On the Divine Revelations to Abraham

On the Divine Revelations to Abraham First Memra Of the First Sunday of the Season of Lent On the Divine Revelations to Abraham. A Homily. I was watchful for the revelation to Mary, and for her hope: that from the radiance of the world, the living ones, the mysteries of the intellect, my intellect might turn to teaching and follow the path of knowledge of the books that open from it. In the study of the divine books, my intellect was occupied, and I loved the pure word of their meanings. In their meanings I was investigating, as it were, how much I was agitated, and I did not cease to seek in the depth of the mysteries that are in them. In the mystery of their words, my intellect was worn out by night and day, and I was wearied to know the power of their utterances. In this study, my intellect was occupied, grazing on words, and my evil satiety and my difficulty from it, while I myself did not graze. In subtlety, as in a garment, their thoughts were dyed, and they ascended, like warriors, and they strengthened my study. The snares of silence set for me the pains of my limbs, and the tremors ceased from the intellect that was occupied in it. The mystery of these things, my inquiry greatly exceeded the order, and as from a garment, it fled before the voice of teaching.

He called me to learning and awakened me from my slumber. And as if for a child, he urged me toward his service, until the time when the beloved of chastity would rest. Arise, listen to the voices of the books of the Spirit, which fill the sea. The great sea is filled with the revelations of the books of the Spirit, and Moses bears witness, who was the firstfruits of the beginning of revelations. He recounted how the creation was established in the beginning, and he examined for us the beginning and the course of generations. In his book we saw the path of the fullness of the discipline of humanity, and in the form of words, the generations of memories were arranged along it. Like a foundation, he set Adam as the head of humanity, and hand in hand until he reached Abraham. Twenty generations from Adam to Abram, and toward Abraham he changed the order of the discipline of his word. In Abram he ended the course of his words, though without ending, and began to reveal the generations of revelations that were toward him. The spirit of revelations revealed itself to him in a spiritual spirit, and revealed and examined the Creator and his ministers. Through Abraham, the lover of humanity completed his will, and confessed to him that through him the nations of the earth are blessed. The Father of nations, the Creator, called him the lover of his love, and set the confession of his faith before the visions. To his faith he gave the treasure of the confession of his words, that it might seek the path toward his being for all who believe.

In his faith he declared that he who knows God is complete, and righteousness from will was reckoned to him. His own will was a guide for the discipline of his labors. And he arrived and came to the kingdoms that are high from him. By means of the kingdoms he bound his beloved, the lover of the chaste, and he asked his beloved where and when his hunters would be. How shall I know that the perfections of your love are sufficient for me, and you have established me in the inheritance of the earth as was confessed? By means of a sacrifice the Lord showed his servant the sign of his love, and through the animals he revealed and demonstrated to him concerning the future. Take three animals, Abram, for the confirmation of my words: a three-year-old calf, a three-year-old ram, and a three-year-old goat. From the heifer take two for the kingdom, and in the doves and the son of a dove rest yourself. Divide the bodies and place the limbs one opposite the other, and in their division form a type of that which is future. Place the heifer undivided for the entrails, and in their completion extend your thought toward the end. By these the good Lord taught the small ones of his will, that he might become the one who extends the vision of his being toward the future. The righteous one hastened, obeyed his Lord, and prepared the sacrifices, and divided them into twelve parts. He placed the doves also and the son of a dove without division, and it was fitting that beneath the fire they should be and consume his sacrifices.

With vigilance he kept for himself the sacrifice of his Lord, and he did not allow a bird to eat from his sacrifices. All day he guarded his sacrifice from crows, and at sunset he prepared for the divine revelation. He saw the smoke rising from it, kindling the fire that made and consumed the portion of his offerings. A great wonder was wrought from the silence upon his thought, and he marveled at how the course of his sacrifice was ordered. The power of the Creator taught him to know the mystery of the revelations, so that he might know that the offering of those who saw was far off. Now that the order of the words of the scriptures is complete, the power of understanding hidden in the words is revealed and interpreted. The words I heard that Moses inscribed in the book of scripture, and the words are interwoven with words as in a web. The web of words was spread over them, words of spirit, and I sought to know what the cause was that they were hidden. Not their revelation made me seek, but the depth of them, that I might know and make known to the friends of the thoughts of the spiritual ones. Come, hearer, hear the meaning of the sacrifice of Abram, and see and marvel at how refined are the kinds of sacrifices. The slaughter of animals taught him to know the ordering of his seed, and through their ordering he showed the arrangement of the twelve tribes. His seed of the just one was divided into twelve tribes, and he sanctified its half by means of the division of the three animals.

Three generations he spent among the Chaldeans, and he toiled at the work of his weariness in silences. In his youth he kept for himself the fire of the servants, and because of this the command of the offering was entrusted to his sacrifice. With sacrifices he was prepared to honor the name of the Creator, and he made his sacrifice as a guide before the generations. In the name of the animals he spoke his words of necessity, and he established a pattern of beautiful visions for the thought of his Lord. The entire Mosaic order he established in his sacrifices, with sheep, ox, goat, and pure dove. From the animals he learned three secrets, and from the birds two, when they were completed in their names. With the reptiles on the earth he showed his toil among the Chaldeans, and with the birds he revealed that he would be delivered from servitude. By means of the goat he made for himself a dwelling of the wilderness, and with the dove a purification of the land of the Chaldeans. With the love of the desert he taught himself the desert outside the city. And with the dove he instructed himself in the conduct of peoples and cities. In this manner he did not distinguish between species when they were sacrificed, but he was clearly mingled with the peoples in desert and city. So Abraham kept the bodies from the birds, with the help of his Lord who was revealed over his generations. With the bird he showed the humility of the Egyptians, and he showed that the power of his help was stronger than the Egyptians.

That servitude of the house of the Egyptians he showed to him, and because of it he set his mind against his companion. And they were not sufficient to help the other in this labor; the Knower of All was being sought. And before his offering, the three generations of beasts were placed. At the end of the day, the sacrifice that is redeemed by it was shown to him, when they were released and freed from servitude. In acceptance of his sacrifice, the salvation of his seed was being sought, by that which consumed the fire for his sacrifices easily. By fire, the salvation of his seed was shown to him, pure and bright, so that every man would be freed from servitude. Two events befell him in the vision of the flame: the holes of his people and the hard bonds of the Egyptians. By the light of the fire, in acceptance of his sacrifices, he was being sought, and by the error in the strength of the confessors. Distinctly he was being sought without distinction, which was joyful and grievous to both sides. Easily it consumed for him the sacrifice of Abraham, passing from one to another like a distinction. And he, too, was amazed and astonished at this distinction, how it distinguishes and how it preserves the order of its consumption. Moses said that wonder fell upon Abraham, because his mind was led to look at the sparks.

Those far-off things that he saw through the revelation, and because of this he was astonished and marvelled. The voice of the revelation was making him wise to know that the vision was true and its interpretation far off. "You will know," his Lord was saying to his servant, "that the land of the Amorites will not be the place of your seed's sowing." "Four hundred years your seed will be a servant to servants, and from the servitude of the Chaldeans it will learn my lordship." "I, I have inscribed the name of servitude in the land of the Amorites, and I have set it as a yoke upon Shem, the son of freemen, upon Ham the servant." By that servitude of the Chaldeans, which is bitter for lowly Ham, by it I will afflict your seed, your own, as if without my labor. In this sign I have placed in the earth the name of servitude, to make known my lordship, that the Lord has servants and freemen. Upon Shem I have set the name of honour in the mouth of the righteous, and in Ham I have sealed the yoke of lordship for all that is made. Behold, I have shown you, Abraham, my beloved, the good path; walk rightly by means of the revelations toward the hidden things. Behold, I have shown you the servitude of your seed and the freedom of your seed, that after them you may learn the order of servants and freemen. By means of the sign he teaches him the two commandments, that he may know to keep the order between me and man.

In the bitterness of servitude he marvelled at the desire of his soul, that through labours he might seek the interpretations that would give him rest. Three generations he would make for the servant of servants, and from him would be loosed the yoke of his toil. With these words the Lord confirmed Abraham his servant, and the end and life of the revelations of the great one are from this. Great is the vision that is in one glance, better than words, just as the light of the sun is brighter than darkness. For words that are spoken are in the time of sacrifices, and are far removed from the deeds of the great mountain. In this revelation a clear vision was being disclosed, and a new proclamation concerning the virgin and the child was being hidden. At the time of noon this revelation was being disclosed, at the time when the light of the sun is very strong. With the eyes of the body he saw the vision of the sacrifice, while being enlightened by the Lord of light. Three forms of three men the righteous one saw, and they were walking towards the forms that were veiled. As if looking at men, Abraham looked at them, and he did not know that it was a vision without body. Without body is the nature of spirits, and without flesh; but when they are sent towards the earth, they show a body.

Not by truth did the body stand before change, but to show the likeness of the unmingled in the air. A great power stood in its creation from the hidden power, and in that power it shows the power of divinity. It moves its power with its signs as it wills, and more than all the powers of height it accomplishes this. The spirit rides while not riding in the spirit of revelation, and towards Abram it descends in the likenesses of bodily forms. He saw three men coming from the stillness to his way, and he rejoiced greatly and received them as men. With great love he went out to meet them according to their greatness, in the same manner as he used to receive guests in his dwelling. As he received guests, Abram received them, the righteous one, and then he perceived that they were not men but spirit. Spiritual ones put on a bodily form and went up towards the servant who hoped in them, a new hope. The Lord and his servants went up towards the servant who loved his Lord, and they were occupied with the likeness of servants and of service. The likeness of a servant who was destined to take all of God, and to precede the form of that which was destined through Abraham. From Abraham it was destined that man would become free, and that he would seek a way for that which was destined in this which he did.

The word was destined to beget the father of the people, and he called him by his name, the altar of God, the King and Lord. The manifest body was destined to make a sign of his love, and toward Abraham in that same glorious likeness. He knew his seed, Abraham, that he was to be tested, that he might cut off the cause of his nature by his entry. He was fitting that he might say, "How can a people become God?" and show this in the form of a body, a body that would rejoice Abraham. In the body of the people, Abraham saw God; it was not a body, but a likeness that resembles a body. It was not a body that the priest saw, as he saw, but a body that resembles a body, though there is no body. Even Abraham was divided in this wonder, whether it was a body that showed itself to him or not a body. His faith made the priest who was a priest, and he saw the hidden in the manifest body and believed that it was. He saw the three who were wrapped in one form, and he left the two and spoke with one as with a Lord. The Lord called the priest, the priest to the Lord, and he asked of him that he might enter toward him like his servant. Even the Creator heard his prayer as he permitted, and upon his servants he set a bodily pattern.

In the body of man he was destined to pasture all the people of his greatness, and he led with him two spirits toward his servant. That desire of paradise is now nullified, and he pastured for him the heavenly and earthly ones. All the people brought all with him to the house of Abraham, and he placed the sign of the mystery with his greatness. Heaven and earth were moved and called to the house of Abraham, to show them the greatness of his love toward man. The greatness of his love was revealed to the spirits and the corporeal ones, in that entry which he made upon the people, his servants, toward the son of his house. The boundary of the wall of the house of man was loosed in the house of man, and he called witnesses to the heavenly ones at the gate of man. At the gate of man, the friends of man also became, and they rejoiced that there was one equality for them and for man. One equality the creator passed to all the people, and he placed the sign of the mystery that Abraham would pass. That people of his own, toward his own, was hidden from all, and heaven and earth were amazed at the wonder concerning him. The speakers and the mute were astonished at the voice and the silence, when they saw that the foundation which was placed on the earth did not cease. O spiritual and corporeal foundation, which was placed in him, the Lord and his servants in one equality. O beginning which was established in the house of Abraham, and was consumed and not consumed by its consumers.

Oh, how great was that sign that the priest made, which sufficed for him to consume both the heavenly and the earthly. Heaven and earth were supported in him, in the house of the priest, God of all without limit and his own in the boundary. That sign which was in the height revealed itself to Abraham in those beginnings in which he was supported with the spirits. Through the son of Abraham he was restraining the desire of his love, and he revealed this in the great love that he might show to Abraham. His great love showed the priest when he went up toward him, and he became a type of the distant things in the near ones. At the end of the sacrifices he will be in love with all the people, and he will reveal this in his love for Abraham, the friend of love. The heaven of the two was made the house of the father of the peoples, and the earthly and the heavenly dwelt in it. A new thing that was not from silence was in the house of Abraham, and the spiritual ones were amazed at its great wonder. At the great wonder the forces of the height were amazed, that this which the hidden one did among the earthly ones was so great. And we have not seen this which happened from the day of creation, nor have we heard that there is one who would show it to his servants. Behold, a few thousands have passed until now, and we have not examined the hiddenness of the greatness of his love.

On account of man, he revealed his love, the lover of man, and better than any man he showed this to Abraham. Two spirits he chose from all for his service, and they went up toward Abram in the form of visible men. As men, Abraham received them, and to that visible form he apportioned honor. Milk, butter, cream, and curds he prepared and set, supposing that these dainties would please the guests of love. The Creator also, in love, accepted the desire of his love, for he knew that this would help the earth-dwellers. Oh, that power which heaven and earth cannot contain, that he might contain it, while it is not contained on account of man. For man went toward man whose name was Abraham, and he ate and drank, that which consumes food and drink. The word from him was destined to take one from among men and to accomplish through his hands that which is destined at the end of sacrifices. He rejoiced with his love, doing for that man, and he signed the signs for human things with his divinity. Through food and drink that man was served, and before he ate, he confirmed his corporeality through his food. In body and soul, the son of Abraham was established, and with his father, while the limbs of the guests were being turned.

Even Abraham was perplexed in his corporeality, whether that which he saw was a body or not a body. And he was pondering the matter of the vision, whether even spirits live by the consumption of food. Moreover, this too was considered by him as a human being, and because of his love he did this, though he did not do it. For he neither did it nor was it done, nor anything at all. But the coming of forms with bodies is from the types of corporeal images. He has no natural kinship with earthly beings, and he was not depicted nor is he depicted by the work of his hands. He has no limit that confines him within a boundary, for he is beyond all and outside all, and all is from him. Through love he reveals the hiddenness of his love to the lover of his love, so that he may cast a burden upon the mercy of his love for those who trust in him. In Abram he fixed the foundation of his love before the seers, so that they might see the hidden in the revealed, while not seeing. Through love Abraham also saw him, though he did not see him, and he bears witness to his voice, that a man does not see him and lives. Abram did not see the one hidden from all, but in the sons of Abraham they saw, so that you may not err and cause man to err through the cause of Abram. Abram is sorrowful, and truly true is his love, and he saw in truth the forms without substance.

he saw a vision without a body, which cannot be grasped, and he gazed without limit upon a likeness that cannot be imagined. This is the custom of God, that he acts thus: through those who are not worthy, the pure ones enter to see his divinity. In this likeness he was revealing himself to the ten generations, and in the tenth he cut off the bond and destroyed everything. From the time of Noah he began in the simplicity of the sons of men, and he increased and multiplied through ten generations until Abraham. In Abraham the ten pure generations of the sons of men were completed, and he began to show the mysteries of joy and peace. Through a joyful vision he revealed his will to the lover of his love, and he spoke gently with him according to his thought. Through the speech with him, the bonds of the covenant were dissolved, the command passed, the division of waters, and the division of speech. To him alone he gave the kingship of a kingdom that cannot be deceived, that through his seed the nations might pass to the worship of truth. In this thought, his lower parts entered into his presence, and while he did not enter, his nature entered into something without entering. The nature of his being is not limited by anything that is finite, since there is no limit to his eternity, which has no beginning. Without beginning and without end is his being, and his being, and however much one says, that which one says is limited is his word. Through his word, I also said that which I said, those things which I said, and my thought was not sufficient to grasp the limit of those things which I said.

I said that it is written concerning the Creator at the house of Abraham: it was not by measure that he was limited, but by a vision. In a vision of a man, Abram the man saw God, and received him in his house as a visible man. As a man, I said, he received him, not in his nature; by all means, the divinity that the eye might see. Not his nature did Abraham see in the vision that he saw, but the mystery that was speaking through the body that was from him. Through the body that was from him, he made known all that was with his knowledge, and before his hope, the good news of the fullness of life for a human. The life of a human was hidden from all in God the All, and it became revealed to the eye of all creatures through Abraham. The whole creation was being sought in the visions of Abraham, and it was not satiated to see the sight that cannot be seen. The eloquent and the deaf were marveling at the voice and the silence, what this is that has drawn the world to the house of Abram. The eloquent were marveling more at this wonder: that in the weak things, a beautiful vessel of revelations was being prepared. For him, the partner makes sweet all in the mystery of his revelation, in truth to guard the mystery that is between him and him. For it was a mystery that was hidden from all creatures, and he revealed it to the two natures, the eloquent, the wakeful, and the human.

To the two Watchers and one man, the man revealed his will. And he showed them how to go mysteriously, the mystery of his hiddenness. The mystery of his love was destined to be revealed through a man. And because of this, of the spirits and concerning Abraham, that entrance was a wonder and very wondrous. And it was manifest and not manifest to those who saw it. The spirits did not comprehend the power of its meaning, and Abraham did not know what it was or about what. By its vision alone they were occupied humanly, and to its meaning they were not sufficient to approach. The hidden will made wise them, the servants of the hidden one, so that they would not be troubled by the hidden inquiry of the incomprehensible one. By the power of his will they were occupied without satiety, and they did not cease from seeking the inquiry concerning him. The bonds of love constrained him, the one who was their father, that when he would give birth to a hidden sign, the power of his hiddenness. At the meaning of the words the Watchers and Abraham labored, and they hoped to see something according to their desire. By this desire both parties were troubled: what is this that he has set for himself while not setting, and entered into a vision of the unseeable into his house? How can he receive that he should establish all the foundations of beginning, when his substantial nature does not receive bodily things?

Behold, without fire he kindles with his power even the coals. And as her doing to this which she did, the whole wonder is she. The great wonder is full, the word that Moses spoke, that the Lord of creation was being nourished from his creatures. The unspeakable word, the word that the son of the Hebrews spoke, that the essence above all was supported on the earth with his companions. Abraham arranged open signs, not openly, and from what is not wonder that fire enters without wood. With sensations and movements they were being consumed, even the seers, and when they saw they did not see truly. Not in truth was that which happened in the house of Abraham, but in a mystery that cannot be spoken by speakers. The unspeakable nature of essence from speakers, it is not that which was spoken as it was spoken. For they were words without wood that Moses wrote, and they were composed and not composed corporeally. It was not a body that Abraham stretched out with fire and drink, but a vision that was being depicted without a body. It was not a flesh that united bodily hands, but a spirit that cut off his power from spirits. It was not that with sensations the morsels of food were being swallowed, but in the air the dense fire was being dissolved.

It was a divine power that performed these [things], that which easily, without fire, kindles and forms everything. To Abram he showed in the things that were done in the house of Abram, that he might destroy his enemies, his word being entrusted to the deeds. The salvation of the peoples was entrusted to his hand, and he showed him how much fire suffices to see. The deed was not sufficient to see its perfection, and because of this he set up images before his fathers. The images that Abram saw with the eyes of the body were not true images, but a likeness. For a likeness was everything that happened in that revelation: the vision of fire, the speech of fire, and the consumption of fire. It was God who performed this wisely, as his power is accustomed to act throughout all generations. The creation of the Son came to act through Abraham, and showed him its love in that form in which it showed itself to Adam. The great love showed itself to Adam in Paradise, and its love was lost through sin, and he and his children became guilty. The sin of Adam came to be atoned in the house of Abraham, and put on the likeness of that form of the place that had passed. The command of the one who was to be abolished passed through that food, and death began to be abolished in the womb of Isaac.

Two died after him by the eating of the fruit, Eve and Adam. And two saw the revelation, Sarah and Abram. For Sarah and Abram were dead in the sterility of the body, like that death of Eve and Adam by the eating of the fruit. The good news of the salvation of all heard Abraham in that daughter of a voice which was to bear for Sarah, your wife. That daughter of a voice which called to Adam, "You will be dust," called to Abram, "Behold, the deadness of your body is warmed." The whole Adamite race lives in Abraham, by whose seed the peoples will be saved toward the Creator. The salvation of the peoples was being prepared in the vision of Abram, and the great feast of the house of the Creator and of his mysteries. The great feast filled the house of the Father of all, and the heavens and the earth were rejoicing on the day of its beginning. The Lord of creation was seated at the head of his hosts, and the heights of the firmament were rejoicing together with the earth. Every people was being delighted in the festival of love, and the natures made for the name of the Maker were praising. "Glorious is the Creator," the spirits cried out in the house of Abraham, to show his love and to feast with him and to lodge with all. Worthy of glory is he who causes the worlds to recline at his table, to bring himself and to press with them upon the table. To him the heavens and the earth owe one thanksgiving, to interpret with them the voices of the feast without their seeking.

Oh how great is the new thing that the Lord of creation wrought, that while He is in all, He confined Himself to one place. Oh that power that holds all by the sign of His might, that He might show Himself like a suppliant before His own command. That treasure that begets worlds from His gift, from which the righteous one begged from His household like a wanderer. The righteous one of love, Abram, offered to set all in order, and His reward, the son who gives life to man, repaid him. The life of man was hidden in Isaac, the son of Abram, and was passed from one to another like a race. From generation to generation, Abram handed on the race, until it reached the generation of the beginning of life itself. The beginning of life was to be shown from our humanity, and it preceded its end by means of a revelation that was to appear to Abram. This is the cause of the entire narrative that has been recounted to us, and in it are bound the first and last things. This is the boundary within which worlds and generations are confined, and within it is contained the chariot of height and depth. Paul witnesses that in the mystery all things are contained, and that mystery is bounded by Christ, who confines all. It was Christ who was spoken of in the house of Abraham, and in the mystery of His sign the Lord was confined with His creatures. For this sign that was to be in the end with one of mankind, for it He first prepared in that vision in the house of Abraham.

That joy, not mortal, which is in the height, the Lord and his servants made in the house of the earth. In the fullness of the hour, the hidden one dwells with all. And he gave the breadth of that which is future in this which was. Behold, all of them from the Lord of all through Abraham come to be inquired of anew in the cause in which they are. Behold, he marked a way, a hidden sign, to show his promise; come, be wise to keep the order of the mysteries. Behold, he revealed and showed the greatness of his love through a man; come, hasten to bind a debt to his will. Behold, he wished and called to be delighted in his praises, and gave us a pattern in the food that he ate in the house of Abraham. A corporeal food did Abraham set for the incorporeal one, and said that he ate, but he did not eat because of his love. For he did not eat, but the eloquent and the silent testify to us in that which they interpret, that the hidden one, who has no body, purified. Not to his own purity did he reveal in the revelation to his servant; he made his servant wise, that he might live for the thought of his love. The good lover called Abraham because of his love, and taught him to keep the order of love toward his Creator. In many things he called him righteous, though he knew him, that the generations to come might know the smallness of his calling. He begot a son and gave a son and confirmed his words, and sought and desired that he be a sacrifice to the scent of his will.

The sacrifice of my will, which Abraham my beloved offered to me, I accepted in the sacrifice of your blessing, because you loved me. Through the mystery I learned your love, that you are a good lover, and I give you the joy of your good loves more than your own self. The food of your good love pleased me greatly more than anything, more than the mystery of that beginning which is within your house. In that revelation you revealed my sweetness to the spirits, and now between me and you I desire to spread my will. A great mystery is hidden in me from my divinity, and I am preparing to reveal it now between me and your love. Something was set for me from the beginning without beginning, and I hasten to show it to you as to a lover. A new creation prepares my thought to create in the sign, and I call you to partnership with its ordinance. Through a human being I accomplish the concealment of my will, and I make him a mediator between me and humanity. Through his mediation I show my love to all creatures, as it lives in that ordinance of beginning and end. In the image of humanity I revealed my concealment in the beginning of creation, that I am and there are three hypostases in one nature. In this nature which is not divided from the substance, in it the image of humanity is fixed when it is established. Because of it I created everything hidden and revealed, and I set it as a type over the ordinances.

In it now I renew the creation that had grown old through mortality. Death destroyed the beauty of my image through the cause of man, and through man I renew all with man. I accomplish the renewal of the remnants for this one of whom I spoke, that the deficiency of my completeness may not be hindered by the error of Adam. Through Adam I show him the authority of my lordship, and through the guilty one I make him know how much they are humbled. Through death I condemned Adam, a likeness that veiled my covering, and through death I loosed the bond of death. Sin made death lord over the dying, and through mortality I hide her from the dying. Through the counsel of the Evil One, sin and death seized authority, and it was not fitting for me that they should be servants of those who would later be my servants. All that exist, both rational and silent, are mine, and I do not rest from the image that my hands have made. Since I created nothing from nothing, everything is like me, and now through something I renew it so that it will not perish again. Through man I sealed that image that was from the beginning, and through man I renew all with man. From you, Abraham, I choose this man because of the love that you showed toward me from among all who existed.

To you, O reader, the father of humanity who was and will be, in place of my beloved and the error of the whole Chaldean way. Blessed is the doer, the Lord and King, over the ordinances of knowledge, all that is true and chosen, the name I set for you. Father of peoples, I called you Abram in the land of the Chaldeans, and I seal your name with deeds through the one born from you. Through the one born from you, I complete my entire will, and like a foundation, I establish in him the rational and the silent. I make your offspring Abram a temple of my kingdom, and through him I receive the worship of love from all creation. Through him, creation that I made from nothing worships me, and I give him the weighty name of the name of my divinity. These things the voice spoke with Abraham, not in revelation but in a mystery that cannot be spoken. The hidden mystery cannot be spoken by the mouth of speakers, and when the difficulties were good, the voice spoke with Abraham. With Abraham, the hidden one spoke the unspeakable, and taught him the order to offer the sacrifice of his son. The sacrifice of love I seek from you, my beloved; offer them to me so that the order of love may follow. The heir of the age, I am ready to receive from his offspring who prepared the way through the sacrifice of the mystery for that of truth. I know the seed from you, that it is the one who will be offered, and it will be offered through me when I complete my will through your son.

In a sacrifice without blood, I cover her with her own shame. Without being troubled, what is the sacrifice of truth that is used? For I bring you your son Isaac, whom you love, and make him for me a cause on the mountain that I will tell you. O voice, how beloved it was and how difficult it was, and it was spoken and not spoken, as it is. Beloved it was in love according to the divine command, and difficult it was, good for the weakness of the human clay. To the clay-like weak one, the Lord of the clay gives strength, so that he may show that he can bear his clay by the mercy of his Lord. The furnace of testing made Abram the lord of Abraham, and in him the weakness of the human clay was tested and the power of strength was established. Great strength established the thought of the son of mortals, and when he was struck, he was in his thought immortal. O the mortality that the nature of his mortality lost, and his will trampled upon the hard bonds of mortality. O the sufferer who, when his pains were kindled under his thought, he ran and entered the stadium of his suffering. O the one who mounted it like a charioteer, and he ran and subdued the pains of his body and the tremors of his soul. O the thought that, when it was kindled in all its labors, it cast off from itself the weight of its pains as if it were not kindled. O how much the maker commanded him in the standing of silence, and he was still and silent from the discipline of the agitated course.

I will not bring his thought to a halt by the blood of the sacrifice. What is this new thing that in my request God stops? I will not cause his limbs to tremble, nor his thoughts to be disturbed, when a man offers a man as a sacrifice to the hidden one. The hidden power strengthens his heart, which was firm, and he is not troubled by the pains of body and soul. The sweetness of the love of his Lord's mercy strengthens his spirit, and he rejoices to go to the place of the mingled ones, where the mysteries are. O Abraham, good lover of faith, you have erred from the paths of nature that stand firm. Fair then is your choice, that which chose you from all peoples, and made you head over all who are like you in the mercy of your love. By the mercy of his Lord, the ardent one completes his Lord's will, and leads his son to go to the place that was shown to him. In a distant place, the voice of the sacrifice commands him to make his sacrifice a spectacle for the eyes of earth and heaven. For the eyes of all creatures, he would show his own humility, how much he endured and was not troubled by the labor of his journey. Three days he traveled, while silent from speech, and did not reveal the mystery of his Lord's will to the members of his household. From every human being he concealed the mystery that he had made with his Lord, and not even to Sarah did he reveal the answer of his thoughts. He concealed from his Lord the mysteries of his Lord, so that the truth of his love for the Lord who chose him might be true.

His command was weightier to him than anything, and according to his will he made his own will conform to his will. In that will the movements of his soul were bound, and he was able to see what would be at the end of his path. The preparation of the journey of three days was completed, and he raised his eyes and saw the place and rejoiced at its prospect. With the eyes of the body he showed him the place of the sacrifice of his son, and with the spiritual sight he revealed to him the type of that which was to come. The sacrifice of truth was destined to take place in the place of the mystery, and he showed him the place where the mystery would be completed for the truth. In this place the sacrifice of the Messiah was destined to take place, and he preceded and sanctified it with the sacrifice of the mystery before the events. For the mystery was the sacrifice of that Isaac who was the Messiah, and it was fitting that the sacrifice should be like the sacrifice. The power of the Creator made his will like her love, so that the hearers would not be divided in words over the events. With this intention the preparation of the three days was made, that it might witness sacrifice to sacrifice and type to truth. Abraham also saw this thought in his mind, and he set his soul in the place of the sacrifice to show his Lord. In the place of the sacrifice he completed his will and the will of his Lord, and he sought the altar and arranged the wood and bound his son.

He drew back the knife, and with the knife he drew back his will, and all the voice of the angel ceased from his beloved. "Abram, Abram," the Spirit called to the bodily one, "Drop your hand and cease from the slaughter of the idol of your son. Cease from the sacrifice of human blood that you sought from him, and bring near to me a silent offering instead of a speaker. Man does not desire human blood in this sacrifice; rather, a lamb suffices, whose blood writes the bond of the guilty. The debt of man is not paid by human blood until a complete man comes from humanity. Man knows the sacrifice that reaches completion, and it is not hidden from me when man redeems man. The redemption of man was revealed to you, Abraham, through the cause of the sacrifice, so that each may know to keep the sacrifice of the redemption of man. The path I set in this matter for you leads to that rich one, by which man may reach the appointment of the hope that abolishes death. For this reason I mounted the heights and sought a sacrifice to reveal to man the hiddenness of my will toward man. In you, Abraham, I revealed to the servants my will over all. Hear, be wise, and make man wise through your wisdom. Do not, however, think that I rejected your sacrifice as incomplete; behold, I have given you to fulfill my will through the sacrifice of a lamb. A silent lamb I give you instead of a speaker, and through silence I teach you the mysteries of sacrifices.

Three sacrifices I require of you, that you may offer to me: two words and one testament, a type and truth. By the type I received the death of Isaac in place of the truth, and in exchange for Isaac, what is the silent lamb of the quiet one? Behold, I have consecrated you to preserve the ordinance of the completion of the sacrifices. Fulfill your will with the sacrifice of the offering and seal the offering. By a revelation of the Spirit, he hinted to him to look at the top of the thicket, and he saw from the silence the lamb that was hung on a tall tree. And in the wonder that was happening to Abram, the likenesses of his images were like the images of all. All the flocks in the land were pastured by shepherds, but Abram's flock was being suspended at the top of the thicket. At the top of the thicket was hung the lamb that was shown to him, and in place of thorns, branches of wood were piercing his body. The tall one had mounted the type of truth in the likeness of truth, and was entirely resembling it as if to death. The death of the wood was destined to become the abode of death, and the lamb was hung at the top of the thicket to proclaim its death. And if not, what cause would the lamb have on the wood, and the hanging of the son apart from the ordinance of the silent ones? The silent ones who do not remain on the earth are accustomed to being overturned, and what is this that he alone hung on the wood?

that he did not bind his son to the wood. This is manifest: and afterwards he bound him and hung him up, a type not true. The truth bears witness and is not false: the truth of it is that the hidden symbol was hung on the tree in the mystery of truth. The mystery of our Saviour will show us beforehand: he will show us the lover of our race, that what saves us, do not wonder that it saves us as it does. By the death of Isaac the sons of Adam were to be saved, and before his sacrifice he prepared the mystery of our salvation by the death of the lamb. The lamb was called also John the Baptist for the Saviour of our race, by that which was destined to save our life through the sacrifice of his death. From the sheep was the lamb that would save the life of Isaac, and from the man was the man who would save the man by his death. The way of his death of the silent ram that would redeem Isaac, and this is what he said: that Abraham would see me and rejoice on the day of my death. The day of his death Abraham saw, not that he saw, but that he saw by means of revelations the day of his death. His death was hidden by the death of the lamb that Abraham sacrificed, and by the redemption of his sacrifice the life of every man. And if a man says that these are merely words, the discourse I have spoken, let him say something from himself and I will receive. Show me the power of the meaning of his words from what is written, and I will submit to him who is better than me, as to a fool.

not a man, foolishly, of the Scriptures, nor from my thought did I depart from the sense and power that are in them. It is to him, the interpreter of the Scriptures, that I showed my thoughts, and from their reading I learned to speak concerning their meaning. Not by a type that is not true did I confirm my words, but by the mysteries of life I greatly adhered to the manifest truth. Truth bears witness that my word did not deviate from the side of truth, and I did not exchange its veracity for words of falsehood. From the truth I learned to speak the utterance concerning him, and as to a master I gave my thought to his discipleship. I am a disciple of the books of the Spirit which the Spirit wrote, and it is certain to me that my thought did not stray from the Scriptures. Upon the trusts of the power that is in them I pursued after them, and by their aids I established aids for speaking words. Words that are in them became for me a meditation throughout all my life, and I am not weary of ceasing and resting from their study. By means of exercise I established the exercise of the meditation that is in them, how much more the study of the words of their interpretations. A good fullness I took from them, that I might trade with it, and I do not cease from being one who repays the favor even with words. With words I am eager to repay the favor to the wise, lest I be guilty like one who lies and oppresses. I am guilty and do not deny the debt of my faults, and I strive to repay words in exchange for deeds.

The words of the Scriptures I saw that they labor in their readings, and I sought to know what is the cause of this labor. My desire desired that I might ascend with them in the labor of their reading and learn the good power of the sense that is within them. The power of their sense drew me that I might be a son of their interpretation and spend my life in the good meditation that gives life. The power of the spirit interprets them through the mouth of flesh, that they might be meditations of fleshly ones in spiritual things. This meditation drew me, and I cast down weak thoughts, and I set my mind on words full of the meditation of words. In the book of Moses I saw that the old man was this interpretation, and he was casting down to the ground in it that he might again sow in it. The story of the just was placed within it as in a treasure, and better than all the old man was the story of the story of Abraham. The story of Abraham was to me the desire of this story, and from his history I cried out a petition to seek the hidden things. Upon the hidden things was my mind set to follow after what is the cause of the hidden words from the speakers. Why are they not revealed like the revelation of the power that is in them, that the understanding might run to reveal to us what is not revealed? If the power of their sense were night like their reading, it would be easy for everyone to comprehend the meditation of the excellent things.

The one who knows all the work of the one who does it conceals the power of the words of the Spirit without understanding. He makes the burden heavy and casts it before the learners, so that their bodily eyes may not be dazzled by its revelation. He hides the vision from bodily eyes as much as is revealed, and he makes heavy and beloved all that is hidden from the beholders. This is the cause of the concealment of spiritual words, and in their concealment the power of interpretation enters. The power of the Spirit interprets in the mouths of the bodily ones, and because of this it is not easy for the hearing to grasp their meaning. It is very difficult for the bodily tongue to speak of the Spirit, just as the nature of mortals is to know the immortal. The immortal was not destined to become the nature of mortals, and he chose Abraham from among the fathers and made him the head of a new life. Through the son of Abraham the whole people was renewed, and in Abraham the sign of what would be in his son was formed. In this way even Abraham was troubled, that he might see in his son the vision of the renewal of humanity. Abraham saw the renewal of humanity in the sacrifice of his son, who died while not dying, and it became a sign of death and life. He was considered dead by the reckoning of his father's body, and alive in the mystery from the will of God the All. It pleased God the All, and he desired that the sacrifice be, so that he might receive his being sacrificed as it was.

Not by the letters does the one who knows all do this deed. The sacrifice, the offering, and the lamb, and he said, "I do not wish." Not the secret of the love of Abraham did he learn as it is written, nor did he seek his ascent to fulfill the request of the sacrifice. He knew Abraham and everything before everything, and there is nothing among the deeds that were and will be that he does not know. They were made known to him by the deeds that he did within from his limit, and he within from all and outside from all without limit. Not like a shepherd does he think, a simpleton, that when he did not know, he commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son. Not he taught him the love of the knife for the sake of the sword, to a man he taught that the point of the love of blood resembles Abraham. To a man he ministered all that he performed toward Abraham, and because of a man he chose him from among men and called him his friend. To a man he revealed the mystery of the renewal that will be at the end, that the sheep would graze in that which is prepared, which will be at some time. That which is prepared he revealed in the death of the son of Abraham, that through the death of one human being, a man would live. After two deaths a man dies, and after two he lives: one by a sacramental baptism and one by the truth. Sacramentally Isaac died and lived by a mystery, and became for us the death of baptism and the life of its water.

The death of truth died the Savior on the summit of Golgotha, and the life of truth lived in verity and revived all. He died, therefore, mystically and truthfully, and the future of the living one who does not corrupt the life of truth. The Messiah did not rise from among the dead, and again he will not die. Rather, he rose with his whole nature together with his kind. One nature, Adamite, with everything that belongs to Adam, and that which was before him from the beginning, rose with him in its entirety. He ascended with him to where the ram ascended, says Paul, and if it is true, the whole nature ascends there. The human being was not old who was crucified with him; behold, he died with him and lived with him and reigned with him. With him in death and with him in life and with him in glory, and from now on who can separate us from his kind? If God is on our behalf as it is written, what need is there for us to seek the salvation of our lives? That Creator saw in his nature his beloved Abram, that through him the peoples would be blessed in his name over them. Behold, he completed his words to Abram in deeds, and they were a sign in the sons of Abraham as he confessed. In this hope all the peoples were bound, and they waited until when it would be in the sons of Abraham. In the sons they were suspended in the lineage of Abraham, and they did not wish that the peoples would be brothers to his seed.

To the conclusion of this vision, the seer of all saw, and he arranged the matter by the transformation of the name of Abram. Abram was the father of a single people, and after a time he called him Abraham, the father of many peoples. His first name was small and lowly for him, his father, and because of this he changed his name to that of his mind. In the name of the Creator he called him, the Creator, to the son of the Chaldeans, in that it was destined that his seed be raised to the height of his name. A weighty name he gave to the son of Abraham, and he honored the name of Abraham with that name which was destined. Because the birth honored Abram, the lord of Abram, who knew that the blessings were not his own. The peoples of the earth were not blessed in him and in his descendants, until one from his seed blessed humanity. One from his seed became the beginning of the chosen one from all, and he offered himself as a pure sacrifice and shepherded all. To all the people, the son of Abraham shepherded by his death, and the foundation of a mind that does not change stood with those who passed away. By his death he completed the deficiency of the members of his body, and because of this he increased beyond all and all bowed to him. The prostration of all he receives from all with the Creator, and this is the wonder that all bowed to him with essence. A new full wonder that was among the earths, whose nature was to be in conflict with essence.

Behold, the covenant of a high rank with his servants. He came to repay the favor to the one who raised him. Behold, from him a victor who conquers and is victorious. He sought from him to help him in the contest of sufferings. Behold, you are saved by the death of truth of one of the nations. No longer will you sin in transgression after the vision. Behold, you are sprinkled with the pure blood of our humanity. You will not be sold into the evil servitude of Gehenna from it. Behold, desire and receive, O God, each one from all. No longer will you be terrified by the disturbances of the fleshly senses. Behold, you have received the new gospel of life from the dead. Live in your midst for that covenant that is indestructible. Behold, the straight path to the height above has been shown. Seek the wings of flight by your conduct. Behold, you have prepared for the divine king a feast. Prepare the tables of the mouth for the name of that banquet. Behold, you have established among the heirs of the inheritance of all. Bind love with the love of the name of the head of your inheritance. Behold, ascend and reign above the rulers and governors. Rejoice and exult that you have gained a nature above all. Behold, the covenant is praised, the one that is spread with his side. Cast the hand in confession of yourself if it is praised. Behold, the voices that were against your covenant have ceased. That you may be an image of worship with your Creator.

Behold, the heavens and the earth worship that man. He came to repay the favor to the one who raised him above all. Trust the heart and confess with the mouth without dispute, that the hidden will has clothed itself in your likeness and renewed you in a son. With the spirit and the body, sing praise with your whole being to the one who has made you worthy to praise the name of his greatness. With these words, the servant of the hidden will, which has no satiety, and he gave no place to the inclination to flee in vain. Vain is the lowly thought of earthly degrees, which does not become agitated so as not to be condemned with the guilty. He passed the night of bodily degrees, and the light of the conduct of immortal life shone forth. As with a light, he shows himself to the seeing eye, and confesses with them to the one by whose light they have seen the light. It is the great light of the fear of the Lord, which shone on the earth and pursued the errors of idolatry from the earth-dwellers. Come, earth-dwellers, look and be amazed at the fear of truth, that his light is brighter than the light that shines on the earth. The Lord also called his proclamation a light and a fire, and by it the earthly and heavenly were illuminated. Behold, the world shines with the great light of the name of the Creator; it abides in his light and is not extinguished in the darkness outside.