Memra 13: By the Same Author on the Ways of the Upright

Memra 13: By the Same Author on the Ways of the Upright Uprightness is in its own right straight and does not approach what is not its own. It demands what is its own with propriety, and does not take interest nor approach usury. It sets tables in righteousness and sacrifices and offers as is fitting before God. It does not lie nor borrow anything that is lacking to it, and demands only what it has given without deduction, even if it be a hundred years. And what it sows, it does not make for the destruction of man; and as the desire of man, it prepares for him everything whenever it is difficult. Thus it fills the needs of every man, as it reaches through its hands. And if a man oppresses it, it states its case before one and before two and even before three. And if it is not judged regarding its payment without interest, even then it states its case before the whole church. And if it is not judged before the church, it entrusts its case to God and leaves it to him, while speaking with him and not raging against him. It does not approach and revile him, nor does it accept a man who strikes it. Nor is it permitted to strike and curse, for it does not depart from the law. Nor is it permitted to hope that God will do evil to that man. For it says: "Do not rejoice at the downfall of your enemy, lest a second one come upon you." This commandment is spoken to one who has an enemy in enmity. But uprightness has no enemy; rather, if a man wishes to be an enemy to it in iniquity.

nor does any other name have authority to call a man foolish or stupid or senseless or mad; but if possible, it covers him with names of honor, and if not, it does not place names of insult upon him, but calls a man by his name. Uprightness honors the parents who bore it, and does not hear a harsh word from them; it honors the elders and asks after their peace; it honors the priests and listens to their words. It goes before them and gives its firstfruits to the priests of all its entrances and the heads of its possessions and the firstborn of whatever is small and brings into the house of the Lord, and does not delay in the service of the priests who bury its dead and tend its sick and teach and seek its life. And on the day of Sunday it places in the house of the Lord from its labors for the needy, because they are worthy of the house of the Lord. And during the seasons of fasting, whatever it saves for the house of the Lord it brings, and it is not permitted to go and pray at its time and see if there are needy there who are distressed, that it might receive a reward from the Lord. And it loves its friends, and does not hate its enemies. And if a man hates, it is much against itself, while it makes peace with him and with everyone. And if it does not speak good things about a man, neither does it speak evil things. And if it does not have love for a man, neither does it have enmity.

and if a man is oppressed and constrained and knows that he cannot repay, he gives him a gift as much as he can with his hands. And if a man’s thought is evil, she turns to herself and does not make him evil; and if she can, she does good to him. The evil report of a man she does not cast so as to make him evil. And among brothers she is peacemaking, and she honors the whole congregation of the Lord, and she distributes honor to every man as is fitting for him, and she honors the elders and the old women, and she is good to the deaconesses, and she is honored by them as is fitting for her. One woman takes without music and without words of reproach and without disturbance, and she worships the Lord and His Son and His Holy Spirit. She is not a prostitute, nor a drunkard, nor a boaster, nor a tyrant, but she is oppressed and she speaks righteousness. And she is not white in a man’s face with laughter, nor is she angry in the partnership of purity. And the woman pays the man her debt, and he pays her. And they reconcile everyone who quarrels and is a stranger in whatever can be reconciled. And they drink together, woman and man, or man and man, or woman and woman. And they clothe the naked, as the Lord said. And they open the door to strangers on the day of the bride and of the bridegroom, and they have pity on the poor as on themselves. And in short: as they wish that their fellow men would do to them, so they do to them. They know that they do not wish that a man should do evil to them, and they themselves do not do evil to others.

The stades of fasting belong to the afflicted; and the stades of the upright and their learning in them is the law of their Lord God, and that they performed in them alms. The end: a day in which they are idle from their works, or they pray and fast, or they perform alms; otherwise, what is the meaning of idle? And the hours of prayer belong to the afflicted, that they worship their Lord God three times a day: once in the morning, and in the evening, and at midnight, as it is written: that they rise and confess to you upon your righteous ones. Thus is affliction. And thus God commanded Adam on the day he left heaven and loved earth. The debt of affliction, however, does not cease; they desire that it has from a man: whether of food, or of drink, or of clothing; but to every man it gives simply, to the good and to the evil. And from evening it pastures with that which is angry with him, if the angry one is appeased; otherwise, he gives compensation to the shepherd, and seeks from his companion what he owes him, and does not delay it before the court. And if a man borrows from him and denies it, he takes what is his, and lets him go without injury. And if he has not, again without injury he lets him go and does not injure the man who sinned against him. And in need he does not swear over any free thing. And he does not lie, nor practice sorcery, nor divine, nor enchant, nor cast spells; and no amulets, nor charms, nor incantations, nor phylacteries does he make.

and a walk without fasting; and he performs alms from his own. And he does not cease and resemble a man who does iniquity and succeeds in his path. And in the half of his hours he is sanctified and is fair like your likeness, if he wishes: that from his own he is offered up, sanctified, and does not taste death. But this one, if he is stripped of all that is pure, he becomes like your likeness, when he takes up the cross. But he who pursues this affliction and that love, while he is in his house with his children and with his wife, is conducted in the ways of the first afflicted. And if he wishes to be perfect, he is stripped and sanctified and leaves everything and is bound to the Lord of heaven and becomes dead from the darkness of the world, and ascends to those great commandments and receives the Paraclete, and knows all truth, as the Lord reveals to him, and is quickly perfected and takes the cross. And if in that affliction and that love, while he is with his house, he departs from the world, and becomes a heir in affliction, he inherits a portion lower than that of the perfect. It is fitting for those who act thus and keep these commandments of affliction, while they are in taking and giving, when they have taken one wife as is fitting for affliction and for the ways of the world, while they labor for every man, as they wish that every man would labor for them in like manner with his hands. He who has a good word, let him give a good word to him who is distressed over him.

and he has patience and clothing; patience and clothing are given to him who is oppressed. And just as you wish that those who have no sin should not harm you, so do not harm those who have no sin. And as you desire that everyone should forgive you in word and deed, so forgive the foolish. Those who are thus are after the perfect. And if you wish to leave everything and become naked, you will quickly know all truth and be perfected. And if you depart from the world while you are still alive, after the perfect you are. Now the debt of perfection does not stand at all apart from his clothing and his patience of the day, and he does not care for anything that is from the earth, nor is he occupied with earthly matters, but he flees from everything that is on earth, and he has nothing from earthly matters, but he teaches and labors for every man with the word of truth and of verity, and he becomes a servant of everyone in debt. Now this one is a server and a teacher and a lover, and he honors everyone and prays for everyone. Thus he becomes a servant and looks to heaven with the Lord of the day all the time, and anything that is corporeal he cannot serve. He is not greatly constrained in his mind if he works in the passing world, but he is fixed on the cross, and all his limbs are bound from evil things and are loosed for the service of all spiritual goods. And his mind is bound to the Father in heaven, and at every hour and in every place he confesses and praises him.

and it is not permitted to the bond of perfection that he not love everyone and pray for everyone. Perfection of the apostles speaks thus: that they desire that the death and judgment of the Lord come upon the wicked and sinners, even in a short time, and their praise. Because the love of perfection is greater than that of purity: the perfect desired that the death and judgment of the Lord come upon sinners. Much more so when it is thus. This one knows, as it is written: that when he loves the Lord, he loves everyone more than himself. And he knows the truth according to the will of the Lord Jesus. The bond of the prophets, however: as the Lord spoke to him, he was guided, and as he commanded him, he walked. The bond of the apostles, however, commands him the Lord that he think of everyone as better than himself. The bond of the prophets, however, where the Lord spoke to him, he loved the one who loved, and where he commanded him, he hated the one who hated. The prophets desired, however, that all their haters be hated and be finished. And all of them received the Lord from perfection. In that he sent them to kill the wicked among his enemies through them. It is not permitted, however, to the bond of purity that he give to the good and withhold from the evil. But as God commanded him, that he love his neighbor as himself, that all are in living beings. Purity, however, which is perfected in its knowledge and its works firmly.

They are zealous for his ways, and they are diligent in the bond of perfection. And because of this, that one remains from perfection that it was not squandered and sanctified; and because it is by desire that it conceals and delights in corporeal things, it does not begin and delight in the joy of spiritual things, nor does it grow rich and shine, rejoice and delight, and be nourished and live spiritually in the holiness of the wisdom of God. And it is not permitted to the bond of humility that they call the wicked by small names, but rather they call the elders ‘my lord’ and ‘my lady’, and the old men ‘my father’ and ‘my mother’, and their companions ‘my brothers’ and ‘my sisters’, and the youths ‘my son’ and ‘my daughter’. And if thus they do not love that they call everyone and be humble, they call each one by his name, and they do not set for him good names, and they oppress him and sin. For it is evil that teaches the wicked to call each other by names. The end of Memra 13 on the ways of humility.