On Our Lord's Question and on the Revelation That Simon Received from the Father

Of the holy Mar Jacob of Serugh Memra 9 (On Our Lord's Question and on the Revelation That Simon Received from the Father) O Father of mercy, who redeemed us by the blood of Your Only-begotten: From You I take strength to speak of Your Only-begotten. True Son, who came to us to set us free: In You I shall speak of Your revelation and Your reasons. Holy Spirit, scribe of the simple and the unlettered: Through You I have become wise and have stirred up a discourse; the whole thing is a wonder. O Father who begets, give me a word because of Your Son: To speak in love, to relate richly. O Son who is born, reveal in me Your beauty because of Your Father: That my mouth may speak, raising its voice in new praise. Holy Spirit, the seal by which the whole Gospel is sung: Through You my humble tongue has been turned to Your glorification. O Father who sent His beloved Son, who died for us: Open my lips to speak concerning Your Only-begotten. O Only-begotten, who gave us all the wealth of His Father: By the wealth of Your mysteries may my speech be stirred toward the hearers. Holy Spirit, who flowed gently as a stream before the disciples: Smooth the path for me to speak the wonder that is beyond me. O Father of all that is and all that are because of Him: From You I take the cause for a discourse that is not exhausted. O Son, in whose hand is everything except Himself alone: Through Your hand I shall sing praise to Your Father, full of distinction.

The Spirit, the treasury of the mysteries of the priesthood and of the apostleship: From your treasures, give me wealth for speech. The Father who, out of love, delivered up His Son for the sake of sinners: On their behalf, speak concerning your Son before the hearers. The Son who was humbled, that He might be from us, while He was our Lord: Reveal to me in wonder, and let me know your light from your words. The Spirit that lowers all the high peaks of the proud: You, set for me a path for my feeble words. But from the one who gave me love that stands like a fountain: Before the hearers, and leads them toward teaching. But from the one who is easy, to know the voice of the teaching: That was sweet to her, a gentle stream without bitterness. But from the one who walks in the illuminations of great love: From the speaker and from the hearers, in one will. But from the one who strives for a single will, the zeal of God: Who wills that everyone be enriched from Him, without loss. Concerning profit, everyone embraces the listener: Whether speakers or hearers of faith. O you who speak, you gain and profit while you speak, you: And if there is no profit, you, you serve silence. And you, hearer, you also profit while you listen, you: And if you do not profit, you are idle before the speaker. Love, bring you, that also love has moved me to speak: For profit is not achieved except through love.

Do not, in a lowly manner, fashion my words for the hunt: For love, from the beginning, has made a yoke that is not subjugated. Pure is the word from humility and wisdom: Pure also is your hearing, Simon, for the simple ones. Descend from the height of wisdom in which you stand, And humble yourself to me, that I may speak to you perfectly. Unless the Son of God had descended and humbled Himself, He would not have reached to speak to those where He is. If, out of love, He had not lowered Himself to poverty, How could He have spoken His spiritual riches? Unless He willed and came to clothe Himself in lowliness, What mouth would have been able to recount His might? That High One descended and gave Himself to you, that He might speak to you: Not in His height, O Simon, hear concerning His revelation. On the great road which the Son of God laid in the world, He did not walk in it clothed in the garment of lowliness. Rather, out of the love which is His, He sought the simple ones: No garment is able to speak concerning the Only One. O you who hear me as I speak, hear my words: In the love of the Self who knows and has compassion on the simple ones. Know from the Self of that One who speaks, if you are discerning: That the utterance which began to speak is higher than Him. Concerning the Son of God, who is unutterable among utterances, How does He speak except that His speech is without limit?

What scribe, or wise man, or disputant, Is able to explain the wonder that cannot be explained? From the confession that the Son knows, let him explain his name: For except the Father, no one knows who the Son is. Or concerning the Father, who dares to speak, Since the Son alone knows the Father, who is His equal? And you, O hearer, how will you proceed, if you are upright, To speak concerning that Child, who is without measure? Neither is your ear sufficient for the measure of the Son, Nor can a speaker speak Him as He is. Do not confess that you have a hearing that grasps His lineage, Lest I confess that I have a word that reaches unto Him. Whoever thinks that he encompasses the Son of God, Is erring in his aim, whether he be hearer or speaker. Denied is the knowledge of one who thinks that he attains the measure of the Son, And vain is the thought of one who thinks that he has overtaken or will overtake Him. If you wish to attain His measure, do not listen to me, For I have no word that reaches the height of the Son. For He passes beyond the ascents that cannot be apprehended, That the word might ascend and speak, for He is high above utterances. The Son is in His Father, and who can measure the height of the Father, In whom His begetting is, and within His depth He is hidden in His essence? Who speaks concerning Him who is hidden in the depth of His Father, And, without change, dwelt in the virgin who filled the womb?

In the Father hidden, and in the mother the virgin, the Son is true. And he who interprets the question and is amazed, he alone has it. He came when he was not known, and he came to us when he was not perceived. And in height he was, and in depth he was, and he confesses himself. That which dwells in the depth, height was not sufficient for it. He was wholly in all, and in Mary he was, and in his begetter. The questions came not to be examined or interpreted. But to perform weak works and to heal his place. The world saw the great one in the measure of smallness. And many speakers, and their speech could not find him. They saw him, a man who came in flesh, though he was God. And what they would say about his coming, they did not know. They saw him full of power, strength, and might. And they saw his form, and his powers were cast down from the tongues. The blind open, the lepers cleanse, the deaf hear. The sick heal, and the dead rise, divinely. When they saw him in weakness like a man, they turned and saw him in might like God. At times he hungers like a man full of passions, and at times he gives like a God who has mercy. And in the midst of this new way that fills the wonder, the beholders wondered and said, "What is it?" They did not know. They were perplexed, they stood between greatness and smallness, and they were not able to say what it is without doubt.

is that they said of him that he was God, the Word. For like a man they used to see him in the marketplace. And as a man, their contemplation did not cease. The powers that he performed bore witness that he was God. He mingled with man and performed divine powers. And no man knows how to say what he is from the earth. And when they did not know, they assigned names to him, so that they might say what he is, when they did not know from their wisdom. There is one who said that he was Elijah, because of his life. Another said that he was Jeremiah, because he was chosen. There is one who confessed, but how they named him he did not know, except that one of the prophets whose name is not known named him. And they began to name him one of the prophets whose name is hidden. Or, O seers, do not assign to him a name that is not his own. To the Son of God do not call him a foreign name. Do not call the Son Elijah or Jeremiah, nor a prophet whose name is hidden from his begetter. They chose and assigned to the Son of God names that are not his, and they were not pleasing to him, and he fled from them and was hidden. He had pity on the world that was in confusion and sought his name, and he desired to teach it, that he has a true name. And the Lord of the sign took his apostle to the upper room, to teach him clearly what his name is.

He traversed the entire region and went up to the border, that manifest knowledge of divine mysteries. He reached the border of the great light and of the revelations. And the great one began, as if he were asking his disciples. They say that the man who was there asked him, that he might open the door to mysteries for discourse. For the Son of the children, the scribe who teaches beautiful things, asked him that he might teach wisely. The questioning was not because he was eager for learning, but to abolish the vain names that the people had given him. He saw the disciples who were not asking, that they might learn his name. And instead of them, he himself was asking that he might teach. Vain names, confusion, and speech he wished to silence. Concerning this, he asked, that he might speak with many. As a teacher asks a child for an explanation, he answers the child and instructs him that he may be vigilant. He asked not that he might learn from the disciples, but that they might learn from him truly. He also, in this, resembled one who asks his Father, that he might not be inferior even in this to his begetter. The Father asked among the trees, "Where is Adam?" from Mount Sinai, "What is this that you have in your hand?" To Moses and to Adam the Father asked, and thus his Son. He also asked, that they might say, "The man who is there.

He examined the signs and the knowledge of the whole world. And he searched all hearts and their thoughts. The heart could not be moved, nor the thought from its place. Neither did a sign dwell in him, nor did he perceive it. And when he was made equal to both the hidden and the revealed, one thing remained for him: that which had passed and that which was to come. The Father asked in a mystery, and he also asked his Son, so that he who was asked might know what the whole seeks. He knew what they would say, for he knew what they would say and what their thoughts would rest upon. He greatly loved that time and that question, for from the knower a little one spoke lovingly. The sun stood and spoke with its rays, and filled the great boundary of faith with light. Twelve lights with the day of righteousness, the hours of the day whose joys illuminate the world. Twelve plants from the sphere of the sun our Lord, they stood before him to learn the sign whose name is where. A wall full of light and life and sweetness, truth and hope and peace and love and faith. Twelve joys that drive away the night from the face, from the earth that kindles light, rejoicing in one. The chief of the twelve forces who went out with the king's son, who set the boundary of peace for faith.

Twelve signs that the Son of God placed in his entirety. And all the crowns and diadems of vanity fell before him. Twelve men whom he chose took the good inheritance: in which every sword that was drawn was blunted. Twelve workers who accompanied the capable son: to the thresholds of the world they hastened with diligence. He stood as a suitor who enters a house for a bride who is bought, and brought twelve stones and marked her bed. And he looked among all of them which hand had chosen, placed first. He guarded her for her father in revelation and showed her beauty. At the boundary of life he bound her with a girdle for praise, and with covenants he crowned her lovingly. He marked the house with the twelfth of full light, and chose one stone for its foundations of the hidden things. And he guarded the mystery of the Father, which became the cause then: for that stone which was in the hands of the Son was being sought. And he began to ask, though he knew what he was doing: that by this cause that question would establish the Church. Some say, "The Father who exists as if he does not know," and they began those who spoke to him of the goodness outside. My Lord, there are those who say that you are Elijah, and there are those who say Jeremiah, and there are those who consider you another prophet from the ancients. The people are divided into many opinions, and the righteous and the speakers gave full of your reasons.

Each man, each man thought you were like the one who supposed, when they were many. And also the disputes and the contentions for your sake. The voices of the whole people were for the disciples. And what was spoken among the crowds about the Savior? Our Lord said, "Behold, the outsiders are like outsiders. They all spoke, they spoke, you are like insiders. Behold, you have come to me, what is spoken from afar? Come to me now, your speech is like that of those near. Behold, I have heard among the multitudes what is spoken. You are friends, reveal to me now your thoughts." The question was fitting from the beginning in which he stood, and upon it he turned toward the disciples and followed them. Our Lord saw that the speech that was from the outsiders was difficult, and he learned the cause for its account. If he had learned what was spoken, he would have asked them, "What from what they heard?" And also the question about the disciples. The speech of the people, behold, he heard it when he was asking. And if he had learned, he would have asked them, and it would not have changed. He showed in the revelation of that question toward the outsiders. The inquiry entered among the insiders and followed them. Upon the preachers of the faith he set a path, that as true ones they would say his name, "Where?" The great inquiry stood there over the disciples, that they would say, "What is the hidden thing that the people do not know?

Leave the thoughts that were being spoken by the Jews. And the questions of his house seek his sayings, how he is. Leave aside and reject that thought of Judaism. And begin to inquire concerning the thought of the apostleship. For he was seeking that they say, "How are they like the true ones?" For concerning them was the key of the treasury of the house of God. They say, "Are you the one who is, or the disciples?" And the disciples were troubled by the wondrous question that they heard. Our Lord raised the dead to life, so that they might know how, or else they would say they were being deceived. Simon heard when the true Son sought him, who called him by his name, and he was troubled that he spoke without his Father. And the head of the disciples raised his thought to the height above. And in his thought he was exalted to the place of his Father. He ascended from the earth and from the creation of visible things. And he left behind him existences and worlds and everything in them. He was proceeding in his thought from the building of the temple of the world, and he left the lower heavens and again ascended. And he went and stood before him in the holy of holies, the hidden one of the essence, before the Father, and began to appease him with a pure heart. "My Lord, what is the name that you have set for your only one? You are his mother, you are his teacher; how shall I call him?

This is the one that the Father set for the name of his Son: It is yours, my Lord; command me to call him as you wish. It is not mine; let me call him by your unique name. Reveal to me how I should show him, from what you taught me. But as I call him, he does not answer. You call him by his name, and command me also to call him thus. It was concerning the agreement of Simon, the head of the apostles, before the Father, and he revealed his mystery to that true one. A revelation came forth from the house of the Father to that disciple, and he took it and descended as if from the king's house. The hidden hand of the Father showed the nature, and it was written on it: "You are the Messiah, the Son of God." And he raised his voice as commanded by the revelation: "Toward the Savior, you are the Messiah, the Son of God." His true name was hidden in the Father, and Simon learned it, and he came and showed his Lord that he knew the name. He learned and taught the glorious name of the Son of God, which has no addition nor diminution; it has no limit. The Father revealed to Simon the chosen one concerning his beloved, and he hid how he revealed to him the great mystery. And the Son, who knows the hidden Father and his secrets, showed Simon how he revealed his name as it is. As from himself, Simon called him when he called him, and showed our Lord that this revelation was not his own.

It was not of flesh and blood that he revealed to you as though to a speaker: Not from yourself did you bring the name that is not revealed. Did you not know that your own knowledge would call me thus? It was the Father who revealed to you that if he were not, he would not know me. By the beloved name that Simon brought from the house of the Father, he called his Lord, that you are the Christ, the Son of God. And at once he received a crown as from the hand of a king. Great is the blessedness of the faith that is not confounded, for it gave him a gift in return for the confession to that disciple who confessed everything as he confessed and received blessedness. Also for this reason our Lord asked when he was asking, that he might give blessedness to everyone who holds faith. Simon brought the name in revelation from the house of the Father, and he received his reward, a divine crown. He gave him blessedness as a seal of faith, that this confession might clothe you and stand in the whole world. Show Simon that when he revealed to him, he was toward his Father: the hidden mystery that brought the true name into the world. Show that he is equal with his begetter in revelations and in hidden things and in the interpretations of all wisdoms. O disciple, you were toward the Father when he revealed to you, as also now the Father is with me and does not depart from me. And the Father did not give you revelation apart from me, nor does he give blessedness apart from the Father to you.

The Father revealed to you, not as though you did not know: And He gave you the blessing, not as though the Father did not consent to me. Your self is equal to the revelations and to the confession. Full truth, not to be shaken in the face of divisions. You are the rock and the foundations of the great house. I set you and upon you the Church that I have chosen. Your likeness is true, bearing weight and not falling away. To you first in my inquiry I set as a true one. Be the foundation for the temple of holiness that encloses me in it. And upon you are built all the likenesses of the daughter of the day. The bride is adorned and prepares for me the great bridal chamber. You are the first who is fragrant with the true one’s fragrance. To you I entrusted the summer fruit of the daughter of the day. And upon you I seek her who is high because of your inquiry from the free ones. Your truth is the rock, because you are the rock. And upon you I seek the Church that is high from the divisions. You are the rock, and upon you I seek the glory. And the accusers of Sheol do not harm her in their ranks. And what are the accusers of Sheol, or the hearers? But death, even the sword’s edge that falls to the earth. The high gates that from within shut in Adam. And there the whole captivity begins in the place of darkness. The accusers who block the path of life so that it may not walk. And they multiply the passage that no one may cross toward God.

The doors and the locks of the mystery were at the face of Adam: so that he would not again go out from the darkness in which he was lost. Because of this, he betrothed the chaste bride: so that she would not be bound by their faces, nor would she be conquered. The light is her dowry, and in the darkness she is not bound. Life is her portion, and from then on death does not harm her. He began at the house and chose a stone and laid the foundation: and gave the height that it might conquer death and Satan. He betrothed her so that the meals of Sheol would not harm her: so that without end she would not give herself to be with him. The great apostle was the foundation for the great house: that the bride might enter upon an indestructible threshold. He tied her girdle, and so that she would not fear, he betrothed her: that the destroyers would not have power over her thresholds. He began with her virginity, and upon that great stone which was found: he placed her dowry, so that her height might pass even to the clouds. Twelve stones he arranged in the fortress of light: and one he chose, upon which the whole house was built. He carved her, and marked her, and engraved the great stone which was found: and he set her deep in that great foundation which he had laid. The chaste one chose him, and his father engraved her in that revelation: and the spirit completed her, and placed her as the foundations of the Church. He drew the revelation from his knowledge, the hidden one of the Father: and descended to establish the house for the son who would serve in it.

The chaste bride did not know the sin of the serpent. The Father revealed to her and loosened the bonds of her chastity. The serpent pursued her, for if he knew him, and because of his knowledge, he gave her the blessedness that befits the Father's treasury. She confessed that she could not be cleansed from destruction. And he mingled with the peoples and passed through the lands of the earth, rejoicing with her. From the house of snares he took the bride, and from the stumbling blocks, and he broke the snares, opened a way, and led her toward him. She had two suitors of knowledge who were striving for her, and he gave her that they might not overcome her. The gates of Sheol were pressing upon her at their boundaries, and he considered and came and placed her foot upon their necks. He set her in the light and cast the darkness before her, and he made the shadows of death flee from her paths. He set her upon the great rock of the chosen one, and the fullness of beauty, and he established her pillars at the twelfth of the fullness of light. He opened doors for her opposite the radiance of the apostleship, that she might dwell in the splendor of the light, mightily. He set her up like a pillar, lost in creation, and he adorned and fixed the stones of light for the great house. With the wood of the cross of righteousness he perfected her dwelling, and with her pure shoulders and the rest he arranged her covering. With the gems of his hands he secured her strong bolts, and for her adornment, he colored the inner chambers with his blood for her honor.

He gave her blessedness as a gift of full wealth, so that she might always delight in his divine light. He rebuked death and overthrew Satan in his pain. And the bride rejoiced in the blessedness of the sinner and in his confessions. For he had called his son by his name, that disciple. He gave him blessedness, and the Church sought after the Apostle. He made him a rock and laid the foundations of his house, so that he might see that he alone holds all the keys and is not to be broken. "To you I give the keys of my kingdom; confess to him that he is the foundation and the master of the house for the house." If you bind on earth, you are bound also in heaven; and if you loose on earth, you are loosed in heaven. In height and depth he gave authority to the apostolate, so that above and below it might command in a lordly manner. To the daughter of the poor, the rich one betrothed her and wrote her in his name, and gave her the keys so that she might be mistress over his treasures. The wealth of the depth and the treasure of the height he revealed to her, so that above and below she might be mistress without being commanded. He spread her garment, and she did not think that he had woven it like a garment; all his keys he placed in the hands of his greatly beloved. All the gates that his father has he gave her to open, so that she might see and rejoice and her heart be enlarged, how rich she is.

He made her mistress over the high and the low, over height and depth, and they were obedient in their forms. He saw that the lover loved the good heir and was not distressed, and immediately gave her all his treasures and their keys, though she was poor and her appearance was lowly and her worth was slight. He gave her his keys because he saw her truth. He took the daughter of the poor from the depths and from the low place, and snatched her up to the height until she reached the sanctuary of the high ones. The high gates of the Holy of Holies, that high one, he empowered her to open because he saw that she loved his father. He saw the Father giving revelation like a bestower, and he gave the key and the full keys of the Father were delivered. He saw that his begetter loved the glorious one, and he brought out and gave her the keys and the blessings of the whole house. There was a mystery between him and his father, and he saw that he revealed it. The Father to the Church, and immediately the Lord made her mistress of his house. He saw the sinner to his father, who named the bride and gave her, and he desired to do the will of the father, that her love might increase. He saw that his taking was from the house of the father in that revelation, and he gave her the keys of great wealth and the whole treasure. Her love, the father, because she loved his only one, and he received her as his firstborn, because he saw that his father loved her.

Come, O seers, and marvel at the deed of the sinful king: He saw that the poor woman was faithful, and he gave her the crown. He asked for her, a house over the disciple whom he loved, and he gave her the keys of height and depth because of his love. He made her ruler over the freedom that unlocks treasures and looses seals. Blessed is the rich one by whose coming the poor became rich.