On Peter and Paul

Memorial of Peter and Paul Fourth Memra Memorial of Peter and Paul Preface Blessed is Christ who chose his apostles, and filled the world with the riches of his wisdom, my brethren. The good one who distributes the wealth of his love to the sons of his house, grant me that I may approach the small portion from your gift. The king who clothes the armor of the spirit upon the powers, direct my thoughts to oppose the error of your proclamation. The great craftsman who bends the air to the simplicity of the word, make wise my mind that it may run according to your words. The giver of life to the dead through the dead, warm my senses to hear the sounds of the word of life. The scribe who writes the book of the spirit upon the corporeal, by the power of your word hasten my tongue with my thoughts. In you the senses and movements, the eyes and the air are disturbed, and the blood is withheld from the veins of the empty. To you the man asks for the help of the spirit, the restrainer of all, grant me yours that I may come with yours upon your wisdoms. You have enriched the poverty of the race of the foolish man, and by you the world has become wise, pure and standing in the air. Your voice has shown the way of life among the dead, and like a guide your command has been to the ignorant. By the embassy of the sons of your race you have desired to reconcile heaven and earth, which were divided because of iniquity.

Twelve men you chose from the earthly race, and you filled them with the power of the Spirit to measure the whole. Through them you humbled the pride of death and evil, and through them you subdued height and depth beneath your authority. Twelve stones your will hewed from the mountain of men, and you made them like foundations for the building of your love. Through the twelve, like months that serve the year, you completed and perfected the establishment of life without death. To the four corners you sent them, pairs by pairs, and they tilled the earth and uprooted from it the forest of iniquity. Again you chose seventy and filled them with the spirit of life, and they breathed upon the face of the world the breath of the living spirit. And when height and depth were filled with the sound of your command, they bore and brought forth fruits of glory for the name of your greatness. Great is the harvest of the fruits of your seed which you sowed in the earth, and few were the workers of the Spirit who gathered them. Your will hinted to the servants of your proclamation that they should please you, that you might send workers for the sowing of your seed. You spread out the wealth of the power of your gift over all orders, and you called together both good and evil to drink of your love. You chose from the good to lead the good to the work of truth, and you called the thorns that bear hope to the poor of hope.

Through the righteous you revealed your love of truth, O Lord, and through sinners you showed the wealth of your mercy. Through those who submitted to your will you revealed freedom, and through those who resisted you showed and measured the power of everything. Twelve you bound to yourself by will and the power of the signs, and to your persecutor you made your command difficult when he did not desire. Saul resisted the words of your proclamation, and when he did not desire, your sign struck him with the arrow of your love. He was a deceiver who led every people astray from the law, and he exacted the penalty of legal reward. He was a persecutor who compelled the wandering people lawfully, while he thought to conquer by earthly pursuit. Earthily he contended in the arena of labors, and he did not know that without the spirit nothing is accomplished. In the mountains and in the valleys he was strengthened, while he descended to the arena every day with the senses of the body. A wretched garment he wore every people with his members, and the will of his self was twisted from what was possible. A great error of the name of the Creator he bore in himself, and he proclaimed a single confession within his thought. All the sects seemed to him more excellent, for he did not accept that God is one except one. In this error he persecuted the proclamation, for he thought that oneness is everything for God.

The just man heard the new good of the proclamation of the names, and he was troubled and agitated that he might follow the path of the name of the Creator. He saw that a new thing was being established on earth, a man in the likeness of the Son, and he put on the armor of war to go forth like a warrior. He could not bear to see that the name of the Son of man was victorious, and the name of the servant was being reviled by every mouth. The just man armed himself mightily in the form of a fire, and he sought to burn the purity of sinners like a forest. Why do they make the created nature equal with the Creator? And why do they raise up another power with the substance? Why do they offer hidden worship to the corporeal? And why is the crucified man honored in the name of God? He could not bear the great injury to the name of God, that men give the name of his greatness to the work of his hands. It is not right for me to be silent and keep quiet from the duty, that I not be cut off from the law that warns of this. Moses revealed to me that your God is not a stranger to you, and he proved to me that his testimonies are not true that they might be. All gods that did not create and establish the heavens and the earth, let them perish completely and let their memories not be recalled. With this response, the harsh just man put on a hot zeal, and he pursued the name of Jesus like a stranger. He persecuted his name so that it would not be established among the Hebrews, and he drove out his apostles from the people.

And he saw that the proclamation had gone forth to the house of the pagans. The agitation of error stirred him to seize also the house of the nations by its face. He took authority from the heavenly heads of iniquity, and went out to pursue the light that chases away the darkness of their straying. The erring one took hold of the path of the nations to pursue the light, and a flash of lightning shot forth from the sky and struck him and cast him down. With the rod of light it struck him, gentle to that erring one, showing him that what he strives for by it is being proclaimed. For an arrow of light was shot at him and struck him on his knees, and took from him the light he desired to pursue, the light of all. With the light it proclaimed over his companion to pursue the light, and struck him on his person and shook him to pursue his name. The light of his eyes was swallowed up and extinguished in the outer regions, and the light hidden within his mind shone forth from the sky. The companion saw that his light was greater than the sphere of the sun, and heard a voice sweeter and more beloved than all voices. “Saul, Saul,” it called him, gently as one who knew him, and showed that he was contending with him in his error against his words. “Why do you persecute me, the circumcision of the flesh and the foreskin of the heart, and why do you drive away the name of my lordship like a pagan? Why do you rage fiercely against my preachers, and thirst for the blood of my evangelists, though they have not wronged you? Why do you wish to extinguish the height of love that is built, and to disturb the peace of the sign that will pacify the divided world?

Why do you contend with the righteous one, whose contest is for death? And why do you cast the arrows of your wrath, to conquer all? It was hard for you, O man, to be stirred up from the snares, and you were not able to seize the moment with the senses, along with the spirits. Your nature was too weak to ascend to the height where he is, and it does not permit you to go up against him while you are in the flesh. Why did you pursue me as if I were a mortal, a wanderer gone astray? And why did you make my honored name a mockery for the spectators? Why did you change the law, O scribe, O youth? Leave youth and come, approach perfection. I am not dead as you thought, but alive, and through me are established the gentle lives and the peace of all. Even if I died unjustly at the hands of the wicked, yet I live in new lives without end. Thus spoke the living voice with the dead one, and seized him with trembling and fear, and confounded him with voice and light. Through the two witnesses, the living one shows his truth to the dead one; with voice and light he revealed his life and his authority. With the voice he taught him that he was not dead as he supposed, and through the light he confirmed the truth of his proclamation. The wanderer thought that the mortal man he pursued was slain, and he saw him holding a crown on high and reigning over all. With great glory he showed himself to the eyes of his pursuer, as a mystery in the revelation at the end.

The mystery of that glory is revealed in the air, not in the visible realm, for the body is unable to see with its senses that praise. It was not a standing of the fathers in the flesh, but a mystery of the image, manifest yet hidden in height. In the light of his silence, he and his people were equal, waiting for him, and the meaning of the words was interpreted to him alone. He saw the vigilant one and heard the voice, he and his people, and for them the interpretation of the hidden voice was the daughter of the voice. O wonder that was wrought for Saul, that he heard the hidden voice and revealed it, he and his people. O hearing that when it was equal was not equal, and one was confident while another stood like a deaf man. He hears the voice that was interpreted as their speech, and hides his power from the hearing and from the mind. One heard, and his people of hearing also his understanding, while another hears the hearing that is cut off from the sound. Saul hears and learns the power of that which he hears, and his limbs are as in wonder at the change of voice. His people alone were recognized mysteriously, like a kinsman who knows how to keep the mystery of his lord. The voice taught him to offer his people in vain, and showed him openly that it was not fitting for him to contend. He also received and heard and delivered to the hand of the hearing, and dismissed gently the one who had called him.

What is this, O Lord Paul? What is this that you have come to that which called you? What is this that you have hidden and revealed your voice through the deeds? Father, father of Jesus, who came pursuing, you have come, his sweet yoke. Father, father who died and revived, the power that clothed me, his love. Father, father who crucified the seed of Abraham on the head of a tree, and planted her with me, the deaths of her brother in my life. Father, father who descended in the blood of my standing to the depth of Sheol, and released from it the prisoners of the pride that bound death. To me this thirst is like the dead who died and was corrupted; see and understand that the father lives in life without end. Behold, I show you the power of my victory in one deed: stay, do not pursue after the power that is stronger than you. See from where you spoke with your people sweetly, and I did not keep for you the watch of the hair that thirsts for my standing. When you pursued me without sparing through the heralds, stop your sword and stay from the sword of your ministers. See the hot one for the flame hidden in words, and the heat of his error burned, and he saw and drank. He descended from the height of foolish pride that stood in him, and put on the humility of meekness and bowed himself. He changed his voice from shouts to confession, and began to compose sweetened voices of the confession of the self.

What are you, O Lord Paul? What are you, that you have come to that which called you, while it was not fitting? And you have hidden your voice from that which is yours, Father, Father of Jesus. What are you, that your voice is fearful, your words terrifying, and your soul is emboldened? And your good sign is swifter than lightning toward the deeds. What are you, O man of light, who runs before your command? And you yourself magnify the fleeing of the fire for those who pursue you. What are you, that you have dwelt in a place above, while your word is on earth? And your sign commands the heavenly and the earthly. I did not know that you were in heaven, but on earth; and I did not perceive that you were among the living, but in death. Forgive me that I have sinned, that I have pursued your name and your heralds; and do not reproach me that I have darkened the glory that was due to you. Ignorance made my eyes blind from the light; and my limbs were darkened, and I was not illumined by the radiance of your light. But now that you have willed and your love has called me to your knowledge, I will not act according to the law, but according to your love. The law and its ordinances have been abandoned, which made my eyes blind; and it gave no reward to my will, which bore its weight and its heat. Beneath your lordship, my mind will act spiritually; and before the living of your proclamation, my limbs will tremble. Blessed is the sight of him who sees him, until he becomes one who magnifies himself more than the thread that is upon his fathers.

See the one who is prepared, who toiled with him in senses and movements, and immersed him in his name and called him, his own, the servant of the Spirit. See the one who is a confessor to his standing in the things of sin, and his sin in mercy, and he revived him in the hope of repentance. His heart in the humility of forgiveness, the iniquity that would cause him to be cast out, and he gave him a hand of partnership towards his preachers. Arise, O Saul, and enter the city towards his preachers, that there you may learn the hidden mysteries that are difficult for you. Arise, enter and see the persecuted whom you expelled from among the people, while the power of their father was being strengthened among the nations. Go towards the error that you thought was like wanderers, and learn from them the manifest truth that prevails over the Creator. Go while the rod of your tribe stands over your fathers, and show them the sign of my lordship, and they will receive you. To him you gave the key of mercy and the treasury of knowledge; to him go to Ephesus, and behold, the door of light is opened for you. To him you made the apostles of the treasure of the Spirit; approach them, and the door of my lordship will receive you. The seeker is finished for those who heard from the pleasant one, and he went up, while he was blind, towards the disciples as he was commanded. Three days he fasted, while he was hungry and swore to himself, and he was striving that the light of his eyes might be revealed to him.

At the end of his fast he was worthy of the vision of the revelation of the Spirit, and he was established as a single herald who would heal his pain. Show the man whose name proclaims his health, and whose gentle hand puts to flight suffering from his children. In a vision he also revealed himself to the physician who sent after him: "Go, heal the dead Saul who persecutes the living. Go, open up with him and with his thoughts, so that he may see with his eyes and his understanding the light of my teaching. Go, make him hear the voice of renewal and of the self, and behold the senses of his body and the movements of his soul are stirred. Go, make him wise, the skilled scribe of the Testaments, and write his spiritual meditation in my new words. Go, say to the runner of legal races that there is no prize in the stadium of the mountains. Reveal and examine the athlete, bold in circumcision, who does not give you the crown of victory, the stamp of the body." The sinful one who sent him to his persecutor heard, and he marvelled and hesitated, whether he would change, for he was a father to the lamb. My lord, I have heard from many about this man, how many evils he inflicted on your preachers. How can I go to the persecutor who persecutes your name, and how can I reveal the mystery of your love to your enemy? How can I make the voice of comfort heard to the one who thirsts for blood, and how can I sow hope and love in the one who is disturbed by demons?

Arise, go, depart, the Lord said to the persecutor, that he was not a wolf, but a lamb, as you thought, but he was a lamb. The vision of the wolf was clothed in appearance, not in truth; he was not a pursuer but pursued. He went astray while being deceived, thinking he was acting for the truth, and he sought a sign, and behold, he was brought to perfection. He was the chosen one who chooses and is chosen for the hidden will, and there is no blemish in him, in the pure gold of the simplicity of his soul. With the sweetness of his voice he proclaims my victory in the four directions, and shows my power by deed at the feast of the seers. With his words he dissolves the fence of the law of the mountains, and brings the peoples into the brotherhood of the house of Abraham. With the thunder of his voice he makes the earth tremble to give fruit, and with his discourses he heals the wounds of those who died in sin. He knows how much he is prepared to suffer, and I am not unaware that he dies daily for my proclamation. I await his love until he becomes truly worthy, and he knows that he is not to be turned back before the threats. He is a good friend whose love is bound with his beloved, and his warmth is not extinguished by the little ones. He is Augustus, who knows how to conquer spiritually, and his self-will is not troubled by earthly things. He is a strong laborer who endures offering against opposition, and he does not remove the hidden weapon from his mind.

And because you saw the true seal of his soul, you chose and imprinted it with the seal of the Spirit, as is fitting. Hear, disciple, the testimony of the words of the great teacher, and receive and deliver the true signs as he spoke. Arise, take up the cry against those who heard about the persecutor, and go hunt him down, for he will again be caught by the deeds. Go up and say to him in a gentle voice, as commanded, that Saul is not a brother; my Lord, release me so that I may come against you. He is not the one who sent me; that one who called you, Saul, Saul, in my proximity will be revealed to you as the light of your eyes. The sick one perceived the lion of the Spirit that was sent to him, and he turned from his path when he heard a voice like that of his caller. Even the physician saw the sick one who rejoiced at his coming, and he did not hesitate to apply the medicine of light to his eyes. He placed his hand on the eyelids of the sick one, and drew from them the darkness that had spread light. With light he consumed the light of the enlightened one, and his light darkened, and the light of his deed turned the blind one and gave him light. O enlightened one who enlightens all wherever he wishes, and for the blind he darkens his light by his rays. O wonder, when the enlightened one enlightens eyes, for the eyes of Saul, blind, the radiance of his light became darkness. The light turned from the enlightened one to the pursuer of light, and it gave and gave him light, wrapped in eyes and vision.

The seal of the hand of the physician of the Spirit drove out darkness, and light shone forth and gladdened the eyes and the mind. See and observe those things which he heard, how pure they were in his choices, and how the seal of the Spirit was imprinted upon his thoughts. He was baptized and purified, and cast off the burden of the ordinances, and put on the garment of the sweetness which the Spirit had woven for him. He broke the seal which had been stamped upon him legally, and stamped himself with the new seal of the name of grace. He turned persecutor and began to destroy those things which he had sought, while he was disputing against his own words. From the law he was accusing Judaism, and showing how pure it was, inferior to grace. Through his actions he was proclaiming the help of the Spirit, and interpreting the power hidden in the preaching. The circumcised people saw the circumciser who persecuted his own name, and they trembled and were disturbed, lest he be a sacrifice who had abolished the people. The sons of Abraham saw the son of Abram who had left his people, and began to accuse the divided peoples of the love of Abram. The circumcised and the uncircumcised stood in amazement at his change, and both sides were filled with great tumult from him. The people were amazed at him, how he disputed against his own people, and even the disciples were disturbed by him, lest he be a deceiver. Through his actions he showed the truth of his preaching, that the change was not in form but in truth.

In truth he put on the fair armor of faith, and spiritually he was armed in secret and in public. With love and compassion he surrendered himself to the service of truth, and he put on armor and stood in battle against the erring. See his contest, that it was not with flesh that it was visible, and he armed himself spiritually against the spirit. The armor of the spirit the king gave him, with which to contend, that he might know his love, who spiritually desires to offer himself. Like a skilled commander he arrayed his forces, that he might be seen clad against the sufferings of body and soul. In his zeal he wished to show the greatness of his power, that if one of his household by his own means conquers, how much more by his own means. With everything he did that he might offer himself spiritually, and he conquers by it, and he gave him reward as a victor. He set the world aside from one side, and he alone, and all the ranks opposed to truth were condemned, and the apostle conquered. He waged war with spiritual and corporeal beings, and he weighed and terrified all terrors, and he raised his voice. The earthly and heavenly were astonished that they were confounded in him, as he contended with all the hidden and revealed sufferings. He did not wish to ascend from the contest to that day, until his evening of death came and his labor ceased. He did not loosen the armor that the king gave him with which to contend, until it was destroyed and consumed, and he went to the ranks of the evil one.

He did not sleep nor rest while sailing on the turbulent sea, so that the wealth that sinks among the waves might not be submerged. He was awake at all times and guarded his treasure from the treacherous, and he made the hearts of the listeners resound with the voice of his words. His body was strong together with his mind in faith, and he healed with his words the pains of the body and the blemishes of the soul. With the limbs of his body he healed the bodies of those who were sick, and with the spirit of his mouth he drove out evil from souls. He raised up the fallen and gave a hand to those who had stumbled, and he placed the medicine of repentance on the soul for the wounded. He called and raised up the hidden ones who had fallen and become weak, and he governed and raised up those who had sunk in despair. With everyone and in everything he became like one who gives life to all, and to all the assemblies he participated by means of his helps. His love was abundant and he generously gave the wealth of his words, and he drew all the needy to become rich from him. He did not leave a people who did not profit from his treasures, nor a kingdom that did not increase its strength from his wisdom. In all places he made his voice heard like thunder, and his opponents were confounded from all sides by his teachings. The sound of his eloquence was sweeter than all sounds, when he sang the Trinity in the ears of every man. O the lyre that played in him the song of the spirit, and gladdened both the spiritual and the corporeal.

O the father of song who sings every day and is not wearied, and while he was resting he was being trained as he sang in it. O the beautiful one who was dwelling in one place and making his voice heard in all regions as if near. His limbs grew strong with his thought for the four directions, and he bent his ear to hear the sound of his proclamation. By his deeds the martyrdom of his Lord was completed for his hunt. He is the chosen one who chose and was selected in the vessel of the Spirit. His choice revealed to him the will of the one who is, and he hastened in his hands the treasure of the Spirit of his proclamation. He reached the island of the good seal of flesh that is corruptible, and he sealed it with the Spirit of the one who is, using it spiritually. He changed his name, which was being hidden under a borrowed name, and called him Paul, the one who was turned and turned again. By his name he interpreted his thought, which was complete for his name, and by his deeds he fulfilled his name and his election. In all forms he cast off the name of Judaism, and in everything he put on the honorable name of Christ. More than anything he loved the name that changed his name, and he placed nothing with the one who chose him except himself. By the name of Christ he boasted in all afflictions, and by it he offered and overcame the errors and their worshippers. For that name he laid the foundation of his proclamation, and upon it he built the house of faith for those who believe in his name.

Glorious is his song, and wondrous and exalted is the height of his words, and he does not weary, seeking more than his due, the song of truth. O you who placed for us, like a wise man, the foundation of truth, and saw everyone, how he seeks after perfection. O builder who laid the foundation of faith, as with arches he completed, and with it he built hope and love. O athlete who held a contest with everything, and conquered everything by the power of his faith. O warrior who used to contend spiritually, and was struggling and living by the passions of the victorious Christ. How can one suffice to recount your labors with words of victory, and how can one manage to depict your beauties with writings? There is no mind that can reach the height of your labors, except one that resembles you in feelings and passions. No one ascends to where you ascended, as you did, O blessed one, but he is fitting for mortality in the mystery of your ways. To the height of glory, your sign points and speaks with you, words that are hidden and unutterable in a fleshly tongue. O fleshly one who, though flesh, flew through the air, O mortal one who was equal to the voice of the immortals. O one who was honored by the praises of the heights from him, and humbled himself as if he did not know that he was equal to anything. O traveler who arrived at the feast without walking, and heard a voice that, when spoken, is not spoken.

How that chosen one Paul said, difficult in his time, like a hearer who hears without ceasing, he revealed to us the mystery of how he said, "Whose hearing is idle?" By the senses, the sound of his prayer you alone established. If it is not permitted to speak of what was spoken, and if it is spoken, how is it permitted to grasp his hearing? If you have heard something unspeakable, how have you received also the meaning of that which you heard? You have heard and learned the power of that which you heard, but it is difficult for fleshly ones to hear thus. Even I who heard did not hear by the senses of the flesh, but by the mystery of a tongue that is not mortal. By that mystery, the voice that praises in that tone, by it I heard that which I heard, not in the body. By the spirit I heard the hidden things of the height, mysteriously, which were praising spiritually the power of being. Glorious and wondrous was the voice of the melodies of their songs, and the ear was not sated with hearing that sweetness. The ear of the flesh was not sufficient for that audition, nor could the tongue speak according to their language. It is new, which was before me alone, not because of me, that I saw that tone mysteriously.

In the first, he wished to show the wealth of his mercies, which he gave into the hands of good hope for the sake of mortality. In this, you have placed the tears of the dead from the dead, by whom the race of man was clothed in the hope of life. And because of this, he related to me a sign until the time when I would go and see and bring the gospel of that covenant. That I went and knew, and how I went, man does not know, for he did not wish a sign to examine me as to how I went. He did not wish to reveal to me whether the members journeyed with the soul, for even this she does by wisdom, that I might know your glory. Beyond the order, he wished to show me as a sinner and without error, your glory, all my wandering from this. For I heard a voice and a true meaning for me, and I was there complete in body and spirit, man does not know. And if it be that I heard, this my error is from this, which is cast aside, where one seeks how I went. I went and arrived where I said, "Believe and affirm," and what I heard, those things I saw, do not be divided. Not boasting do I hasten that praise came upon the labors of the righteous, the staff of the satans, that I might boast of the tears from me. For this reason, I wished to examine those things I saw, that hope might establish hope for the hopeless in the blessings of the beyond.

How much did Paul not pity the word that he heard and saw, and he did not stand and turn his hands from what he heard? How much did he not burn in the books of his words, the scribe of the Spirit, and he interpreted and clarified hidden mysteries before his disciples? How much did he not establish the foundation of his word before his thought, which trembled in movements and members toward victory? How much did he not strip the secret of his soul in the beauty of his words, and see his blemishes through the mirror of his beauties? How much did he not seek the confession of his faith, which subdued spirits of harsh pains and did not disturb it? How much did he not put on the armor of the Spirit in his own order, which was not torn from the contest until death? How much did he not pursue the way of the generation on the path to the face of Rome, and he arrived at the face of Rome without weariness? How much did he not bind the movements of his soul in his faith, and write hope and meditate on love that is indestructible? How much did the reader of his writings not find profit, so that he did not repay him even words in return for deeds? How much did the one who runs against his thought not become, so that the crown of victory did not meet him as is fitting? How much did he contend in the arena of truth in the likeness of Paul, and how much did he become worthy of the crown of glory more than him? How much did he become wise in spiritual matters according to his thought, and how much did he pass over the future as he wrote?

How much did he resemble the evil one who struck the king, and how did he not flee to victory in his own silence? He served without wages, like his service, and he did not receive a fee, the apostolic spiritual wages. How much did he run in the spiritual stadium, and his will was not hindered by earthly things? Or he offered himself in the service of the Spirit at dawn, and placed his labor like a single day at the end of his life. He began the race of victory in his youth, and completed his path through chains in his old age. Paul, the elder, also a prisoner for the truth, how is there a mouth that can describe you as you are? Small is the thought that runs with you lightly, and weak is the wing that flies toward you wherever you are. One knows who will weave for you a crown of victory, he who loved you more than anything, as he was able. A sign of your election can repay you a reward for your love, he who saw your labors before all that came to be. The mercy of his love loved you, embraced you, and called you his own, and gave you power to conquer through his own, as through yours. It was not yours to conquer the passions without his power, for the weak cannot conquer many deaths by themselves. It was not yours to learn the mysteries of the hidden things, for which there is no way to understand through deeds anything that is concealed.

His love was revealed to you, like the love of a true friend, and he tested for you the hidden power of the mysteries that are with you. Your truth is shown in the money he gave you to trade with, and to deposit in your hands like a true treasurer of his friends. Your love is true, and the treasure he deposits in your hands is full, and no one knows how to spend more than you. You proclaimed the name of the Trinity among all peoples, and you revealed the equality of the Father and the Spirit. You demonstrated that the Son is not separated from his Begetter, nor is the Spirit lesser than the Father and the Son who is from him. You taught that the Essence is not divided in its own self, and you showed that it is not touched by suffering. By the spirit of revelation you unveiled the mystery of the salvation of our lives, which is completed and fulfilled, a hidden will in the manifest flesh. With the harp of your spirit you sang the distinction of the two natures, of the death of the servant and the Lord, hidden and revealed. Your tongue became like a pen in the hand of the spirit, and it formed letters in the thought of man, the Word and the flesh. The Word and the flesh: your voice proclaimed among mortals two that are distinct in their natures and equal together. Distinct and equal, hidden and revealed, and one is known, the Son of God who shares with him the humanity he assumed. Not a distinction of Son and Son did Paul introduce, lest the heretic stumble over the distinction of his words.

He distinguishes the natures in that which is divided, one from his companion, and he makes one person from two by means of unity. He separates you on account of sufferings and praises, and he makes you equal on account of love without division. He divides you and does not join one to the side of the other, and he makes you equal by the will that wills in this one. He gave his own to each one of them according to what he is, so that the essence is not diminished for the senses in our receiving. The high one participates in the lowly powers in the name of the lowly one, and the lowly one in the praises in the same deeds. And as for Paul, whom the Spirit chose, he distinguishes and makes equal with the one who contends with the heretic in the chosen contest. Paul speaks, the Spirit rules to contend with Paul, and whoever contends, the Spirit that chose him condemns him. Be silent, O heretic, do not contend, lest you be condemned by the severe judgment of the Spirit. Be silent, do not cry out with the true ones, the workers of zeal, while the fire of life burns in your nostrils. Enough, O life, that you have labored much for the name of Paul, and it is not hidden from me that you have not been struck by the distinction of his words. Much does the medicine of his words heal the pain that is in you, and because of this you labor for him like a physician. The medicine of life places a salve on the eye of your thoughts, so that you are not burned by the light that hides the interior from his words.

of the person. He gives you the cup of the blood of the Lord of his wrath, and through you he gives drink to the purity of the peace that pacifies all. He teaches you to ascend to the height towards the essence, and he shows you the hidden path of sensation. He separates you from the thicket of the word of Paul, who saw that the pure hidden one is not to be proclaimed. It is his own opportunity that he found and taught the ignorant like him, that the hidden one suffers and the body is wronged by boasting. By this, your words complete his will, and David, who arranges the orders that the spirit arranges through the preachers. Through you, he conceals his anger like a garment, and he entered and hid within the flock like a true one. To you, he sent like spies to the houses, and through you, he dried up the proclamation like rebels. Through you, the entrance of his contempt from the true ones was established, who by their persuasion weaken the strong body of faith. From your help alongside Paul, he learned this, that you were shaken by the storms against his words. Or from the impudence of the heretics and the slanderers who strive every time to corrupt the orders of the spirit. The great error that the rebels committed with the rebellious one, who trampled and scattered the pure holiness with their blasphemies. In your midst, the king who saved the race, have mercy on the race that, once freed, turned and became enslaved to the servitude of death.

Leave aside the path of your love, which is full of error, and travel the path of the full measure that has no equality. The heralds proclaimed truth and faith, and they rejected the spurning of falsehood that gives birth to evil. Paul abandoned his name and his hands, servants of the spirit, and he weaves a crown of victories for every one who spurns the workers of spurning. Do not bring the testimony of words from the true ones, which was established for him in the madness of the foolish in thought. If the word of Paul or of the Messiah comes, mention his name, and it is not received by the ears of the unjust. His teaching is abundant for the meditation of the words of the scriptures, and his labor is considered as something extra by the reckless. It is not fitting to meditate much on the glorious things, lest the heart err in the meditation of the words of the spirit. In a voice, the labor of words teaches and reveals the self, and the air becomes drunk with changes as if with wine. Do not eat much honey again, says the wise one, lest it show that you are not wearied by the scriptures. And the servant who knows the will of his lord and does not set it, swallows hard thorns from him who knows and oppresses. Behold, the teaching of the great fool to his disciples, that he formed letters and meditated on the alphabet from the beginning to learn. Behold, the interpretation of the scribe who is skilled to his hearers, that he darkened the alphabet from the knowledge of the word of life.

Behold, he placed the poison of the slayer of man who cast it into man, and led the flock astray from the path of the fullness of the Spirit. The Spirit revealed the path of life through the mouth of the heralds, and it supports with all its fullness the precepts before the travelers. He cast fear and terror, and led the flock away from the teaching, so that it might not travel the path of the books, lest it err. Come, herald, chosen mouth, who proclaimed truth; see the stains that the evil one mounts against your fullness. Come, teach us from the wisdoms that the Spirit placed in you, by which the secret of the zeal of the Spirit, who is victorious, is hidden. You yourself speak with the truth that is yours to the oppressors who oppressed you greatly with slander of their blasphemies. From the house of the archives of your writings, cover the flock, and with your words reveal the zeal of their errors. Every book that the Spirit of your truth wrote, the profit of life makes its labor sweet to those who read it. The perfect one acts and completes what he intends, and becomes worthy to serve spiritually. Come, see the zealous ones, the profit of the fullness of the Spirit, which perfects man in spiritual things and gives life. This truth also, by which you were leading your disciple, that from your youth the books taught you the path of life. In haste and confusion, the supporters of the thoughts of the Spirit were from after the voice of the great teacher to his disciple.

Do not be deceived falsely in his request by the power of the Spirit, who strengthens and seeks wisely. The Spirit testifies concerning his request, which is fittingly established, and he conceals the foul request of your shepherds. The Spirit becomes a mediator in the contest between me and you, and his sign reveals the hidden secret of your thoughts. He conceals from you the fact that you have wearied yourselves in the labor of his love, which arose in the contest and conquered, and he vanquished the snares. O the shadows of the shadows that have multiplied among the simple ones—where is the light that shines in his fear like the name of Paul? Which is the path whose course is simple like his words, and where is the one who does not weary in the way of his sweet words? O the blessings that are not limited and are hidden in his name, and when the mouth opens and calls Paul, it becomes rich and adorned. Where is the medicine that is not in his letters, pure and mixed, and for all pains a remedy is found from his teachings? Where is the order that gives life, which is not his own, and where is the structure that is not helped by his canons? He established laws for youth and for old age, for slaves and for free, to be subject under one master. He gathered all the measures under the canon of his preaching. And he united men with their women in the bond of love. He gave victory to the nobility of the will of the envious, and he strengthened and supported the weak among those who were humbled.

Arrange the orders of the headship, both inward and outward, and show to everyone how the hand that ought to act repays. While he sets the world in the chosen time of his Lord's love, that everyone might serve in the gift of spiritual life. He pursues the darkness of evil power from humanity and pursues humanity toward the light of his proclamation. With the sword of his word he cuts and casts away the mercy of falsehood and shows to everyone the bitterness hidden in its fruits. With the veil of his love he conceals the height of the mercy of glory and humbles the pride and arrogance of the flesh that is not worthy of humanity. The deadly poison of the serpent he mixed and kills humanity; he cast into it the arrow of his word, which is sharp and sweetens his poison. He called to the angry ones, "Be ashamed and cease from anger, until the sun of life that fills the time sets." He cast a boundary and cut a judgment before sinners, and he saved and strengthened those who, if they are justified, are not condemned. He revealed the wealth of the goodness of God the All, which he shows at the end of times to everyone and in everything. O the depth of the great wealth that cannot be exhausted, from which the world and its inhabitants drink and are not diminished. O the proof of the one who enters in his time to the senses and movements, and not even a small glance or will escapes him. O the knowledge that concealed everything without knowledge, that it might give life and bring to life by grace the works of her hands.

O valiant one who gave the sign, the keys of the Spirit, and opened the treasury of the hidden mysteries concealed from all. O disciple who attained the rank of chiefdom, and learned and taught by means of the three orders of speech. O one who learned from the law for the kingdom of Rome, and enriched and made rich from his treasures for the people and the nations. In you was completed, through the deeds, the power of the wonders, for you gathered together the wealth, both legal and spiritual. For blessedness you made equal from all mouths, O herald, who proclaimed the truth and turned all to the fear of truth. A crown of victory is prepared for you from every tongue, for you taught the people to sing praise to the name of the essence. By the path of your words it is necessary to follow all the interpretations that you expounded, the way of the passion of the body and the purification of the soul. Upon the request of your word, the lovers of truth will enter, for you perfected and sought one confession that is unshakable. To your own flesh, every man in body and soul will live, for you died to creation, and that creation was dead to you. Every day you were crucified to the passions as if without life, and you considered the world alive in the likeness of the dead. Blessed are you, Paul, the one who was crucified and crucified, for a crown of victory is preserved for you as a reward for your labors. He crucified with you the one who was crucified, as is customary, for he is equal to the mercy when the sign makes you equal to the blessed ones.

O valiant one who gave the sign, the keys of the Spirit, and opened the treasury of the hidden mysteries concealed from all. O disciple who attained the rank of chiefdom, and learned and taught by means of the three ordeals. O teacher who gave the keys of the mysteries to the penitent, to the lovers of his teaching.