On the Three Children

On the Three Children — Narsai On Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael A discourse of forty-four On Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael A homily Martyrs sought mercy for the world, which was held in distress. In your bones, my brothers, The sons of the kingdom descended into captivity in the house of the Babylonians, And they were not separated from the trust of their kingdom. Lovers of peace, they bound life to the furnace of the Chaldeans, And the love of the affection for truth did not cease from their minds. The erring of evil, the Creator marked upon their senses; They dwelt in the house of idols and were not changed in their ways. The pure of taste ascended and mingled with the pagans, And the taste of their thoughts did not turn from duty. Clothed in armor of the law, they were armed from the spirit; They stood in the ranks of battles and were not separated. Runners in the race of righteousness without cessation, They lived with the tyrants and did not flee, and they rested from their labors. Augusti, holders of the age, with threats, They loosed the hands of their captors from their bodies. The sons of Abraham, the beloved, the chosen of the true love, Ascended to the furnace and conquered, and came forth like their father. To the furnace, sufferings ascended, the victorious sons of the victor, And they triumphed and submitted to that daughter of the voice from the father. In Abram they were like in the hope of the undeceivable promise, And they believed and confirmed the distant as near.

In the likeness of fire they set the seal of their victory before their eyes, and they showed much zeal for the help that is from God. Abraham was not divided by the death of his son, nor by the sons of Abraham who were spared from the death of their fathers. In that hour they saw him when he brought up his son to the altar, and they gave their bodies to the flame to be consumed in it. Faith they put on like armor upon their limbs, and they believed that the power of his help could overcome the fire. By faith they conquered and prevailed over the Babylonians, who saw that the pledge of the words of Chaldean wisdom had failed. By faith they chose that the likeness of their death be that of a sacrifice, and they did not shrink from the purpose of the kingdom of the wicked. They saw that it was easy for faith to overcome death, and they did not consider being saved from the burning. They remembered that if they die on the path of death, they go like everyone, and if they do not die, that one who dies is like the dead. In death they saw and prevailed and scattered the earth-dwellers, and before death they loved that the likeness of their death be that of hope. Hope was for them like a guide on the path of sufferings, and it showed them a way of endurance that has no end. In the place of the end, the steadfast ones stood, clothed in hope, and bravely they endured the sufferings of their affliction.

In the likeness of a lion the Babylonian roared, who roared against the furnace, and they considered his voice like the voice of a herald who cries out in the air. Like a serpent he hissed his command, the likeness of the furnace, and they considered his threat a viper that bites and cannot be charmed. A great image he made in the furnace, a likeness that burns in the fire, that all might look to it toward the error of Chaldeanism. The image showed the spirit of a revelation that was great and glorious, and he desired to set up the image of their error in that mystery which he saw. He saw that the image was made artistically, and he sought to raise his blasphemy toward his greatness. The dream became for him the image of his authority, that he might gaze upon it, and he was astounded and made a plan against the truth. The dream saw him and turned and led him astray, who sought in his time, and when he was dismissed, he turned and was deceived to err in his vision. The secret was revealed to him, that he was the head of good gold, and he ascended to a high rank by the power of the image. He showed that he would perish by the decree of judgment from God, and he set up a rebellion not to be subjected to the words of the spirit. The armor of pride the fool put on against the truth, and he began to wage war with the truth wickedly. The war of wickedness prepared the heart of the one filled with wickedness, that he might destroy the ranks of the sons of truth by the sword of his wickedness. He commanded and the image was established that burned within his thought, and he gathered peoples and cities to the worship of his fury.

He crushed in his heart and made the furnace, and his coals were fire. He cried out in his anger and made his cry the cheeks of the images. The demons of his kingdom fashioned an image according to their will, and they were the revealers of how and in what manner his height was made. They also taught the peoples of his provinces that they were to fulfill their desires at the sight of his beauty. The Chaldeans mounted a mystery with the magicians, that fire might go astray after their error in the form of the image. They gave drink to the mothers, who gave the measures of his height, so that his sight might be bewildering to everyone even from a distance. Again the mothers made for him a width as they wished, so that according to his height his breadth also might be established. And already the demons had counseled for Chaldeanism that the image of Nebuchadnezzar, the very powerful king, should be set up. And already it was said that the teaching of Judaism had been scattered, so that it would not be received among the exiles for the kingdom. Already the image also, by this, was to be its sign, that the lovers of truth might be caught in it as in nets. For they were spreading the net of the zealots of zeal against that which they had set up and extended the nets of the great image. And like a snare they placed it on the ground for crushed gold, that by its beauty they might capture the beauty of the soul.

The beauty of the idols cast the error of Chaldeanism, because of which the truth that was in him grew angry and was troubled. The fire of wrath, the demons gathered, demons of solid form, that they might extinguish in it the name of the God of the fathers of Abraham. As with logs they kindled the wrath of the raging king, so that it might become more consuming than fire in its command of the word. They gave him the cup of fury, that the king of fury might drink, and he drank and was intoxicated and lost his mind in the error of his straying. He completed the image full of defect according to his will, and made a festival that they might celebrate in it with fire in wickedness. He commanded a command full of the dissolution of the fear of truth, and wrote a decree that is established in it of falsehood. He sent messengers to all regions after all peoples, and they began to proclaim the gospel of the one full of defect himself. The peoples heard the command of the king; the heralds cried out: "Go out in haste, complete the defect of your statues. Thus commanded the head of the king, the head of gold: 'Come, bow down to me in the worship of love for the image that I have made. The worship of love is owed to me; pay me your debt, that you may not be judged as guilty ones. I desired a furnace to make you enter on account of the image, that I might see who loves the authority of my lordship more. For my lordship over all I desired that it be healed of what I did, that it might teach who is able to afflict it arrogantly.'

And behold, I command and I seal the document of my word. They raised their hand and sealed after me by their error. And behold, I say and I testify to every man and to all, that everyone who transgresses my command, fire will consume him. See, the nations tremble at the command I placed in the land, lest they be condemned by the pitiless decree. The rulers went out and drove the peoples to the festival of the idol, and they fulfilled and completed the king's command as they were commanded. Every man bowed his head in love or from fear, and the rational ones honored and worshipped the senseless deaf one. The king's command terrified them quickly, and they did not delay to bend the knee before the silent one. The command was like a rod of iron upon their heads, and they were struck violently without mercy. Like a whirlwind, his wrath raged among their ranks, and it sank the ship of their thoughts in the worship of the lie. All the Babylonian ships were sunk in sin, and only the three Jewish ones remained in vigilance. All the paths of the field of Assyria were struck with plague, and the three Hebrew ones among them were not broken. In the whole vineyard of the sons of Nimrod, the net was spread, and the shoots of the house of Abraham stood firm while they were true. The Chaldeans saw the beautiful fruits of their mouths, and they wondered that they were not harmed, nor their fruits.

The garment of wrath they put on, the nobles, against the righteous ones, because they disobeyed the command of the king of heavy glory. The garment of their fury they gathered, the tyrants, in their hearts, when the king saw how they had despised the elders of his glory. The glory of my word is greater than all, and your contempt is from all; I have made my word ruler, and they raised the heel of your holiness. The agitators agitated the elder against the wise, and he raised his voice and cried out in anger without reason. "O exiles in the land of exile, why have you forgotten the word of my command before my armies? O the nourished who have eaten bread from my tables, why have you repaid evil injuries to your benefactor? O Jews who have been established in the name of my gods, why have you despised the worship of the image of the glory of my will? O the freeborn who have not been honored in their own honors, why have you diminished the greatness of the rank of my kingdom over all? O the wise who have not been saved in their place of worship, why have you despised the feast that I made for my great god?" The stones did not tremble from the threat of the arrogant one, nor were they terrified from the trust of the fear of truth. They did not seek help against the saw of the harshness of his anger, nor were they humbled to appease him, not even in word. They did not find a fitting agreement of words for the king of the angry, nor did they care that a spirit might go out upon your threats.

Do your will and stir up your wrath as is your custom. It is not possible that they should err in the error of the worship of your image. The heavens and the earth will not persuade you to do this, and the watchers and the fire will not hinder your valour. Woe to you that you have erred from the great name of the house of Abraham, and have cast off the sign of the house of the Creator from your fathers. Woe to you that you should not be, that you might bow your head before the silent one, and call God to that which is not God, who rides on a cloud. Woe to you that you should become servants to the servant of servants, and say that the created thing is able to become the Creator. For there is no height nor depth, nor angels, nor another creation, if it exists, that can change your word. Behold, your witness remains from words and shows deeds. In the fire of your will and the furnace of your wrath, see that it is true. The Babylonian heard the words full of the destruction of his image, and he shook himself bitterly, the son, out of order. The bitterness of his wrath flew within his thoughts, and he called his servants and prepared to kindle the furnace. Kindle the furnace seven times over, commanded the accursed one, that it might kill in it the exiles who scorned his commands. Mix with the wood something more that can kindle, and add the fuel of the image of his god from the passers-by. All the peoples who came to the festival of the worship of the image drew near, and they came and cast firewood into the fire that scorned my honour.

To the multitude of peoples he cast forth his wrath, as is his custom. It is not possible that they should err in the error of the worship of your image. The heavens and the earth will not persuade you to do this, and the watchers and the holy ones will not persuade you. The Chaldeans stirred up the king's wrath, and he was enraged against Abraham, and they kindled the fire and assembled the peoples as they were commanded. The Garmaeans and the inhabitants of Beth Garmai also kindled a great fire, and the Medes and the Elamites stood in their ranks. A great fire they kindled for the sight of the Israelites, that they might see the furnace of punishment, a fire that conquers the fire. The furnace of all fire was with the righteous youth, and it was not sufficient to be quenched by its heat. The magician commanded the snakes of his sorcery, and they cast their venom towards the youths, a force in their garments. The beautiful garments that were on their bodies they cast into the fire, so that the fire might quickly consume them through their limbs. In wrath, the angry women raged against the perfect ones, that they might be subdued by the harshness of the anger of their minds. The magicians cast spells for the words of the sorcerer magically, and they threw them into the midst of the fire unjustly. The righteous ones descended and stood in the furnace in haste, and the fire received them as a chosen offering. One angel the Creator sent to his righteous ones, that he might guard them from the sparks of the flame. A spirit of dew made a breeze within the furnace, and it broke the force of the heat with coolness.

The staff of fire took hold in his hand, the fiery one, and drove the fire so that it would not approach the limbs. Fire saw fire and was troubled, agitated, and hid, and its strength was not sufficient to be extinguished in the vision it saw. The sight of the power saw the burning one in the hand of the spirit, and it forgot its order and began to run outside its order. The joints of fire were set as a guard at the mouth of fire, and it arranged the course of its confusion so that it would not be disturbed. The order kept a distinct boundary before the dividers, and it was not able to swallow many as was its custom. Never has a wonder been seen like that among the weeping ones: a mouth that is set with a devourer, yet it does not approach it. Never has Sheol, the swallower, been extinguished in the flame, which has not been sated from the day it came to be. Never has a decree been placed in the mouth of a destructive lion, and the fire did not approach the bodies of the ascetics. O the unnatural one that forgot its nature, not according to custom, and abandoned its order and ran on a path it did not see. O the devourer of many that would devour what is easily consumed, that decreed a fast and deprived its mouth of food. O the burning one of many that would burn, its strength great, that gathered its heat at the time of the furnace of its might. O the destroyer of many that would again easily sweep away, that swept away many and its sweeping was not exhausted.

Oh how, and in what manner, shall I say that this thing which happened was: that a live coal was placed in the mouth of the furnace and was not consumed? Oh how mighty were the coals, the hard ones, to see its strength, and yet the garment of the body was not consumed by the flame! Oh how the eyes of flesh grew weary from beholding the wonder, for even the spiritual beings wondered and were amazed at the greatness of its wonder. Forty-nine cubits the flame ascended, and as it ascended, so it descended without measure. Who then cast a measure into the air and ascended to measure it, for it is not able to measure anything except by something else? What hand is it that pierced the rock from below and measured the thread from the furnace to the end of its flame? That command which placed in its mouth the commands of silence became its measure by a revealed spirit in the mouth of Daniel. He who said to it, "Preserve its order without change," he revealed to its servant how many cubits it ascended in the air. From all its days it showed its flame at that time when the slanderers who had incited it were consumed in it. With them it descended by the ascent of the faces of the height, so that they might see how the fire was raised up and preserved its order. Behold, the Chaldeans cried out, "The silent one has conquered the speakers," when the fire became not fire before the children.

The consumption of flesh extended to me that was nourished by it, and behold, it is placed before me and it recounts to me that I did not approach it. The fire was silent, and the air received the heat of the incense, and they acquitted and condemned both sides distinctly. The priests were guarding and the wicked were persecuting harshly, so that everyone might learn that the power of the active agent was loosed in his deeds. The active power saw the beginning in the work of his hands, and she trembled at him and did not approach him as was her custom. Her custom was to consume everything that approached her, but here she was silent and did not consume the bodies that were to be consumed. As on the bed of health, the priests revealed themselves in her, and she, like a handmaid, served the order that performed wonders for the servants. A beautiful fire was a sign for the beautiful ones of the soul, and the air and the fire were suspended before their faces. As in the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies, they stood in prayer and offered the sacrifice of the burning of the thoughts of their minds. In great afflictions they prayed, the rocks suffering painfully, and with a roar they sought and implored for their lives. With the voice of the holy, they offered thanksgiving to the one who is my brother, and in the separation they mounted the words of hymns. "Blessed is the Creator," the holy ones cried out holily, "who preserved our lives from the sparks of the flame.

Blessed is the one who discerns the sign of the mercy of the One who decreed his own, and who examines in his hand the great power of the power of the Almighty. Blessed is the one who treads the path to the fire toward his knowledge, and makes witnesses of the greatness of his might among the Babylonians. Blessed are those who stir the embers of the furnace with the stirring of his name, and make a banquet with the burning one instead of their limbs. Blessed are those who taught an order to the furnace in the night of its consumption, and in its separation they abolished the fear of the indissoluble. By the order of the furnace the Babylonians were astounded in the nights of the order, for how did it cast down the commands of silence into the roaring flame? Its roaring was silenced for the heart of the furnace toward the lamentation, and it began to seek the clothing of the power of the one who restrained its might. A great tumult fell upon the king and the courtiers, who saw the furnace not to be mastered in the consumption of what they had given to it. They saw that it was bound and not approachable to the Israelites, and its mouth began to destroy the slanderers. They saw that within its house it was gentle and quiet from its activity, but outside it was raging and crying out with a roar. They saw that it had broken its strength within the furnace, and had gone out to show the force of its might in its sparks. It turned mourning into a feast of the image by its separation, and the voice of the lamentations turned toward the dirges.

All of Babylon was rejoicing in him, the king who made the feast. And when she saw that the king did not keep his word, she mourned and grieved. In the king’s grief, the armies also grieved, for they saw that the height of his heart had fallen from his confidence. The fool was confident that he would prevail through the cause of the image, and when he saw that the Hebrew youths had leaped into the fire, he was troubled. He thought that by the heat of his furnace he would raise his authority, but the pit seized him along with the sons of the captivity. The pit seized him when he looked and saw the youths in the fire, who were walking and whose limbs were not consumed. They went, they went, O woe! Perhaps the first one did not run, walking in life, or perhaps it is not true. It is a new thing that happened among the Babylonians, and I have not seen it. And if it is true, the hope of those who trust in him is false. He trusted that he would prevail through the greatness of the image he had made, and behold, he is smaller than all who envied him, to the gall of the three men. Three men were cast into the furnace as if to death, and behold, I see that they trampled it and rose up and were praising within it. Three gifts they gave, which were food for the flame, and they bound its mouth from their bodies and kept it with the people. Three rods were cut from the thicket of the house of Abraham, and behold, I see that another, who is ready, has sprouted from them.

The great circle was full, seeing the fourth one, and they were disturbed by the radiance of his face from what had been done. The vision of him also overcame the sight of the flame, and already from him the fire was burning fiercely. Already it had driven it from the bodies of the sons of the captivity, and taught it to go out and destroy the ranks of our armies. Already it had given to it discrimination without distinction, and by his command it cut off the power of authority to live and to die. What is this that has happened in our land and in our days, that here it relates to us the story of ourselves as if to strangers? To the sons of the captivity it seeks to relate concerning the scattered ones, and it turns the story and relates to us mightily. In the fire we thought that the shaving of our hair would be demanded from us, and behold, it is poured out and demands from us the shaving of their blood. Come, let us approach the furnace, even the sword is he, and let us persuade it of its persuasiveness, that it not destroy us. Come, let us take refuge in the fear of the truth that holds us in it, that blood may be wiped away from the burning of the flame. Come, equally let us seek from them imploringly, that they go out quickly from the furnace and extinguish the fire. With the sword and with love the king and his counselors approached, and they sought and persuaded the confessors who had greatly afflicted us. Come, go out, servants of God, all of you from the furnace, and remove from us the wrath of the fire that has consumed us.

Come, O priests, ministers of truth without falsehood, and be in place of them, elders in the furnace of the Chaldeans. Come, O victors, ascend from the furnace of righteousness; great is the power and the condemnation of Babylon. Come, O victors, flee from the furnace of the people of wickedness, for your condemnation has been revealed to the eye of all creatures. The furnace of your iniquities you made with them wickedly, and the priest who sees turns your iniquity upon your wickedness. Your God is true and his love is firm toward his servants, and according to his priesthood he conquers for his servants and condemns the wicked. The falsehood of the Chaldean divination which held you has been refuted, and if it were true, where is its power that did not stand before your faces? In this which happened, everyone learned truly that there is no god who can save except the One. In this which was done, let it be a sign of his heroism, that there is no power of help among the gods except in him. In this, look, all the peoples and their gods, and see the error of their idols, how contemptible they are. Contemptible is every god who cannot save his worshipper, and more honorable than all is the one who shows his power in his servants. His servants are the sign of God who rules over all, and behold, the testimony of his divinity in the sons of his house. These things spoke the prudent youth, while not willing that he see that the power of the doer who had overcome him was diminished.

Great is the mockery that he poured from his mouth upon the servant, and he turned and blasphemed the idol of all peoples, though he did not wish it. In the land of Judah he shone and laughed at his lordship, and in his own land he repaid him the destruction worse than his own. In the place of his trust, he overthrew him and cast him from his trust, and showed him that the power of his help, in which he had trusted, was weak. He thought that by his might he would overcome his people, and he abolished their festivals, and he covered him in his own region with a victory that was not his. He raged when he uprooted the temple of holiness of his companions, and he made him wise by his deeds, so that he would not boast arrogantly. By his deeds he showed his arrogance wisely, so that he did not think that he was contending with his own folly. He added to his deeds the holiness of their sanctity as if to a tyrant, so that he might know how weak is the power in which he boasts. And soon his sign moved his heart to make an image, so that by the image he might conceal his shame before his fathers. Soon he commanded that the eloquent be summoned to the worship of sorcery, so that when they contended, they would know the greatness of his power. Soon he urged the slanderers to kindle the fire, so that when it was purified, it would proclaim his power in the houses of his household. By this sign, soon do not follow him from the beginning, so that there may be for him no covering of shame without profit. Not that I have done or am doing these things of which I have spoken, but that they have ceased and do not follow him from the beginning.

He was able to follow the shame of his name and the hunters of his house, and he was silent and quiet until the evil of evils was revealed. In the evil of evils, the great power of his lordship was displayed, which revealed to man the great wealth of the furnace of his spirit. In the furnace of his spirit, he made the idol of Abūkhar-Naṣar stumble, and when he saw that he had wronged the son contrary to order, he corrected him with order. Like a hunter, he stood over the sea of the furnace of his spirit, and gave him a hook as to a fish until he caught him. The hunting of his love took hold of the hand of the hunters of his house, and the fire changed the water of its surface over the Babylonians. With fire and water, divine hunters arose, and the craftsmen caught Babylon, the huntress of peoples. In the form of birds, they flew before the first of their battles, and when they saw that they had fallen into the midst of the snares, they were astounded and became silent. They were greatly troubled as they swam in the waves of foam, and when the sign went to dry land, their lives perished. They gave the fire the bodies of the speaking birds, and they wailed and cried out as they were consumed in the flame. With a loud voice, the Babylonian bird of dry land cried out, "Come, hunters, ascend from the sea of flame! Come, ascend, O men, hunters of men without hands, when you hunt your hunters with the fire of the mountain.

The peoples were amazed, amazed, and stood to see when the witnesses came forth free from within the fire. The crowds, crowds, all ranks of men and women arose to be baptized in the greatness of the power of the victorious fire. In the great wonder they were baptized in the hand of the flame, and it was true and not true to their minds. It was and was not, appearing to the hidden ones of the air, whether it was fire or a shadow that resembles a body. In the place of burning, the divided of heart were falling, and as in a dream they were marveling at the truth made manifest. In the truth, the chaste ones stood firm in the fire without burning, until they came forth; truth did not remain with the untrue. The true ones came forth when truth was truly confirmed, and they saw the fire, and the untrue were also confirmed. They came forth when they were whole in their limbs and in their garments, and no loss of a hair from their heads or from their sides. They came forth when the truth in them shone more than gold, and it illuminated the eyes of their beholders with its brightness. They came forth when the hidden side was revealed and the glory concealed, and they were praising the living name that glorified the fire. They came forth from the fire when they trampled it under their feet, and behold, the wonder without end passed over them like a thousand miles.

The witness was a witness in the mouth of the living creatures, who testified and said that the thought of the fire did not touch them. The sign that the earth-dwellers performed in the land was wondrous, and the mouth of the earth's sons is too small to say how great it is. Great is the victory of the sons of the captivity's endurance, and feeble is the tongue of flesh to describe their beauty. Only their Lord knows how to depict the image of their beauty and to expound upon the endurance of their sufferings. They became those who established the power of greatness in their tongues, and wrote in his books the day of victory on earth. As a demonstration, he fixed their victory in writings, that those who run the race of righteousness might look upon it. The youths cast down before their pursuers the toils of their labors, that they might live for the straight path of their conduct. For the sake of the profit of the deed, they went to the house of the Babylonians, that in their sufferings they might give taste to those who would come after them. Beautiful was the deed of the mother who was with them, and they became servants, that through their service they might show the glory of his heroism. Wisely she kept silent when they entered the furnace of the test, that through their testing she might show the zeal of Chaldeanism. Nationally she mounted the tale of their victory, that when it is expounded, everyone might learn to be victorious. Heroically she helped them in the contest of pains, that she might give hope to those who are tested in hardship.

The sign also of the herald who proclaimed his command to their pursuers, that the fire did not harm them, hastened to be received by the faithful. Righteous is his sign, and true his test, and wise his command, and the fire did not know how to come near the beautiful blossoms of his wisdom. He appointed for the people a chosen one for his name in the house of the Babylonians, and by his good deed he humbled the errors of Chaldeanism. Two abundant benefits were accomplished by his deeds, that through his people he taught the peoples of the Lord who is over all. To the people and the peoples his command made wise by the hand of the youth, that one became a child and one became a man, one in the hands of one. As with a rod, one was raised over his companion. And the herald made the people pass through the hands of the peoples, and the peoples through the people. Come, then, learn the power of his wisdom through his discipline, and justify for him the greatness of the glory that befits his name. Response: Glory to the power that empowered the martyrs, and they triumphed and were victorious in the furnace.