On John the Baptist

On John the Baptist — Narsai A Memrā: On Mar John the Baptist. His own, when his own is the memrā of the sixth [hour?] of Mar John the Baptist. A Homily. Glory to that one who revealed the mystery of his will to the beloved of his will, until the victor and the one victorious should conquer and go forth. By the work of the hidden mysteries they were being spread, until truth should come to light and he should go forth and rest. By the meditation of hope upon that hope they were being meditated, until his senses perceived with manifest perceptions and they were revealed. In every form they were being adorned for that one, until it became and the course of their assemblies was completed. From one to another they passed on the hope of their kingdoms, until one revelation set a limit upon one priest. One revelation set a limit upon his revelations, and a voice testified that the voice of their revelations was silenced. After the voice, he named this one with a glorious voice, so that in John the revelations of priesthood were completed. The Law and the mysteries of priesthood through John received the completion of their perfection. His birth put an end to the course of mysteries and wonders, and revealed and examined the perfect spiritual mystery. Through the birth of the priest, grace manifested the power of his goodness, and taught the way of pursuing the signs toward the promise of life. Like a guide, he was the one who crossed over the barrenness of the signs, and they began to produce fruits of glory for the sake of the Creator.

The Spirit of revelation revealed to his father the hidden mysteries, and he confessed and said, "Blessed is the Creator who wrought with him." The Spirit made wise the radiant priest, the son of the Hebrews, and revealed and showed that the time of the salvation of man had drawn near. At the cry of his mother for the salvation of men, which was entrusted to him, by which the unclean demons who denied his begetting are rebuked. By the cause of his birth he revealed to us the mystery of the dissolution of life. [He...] revealed to us the mystery of the salvation of life through the Lord of all. And he named his son "Salvation," a savior of the guilty. The name "John" is the name of salvation that saves men, and his embassy is a seal, an image of the King of kings. Like an ambassador, the herald went forth before the one who was to come, and showed his fear to the listeners and not to the shepherds. Outside the order, he journeyed on the path of heraldry, and while he was yet a child, he began in the labors of perfection. Or like the perfect one who, while not yet perfect in the senses of the body, the Spirit perfected him for the embassy before the king. Or like the untamed one who, while not yet tamed by the light of the Scriptures, made wise that one to the wise and to the scribes. Or like the one who was a measure of the unjust to the ignorant, who bent the taste of the understanding of existence to all measures. Or John, who was chaste in a chastity that was not chastity, for he, in his chastity, proclaims a chastity without marriage. Without marriage, he was chaste from the place where his embassy came, and without order, he revealed the order in the womb of his mother.

In the womb of your mother, I saw the mother of the King of kings, and I revealed to your mother that she would bear the mother of lords. Your mother called Mary the mother of the Lord, and she repaid grace in her, for the hidden mystery was concealed from her. O the wonder that was being accomplished in the wombs of the barren, that they were destined to repay grace to those who had none. What from eternity saw wombs that were not customary, that were being filled with the fatherhood of their sons? When one was found beneath the river of two hidden ones, who ceased from the son of the custom that rules over women. The river of them was speaking among the Hebrews, and they were amazed at the new wombs that were not customary. Without expectation, the womb of the mother of the servant and the mother of the Lord, one in pregnancy and one in conception without union. Here was fulfilled what was written about Abraham, that hope without hope was hoping in the sons of Abraham. The good hope called out to the barren one in a birth without hope, and her time made hope flourish for the one without hope. John the Baptist carried the good news on the tip of his tongue, and he called to the people who [...] "Arise, be encouraged, and receive the good news." To the one without hope, he was proclaiming the good news of life, and he was interpreting the hidden good things that they did not see. O John, beautiful in limbs and perfect in stature, who was a voice to show the people and the heavens.

Woe to you, O man, who, while not yet perfected in the order of men, were a messenger from God to your mother. Woe to me, how amazed I am at the story of the account of the Word concerning you, and I do not know how to narrate the glories of your praises. The glories of your ways I desired to set before the hearers, and my mind is too short, for blood does not suffice for the order of your account. It is a great folly to narrate the glories of your history, and it is a rashness to ascend to the height of your account. Your account is greater than all accounts of those in the flesh, and high is your rank above that of the children of men. There are no works that can depict your likeness as you are, except one who would proclaim your wonder before the many. Before the many you revealed the mystery of the salvation of man, and as to a type you formed the sign of his sacrifice. To the desert your spirit led you, a revelation upon this account, and I wished to know what was the cause that sent you to the desert. In the midst of your labors I heard that the account concerning you was hidden, and my mind snatched me to contemplate the beauty of your excellences. I saw the image of your ways as they traced the paths of the wilderness, and I gave my contemplation to be consumed in the beauty of your toils. With toilsome labors your spirit flew to be led, and while you were mortal you formed the forms of death for the immortals. The power of the spirit was for you great and wondrous, and it taught you a rank greater than the order of the ordered ones.

To the spiritual school you were a disciple, and she gave you the high rank of teaching. Come, hearers, hear the wonder concerning John, who was nurtured without the nurture of nurses. Woe to man, woe to man, who from childhood changed customs and orders, and he was a light that has no man, everything. Better than all was perfected the order of a great one in the desert, and also the desert at the wonder of him was amazed. In great wonder he dwelt in the desert without habitation. And like a wild ass he was astonished in the thicket of his thicket. O John, who inhabits the desert, not a wild ass, and he changed and inhabited the wildness of the solitude that was. To the desert that was not inhabited he made a dwelling of men, and he cut off from the good things of the mercy of truth. A forest of iniquity and thorns of wickedness filled men, and the life of man was choked and no man perceived. Nature was disturbed and the law of the spirit was overthrown, and pains and savage demons were pressing him. The voice of John struck the world in the hollow of the two, and instead of seed he sowed in it the hope of forgiveness of iniquity. The iniquitous, the excellent, the race of Adam died, and he turned from iniquity as from a garment with a voice of forgiveness. The voice of forgiveness the guilty heard among the guilty, and they arose to tear up the writ of debts that they owed in sin.

The writing of sins and Adam was after the regions, and his teachers raised him by the hand of the school of the intoxicated. In the beginnings, the race of man was turned until they heard the voice of John and were subdued. In this, his choice was that which chose him for his mission, that he might be a herald of the truth of the worlds, the evil one of the demon. In this opportunity, his teacher raised him in the desert apart from man, that he might know the division of men concerning the Messiah. In a motherly manner, she nourished this one who knows all, that by his hand he might bring his servants to the Lord. The evil one of the demon set a divine sign, that he might live before him in the movements of the soul and the senses of the body. He clothed the whole of him in the spirit, a weapon of the spirit, so that not one of the arrows of the slanderer might wound him. The slanderer was prepared to contend with his thoughts, and he saw in him in spirit like a warrior with weapons. In a manly manner, he gave himself to the contest until death, his soul strong in the arena of opposition. In his strength, the peaks of Rome were astonished, how much he endured and was not broken in the struggle of his labors. In his courage, the evil demons were astonished, how he dared against the power that was in the weakness of his body. After two harsh arenas, he cast down with castings the battle of the demons, the wild beasts, and the pains of his body.

Demons were utterly confounded, for they were unable to seize him. And the passions of the soul were bound by the fetters of the senses. By the power of the spirit he was strengthened in his body and his soul, and through him he restrained his senses and evil impulse. Nature followed him in silence, and the demons, utterly confounded, set snares for him. Two opposing forces were contending with his freedom, yet he alone did not yield from the contest. He labored with toils in his body and soul, and behold, the wonder: he toiled, was worn down, drew near, and conquered. His body was thinner and more reduced than usual, and the conduct of his life was higher and more elevated than bodies. He was sustained by wild herbs and the honey of the field, and he preserved the power of the spirit by scanty food. The power of his strength, which the great Moses received through severe fasting, he established in himself as a restraint of the soul before the passions. That command which gave Elijah strength through food, that same strengthened him to bear the sufferings of the senses. For forty days Elijah pursued a scanty diet; John, however, spent thirty years on little food. For thirty years the righteous one pursued a path to non-existence, and when he came, the path was to him as if without difficulty. Woe to the man who pursues a path full of thorns, that the evil thorns of the path may not disturb you.

He was a furnace that was kindled with the love of his Lord, and the coals of his zeal for his Lord did not burn him. He was a fire that blazed with the flame of toils, and his flame did not cease by night or day for thirty years. He was an athlete who wrestled with the bodiless ones, and the spiritual claws did not cut through the covering of his body. He was a zealot who had no rest among the earthly ones, and he concealed even the pains of the heavens from them. He was a thought that endured toils with patience, and he was not wearied by the burden of the sacrifice that was offered and consumed. He was a high one; how much did the weight of the humility of his companions bear down upon him, and they did not see and overturn the coals of toils that were not customary. In an uncustomary way John trod the path of toils, and the ways of his conduct were wondrous to mortals. There is no mortal who treads a path similar to this, nor an earthly one who is strong in the arena in which he was strong. Without weariness he offered himself in good meditation, and he did not become weary without his salvation bringing perfection. Without hesitation he was with the hidden ones, and he did not become weary because the spirit bound him in mysteries. Where then were the pains for the strong ones of the athletes, that they were unable to stand against the power that was offered in him? Like the burning of the body's desire, the fire of the two [natures?] and the running of his warmth did not cease in the bodies of the chaste.

Where did the love of money hide the evil ones, and its pursuit did not reach the height of his self, which was a restrained self. Where did the love of money turn aside the pure one, and his nails did not become blunt in that swift thought of the branches. Where did the tumult of the disturbed pride of the arrogant one cease, and the firm foundation of the firm man did not tremble. Where did the commands of the staff fall upon him in the pain of wrath, and he was not disturbed as is usual for a self that is pressed. Where did the murderous hatred cease, and it was dead within John as in a tomb. As in a tomb, the disturbed pains were buried in him. While he was alive, he was not alive for the freedom of his self. As if without life, he was guided in his mortality, and he had no power over the desire that was in his members. The authority of his asceticism was as if without flesh, and he was strong in that power of the spirit and trembled from it. Trembling and quaking he cast into the pains of John, and they were repelled from approaching him by their own habits. He suffered in them like a sufferer in the pains of his self, and he was raised up by his violence from their pains. By violence he conquered those pains of the flesh, and when he was made flesh in his ways, he was as if without flesh. As if without flesh, the righteous one was outside of the flesh until the time of the fear of the king who chose him arrived.

At the end of the sacrifices of the pure one from the silent one, he completes the sacrifices and begins the cry of the completion of the sacrifice of the baptism of death. The herald completed the sacrifice of the cry for his sacrifice of the world, and the sacrifice of the remission of the sacrifice of the one who filled the sacrifice arrives. Again, to the sinners, the son of Zechariah begat the sinners, and he taught the sign of the sign of iniquity in baptism. The baptism of remission of sins, the son of the barren one opened, and he began to give new signs from within the waters. He proclaimed the mysteries, the voice of the beautiful one of his voice, and he separated from iniquity the dead of iniquity as from a garment. In the garment of iniquity and the world, they were immersed in the children of mercy, and the voice of the herald, the son of Abraham, awakened the sign. In the name of Abraham, the people of confused mind were proud, and they covered the shame that is not shamefully proud in names. Do not be proud in the name of Abraham, O children of Abraham, and do not rely on a name hidden from mercy. The fruits of labors, O guilty ones, show the sign to me; pay back purely, show the debts to the one who loved you. These voices, John sowed in the ears of the people, and he began to fight to tear up the bond of his debts. The bond of debts shows the sign to reach the waters, until the one who cuts off iniquity and gives spirit comes. In the waters alone, he used to cut off for him the iniquity of the people, and he used to teach them about the one who comes after his words.

After the words of the pure one, he completed the sacrifice and began to cry out and to show the feast of the watchers. Openly he revealed the greatness of his rank, how great was the pure one, and how small he was if compared with his greatness. Great is he to [the waters?] as the heavens are high above, and there is no equal, nor even a place for the sole of his foot. He is a king over all, and even over the sacrifice of the watchers and men, and there is no creature that does not worship him as a lord. He gives the power of existence to the names that are high from him, concerning that which is said, that the watchers and men worship him. Not in a hidden manner does he stand, the worship of all is manifest. The nature that is over all passes by that which is honored by all. In the greatness of his rank, the sign of his servant was astonished, behold, a man prepared to reveal to men the greatness of his rank. Because a man loves the honor of a man who will cover the iniquity of men by the sacrifice of his body. The iniquity of men that bound him to the demon of the wicked, and he desired that by one man the watchers and men might be saved. These things the good servant proclaimed before the Lord of all, and like a guilty one he rendered thanks to the Lord who chose him. These are the voices that the passer-by raised among his people, and he prepared a way for them to receive the king of the pure one. These are the heralds that the zealous one mounted before the yokes, that in all proclamations they might remove the iniquity that had entered the way.

To the purity of humanity he desired to change by the beauty of his words, and he sanctified the waters and washed away the sins from them. He concealed sins, teaching the order of remission of sins, that the way to that perfect and good remission might be sought. Not perfect was that remission which John gave, for he was not able to give the Spirit together with remission. In water alone he confessed to the remission, and he showed that there is a remission greater than his measure. Behold, after him comes a man greater than he, who leaves iniquity and gives the Spirit and gives life. The tree of life, not mortal, gives the Spirit to humanity, and no longer does it perish from the change of mortality. By his death the dominion of death, which destroys humanity, was loosed, and he overthrew the height of the pride of the rebellious demons. The demons overthrew the body of humanity in the abyss of death, and man arose and overthrew them in the abyss of the grave. In the depth of iniquity the adversary struck the head of humanity, and humanity turned and broke the sting of his bitterness. In the whole body the poison of his bitterness was scattered, and from it the body became a physician and healed its pains. A skilled physician chose from the body a lover of the body, and taught him to heal the pains of his body with the medicine of the Spirit. The medicine of the Spirit was given to him by a divine sign, and divinely he healed with it the evil wounds.

By the death of the sun, his light shone in the house of darkness, and the pursuit of the error of the Pharisee was upon everyone and everything. The voice of John cried out in the land concerning his coming, and the trembling of the error and the shaking of the foundations of the house of iniquity occurred. By the death of the sword, his word flashed, the son of Zacharias, and the demons were astounded at the sharpness of the words of his mouth. As with a sword, he would lay waste to the side of error, and the ranks of truth would be strengthened by his eloquence. The eloquent servant chose the king and sent him before him, and he girded him with the invincible power of his righteousness. In his armor, he was bold against the strong net of the Hebrews, and he would not desist from the contest with the opponent. In all his contests, he would overcome the adversary, and the more he conquered, the more he would contend with victory. Without satiety, he would run on the path of labors, and he would not cease from the contest against iniquity. Against iniquity, his armor was polished night and day, and he prepared for himself a crown of labors from pleasure. For the duration of iniquity, he prepared a fine sieve, and he would be nourished by the fragrance of his name from the fire. He loved fire because of the love of the one who loves fire, and he would be tormented to bind fire with the mercy of his Lord. By the mercy of his Lord, the love of the good servant was kindled, and he would bear the echo of the good servant.

John the Baptist was a good servant to the good Lord, and the good that saw the goodness of his toil imprinted his name. In his name he imprinted the son of Abraham, marked by circumcision, and he took in his hand the sword of the Spirit to destroy iniquity. The iniquity of man set up rebellion against the truth, and through John he sought to humble his arrogance. For the slaying of iniquity, the evil one, a helper of iniquity, was eager, and he did not cease from the struggle with the evil ones. Until death he gave himself to be contended, and he died while not dead, for his death was the hope of the life of the dead. By the sword of iniquity the righteous one died unjustly, and his death became a witness to the proclamation of his preaching. Against the arrogant king of iniquity he was stirred up, and he raised his word and spread and revealed his worthlessness. Worthlessly the worthless soul was turned about, and mightily the holy one stood against his iniquity. Upon the divine law he was raised up, which decreed that partnership should not be dissolved. For the partnership of the woman, his brother, iniquity entered, and John toiled for the law that forbids this. For the law he toiled a legal toil, until the death of Phinehas, who toiled and prevailed over the fornicators. Over the fornicators the law was established by the mouth of the righteous, and the sword of the fornicators of fornication was blunted by the hand of the evil ones. Zimri the fornicator he slew with the legal sword, and he himself was persecuted by the bitterness of the word of the Spirit.

In the wilderness he showed the great mystery of the Spirit, and in the baptism of the mighty ones of the covenant. He was stained with blood, pursuing the wicked, not the wicked ones. And here, with the word that was sharp, it was better than a sword. The sword of his word raised the priest against Herod, and he was not afraid of the authority and crown that were upon him. That saying which David interpreted, John remembered, and bravely he rebuked the king, the brave one in sin. The evil sin of the wicked one, Herod, filled from all sides, who overcame his brother with the partnership of his brother's wife. With his brother's wife the foolish madman was maddened, and when he saw the priest, he was troubled and became strong in his madness. Woe to the one who does not know how much the righteous one of truth suffered, and he spread and rebuked falsehood before many. He knew the falsehood of the Edomites, and he anticipated its revelation before it killed him arrogantly. In the prison he confined the priest, the wicked one from all, and he thought that he would destroy his creation like a garment. He was eager for his death and awaited the day of his death, so that when the priest died, he would bring his vile shame to light. The evil of Herod and the Herodian did, who extinguished the light of the one who rebuked the wickedness of the time. The mystery of wickedness, the wicked ones darkened among themselves, one to another, so that they extinguished the voice of the trumpet that silences wickedness.

The snares of wickedness spread out, the wicked ones set a trap for the righteous one, and they did not know that what they were doing to him would again be turned back upon them. On the day of his birth, the king set a snare for all the infants, on the feast day he revealed the wickedness of his plan. The hidden wickedness was concealed in the heart of Herod, and he was waiting for when the evil of his intention would be revealed. With the bait of iniquity, the wicked one prepared his forces, and he summoned and called the heads of the people to rejoice with him. The wicked one spread out a dance of deception upon his feast, and the dance of the daughter of the dancer who was drunk with wine went astray. The deceptive dance pleased the feaster before those who were reclining, and in his revelries he gloried beyond measure. The madman cut off half of the cloaks for the daughter of the dancer, and she did not wish to take except what her desire sought. The evil desire desired the evil one, like a serpent that opened its mouth and asked for the head of the one who was to slay the tyrant. O wicked one, how great is the wickedness you have done, and your wickedness is revealed, and it is not hidden from the blindness of your iniquity. O how the wine of your feast blazes, and without shame the desire of your vileness rages. Give me, by your sword, the head of the righteous one at the request of the dancer, and it was not hidden that the word of the full cup would come. The great cup and the wicked one, the avenger, was concealed in her word, and this one was astonished, and they were amazed, and they were astounded at her word. She asked for the death of the righteous one as the price of her vileness.

and he summoned the king to hear the sound of death. O the treachery and the faithlessness of the heart! The cunning one whose appearance was a joyful and gladdening demeanor. O the guise that concealed itself in a semblance of sorrow and hastened to bring about a destructive end. Deceitfully the king acted toward her who had acted deceitfully, and the writing did not wish to reveal the end of the devourer. Thus he knew the deception that errs in evil, and by a good appearance he concealed the filth of his deceit. Deceit spread its snare over his wickedness and sent its arrow to the head of the righteous one, though he did not desire it. He desired well by the hand of the one who was like his own will, and he concealed his evil by means of a guise, as if by a garment. For the twisted mind was accustomed to being held back, so that it was not fitting, nor the iniquity of all iniquity. Your word, or the abundance of what is victorious. The earth, the cunning one in which there is no place, and it is pure and clear: the evil hand of deceit, or the sword of slaughter. The deceiver of the sufferer also brings iniquity, he who deceives evil, and it shall not be disturbed for me, for he cast the blood of the holy man. The guise of oaths, iniquity wore as a garment at the time of the sign, and he concealed and led astray, while his iniquities were revealed. Or the guise of the devourer, which is not worn, without shame he acted upon the offense full of folly. Or the death of the heart, hard as stone, which was not bent by the groan of the righteous from all groans.

O the woman full of impudence, the boldness of shamelessness, who was not ashamed to pour out blood before the multitudes. O the shameless hands that struck the face of the saint, and the victor was the erring one. O the arrogant hearts that raised up eyes, without shame, and were gazing at the beheading. O the crown of the king and the woman full of impudence, who were overturned when the victor was in their midst. With the midst of them they were erring to the head of the saint, and they were not trembling from the sorrow that was hidden in it. O how also sorrow was silent in this wickedness, and did not reveal the power of its hiddenness as is customary. For it was able to move the earth and the night, as was done to that preacher of religion and of the summons. For they were equal to that new lord of the house that came to be, and again they were beginning according to that iniquity that has no limit. There is no limit to the iniquity that the murderers committed according to that which is not greater than the man whom they wronged in his blood. There is none among the born who is greater and higher than John, except the severe demand for his blood from all the demanders. I saw the blood of the righteous one flowing in the hands of the filthy, and they seized the cup that carries to the mouth of the pure one in the slaughter.

O the woman full of impudence, the boldness of shamelessness, who was not ashamed to pour out blood before the multitudes. O the shameless hands that struck the face of the saint, and the victor was the erring one. O the woman full of impudence, she was pouring out the head of the priest and was mocking him, saying, “Where now is all your teaching?” By the sword of that executioner upon the people, the devourer of lives, and that cry, “How can he devour that portion?” O the portion that was mixed with the blood of the righteous, and as though it were wine, they were gulping down the blood of the priest. Herodias was not thirsty for the cup of wine, as she was eager to take the head of the priest in her hands. There was no shame that she was recounting her vileness, like that shame of seeing the blood of the righteous one flowing on the ground. By the shedding of his blood, her desire for bestial passions was fulfilled, and by his death, the beastly woman was delighted to handle his body with her hands and feet. O the carnality that was carnal in the desire of the flesh, and the bear that was sated, that she might eat the flesh of the man. O the harlot who was harloting against the truth, and did not desist until she was bathed in the blood of the true one. O the madwoman who was maddened by the dances, who cast her venom upon the one who was not mad. Hear the cries of the footsteps, the cry of the deed of the carnal woman.

She was a dog, and she licked the body of the righteous man, the chaste one. O the maddening cries from the madness of the blood that is like hers, that the Herodian woman, not being ashamed, killed the chaste one. Wonder and astonishment at the chains that bound the limbs, that the chain which bound the serpent did not break after. The desire for the fruit bound the serpent as if to a lover, and she was crowned with the delight of the flesh of the saint. There is no shamelessness that did not come and was not accomplished by her, and the chain of the limbs did not cease because of you. What brought down the head of the tribes from Paradise? Was it not the desire without satiety of your mother the serpent? What destroyed with the waters of the mighty ones all the people? Was it not the shamelessness and vileness of the daughters of Cain? What imprisoned the chaste Joseph in the house of prisoners? Was it not the wantonness of one of you that filled with insolence? What made the chaste Job king of the land of Uz? Was it not the daughter of the serpent who gave counsel to the serpent, her mother? What made the strong man Samson a laughingstock? Was it not the woman, the harlot and the deceiver, who cannot be trusted? What placed a blemish in David, the righteous one? Was it not the sight of the nakedness of the wife that was revealed from your ranks? What made the wise man, Solomon, king over all, foolish? Was it not the confusion of the vile woman who was bound to him? What made Ahab a fool for beautiful women? Was it not Jezebel, the wicked woman, the mistress of lies?

Order the course of your nature and your passions, so that the pursuers do not stumble on the path in the track of your eyes. Look intently and capture your nature in chastity, lest you remain outside the door with the fools. Anoint yourself with oil and go out into the assembly of the wise, lest your love be extinguished like a lamp and you become a laughingstock. Do not be captured by the beauty of the faces of foreign women, lest your beautiful features be wasted in their hands in your own beauty. Stop your ways with your fathers from the follies, lest a stumbling stone trip you up, cast down in the street. Look and see that a snare is your eye and the beauty of your face, and feelings and tremors are caught in it as in nets. A snare is your whole body, hidden in the earth before the festivities, and no man knows that it falls into your traps. With twisted cords are woven the nets of your deceits, and it is very difficult to escape from your snares. You are like the bride of death, who calls death to the sons of her body, and with her wiles she kills her companions and dies herself. Thus the death of the bride is a spectacle: your appearance comes to those who look at you, and with your disturbance, a hunter comes, snatching youths like a bird. Death, tightly bound, is hidden in the bosom of your evil nature, and it calls man to destruction as to a feast. The speech of your mouth is like a gathering of blood before the common people, and when they are aroused to drink, all of it is death and sin.

There is no hunter who [...] from you to hunt souls, and there is no fowler who calls out as beautifully as your disturbance. [...] greatly the skills of the hunter of souls, and no soul knows how to be ensnared by your glances. Make your nature wise to read in the books of the slayer of the soul, and train your heart to converse in the wisdom of truth. That great and excellent gift was given to you from the beginning, and in its writings I read and conversed and sinned and caused to sin. Depart from the thought of the scribe who is skilled in teaching falsehood, and come, converse in the books of the spirit that cut off lives. Do not resemble Eve, your mother, who listened to her counsel and ate the fruit and bore death for the house of Adam. Behold, hope is cut off and death is slain by the fruit of your mouth. Do not again cause the inheritance of death to enter through your glances. When you killed by the food of the fruit of the desire of your mother, do not die by the desire of your body as by the fruit. Depart, do not become a snare of iniquity before the beholders, for behold, all the measures are changed in the beauty of your face. Woe to me, I was a fool in the vision of your face according to your thought, for the young men of my heart were disturbed by your folly. Woe to you, the desire for gold and pearls was not enough for you, for the lovers of desire were already disturbed by your nakedness. But when he placed a bridle on your eyes and your ways, and brought your captivity into the midst of the prison with the beasts.

How then did the hunter of souls cast his net upon your speech? He would have been prevented from disturbing the order of your preaching. Blessed is the man who stopped his ears and did not listen to your words, and became deaf to the sweetness of your eloquence. Blessed is the man who [...] with you, yet not with you, and dwells with you while preserving himself from your snares. Blessed is the man who does not err in the snare of your speech, the trap of your words, and does not confess the vanities of your night. What was the cause of this that I have spoken? It was not the audacity of Herod that overcame the just. The cause of this was the transgression of the orders of your mysteries, that it might reveal to men how great an evil is the evil of women. The evil of women grew and was raised up beyond measure, and it confounded the order of the ranks of the just with the order of the wicked. The order of the wicked was troubled so that the seeds of the foolish might come forth, how many fools and how many madmen for the ranks of the just. The death of the just cried out and awakened as if from sleep, that a son of man might see a son of man who died in a garment. The garment of iniquity made iniquity for its powers, and like wine mixed with blood, the just burned with anger. The mixture of his blood was seen by the one who chose him for his service. In that same form that was revealed in the blood of Abel. The voice of the blood of Abel said that it cried out before him, and how much more does the blood of John the Baptist cry out, more than that one.

John the Baptist was more honored than all the priests who were and are. His death is more precious than all deaths. Blessed is the death of him who died with the fragrance of truth full of righteousness. And his mother and sister were not contemptible in him. His mother and sister were lost to the head of the priest. And they were able to strip his honor with a curse. How many curses and destructions with a curse, that they might mock and rejoice in the service that serves two in one. John performed two in one in his embassy, that he might complete the earthly course and reveal the spirit. Between the two the preacher stood and spoke the truth, and sealed one and gave a beginning to that which was prepared. With the character of his word he marked the legal course and opened the book of the spiritual covenant. Book by book the skilled scribe of scribes changed, and proclaimed life instead of the natures of the law. New life revealed to us the scribe who makes scribes wise, and he taught the way before the one who comes to give life to the dead. Then the image of death painted the mystery of the salvation of life, and called him beforehand by the name of the lamb because of his sacrifice. By the sacrifice of his death death and iniquity were abolished, and he opened the eyes before the mysteries as one who is. O John, who reveals the revealed mysteries of the hidden, who revealed to man the death of man that abolishes death.

How great is the goodness that came to you through her! You revealed the mystery that was hidden from all creatures. Blessed is his will, who willed and made you a son of his will, and ministered with your hands all the power of his service. Worthy of praise is he who revealed to you the mystery of his will, and set in motion the vigilant hands and fingers that are worthy of praise.