O Mar Cyprian, the
servant of God, behold the loan which thou didst grant
to me during thy lifetime thou hast taken back in thy
death. I did not ask of thee a soulless corpse, neither
did I seek to suffer the pangs of childbirth,* and to
bring up a child if all my care and lullabies were to be
in vain. Take pity upon that belief which hath taken
refuge in thee now that thou art dead as when thou
wast alive, and let not the bosom of thy woman disciple
^ Read
^ The exact meaning of ^ here is unknown both to Hoff-
mann and to myself.
•J I Samuel i. 11.
4 Read with BC and Vat. ;i3L? h^.
620 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
be deprived of the child which thou hast placed therein.
Entreat now thy Lord, like Elisha, and let Him give
back to me the blessing which I have plucked from
the tree of the house of Adam by thy prayer; and as
concerning Elisha also it is written that a dead man
came to life again [through touching] his dead body,""
even so let the breath of life blow into the son of thy
handmaid by the shrine of thy glorious body, for when
a servant is near unto his master he hath the greater
freedom of speech. Have pity upon the woman who
with lamentations goeth round about thy holy tomb,
and I will make it a condition with thy Lord that he
shall minister in thy monastery all the days of his life,
and that like Samuel the son of Hannah he shall be a
man set apart to the Lord, and shall be dedicated [to
God] all his days. O God of Mar Cyprian, let the
request of thy handmaid enter in before Thee, although
I am unworthy [of it], and let Thy holy man Cyprian
be [my] advocate before Thee." Then God the merciful
One Who spake "Let light shine out of darkness", * and
"Everything is possible to him that believeth",^ and
"Everything which ye shall ask in prayer, if ye believe,
ye shall receive",^ especially wishing to glorify the son
of His household in his death more than in his life,
made the soul of the boy to return to its body, [p. 359]
and he cried out according to [his] custom. Now we
were in the temple [occupied] in the service of Psalms
for the night, and the woman was in the martyrium;
and when the mother saw that [her] boy moved she
' 2 Kings xiii. 20. 21.
" IliCn'^l ni« W Genesis i. 3.
3 St. Mark ix. 23. ^ St. Matthew xxi. 22.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VII. OF CYPRIAN. 62 1
glorified God with a loud voice, and by her voice we
perceived that the boy had come to life. And we also
went into the martyrium,' and saw him sitting before
his mother as in former times; and with the life which
was restored to him he received a complete cure. And
every man praised God and marvelled, and the woman
took her son and went to her village, and related to
the believers everything which had taken place; and
because of this thing the praise of our Lord was pro-
claimed in all the country. And that believing woman,
like Hannah, performed her vow, and she set him apart
[to the Lord] even as she had vowed; and when the
boy had grown up and had arrived at years of dis-
cretion, she brought him to the monastery and left him
and went away. And he became a disciple and [after-
wards] an ascetic, and every year' she came to see him,
and brought to him clothes even as Hannah did for
Samuel. And he became a perfect example of a solitary
brother, and completed his life in this monastery ac-
cording to the will of God, the Lord of all, to Whom
be praise, and honour, and worship, and dominion, and
exaltation ; and by the prayers of the holy Mar Cyprian
may His grace and mercy [be] upon our assembly, now
and always, and for ever and ever, Amen.
Here endeth the history of the blessed Rabban Mar
Cyprian, the priest and ascetic, the founder of the
holy monastery in the province of Birta.
A kind of side-chapel by the side of the kotxH*
I Samuel ii. 19.
622 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
[p. 360] CHAPTER VIII.
THE HISTORY OF THE WONDERFUL ACTS OF THE MIGHTY
MAN R ABB AN GABRIEL, THE ASCETIC IN VERY TRUTH,
AND THE HEAD OF THE MONASTERY OF THE HOLY
MAR CYPRIAN.
THE author's apology TO THE READER.
Now therefore we have the intention of writing
concerning that marvellous man among the ascetics who
flourished in the later times, the blessed Rabban Gabriel,
the man who penetrated the mysteries of Christ, by
whose hands our Lord wrought the signs of the Prophets
and Apostles, and of weaving with my feeble speech
the crown of his strife, from the materials which have
been written down by early [writers] concerning his
noble acts, and from those things which I have heard
repeated about him, some by the monks who saw him
whom I have met, and some from the priests and
believing men of the country. And I will lay it upon
the table of the hearing of those who love the histories
of holy men, adding also at the same time, according
to the materials which I have found with his history,
the narrative of the gentle-minded Rabban Paul, his
brother, whose memorial is among the righteous, upon
the help of whose prayers I rely. And as far as my
ignorance will allow I hope to bring conviction to my
hearers of the befitting rank' of the excellence of these
^ L e,y Thomas hopes to be able to show in his narratives
of Gabriel and Paul that their acts and deeds were sufficiently
noble to justify him in placing them in the same book as the
glorious saints whose lives have been recorded in the earlier
chapters of this book.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER VIII. OF GABRIEL AND PAUL. 62 ^
divine men, and I entreat every one who is about to
read through these histories, not to consider me blame-
worthy as if I had drawn nigh presumptuously to set
down in writing their glorious deeds; for our Lord
knoweth that I have not drawn near to write down
their histories for the sake of profane advantages or
lying fame. [p. 361] For what profit can the ignorant
man who relieth upon his own wisdom inherit from
dull and senseless words? Or what benefit can the fool
gain, who although he cannot heal himself, is nevertheless
occupied with the praise of others? And I was seized
with jealousy that the congregation, and the place where
their bodies rest should not be deprived of the stories
of their holiness, for a paternal inheritance is beloved
by children, and the study of the histories of their lives
is a blessed thing for the heirs of the fathers. And,
moreover, it is not meet that the marvellous fame
of the mighty deeds of men, who in their holiness fall
short in no way of the early saints, should not be pro-
claimed and spoken of in the world. So then it be-
cometh the wise and understanding reader to drive out
all blame of my shortcomings from his mind, for just
as I have drawn near to set down in writing the
memorials [of holy men] for the benefit of the com-
munity, so also is it incumbent upon him to praise
and magnify these things which are written down. And
although [my] discourse be weak and halting, let him
have regard of the fruit which it beareth, and let him
gather roses from thorns, and flowers from brambles,
leaving the thorns and brambles behind in their com-
monness to become food for fire and pasturage for wild
animals.
624 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE ORIGIN OF THESE HOLY MEN [rABBAN GABRIEL
AND RABBAN PAUl].
In the country of Beth Garmai there was a village
called Luz,* and in it there was a certain house of
believers renowned for [their] fear of God, [p. 362] among
whom was a believing man whose good works were
well attested. For this man our Lord prepared a good
wife, as it is written in Wisdom,^ "A good wife shall
be given to the man that feareth God because of his
good works", and he begot by her two sons; the name
of the one was Paul, and of the other Gabriel. And
while they were young children their father departed
from [this] temporary life to that of eternity, and his
true faith clave to him by the light of his works; and
the house remaining to their mother, this woman oc-
cupied herself in the reading of the Holy Scriptures
and in fasting and prayer, and she gave alms^ and
oblations abundantly to the poor and afflicted. Now
when the two boys had grown up and they had deter-
minedly set themselves apart to observe the things
which were seemly and which their Creator had placed
in the nature of the family of Adam, that believing
and holy woman took them, and gave herself to exile
for God's sake, holding on to the hands of her sons,
and relying upon the heavenly hope, and going along
the paths which [lead] towards this land. When God,
Who knoweth every thing before it cometh to pass.
" A village situated on the Zab; see Hoffmann, Auszuge^
p. 277-
^ Proverbs xviii. 22. 3 Read ^ks^oMao.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER IX. OF GABRIEL AND PAUL. 625
saw the love of that believing woman, and that her
sons were about to become sons of His kingdom, for
she had despised everything in her love for Him, He
drew her with her sons to this province of Birta, to a
hamlet called Sawra^ where there was a famous school with
enlightened teachers — for that school was still in exis-
tence through [the support] of other believing men who
feared God, and who carefully provided for the assemblies
of scholars, and for the teachers who loved learning.
And when this woman had gone into . this part of the
country, and saw that the believing men who lived
there were well attested in the Christian belief, [p. 363]
she elected to live in this village, and she entrusted
her two beloved sons, Paul and Gabriel, to the school
there. And she trained and taught them by works of
the perfect life and admonished and counselled them
by day and by night to despise and reject all the
possessions of this fleeting world, to such a degree that
she allowed them to draw nigh to no manner of service,
the labour of learning alone excepted. And they remained
in that holy school for fifteen years until they were trained
in all the doctrine of Divine things, and in the theoreti-
cal knowledge of the Scriptures and the understanding
and interpretation of them, moreover, they were frequent
in the actual practice of fasting, and prayer, and night vigils
[which they kept] with their mother, the woman worthy
of mention for good; for she would not separate nor
depart from them, and she lived in a chamber in the
school, and like Hannah the daughter of Penuel,"* she
* This school was founded by the famous Babhai ; see supra,
p. 296.
^ I Samuel i. 12.
kkkk
626 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
persevered with them in standing up in prayer in the
temple, and in the vigils of holy festivals, and ot first
days of the week. And when they had been fully in-
structed, and needed nothing more from the school —
for in the fifteen years they had acquired all ecclesiasti-
cal learning — that blessed old woman counselled them
to renounce henceforth every material thing* of [this]
world, and. to draw nigh to the ascetic life.
[P. 364] CHAPTER X.
OF THE DISCIPLESHIP OF THE BLESSED PAUL AND GABRIEL
IN THE MONASTERY OF RABBAN CYPRIAN.
Now at that time the congregation of Rabban
Cyprian was famous among perfect, upright and holy
men, with whom there still existed the sweet smell of
the sweat of the labours of that holy man, and by the
will of God, and their own freewill choice, and the
desire of their mother they elected to draw nigh to
the ascetic life in this monastery. And when they two
had entered there, and had asked to be received by
the old men, ' and were numbered among the brother-
hood, they completed three full years in the service
of the community in the ready obedience [which is]
acceptable unto God, having careful regard always
for the nursing and attendance upon strangers, and
[performing] all manner of service for the community;
and they became a fair mirror to all the brethren who
^ i^oJiioaj, literally^ 'that which belongeth to matter' {rem
Hoai or ^oor, v\r\.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER X. OF GABRIEL AND PAUL. 627
were in the monastery, and to the strangers who
used to come to them. Now Paul was of a zealous
nature and somewhat quick-tempered, but the divine
man Gabriel was gentle and mild, and he was
a man in whom the love of Christ dwelt, and by
reason of his gracious disposition he was called Sabha^
by all the brotherhood. What peaceful disposition ever
existed which could be compared unto his? What wise
man ever possessed the ready disposition [to receive]
all men like unto him? For those who had never seen
him distinguished and recognized him at once from the
report of his characteristic qualities,' the venerable ap-
pearance, the gentle word,^ the measured step,* the
bent head with his gaze fixed upon the ground, [p. 365]
and his stooping position,^ when meditating upon the
Holy Scriptures at such times as he was free from the
service of the monastery. And the two [young men]
performed the work of the monastery thoroughly and
with great discretion, without which no man is able to
live perfectly the ascetic life, for they went forth into
the outer cells of the monastery when all the other
monks were celebrating the vigil of a festival, and
remained by themselves. Now the excellent Paul re-
ceived and ministered unto strangers, and he chose
this manner of life that he might afford relief and
do honour unto all men, to the poor and afflicted, the
troubled and the sick, for he had experience in healing
^ /. ^., "old man".
^ ^^ qualities of the mind and character; see text, pp. 29?,
1. 4. 325, 1. ".
3 Read j^Im.
4 Read, with C, y^. « Read, with C, Aood.
628 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the body; and he established the old woman his mother
in a chamber near his cell, and thus toiling and labour-
ing in acts of holiness, like the venerable and holy
women [of old] and with a good' name and a crown
of praise , she departed to our Lord in sweet peace ;
and glorious happiness is prepared for her on the day
of His coming. Now the blessed Gabriel chose to
dwell in the cell of the monk and to lead the life of
an anchorite; and while Paul, like the blessed Abraham,
took care by his labour and service to become one
who received the poor, Gabriel, like the mighty prophet
Elijah, honoured the life of the solitary.
» Read ^*
^ With the form e^^, Arab. v5^^'> compare oikiboa, Arab.
^CJl^. Mount Kardo is, according to tradition, the spot upon
which the ark rested and where it was swallowed up by the
earth. According to a story told in the history of Mar Awgin,
a certain Mar Jacob made up his mind to go to the mountains
of JCardo, and to pray to die Lord to show him the ark and
to bring back a plank therefrom. Having taken the advice of
Mar Awgin he set out for Kardo, and upon his arrival at the
skirts of the mountain an angel met him and led him to the
spot where the ark had been swallowed up. The Lord then
appeared to him and told him that he had arrived at the place
wherein the ark was laid, and when Mar Jacob had asked Him
to give him a plank therefrom. He caused a plank of the wood
of the ark to be set before him. Mar Jacob received it with
joy and returned to Mir Awgin who straightway made from
it a cross which he wore upon his neck, and which he after-
wards buried in his monastery. See Bedjan, Ac^a Martyrum,
torn. iii. Paris, 1892, pp. 435 — 437.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XI. OF GABRIEL AND PAUL. 629
CHAPTER XI.
OF THE DEPARTURE OF RABBAN GABRIEL TO THE COUNTRY
OF KARDO TO LEAD THE LIFE OF AN ANCHORITE, AND OF
HOW HE CAME BACK AGAIN TO THIS COUNTRY.
Now when [Rabban Gabriel] had been in this mon-
astery a long time labouring and excelling [p. 366] in all the
various acts of the life of ascetics, in fasting, and in
prayer, in nightly vigils, and sighing and weeping be-
tween the times [of prayer], ' happiness was ascribed to
him by all the brotherhood. But when that man, [who
was] wise in matters relating to God, saw the honour
which was offered to him by all the brotherhood, and
that happiness was ascribed to him by every man, he
despised and rejected everything, his cell, and the
things which were necessary for his use, and every-
thing which he possessed in the monastery, and taking
with him the holy Book of the Gospels [wrapped up]
in a small cloak, he went out secretly by night, without
any one knowing [of his departure]. And because he
had decided to become an anchorite and to live remote
from any human habitation, and to make himself a
stranger to all those who knew him, he directed the
course of his journey to the mountains of Kardo, and
he made himself a dwelling and a place of rest far
away from any spot where he was likely to meet a
human being, in a hollow which he lighted upon in
a thickly wooded glen in a mountain side, for asceticism
and voluntary abstinence became his dwelling-place,
^ /. ^., between the services.
630 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
which was remote from every human consolation, and
he never saw a man, and never approached either a
habitation or a peaceful and inhabited place during the
whole time that he lived there. His food [consisted]
of the roots and the fruit with which the Divine Grace
kept his life [in him]. What temptation of devils [is
there] which did not pass over him there? And what
pains [are there] which mortal nature knoweth [how]
to bring upon the child of man, which did not come
upon the holy man? Those who have lived the life
of the anchorite and have tasted its troubles will know
the taste of these bitternesses. Now he held conver-
sations with the wild animals, for they came to him
constantly. And just as [they stood] before the blessed
Noah at the door of the ark, [p. 367] even so also did
they stand tranquilly before him — now a wild animal
[usually] departeth, and fleeth and shyly runneth away
at the sight and approach of a human being — and although
they were [usually] afraid of the cage(?)' yet they fed
and made their homes near him, as if they had taken
refuge and shelter in him.
Now the blessed Paul his brother ceased not to
weep by reason of the remoteness of the venerable
Gabriel, but by day and by night he and the brethren
prayed with supplication and beseeching, and entreated
God to make known to them what had become of the
holy man and where he dwelt; and after a long time,
because the blessed Rabban Gabriel became well known
to all the people who were in Kardo, for our Lord
' liLoi does not make sense here and the word must be
corrupt. Hoffmann suggests that we should either read ;&&»&
''cage", or ;!Laui "hunting".
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XI. OF GABRIEL AND PAUL. 63 I
had given healing and great cures by his hand unto
many, his fame also reached the wonderful Paul his
brother. And having taken a letter of entreaty from
the congregation of the brethren who were in this
monastery, he rose up and set out to bring him, and
he made inquiries about him, and sought [him] out,
and it was shewn to him where he dwelt; and when
he came up to him, they fell upon each others neck
and wept like loving brothers. And the venerable
Paul brought out the letter of the congregation
and gave [it] to him, and when he had read it, he
did not give his brother a decided answer whether
he would go or whether he would not, but he gave
the matter to God; and they both stood up the whole
night in prayer, [entreating] that the Lord would make
known His will unto them. And on the third night
when Paul was sleeping through the fatigue of the
vigil, the angel of the Lord appeared to Abba Gabriel,
face to face, and counselled him to set out with his
brother, [saying,] **This is the will of the Lord, for
thou art set to be a great benefit to that country;"
and on the morrow he rose up and came with his
brother, while Paul rejoiced, and was glad, [p. 368]
and praised God at the return of the holy man his
brother. Thus by the power of Christ our Lord which
clave to them they came to this country.
632 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER Xn.
OF THE BLESSED MAR JOHN, AND OF HIS CONGREGATION
IN THE HOLY MONASTERY OF nMaBH^ BARZAL*
Now inasmuch as I promised above, ^ in the history
of Rabban Cyprian, when I repeated the names of the
holy men who lived in this country, and counted among
them the holy John who lived in Nerabh Barzai (for
to this [monastery] came Rabban Gabriel when he
returned from Kardo, and dwelt therein a long time),
to relate the history of this place, it is [now] time for
me to do so. This mountain glen* {nerebhd) had a
place of ascent on one of its lower sides, but on [all]
the others it was fortified from the most remote gene-
rations and times of old, when each country had a
chief, and when each chief was held to be a petty
king^ in his country; but each was afraid of the others
' The meaning of ^hU> has been pointed out by Hoffmann,
in Auszuge, p. 225. With the word we may compare the
Assyrian 5f^ ^^'^ >^^ niribi, plur. Jif^ *"tT'^t >^^ ^T niribiti;
see Lotz, Die Inschriften Tiglathpileset's I^ Leipzig, 1880,
p. 143-
* Jkha a^^ u e.y "the glen of Barzai." Barzai, sometimes
written Barzi, seems to be derived from Barz (for Burz) "high",
and a second word; the form %»ofaa, vAL)r? Barzoe also seems
to exist. It is possible also that Barzai may be connected with
the Persian Baraz "wild boar", a beast which in early times
was much prized by the Persians; compare BapciCiiq, OuapdCn^,
BpdCiig, Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser^ p. 240, note i.
3 See supra, p. 577.
^ It is clear from this passage that ;b^ is a mountain glen
or valley with only one place of entrance.
5 ;saaX^ diminutive from ;ai»; see Payne Smith, T/ies.,
col. 2143.
^
4
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XII. JOHN THE METROPOLITAN. 633
and considered them to be raiders and robbers. And
therefore in many places in the mountains, and rocks,
and crags thou mayest find fortresses, and castles, and
strong cities fenced about with walls, which were built
and fortified by the ancients. In this country,^ ac-
cording to what is said, there lived a mighty man
called Barzai, and he fortified this mountain glen and
dug in it great cisterns, that is to say, pits to hold
water, and he built caves hewn out of the rock [in it],
and it was called Nerabh Barzai, [p. 369] after the
name of that ruler who furnished the fortress and made
it a habitable place from the beginning.
Now when the Gospel of our Lord and Redeemer
Jesus Christ had flown abroad, and heathen doctrine
and the w^orship of idols had ceased from the world,
all the furrows* of the world ascribed praise to the
wise Creator by the mouths of the holy men who were
in it,^ and the mountains also ascribed praise to God
through the ascetics and anchorites who dwelt in them,
according to the word of Isaiah* the prophet, "Those
who dwell in the rocks shall give praise, and from the
top of the mountains shall they cry out." To this
mountain glen then, with other [ascetics] from the ter-
ritory of the Byzantine Greeks, came the blessed Mar
John, the Metropolitan, the companion and colleague
of the seven Bishops who dwelt together all their lives in
the holy Monastery of Risha, and this holy Mar John
' Extracts from this chapter are quoted in B. (?., iii. i.
p. 499, coll. I, 2.
* All the MSS. have dj.Sa'S, but we must read m*iyL^ "furrows";
compare Job xxxi. 38; Psalm Ixv. 10.
3 Read (^o^>. ^ Isaiah xlii. 11.
nil
634 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
established there a congregation of anchorites; and he
himself dwelt among them in a [cave like unto a] grave
without light and without intercourse with his fellow-
man, except on rare occasions, and sometimes he went
to participate in the Holy Mysteries. All [those] men
were perfect and divine men, as the cave in which
their bodies were laid testifieth, and their names are
written in the Book of Life;* and behold if thou readest
above their coffins thou wilt find their names written
over the places where they are buried, but some of
them are known to have been erased through the long
interval of time. Now the congregation of that place
was preserved' and continued until the time of the
holy Rabban Gabriel, and in the days when he came
from Kardo there were forty men in that holy Monastery
of Rabban Mar John. [p. 370] And this Mar John taught
the inhabitants of the village of Koph, ^ and this village
before his time never accepted the teaching of Christi-
anity, but was mad^ and drunk with the worship of
idols and of trees and other things. When Mar John
received the Divine revelation concerning the teaching
of that village, that divine man rose up and came
forth from the place in which he had shut himself up, ^
and went down to the village of Koph, and the Magians
and Manicheans^ and heathen who dwelt therein were
" Compare Philippians iv. 3; Revelation xiii. 8. Hoffmann
thinks that "Book of Life" may refer to the ecclesiastical dip-
tychs; compare fL» ^^tb B, 0., ii. p. 202, col. 2.
^ Read tr^^-
^ See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 225.
* Assemani has 6*007 ^; see B, 0., iii. i. p. 499, col. 2, 1. 21.
5 Mar John was a ;i*au» or "recluse."
^ See supra, p. 481.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XII. JoHN THE METROPOLITAN. .635
gathered together to hear his discourse and to listen
to what he had to say to them; for they knew of the
virtue and righteousness of the man, and they had also
heard of the mighty deeds and signs which he wrought
in the name of Christ. And when, according to the
words of the blessed Paul, **Those who believe will
not ask for signs, but only those who do not believe",*
they asked him to shew them the greatness of his
doctrine and belief which [arose] from [the signs], he
manifested mightily to them his great works. He
brought to life again a man who had been dead three
days, and they marvelled; and again he withered by
a curse only a large, tall olive tree, to the worship of
which Satan had led them on by reason of the beauty
and splendour of its growth, the abundance of its fruit,
and the density of its foliage. He mocked at fire, for
he used to go and sit in it, like Ananias* and his
companions, and was in no wise injured; the sun which
was held to be a god by those who worshipped it,
he turned back by his command; he adjured a fountain
of water and stopped it from flowing, and again he
gave the permission, and the water came forth; and
the blessed John greatly moved and terrified the in-
habitants of Koph by the power of his signs. And
when those people saw that the power of God was
manifested by his command, not only upon creatures
and things, but also upon physical bodies which were
accounted gods by them, [p. 371] they bowed the
shoulders of their free-will to take upon them the yoke
of the chariot of the Cross. And he brought them
* Compare i Corinthians xiv. 22.
^ See The Song of the Three Holy Children^ v. 66.
636^ THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
nigh to holy baptism, he made them partakers in the
happiness of the propitiating Mysteries, he pulled down
the fire-temple and built them the church which still
standeth [there], he brought a teacher for them, he
established schools there, and he sanctified it and
purified it. From being a field of tares and a shrine
of the Calumniator, it hath become this day the field
of Christ, and the abiding place for His will, and [its
inhabitants] make a boast in the name of the holy
M4r John, as people who by his hands were converted
to the worship of God the Maker of heaven and earth.
CHAPTER Xm.
OF THE COMING OF RABBAN GABRIEL TO THE MONASTERY
OF nArABH BARZAI, OF THE HEADSHIP WHICH HE ACCEPTED,
AND OF THE DEATH OF PAUL HIS BROTHER.
Now when the congregation of this Monastery of
Nerabh Barzai heard that the blessed Rabban Gabriel
had drawn" nigh to their border, since the head who
had been appointed over them was dead, they went
out to meet him with great honour and ceremony, and
they led him to their monastery. And when he had
tarried with them a few days, they and the believing
men of the place prevailed over him with their entrea-
ties, and he unwillingly accepted the headship of that
holy monastery; and he did not wish to dwell with
them [in the monastery] below, but in the cell of the
holy Mar John in the place where he was wont to shut
' Read ^i±*.?.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XIII. OF R ABB AN GABRIEL. 637
himself up. And he lived there for many years, [p. 372]
even until he reached the limit of his old age, minister-
ing in the service of angels, and profiting and making
[others] profit, and leading [others], and being led him-
self. And he was watchful to guard himself and the
brotherhood which had been entrusted to him, and he
was never once negligent in [making] intercession and
prostrations in prayer, and in [performing] labours, and in
continuing in his strenuous career by day and by night.
Now Rabban Paul his brother lived in the Monas-
tery of Rabban Cyprian, and after a few days the head
of that monastery departed [this] temporary life to that
of eternity, and by the election of the brethren and by
the wish of the believing men [Divine] Grace marked
Paul out to be the head and governor of the brethren.
And when he had accepted this work he went down
to the country of Beth Garmai, and sold his village
Luz, for as much as anyone would give him, disputing
nothing, and he removed and built in this place the
temple which had been built some time ago, in the
days of Rabban Cyprian, because it was well nigh
crumbling into ruins and falling down by reason of its
great age. And he also built and furnished the Mon-
astery of the holy Mar John, where his brother Rabban
Gabriel was the head, and whatever [money] was left
over he gave and distributed among the poor and
needy (may his alms be laid up in heaven!), caring for
himself nothing at all, but only that he might give food
to the orphans, and the afflicted, and the distressed,
and the beggars who came to him. He was kind and
gracious to the orphans, he fed the widows, and in
his monastery the table was at all times laid ready
with good, substantial food as much for the stranger
638 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
who came there, as for the brethren whom he had
appointed therein. He ministered unto the sick, he
visited the prisoners, he clothed the naked, he filled
the hungry with food, he gave the thirsty to drink,
he visited continually the prisoners who were confined
in the gaol of Shuka-dhe-hadh-bhe-Shabba" for [non-
payment of] taxes, he himself carrying in his own hands
food for them, and whatever they were in need of,
[p. 373] clothing for the naked, and fruits (?)' for the
sick who were among them. But how many [more]
times shall we repeat the glorious things of this strenuous
labourer who took upon himself the burden of every
man? In that day shall our Lord cause him to hear
the joyful sound, "I was hungry and thou gavest me
to eat, I was thirsty and thou gavest me to drink, I
was naked and thou didst clothe me, I was sick and
thou didst visit me, I was in prison and thou didst
come unto me; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."^
And it came to pass that he went into the city
according to his habit of anxious care [for others] to
bring back clothes for the ascetics and strangers, and
he fell ill there of the severe attack of sickness through
■J
» /. e,, jsaL^\ 3^ the "Sunday-market," or "Sunday-bazaar".
For the names "Tuesday-market" and "Wednesday-market"
and of places beginning with ^^ see Yakut, tom. vi. p. 123;
and De Goeje, BibL Geographorum Arabicorum, tom. vi.
p. 194, 1. 8.
2 All the MSS. have ^o^. This may be a mistake for
;jLo9^ (Payne Smith, Thes.y col. 2002), or a form derived from
;?&p "fruit" (Payne Smith, Thes., col. 2185), or it may be
connected with the Y ^ ^^d so mean "comforts", or dainty,
appetising foods."
3 St. Matthew xxv. 21, 35, 36.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XIII. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 639
which he departed from [this world]. And the brethren
who were with him carried him upon an animal and
brought him to the monastery, and [his] illness became
more severe, and thus being soaked with the sweat
of his labours, and his feet worn and broken through
[his] travelling in the paths of holy men, he exchanged
[this] life which passeth away for that of heaven, and
he became the heir of the saints. Then the brethren
and the people of all the country were pained at the
death of the holy man, and all the brethren from the
monasteries round about were gathered together, and
they bore his holy body with honour and laid it on the
west^ [side] of the martyrium towards the north by
the command of Rabbah Gabriel, [who] solemnly ad-
jured and forbade that any tomb-stone or monument
whatever should be built above his grave, for he looked
upon humility as his monument; may our Lord by his
prayers give help and redemption to those who care
for this holy house. Amen!
Now when a certain believer whose name was
Malbadh, who belonged to a noble family, saw that
Rabban Paul had built this monastery and finished it,
and had obtained a great and fair renown thereby,
he was smitten with envy, and he presumed to set
himself in opposition to these holy men, and wasted
much money uselessly, and built a so-called monastery '
near Sawra. [p. 374] And he filled it with fine buildings,
and provided it with cells, and he invited [thither]
ascetics, promising [them] that he would care for them
in everything; but he did not know that a monastery
' Read oi^li^.
"" Read, with BC, A^oAi? ^.
640 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
for ascetics must be built by holy ascetics and virgins
[themselves], and not by wealthy denizens of the world.
And Rabban Gabriel, who was in the habit of enjoying
Divine revelations, made a mock of that building, saying,
"Behold, as it is written in Ezekiel, ' it is founded, but
it shall not prosper;" and in a short time that house
began to be deserted, and the two or three ascetics
who dwelt therein were scattered, and it remained
in its miserable "" condition as it is apparent to all men.
CHAPTER XIV.
OF THE HEADSHIP OF THE MONASTERY OF RABBAN CYPRIAN
WHICH RABBAN GABRIEL RECEIVED, AND OF HIS WATCHFUL
REGARD FOR EVERY DUTY.
Now after the departure of Rabban Paul of holy
memory to [his] everlasting home, this monastery
began to be in want and to become poor; for their
divine protector Paul had already left them, and the
monks also began to depart. And the people of this
country together with these brethren were gathered
together, and they went to Rabban Gabriel in the
Monastery of Mar John of Nerabh Barzai, and shewed
him that this monastery would certainly fall into decay
if it was deprived of his protection. And they said to
him, [p. 375] "All the brethren are going away, and
this holy place which thou hast toiled to build up is
becoming deserted." And the blessed man answered
^ Ezekiel xvii. 10. Correct the reference at the foot of the
Syriac text.
^ Literally, "common state".
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XIV. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 64 1
and said to them, "I am unable to go to [any] place
without the Divine command which permitted me to
return from Kardo, and which gave me rest in this
holy place; but return all of you, each nian to his
house, and this night I and these brethren will pray to
our Lord, and that which is best He will do for us".
And in the evening at the general service of prayer
he commanded the brethren to pray concerning the
matter, and he himself went up to the cell of Abba
John, and offered up prayer to God the whole night.
And towards the morning when his wakefulness rested,
his mind was carried away, and it was as if he were in
the martyrium of Rabban Cyprian. And Rabban Cyprian
himself was alive and singing this psalm ^ by himself,
"How good, and how pleasant [it is] for brethren when
they dwell together", and it seemed as if Rabban Cyprian
were asking him to sing the verses of this psalm in turn
with him. And when he had said the last verse, "For
there the Lord commanded blessing and life for ever-
more", he woke up and came to himself glad and
rejoicing, and he knew that the vision was from the
Lord, and that he had received permission to depart
from there to the dwelling of [Rabban Cyprian] s mon-
astery where his marvellous brother Paul had ended his
life. And in the morning he went down to the mon-
astery and appointed a guardian in his stead, and prom-
ising that he would never forget them, he and the
brethren of the monastery came down hither. And he
began the work of relieving the poor and the brethren
of the monastery like unto his brother, but he helped
them more than he did, and he manifested the greatest
^ Psalm cxxxiii. i — 3.
mmmm
•V
642 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
care [for them], for our Lord had given him the
gift of dominion over devils, [p. 376] and he healed
every wound and sickness by the might of the Cross;
and revelations were shewn to him by God, and he
could look into and see things that were afar off like
things that were near. He bore the Cross of his Master
with glorious fervour, and he clave to the reproach of
the Cross; and as he had laboured in the vineyard of
his Master the whole day, and had borne the burden
and the heat without shewing slackness in his spiritual
traffic, his Master honoured him, as with a pledge* by
the mighty deeds and wonders which He wrought by
his hands, and by the glorious revelations which He
made him enjoy, until the day for which he waited
should come when He would call him, and set him at
His right hand, as a guest of the company of Antonius, '
and Macarius,^ and Arsenius,* and all the righteous men
of his calling and manner of life. For after the manner
of the Prophets and like unto the Apostles he wrought
healings and wonders in this monastery, and on account
of this, many ascetics were gathered together here.
And every one who flagged, or was lax in carrying
out the works of the ascetic life, became young again,
and his strength was renewed for the labours of the
monastic life when he saw this holy old man. And
he constantly admonished the brethren who persistently
carried out the work to which they had been called,
saying, "My beloved, it is but a little time that we
' Nj^6907&',' see also Syr. text, p. 220, 1. 8.
' See supra, p. 30.
3 See supra, p. 51, note 4. .
^ See supra, p. 29, note 4.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XIV. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 643
can serve our Lord in this life, and [then] we pass
away, but the reward for our small service is laid up
for us [for] a space of time which is not diminished
by the course and revolutions of times and seasons.
Consider, my beloved, how many troubles and trials the
holy Prophets bore, and how many afflictions and tortures
the blessed Apostles endured, and the sufferings and
bitter deaths which the victorious martyrs suffered for
the sake of the kingdom of heaven! Consider the
ascetic fathers how they forsook the world and its
possessions, [p. 377] and [how] they forgot the love of
parents and brethren, and how they went forth naked
into the wilderness to live by themselves for the love
of our Lord Who said to them, "Whosoever will not
forsake parents, and brethren, and sons, and daughters,
and everything, and hate himself, and take up his cross",
— that is to say troubles, and trials, and bitterness —
**and endure for My sake everything which shall afflict
[him], and deny himself the things that are visible, is
not able to be my disciple." * Let us not then, beloved,
be readers of the glorious deeds of holy men without
carrying out in ourselves their course of life, for God,
the Lord of all, reproacheth the man who readeth but
death not, by the hand of David,' thus, "What hast
thou to do with the books ^ of My commandments.'*
Thou hast taken My covenant in thy mouth, but thou
hast hated my instruction, and thou hast cast My words
behind thee." And again the divine Paul writeth in
his beloved epistles,* "Those who know^ the law are
« St Luke XIV. 26, 27. ^ Psalm 1. 16, 17.
3 The Peshltta has ^fio^o. 4 Romans ii. 13.
5 The Feshitta has ^oioUSoL
644 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
not [accounted] righteous before God, but those who
do the law are justified". Let us not put our trust upon
the tunic, and the black cloak, and the tonsure, and
the garb with which we are clothed, as if these were
anything at all before God. For there are in the
world poor people who do not possess even these
things, but are naked and in want, and are afflicted
and needy, and have not even the bread of the day,
yet God doth not shew compassion on them for the
the sake of their being in want, because poverty is their
business in life. And although ye fast and pray, and
watch, and work, still all the labour of all the days of
your lives is not worthy to be compared with the gift
of food with which God sustaineth you in this life;
give up, then, expecting to be rewarded for it with a
reward in the world which is to come. For the happiness
of that world is not given for the sake of labours, but
is bestowed upon holy men by Divine Grace, for the
wages which are laid up there are in proportion to
the righteousness of God, [p. 378] and the [merits of
the] labours of holy men are completely put out of
sight by the Grace of God. So then, my beloved, let
us not imagine that the little work which we do [here]
can justify us before God, but let us be the more filled
with fear lest our parents and our brethren who are
involved in earthly affairs, and who give tribute, whose
heads are bowed under the payment of imperial taxes,
who relieve the afflicted and shew compassion upon
the needy, and who imagine that we are righteous,
may be found there before our Lord to be better than
we are; for it is written, "Blessed is he that giveth
more than he that receiveth." * Let us not then destroy
' Acts XX. 35.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XIV. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 645
that blessing by eating the labour of believing men,
and by doing nothing which is worth our food; for
the hireling who laboureth honestly before his com-
panion keepeth [his] covenant with his master who
hath hired him ; and if in the presence of a man like
unto himself he is careful not to eat the bread of his
labour without fatigue, how much more is it meet for
us to live upon the bread of our Lord with tears, and
not to neglect for one moment the service and labour
which our holy garb demandeth. My brethren, let us
remember that unchangeable kingdom , and that never-
ending feast and that everlasting' light in which the
saints revel with delight. And let us earnestly desire
that brotherhood which is never attacked by envy,'
and that undisturbed^ concord, and that unbroken* un-
animity, and that insatiable ^ love by which the hearts
of the righteous are filled at the sight of the adorable
splendour of Christ. And [let us remember] that as-
sembly of the Church gathered together from spiritual
and corporeal beings which is never to be dispersed;
[p. 379] and that unchangeable happiness of the sounds
of the songs of joy of those who sing; and that humility
which can never be puffed up;^ and that inheritance
which can never be spoiled,* which the righteous inherit
* ^ilkE^^Nto, wanting in Payne Smith's Thes,
' jj^oaaouLNto, wanting in Payne Smith's T/ies.
3 g^AniSiTift^y, a rare form.
4 jjJfii^Njp, wanting in Payne Smith's T/tes.
5 jj^^jis^Aitt, a rare form.
6 j^b'aaNto^ wanting in Payne Smith's TAes.
7 ^l^tishhJtsio, a rare form.
8 $»i;»:iifsto, a rare form.
646 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
in the world of light; and the incomparable' glory with
which the children of light there are clothed; and the
gift which can never be stolen away," which the blessed
inherit in the new world of Christ; and that praise
which can never be silenced,^ which is loudly pro-
claimed by all rational beings. And if the vigilant
understanding of your souls be occupied in meditation
upon these and such-like things, O my venerable brethren,
ye will find the power and be able to tread down and
to hold in contempt the foul passions which are stirred
up within you by reason of the wretchedness and
earthiness* of the body with which ye are clothed, and
by the erring nature of the changeable soul which is
in you; and ye shall be worthy of the Grace which is
the bestower of all gifts, so that ye may live out your
days in peace which is free from all strivings, accord-
ing to the Will of your Creator. And ye shall become
in this world holy temples in which the praises of the
Lord are sung; and ye shall be glorious tabernacles
in which the songs of glory and redemption are heard;
and ye shall become like luminaries [shining] in the
darkness, whose good works [men] shall see and shall
glorify your Father Who is in heaven; and ye shall
be crowned with the glory which is laid up for all the
righteous who have been and who shall be." And
with these and such-like words did that holy mouth
preach and make to listen the ears of the flock which
had been entrusted to him. And they became like
X j^saiJ^^, wanting in Payne Smith's TAes.
^ 2>*ftA;»fisM, a rare form.
3 ^*&;bfi>i^oap, a rare form.
4 ;koJ':>^, wanting in Payne Smith's T/ies,
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XV. OF OTHER HOLY MEN. 647
unto good seed sown in a cultivated field of good
ground, and the furrows of the souls of his disciples
brought forth fruit; and the holy children of his fatherly
[rule] became well known and esteemed, and every day
and always the sons of this congregation, [which was
under] [p. 380] the direction of this good and famous
labourer in the sanctuary, the all-wise and holy Rabban
Gabriel, became the occasion of praise of their Lord.
CHAPTER XV.
OF THOSE ASCETICS AND HOLY MEN WHO WERE TO BE
FOUND IN VARIOUS PLACES IN THE DAYS OF RABBAN
GABRIEL.
Now in the days of Rabban [Gabriel] many ascetics
were to be found, some .of whom were solitary brethren
who lived in a monastery, and some were Bishops and
Metropolitans, of whom we have made mention in
this history that we might be blessed through record-
ing their names; and we will shew forth concerning
Rabban Gabriel who was well known and famous among
them.
In the holy monastery ofBeth'Abhe there lived a
holy ascetic whose name was Abba Domat (Domitius),
and he was a righteous and famous man by whose
hands Christ our Lord wrought many mighty deeds.
And the rags from his garments drove away the devils
openly as did those from the clothes of Paul ; ' now as
he also came from the country of Beth Garmai he had
great affection for Rabban Gabriel.
" Acts xix. 12.
648 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
In the Monastery of Beth Rabban bar-Idta" there
lived a holy man who was called Isho'-sabhran bar-
Mamai," a good and self-denying man, and sicknesses
were driven away by the mastaba^ upon which he
rested himself; [p. 381] he was finally appointed
Bishop of the great city of Nineveh (Mosul). This man
restored the temple of that monastery, and removed it
from its site, as did Rabban Paul in this monastery.
In a mountain glen called Beth Gazza there dwelt
the marvellous ascetics Khomina* and Ma'ni, [who were]
aged solitaries, and who wrought many mighty deeds,
for they were many times seen by believers to cross
over on the top of the Great Zab river.
The holy Abba Pethion lived a glorious life of
asceticism by himself in a cell [situated] in a mountain
glen called Saphi. He was a good and self-denying
* See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 181.
^ Dr. Jensen of Marburg has been so kind as to call my
attention to Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia,
vol. ii. plates 51, 1. 53^, and 55, 1. 41^; and vol. iii. pi. 6^,
1. \^d, from which it appears that Mami is the name of Belit
Hani, '*the mistress of the gods."
3 jnv^^y i. e,y SSk.^^, ^j^ ^^ (Duval, Lexicon, col. 1 1 39,
note 5); Compare Gr. OTX^aq. This word also occurs in B. O,, i.
p. 427, col. 2, last line, and the plur. )^\^ is probably to be
found in the Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite, ed. Wright, p. 23,
1. 21 (ed. Martin p. 22, 1. 6); see also Hoffmann, Syr, Arab.
Glossen, No. 6503, p. 25 1; and Noldeke, Bibliographische An-
zeigen, in Z. D. M. G,, Band xxx. p. 355, at the top.
^ This name is probably Persian, and Hoffmann thinks it
may be the same as 1 ^' ;^^j)%. (eujiavrjg); compare fern. j^U^
from whence we have the name of the place USUi and U^;c»&
(Yakut, tom. iv. p. 992).
5 ;Iiji, Gr. Maidvva^; see Payne Smith, T/ies., col. 2.186.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XV. OF OTHER HOLY MEN. 649
man, and was seen by men but rarely; devils and
sicknesses fled away from the bread which had been
blessed and given [to people] by him. He departed
this temporary life there, and his body was removed
to a village called Risha.
Abba Habhibha and Jacob his brother shone with
the light of virtue in the mountain of Yanan ; they made
whole those who were sick of the palsy, they gave
barren women children, they forbade the locusts to in-
jure the vines, and everything was obedient to their
command.
In the Monastery of Beth Koka ' there lived— famous
for holiness — Abba Sabhr-lsho', sumamed Khephipha
(z. e,y Humpback), who was a truly ascetic monk, and also
Abba 'Abd-lsho^ of Kartaw.* This latter ascetic had
no door to his cell so that no man could come into
his cell, and he could go out to no man. Now he was
exceedingly poor, and he had no care for his dwelling-
place — even so also was the holy man Gabriel — and he
was like the ostriches and other birds, [and he lived]
remote and in solitude away from disturbing influences
in the voluntary poverty of his mind.
In the mountain of Zinai^ there lived tried solitaries,
[p. 382] and discreet anchorites, concerning one of
whom whose name was Amonius the [following] wonder-
ful thing is told. Every wild goat which had fallen
from a rock or any high place, and injured itself, came
to him to be healed; and once when his servant, [who
* See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 215, note 1715.
^ The Kartaw-Kurds lived in the country to the west of
the Lower Zab, above Arbela; see Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 207,
note 1639.
^ See supra, p. 108, note 4.
nnnn
■■■SB9BI
650 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
was] a believing man, went to carry [his] food to him,
he found there with him a she-goat with her leg broken,
and it had been set and bound up by that holy old
man, and her two young ones were with her. And
as a proof of the truth of [this] wonderful thing the
believing man took one of the young ones, and brought
[it] to his village, and I have seen people who saw that
kid which lived tame in the village from year to year.
At that time certain holy fathers flourished in the
government of the Church. On the throne of Arbela
[sat] the blessed Metropolitan, Mar Aha,' and after him
the marvellous Mar Maran- ammeh," and after them Mar
Isho'-yahbh^ the Metropolitan. Now the venerable
Rabban Gabriel flourished during the life-time of those
three Metropolitans who wrought many mighty deeds
during their governorships, and as he sprang from
this country which was [under] their jurisdiction, they
had great affection for him, and he was accounted by
them a mighty man, and a servant of righteousness.
In the church of the city of Adiabene [there lived]
the holy and praiseworthy Bishop Mar Solomon, [who
was] a fellow-worker with the Apostles, and who, like
Peter,* by his command only used to drive away re-
fractory devils ; he passed over on the top of the great
river Tigris many times, and he cursed the wicked
man Kardagh, and made a horn to grow out of his
forehead, [p. 383] But why should I weary my fingers
with writing his glorious deeds? for behold they are
^ See Thomas of Marga, Bk. ii. chaps 34—39^ supra,
pp. 248 — 262. ^ See siiprUy p. 304 ff.
3 /. ^., isho'-yahbh of Adiabene; see Thomas of Marga,
Bk. ii. chaps 7 — 10, supra, p. 131.
4 St. Mark iii. 15, 16.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XV. OF OTHER HOLY MEN. 65 I
written at great length by his disciples. Now the [hair
of] his head and his beard were shaved off from this
man, worthy of blessing, by a heathen king because of
the conversion which he wrought among the heathen.
Now in the Church on the episcopal throne of
Sinjar ' the holy Mar Shubhhal-Maran was being glori-
fied, and all his great and splendid works were super-
human. For when he was appointed Bishop in the
great church of Nisibis,* and was obliged to go to the
Patriarch that [the enthronement] might be performed,
he took the boat in which he embarked from Baladh
to Baghdad in one night, ^ [that is] he made the boat
go down to Baghdad; and so also when he came up
he brought the boat in which he sailed back to Baladh
in one night. And [once] when Satan smote his dis-
ciple and blinded his eyes he adjured Satan, and he
* /. e.y ^l£U-uj, the famous city situated about three days*
journey W. of Mosul. For an Arabic derivation of the name
of the place, and for the legends which relate that the ark of
Noah rested near here, see Yakut, torn. iii. p. i58f.
^ The name of this town occurs in the Assyrian inscriptions
under the forms >-t:TI ^ ^\ ^ ^^\ ^* ^* Na-sib-na, >-t:TT ►-^*"T
::^yy^^*-y D. p. Na-§i-bi-na, and >-J:yy ,^^| ^ C^ ,^^ j
D. P. Na-sib-i-na; see Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. ii.
pi. 52, 11. 17^, 36^ and 38^; vol. ii. pi. 53, 1. 43; and Bezold,
Catalogue y p. 224.
^ I have been told at M6§ul that the journey from Mosul
to Baghdad was once made in less than two days by a man
sitting upon two inflated sheep-skins at the time of the spring
floods, and with a very full river it is just possible that a man
might be carried from Baladh near Eski-Mosul to Baghdad in
forty-eight hours. The journey from Baghdad to Mosul is per-
' formed by the post in from three and a half to five days; the
distance by road via Kerkuk is about 300 miles.
^ BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
652 '^"S^^^l^^ ---^ '^^^ for the buUding of his
brought stones upon ^ ^^t
church instead of hi^^t-^.^'^TSJn a mountain half v/ay
In the country of t:lanau» TNtataJn soVitary whose
towards Maalltha.' there d^veit a '^Ik^ j^^
Ue was M.r6i,-and on the ^"t-^'S^; ;^
^ear him there lived a dragon which nsed^^^^
each day and carry off an ox from the herd.
those men came to him, and wept before him
cerning the injuries which they [suffered] from
destructive beast, he went with them to the drago
cave; and when the dragon saw them he hissed like^
a serpent and came down against them, and the holy-
old man cursed him, and straightway he became like a
senseless stone. And he stands [there] to this day, and is
like unto a clay building, and those who pass along-
the road rest under his shadow, and marvelling, praise
God and bless that holy man, and make entreaty for
his prayers.
[p. 384] And on the episcopal throne of Salakh*
there shone with apostolic light the holy Bishop Mar
Isho'-zekha, who came from the country of Beth Ar-
maye;'' this [holy] man cursed a certain large vine be-
longing to some proud and insolent men, and tore it
up by its roots.
hi Salakh Gawaita* there was a village called 'Ulai,''
' Read iJ^ I^enaitha. See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 2i6ff. *
* See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 2ro.
3 /. c, the city of Seleucia.
* /. f ., from the country round about Seleucia. See Hoffmann,
p. 252 ff.
See Hoffmann, Anssuge, p. 244ff. and supra, p. 316, note 4. \
* All the MSS, have -Sai, but in the Syriac text, p. 110.
the name is spelt .<^oi^.
BOOK VT. CHAPTER XV. OF OTHER HOLY MEN. 653
the inhabitants of which had but recently become con-
verted to the way of Christ, and when they built a
church in their village they endowed it with a thicket
of many nut trees; but when those old men were dead
their children raised a dispute about the nut trees,
and took possession of them. And when this holy
man went to them the priests of that church laid a
complaint before him agfainst the believing men; the
believing men said, "They are ours", and the priests
said, "[They belong to] the church." Then the holy
man stood up and prayed, and said before them all,
"I trust in our Lord, Whom I serve, that if those nut
^ trees belong to the believing men they will remain in
their place[s], but if they [belong] to the church that
Christ will bring them to the courtyard of the church."
And when the night had passed, and they came early
in the morning, behold, they saw that the whole of
that thicket' had departed [and come] near the church,
without any one of the trees having [suffered] injury,
or leaving behind any of its roots in its former posi-
tion; and all those who saw and heard [this] glorified
God.^
And again, in the Monastery of Rabban Aphni
M4ran* the truly venerable and holy Abba bar-Daira
the anchorite put forth signs and mighty works, which
I
' We must add p and read ^i^opoap oo^ia.
' Read ^.
3 This story is told at greater length in Bk. ii. chap. 32,
suprUy p. 239.
4 See Bk. ii. chaps. 3 and 41, supra^ pp. 121, 273. Aphni
Maran flourished about A. D. 622, and his monastery was built
in the diocese of Mosul; see B, 0., ii. p. 422; iii. I. p. 187,
note I.
654 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
are greater than any related in history; it is not how-
ever, our affair to relate things about him, but that
of the holy men who have composed accounts of his
noble deeds.
In the Monastery of Bar-Tura* there shone like a
heavenly star with the light of his holiness, the blessed
Abba Mark, who put the heathen to shame, and exalt-
ed the horn of the Church by the noble deeds which
he shewed forth before multitudes of people.
And in those days and times, [p. 385] the monk
and ascetic the holy Abba 'Anan-Isho", who is worthy
of being mentioned with all the righteous, built and
completed the monastery near the city of Hadhatta,
and he established a famous congregation by the mighty
deeds and wonders which our Lord wrought by his
hands.
In the country of Beth Beghash" the holy Bishop
Mar Simon ^ was glorious in his ecclesiastical pasture
and government which was [situated] there; he it was
who built the church in the village of Shalmath * when
he was a teacher there, and he shewed forth many
healings in the world in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. During the time of his episcopate the mention
of his name was a subject for boasting for all Chris-
tians, and even after his departure from the tabernacle
of his holy bones every healing of the body and of
* See B., 0; ill. i. p. 343, col. 2, where this monastery is
mentioned as being with Beth 'Abhe freed from the jurisdiction
of the Bishop.
* See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ pp. 223, 227.
3 See Bk. ii. chap. 39, supra, p. 262.
* We should probably distinguish this Shalmath from the
Shalmath mentioned by Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 224.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVI. OF OTHER HOLY MEN. 655
the soul was vouchsafed unto whomsoever took refuge
in him.
These and such-like wonderful things were per-
formed by the hands of these holy men, [to write] the
noble deeds of each of whom would require a history
to be specially devoted to the purpose; I have, how-
ever, written down the histories of certain of them in
another book. Now inasmuch as I have made mention
of them twice, [I did so] the first time, that I might
make manifest what lamps were shining in the Church
in the days of Rabban Gabriel, and the second time,
that those who read this book might hearken to [the
account of] his wonderful deeds, and might not remain
unbelievers when they hear repeated before them [the
story of] the mighty works which our Lord wrought
by the hands of this member of His household.
[P. 386] CHAPTER XVI.
OF THE REVELATIONS CONCERNING THINGS OF THE FUTURE
WHICH THE HOLY RABBAN MAR GABRIEL' RECEIVED FROM
GOD.
Unto what limit now shall we extend our feeble
discourse in demonstrating the greatness of this marvel-
lous man? Let us come now, little by little, and as
it were by brief signs and indications we will [first]
relate concerning the revelations which came to him,
and afterwards [we will speak] about the miracles and
» The forms of this name used by Thomas are ^i«A3$s^
^
656 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
mighty works which he wrought, and thus with the
steps of [our] narrative of him we shall travel on to
the conclusion of [this] history.
Who now is unacquainted with 'Amran bar-Muham-
mad' of the family of el-Azd/ who was descended
from the [tribe of] the great Taiman,^ the exceedingly
stubborn servant whose asperity was softened and mol-
lified by means of this holy head? Now before this
Arab came to this country, God, the Lord of all, had
revealed before the eyes of the mind of the holy man
the beginning and end of this man, and concerning
his children, and his childrens' children, for five gene-
rations; and he became known to him in this wise: —
Rabban once wished to sell certain oxen of the herd
belonging to the monastery to provide for the minis-
tration of the brethren, and he sent ten oxen with a
monk to the market of the village of Yazdainabhadh,^
and he commanded him, saying, "Take these oxen,
and go to Yazdainabhadh, and do not take them into
the market, but pasture them above the village. And
behold, a man will come to you mounted upon a horse,
and will haggle concerning their price with thee with
^ /. e. ^>p\ o^i^xi ^^) o^j^' According to Ibn Haukal,
the Banu 'Imran, a branch of the tribe of el-Azd, were settled
in Kurdistan. See Hoffmann, Aussuge, p. 254, note 1867; and
Thomas of Marga, Bk. iv. chap. 21, supra, p. 450, note i.
^ ;i»>, "the man of el-Azd."
3 ^N translates the Heb. mD'']?, n\r\ and njj (Payne Smith,
Thes., col. 1606) Taiman is the district called Yemen, Cf^^>
by the Arabs. For the place called 'Imraniya, see Hoffmann,
Aussiige, pp. 200, 224, and compare Corpus Inscriptionum
Semiticarum, Pars ii. torn. i. Fasc. I. p. 107. '
^ ?4»*.?»t, also written muL?*;; see Noldeke, Geschichte der
Perscry p. 384; and Hoffmann, Aussiige, p. 218, note 1739. |
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVI. OF RABBAN GABRIEL, 657
[p. 387] many words, but thou shalt not strike a bargain
with him, neither shalt thou accept their price from him.
And when he shall say to thee, *Wait until I bring
thee their price,' thou shalt say to him, 'Thus saith
Mar Gabriel, Whenever it is easy for thee, take their
price and come [with it] to me to the monastery'."
And when that brother had gone and hg.d done as he
had been commanded, behold 'Amran came, and when
he saw the oxen he turned aside [to look at] them.
And having enquired about their condition he said,
"Hast thou brought them to sell?" and the brother
answered and said to 'Amran, "What is thy name.'^"
and he said, "Why askest thou concerning my name?"
The monk said, "My father Rabban Gabriel command-
ed me, saying, *Behold a certain Ishmaelite whose name
is 'Amran will come to thee, deliver the oxen to him
freely, and say to him, I know that thou hast not the
money to pay for them, but whenever God hath made
it ready for thee, take [it] and come [with it] to me
to the monastery that I may see thee'." And when
'Amran heard these things [about himself from] this
holy old man who was not even acquainted with him,
for he had not as yet entered into [his] inheritance of
the estates of Marga, * he marvelled and was astonished,
and he knew that this man must be great, for, said
he, "He saw my coming to the market, and saw that I
wished to buy oxen;" and he knew and perceived with
his soul's understanding that the esteem of the Christ-
ians was mighty and exalted before God, for behold
their holy men see and know the things which are
hidden. So he took the oxen and went [his way], and
* See Bk. IV. chap. 21, supra^ p. 450.
0000
1C*<—
658 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
the monk returned to Rabban and informed him of all
that had happened meanwhile; and Rabban was silent
and answered never a word. Now after a day or two
behold ' Amran knocked at the door [of the monastery],
and when they opened the door for him and he had
gone in he asked for Rabban and fell down upon the
ground before him, and Rabban kissed him on the
head and blessed him; [p. 388] and 'Amran brought
[out] the money, the price of the oxen. And as he
was sitting down he embraced Rabban's legs as a mark
of honour, and entreated him to pray for him, and
Rabban answered and said to him, "If thou wilt es-
tablish a covenant before God and before myself that
thou wilt not slay the Christians, I will reveal to thee
what thou shalt become, and what shall happen to thy
children, and to thy children's children." And he swore
before him, saying, "From this day and henceforth to
the most remote time/ among the Christians a man
like unto thyself I will never harm. Thou hast heard
concerning the children of Bozi,* but they acted wicked-
ly towards me, and exasperated me with their fables
and pride." The blessed man answered and said to
him, "If thou wilt restrain thy sword from the people
of God, behold God will make thee, and thy children,
and thy children's children to inherit peacefully all this
country of Marga, and the men who shall arise from
^ Read '.(sUa «^c^o.
^ The "children of Bozi" seem to have been a Kurdish or
Persian family from whom the place ^^oa N*a took its name,
and it would appear from Thomas of Marga's report of ' Amran's
conversation that they had been driven out of their dwelling-
place by the Banu Imran; see Hoffmann, Atisziige, p. 196.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVI. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 659
thy seed shall become strong and mighty, and no man
shall be able to stand before them and conquer. Like
Nisan^ with its blossoms and flowers, and the vine
with its clusters of grapes, even so shall they be distin-
guished in their appearance and strength from the other
families of the Arabs. Thus hath it been revealed to
me by God, in comparison with the love of Whom I
count the whole world as nothing, and I entreat thee
to command the sons whom God shall raise up from
thee to shew love to the Christians, and especially to
the monasteries and convents, and to ascetics, and
scholars, and priests, and deacons." And 'Amran under-
took to act according to the command of Rabban, and
he did so, and he likewise commanded his sons to do
so. Such was the revelation which appeared to the
holy old man.
And again, there were three hamlets near the mon-
astery of the holy man, the inhabitants of which, together
with all the heathen, robbed and vexed this holy house ;
and when the brethren made a complaint [to Rabban],
[p. 389] he said to them merely, "They will be made
desolate utterly", and this actually came to pass.
Moreover, by the [gift of] prophecy which dwelt in
him he made known concerning the revolt in the
kingdom which took place before this our generation.
And as we have said above, he shewed aforetime to
the brethren concerning the desolation of the Monastery
of Malbadh, * and the ruin of all his family, and of the
^ L e,, part of April and May.
^ It is not probable that aaiab is the ^'^^^\ d^^f^ cr? ^>^
whose acts are described in Ibn al-Athlr, tom. v. pp. 369 — 371.
We are told by Thomas of Marga, {supra, p. 650) that Gabriel
66o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
glory which descended' not after him; and behold the
sight of that ruined and desolate place testifieth to the
words of the holy man.
And he shewed aforetime concerning the death,
which should take place before his own, of his beloved
fellow-labourer and ascetic Abbi Domat (Domitius) of
Beth 'Abhe, and when that holy old man was dying
[Rabban] said to the brethren, who were in his mon-
astery, "In this night shall the perfection of the blessed
Abbi Domat (Domitius) be accomplished, and his soul
shall be exalted to the treasuries of heaven; this day
shall Satan, the foe of holy men, be put to shame by
reason of the escape of that divine old man from his
crafty wiles."
Now divine visions which surpassed our knowledge
appeared to him frequently, but through the negligence
of authors they have not been set down in writing ; we,
however, by a very few of the things which have been
said about him, like a drop of rain out of the whole
shower, or like a single block of stone out of the whole
mountain, make known to what measure [of power] this
divine man attained.
was a contemporary of Mar Aha, Mar Maran-'ammeh and Mar
Isho'-yahbh [of Adiabene], and we know that these Metropolitans
lived in the Vllth century of our era; iJi^-a* ^^ ^>-^, however,
died about A. H. 137 (A. D. 754), and if he had been a con-
temporary of Mar Aba he must have been considerably more
than 100 years old at the time of his death. For the account
of Malbadh's monastery see Bk. VI. chap. 13, supra p. 639.
' Hoffmann prefers to read 07^^^ ^Ji ;^» "which should not
live after him."
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 66 1
CHAPTER XVn.
OF THE WONDERS, AND MIGHTY WORKS OF HEALING, AND
CURES OF ALL KINDS WHICH WERE WROUGHT BY THE
HANDS OF RABBAN GABRIEL.
Let US now turn, [p. 390] the might of the prayer of this
holy man cleaving unto us, to the mighty deeds which
Christ wrought, and the wonders which He shewed
forth by his hands. "A city which is built upon a
mountain cannot be hid," ' as [long as] it pleaseth Christ
our Lord, and according to His command, neither may
His disciples conceal His mysteries and revelations.
Now although certain holy men have excelled in mighty
works of excellence, yet wonders and the working of
mighty deeds have not been performed by their hands;
and this did not happen through any defect or lack of
renown on their part, but because God, the only wise
Being, giveth to every man that [gift] which is most
suitable for him. And because human nature is deceit-
ful,^ and Satan lieth^ in wait continually, and lurketh^
" St. Matthew v. 14.
^ ;x6^, qui hallucinatur^ = Gr. i^XiGio^; see Payne Smith,
Thes,, col. 1 501.
3 ;o7a For other examples of this word see Land, Anecdoiay
tom. ii. p. 262, 1. 2; p. 336, 1. 2; Hoffmann, Syr, Arab, Glossen,
No. 1463, p. 51; Thomas of Marga, text, p. 397, 1. 5.
^ All the MSS. have aatt»o, but Hoffmann thinks that we
should read ^aAa»o "and lurketh in secret places," which gives
much better sense. The noun U^sa^ occurs also in the Chronicle
of Bar-Hebraeus, ed. Bruns, p. 336, L 16 (rendered "explora-
tores"); and in Cureton, Eccles. Hist of John of Ephesus,
p. 345, 1. 22 (rendered "hordes" by Payne Smith in his trans-
lation, Oxford, i860, p. 371). The word is explained by $^
662 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK -OF GOVERNORS.
to compass its ruin, especially in the case of holy men
and of those who have often cut through his snares
and laughed at his wily tricks, our Lord God withholds
from certain men this gift of healing. For behold, we
see that to the divine Paul, who was the tongue of
Christ,' who fulfilled His designs,* and who was the great
pillar and father of the churches of the Gentiles which
had been sanctified by his hands with the mark of the
Cross of Christ, was delivered a goad for his flesh, ^
the messenger^ of Satan, which was his moderate
weakness, lest by the excellence of the revelations and
signs which he used to work, after he had preached
to others he himself might become a castaway.^ So
then everything^ cometh from the will of the Governor,^
Who, according to His inscrutable fore-knowledge, per-
fecteth in those who are participators in His counsel
those things which are administered for the common
good. Now this holy man, our father Mar Gabriel,
'^ambush", and by yA*2 ^xLiaS ^.\n>S\ff 6uao2 .^*auibo? ?.y&\a ;(yLib
^oaa^abo^o .31^0^ ^..idUo ^o^ ^^a^A ^&au»Nio3 'Ibands of thieves
who lie in wait, that is to say, thieves who plunder people,
and who band themselves together with others in revolt, and
unite together to rob and steal;" see Duval, Lexicon, col. 1147.
Compare v—UXo "band of brigands," and (^Ui* "voleur",
Dozy, Supplement, p. 408, col. 2.
* Read ;M»ir^.?, and compare ^? op«!^ B. C, iii. i. p. 119,
1. 24.
^ Read, according to Hoffmann, v^e/oaU?.
3 2 Corinthians xii. 7.
4 Literally, **the angel of Satan."
5 I Corinthians ix. 27.
^ /. e,, revelations and signs.
7 Read ^aaa^p 007 op>«A^? ^o^ ^^^P*
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 66^
having aforetime, from the beginning of his discipleship,
[p. 391] embraced humility, chose to be considered of
no account and unknown, and he passed the whole
period of his life in this [manner], even until his old age,
when by the Divine choice he was called to the head-
ship of this holy monastery, and our Lord gave by
his hands mighty deeds and gifts which fell short in no-
thing of those possessed by the early fathers. And, not with-
standing that he was the fountain and origin of the healings
which were wrought by him, many afflictions came upon
him from the wicked men who were his neighbours
in this place, whom Satan, the enemy of our master,
stirred up [against him] every day and always, and
they were gathered together against him with threats
and curses to put him to shame in this place, as after-
wards, little by little, by the help of God we will prove
with our words.
Now when Rabban [Gabriel] lived in the Monastery
of Mar John, and was carrying out his customary duties,
a certain man from the village of Telia* came to him
in the month of* Ilul, and said to him sadly, "The vines
in our village have been severely smitten by the hail,
and my vine only remaineth uninjured." The blessed
man said to him, "My son, a punishment hath been
sent upon you by God for your benefit, and whoso-
ever receiveth the chastisement of the Lord, the Lord
will bind up his wound. Had the hail smitten thy
vine also it would have been for thy benefit; but thou
must know that destruction [of thy vine] awaiteth thee.
If the sin is the sin, of the whole community, the chas-
tisement also must be of the whole community." And
' A village in Marga; see Hoffmann, Auszugey p. 227.
" /. e,, ^6«, part of August and September.
<««
664 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
that man went and pressed the grapes of his vine,
and he poured his wine into a wine jar and sealed it ;
and when he went back to look at it on the following
day, behold the wine jar was empty and there was
nothing inside it. Thus the words of Rabban were
actually fulfilled.
Once while he lived in the cell of Mar John, [p. 392]
when he was sitting in front of his cell and reading a
book, an eagle came and carried off a kid of the goats
belonging to the monastery. And when Rabban saw
that the kid bleated, and that the eagle was carrying
it up to his nest to devour, he said to the eagle, **For
the sake of our Lord let down carefully what thou hast
taken"; and the eagle, as if some heavy thing were
hanging from him, let the kid down little by little,
and laid it on the ground without injury,, and spread
out his wings and flew away. And all those who heard
concerning these things from the shepherd, praised
God, but because they were the beginning of the
miracles of the blessed man they were perturbed and
frightened. And the holy man answered and said to
them, *'My brethren, be not astonished at this thing
which hath taken place, for it hath not happened
through my power, but by God, Who hath made mani-
fest these things on your account; I am a weak man
and a sinner, and this hath been wrought by your
prayers. Every wild animal, and beast, and bird, and rep-
tile is made subject unto divine and holy men,^ even as
' A wild ass was obedient to Antony; Paul of the Theba'id .
handled snakes, serpents and scorpions with impunity; a croco- j
dile carried Pachomius across the Nile at his command; a hippo-
potamus forsook the country at the command of Beno; a ser-
pent was obedient to Hilarion; a monk lived in the Cave of
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. MIRACLES OF RABBAN CYPRIAN. 665
it was to Noah at the door of his ark, for the God
of the people of. these last times is the God of the
ancients.
Another time also there came to him a certain
Persian believer from the village of Beth Kewaz, which
[is situated] on the Great Zab, leading with him his
two sons who were vexed by evil spirits; the name
of the one was Noah, and that of the other Marwa,
and he entreated Rabban to pray for them. Then
Rabban commanded and the boys were brought to
him, and he anathematized those devils, saying, **In the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who cast out legions *
from him who dwelt among the tombs, I command you
to come forth from these boys'* ; and while the brethren
were standing before him and all looking on, [the devils]
came forth from their mouths in the form of fire. Thus
by the word of Rabban [p. 393] they received healing
from the vexation of obstinate devils, and that man
returned to his house rejoicing and praising God.
One day a mad dog came forth from the village
of Niram, and as it passed by some children who were
playing, it fell upon one whose name was Maron, and
tore open his belly, and his bowels came out freely,
and his parents carried him and brought him to Rabban.
And when he saw him he was much grieved for him,
and he commanded and they put the child's bowels
back into his belly, and he made the sign of the Cross
over them, and thus by the word of Rabban the wound
was healed.
Sapsa with lions j and Macarius had two lions whom he called
"Little sons." SeeRosweyde, Vitae Patrmriy pp. 49, 650, 120,
459, 84, 857 and 228.
» St. Mark v. 9.
PPPP
666 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS,
In the village of Hetara," which is situated on the
[bank of] the river Hazer,* there was a certain man
whose name was Naggara;^ he belonged to the race
of the Shahrighan/ and had a son whose name was
Maslamih.^ Now this boy was smitten with a very
virulent sore, and his father sent him to this monas-
tery, and the old man gave him a henana, and com-
manded him not to eat meat or anything of that nature
until the end of the Fast of the Apostles; and when
the fifty days were ended the boy had become whole. ^
And his father commanded one of the members of his
home to bring some fish from the river, and to carry
[them] with the boy to Rabban, and some they fried
[to eat] in the village, and some they left alive and
took with them as they came to this monastery. And the
young man who was with Maslamah was a heathen,
and when they drew near to the precincts of the mon-
astery on the first day of the week which ended
the "Week of the Apostles" — now the boy was fasting
to receive the Holy Mysteries — the heathen young man
counselled the boy with the counsel of Eve,' saying,
"Thou art fasting now, and when thou goest to the
monks thou wilt be ashamed to eat, [p. 394] but I will
* See Hoffmann, Auszuge, p. 185 f.
^ Read with BC h^ ^jU..
* See supra, p. 309, note 4.
^ The Fast of the Apostles lasted seven weeks, namely
from Whit-Sunday to the last Sunday of the Week of
the Apostles called Nausardil; see supra, p. 466, note 3, and
the authorities there quoted.
7 Genesis iii. 6.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. MIRACLES OF RABBAN CYPRIAN. 667
place in this tree a piece* of fish with [some] bread,
so that when we come back thou canst eat;" now the
boy did not prevent him, and according to his word
they placed [the meat and bread there], and set forth
[again] on their journey. And when they had gone in
to the old man they laid the basket' of fish before
him, and he commanded the brethren to dress them
by the time of the Holy Mysteries. And while the
fish, which they were about to fry on the fire in
Rabbans chamber, were lying in the pan, Rabban's
cat^ came and took one of them. And Rabban answer-
ed and laughing, said to him, "Do not be more greedy
than the brethren, for he that brought the fish did not
receive healing from thee, but through their prayers;
let it go, wretched creature, that chastisement may not
come upon thee;" and with the word of Rabban, a
strong eagle seized the cat and bore him up into the
air. And Rabban said to the eagle, "Let him go and
offend not a second time," and the eagle let him down
* ;a^a0. This word is explained by ^^jJ»; ^ i.AL», and
iibjoi oafp ;\aap ;aaJ .6i o^ aa ^ }^ou; see Brit. Mus. MSS.
Rich, 7203, fol. 152^, col. 2; Orient. 2441, fol. 330^, col. i.
* ^\)^Kiri i. e., KdpiaXXo^. Compare Brit. Mus. MS. Orient.
2441, fol. 347^, col. I li^hax ^ A>'^Ss, ^^« •^ oaib ba ^ A\^
3 ;s^ or oi^, plur. ;kc^; see Budge, Boo^ of the Bee, p.
oaott, 1. 19, where the word is explained by T^iSi^ (sing, j^caa,
Chald. KriK^^SIS), and Wright, Kalilah and Dimnah, pp. 172,
1. 22; 175, 1. 15; 209, 22; 263, II; and 367, 16 (on p. 263,
1. 18, o\ti is feminine). Compare the Arabic L», plur. i>ll^;
and Payne Smith, T/ies., col. 1790. ^^)y^ in Brit. Mus.
MS. Orient. 2441, fol. 333 <^, col. i.
668 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
and laid him upon the ground uninjured; and the young
men and the brethren marvelled and were astonished.
And with this miracle the blessed man wrought
also another wonderful thing at the table in the refec-
tory while they were eating. When the brethren had
taken the gift and had sat down to eat the good things*
which the Lord had brought to them, Maslamah and
his companion ate with deliberation.* And Rabban
said to Maslamah,^ "My son, see what this my servant
telleth me." Now the old man had as his disciple a
young man whose name was Kuphra, ^ the son of Sabhr-
Ish6\ a believer [who came] from Niram, a village of
shepherds, and when many illnesses had waxed strong
in him, his father set him apart to become the servant
of Rabban, if ever he should become well, and by the
mediation of this holy man this actually came to pass,
and he became a disciple, and a monk, and afterwards
head of a monastery. At that moment this young man
was standing before Rabban, [p. 395] and to him Rabban
directed the gaze of the boy Maslamah, saying, "This
[my] servant counselleth thee to eat abundantly, for a
crow hath carried off that which ye hid in a tree."
And with the word of Rabban, behold [there came]
upon the roof a large black crow,^ [holding] in his beak
the bread and the fish which the young men had hidden
in the tree; thus astonishment about the crow and what
he carried followed closely upon their wonder con-
^ Literally, "the grace", or "the charity", meaning the fish.
• • • • • •
^ B has liS,M, which is an older orthography.
* A shortened form of fils^aa}
^ Read ^bo^.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. MIRACLES OF RABBAN CYPRIAN. 669
cerning the cat.* These and such-like things were
wrought by the hands of this our prophet.
At another time there came to him a certain be-
lieving man from Nineveh (Mosul), who, although he
had lived with his wife a long time, was not called
the father of children; to him Rabban gave a henana,
and having prayed - for him , he dismissed him , and
three children were bom to him through the prayers
of Rabban, and he also was called the father of children.
A certain man from the village of Amulhir* was
sorely vexed by Satan, and he shouted out with cries
by day and by night, and he was brought to Rabban
by his parents; and as soon as he had gone into the
martyrium and Rabban had anointed him with the oil
of prayer,^ he was made whole, and became free from
attack.
And a certain man from the village of Birta who had
no children, came and knocked at the door of the old
man with supplication, and asked for his prayers,* and
in due time twins were born to him. And Rabban
commanded him to minister unto the poor and the
strangers "in return for the double blessing which God
hath given thee;'* and that believer undertook and did
according to the command of Rabban.
In the village of Niram there was a woman who
was a ministrant unto rebellious devils. And when she
^ V&tA, Talm. KnilB^ (Buxtorf, ed. Fischer, p. 1232, col. i),
Arabic ^p-^* In Mas'udi {Les Prairies (TOr, ed. Barbier de
Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, torn. iii. p. 13, 1. 10) we have
2 /. e,, j^\ \\. See Hoffmann, Auszuge^ p. 195.
3 See supra, p. 613, note i.
4 Read ^foS^.
670 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
saw the mighty deeds and wonders which the holy
man was working against the devils her masters, [p. 396]
she set herself in opposition to him, that they might
make an end of him and destroy him out of the world.
And although Rabban had known concerning her for
some time past, he had never done her any harm, nor
given information concerning her; now this woman set
her face to slay Rabban, whom the wretched creature
was not only not able to harm in any way, but she,
the wretched creature, destroyed herself. And she took
in her bosom ' some dried white grapes and went straight
to him; now Rabban was saying Compline at the door
of the martyrium." And when she saw him, she bowed
down before him, and reproaching him in, as it were, a
loving manner said, "Because I am a poor and sinful
woman, thou neither liftest up my head, nor takest any
care for me, as thou dost for the other widows whom
thou feedest." And the holy man rebuked her, saying,
^'Depart, wretched woman, thou hast no need of sus-
tenance at my hands, for thou hast other protectors;"
but she did not understand that he spake of the devils
whom she served, and sighing she sadly entreated him
' Read b^.
^ ;sdjfi> {s*3. This martyrium is, in Nestorian Monasteries, a
chapel lying on the left or north side of the ^aJLo, K6Txn» or
square in which the altar stands; it is entered through two doors,
one being to the north of the kotx'I; and the other at the east
end of the left aisle or side nave. Here the ^ob> fis-s, or place
where Compline was sung, must have been immediately before
the door of the martyrium and have formed the left part of
what Badger calls the chancel, /. e., the space before the closed^-^.^
KOYxn* where the lecterns stood. In this case that part of the
church was accessible to every body, and the appearance of
this woman in it can be readily explained.
i
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. MIRACLES OF RABBAN CYPRIAN. 67 1
to receive the few dried grapes which she had brought
to him. And Rabban, knowing of the strange power
that was hidden therein, answered and said to her,
"Get thee gone, woman; I have harmed thee in no
way, what hast thou to do with me? Light hath no
portion with darkness, neither can the adorers of the
Cross be participators in the table and the food' of
devils." Now although [Rabban had spoken] thus, she
nevertheless dared to throw the grapes down upon
the doorstep of the martyrium before the holy old man,
and she left [him] and went away. And as Rabban
was singing the psalm, with the top of his staff he
traced [a figure of] the Cross over and among them,
and they were straightway changed into large, [p. 397]
strong wasps. And they flew after that despicable
woman and overtook her on the road, and they took
vengeance upon her for the insult to the holy man,
and they stung her upon her face and head, and she
died immediately, and fell into the river;* and every
man was astonished at the terrible death which had
happened to the wretched woman.
And again the Calumniator, who wishes to make a
mock of the holy men of our Lord, and who was
lurking^ in ambush and watching for the ruin of that
mighty old man, into whom none of his arrows ever
stuck, ^ and whom no spiritual or corporeal blemish
ever touched, brought upon him, and upon his mon-
astery innumerable trials, in which Rabban was vic-
torious, and inflicted severe defeat upon his enemy, who
* ^M see supra, p. 390, note i.
^ /. e,, the Hazer, y\^,
3 ;ojb*, see supra, p. 661, note 3. ♦ '^ nw, / fi^^a.
672 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
sometimes troubled him by the stubborn heathen, and
sometimes by other afflictions.
Now there lived in the village of Beth Obhid* a
woman who was exceedingly beautiful, and she set the
beauty with which mortal nature had endowed her as
a stumbling-block for the children of the race of mankind,
and Satan invited and led on this woman [to attempt]
the ruin of this divine man. And she rose up and
adorned herself like a harlot with all the ornaments
which stir up lust for women in men, and she put kohl^
on her eyes, and tired her head like Jezebel, and like
Jezebel she also was about to drink the cup of the
wrath of the Lord; and she hung upon herself all her
ornaments of gold and silver, and she rose up and set
out from the village and made her journey to the mon-
astery of Rabban. Now Rabban was among a great
crowd of people who were sick and afflicted with
devils, and she also went in among them all breathing
forth the evil smelling scent of her perfumes, and she
waited until every one had gone forth on his way.
And when she saw that Rabban remained alone she
dared to stand before him with her face uncovered,
[p. 398] and she showed him her beauty without shame.
And Rabban answered in his accustomed gracious
manner, and said to her, "What is the cause of thy
" •* • —
^ Compare 2 Kings ix. 30; and Jeremiah iv. 30. The Y^
^nD occurs in Ezekiel xxiii. 40; compare ,Ji=v^*, to paint the
eyes with Jjc&. The use of mestcheniet or **eye-paint" in
Egypt is as old as the time of Unas, who reigned about B. C.
3300, and a wall painting at Beni-hasan in Upper Egypt proves
that as early as about B. C. 2500 mestchetnet or "eye paint"
was brought to Egypt from Syria.
I
I
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. MIRACLES OF R ABB AN CYPRIAN. 673
coming here?" and the audacious woman said to him,
"I have come to thee that I may sleep with thee this
night and that thou mayest be united with me." And
Rabban was passionately enraged with her, and he
cursed her, and she fell down on her face straightway,
and he called brother Kuphra his servant to gather
her up, and commanded him to drag her outside; and
she went to her village in great pain, and on the
morning of the morrow she was buried, and behold
she was reserved for a judgment more bitter than
death. And this thing was known to all who dwelt
in the country, and they glorified our Lord Who made
the holy man victorious, because by the memory of
her [whom] the holy man burnt up with his curses and
destroyed, the lust of the lascivious perished.
And on a certain day the heathen from the hamlets
round about came by night and fell upon Beth Hesikhe,*
the forest* of the monastery, with axes and scythes,
and they mercilessly hacked and hewed and threw down
[the trees]; and they at the same time were making
threats against the monastery, saying, "We will burn
it with fire, and we will make it a waste place as
if it had never existed;" and when the sacristan went
out to strike the board for morning [prayer], he heard
the noise of those that were cutting the trees, and he
N*3, /. €., the dense thicket of the forest which hid
and protected the monastery. For the word ;^>g>.> used in this
sense compare Vh^^ ^blab^^o ^ ^0 aa^ ^'outside the woods and
places defended by trees;" see Cureton, John of Ephesus,
p. 402, 1. 24; and Payne Smith, Thes., col. 1331. A Mon-
astery of ^^,^ax^ is mentioned in B. 0., ii. p. 65, 1. 26.
^ Read ^.
qqqq
674 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
went in and informed Rabban. And the holy man
went out to speak with them, and to admonish them
for their daring behaviour, but the children of destruction
poured out insulting words upon him, and with bitter
pain in his heart he cursed them as Elisha cursed the
children,' and straightway the angel of the Lord slew
them with the exception of one who remained [alive]
to proclaim their audacious behaviour. Thus the prayer
of this altar of prayer was heard and accepted, [p. 399]
and at the first moving of his request the work [of
destruction] was performed.
And again Satan, who desired their destruction,
inflamed [the hearts of] the inhabitants of a village
called Beth Timai," who were heathen, and evil livers, and
thieves, to come and smite the monks and to plunder
the community; and when they had come and many
of the brethren had been badly wounded, and had had
their bones broken by them, the [other] brethren went
in and informed Rabban of the audacious violence^ of
those godless men. And Rabban admonished the brethren,
saying, "My sons, for the sake of Christ, your Lord,
endure insults and blows from [your] enemies, for He
said, *In the world ye shall have tribulation';^ and what
man or what saint ever departed from [this] world
* 2 Kings ii. 23.
^ >>v>>\. *a Hoffmann considers to be a name of endearment
or a diminutive of Jb6}6si^ ^.
3 ^foMLkS^. Compare pb^i^ Hoffmann, Syr,- Arab, Glossen,
No. 1378, p. 48; ^U^ ^&^» Ahrens, Buck der Naturgegen-
stdnde^ p. 14, I. I ; and ^s^ ^07 ^^&Mto A Budge, Book of the
Bee^ p. *, 1. 20.
4 St. John xvi. 33.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. MIRACLES OF R ABB AN CYPRIAN. 675
without affliction?" And while Rabban was admonish-
ing and exhorting his disciples with such words as
these, those men from Beth Timai seized the herd of
cattle [belonging] to the community and departed, and
they hid themselves in a certain place called Beth
Saphwan,^ so that when the night came they might
carry the oxen away unobserved* to a distance and
sell them. Now when it was evening Rabban went
forth after them secretly, and he went into the wood
and took with him two fierce lions, and drew near to
those wretched men. And when they saw him and the
lions, [one] on his right hand, and [one] on his left,
and saw that they were ready at his command to
swiftly destroy them, mounting upon rocks, and hiding
in caves they adjured him by his God to take what
belonged to him, and to save their lives from destruction
by those cruel lions; and they swore to him that they
would never come back to the monastery. And the
holy man spake to them darkly, saying, "I trust in God,
[p. 400] Whom I serve, that from this day and hence-
forth ye will need neither to buy nor to sell, nor to
go forth outside the borders of your village, but that
ye may rest in relaxation and peace for ever, and that
ye may not wake up until the time appointed before-
hand for this universe." And the men worthy of woe
rose up and went to their village, and the Lord destroyed
them in a short time, and their village was made a
desolation for ever, so much so that even its name
and memorial were blotted out entirely from this earth.
And the holy man took the herd of cattle and returned
' ^o^ for ycA^, like /{»aV^M ^^^ jEp^^-
^ We should read something like ^o^ai Jot.* )2^3.
676 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
to the monastery in the evening when it was quite
dark; and this wonder was proclaimed throughout all
the country.
And again when the ' Amran bar-Muhammad — whom
we have mentioned above' — had gone in and inherited
the lands [round about], and with them also Niram of
the shepherds, in which he lived, because of the love
which he had for this righteous man — for he had
actually done what Rabban asked him [to do] — he
called to one of his servants and said to him, "Go to
Rabban Gabriel and say to him, if he has a little wheat,
let him lend it to us, and as soon as we bring the com
into the granary we will pay him double." Now it was
the season of Nis4n' when it happeneth that many
people are in need [of wheat]. And when he that had
been sent had come [to Rabban], the holy old man
rose up and shewed him a hollow^ in the ground, that
is to say, a pit, full of wheat, and said to him, "Behold,
my son, take all this wheat and carry it to thy master".
And this servant took up out of the pit as many loads
as he pleased, leaving, however, some behind, for he
was mindful not to take all the grain, having compassion
for the brethren that they themselves might not lack.
And he left [the monastery] and went to'Amran, and
when ^'Amran asked him if any [wheat] was left in the
pit, he was afraid of his master's violence, and told
him, saying, "I did leave a little there for the food of
the monastery and of the old man." [p. 401] Then
'Amran according to his cruel disposition asked him
' See pp. 450, 656.
^ /. /*., "springtime".
3 ^o>^. See Bk. v. chap. 11, supra, p. 513, note 2.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. MIRACLES OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 677
to go back and bring also what was left, saying,
"Rabban Gabriel will lack nothing." And when the
servant had gone back to the old man he made the
matter known to Rabban, who answered and said to
him, "O my son, I have lent all the pitful [of wheat]
to 'Amran, do not therefore leave anything in it that
thou dost not carry away." And when the servant
went to the pit he opened it and saw, and behold it
was full to the top as before, and he looked and was
astonished, and he went back having loaded the mule,
and related [the matter] to his master, who marvelled
and was astonished, and did not send again [to Rabban].
How wonderful is the love of God towards holy men,
who having elected to live in penury and to be un-
praised and unknown, in that, contrary to their wishes,
it leadeth on their part to' the praise of His great
power, and in such a way that they provoke, those
who love its excellence! And this holy person who
was beloved by his Lord wrought many most astonish-
ing things which were full of His glory. This man
was a prosperous gardener who fenced round his own
vineyard with the sure hedge of keeping the command-
ments, that [wild animals]* might not enter in and
destroy the fruits of his sweetness. He was a wise
builder who dug down deep and laid the walls of his
house firmly upon the sure rock of belief, that they
might not move by reason of the blast of the mighty
winds of pride, and that the thief might not enter in
and spoil the riches of his treasure. He was a faithful
* The reading of BC fis»^ is preferable here.
^ We must add after o]6s.^S^ ;&^ some words like ^aaa ;^
678 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
Steward who laid upon the table' before those who
sat at meat in his master's house the portion which
had been entrusted to him. He was a diligent mariner
who saved his valuable ship from the waves and storms,
[p. 402] and who steered straight out of them for the
quiet harbour. He was a merchant [who] understood
what was advantageous for him, and who laid up his
treasures in heaven above * where the fingers of thieves
draw not nigh to plunder the riches of the prosperous.
He was a soldier without blame who went forth to
meet the enemies of his Lord, and who never turned
his back until he had destroyed them. He was a hus-
bandman who sowed the seed wisely, and who cleansed
the field of his thoughts from every plant of stubborn
tares, and he shewed his field [to be] full of choice fat
wheat. He was a valiant warrior who conquered all
the armies of the mighty Philistines^ who had driven
out the upright from the land of promise. He was a
Gideon* victorious in the wars of the Lord, who pursued
spiritual Midianites, and took the gold and the crescents ^
of their camels, and plundered them until he had made
them pass from out of his dominion. It was in such
a manner that he was victorious, and these and such-
^ The allusion here is to his ministering at the Eucharist.
^ St. Matthew vi. 20.
3 /. ^., the heathen Kurds and Persians.
^ Judges viii. 21.
5 ^^ma, Heb. D'^Jhrjfef, Chald. «;3inD "little moons". In Hoff-
mann, Opuscula, p. 96, L 5, this word is explained by ^ftls^or
^iA^JOM ;do^ ^oMsap ^?^^ \f^?7? "crescents-haped collars (or neck-
chains), that is torques, which are cast in the shape of the new
moon". Another explanation is (Payne Smith, Thes.y col. 2539)
'^Chains of gold like unto the moon, that is to say the half
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVII. DEATH OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 679
like triumphs did he exhibit. What speech can fathom
the hidden virtues of this man, and bring [them] to
the light and shew their glorious character? It is meet
that his praises should be recited by blessed and righteous
men whose discourse is savoury and sweet, in that it
hath been seasoned with the salt of chastity, and
not by ignorant men who are overwhelmed in sin like
myself It is meet that thy noble triumphs should be
set down in writing, O pearl of asceticism, wherefore
we have made bold to write [the history of them]. We
will attribute honour to thy love, and we will award
gratitude to thy holiness, in order that the dust of thy
limbs, which alive or dead, driveth away devils, and
the vessel in which thy body is laid, may be known
by the prudent and not be despised. And although
it was pleasing to thee in thy life and in thy death
to follow after humility, [p. 403] yet if [thy triumphs]
remain unknown they will bring injury and harm [upon
men]; [therefore we have written them] that they may
be a benefit' to them. To thee be praise and to thy
Lord glory!
moon, in which are set precious stones; they also call ^laeub
that [piece of] iron which is made like the half moon, and
which the Arabs put on their camels above their nostrils." The
Arabs call every thing which has the form of a crescent or
new moon ^JlaT.
' The MSS. have ;&aA>o^, but read ;lb'NAA.
68o THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
OF THE LAMENTABLE DEATH OF RABBAN GABRIEL, AND OF
HIS DEPARTURE TO THE WORLD OF JOY.
And how much longer shall we weary [our] listeners
with our common and ignorant words .-^ After these
things then, let us proceed and advance to the sick-
ness which smote the holy man, and to those things
which happened during his illness, so that with the
end of his career we may also bring our lines to a
close. Now while that holy man was bringing down
this and such-like help upon all mankind, one by one
the years of his life came to an end, and old age and
feebleness troubled him; day by day he began to complete
the path of his journey in this world and to set out
on the paths of death, so that he also might go and
join all the saints in the never-ending mansions for
which and because of which he had toiled all his days.
And the holy man fell ill of a disease of the bowels
and suffered from diarrhoea for four months, like the
majority of the holy men who have departed and who
will depart from the world. And at the end of the
months of his sickness the report of his departure from
this life was carried to all the nobles and governors
of the country, and they were gathered together and
came to see him. [p. 404] And the honourable and
noble Zadoi bar-Zadhbhah, [who] is worthy of mention
for good because of his noble deeds and his protection
of the schools, — for he had taken upon himself the
burden of maintaining them — was also among the many
who came to the monastery to see the holy man, and
the honourable Zadoi, who was sitting behind Rabban,
supported him in the hour of his death, and he was
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVIII. DEATH OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 68 1
grieved at the departure* of the holy old man. And
while all the brethren were standing before him, (now
some of them were sitting) the eyes of the blessed
man dropped tears of grief, and he wept abundantly.
And when the brethren saw that he wept, all the be-
lievers wept also, saying to him, "If thou weepest, Rabban,
and art grieved at thy departure, what shall we who
are sinners do?" He said to them, "I am not afraid
of death, neither am I grieved at my departure, but
I am afraid of the judgment of our Lord, for God
judgeth by fire. If Saint Paul was terrified at the judg-
ment hall of God and said, *It is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God,' who am I that
I should not be stupefied with terror.-^ For I know not
what the Judge will make me hear there, or what an-
swer He will return to me, for I know not whether my
work will be pleasing before Him or not. And behold
I am going along ^ a road upon which I have not jour-
neyed, and to a judgment hall of sin into which I have
not entered, and the face of the Judge is terrible to-
wards sinners, among whom I am reckoned. His Holy
Cross shall be an advocate for me before His justice,
and I will take refuge in it;" and as the holy old man
wept and [his] tears poured down wetting his beard
and his neck, a cry went up to heaven from every
man. [p. 405] And after the weeping and the tears
the beauty of grace shone upon his countenance and
drew forth great astonishment from every man, and
the eyes of the brethren and of the believers looked
upon him. And when they saw him in that changed
^ Read
* Hebrews x. 31.
3 We must follow the reading of BC here.
rrrr
682 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
condition of heavenly splendour, and saw that he had
composed his mind and had become peaceful [after] his
weeping, the brethren and monks answered and said
to him, "Our father, to whom wilt thou leave us? From
this day and henceforth who will hedge us in from
before the enemies by whom we are surrounded?
Whilst thou wast alive they swallowed us up alive,
and when thou art dead what evil will they not make
us suffer? They will certainly make a desolation of
this poor monastery." The blessed man answered and
said to them, "My brethren, take heed to your re-
demption and to your reward, and multiply [your]
prayers for the Church and the government. Pray also
for me that I may have openness of face before our
Lord, [and if it be granted to me] by the fifth day of
the week not one of your enemies shall remain alive;"
and this actually came to pass according to the old
man Rabban's word, for he departed [this] life at dawn
on the fifth day of the week and by the following fifth
day they had all come to an end and perished, [and],
their lands* are made desolate unto this day. And
having his mouth filled with praise, and admonishing
and encouraging the brethren not to be cast down be-
fore the afflictions and sufferings and trials from within
and without, he delivered up his soul to his Master
and ended his valiant contest; and immediately the
whole house in which he died was filled with a sweet
smell. And the teachers, and scholars, and priests,
and deacons, and believing men were gathered together
and came to be blessed at the bier of the holy old
man, [p. 406] and every man wept and was sad and mournful
' Read .oqifTaobo.
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVIII. DEATH OF RABBAN GABRIEL. 683
by reason of the departure of [their] father; the monks
for their head and governor who watched on behalf
of their souls; the widows for the supfforter of their
lives; the orphans for the foster-father of their destitu-
tion; the poor for the man who filled their bosoms
with his crumbs; the wandering strangers and abjects
for him that gathered together their wanderings [into
a house]; the afflicted for the man who relieved their
need; the troubled for the man who alleviated the
pains of their wounds; the oppressed for him that de-
livered them from their oppressors; the sick for the
physician who healed them for nothing; those who were
in anguish for the consoler of their sorrow; and the
rich because he made their alms wing their way to
heaven. In his death the man who was entirely and
in every way like unto Paul was lamented by every
man. And the venerable and holy body, which was
in truth the fountain of help, was borne with honour
and laid in the south side of the martyrium in front
of the shrine of the bones of the true ascetic Rabban
Raya, the disciple of Rabban Cyprian, for the holy
Gabriel had commanded and strictly enjoined that the
pavement * should be his grave, as it was that of Paul his
brother, and commanded that no monument should be
built above him. And so he was buried by all the
grades of ecclesiastics in all the honour of which the
majesty of that holy old age was worthy; and he left
behind in the world the fair renown of his strife, and
the sweet odour of his name. The death of the
righteous is not death, but sleep.
And some days after his death and departure God
* Literally, "the place which is trodden upon."
684 THOMAS OF MARGA, THE BOOK OF GOVERNORS.
wrought a wonderful thing. Two sick men vexed by
devils were brought to this monastery, and when they
had gone into the martyrium and had bowed down
before Rabban s grave they received healing imme-
diately.
And again a certain Persian, [p. 407] who was
hostile to the monastery, came and took away an ass from
the community by force; and when he had gone forth
to depart the Lord smote him with a severe pain,
and with an abundant gift he brought the ass back
here.
To God now, for Whom holy men live, Who doeth
for the benefit of our nature everything which He doeth
in their lives and in their deaths, to Him Who hath
made victorious the early [saints], Who hath sustained
those who come next, and Who hath made mighty
those who come last, be praise, and honour, and adora-
tion, and exaltation, from every rational being who
hath lived and who Hveth. By the prayers of these
saints whose histories we have recounted, may He
make His blessings to accompany this assembly in all
its crises, and may He extend to it His help, now and
always, and for ever and ever! Amen.
Here endeth the book of the history of the life of
Rabban Gabriel, the priest and true ascetic, and
with it endeth [the whole work].
By the help of our Lord, and by the support of
His power here endeth the writing of this book which
is called the "Book of Governors," which consisteth of
the histories, and noble triumphs, and profitable stories
BOOK VI. CHAPTER XVUI. COLOPHON. 685
concerning the holy men and ascetics who lived in
the holy Monastery of Beth ^'Abhe, together with dis-
courses divided into distinct chapters, which shew forth
all their histories, and which was composed by the
divinely pious man and spiritual philosopher Mar
Thomas, Bishop of Marg4. May his prayers, and
those of his master Mar Jacob, and of the saints
whose noble triumphs he wrote, be a high wall to
all believers, [p. 408] especially to the poor scribe,
and to the man who had this spiritual composition
copied, and may the Lord God hold them worthy of
the remission of [their] sins in the day of judgment!
Amen.
'-«>»-
Jm
BIBLE PASSAGES QUOTED OR REFERRED TO
BY THOMAS, BISHOP OF MARGA.
Genesis Page
i. 3 620
iii. 1 47
Hi. 3 117
iii* 3> 4< • • 280
iii. I — 6. . . 611
iii. 6 666
iii. 12 280
iv. 8 48
iv. 8 280
iv. 16, 17. . . 610
iv. 24. . . . . 478
vi. 2 48
vi. 12 318
ix. 21 280
ix. 22 48
xi. 2 48
xi. 3 281
xii. 10 319
xiiL 1 368
XV. 7 37
xvii. 5 24
xviii. 5 372
xviii. 21 319
xix. 24, 25. . . 318
xix. 25 320
xix. 28 361
xzi. 1 220
xxi. 14 58
XXV. 1 — 6' . , 58
XXV. 21 220
XXV. 34 48
Genesis
XX vi.
xxvi.
xxvii.
xxvii.
xxvii.
xxviii.
XXX.
XXX.
XXXV.
xzxvii.
xxxvii.
xxxviii.
xxxviii.
xxxix.
xliii.
xlvi.
xlvi.
xlvi.
xlvi.
xlix.
Exodus
■ •
11.
• •
n,
• •
11.
• ••
lU.
xii.
xiii.
XX.
I.
12.
3, 4.
27—30.
38..
43-.
II. .
28..
28. .
8. .
18. .
6..
I. .
8. .
29..
29. .
29. .
I. ,
Page
319
372
66
382
382
66
496
372
221
66
484
489
318
250
319
24
74
185
222
226
Exodus Page
xxiv. 18 26
xxiv. 18 27
xxviii. 1 24
xxix. 45, 46. . . 546
xxxU. 4 57
xxxiv. 29 28
xxxiv. 25 26
Leviticus
ii. 13-
vii. 35.
376
596
Numbers
"i 373
»v 373
xi. 17, 25—29. 25
xvi. 1—35. . . 186
xvi. 32 325
xxii. 28 20
XXV. 1 56
XXV. 7, 8. . . . 56
2 250 Deuteronomy
12. . .
16. . .
3- . .
35. 36.
21. . .
XX.
I.
6.
66
496
405
395
122
117
585
249
1. 44. .
vi. 4. .
XXV. 5—9
xxviii. 22. .
xxxii. 18. .
xxxii. 35, 36
xxxii. 48 — 50
xxxiv. 6. . .
615
532
489
33^
56
388
518
26
REGISTER OF BIBLE QUOTATIONS.
687
Deuteronomy Page
xxxiv. 9 347
Joshua
ii. 7 583
iii. 17. . . .373
vi. 26 57
X. II 365
Judges
iii. 28 583
V. 28 286
viii. 21 678
xiv. 1 318
xviii. 3a ... . 48
«. 35 58
xxi. 13 71
1 Samuel
i. II 618
i. 12 625
i. 20 220
ii. 19.- ... 621
ii. 22 48
ii. 25 610
ill 20 224
vii. 15—17. . . 21
viii. 3 48
xvi. 2. . . . 382
xvi. 12 251
xvii. 40 230
xix 66
«ix. 9 317
2 Samuel
vii. 5 584
xi. 2 318
xii 71
xv-xvii 389
xiv. 17 317
xxiii. II 605
xxiv. 15 320
I Kings
i. 39 601
vii. 2 21
1 Kings Page
XV. 22 55
xvii. 6. ... 28
xviii. 4 391
xviii. 20, 21. . . 27
xviii. 40 53
xviii. 40. ... . 594
xvni 512
xix. 1 585
xix. 9 492
xix. 10 54
xxi. 7 58
2 Kings
ii. 3 27
ii. 9, 10. . . 118
ii. II 26
it II 456
ii. 15 27
ii. 23 693
iii. 10 303
iv. 17 219
iv. 17 221
iv. 21. ... 618
iv. 34 620
iv. 35 309
V. 20 48
V. 22 617
ix. 1 601
ix. 30 672
ix. 35, 36. . . 391
xvii. 22 309
xix. 35 319
xix. 35 320
1 Chronloles
xxi. 14, ... . 320
2 Chronicles
i, ii 395
xvi. 6 55
X3X111. 7 55
Ezra
iii. 2 349
Nehemlah Page
i- 1 449
Esther
ii. 8 449
Job
i. 19 361
iv. 13 556
V. 26 215
vi. 7 338
vii. 19 338
xxix. 12 372
xxxi. 38 633
Psalms
iii. 1 338
vii. 14 56
xviii. 7 319
xxix. 9 512
XXXV. 12 473
XXXV. 28 617
xli. 9 473
liv. 14 617
Ixv. 10 633
Ixviii. 22 394
Ixxi. 24 617
Ixxxiv. 7 259
Ixxxix. 1 443
xc. 5, 6. . . 566
xcvii. 5 319
xcvii. II 310
civ. 32 320
cvL 23 450
ex. 2 505
cxi. 3 567
cxviii. 8. . . . 392
cxix. 84 338
cxix. 105. ... 521
cxxvi. 2 567
cxxvi. 3, 4. . . 538
cxxxiii. I — 3. . . 641
cxxxiii. 16 643
cxxxvii. 4. . . . . 290
cxli 292
cxlv. 5 567
688
REGISTER OF BIBLE QUOTATIONS.
Psalms
czlvi. 4
Proverbs
vi. 29
7
15
zzii. 8
sdiL 24- ....
zziz. 21
zli. 12
Ecoleslastes
Zll. I
Song of Solomon
i. 17
Isaiah
V. 25
z. 29
ziv. 31
ziv. 31
xvii. S
zzii. 8
zziv. 20
zziz. I
zzzviii. 1
zl. 6, 7« • •
zlii. II
li. I
Iziii I — 3. . .
Ixiv. 5
Jeremiah
ii, 13
iv. 30
V. 6
vii. 18
zvii. I
zviii. 2
zzz. 8
Ezeklel
viii. 16
ziii. 18
Page Ezeklel Page
392 zvii. 10 640
zviii. 27 63
zziiL 40. ... . 672
624
100 Daniel
100 i. 15 251
56 iii 25 456
100. V. 30 362
306
304 Joel
ii. 17 34a
33S Jonah
i. 2 71
ii. la . . . . 321
496 iU. 5—10. . . 70
Haggal
319 ii. 4 395
55 ii. 6, 7. . . 395
328 ii. 8 394
361
215 Zeoharlah
21 vi. 10 537
320 viii. 21 — ^23. . . 424
447
604 2 Maooabees
566 i. 36 191
633 vii. 1 107
426
367 I Esdras
566 V. 8 349
Tobit
56 i. 14. . . . . 494
672 iv. 20 494
509
390 Song of 3 Children
451 66 63s
426
429 St. Matthew
iii. 1 27
iii. 1 492
342 iii. 2 593
280 iii. 13— 17. . . 583
St. Matthew Page
iv. 2 27
V. 8 547
v. 14. . . . . 661
V. 28 477
V. 40 63
vi. 6 486
vi. 19 678
vi. 20 590
vii. 1 27
vii 7 20
vii. 14 583
iz. 6 99
iz. 20. ... . 606
z. II 388
z. 38 643
zi. 29 79
ziii. 52 218
zv. 22 436
zvii. 18 604
zvii. 21 493
zviii. 10 456
ziz. 12 527
I— 16. . . 377
26, 27. . . 184
zzi 1—6. . . 221
zzi. 12 377
zzi. 22 19
zzi. 22 620
zzii. 17 441
zziii. 17 574
zziii. 24 63
zziv. 3. . . . .* 27
zzv. 15 352
zzv. 15 536
zzv. 16 250
zzv. 21 352
zzv. 21 479
zzv. 23 599
zzv. s6 638
zzvi. 48 472
zzvii. 33 482
zzvii. 46 588
zzviii. 10, 16. . . 503
zzviii. 19, 20. . . 26
REGISTER OF BIBLE QUOTATIONS.
689
St. Mark Page
i. 5— II. . . 583
iii. 16 650
V. 9 66$
ix. 23 19
iz. 23 620
xii. 42 305
xiv. 14. ... . 584
XV. 22 482
xvi. 7 503
St. Luke
ii. 29. .... 460
vi. 38 474
vii. 12 278
vii. 36—50. . . 436
vii. 48 69
xiii. 29 249
xiv. 21 508
xiv. 30 408
XV. 7—10. . . 608
XV. 16 56
XV. 20. .... 69
xviii. 14 70
xxii. II 584
xxiii. 42. ... . 69
St. John
i. 28 583
vi. 21 453
vii. 38 122
vii. 38 521
viii. 12 521
xiv. 23 351
xiv. 23 547
XV. 20 187
xvi. 12, 13. . . 440
xvi. 33 187
xvi. 33 674
St. John
xvii. 21. . . .
xix. 17. . . .
xxi. 15 — 17. .
Acts
i. 23. . .
iii. 1 — 10.
V. 1—6.
vii. 23, 30, 36
ix. S" .
ix. 36. . .
xii. I. . .
xii. 7. . .
XV. 1—32.
XV. 1—35.
XV. 41. . .
xix. 12 . .
XX. 5.. .
xxvii. 21 — 24
Romans
ii. 4*
ii. 13.
Page
547
482
594
2 Corinthians Page
xii. 2—4. . . 453
xii. 7 662
IX. 21. .
I Corinthians
iii. 17. .
V. I. .
vi. 18- .
ix. 27. .
xii. 28. .
xiv. 22. .
Galatlans
iv. 14.
317
537
551
610
590
423
422
233
456
596
472
374
647
644
3^3
Epheslans
vi. 4. . . . . 581
vi. 12 27
vi. 12. . . 589
Phllippians
iii. 21.
415
Colosslans
iii. I — 5. . . . 608
iii. 21. . . .581
I Thessalonlans
V. 21. . .
2 Timothy
593 iii. 8.
643
426 Hebrews
318
63
3X8
662
550
635
iv. 8—10.
vi. 6. . .
vii. 3. . .
X. 31.. .
xi. 21. . .
St. James
i. 17.
2 Corinthians
vi. 16 .
vii. 9-
xiu 2. .
2 St. Peter
ii. 15. . .
419
593 I St. John
543 iv. 20, 21.
609
352
415
593
94
681
617
520
56
. 571
8SSS
INDEX.
Aaron the priest, I. xxiii; II. 24.
Aaron, Rabban, II. 391, 465.
Abba the archdeacon, II. 46.
Abba, Mar, I. Ixxvii.
Abba bar-Daira, II. 653.
Abban, II. 203.
Abbeloos, II. 386, 397.
Abh, month of, I. xxiii.
'Abhd isho' of Nisibis, his ca-
talogue quoted, II. 47, 51, 52,
61, 74, 91, 93, 96, 107, 178,
191, 192, 258, 298, 300, 302,
33S, 348, 385, 417. 419. 541.
542.^
' Abhd Isho*, friend of Thomas
of Marga, I. xi, xxxiv, xxxvi;
II. 3, 85, 186, 211, 214, 235,
263, 378, 416, 437, 448, 568.
* Abhd Isho of Kartaw, II. 649.
*Abhd Isho, Metropolitan of
Nisibis, II. 192.
*Abhd Isho', founder of a mon-
astery, I. cxxxi.
'Abhd Isho, Bishop of Beth
Beghash, II. 449.
Abd'uUah, Sultan, II. 273.
Abha, Nestorian Patriarch, I.
cxxxiii; II. 208.
Abha, Monastery of, II. 577.
Abha, Mar, II. 300.
Abha of Rabban Selibha, II. 95.
Abha bar - berikh - Sebhy aneh,
II. 258.
'Abha Shappira, II. 67.
'Abhda, founder of a monastery,
I. cxxxi.
Abhroi of Beth 'Abhe, II. 96.
Abhu Noh [Nflh] of Anbar,
II. 222.
Abiram, II. 325.
Abraham, "father of nations",
II. 24, 26, 38, 56, 248, 319,
368, 372.
Abraham of Egypt, II. 198.
Abraham, friend of Rabban
Hormizd, I. xliv, clix.
Abraham of Kashkar, the philo-
sopher, II. 37.
Abraham of Kashkar, Abbot
of the Great Monastery, I.
xlvi, Ix, cxxxiii, cxxxiv-cxl;
II, 4, 37, 42, 43, 44, 47, 54,
56, 59, ^, 211, 212, 301.
Abraham, Abbot of Monastery
of Rabban Zekha-Ish6*, I. xlii,
ci; n. 7, 39, 213, 214, 222,
INDEX.
691
225; his history by Sabhr-
isho*, n. 210, 214.
Abraham of Nethpar, II. 109^
210.
Abraham of BSth K6ka, U. 6,
107, 109.
Abraham, brother of Joseph,
his history by Sabhr4sh6',
II. 211.
Abraham, Bishop of Nineveh,
n. 259, 379.
Abraham bar-LiphS, the Ex-
positor, II. 380, 381, 382.
Abraham of Marga, II. 577.
Abraham of Gunduk, II. 43.
Abraham of Nisibis, II. 47.
Abraham, monk of Mount ^Jzla,
n. 67.
Abraham, disciple of Sisoes,
II. 572.
Abraham bar-Dashandad, II.
222, 301, 383.
Abraham, governor of Shamh^,
n. 167, line 28.
Abraham, Nestorian Patriarch,
I. X, xxvl, xxix; II. 3, 103,
328, 404, 405, 437, 447, 448,
462, 480, 497, 502, 504, 511,
518, 522.
Absalom, II. 389.
Abu Bakr, II. 126.
Abul-feda quoted, II. 221, 259.
Abul-Mahasm, II. 337.
Abu Nuh" al-Anbarf, II. 301,
302.
Abushehr, II. 188.
A-cadus, n. 45.
Acephalai, II. 41.
Acephalus, n. 41.
Acta Sanctorum quoted, II. 29,
30, 31, 35, 127,397.
Adada, monk of Izla, I. Ixxii;
II. 66.
Adam, II. 28, 117, 250, 280,
285, 573> 620, 624.
Addai, his monastery called
Rama, II. 576.
*Adha, festival of, II. 438.
Adharmah, II. 67.
Adhorbaijan, I. xxiv, xxv; II.
44, 208, 220, 236, 240, 316,
^ 439, 448, 525, 603.
Adhur-NarsS, II. 241.
Adhur-parwa, II. 213.
Adiabene, I. xxiv, xxxv, xl,
xlviii, Ixi, Ixxii, Ixxiii, Ixxiv,
dii, cvii; II. 38, 46, 79, 81,
82, 84, 90, 91, 96, 104, 107,
108, 119^ 124, 126, 130, 131,
174, 176, 179, 181, 209, 216,
247, 256, 258, 260, 286, 287,
293, 295, 315* 317. 344, 378»
383* 384, 387, 388, 391, 400,
402, 414, 465, 506, 613, 650.
Ad6na, I. clx.
Agrell quoted, II. 529.
Aha, Abbot of BSth *Abhe,
I. cvii; U. 8, 9, 248, 249,
251, 252, 253, 254; 256, 258,
259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 26s,
266, 270, 271, 280, 282, 283,
3071 312, 3i3» 379. 416, 487,
650.
Aha the anchorite, II. 577.
Ahithophel, II. 389.
Ahmfm, n. 397.
\
692
INDEX.
\
Ahrens quoted, II. 321, 363,
418, 493» 498, 606, 674.
*Ain Bakre, II. 495.
'Ain BarkS, II. 103, 495.
*Ain e§-Safra, II. 43.
Akar, n. 482.
'Akole, II 187.
*Akra, II. ^J, 150, 296, 487,
558, 577.
'Akr Baba, II. 113.
Al-anbar, I. xxvii; II. 3.
Al-Basra, II. 181, 544.
Al-Bawazik, II. 449.
Al-Beladhori quoted, II. 525.
Al-Gar, II 240.
Al-Gezira, II. iii, 123.
Al-Haditha, II. 102, 328, 384.
Al-Hirah, II. 51, 178, 300.
Al-Kasr, II. 113.
Al-Katar, II. 47.
Al-kuk, II. 187.
Al-Mahdi, n. 385.
Al-Mamum, II. 525.
Al-Rashid, II. 525.
Al-Sayyed bin-Anas, II. 525.
Al-Wasit, II. 37.
Al-Ya'kubl quoted, II. 525, 526.
Albrecht, n. 368.
Aleppo, II. 125, 276.
Alexandra of Alexandria, II.
197.
Alexandria, I. xxx; II. 39, 41,
94, 95» i9i> 194, 198, i99»
585, 586.
Alkdsh, I. xlii, clvii; II. loi,
194, 207, 399.
AUeyne, II. 531.
Alphaeus, II. 348.
Altar cloth at Beth\
liv. ^,
Amantilidha, II. 199.
'Amedia, II. 6t, 239.
Amflineau, II. 397.
Amid, II. 329.
*Ammanu61, Bishop of Bet*
Garmai, I. clviii.
Ammianus Marcellinus quoted \
II. e^y 329-
'Ammike, II. 574.
Ammon of Nitria, n. 197, 203,
204.
Ammon of Raithe, II. 29.
Ammonius the Bishop, II. 492
493.
Amonius of Zinai, II. 649.
'Amram, II. 593.
' Amran bar-Muhammad, I. Ix vii,
cxvi; n. 12, 4S0, 451, 452,
4S4, 4S7» 646, 657, 658, 675.
' Amr ibn-Mattai, I. xxvii ; II. 44.
Amulhlr, II. 669.
Anahid, II. 216.
Ananias, II. 610.
Ananias, Bishop of Gilan, II.
447> 491-
'Anan-]sh6', editor of the Book
of Paradise, I. xxxii, xxxiii,
Ivi, Ix, Ixi, ci, cviij II. 7, 174,
17S-178, 189, 192, 193, 237.
'Anan-isho' of Hadhatta, II.
- ^54.
'Anan-lsho', Monastery of, II.
575.
Anaxagoras, II. 531.
Anbar, I. cxxviii; II. 222.
Anchorites, description of, I. cxli.
INDEX.
693
225; his 200.
^^^ Isho', Archbishop of Crete,
Abrah^4-
» 2icieft, n. 448.
9- Abr;els, classes of, II. 544.
jdnoe> II. 200, 396.
Antioch, I. lii, Ivi, Ixxxvi, cii,
oi i^^ cv; II. 6, 41, 80, 96, 127,
201, 211, 348, 463, 612,
s q\i(Ati, 614. ,
Antoninus Martyr, II. 583, 584,
58S, 586.
jJ^^Oj, Antonis, see Antony.
Antonius, see Antony.
39. Antony of Egypt, I. xlv, cxxi,
[. 0, cl; II. 28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 52,
188, 192, I94» 202, 255, 256,
g. 27S, 642.
Aones, I. cxxiv.
[xv'i Apamea, I. Ivi, Ixxxvii; II. 45,
5j^. Aphni-Maran of Beth 'Abhe,
^4. I. Ixxiii, Ixxvii, xcviii; II. 6,
74, 83, 108, 121, 123, 186,
234, 247, 273, 653.
Aphni-Maran , Monastery of,
I II. 123, 653.
Aphraates, I. cbcii; II. 22, 588.
Aphrfni* ^- 38.
Aphroditopolis, II. 31.
Apollo of 6r, II. 203.
Apollo of Thebes, II. 203.
ApoUonius the merchant, II.
198, 470.
, Apostles, the Twelve, I. cxviii;
n. 27, 28, 80, 129,551,577,
610.
Apostles, Fast of, II. 666,
Apostles, Friday evening of,
n. 466.
Apostles, relics of at Beth
'Abhe, I. Ixxxvii; n. 127.
Apostles, the Week of, II. 466,
666.
Arabia, I. x, xi, xxx; II. 188,
585.
Arabs, II. 51, 60, 67, 81, 123,
126, 208, 236, 266, 279, 313,
315,322,337, 390, 585,613,
678.
Arabs, the Lakhmite, II. 51.
Arbel, II. 37, 90, 124, 130, 176,
240, 302, 349.
Arbil, II 171.
Arcadius, II. 29.
Ardabil, II. 236, 603.
Ardashir, II. 126.
Arius, II. 577.
Aristotle, II. 418, 460, 531.
Ariwan, I. Ixxxvii, Ixxxviii;
U. 124.
Armenazwai, U. 324.
Armenia, I. x, xxx ; II. 67, 448,
483, 525-
Amobius quoted, I. cxv.
x^ro'aye, II. 388.
Arras, the Lower, II. 448.
Ar-Rum, II. 123.
ArsanJs, see Arsenius.
Arsenius, I. cli, cUv, cxxxvii;
n. 29, 455, 563, 586, 642.
Arsham, I. clxi.
Arzan, II. 115.
Arz6n, II. 6j, 90, 230.
Ashimonian Desert, U. 152.
Asia Minor, II. 123, 128.
■tni-tii
mm^
694
INDEX.
'AcTKHTiKOV^ the, of Pachomius,
II. 202.
Assemanrs B, 0., quotedpassim,
Assemani's Codex Liturgicus
quoted, II. 485.
Athenians, n. 530, 531.
Aswan, n. 191.
Assyria, n. 86.
Assyrians, II. 40, 319, 320,
531.
Athanasius of Alexandria, II.
30, 194, 199, 278.
Athens, II. 42.
A
Athor, I. XXXV, xlviii; II. 131,
^ 258, 287, 305.
Athoraye, n. 368.
Athken the historian, n. 186,
207, 234.
'Aipai, II. 305.
Auraham of Gunduk, II. 67.
Aurelius of Tarsus, II. 201.
Awakh in Talana, I. cvii; II.
^ 249, 250, 251.
Awana, II. 11 if 233.
Awgin of Clysma, founder of
monasticism in Mesopotamia,
I. ix, xliv, xlv, Ix, cxxv, cxxvi
— cxxxiv; II. 628.
Awroman — Azmtr — Kandilan
mountains, II. 454.
Awsar Razk quoted, II. 268.
Ayas, I. cvi; n. 8, 231, 232.
Azd, the tribe of, II. 450, 525.
Baal, II. 512, 594.
Baal, Prophets of, II. 53.
Babak al-Hurrami, U. 481.
Babel, n. 281.
Babhai, Nestorian Patriarch, I.
cxxxii; II. 37.
Babhai the Great, Abbot of
Mount Izla, I. xviii, xlvi, Ixx,
Ixxi, Ixxiii; II. 4, 6, 38, 39,
45— 47» 55» 57» 59» 60, 62,
n^ 90» 91, 92, 93» 97» 98. 99,
100, 108, 116, 175, 246.
Babhai the musician, I. xxxv,
xl, Ivii, Ixi, cvii, cviii, cix,
cxiii; n. 9, 288, 289, 290,
291, 295, 296, 297, 298, 300,
303, 306, 327, 328, 347, 349,
350, 415, 581, 625.
Babhai, hymn of quoted, BE. 300.
Babhai bar-Nesibhnaye, I. xlvi;
n. 46.
Babhai, Bishop of Bfith Garmai,
n. 448.
Babhflyah, Nestorian Patriarch,
I. cxxxii.
Babylon, II. 187, 252, 290,424,
453, 537, 565.
Babylon of the East, n. 194.
Babylonia, I. xxx; II. 530.
Babylonians, II. 40, 531.
Bacchus, n. 426, 427.
Badger, his Nestorians quoted,
I. 1, Iv; II. 43,67, III, 154,
216, 217, 239, 241, 246, 249,
274, 292, 297, 325, 330, 371,
430,438,443,444,485, 518,
542, 546, 551, 576, 577.
Baedeker, II. 583, 584, 585.
Baethgen quoted, II. 61, 72,
86, 123, SIC, 524.
Baghdad, I. xlii ; II. 44, 87, 384,
385, 398,432, 549, 554,651.
i
INDEX.
695
Bagh-i-Hinduwan, II. 114.
BahrSn, n. 153, 188.
Bai, II. 237, 265, 603.
Bakhds bar-Kustoi, U. 426.
Balaam, n. 20, 56.
Baladh, I. cvi, cxv, cxvii; II.
12, 13,61,111,115, 123,233,
447, 456, 461, 463, 464, 466,
529, 536, 651.
Baladhayg, H. 13.
Balas, II. 434.
Balik Kurds, n. 308.
Bananes, U. 241.
Banikaye, H. 388.
Banu Imran, II. 450, 656.
Bar-ArlayS, n. 447.
Bar-Bahlul, II. 152, 176, 287,
316, 342, 527.
Bar-Denha, I. Ixxvii; II. 60.
Bar-GamSsh , Monastery of,
n. 558.
Bar-];iadh-bhe-shabba, I. xliii,
Ixxii; II 5,21, 38,68,78.
Bar-Hebraeus, Chronicle of
quoted, U. 43, 80, 336, 337,
338, 340, 362, 500, 577, 661 ;
Chron. Eccles., quoted, I.
xxvii, xxix, bcxxvi; 11. 41,
45, 61, 72, 80, 86, 87, 88, 92,
123, 124, 126, 208, 228, 238,
258, 284, 290, 302, 313, 327,
328, 332, 335, 349, 379, 383,
385, 500 ; his commentary
on the Psalms quoted, II. 257.
Bar-Henana, II. 459.
Bar-ldta, II. 8, 65, 230, 648.
Bar-ldta, his history of Sah-
dona, II. no, 130.
Bar-ldta, his history quoted,
n. 80.
Bar-*Idta, history of by John,
n. 38.
Bar- Idta, Monastery of, I. xliv,
xlvii, cvi; II. 648.
Bar-ldta of monastery of ^el-
ibha, U. 95.
Bar-N6n, I. Ixx, Ixxi', Ixxvii;
n. 60.
Bar-Saroshwai, II. 115.
Bar-Sauma, Metropolitan of Ni-
sibis, I. cxxxii; II. 300.
Bar;;Sauma, sixth Abbot of Beth
'Abh6, I. ci; II. 212-
Bar-.^ ayyadhe, I. ciii, civ.
Bar-TAra, Monastery of, I. Ixxiii ;
n. 5, 654.
Barbalt, II. 576.
Barbarians, H. 13.
Barba*shemin, Bishop of Se-
leucia, n. 485.
Barka, II. 317, 340.
Barsil, II. 296.
Bartholomew the Apostle, II.
483.
Barzai, II. 632, 633.
Barzoe, II. 632, 633.
Bashkale, II. 236.
Bash6sh, I. ciii; II. 150, 217,
282, 296, 302, 327, 328, 380,
383, 450-
Basil of Caesarea, n. 180, 201,
417.
Basil, his history of Joseph,
I. xix.
Basra, n. 88.
Bastohmagh, I. xli, xlviii, Ixv,
; n. 447-
696 _____
84,124-
Batnura, H. 67-
Batthaeus, I. cxxiv.
Ba'flth, I. Iviii, <='"!
Bavian, H. 297-595-.. ,
Bedjan,I.cxxv.cxxvu;II.386'
Bedrossian quoted. U 257-
Bedu, n. 67.
Beersheba, U- 224-
Beh-Ardashir, 11. 113. "4-
Bekker, Anecdota Grafca quot-
ed. U. 343-
Beni-hasdn. II. 672.
Beni-Taimlah, II. S5S-
Benjamin, II. 58.
Benjamin of Izla, U. ^, 7^-
Benjamin of Nitria, II. 198.
Benjamin of Tudela, n. 388.
Bel and the Dragon, U. 323,
Beled al-ShabushU', II. 463.
Beleshphar, II. 80.
Bel-shar-u5ur, II. 362.
Beltesha^ar, n. 362.
Beor, n. 20.
Beraz Surin, Beraz Sorin, or
Beraz Surfin, I. Ixxvii, xcvi;
II. 5, ISO, 153,212.
Berbeli, II. 576, 603.
Be-Rberri, U. 576.
Bernstein quoted, II. 281.
Beroe, II. 384.
Berzend, II. 448.
Besant, II. 584.
Bessarion, II. 202, 464, 572.
Be-tannur^, II. dj.
Betiiabara, II. 583.
Bethel, II. 56, 386, 483.
BSlh 'Abhfe, Monastery of, I
ix, its library xxxi, xli xlii,
floods at, xliii, date of found-
ation xliv, its churches xlvu-1,
plan of church li— liii, reUcs
of Apostles there lii, services
at Iv, singing at Ivii, endow-
ments of Ixv, decay of bcvii-
]^_its monks fined cxui;
II. 3,5,6, 12, 19.21 "ot^ 2-
38 39, 59.66,68,69, 72. 73.
ll 75. Ih 78- 80. 84. 96. 97,
ic», 103, 109. 121,127, ISO.
153. 154.175.180.210. 212.
214, 230, 246, 248, 286, 299,
334. 402. 404. 423. 455. 457.
459,^465- 475. 523, 526. 537.
561, 5^^7.654.660, 684.
B6th -AinitR^I- ex; "■ 46. 90,
'10,327, 36\
B^th'ArbhayS, lK"S. 124-
Beth Armaye or ^^ Arimayfi,
n. 219, 240, 652. \
B^h Arsham, 11 34^*-
Bgth Ar6'S, n. 384, i^-
Beth Asa, U. 297. A,
Beth Beghish, I. cvii, V'^'"'
n. 11,236, 253, 264, 380, J^^^'j
384, 410, 449, 523, 603, 61C
654. >.
Beth B6r£, n. 237.
Beth Bozai, n. 450. \
Beth B6zi, U. 1 50. ^
Beth Dabbesh. I. xxi.
Beth 'EdhrS, or Beth 'Edhrai,
I. cxi, clx; II. 296,327,361.'
Beth Gabbar^, ir 334.
Beth Garmai, I. x, xxvii, xxix.
INDEX.
697
xlviii, Iviii, Ixv, Ixx, Ixxxvii,
cxvi; n. 3, 44, 45, 86, loi,
102, 109, no, 119, 122, 124,
131, 144, 179, 228, 245, 448,
561, 564,602,613, 624,637,
647.
Beth Gawaya, U, 179. .
Beth Gawza, H. 525.
Beth Gazza, II. 225, 648.
Beth ^abba, I. bcv, Ixviii, Ixix,
c; n. 180, 470, 475, 476.
BSth Haia, I. Ixxvii, clvii; H.
102, 188, 348, 384.
Beth Uazkiel, II. 102, 103.
Beth Hesikha, n. 672.
Beth I^addlshe, II. 600.
BethKardagh,I. ad; II. 297,320.
Bfith ICard6, H. 46.
B6th Katraye, H. 188, 218.
Beth KSwaz, II. 665.
Beth Rhomaye, U. 6. 123.
Beth Koka, II. 38, 107, 209, 210.
Beth Koka, Monastery of, U.
649.
Beth Kopha, I. cbdii.
Beth I^usai, I. Ixxiv.
Beth Laphat, I. cxxx, clvii ; II.
483.
Beth Magushe, II. 581, S91.
Beth Mar Kardagh, II. 386,390,
414.
Beth Maruth, II. 618.
Beth M^shainane, I. cxvii; II.
561.
Beth MAlfi, n. 447.
B^th Narkos, n. 115, 297.
Beth Nestorius, Monastery of,
II. 555-
Beth Nftwa, H. 308.
Bath Nuhadhra, I. Iv; H. in,
119, 123,233,239.
Beth Nflhderan, I. clxi; n. 234,
613.
Bgth 'bbhJd, II. 671.
B6th Rabban, Monastery of,
n. 80.
Beth Rabban Isho -yahbh, II. 6.
B6th Rabban Zekha-fsh6\ I.
xlii; II. 39, 222.
Beth Ramman, II. 177.
Beth Rastak, II. 109, 297.
Beth Rewai, n. 341.
Beth Saphwan, II. 674.
Beth Satl, II. 297, 577.
Beth Fayyadhe, H. 222, 302.
Beth Shardnaye, I. xxiv, xxv;
II. 242.
Beth Sherwanaye, I. xxv.
Beth Shirwanaye, n. 3.
Beth §;inaye, H. 448.
Beth Talai, H. 604.
Beth Tarshftmaye, n. 297.
Beth Tartar, n. 338.
Beth Tehunai, I. cx; II. 324,
325, 326.
Beth Timai, U. 674.
Beth Warda, H. 313.
Beth Wark, I. xxv; II. 309.
Beth Wazik, H. 449.
Beth Ziwa, I. xli, bcviii; 11. 84,
470.
Beth Zabhdai, BE. 46, 47, 67,
90, 109, 327.
Beth Zfiata, II. 577.
Betma, Monastery of, II. 575.
Bevan quoted, n. 362.
tut
/^
698
INDEX.
Beyrut, H. 4^-
Bezabde, H. (>1.
Bezkin, Monastery of, I. clxi,
clxii, clxiii.
Bezold, Oriental Diplomacy
quoted, II. 277.
Bezold, Schatzhohle quoted,
n. 48,94, 250, 318.
Bezold,^/Vj^A^ifquoted,n.268.
Bezold, Catalogue quoted, II.
651.
Bezold, TeUel'Amama Tablets
quoted, II. 287.
Biblioth^que Nationale, I. xxiv.
Bickell, Carmina quoted, n.
299.563- ^ ^
Bickell, Conspectus quoted, n.
47»5i5. ^ ^^ ^
Bickell, A:'^///^^ quoted, II. 4«4.
Birta village destroyed, I. cx;
II. 324-
Birta, province of Marga, II.
335,378,574,580, 602, 621,
625, 66().
Birta of Saphsapha, II. 150,
378, 450-
Birta, Monastery of, I. xli;
II. 569-
Bishop,the, who pastured camels,
n. 9.
Bithaba, II. 21.
Black, J. S., I. cxi.
Bod the Periodeutes, H. 481.
Bohrasp, II. 313.
BoXoT€(Ti(popa, II. 81.
Bonnet quoted, II. 483.
Book of Fathers, H. 189.
Book on Generals, II. 258.
Book of Gospels at Beth ' Abhe,
n. 229.
Book of Governors, Syriac
MSS. of, I. xvii — xxiv ; origin
of xi, Syriac text of xii, its
plan and contents xxvii-xli;
Engjish translation, n. 1-686.
Book of Obedience, I. ciii; II.
96.
Book of Paradise, compilation
of, n. 7, history of compi-
lation 189—192, how written
547, Expositions of passages
in 178, Illustrations of 193,
mentioned 174, 237, 264, 269.
Book of the Little Paradise,
I. ciii, civ; n. 96.
Book of the Pearl, H. 349.
Book of the Stars, H. 385.
Book of Union, n. 47.
Boran, I. Ixxxvi; H. 61, 125.
Bouvy quoted, II. 294.
Bozi, n. 658
Braun quoted, I. cxliii.
British Museum tablet quoted,
n. 128.
Brockhaus on Baukunst, I. liii.
Brucker, Hist. Philos, quoted,
n. 531.
Bruno quoted, n. 267, 554,563.
Buckingham, his Travels quot-
ed, II. 398.
Budge, Alexander quoted, II.
182,362,445,577,610.
Budge, Book of the Bee quoted,
n. 20,48,88,94, 127, 250, 281,'
284, 332, 348, 371, 453, 462,
564, 482, 483, 544, Ci67, 674.
INDEX.
699
Buhairet Khatuniyyeh, n. 322.
Burd-Isho* of Beth Garmai, II.
448.
Burzizad, II. 522.
Burzadh, II. 522.
Burzyazd, II. 522.
Bushire, n. 188.
Butler, Lives of Saints quoted,
n. 29,30,31,35,49,81,262,
278.
Butrus Bistan!, n. 496.
Buxtorf quoted, n. 618.
Byzantine Greeks, II. 633.
Caesarea, II, 199, 201.
Cain, II. 48, 280, 610.
Cairo, n. 39.
Calah, n. 283.
Callisthenes, Pseudo, II. 577.
Canaan, n. 280.
Canaanites, n. 518.
Canons of Abraham, I. cxxxiv.
Canons of Dadh-Ish6\ I. cxl.
Canons of the Uudhra, n. 189.
Canons of Isho -yahbh, II. 177.
Canopus, n. 29.
Candida, 11. 199.
Cardahi, Al-Lobab quoted, II.
292.
Carmel, n. 27.
Caspian Sea, I. xi, liv, bd; n.
220, 468.
Cassianus quoted, I. cxxi, cxxii,
cxxiii, cxxxvi, clii.
Cathismata, I. Iv.
Catholics, the, Eastern, I. 88.
Catholics, the, who were depos-
ed, n. 284.
Caucasus, n. 525.
Cause of Hosannas, II. 47.
Caussin de Perceval quoted,
n. 231.
Cave, //w/.Zi/A quoted, n. S 1,52.
Cave of Treasures quoted, n.
318.
Cells, the, II. 52.
Centuries of Evagrius, I. cxliii;
. n. 47.
Cernik quoted, n. 233, 260.
Chabot quoted, I. cxxxv.
Chaignet, I. cxx.
Chalcedon, Council of, n. 41,
307, 465.
Chamizer, I. xiv.
Champollion, II. 397.
Changgan, n. 379.
Chemiey T. cxix; II. 531.
China, I. x, xi, xxx, cxv, cxvi;
n. 448.
Choir in Nestorian Churches,
I. liii.
Cholera in Mesopotamia, n. 336.
Chosroes U., n. 5, 46, 79.
Christ, Beitrdge quoted, 11. 294.
Christians, n. 126.
Chrysostom, n. 90, 190, 419.
Churches at Beth 'Abhe, I, Iff.
Church Music in Marga, I. xi.
CUicia, n. 348.
Clemens Alexandrinus, n. 531.
Clysma, I. ix. xlv; n. 29, 31.
Cherubim, n. 443.
Coma. n. 30.
Combefis quoted, II. 29.
Consolations^ the of Sahdona,
n. III.
INDEX.
701
Dadhuk, n.:332.
Dahkane, the, 11. 256,
Dakhya, n. 561.
Dailom, I. liv, Ixiii, cxv, cl; n.
8, 13, 447, 468, 487, 490, 49^
505. ^
Dailomaye, n. 468.
Daira dhfi Risha, H. 43.
DakoV) I. Ixxvii; II. 102.
Dakoka, II. 44.
Damascus, I. Ixxxvii; n. 129,
275.
Dan, II. 224.
Daniel, n. 564.
Daniel of Scete, I. cliii.
Daniel, Gebel Mar, II. 43.
Daniel of Beth 'Abhe, I. Ixxvii;
n. 104.
Daniel of Ras *Ain, n. 481.
D'Anville, H. 584.
Dara, I. xlvi; IL 81, 82, 86, 87.
Darios, H. 362.
Darius, n. 362.
Dasen, I. xlii, Ixiii, ci; II. 38,
39, ^T, 214, 223, 316, 525,
613.
Dastagerd, n. 81.
Dathan, II. 186, 325.
Da udiya, I. xlii; n. ^T, 239.
David, II. ^, 71, 118, 230, 251,
318, 320, 382, 386, 389, 392,
394, 503, 538, 567, 643.
David, Metropolitan of China,
n. 448.
David, Bishop of Kartaw, I.
ciii, civ, cv; n. 96, 216, 225.
David, Bishop of Gilan, n. 447,
491.
D^bhar Hephton, I. xlviii, cxiii;
n. 397-
Debhar Hewton, n. 397.
Debhur, 11. 316.
Debhwar, I. xxv.
Debhwar, n. 316.
Decius, n. 30.
De Goeje quoted, H 316, 346,
448, 449, 450, 638.
Dehok, n. 238.
Delitzsch, Franz, II. 565.
Delom, n. 282.
Delum, II. 220.
Dendowai, n. 281.
Denzinger quoted, II. 519.
Der al-Za'faran, n. iii, 121,
123, 234.
Der es-Sa'Jd, H. 461.
De Vogue, H. 343, 584.
Deyrik, H. 85.
Dhuhl, I. cvi; 11. 231.
Diarbekir, n. 6^,
Didymus, 11. 197, 204.
Dietrich quoted, n. 515.
Dihkan, n. 256, 257, 309, 311,
312,313,321.
Dillmann, H. 397, 513.
Dindowai, I. Ixi, cvii; n. 8,
238, 281.
Diodes, n. 2CX).
Diocletian, II. 396.
Diodorus, n. 47.;
Diodorus of Beth *Abhe, IL
449-
Dionysius, Chronicle of, EL 85,
521.
Dionysius, n. 340.
Diospolis Parva, n. 397.
■
r 702 INDEX. 1
1 Dir^n. I. !iv, c; U. 188.
\
E^ypt the hold
1 Diydla river, n. 45, 179.
I. cxxi. 1
DJz. n. 236.
Egypt, the do
Domat, n. 647, 660.
303, 58s-
Dominica in Albis, II. 413.
Egyptian asceti
Don:iitius, II. 647.
Egyptian murifi
Domitius, Church of, H. 2S4.
n. 66.
Dorotheus, II. 199.
Egyptians, II. !
Dorotheus of Thebes. H. 197.
Ekra, n. 296. ■
Douglas quoted, I. cxvi.
Ekrfinta, H. 551
Dozy, Supplement quoted, II.
Ekror, U. 194.
267,279,280, 308, 3ri, 322.
Elam, I. cxvi ; l3
326, 343, 410, 433, 460, 475.
447. 449-
496, 497. S8S, 606, 662.
EUAzd, tribe q
Drought, the First, II. 336.
El-Iiara mounti
Drugulin, I. xiv.
Eleutheropolis,
Dure, n. 233.
Eli, n. 48.
Duval, Lexicon quoted, n. 20,
Elias bar-Shina;
152, 176,257,287, 316, 350,
Elijah the Tisl
363, 390. 391. 434, 447. 489.
n. 26, 27, 28,
^^^^^^
493,499. 513,517. 564. 575,
278, 309, 492,
^^^^^K
1 6cx3, 605, 662.
Elijah, the triua
^^^^^^
Duval, review by quoted, II.
Elijah, builder <
485-
Thebes, H. I
Duval, Hist. (CEdesie quoted,
Elijah, Monaste
n. 81.
Elijah of izla, \
\
Dwight quoted, I. Hv.
54. SS, 57. <56
Elijah, Bishop (
U. 13, H 44)
\
Eden, n. 47,587,611.
508,517.520
Edessa, I. Ix; H. 81, 178, 209.
Elijah the mon
212,348,483.
EUsha the Proj
Edlire dh6 Balas, II. 434-
1 18, 309, 4Se
Egerton MS. quoted, I. xxii,
620.
xxiii.
Elisha, CathoU
Egypt, I. XXX, xxxii, xxxix;
cxxxiii; II. :
1
n. 37. 94, 252, 275, 368, 394.
Elisha, Bishop ol
472.473.530,615.
U. 449-
INDEX.
703
Elisha Rabban, n. 412, 458,
461, 494.
Eliya — see Elijah.
Elpidius of Jericho, IL 200.
Emmanuel, a priest, n. 328.
Empedocles, II. 530.
Ephesus, n. 472.
Ephraem, Saint, n. 481.
Ephraem Syrus, II. 92.
Ephraim, disciple of Ephraem,
n. 481.
Ephraim of Edessa, n. 200.
Ephraim of Elam, n. 383, 385,
386.
Ephraim of Gunde Shabhor, I.
cxii; n. 384, 385.
Ephraim of Gilan, II. 447.
Ephraim of Nineveh, n. 237.
Ephraim of Beth 'Abhe, II.
491.
Ephraim, Monastery of, n. 296,
574.
Epiphany, I. xxii.
Epiphanius, H. 92, 94, 565, 578.
Erbn, IL 349.
Erzerum, I. Ixxi; II. 6t.
Esarhaddon, II. 337.
Esau, n. 48, ^, 524.
Eski Mosul, n. 61, III, 115,
124,233,464,651.
EskJte — see Scete.
Esneh, n. 396.
Essenes, I. cxx.
A
Estaphnos, n. 43.
Estreniya, n. 387.
Estrenya, II. 556.
Estwan, I. xli; 11. 84, 439.
Ethiopians, n. 609.
Euchites, n. 91.
Eulogius, n. 200, 203.
Eunomius, 11. 349.
Euphrates, n. 181, 187.
Eusebius, n. 348, 381.
Eustathius the archdeacon, n.
522.
Eustathius, 11. 549, 550.
Eustathius, brother of Elpidius,
n. 200.
Eustratius, 11. 348.
Eutychius, II. 115.
Evagrius, 11. 41, 52, 81, 180,
181, 201, 204, 377, 497, 500,
502, 527, 534, 535, 586.
Evangelists, the Four, II. 56.
Eve, n. 74, 280, ^i^,
Ewald, n. 529.
Ezekiel, II. 640.
Ezekiel, Nestorian Patriarch,
II. 46, 120.
Ezekiel, disciple of Khodhahwai,
n. 102, 103.
Ezekiel, Monastery of, I. Ixxvii.
Ezekiel, Rabban, I. xlii.
Fabricius, n. 51, 530.
Farr Narse, II. 241.
Farrukhbindadh, n. 241.
Fast of Nineveh, I. Ivi.
Fasts of Nestorians, n. 330.
Fathers, Questions of, n. 204
— 206.
Feige quoted, I. xx; II. 236,
273, 386, 397. 462, 484, 575,
613.
Fliigel, n. 482.
Francis, II. 241.
704
INDEX.
!
■
Francis the scribe, L xxi, xxii.
Friday of the Dead, n. 438.
Friday of Lazarus, I. xx.
Fridays of Summer, the Seven,
I. xxiii.
Gabhriel — ^see Gabriel, n. 15.
Gabriel of al-Katar, n. 47, 192.
Gabriel, Metropolitan of Kerkuk,
I. Ixv, Ixvi, Ixxiv, cvi, cvii; 11.
8,83,91, 126,213, 228, 245,
246, 247.
Gabriel, surnamed "Cow", H
7, 211,212, 213.
Gabriel, Bishop of Marga, H
449.
Gabriel, Eighth Abbot of Beth
'Abhe, I. cii.
Gabriel, Thirteenth Abbot of
Beth 'Abhe, I. cv; n. 96, 216.
Gabriel, Abbot of Birta, I. xli;
n. 15, 16, 569, 574, 579, 580,
622—629, 631, 632, 634, 636,
637—640, 649, 650, 654, 657,
661—663, 679, 684.
Gabriel of Sinjar, n. 80, 88, 89.
Gabriel, Monastery of, n. 522.
Gaddaeus, II. 200.
Galen, n. 280.
Gamlawlohe, n. 317.
Gaphitha, II. 107.
Gara Mountains, II. 67.
Garaph, H. 5, 72, 73, 83.
Garin, n. 296.
Gar Kahne, n. 240, 267, 408.
Gassa, Monastery of, n. 565.
Gawar, n, 576.
Gaza, n. 41.
Gaziret ibn 'Omar n. 40, 47.
Geba (Gibeah), H. 55.
Gebel al-Gudi, n. 60, 11 1, 123,
234.
Gebel Dasin, n. 6t,
Gebel Makliib, I. xlii, cxi, cxxiv,
n. 43, 333.
Gebel Mar Daniel, n. 43.
Gebel Musa, II. 585.
Gebel Pir Hasan Beg, n, 6j.
GSbhilta, I. Ivii, cviii, cxiii; EL.
290,294,306,347, 350, 415,
466.
Gedhala, I. Ixii, Ixx; n. 6, 61,
72, 74, 79-
Gehazi, n. 617.
Gehenna, n. 420.
Gelan, II. 220.
Gelasia, II. 200.
Genesis, II. 610.
George L Nestorian Patriarch,
I. xxxii, liv, Ixv, Ixvi, Ixviii,
c, cii, cvii, cxv; II. 7, 8, 121,
179, 181, 189, 193, 207, 208,
217, 218, 247.
George II. Nestorian Patriarch,
I. cxvjn. 332,334,366,447.
George, a monk who was elect-
ed Patriarch, II. 384.
George, Bishop of Beth B^gh-
ash, II, 380.
George, Bishop of Khanishabh-
6r, n. 449.
George, Metropolitan of Nis-
ibis, I. xlviii; 11. 7, 1 3 1, 1 8 1,
182, 183, 184, 186, 187.
George bar-Sayyadhe, I. ciii;
II. 96, 216, 225, 465.
INDEX.
705
George, Metropolitan of Pfirath
dheMaishan, H. 7, 181— 184,
186—188.
George Mihramgushnasp, n. 47.
Gesenius, n. 395, 529.
Geziret ibn *Omar, I. Ixx; n.
60,67,211,239.
Ghabhril — see Gabriel.
Ghawkai, n. 564.
Gherasin, n. 223.
Ghiwargis — see George.
Gibbins quoted, I. cxvi.
Gibbon's Decline quoted, II. 87,
115, 125,578.
Gideon, H. 678.
Gihon, n. 56.
Gilan, I. liv, cxv; H. 13, 220,
447, 448, 468, 487, 490, 505.
Gilaye, H. 468.
Gildemeister quoted, n. 262,
583, 584.
Goghmal, H. 329.
Golai, I. XXV.
Goliath, II. 230.
Golgotha, II. 482.
Gomel, n. 43, 150, 297.
Goodwin, II. 531.
Gottwaldt quoted, II. 337.
Great Monastery of Mount Izla,
I. ix, xxxi, xxxviii, xl, Ix, Ixx,
Ixxi, ci, cii; II. 316.
Greece, II. 14, 587.
Greeks, I. lix, Ixxxv, Ixxxvi;
11.39,42,79,91,125,127,128,
396, 578.
Greeks, the Byzantine, n. 123,
125.
Gregory, Metropolitan of Nisi-
bis, I. xxxviii, Ixxiv, Ixxv; 11.
87, 88, 89', 90.
Gregory, Nestorian Patriarch,
II. 46, 61.
Gregory of Berbeli, n. 576.
Gregory, brother of Basil, II. 4 1 7.
Gregory of Mahoze, II. 88, 89.
Gregory Nazianzen, II. 180, 201,
294, 417.
Gregory Nyssen, n. 52.
Gregory the Parthian, I. Ixxv.
Gregory of Seleucia, I. xxxviii.
Gregory of Tell Besme, II. 5,85.
Grighor—see Gregory.
Gubfi, II. 296.
Gudal, n. 61, 115.
Guidi Nuovo Testo quoted, I.
xiii, xlvi, lix, Ixxiv, cxliv; II.
46, SO, 51, 76,79,80, 82,86-90,
113— 115, 124—126,461.
Gundfi Shabhor, I. xxvii, cxii;
n. 3, 332, 384.
Gunduk, n. 43, 267, 487.
Gurya, I. cxiii; H. 303, 415, 416.
Habakkuk, II. 323, 453, 565.
Habban, II. 483.
IJabbibha, Metropolitan of Rai,
n. 494.
Habbibha, Rabban, n. 522.
Uabbushta, I. cx; II. 327.
tlabibha, II. 649.
Habur, the Upper, H. iii.
IJabushta, II. 361.
Sadhatta, I xliv; U. 8, 9, 218,
219, 273, 274,278,316,447,
556, 557, 564.
Hadhodh, I. Ixxii; II. 68.
nnnn
K
1
706 INDEX. 1
HadhQdh, n. 4n.
Hazer, I, clxi; II. S^
Haditha, II. 103.
671.
Haigla. n. 38, 387.
Hazir, n. 43, ISO.
l:Iair Mountains, II. 43, • 50-
Hazkiel, n, 102.
Hakima, n. 564.
Hazza, I. xxvi U. gl
Irlakkari, U. 236.
383.
Halal, n. 8r.
Hazzah, II. 37.
Halamon, II. in.
Hebhisha, n. m, sf.
Halamun, IL in.
Hebhshushta, I. cx. ■
Halas, I. cxxiv.
Hebrew Fortress, t>
1 Halmon, I. in.
337. 368. 386. '
lllalwan, II. 2S3.
Hebrews, II. I22, 2^
1 Hama, U. 128.
Hedhaiyabh, H. 84.;
I Hamadan, I. cii; H. 2n.
Hfdliatta, II. 385.4"
f I:Iamininia, 11. 552.
I.Ic-dhayabh, U. 8—1I
1 Hananya the Vegetarian, II. 9;
]:Iedh6dh, II. 447.
266-275.
HefthSn, U. 388.
Hannah, H. 220,619,620,621,
Heghla Omed, I. cS
6=5.
Hclaphta, n. 4S0, 4J
I
1 Hannana, II. 90.
Heldal, II. 537-
1
I^arbat, II. 577-
Helena the Empres^
1
Harbath Gelal, II. n9.
Heliodoms, I. cxxiv.
1
Hardes, 11. 296.
Hellenopolis, II. 191,
1
I.Iarir, II. 397.
Heller, H. 379.
1
Harkleim, U. 94-
Helyot quoted, I. ea
1
1' Harran, II. 20, 517.
Hemrin Mountains I
1
Hasan bar-* AH, U. 207, 20S.
Hi^naitha I. Ixi, evil, 1
Hasan the nobleman, I. xxxv;
11. 23S, 239, 281,
II. 9, 287, 375-
386.
Uasha. II. 109.
HCnana, how made
Hatherly, U. 294.
miracles wrought b
Hatim bar-Salih, I. cx; II.
606, 6ii,6iS, 66S,
313.
Henan Isho', I. NesI
1 Hatra of Saphsapha, II. 150.
riarch, I. ci, dii, c
1 IJatra of Tirhan, U. 346.
72, 95. 121,212,2
Havilali, II, 395.
hienan ish6', U. NesI
Hawaz-nahedh, I. ciii; U. 216.
riarch, I. cxi; IL
1
'i i
I.-Iazars, U, 525.
384-
i
INDEX.
707
yenan Ish6\ monk of Beth
'Abhe, n. 416, 418, 456j 494.
};lenan Ish6*, 11. 66,
tjenan Isho, I. clviii.
A
y^nan Isho*, surnamed "Red",
n. 434.
yennes, II. 297, 332, 335, 575.
Henoticon, II. 41.
yepthon, II. 388.
yepton, II. 613.
Heracleopolis, II. 30.
Heraclides, II. 52.
Heraclius, I. xi. Ixxxvi; II. 45,
61,79,91, 111,114,125,126.
yerem, n. 38, 108, 209.
Hermon, Mount, n. 583.
Herod, II. 584.
Herod Agrippa, II. 233, 482.
Heronion, II. 200.
yerpa in Saphsapha, I. xli, xcvi;
n. 7,21, 150, 151,450.
yerta or yertha, a city of the
Arabs, I. bcviii; II. 37, 208,
469.
Heshlm, H. 557.
Heshtadsar, II. 448.
yesna 'Ebhraya, II. 50, 337,
386, 461, 469.
Hesychius, Lexicon quoted, II.
343.
yetara, U. 296, 305, 665.
yetra of Saphsapha, n. 450.
yetre, H. 335-
Hezekiah, II. 604.
yibtun, n. 388.
Hieronymus — see Jerome.
Hilarion, I. cxxiii, cxxvii.
yimran, H. 555, 556.
Hind, I. bcxiv.
Hinnis, n. 575.
Hippocrates, I. cxix; n. 534.
Hirmas, n. 37, 40.
yirtha dhe Naman, n. 51, 438.
yirthayg, II. 438.
yisn Kefa, n. 67.
yitm bar-Salah, II. 312.
yithr, II. 309.
yiepta, II. 150.
Hoefer, II. 531.
Hojffmann, Prof. G. Auszuge
quoted : — I. xii, xiii, xxiv, xxv,
xxviij 11.3,4, 21, 37,38,39,
41,42,44,45,46,47,51,62,
67, 69, 79, 81, 84, 85, 89, 90,
95, 102, 109, III, 113, 115,
119, 122, 123, I24i 131, 150,
177, 179, 180, 183, 188, 191,
208, 210, 213, 214, 217, 219,
220, 223, 224, 225, 226, 231,
234, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241,
242, 243, 250,251,258,263,
265, 267, 273, 281, 282, 290,
295, 296, 297,305,309,311,
313, 316, 323,329,332,333,
335, 338, 341, 346, 350, 378,
380, 387, 388, 406, 449, 450,
464, 466, 484, 487, 524, 525,
574, 575, 576, 577, 580, 603,
604, 607, 624, 632, 634, 652,
654, 656, 648, 662, 663, 665,
669.
Hoffmann, Opusc. Nest, quoted,
I. bci; II. 174, 178, 179, 274,
275, 286, 350, 522, 558, 566.
Hoffmann, Syr. Arab. Ghssen
quoted, II. 254, 268, 362,434,
OB
708
INDEX.
447, 489, 493,496,517,556,
564, 575, 615,648,661,672.
Hoffmann, 5^//^« quoted, n. 592.
Hoffmann, Chemie quoted, I.
cxix; II. 531.
Hoffmann, De Hermeneuticis
quoted, 11. 529.
Hoffmann, Verhattdlungencpot'
ed, n. 258, 437, 499.
tloghlr, n. 9.
Holstenius quoted, I. cxxi, cxxiii.
Hospinianus quoted, I. cxxi,
cxxii, cxxiii, cxxxiv.
Holy of Holies, II. 22.
Homer, I. cxviii; II. 530.
Hommel, II. 363.
Honain ibn-Ishak, II. 178.
Honorius, II. 29.
Horeb, II. 57.
Hormizd, II. 5.
Hormizd, iv. n. 5, 79, 112.
H6rmizd, Rabban, I. xlii, xliii,
xlv, clvii — clx, clxvii; II. 194,
399.
Hormizd, Bishop of Laphat, II.
140, 143.
Hormizd of Nisibis, I. lii, Ixxxiv.
Horn and Steindorff quoted, II.
95,216,324,332,450,577.
Hosannas, Day of, II. 393.
Hosannas, Hymn of, II. 567.
yoser, II. 553.
IJudhra, I. x, xxxii, Ivi, Ix; II.
155, 189,296.
Hiigair, II. 282, 283.
yugair-Abad, II. 282, 283.
IJugir, n. 282.
HuldJ, n. 537.
Hulwan, n. 81.
Huppakh tJushshabhe, I. cxiv;
n. 153,465.
Hursti, n. 483.
tJusfin, n. 207.
^uzaima bin IJazim, II. 525.
I;Jiizaye, 11. cxxx, clvii; 11. 483.
IJuzistan, II. 80.
Ibn al-Fakih al-Hamadhant, n.
525.
Ibn al-Athir, H. 123, 207, 450,
525, 555, 659.
Ibn-Batutah quoted, n. 40, 87,
259.
Ibn-EssJah, H. 332.
Ibn-IJaukal, n. 232, 450, 656.
Ibora, n. 52.
Ibrahim al-KashkaranI, n. 37.
Idha'ya, n. 537.
Idlib, n. 276.
'Imraniya, n. 656.
India, II. 483.
Indians, II. 483, 530.
Innocent, II. 200.
Irbil I. XXV; n. 176, 181, 349.
Isaac, n. II, 56, 221, 248, 319,
382.
IsaacofNinevehquotedl. cxxxv,
cxlii.
Isaac of the "Cells" quoted I.
cliii.
Isaac of Harbai, n. 576.
*Isa bin-Isha'ya n. 194.
Isaiah, n. 633.
Isaiah of Scete quoted II. 42,
255, 501, 504, 529.
Isaiah the confessor, U. 204.
INDKX.
709
Isaiah, brother of Paesius, n.
198, 472.
Ishai, see Jesse.
Isidore, I cliv. H. 35, 197, 203.
Israel, U. 24, 25, 54, 58, 290.
Israelites, II. 24.
Ishmael, n. 58.
Ishmaelites, II. 54.
Isho* of Beth Garmai, n. 448.
Isho*, Bishop of Najran, n. 126.
Isho', surnamed Maran-ZCkha,
n. 449.
Isho' bar-Non, Nestorian Pat-
riarch, n. 301, 302, 324.
Isho' bar-Yozadhak. n. 537.
Isho Dadh of Beth 'AbhS, I.
xliii; n. 12,403,404,405,406.
Isho Rahmeh, n. 575.
Isho Sabhran, I. clx.
Isho Sabhran bar-Mamai, II.
648.
Isho-yahbh I. Nestorian Pat-
riarch,! Ixxiv; n. 46, 90, 230.
Isho-yahbh II. Nestorian Pat-
riarch, I. Ixx; II. 6, 21, 61,
72,74,79, no, 115,123,126.
Isho-yahbh III. Nestorian Pat-
riarch, I. xiii ; xxxii, xlvii, xlviii,
lii, liv, Ivi, Ixii, Ixv, Ixvi, Ixxii,
Ixxv, Ixxxiv — xcvii, xcix, cvi,
cvii, cxi; H. 5, 7, 79, 82, 91,
loi, 102, 119, 120, 122, 124,
127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132,
147, 151, 152, 153, 174, 175,
176, 179, 180, 181, 182, 185,
189, 207, 229,247,257,293,
378, 393, 396, 465, 650.
Isho-yahbh IE, letter to H^nan-
isho — text, I. Ixxv; letter to
monks of Beth Abhe — trans-
lation, Ixxvii; letter to Paul
of Beth * Abhe —text, Ixxxiii ;
letter to his syncellus at Nisi-
bis — text, Ixxxiv ; letter to
Sergius — text, Ixxxv; letter
to Abbot of Selibha-zekha—
text, Ixxxv ; letter to clergy of
Mahoze — translation, Ixxxix;
letter to Kam-fsho— text,
xcviii; letter to Babhai — text,
cxliii; letter concerning death
of Babhai— -text, cxlvi; letter
to monks of Beth *Abhe —
text, n. 104 — 107; letter to
clei^y of Mah6ze concerning
Sahd6na— text, 132—136;
letter to Mar Sahda— text,
136; letter to Hormizd — text,
140; letter to Bishops of Beth
Garmai— text, 144; letter to
the monks of Izla— text, 175,
176.
Ish6^yahbh, Abbot of Beth
* Abhe, I. xli, Ixvii, cxi— cxiii ;
n. 9, II, 12, 259, 383, 384,
385, 387, 388, 391, 393, 395,
396, 400, 401, 402, 403, 406,
. 411,413.
Isho-yahbh, brother of *Anan-
^ Isho, n. 174, 177, 178, 236.
isho-yahbh, his monastery at
Mosul, n. 120.
isho-yahbh. Bishop of Shenna,
I. Ix, Ixi.
isho-yahbh of Beth 'Arbhaye,
n. 124.
7IO
INDEX.
i
tf
'
Ish6'-yahbh of Telia, H. 377,
. 378.
Isho -yahbh, disciple of Sergius,
H no.
Isho- yahbh the "Long", n.
425, 430, 432, 474, 475-
Isho -zekha. Bishop of Salakh,
I. xxxi, xlvii; n. 8, 79, 80,
242, 245, 267, 652.
Isho'-zekha, Metropolitan of
Kerkuk, n. 448.
isho-zekha, Abbot of B6th
'Abhe, n. 83, 86.
A
Isho* zSkha, of the Monastery
of Gassa, n. 210.
Isho'-zfikha, the Syrian, U. 265.
A A
Isho* -zekha, monk of Beth 'Abhe,
I. Ixxvii.
Isho'-zfikha, Monastery of, U.
39, 565.
Ith Allaha, I. clxiii; H. 575.
lyar, H. 336.
Izla, Mount, I. ix, xi, xxxi, xliii,
Ix, Ixxi, Ixxii^ ci, cii; 11, 4, 37,
38,39,40,42,45,73,108,121,
17s, 176, 186,215.
Jablonski quoted, U. 39.
Jacob bar-Babhanosh, U. 429.
Jacob, firstAbbotof Beth 'Abhe,
I. ix, xli, xliii, xlv, xlvi, xlviii,
Ix, Ixi, Ixv, lxx,lxxiii; II. 4—6,
21,38,44-46,47,59,60,61,
62, 64, 69, 72, 85, 97, 98, 99,
100, lOI, 102, 104, 108, 109,
no — n2, n7, 121, 124, 148,
151, 153,180,212—214,231,
246, 247, 249, 254, 258, 299,
413, 437, 449,495,505,^14,
684; his life by yenan-Isho',
n. I, 72, 73, 75, 77, 80; his
history by Sahd6na, 82; his
life by Aphni-Maran, 83 ; his
life by Solomon bar-Garaph
83 ; discourse upon by Gabriel,
Jacob of Izla, II. 66.
Jacob of Beth Garmai, n. loi.
Jacob of Beth Nuhadhra, I. Iv,
xcviii; n. 6, 119.
Jacob ofBfithShirwanayfi, n. 3.
Jacob, brother of I:Jabibha, n.
649.
Jacob, Nestorian Patriarch, n.
284,313,379.
Jacob of Edessa, n. 178.
Jacob, father of Thomas of
Marga, I. xxiv; n. 242.
Jacob, friend of Theodore, n.
349.
Jacob or Israel, L xix; n. 11,
56,66,79,221, 524,617.
Jacob of Kephar Zamra, I, clviii.
Jacob, Bishop of Nisibis, I. Ixx ;
n. 45, 628.
Jacobite Pillar- Saint, I. cxi.
Jacobites, I. xxxix, Ixxxvi; II.
45, 129, 130, 367.
James, brother of Christ, n. 482.
James, brother of John, II. 233,
482.
James the Lame, n. 200.
James, Bishop of Nisibis, I. xlv,
Ixx, cxxiv, cxxvi; II. 44, 628.
Jannes, II. 352.
Jebel el-Kandil, I. xxv.
INDEX.
711
Jedaiah, H. 537.
Jensen quoted, n. 648.
Jeremiah, n. 509, 582.
Jericho, n. 57, 200, 583.
Jerome, life of Paul of Thebes
quoted, n. 30.
Jerome, 11. 42, 94, 191, 192.
Jerusalem, n. 37, 52, 82, 125,
126, 175, 198,425,432,482,
543,551,563,584, 583,author.
ities on topography of n.
584.
Jesse, monk of Beth 'Abhe, I.
Ixxii.
Jesse, monk of Izla, n. ^,
Jesus, son of Sirach, n. 527.
Jews, n. 424,515,532,584.
Jezebel, H. 585, 672.
Job the Monk, n. 406.
Job the Persian, 11. 210.
Job of Uz, n. 361.
Job, Rabban Mar, H. 555.
John, Saint, H. 47, 233, 583.
John the Baptist, I. cxviii; 11. 27,
279, 492, 593.
John Adhramah, n. ^Ty 301.
John, Metropolitan of Adiabene,
I. ixi; n. 234, 235, 236, 240,
245, 256, 257, 266, 281, 295,
379.
John, second Abbot of Beth
*Abhe, I. Ixxvi; 11. 6, 66,
loi— 103, 118.
John, fifteenth Abbot of Beth
'Abhe, I. cvii; II. 253.
John, monk of Beth 'Abhe, I.
Ixxii, Ixxvii; 11. 104.
John of Dailom, or Delum, I.
Ixiii; n. 8, 221, 222, 224, 225,
226.
John, Bishop of the Scattered,
I. Ixxxvii; n. 129, 130, 175.
John of Dasen, I. ciii.
John of Ephesus, n. 661, 673.
John of IJadhatta, n. 219.
John of Uedhayabh, H. 8.
John the author, IL 38.
A
John, monk of Izla, II. ^,
John, the translator, n. 37.
John of Lycus, n. 200, 203.
John of Nercibh Barzai, n. 15,
577, 632, 640, 663, 664.
John, Metropolitan of Nisibis,
n. 95. ^
John of Or, n. 203.
John, syncellus of Pachomius,
I. clii.
John the Persian, I. clx.
JohnofRisha,I.633, 634, 636,637.
John of Scete, I. cliii.
John of Shamrah, I. clviii.
Jonah the Prophet, II. 71, 337.
Jonah of Izla, n. 5, 71, 72.
Jonah, Monastery of, I. civ, cv.
Jones, Felbc, quoted, II. 44, 259.
Joppa, n. 422.
Joseph, fourteenth Abbot of
Beth 'Abhe, I. Ixii, cv; U. 8,
227, 229, 230—234.
Joseph, twentieth Abbot of Beth
A
'Abhe, I. cxvii; II. 14, 561,
563, 565, 566.
Joseph of Beth Koka, H. 6, 107,
108, 109.
Joseph, deposed Catholicus, n.
284.
712
INDEX,
Joseph of }}azzsi, H, 47, 90.
Joseph, father of Rabban Hor-
mizd, I. civil.
Joseph Huzaya, 90, 178, 192.
Joseph, Metropolitan of Merv,
I. cxiijH. 383, 384— 386,388,
391.
Joseph, Rabban, n. 247.
Joseph, son of Jacob, I. lix; n.
66, 79, 82, 185, 250, 252.
Joseph, history of by Basil, I.
xix.
Joseph, history of by Sabhr-
Isho, n. 210.
Josephus, L cxxi.
Joshua, the Catholicus, n. 222.
Joshua, son of Nun, II. 347,
36s, 450.
Joshua the Stylite quoted, II.
51,87, 123,336.
Josiah, son of Zephaniah, n. 537.
Jovianus, I. cxxviii.
Jozadak, II. 349.
Judah, land of, II. 386, 565.
Judah, children of, n. 395.
Judah, son of Jacob, II. 318.
Julamerk, n. 576.
Julian the Apostate, I. cxxviii;
n. 584.
Juliana, II. 200.
Julius, n. 348.
JuynboU quoted, II. 463.
Kaki, I. clxiv.
I$alat-Bai, H. 236.
Kal'at al-Za'faran, n. 123.
Isal'at al-Medik, H. 128.
KaFat Sedjar, H. 128.
Kalilag und Damnag, II. 484.
Kam-isho*, I. Ixxiii, xcvi, xcvii,
xcix, c; n. 7, 38, 74, 104,
108 — III, 118, 119, 121, 122,
147, 150, 180,210,212,247.
Kamus quoted, EL 232, 257.
Kanarang, n. 328.
Kanda, I. cv.
Kanon, the latter, I. xxii.
Kaphra, I. Ixv, Ixviii; n. 179.
Kara-Su, II. 448.
I^ardagh, n. 386.
Kardagh, Metropolitan of Gilan,
n. 447-
IJ^ardagh, syncellus of Isho'-
yahbh III, n. 210.
Kardagh of Ras 'Ain, I. xli;
n. 13,467,487,488.
Kardagh, village of cursed, II.
650.
Kardaliabhadh, H. 14, 174, ^17,
449, 520, 521.
Karh Samarra, I. Ivii; n. 290.
Kardaghia, n. 363.
l^ardin-abad, II. 177.
IJ^ardo, I. Ixx, Ixxi; 11. 15, 60,
73,75,115,628,629,630,632,
634, 641.
Kard6, Mountains of, n. 73.
Karkaphetha, H. 178.
Karkha, H. 332.
Karkha dhe Beth Garmai, n. 8 1 .
Karkha dhS Beth Salakh (or
Selokh), n. 8, 81, 91, 112,
126, 24s, 448.
Karkha dhC Selokhaye, H. 245.
Karkha dhe Peroz, II. 290.
Karkhane, II. 290.
INDEX.
7^3
Karkhene, n. 290.
Kartaw, I. Ixix; n. 224, 649.
Kartaw Arabs, I. ciii, civ, cv.
Kartaw Kurds, n. 524.
Kartemin, Monastery of, I. cii.
Kartewaye, n. 224, 225, 524,
563, 564.
Kashkar, I. xlvi, Ixxiv, Ixxv,
cxi;n. 37, 46, 88,89,90, 191,
258, 384.
Kasr el-Yehfldi, H. 583.
I^atar, I. xxxviii; xcvi; n. 153,
181, 188, 192, 193.
Katraye, I. xcvi; H 153.
Kathismata, n. 551.
Kawadh, n. 113.
Kayser quoted, IL 325, 475, 485.
Kazwin, n. 220.
Kelil-fsho', n. 332, 335-
I^elil-Isho', Monastery of, I.
xxvii.
?;enargh, 11. 328.
Kentora— see Keturah.
Kephar Gamla, n. 482.
Kephar 'Uzzel, I. cix; n. 295,
297, 301, 325, 349, 350, 384,
388.
Kephar Zanu^a, I. clviii.
Kerdun, 11. 348.
Kerkuk, I. ix, xlii, Ixv, Ixvii, Ixxiii,
Ixxiv, cvii, cxvi; 11. 44, 81, 83,
90, 122, 123, 126, 213, 245,
448, 554,651.
Ker Porter quoted, 11. 398, 494.
Keshaf, n. 273.
Keturah, n. 58.
ICCwadh, n. 114.
Khabur, n. 322.
Khanishabhor, I. cxvi; n. 449.
Khamios, n. 200.
Khesr6 — see Chosroes.
Khodhahwai, Abbot of BSth
IJal6, L Ixxvii; n. 102, 103,
104, 188.
Khodhahwai, I. clxiii.
Khdmma, n. 648.
Khozer, n. 43. *
Khusrau I. Anosharwan, n. 208.
Khusrau 11. ParwSz, I. xxxviii,
xl, xlvi, xlvii, lix, Ixx, bcxii,
Ixxiv, bcxv, bcxxv, Ixxxvi; IL
6, 79, 80—82, 86—89, 91, 92,
112 — 114, 124, 125.
Khusrau of Beth 'Abhe, n. 428,
429.
Khusrau the Jacobite, n. 465.
Khuzistan, H. 188.
Khuznahir, n. 216.
King's Bridge, I. xli; n. 84.
Kiora, n. 300.
I^nneshrin, n. 276.
Kircher quoted, I. cxv; n. 379.
Kitab al-Ansab, H. 231.
Kitab al-Pihrist, H. 482.
Kob, IL 330.
Kohl, early use of, 11. 672.
Koph, n. 296, 330, 577, 634,
635.
Kopp quoted, n. 531.
Kopris, Abba, n. 203.
Korah, n. 185, 325.
I^ori, n. 296.
Kosmas of Damascus, 11. 294.
Kouyunjik, I. xxv; n. 259, 337,
553.
Kouyunshik, n. 337.
xxxx
714
iin)Ex.
I -
:
Kraus, IL 343.
Krumbacher, L Ivi; IL 292.
Kufa or Kiifah, H. 51, 439.
Kuletheos, n. 199.
Kuperyanos — see Cyprianus.
Kuphlana, I. xlviii, Ixxxiv; 11.
79, 82, 124, 153.
Kuphra, II 668. 672.
Kurah, n. 185.
Kurai, n. 326.
Kur'an, Solution of, n. 222.
Kurdistan, L x, xxx; n. 450,
656.
Kurds, n. 576, 678.
Kurds of Balik, II. 226, 240.
Kurds of Kartaw, I. cxvii; n.
224.
Kurr, n. 448.
Kurt a, II. 113.
Kuryakos — see Cyriacus.
Kustoi, IL 426.
Labbe, Consi/m quoted^ n. 41.
Lagarde, Analecta quoted, II.
262.
Lagarde, Annen. Stud, quoted,
n. 257, 305, 381, 390, 462,
466.
Lagarde, Evangeliarium quoted,
I. xl.
Lagarde, Gesam, Abhand, quot-
ed, n. 179, 391, 418, 460.
Lagarde, Materialicn quoted,
n. 6t,
Lagarde, Praetermissorutn quot-
ed, n. 257, 515,606.
Lactantius, II. 531.
Lalesh, II. 575.
Land, Anecdota quoted, n. 363,
418, 426, 442, 445, 475, 497,
549. 562, 575, 588, 597, 661.
Laphat, n. 140, 143.
Lasim, I. ix; n. 44.
Lashdm, I. ix, xliii, xlv, Ixx,
Ixxiv; n. 44, 86.
Lausus, n. 197.
Law, the gift of the, n. 117.
Lazarus, Fast of, I. xx.
Lazarus, Friday of, I. xx.
Lazarus, Saturday of, I. xx.
Lazarus of Beth ' Abhe, II. 449.
Lecterns in Nestorian Church,
I. U.
Le Bruyn, n. 584.
Ledan, II. 483.
Lent, I. Ivi.
Lent, First Sunday of, n. 330.
Leontius, n. 247.
Lepsius, n. 585.
Le Quien quoted, I. cxv; II.
239-
Liber Canonorum, II. 178.
Library of Beth 'Abhe, I. lix,
Ixi.
Librum Horaruni Canonicarum,
n. 177.
Lipsius quoted, 11. 127, 482,
483.
Little Fortress, I. xliii, n. 404,
528.
Liturgia Sanctorum quoted, n.
485.
Locusts in Mesopotamia, n. 336.
Loew, Pfla7i2ennamen quoted,
n. 212, 322,493,496, 511.
Loharsaph, n. 313.
INDEX.
715
Lohrasp, n. 313.
Lohrasaph, n. 341.
Longobardia, n. 146.
Losa (Lausus), II. 194, 195.
Lotz quoted, XL 632.
Lucian, XL 343.
Luhrasaph, n. 295.
Luhrasp, n. 341.
Lycus, XL 200, 203.
Luz, n. 624, 637.
Ma'alltha, I. Ixi, cvii; XL 8, 238,
239, 652.
Macarii, the, XX. 255.
Macarius the Egyptian, I. Ixiii,
cl, cUv; n. 35, 39, 51, 188,
198, 269, SOI, 573, 586, 591,
642.
Macarius of Alexandria, 11. 5 1,
52, 198.
Macarius, Abba, XI. 95, 197.
Macarius, the child of the Cross,
XX. 198.
MacGuckin de Slane quoted,
n. 448.
Magianism, 11. 307; treatise
against by Theodore, XI. 349.
Magians, I. xxv, xxvi, cix, cxxix ;
II. 243, 481, 482, 606, 607,
634. ^
Maggana, XI. 200.
Magna, Nestorian Patriarch, X.
cxxxii.
Magog, n. 395.
Mahdi, X. Iviii; H. 446.
Mahdukhti, XI. 213.
Mahoze (Ctesiphon and Seleu-
da), n. 87, 109, 113, 185.
Mahoze dhfi Ariwan, I. Ixxxvii,
Ixxxix; n. no, 124, 132.
Mahmud Bey, n. 39.
Mai Script Vett. quoted, I. xxiv;
IL 72, 102, 601.
Maihruk, II 332.
Maiperjca^ 11. 115.
Maishan, n. 181.
Maiuma, n. 294.
Makaris — see Macarius.
Ma^kabta, n. 296, 581.
Makta, H. 583.
Malabar, II 601.
Malah, n. 94.
Malbadh, Monastery of, n. 639,
659.
Mamai, n. 648.
Manes, n. 481.
Ma*na, n. 348, 648.
Manasseh, I. xxxix; n. 58.
Mandaraye, I cv.
Mani (Manes), I cxxix.
Manicheans, I. cv; n. 96,
634.
Manichees, n. 481.
Maraga, n. 44, 525.
Mar 'ammeh, Nestorian Patri-
arch, I Ixxxv; n. 79.
Mar 'ammeh, n. 581.
Maran *ammeh, Metropolitan of
Adiabene, I xviii, xxiv, xxviii,
XXXV, xl, cix — cxi; 11. dis-
course upon, 10, II, 265, 266,
286, 287, 304— 3 17 ; his vision
319; his flight 32 1; goes to
Marga 323; another vision
330; goes to Birta, 335; fa-
mine in his days 340, 344;
7i6
INDEX.
metrical homily upon, 345 —
375, 381, 383, 650.
Maran-z^kha, Bishop of IJadh-
atta, n. 9, 273—278.
Maran-z^kha, Abba, n. 240,
267, 268.
Maran-zekha, Bishop of Nine-
veh, II. 423.
Maran-zekha, Bishop of Sho-
shan, II. 449.
Marcianus, I. cxxxii.
Marcion, I. clxiv; 11. 481.
Marcionites, II. 481.
Marco Polo, n. 379.
Mardm, I. cii; H. 85, 86, 211,
329.
Marga, I. ix — xii, Ixvii, schools
in xi, famine in cv; II. 3,
10—14,38,43,67,72,79,90,
103, 109, 112, 124, 131, 180,
181,217,223,250, 296, 297,
305,313,317,318, 319, 323,
324, 329, 330, 337, 345, 378,
388, 399, 437, 441, 448, 449,
487,495,498,514, 525, 529,
569, 574, 580, 590, 591, 601,
602, 613, 657, 658.
Margana, H. 555.
MapTttpfTTiq quoted, n. 294.
Man, n. 383, 38s, 388, 391.
Marl, a monk, II. 547.
Mar(i)-b6kht, H. 284,
Marihaba, H. 5.
Marj Aba 'Obeida, H. 43.
Marj el-Mausil, n. 43.
Mark the Monk, I clv; n. 201,
302, 421, 500, 502, 534, 570.
Mark the anchorite, 11. 201.
Mark of Bar-Tura, H. 654.
Mark, Book of, n. 47.
Mark, disciple of Sylvanus, II.
202.
Marmarica, n. 472.
Marmarika, 11. 482.
Marqi, II. 652.
Maron, II. 665.
Marwa, n. 665.
Maryam el 'Adra, I. xxi.
Mary Magdalen, n. 69.
Mary the Virgin, I. xxi; n. 47,
74.
Mary, wife of Khusrau, n.
Mar-yahbh, 11. 73, 74.
Maskas, I. cxxvi.
Maslamah, n. ^^, 6^%.
Maslamah, II. 295, 313.
Mas'udi, n. 257, 309, 313, 668.
Mattai, Mar, I. cxxiv; n. 43.
Matthew, Saint, II. 56, 127, 190.
Matthew, Rabban, n. 267.
Matthew the elder, n. 240.
Matthew the Wanderer, II. 47.
Matthias, II. 537.
Maurice, I. Ixxiv.
Maximian, n. 81.
Maya I$^arire, I. cxi; II. 296,
329, 331.
Medes, n. 483.
Medhinatha dhfi Beth Armaye,
n. 183, 187, 221.
Melania, the elder, 11. 35, 52,
199.
Melania, the younger, n. 199.
Melanthus, n. 530.
Melchisedek, n. 94.
Melchisedekians, II. 94.
INDEX.
717
Melik, II. 223.
Melik Beg, n. 236.
Memphis, n. 29.
Menophantus, n. 472.
Merdanshah quoted, n. 114.
Merde, n. 317.
Merv, I. cxii; n. 384, 385.
M^salleyane, I. xxxviii, Ixxv;
n. 46,90,9^93,95, 122.
Mesallianism, I. ciii; 11. 122.
Meshed *Ali, I. Ixviii; II. 51,
187, 208, 438, 469.
Meshiha-zekha, H. 39.
Mesopotamia, I. ix, xiii, xxxiv,
xlv; n. 20, 40, 6t, 91, 131,
279, 322, 336, 390, 399, 402.
Mezuri mountains, n. 43.
Micha, II. 247.
Midianites, n. 678.
Migne, Vitae Patrum quoted,
n. 39.
Mihr-Narse, n. 213, 241.
Mihroi, n. 332.
Mtharok, n. 332.
Milles, quoted, II. 413.
Milles, Mar, n. 269.
Milos of Jerusalem, I. cxxvii.
Mnesarchus, II. 530.
Moab, n. 56.
Moghan, n. 448.
Mohammera, n. 181.
Mokan, I. xli; II. 13, 14, 504,
506, 508, 514,
Monks, orders of I. cxivii.
Monophysites, II. 41.
Mopsuestia, II. 90.
Mother of God, H. 80.
Mount Carmel, IL 27.
Mount Hermon, II. 583.
Mount Horeb, n. 57.
Mount Izla, n. 80.
Mount Matthew, II. 333.
Mount Nebo, n. 518.
Mount of Olives, n. 27.
Mount Sinai, n. 25, 27.
Mount Tabor, II. 26, 27.
Monastery of Rabban Aaron,
n. 391, 465. ^
Monastery of *Abha, II. 577.
Monastery of *Abha Shappira,
n. 67.
Monastery of *Abhda, I. cxxxi.
Monastery of Abraham of Izla,
IL 42.
Monastery of Aha, n. 296.
Monastery of *Anan-Ish6*, II.
575.
Monastery of Aphni Maran, n.
Ill, 123, 186, 234.
Monastery of Bai, n. 265.
Monastery of Bar-Gamesh, n.
558.
Monastery of Bar-*Idta, I. xliv,
clvii; n. 8, 230,231, 233.
Monastery of Barka, II. 317,
340.
Monastery of Barsil, II. 296.
Monastery of Bar-Tura, I. Ixxiii;
n. 5, 72, 654,
Monastery of Bauth, n. 447.
Monastery of the Beetle, IL
Monastery of Beth 'Abhe — see
Bath 'Abh^.
Monastery of Beth yale,n. i88,
384-
\'
718
INDEX.
1' I
Monastery of Beth IJazl:iel, n.
102.
Monastery ofBethRabban fsho*-
yahbh, II. 119.
Monastery of Beth Koka, H.
38, 209, 649.
Monastery of Beth Nestorius,
n. 555.
Monastery of Betma, n. 575.
Monastery of Beth Rabban,
n. 80.
Monastery of Birta, I. xli; II.
569.
Monastery of the Bucket, I. cxxx.
Monastery of Cyprian, n. 579.
Monastery of Elijah, I. xlvi;
II. 461.
Monastery of Ephraim, n. 296,
574.
Monastery of Ezekiel, I. Ixxvii.
Monastery of Gassa, n. 210,
565.
Monastery, the Great, n. 5, 37,
68, 209, 316.
Monastery of the Head, n. 43.
Monastery of ^lesikha, n. 672.
Monastery of Rabban Hormizd,
I. clvii— clxxiiij II. 194, 399.
Monastery of Izla, H. 46, 61,
73, 174, 175,211, 186,246.
Monastery of Isho-zekha, H.
565.
Monastery of Rabban Jacob,
n. 118.
Monastery of Job, II. 555.
Monastery of Saint John, II. 583.
Monastery of John at Gezira,
I. cxxx.
Monastery of Jonah, I. civ ; II.
72, 95. 96.
Monastery of Joseph, II. 463.
Monastery of Kartemin, I. cii;
II. 211.
Monastery of J^m Isho, I.
xxvii; II. 332. 335.
Monastery of Kori, II. 296.
Monastery of K^urai, II. 326.
Monastery of Malbadh, II. 659.
Monastery of Margana, n. 555.
Monastery of Mar Mattai (Mat-
thew), I. xliii, cxxxi, clxii,
clxiii.
Monastery of NSrabh Barzai,
n. 632, 633, 636, 648.
Monastery of Pachomius, n. 28,
52.
Monastery of Mar Pethion, II.
384,463.
Monastery of Rama, n. 576.
Monastery of Risha, I. cxxxi;
n. 574.
Monastery of Sabhr-Isho*, n. 38.
Monastery of Sahrowai, n. 6y.
Monastery of Sa'id, n. 334.
Monastery of Selibha, n. 38,
95.
Monastery of Shahdost, I. Ixxv.
Monastery of Shamira, n. 296.
Monastery of Simon, 11. 555,
556, 557.
Monastery of Stephen the Great,
n. 51.
Monastery of Yunus ibn-Mattai,
n. 337.
Monastery of ZSkha Isho', n.
7, 38,39,210,213,214,216.
INDEX.
719
Monastidsm in Mesopotamia,
I. cxvii— civi.
Monophysites, n. 191.
Moses the first ascetic, I. cxviii;
n. 25, 26, 27, 28, 48, 66, 117,
186, 250, 347,405,450, 518,
531, 584, 585, 590.
Moses bar-Kepha, I. cxliii.
Moses the Indian, II. 201.
Moses the Libyan, XL 201.
Mosul, I. XXV, xxviii, xli, xh'i,
xlix,lvii,Iviii, lxvii,Ixxv,Ixxxii,
Ixxxvii, ciii; 11. 40, 43, 44, 61,
67, 72, 80, 102, 115, 120, 121,
124, 130, 131, 176, 179, 193,
217, 233, 238,242,259,267,
290> 297, 329, 336, 337, 338,
340, 368, 398, 399, 402, 422,
432, 439, 461, 463, 465, 469,
475, 522, 525, 526, 553, 554,
613,651,653,648,668.
Mud Convent, I. cxii; II. 386.
Muhammad bin ^umaid al-Tusi,
n. 525.
Muhammad the Prophet, n. 1 26.
Muharrakiyya, II. 233.
Muhit al-Muhit, 11. 496.
Mukan, I. cxv; n. 448.
Mutawakkil, I. xxvii.
Naggara, n. 665.
Nahala, 11. 223.
Nahla, H. 316, 575.
Nahla dhe Malka, H. 223.
Nahum the Prophet, I. clxvii;
n. 194.
Nahermeshi, II. 604.
Najran, n. 126.
Na*man, n. 51.
Na*man, son of Shahdost, II.
525.
Narcissus, n. 472.
Narsai(Narses), deposed Catho-
licus, n. 284.
Narsai, II. 37.
Narsai of Mount Izla, I. cii;
II. 175, 209, 212.
Narsai, Bishop of Shenna, I.
xU;n. 14,449,452, 521, 522,
523, 536, 547, 549, 550, SS3,
554, 555, 557, 559, 560.
Narsai of MaaUtha, n. 300.
Narsai, sumamed Dadh fsho*,
n. 103.
Mastir, n. 29.
Nathan the Prophet, n. 71.
Nathaniel, Abbot of Beth'Abhe,
I. civ; n. 216.
Nathaniel, n. 96, 198.
Natron Valley, monks in, I.
cxxiii.
Natures of Christ, I. xc.
Naukur, I. 43, 150.
Nausardil, II. 666,
Nebi Yunus, I. xxvj II. 337.
Nebo, Mount, II. 518.
Nectarius, II. 180.
Nehel, H. 66.
Nehshon, I. ex; 11. 311.
Nekhwar, II. 462, 465.
Nephthar (NeqpGap), II. 1 9 1 , 2 1 o.
Nerabh Barazi, H. 577.
Nerabh Barzai, n. 15.
Nerabh Barzi, n. 296.
NerCbha dhe Beth Gazza, H.
109, 225.
720
INDEX.
Nero, n. 482.
Neroniadis, 11. 472.
Nestbhin — see Nisibis.
Neshra, I. ciii, civ; n. 96.
Nestorian Church, stagnation of,
I. xi; II. 89; schisms in, I.
xiii, xxxviii, xcvi; troubles in,
I. Ixxxv; n. 130; officers of,
L cxlix; Nestorian church,
plan of, I. lii.
Nestorian dioceses, I. x.
Nestorianism, chief works on,
I. cxl, cxb'.
Nestorians, n. 21, 80, 120, 191,
334, 365.
Nestorians, the scattered of
Damascus, II. 276.
Nestorians, church of at Tekrit,
n. 284; they borrow music
from Greek Church, n. 294.
Nestorians, the Seven Fasts of,
n. 330.
Nestorius, Metropolitan of Adia-
bene, II. 506.
Nestorius, hymn on by Babhai,
II. 299.
Nethpar, II. 109.
Netira (Nitria), Mount, n.
470.
Neubauer, II. 517.
Nice, Council of, n. 472.
Niffer, n. 191.
Nile, n. 39, 56, 396.
Nilos, II. 419.
Nimrod, II. 386.
Nineveh, I. xxv, Ixxi; II. 40, 43,
44, ^, 70, 71, 95, 96, loi, 104,
123, 127, 180,237,259,321,
329, 334, 338, 386, 387, 423,
449, 461, 648, 668.
Nineveh, Fast of, I. Ivi.
Nineveh Castle, n. 337.
Nineveh Fortress, n. 337.
Ninevites, H. 337, 338, 613.
Niphates, Mount, I. xli; II. 21.
Niram dhfi Ra'awatha, U. 592,
599, 665, 668, 669, 675.
Nirebha dhe Beth Gazza, n. 8.
Nisan, I. xx.
Nishra, I. ciii.
Nisibis, I. xxxi, xlii, xlv, Ix, Ixx,
Ixxiii, Ixxv, cii, cvi; n. 7, 37,
40, 46, 51,61,67,83,86, 88,
90,91,111,115,124,126,174,
181, 182, 184, 187, 192, 208,
211, 245, 283,284,300, 557,
651.
Nitria, monks of, 11. 197, 204.
Nitrian Desert, n. 52, 470.
Nitrian Valley, n. 39.
Noah, I. cxxviii; 11. 94, 318,
630,651.
Noah of Beth ^ewaz, H. 665.
Noeldeke, Geschichte quoted, I.
cxxix; n. 44, 51, 67,79,80,
81, 113— 115, 125, 126, 150,
153, 160, 188, 220, 231, 257,
282, 295, 309,313,328,330,
332, 341, 462, 466, 632, 656.
Noeldeke, Gram. Neu-Syr^
quoted, 11. 338.
Noeldeke, Syrische Gram, quot-
ed, n. 395, 529.
Noeldeke, Sketches quoted, I. cxi.
Noeldeke in Z. D, M. G. quot-
ed, n. 83, 276, 387.
INDEX.
721
Nohodare, IL 311.
Noph, n. 204.
•Norris quoted, n. 554.
Nu'man, I. Ixxiv.
Numenius, n. 531.
Nun, n. 365.
Nusardel, IL 466.
Olives, Mount of, n. 27, 584.
Olympias, n. 199.
Olympius, IL 348.
Ophir, n. 395.
'Omar ibn al-Khat.ab, H. 126.
Onkelos, Targum of, 11. 544.
6r, Abba, n. 197, 203.
Or— see Ur.
Orontes, n. 128.
Oxyrhynchus, 11. 203.
Pachomius, I. xlv, cxxiii, cxxv,
clii; n. 28, 29, 52, 198, 199,
202, 396, 397, 427, 586.
Pachon, n. 269.
Paesius, 11. 198, 255.
Paesius, brother of Isaiah, II. 47 1 .
Palamon, n. 396.
Palestine, n. 94, 191, 294, 583.
Palladius, I. x, xiii, xxx, xxxi,
xxxii, xxxiv, xxxix, ci, cxxiii,
cxxxvii, cl — clvi; IL 28, 29,
31,32,39,42,49,52,65, 191
—193, 194,201,203,255,397,
470, 547, 548, 563, 572, 586.
Palm Sunday, n. 393.
Paloha, n. 565, 566.
Pambo, L cliv; H. 28, 35, 197,
198.
panopolis, n. 397.
Pauthier, n. 379.
Paphnutius, n. 203, 255, 471.
Paradise, the earthly, IL 371.
Paradise of Eden, n. 192.
Paradise of Joseph IJuzaza, n.
192.
Paradise, the Little, IL 96, 192,
225.
Paradise of Palladius quoted I.
X. xiii, XXX, xxxi, xxxii, xxxvi,
Ix, bdv, cvi, cxvj n. 7, 42, 49,
52, 56, 65, 192—206. .
Paradise of Western Monks,
n. 42.
Parruh-zadh, n. 295.
Parthians, n. 483.
Paschal Chronicle quoted, II.
115.
Passover, n. 547.
Patkanian quoted, n. 484.
Patrophilus, n. 472.
Paul the Apostle, n. 41, 94, 3 18,
350, 374, 382, 453, 472, 482,
483, 541, 543, 5SO, 589, 593,
643, 662; commentary on by
Cyriacus, n. 91.
Paul of Thebes, author of the
monastic life and disciple of
Antony, L cxxi; 11. 28, 30,
198, 201, 202, 269, 278.
Paul the Simple, n. 32.
Paul the Confessor, n. 204.
Paul, Nestorian Patriarch, I.
cxxxiii.
Paul, Metropolitan of Adiabene,
IL 126.
Paul, Abbot of Beth 'Abhe, L
Ixxii, Ixxxii ; 11. 119.
yyyy
722
INDEX.
Paul, friend of Thomas of Marga,
L XXXV; n. i8.
Paul, brother of Gabriel, n. 1 5,
579, 622, 624, 625, 627, 628,
630,631,637,639,647.
Paul of Izla, n. 66,
Paul of Tekrit, H. 284.
Pawle— see Paul.
Pawlos — see Paul.
Pentecost, H 209, 461.
Penuel, IL 625.
Peor, II. 201.
Perath dhe Maishan, H. 7, 181,
187.
Perceval, Caussin de, n. 51.
Perkins, Residence quoted, I. liv.
Persia, I. x, xi, xxv, xxx, Ixv,
xcv, xcvi; n. 40, 80, 149,
153, 182, 185, 188, 213, 218;
the twenty bishops and two
metropolitans of, n. 181; re-
sidence of Archbishop of at
Rew-Ardashir, 11. 188.
Persian Gulf, I. liv, xcvi, c; II.
153, 181, 188.
Persians, I. lix, Ixxxvi; II. 40,
80,87,115,124,125,129,396,
531, 584, 678.
Persistan, n. 188.
Peroz, II. 113.
Perozabhad, n. 86.
Perozhshabhor, II. 123.
P^shitta version used byThomas,
I. xl; quoted n. 26, 329, 443,
608.
Peter, Saint, n. 41, 650.
Peter, Mongus, n. 41.
Peter, friend of Theodore, 11. 349.
Peter, monk of Izla, II. 66.
Peter, monk of Beth 'Abhe,
I. Ixxii.
Peter, Bishop of Yaman, n. 448.
Peterman, Reisen quoted, I. 1.
Pethion, Abba, H. 648.
Pethion, Mar, H. 384.
Pethion, a monk, II. 40.
Petronius, n. 29.
Phagho, I. XXI.
Pharaoh, n. 82.
Pharme, I. Ixiii.
Pharrokhbandadh, n. 241.
Phemon, n. 199.
Phenoum, II. 397.
Phethion, n. 258.
Philistia, H. 329.
.Philistines, H. 678.
Philo, I. cxxi.
Philoxenus, II. 22, 41, 83.
Phinehas, II. 56.
Phranse, Mar, II. 241.
Phransis, I. xxi.
Phugitha, n. 70.
Physiologus, 11. 363.
Pisidia, n. 41.
Pithion, Rabban, n. 463.
Pithion the boatman, I. clxv.
Plato, I. xxxix, cxviii, cxix; n.
531.
Pliny, Hist, Nat, quoted, I. cxx.
Plutarch, II. 343.
Poemen, I. cliv, civ; n. 49, 50,
63, 255.
Poly bios, n. 343.
Poman, n. 63.
Pontus, n. 52, 181, 201.
Porphyry, I. cxx; II. 348.
INDEX.
723
Poseidon, a monk, n. 200.
Prayer, monks' times of, I. Iv.
Preller quoted, I. cxx.
Procopius, Belio Persico quoted,
n. 86.
Prokhzadh, II 295.
Prophets, the, IL 27, 28.
Pseudo Callisthenes, n. 445.
Ptolemais in Egypt, n. 472.
Ptolemy of Scete, n. 198.
Rolemy's Geographia quoted,
n. 21.
Purim, n. 390.
Pythagoras, I. cxviii, cxix, cxx;
n. 530.
Quatrem^re quoted, n. 39, 396.
Questions of Mar Abraham,
n. 191, 192.
Questions of the Fathers quot-
ed, I. xxxii, xl; on the mon-
astic life n. 204; iasting 204;
reading Scriptures, vigils, etc.^
204; weeping, self-denial, pa-
tience, etc,^ 205; repentance
206.
Questions by Timothy I. n.
385.
Rafts in Mesopotamia, n. 398.
Rai, n. 494.
Raithe, n. 29.
Rama, n. 576.
Rama the deacon, n. 265.
Ras *Ain, n. 115.
Rawandiz, I. xxv; n. 226, 239,
309-
Rawlinson, Sir H. C, Cunei-
form Inscriptions quoted, IL
267,554,648,651.
Raya, Rabban, H. 683.
Rebecca, H 220.
Red Sea, I. xxxiv; IL 31.
Reimann, n. 294.
Reland quoted, n. 583.
Relics of Apostles, I. liL
Resha, IL 119.
Reshahr, H. 188.
Resh 'Aina of Marga, H. 487.
Resh 'en, 11. 150.
Resht, n. 468.
Reuben, n. 177.
Rewai, H. 341, 342.
Rew Ardashir, L xxxviii, xcvi;
n. 153, 154, 188,341.
Rhages, n. 494.
Rich, Narrative quoted, I. xxi;
n. 43, 44, 259, 337.
Richardson, 11. 391.
Rimmon, IL 71.
Risha, Monastery of, L xliv;
n. 453, 633, 649-
Risha, the Outer, n. 577.
Ritter, Erdkunde, n. 273, 448,
485.
Ritter and Preller, I. cxx.
Robinson, 11. 583.
Romanos, n. 294.
Romans, n. 383.
Rome, n. 191.
Rostam Sabhr fsho', H. 7, 38.
Rostam, Bishop of IJ^naitha, I.
cxii; IL u. 384, 386—391.
Roth quoted, I. cxx.
Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum quot-
ed, H. 29, 30, 31, 35, 49, 269,
724
INDEX.
4SS, 464, 474, 498—501, 534,
572, 591.
Rubil, n. 177.
Rufinus quoted, L cxxiii; IL 51,
52, 578.
Russell, Vice-Consul of Mosul,
n. 336.
Rustaka, n. 602.
Saba, IL 395.
Sabbath, the Golden, n. 209.
Sabhr-Isho*, I., Nestorian Patri-
arch, L xxvii, Ixx, lxxiv,lxxv;
n. 5, 37, 46, 78, 86, 89, 90.
Sabhr-isho* 11., Nestorian Patri-
arch n. 3.
Sabhr-Ish6' Rostam, I. d; IL 7,
38, 108, 209, 210, 214.
Sabhr-Isho*, Governor of Adia-
bene, I. xxxv; n. 287, 375.
Sabhr-Isho', Metropolitan of
Beth Garmai, I. xlviii ; n. 131.
Sabhr-Isho^ Abbot of Monas-
tery of Bar-*Idta, I. clviii.
Sabhr-fsho' of Izla, H. 67.
Sabhr-Isho* Khfiphipha, U. 649.
Sabhr-Isho' of Niram, H. 668.
Sabhr-lsho', Monastery of, n.
38.
Sabukht of Izla, n. ^y.
Sachau, Reise quoted, I. xxi;
n. 87, 123, 128,260,329,336,
455.
Sadalja bin * Ally a, n. 525.
Sahda, n. 136.
Sahdona the Apostate, I. xi,
xiii, xxxix, Ixxiii, Ixxxvi; his
work "Fictitiousness of Faith"
Ixxxviii; 11. 6; quoted by
Thomas, 45; his history of
Jacob quoted 82; his oration
on John of Beth 'Abhe quot-
ed 102; no, 112, 124, 127 —
131 ; letters upon by Isho'-
yahbhm. 132—147; 153,212,
247, 465.
Sahrowai, monk of Izla, n. 67,
Saiba, 11. 386.
Said, Monastery of, n. 334.
Salak al-Audi, I. xxv; U. 316.
Salakh, I. xxiv, xxv, xxvi, xxxi ;
n. 3, 8, 225, 241, 243, 265,
266, 267, 282, 307— 31 1, 316,
352,652. ^
Salakh Gawaitha, I. xxiv, xxv ;
n. 240, 316, 652.
Salakh, Outer, I. xxiv; U. 240.
Salakh dh6 Babanes, I. xxiv.
Salakh dhfi Narse, I. xxiv; II.
240.
Salem, n. 26.
Sama, Abbot of Beth 'Abhe,
n. 216.
Samarra, n. 290.
Sambo dynasty, IL 236.
Samos, n. 530.
Samson, n. 318.
Samuel, n. 48, 221, 224, 382,
582, 619, 620.
San'a, I. cxvi; IL 448.
Sandreczki quoted, n. 259.
Saphi, n. 648.
Saphsapha, I. xli, xcvi, c; n.
7,21, 150, 151,251,296,302,
378, 380, 381, 383, 450, 487.
Sapna river, IL 6t^ 239.
INDEX.
725
Sapor, I. xlv; persecution of
Christians by cxxiv; occupies
Nisibis cxxviii; II. 213, 386.
483.
Sapphira, II. 610. *
Sarah, n. 220.
Saigis — see Sergius.
Sarguga, I. cxxviii.
Satan, appears in the form of
a serpent, n. 75.
Sathas, 'lotopiKOV, II. 294.
Saturday of Lazarus, I. xx.
Saul, n. ^, 251, 382.
Sawad, n. 309.
Sa wra dhfi Niram dh^Ra'awatha,
II. 296, 595, 606, 608, 614,
62 s, 639.
Sayings of the Fathers, n. 204
— 206.
Sa)^ed, n. 126.
Scandar, Andrew, I. xxiii.
Scete, desert and ascetics of,
I. XXX, xxxi, xxxiv, Ix, Ixiii,
cxxxiii; n. 29, 39, 42, 49, 52,
94, 175, 198, 585, 615.
School, Syriac names for, n.
24,
Schrader quoted, II. 176, 362.
Screens in a Nestorian church,
I. liii.
Scythopolis, n. 472.
Sebocht, n. 6t,
Secundus, n. 472.
Seleucia, Synod at, I. x, cxxxii,
cxxxiii; U. 87, 88, 109, 113,
181, 183, 185, 208, 219, 229,
258, 283, 284, 462, 483, 522.
Seleucus Nicator, 11. 494.
Sdibha, Abbot of Betfi *Abhe,
I. cv; II. 216.
Selibha, monk of Beth 'Abhe,
n. 96.
Selibha the Aramean, II. 225.
Selibha, Monastery of Rabban,
n. 95.
Selibha-zekha, Nestorian Patri-
arch, I. Iv, Ixii, Ixvi, cvi, cvii ;
n. 8, 46,» 83, 228, 229—230,
237, 245, 253, 290.
Selibha-zekha,BishopofTirhan,
n. 284-
Sennacherib, I. cxxviii; II. 337,
386, 554.
Sharezer, I. cxxviii.
Sepulchre, the Holy, n. 584.
Serapion, I. Ixiii, cxxxix; n.
200, 586.
Serdab, H. 576.
Sergios, 11. 294.
Sergius, Abbot of Scete, 11. S91.
Sergius the Martyr, Church of
n. 80, 81.
Sergius the physician, I. xxvii.
Sergius, Bishop of Ma'alltha, I.
Ixi; n. 9, 238, 239, 281, 282,
384.
Sergius of Beth Garmai, 11. 6,
109, no.
Sergius of Beth *Abhe, H. 430,
S15.
Seth the Beautiful, II. 250.
Severus of Antioch, I. cii; n.
41, 96, 211, 366, 463, 612,
614.
Sewaryane, n. 41.
SCyan, II. 603, 604.
■^
726
INDEX.
Shabhor of Beth Edre, H. 329,
362.
Shabhor, father of Abraham
the Patriarch, H 328.
Shahbhoran, H. 330.
Shahadost, Bishop of Seleucia,
H 483-
Shahdost, I. Ixxv.
Shahdost of Beth Gawza, H.
525.
Shahpuhran, II. 330.
Shahrai, n. 516.
Shahrazur, I. cv; 11. 227.
Shahrighan, I. xxv, cix, ex, cxii ;
n. 257, 308, 309, 311, 312,
313, 321, 324, 330, 386, 388,
393, ^^.
Shahruzur, n. 220.
Shaiban, n. 231.
Shaibanaye, n. 231.
Shaibm, I. clxiii.
Shaibna, 11. 8.
Shalim, n. 26.
Shalman, II. 524.
Shalmath, I. cviii; 11. 217, 251,
263—265, 282, 285, 29<5, 313,
329, 654.
Shamira, II. 296.
Shamrah, I. clviii; II. 605.
Sham^a, I. lix, Ix, Ixxii; n. 81.
82, 113—115.
Sha'ran, Mount, n. 78.
Sharzadh, /. e., George II. Nes-
torian Patriarch, n. 332, 334.
Shatt al-*Arab, H. 181.
Shamo, I. xxi.
Shamon?, n. 107.
Shechinah, n. 544.
Shelatheil, II. 94,
Sh^Iemon bar-Garaph, U. 5.
Shem, n. 94.
Shem, monk of Beth *Abhe,
n. 491.
Shem bar-Arlaye, n. 447.
Shem*6n— see Simon theBeard-
less.
Sheneset, n. 396.
Shenna dh6 Beth Ramman, I.
xli, Ix, cxvi: 11. 14, 177, 520,
521, 522,523,529, 533,538;
Monastery of 537, 541 ; 548,
551, 556-558.
Shensi, II. 379.
bheol, n. 3-53.
Shermen, H 150.
Sherog, n. 113 — 115, 124, 125.
Sherowai, II. 81.
Shi-Hoangti, n. 379.
Shikon, II. 455.
Shila, Nestorian Patriarch, I.
cxxxiii.
Shinar, n. 48.
Shiraz, 1 civii.
Shirin, I. lix, Ixxiv, Ixxv; n. 80,
81, 88, 89, 114.
Shirwan, I. xxiv; 11. 242.
Shirwan river, n. 45.
Shosh, n. 150, 217.
Shoshan, I. cxvi; n. 449.
Shubhhal-Isho' of IJerta, I. xli,
liv, Ixviii, Ixix; 11. 13, 447,
467, 469. 472, 475, 478, 480
—486, 488, 489, 537.
Shubhhal-Maran Abbot of Beth
'Abhe, I. cxvii; H. 541, 547,
548, 555, 556, 651.
INDEX.
7^1
I
Shubhhal-Maran, I. cviii; II 25 1,
252, 254.
Shunammite, n. 219,221,618.
Shushan, n. 449.
Siarz6r (ZiapaoCpa), I. cv; n.
211.
Sicard quoted, n. 31.
Sidonians, n. 395.
Si-il-hu river, II. 128.
Silvanus, 11. 28.
Simeon, n. 460.
Simeon bar-Sabba'e, I. xix.
Simeon of Beth Arsham, n. 348.
Simeon Priscus, n. 269.
Simon the Persian martyr, n.
483.
Simon, Metropolitan of Katar
and Rew-Ardashir, I. xxxviii,
xcvi; n. 153, 154— 161.
Simon, disciple of Yozadhak, I.
civil.
A
Simon, monk of Beth 'Abhe,
I. bcxvii; n. 104.
Simon, Bishop of Gilan, n. 447,
491.
Simon, Metropolitan of Adia-
bene, n. 236, 257.
Simon, Bishop of Beth Bfighash,
II. 264, 265.
Simon the "Beardless", I. c; II.
7, 8, 217, 219, 221,222, 225,
226.
Simon Peter, n. 26, 27, 233,
258, 423, 482, 610.
Simon, Monastery of, 11. 523,
541, 555— SS7.
Sinai, Mount, n. 25, 27, 37, 585.
Singan-fu, I. cxvi; n. 379.
Singing at Beth 'Abhe, I. Iv.
Sinjar, I. Ixxv; 11. 40, 80, 267,
322,651.
Sinn Barimma, n. 177, 449, 520,
527.
Sirach, n. 527.
Sisinnes, n. 200.
Sisoes, L dii; II. 28, 29, 64, 255,
571.
Smine, n. 397.
Smith, Payne, Thesaurus quot-
ed, I. XX, cv; II. 5, 20, 29,
48,56,62,66,83,85,94,117,
131, 152, 191,209,232,246,
264, 266, 268, 279, 280, 286,
287, 292, 295, 298, 302, 305,
307, 316, 322,325,339,344,
345, 347, 362, 368, 381, 390,
391, 393, 402,407,410,413,
418, 423, 428, 430, 434, 435,
447, 466, 489, 493, 497, 499,
510, 513, 515,527,532,544,
546, 564, 575, 576, 578, 598,
600, 605, 613, 614, 615, 632,
638, 648, 656, 661, 6St, 693.
Sobha, n. 185.
Sochus, II. 591.
Socin quoted, II. 212, 309,438,
583, 584, 562.
Socrates quoted, n. 31, 35, 51,
52,95, 180,472, 578.
Sodom, II. 55, 319, 361.
Sodomites, n. 58, 318.
Solomon, n. 118, 395, 584.
Solomon of al Basra, n. 88,
544.
Solomon, Bishop of Adiabene,
n. 650.
728
Solomon bar-Gamph, I. Ixxiii;
n ;2, ^l, 83.
Solomon bar-Sabhetha, II. 437,
Solomon ofHeth Garmai, I. cxv;
n. 446.
Solomon, Bishop of Hadhatta,
H. 316,384—386.
Solomon surnamed Mahdl, I.
Iviii.
Sons of God, n. 48.
Sophronios, II. 294.
Soren, deposed Catholicus, H.
284.
Southgate quoted, I. liv.
Sozomen quoted, I. cxx, cxxi,
cxxiii, cxxiv; II. 31, 32, 51,
53,95. iSr, 578-
Sozopolis, n. 41.
Spain, n. 25s, 470.
"Stations", the twenty, H 293.
Steindorff, 95, 2 16, 324, 332, 450.
577-
Stephen the Martyr, II, 482.
Stephen the African, II, 19S.
Stephen, IJishop of Dasen, II.
316.
Stephen of Marga, II. 43.
Stephen, II. 51.
Strassmaier quoted. II. 128.
Strassraaier, Nabonidus quoted,
n. 362.
Strassmaier, Worterverneichiiiss
quoted, II. 267, 554, 564.
StratonicGj I. cxxxi.
Suez. I. i.v, xlv.
Suidas quoted, II. 57.
Sunday Market, n, 638.
Sunday of Renewal, II. 413,
Supurgan, II. 438.
Suren, 11. 150.
Siarin, I. cviii; II. 283, 284.
Susais — see Sisoes.
Syene, I. xxx.
Sylvanus the actor, II. 202.
Sylvanus, liishop of I^ardo, I,
clviii, clix.
Syria, II. 91.
Syrians, II. 81,84, 123,322.
Tab river, H. 188.
Tabari quoted, n, 1 1 3, t 14, 207,
231,481,525-
Tabaristan, 11. 220,
Tabenna, n. 396.
Tabernacle the, II. 394.
Tabhalan, H. 449.
Tabhor— see Mount Tabor.
Tabitha, II. 423.
Tabor, Mount, H. 26, 27.
Taiman, n. 656.
Tagrith, U. 1 26, 384.
Talana, I. cvii; II. 250, 316.
Tarihan, II. 415.
Tarsus, II. 180, 201,
Ta'iik, n. 44, 102,
TayyayC', II. 5'-
Tayyi', II. 51.
Teheran, n. 494.
Tehesiyii, II. 199.
Tekrit, H. 136, i-JT, 2S4, 340,
449, 520-
TekTit, Maphrian of, II. 238.
Telia, I. cxi; n. 379,576,663.
Telia dhi^ Zallc, n. iSo.
Tell-l!esmc, U. 5, 85.
Tell el-Amarna, H. 287, 564.
INDEX.
729
Tell Gomel, n. 329.
Tell Kephe, I. xxi.
Tell Kef, I. xxi, xxii, Iviii.
Tell Zallah, H. 180.
Temple at Jerusalem, n. 584.
Tesmine, n. 397.
Teshrin, n. 194.
Thales, n. 530.
Thebaid, n. 28—30, 2CX), 203 ;
monks and ascetics of, I. xxx,
xxxiv, cxxiii.
Thebes, n. 30, 199.
Thecla, sister of Awgin, I.
cxxxi.
Thecla, mother of Hormizd, I.
clvii.
Themistocles, n. 343.
Theodore, n. 202.
Theodore of Mopsuestia, I. cxl;
n. 90, 348, 349, SOI.
Theodore of Pharme, I. Ixiii.
Theodoret quoted, 11. 94, 472,
578.
Theodosius, I. lix; n. 29, 81,
180, 194.
Theodosius the monk, II. 244.
Theodosius, brother of Thomas
of Marga, I. xxvi, xxvii; n. 3.
Theodotus the usurer, n. 94.
Theognis, n. 472.
Theon, Abba, H. 203.
Theonas, n. 472.
Theophanes quoted, II. 1 14, 1 1 5,
239-
Theophilus, n. 94, 95.
Theophylact, n. 81, 115, 239,
309.
Therapeutae, I. cxx.
Thomas the Apostle, n. 600,
601.
Thomas, Bishop of Marga, I.
ix — xxvi; n. 3, 242, 266,
684.
Thomas, Bishop of Kashkar, I.
cxii; n. 384.
Thomas, Bishop of Gilan, n.
447, 491.
Thomas, a monk, n. 95.
Thomassin, I. cxxiii.
Thracians, n. 531.
Thsin dynasty, n. 379.
Thucydides, n. 343.
Tidor, n. 434.
Tigris, I. xi, xxv, xlii, xlvi, xlix,
Ivii, Ixx, cvi; n. 38, 43, 46,
47, SO, 60, 61, 6t, 81, 87, 95,
III, IIS, 123, 124, 177, 181,
211, 219, 233,259,273,290,
317, 340, 347, 386, 387, 398,
449, 461, 463, 464, 520, 523,
528, 553, 554, 556, 557, 558,
650.
Tillemont quoted, n. 28, 30,
31, 32, 35, 51, 52,81,92,94,
191, 255, 349, 397, 481, 573,
578, 584, 586.
Tfmiron, n. 199.
Timothy I., Nestorian Patriarch,
I. liv, Ixviii, Ixix, ciii, cxii; 11.
II, 216, 222, 301, 332, 335,
380, 381, 382, 384, 386, 387,
391, 393, 448, 459, 461, 467,
469, 476, 477, 479, 485, 488,
489, 490, 505, 506, 537, 549.
Tiraquellus, n. 530.
Tischendorff quoted, n. 39.
zzzz
^^gf
BE
EX.
1' '
730 INI
^^m ''i f
Tirhan. I. cviii; IL 384, 290.
Valcns, I, cxxxi;
^^M i'
306,346,415.
Vallus of Palestine
^^^^H 1
Titus, n. 584.
Valerian, I^. 30.
^^^^H
Tobijah, n. 537-
Vararanes, I. Ixxiv^
^^^^H
Tomarsa, I, xliv, cLxiii.
Vatican Library, f
' ' ■ Tonsure, II. 40.
Venus, temple of. i
1 , n , Tornberg.n, 207,481.525, 555.
Verger quoted, II. |
■ Tower of Pride, U. 381.
Vincent on 'AtiotioXi!
H Tripoli, n, 39-
m TroB, n. 29.
^^^ ' ■ ■ i!| TObhyd, n. 537-
Waddington, 432. ■
^k i Tuch quoted, a 337. 583.
Wadi Habib, II 39
^H 1 |< Tudela, II. 38S.
Wagnd al-Azdi, tt,
^^^ Tuesday Market, n. 638.
Wahkert, n. 357.
^^^ 1 Tumana. n. 428. 533.
Waits, n. 578.
^^^ i Tur -Abhdm. n. 37, IIS. 211.
Walto, n. 576.
^^B 'J Tur Bera'in. I. cii, II. 213.
Wallis, n, 294.
^^H 1 ' Turis, Mar, n. 348.
Warburton, H, 5S4.
^^■1 Turkey. I.
Watchers, the, II. 4
^^Bl ! Tiiz Hurniatli. U.' 179.
Wednesday Market
^^H \ Tynans, U. 395.
Week of Summer J
li^
Tzetzes on Greek Mu.sic, II. 294.
xxiii.
Wesseling. H. 5S4.
1
Ugolini, I. xiii.
Westphal quoted. I]
1
l^lchama, U. 66.
Wetzstein quoted, I
' ■
■Ukbd, I. clxiii.
Wright, tlie late Prof.
\
■Ulai, n. 652.
Grammar quoted,
1 'Umr al-Za-faran, H. 37.
Wright, Cal. Syr. M
■Umr Mar Awgin, H. 37.
I. xix, XX, cxxvi;
'Umr Mar Yuhann.% II. 37.
49. SI. 52, 107. II]
1 Upper Chamber, the, H. 584.
213, 249, 253, 34;
; 1 Ur of the Chaldees, U. ly.
438, 444, 445, 44«
1 , Urfah, n, 81.
500, 529, 542-
Urmi, I. xxviii; U. 438.
Wright Syriac Litert
1 [i, Urmia (Urmiya), n. 483. 525.
ed, I. Ixi. Ixxvii, >
1 ' Usener quoted. H. 497, 551,
37- 38. 39. 46, 61,
[' , ' S87.
90, 104, 109, III,
1 'Uthman the Jacobite. II, 465.
154. '74- 17s. 18s
i
INDEX.
731
208, 216, 274, 276, 279, 299,
302, 348, 385, 397.
Wright, Aphraates quoted, 11.
22, 588.
Wright, Joshua the Sty lite quot-
ed, n. 5.1 87, 123, 510, 648.
Wright, Apoc, Acts quoted, n.
588.
Wright, Kaltlah quoted, n. 426,
667.
Wright, Cat, Eihiop, Mss. quot-
ed, n. 397.
Wiistenfeld, 11. 231 and see
Yakut,
Xenophon, I. cxxvi.
Xystus, Bishop of Rome, n. 262.
Yahbh-laha founder of a mon-
astery, I. cxxxi.
Yahbh-laha, Bishop of Gilan,
n. 447. ^
Yahbh-laha of Resh 'Aina, I.
xli;n. 13,467,487,488,489,
490, 491, 494, 505.
Yahbh-Maran, n, 603.
Yakut quoted, 11. 37, 40, 43, 46,
6j, 115, 123, 176, 187, 188,
217, 220, 233,237,239,259,
273, 337» 448, 463, 638, 648.
Yale bar-Himran, n. 555, 556.
Yaman, n. 448.
Yanan, n. 649.
Ycines, n. 352.
Yawan, I. cxv, cxvi; n. 14.
Yawnan, n. 5.
Yawnan, the gardener, n. 203.
Yawseph —see Joseph.
Yazd, II. 511.
Yazdainabhadh, n. 656.
Yazdegerd, n. 113.
Yazdin, I. xlvi, lix, Ix, Ixxv,
Ixxxv; n. 81, 82, 113.
Yadinbadh, I. Ixvii; n. 441.
Yazdinabad, n. 177.
Yemen, n. 449, 656.
Yezdbozedh, 11. 450.
Yezdin, I. lix; n. 81.
Yohannan — see John.
Yonadhabh, H. 91.
Yozadak, n. 94.
Yozadhak, I. clvii; 11. 537-
Yule, n. 379.
Yunus ibn Mattai, n. 337.
Zab, the Great or Upper, I. ix,
xli, xlii, xliii, xlviii, xlix, Ixxi,
cvii, ex; n. 21, 38, 43, 6t, 84,
107, 108, 209, 219, 236, 239,
273, 29s, 323, 379, 388, 397,
404, 439, 440, 525, 576, 577,
624, 648, 665.
Zab, the Little or Lower, I. Ixxi,
cxvii; n. 44, 84, 109, 1 19, 124,
177, 224, 449, 524, 553, 554,
558,561, 564, 565,649.
Zabha — see Zab.
Zacchaeus, Bishop of Gilan, n.
447.
Zacchaeus of Beth 'Abhe, n. 491 .
Zadhai, n. 329.
Zadhan-Ferruch, n. 114.
Zadhan-Parruh, 11. 295.
Zadhnaphrokh, n. 295.
Zadhoi, n. 362, 364.
Zadhoi bar Zadhebhah, n. 680.
Zam, n. 523.
^
732
INDEX.
Zechariah, II. 537.
ZekhaJsho', H. 7, 38, 39, ^T,
210, 215.
Zeller quoted, I. cxix, cxxj n.
531,
Zeno, n. 41.
Zephaniah, n. 537.
Ziba, n. 386.
Zinai, Mount, n. 108, 247, 274,
649.
Zion, n. 505.
Zodiac, n. 307.
Zoroaster, n. 20, 531.
Zotenberg quoted, I. xxiv.
Zerubbabel, n. 294, 349, 584. | Zuraik of Mosul, n. 525, 526.
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