Letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham concerning Barsawma

Again, the Letter of the Blessed Mar Simeon, Bishop of Beth Arsham, which he wrote concerning Barsawma and the heresies of the Nestorians, showing how and in what time it had its beginning, and at what time it descended into the land of the Persians. For just as the true faith of the Christians took its beginning with Abraham, the chief of the patriarchs, through the covenant that was made with God, that in your seed all the nations would be blessed, which is the Messiah, as it is written, and through the true faith, Abraham was called father of all the nations that exist, even of us also, so also the error of the Nestorians took its beginning with us and Caiaphas, the chief of the priests, together with the rest of the Jews of that time. For the Jews considered the Messiah to be a mere man. As they used to say of him that he blasphemed, and, "Since you are a man, you have made yourself God." And this was being bandied about among the Jews at that time. And among them he was a mere man, and among them a righteous man and a prophet, and a good teacher, and they called him the king of Israel. Others, however, called him Beelzebub and chief of demons and Samaritan and blasphemer, and they called him a transgressor of the law. And there was division among the Jews concerning him. And both parties considered him a mere man. And this opinion is still bandied about among the Nestorians to this day. Among them, however, it was from the Jews that Simon Magus received his sorcery. He who was of the Samaritan race, the brothers of the Jews in some respects, and he stood up against the apostles in the city of Rome, when he exalted himself and said, "I am the great power," and considered himself the Messiah.

from those who received him from Simon the Magician and from his companions and teachers. From him, that is, from Simon, received Menander; and from Menander received Satornil; and from him, Paul the Samosatene, that same one who was bishop of Antioch, the city of Syria, in the days of the king of the Romans, before the faithful king Constantine had yet reigned, because there was no fear from the king of the Romans. And this Paul the Samosatene was more insolent and blasphemous than Simon the Magician and Menander and Satornil, his teachers. And he said concerning the blessed Mary, that she gave birth to a common man, Mary, and that she did not remain in her virginity after she gave birth. And he called the Messiah a creature, and made, and mortal, and a son of grace. And he said concerning himself, that even he, if he wished, could become the Messiah, because he and the Messiah are of one nature. And from him, that is, from Paul the Samosatene, the heresy of two natures and their hypostases and their energies was shown. And from Paul received Diodore of Tarsus, the city of Cilicia, who was from his youth from the heresy of Macedonius, that one who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. And when Diodore had taught the Christians and become bishop of Tarsus of Cilicia, he added to the heresy of Macedonius and also divided the natures and their hypostases and their energies in the Messiah, and considered the Messiah to be a mere man, created, made, and mortal, of nature, and a son of grace. And in everything he followed Paul the Samosatene, his teacher. From him, that is, from Diodore, received Theodore of Mopsuestia of Cilicia. This one interpreted all the books of the Old and New Testaments, and all their interpretations and his discourses show a Jewish understanding that he had concerning the Messiah.

as Diodorus and Paul the Samosatene, his teachers, and from those who received from Simon the Magician, and from Paul and from Diodorus, to those who received and confirmed. And in the beginning, created and made and mortal, a son of nature and a son of grace, and a temple of a created being, he considered the Messiah, and that he is not a son of God by nature but by grace. Along with the rest of his blasphemies, which fill his discourses and all his interpretations from him, that is, from Theodore, Nestorius received. Now this Nestorius, who had been appointed a presbyter in the church of the great city of Antioch, and afterwards became bishop of Constantinople, and he was from the city of Germanicia. And he strove to seize for himself the leadership of the wicked heresy of his teachers, those who are written above. And all those who were of his heresy were called by his name, like the Marcionites who were called by the name of Marcion, and like the Eutychians who were called by the name of Eutyches. For this reason, Nestorius, the enemy of truth, openly blasphemed in the church of Constantinople, and those from Simon the Magician and from Ebion and Artemon and Paul the Samosatene and Diodorus. And the teachings of Nestorius himself were secretly transmitted in their houses until that time, and he in his pride seized the leadership of the heresy. And he stood up in the church before all the people and openly blasphemed, saying: "Do not boast, Mary, for you did not give birth to God, but to a beginning, a created being, made and mortal, and a son of nature and by grace alone, he who was called son of God." And because of his hardness towards mortals, Jesus is the son of God. Along with the rest of the many blasphemies on account of which he was anathematized in the city of Ephesus by the holy fathers, with the agreement of the whole holy church of God.

he and his companions, who are written above, and to their faith, and to everyone who submitted to him or to them from that time. Their name was called Nestorians. From him, that is, from Nestorius, Theodoret of Cyrus received. That Theodoret, by his error on behalf of Nestorius, made a wicked synod against the holy fathers who at Ephesus had excommunicated the great Nestorius. And from him, that is, from Theodoret, Ihiba received. That Ihiba, together with the rest of all his blasphemies which are written above, added and blasphemed in one of his discourses and spoke thus: "I do not envy Ihiba that he did not begrudge in Christ that he became God." For he was called God because he is in the beginning, consubstantial and of like nature. For this reason Ihiba and Theodoret of Cyrus were anathematized, along with their companions and all who submitted to them. From him, that is, from Ihiba, a man whose name was Mārī from Beth Hardashīr received, and from there it began that the land of the Persians was corrupted by Nestorianism, through the letters of Ihiba and the interpretation of the discourse and the translations of his companions. And after Mārī, from Ihiba a presbyter from Edessa whose name was Marutha Eliṯā received. He was the scribe of the school of the Persians which was in the city of Edessa at that time. And there were in the school of Edessa at the time of the Persians who were with them these: Aqaq the Aramean, who was called in that school "the yoke of blame"; and Barṣawma, the servant of Mārā Qadrōyā, who was called "the helper of the house of Qaʿā"; and Maʿā of Beth Hadratšīr, who was called "the staff of ashes"; and ʿAbšūṭā of Ṣīʿūā, a city which is called a name that it is not right to write; and Yōḥannān the potter, who was called "the snare"; and Mīkā, who was called "Ragōʿ"; and Pōlā bar Qaqqī from the fortress of Beth Hūzāyē, who was called "the servant of Lōbīās.

and Abraham the Mede, who was called Shagar, Bata and Barsa the Garbaean, Azlia from the monastery of Kapar Mari, these with their other companions were one harsh faction. They were opposed to the teaching of Yahb, and there were also others who did not listen to Yahb, whose names are written here: Mar Papa from Beth Laphat, the city of the Huzites; Mar Aksnaya from Tahal of Beth Garmi; and his brother whose name is Adi; and Mar Bar-Hadbshaba the Kurd, who was after the archdeacon in the monastery of 'Ain Qata; and Mar Bshimish the Aramaean, who was after the archdeacon in the village of the monastery of the school in the jurisdiction of the 'Umraye; and others with them who did not submit to the will of Yahb. And after the death of Hisha, all the Persians were expelled from Edessa, along with the rest of the Edessan writings that had submitted to them, and through the diligence of the blessed Mar Qura, bishop of Edessa, and by the command of the small king of the Romans, the school of the ... who were teaching there was uprooted. The Persians in Edessa were scattered, and in its place a church was built in the name of Our Lady Mary, the Mother of God. Those who were expelled from Edessa went down to Beth Parsaye, and they were with the bishop there in the city of the Persians. That one, however, settled in Beth Aramaye. And Barsawma the elder in Nisibis; Ma'na in Beth Hadrashir; Yohannan in the fortress of Beth Sari of Beth Garmi; Mika in Lashom of Beth Garmi; and Pula bar Qaqi in the fortress of Lada of Beth Huzaye; and Pusi bar Qurti in Shushtar, the city of the Huzites; Abraham in Beth Madaye; Barsa the Garbaean was a teacher in Nisibis. And when the Huzites and Persians were seeking the teachings of Nestorius and Theodore, as they received them from Yahb, they made a mixed confession among the Persians.

First, in the city of Metropolis of the Huzaye, in the year seventeen of Peroz, king of kings, this occurred. And again in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the city of Beth Aramaye. And again in Beth 'Adri, a village in the jurisdiction of Beth Garmai. And he set up various altars of the new faith, different from their own, and separated themselves from the true faith of the holy fathers, that which from the holy apostles they received, that which was proclaimed by the Holy Spirit, in the city of Nicaea with three hundred and eighteen bishops together with Constantine, the true believing king of the Romans. And the one hundred and fifty holy and sanctified bishops in Constantinople with Theodosius the Great, Caesar. And the two hundred and fifty-three bishops in the city of Ephesus with Theodosius the Lesser, Caesar, and they assented to it and again confirmed it. Also the four hundred and ninety-five bishops of great Alexandria, and of Antioch of Syria, and of Cappadocia, and of Galatia, with Zabbai, Caesar. And in the writing of that which is called the Codex, and they assented and confirmed it at the time of Marutha, bishop, who was sent on an embassy from Caesar, king of the Romans, to Yazdegerd, king of kings, in the eleventh year of his reign, with forty bishops from the jurisdiction of the Persians, and these assented and confirmed it. And also now thirty-three bishops of the region of Gurdan with their king and their magnates, and thirty-two bishops of great Armenia of the Persians, with their marzbans, together with the rest of the orthodox bishops and Christian kings from Constantine, the true believing king, down to the blessed life of Anastasius, Caesar. All these bishops, therefore, excommunicated every time in its time.

To all who dare to write or to teach and to hand on another faith than this which is written above. For it alone is the true and faithful one of all the holy orthodox churches everywhere. And they were of the true faith, all the Persians, until the seventeenth year of the passage of the bishop of the Persians over the excommunication of all the bishops and of the king which are written above. And they set up another faith of their own, a quaternity upon the Trinity, confessing Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and in Christ two natures. Because of this they separated themselves from the communion of the Nestorians from the seventeenth year of Peroz the king. And until today they have excommunicated them, and also they have excommunicated them and their first teachers, the great ones, and their fathers and their teachers, and Paul of Samosata, and Diodore, and Theodore, and Nestorius, and Theodoret, and Ibas, and all those who followed in their footsteps and stood against the truth. And with them and like them they excommunicate Mani and Marcion and Eutyches and Arius and Apollinarius and their teachings, and all who think or think like them. And they excommunicate again fully all those who came in letter or synod or discourses or metrical homilies or questions or in the offering of the offering, or in the sanctification of the water, or in the oil of baptism, who say that God the Word took from the head of the Word a perfect nature, for the hardness and the eternal dwelling, and all who distinguish and give divinity to God the Son, continuously, and sufferings and passion and death to Jesus the head, the Son of grace, and consider two natures, one of nature and another of grace, and all who say and say two natures and their hypostases and their energies in Christ after the true union and the ineffable.

that it was truly from two natures. And they anathematize the faith and the confession and everything that was from Aqaq and Barsawma and from Tharsis and his heretical companions. And all who agreed or agree with them. And they anathematize again Mar Tahliya the Great of the Catholicate of Babi, in whose days this heresy appeared, Mar the teacher of the heresy of the school of Paul the Samosatan, and of Diodore of Babi of the Aramaeans, and from him Babi the Catholicate received teaching, the son of Hormizd, who was the scribe of Zabrigan the marzban of the Aramaeans. Everyone who does not confess that Mary is the Mother of God is anathema.