Letter 17: To the brothers in the monastery of Izla who were seperated from their brothers

Letter 17: To the brothers in the monastery of Izla who were separated from their brothers and became estranged from them. To the chaste brothers of Mount Izla, those who, through the service of the Spirit, are zealous in the inheritance of their father Abraham. Beloved of God and laborers of virtue, my lords and brothers. Habib, and Zuzi, and Grigor, and Luqa, and Arzishoʿ, and Istephanos, and Yizday, and Barduq, and Shimʿon, and the chaste brothers with them. Yeshuʿyahb, your brother in the Lord, sends greetings. In the abundance of manifest hope, I have now considered, as is evident, the burden of the foolish or the deficient men. Concerning the trust that I placed in you, I raised it up above with the whole company. And I never expected that the humble would oppose the adversaries of their nature. I was ready to see you as now. In that, through many signs, a separation occurred for you, not through the innocence of the simple, whom the internal enemy, the adversary, was able to affect. Now then, after the two occasions on which I wrote to you, you yourselves remained silent from a response of word. It is understood that you are concealing the evil thought that is suspected, which is the hand that now, I have heard, has befallen you to feel. And because of this, while I speak with pain, I am stirred by the sound of blood. For what is that vine, the luxuriant one, which was bearing fruits of righteousness, when the gate of its vigilance is broken down, making its entire work a path for the filthy feet of the wicked? For what is that strong tower, which was protecting in every way, as if in the breach of hidden things it was shaken, and the hope of its strength was brought low to the ground? For what is that one who, in the order of spiritual battles, those who in many times from the shore of evil rulers, the victory of truth has taken away? Now, in the midst of a just house, a just house has given birth to a schism.

And as with a sharp sword, from the chief tendons of the order which they had set, he cut them off. For who is it that entered the court of the pious? And when he stripped away his covering, he found him, and seized his heel. And to say it more simply: For who is it that entered the beloved bosoms of the chaste Abraham and the good heirs of the righteous Dadishoʿ and the chaste disciple of the victorious Babi? Those who were one for them, and in whom everything was faith and conduct, and soul and word and all good customs? The day of distress, woefully, that they should receive from one another and feel pain, but it is evident that a hostile man did this, that same evil demon and sower of discord among mortals. He who from the beginning in Paradise cast the seed of disobedience, and later in the rebellion showed a new murder, and in every generation through evil ministers cast evil destructions upon the nature. As also now it is not less that he is stirred up, when he fell upon your house as upon the beloved of God, and he shattered your unity with the sword of his purpose, and he cuts off your truth with the victory of peace. He trembles, I say, O pious men, who in Izla as in a spiritual dwelling were established, and I see the chaste brothers as if they are considered as nothing concerning that which loved Israel, and from the rebellion as from a pit they are drawn up, and to a distance as to Egypt with an unjust ban they are sent. And he was left alone. But for him who as a robber was pitied, and for him who as Judah was strengthened, over these my heart was broken, and forms moved it. Especially over that which still, by addition, is the measure, and it is evil, it is a cause of stumbling, and without sensation it abides in the sons of Jacob in the pain of their sides, and they do not see beforehand the revelation that in Egypt before the day of shame, that from which there is no escape.

Know then, O brother men, that more than these, the Persian separators are able to separate your fellowship, and friends are strengthened, while enemies are mocked. And woe, more than any other, is especially pressing: the evil of the event, that which for you, as I supposed, I was establishing foundations of hope in the assembly against it. And now the hands are loosened, and the trembling of weak thoughts, and from whom then does one ask health from the sick? And from whom then does one ask strength from the weak? And from whom again does one ask unity from the divided? Or from whom, who cannot in his hope, unless he sees the leaders of war being mutually renewed in a woeful manner, and he is poured out, while the face of the water is taken for the cause of disturbance. For the evil was already simple, but moderately, and as in darkness they are hindered from the beauty of one another. Is it not that same faith for the one who was persecuted, as also for you? Already, indeed, even more so. Is it not that same love for the one who was persecuted? Already, indeed, even more so. Is it not that same zeal for the one who was persecuted? Already, indeed, even more so. Is it not those same assemblies for the sake of faith for the one who was persecuted? Already, indeed, even more so. Is it not that same power of word and disputation in the contests for the sake of truth, against those who constrained you by force to fall from the truth? Already, indeed, even more so. And as the Lord of the night will be your consolation, how you did not openly stand for the cause of righteousness in the righteousness of your deposition. But you will say that you were pressed by the heads of the church, and concerning this even the sin is diminished. But it was necessary for you to pursue the world. For you were, indeed, together with one another until now.

And like the limbs of a body of unity, it was fitting for you to preserve. For you were able, if you had wished, to show the power of your love to the Metropolitan and the Patriarch through the peace of Christ. And if there had been a pressing need for reconciliation with your brothers, in every way that the leaders of the Church deemed necessary, you ought to have been found ready and prepared on behalf of the one who was separated. And moreover, it is the case that in that very same cause of the wicked, you yourselves are also bound. Now, not only did you not hasten to submit to Salim, as if peace had been granted to you from the Patriarch, but you also did not hasten to the Metropolitan with the peace that was on his account. Rather, you have done a deed like that of bitter yeast, which leavens bread in vain. And that other cause was being loosed from the leaders of the Church; you added other knots of iniquity to cast a shadow over the remainder. Do you not know that truly you will be in the end? And not only now, but on the day of judgment. Therefore, be vigilant, O holy men, and be steadfast, for the mouth of Quietus stands firm. And like flowing waters that are scattered on the ground and are not gathered, there is nothing among all the hostile decrees that is not under your power if you wish to conquer. And there is no obstacle that has no remedy, if you wish to heal. And there is no stumbling block that cannot be subjected to peace, if you love tranquility. So then, converse with one another and pursue the cause of the disturbance. And see whether it is from the deeds of error or from a destructive defect. For you are able, when you consider rightly, to know which is the one that is pleasing to God. And do that and live. And be freed from wrath and be at rest from anger.

And do not be given over to doing evil, for evil things are swords. And those who hope in the Lord inherit the earth. Know, moreover, that there is more: when the ink of wrath prevails over the mind, it first strips the man of all good qualities, and then it is able to dash his honor against trifles. And it cannot distinguish fairness from drunkenness, nor advantage from loss. But everything is only received as a pretext for harm, like Isaiah. Therefore, beware, O brother men, lest you be found bound in such evil. For I have heard that your deed, too, is like that of a man who moves a sword of division against the separated ones with a trembling hand. For in the book of iniquity, as they say, the truth of the section of your brothers is cut off. Woe, woe to the harsh iniquity! Woe to the barbaric tyranny! Woe to the lawless excommunication! What, then, did that iniquity accomplish? It accomplished, from before this, something else that is fitting for the glory of God. It diminished, indeed, his external thoughts that contend against the heresies that fight against the truth. It shook, indeed, the foundations with the evils of the corrupters of good conduct. It restrained, indeed, by book and word those who, through changing schemes, are able to introduce the errors of vanity into the Church of God. Or is this, perhaps, his only first and last persecution, that he placed the sign of his error upon his brothers and the sons of his mother? They are those whose glory even the mouths of enemies are compelled to proclaim. If, then, all of you are indeed compassionate men who have been established to accomplish this iniquity, the grace of the gift of God has not permitted you to rule over the perfect ones of the Church through his Church.

and ignorantly you have been causing those who are zealous for the order to stumble. When this is the instigation of the spirit of your concord in the order of your brothers, and one of those who succeeded has shown, and all of you have been persuaded to complete, under the evil hope that it is for you the end of the matter, which also in other things is greatly destined to cause you to stumble in the peace of all evils, and before these other things. In the envious separation from the house of the son of Yoy, which either you have suffered from the beginning, or you are about to suffer a little, as I suppose. That one, however, while greatly disturbing until now the ways of the Lord, also your own ways, is now about, as with the diligence of your mind, to more strongly also mock the saints who sleep in Christ. Those who, concerning you as worthy heirs, have left the courses of their excellence. And behold, you are now about to suffer evilly from you as cursed hearts, because they were not able worthily to attain, like you, excellent wisdom, which was attained from you. And because of this, you are both blessed and wretched. Blessed, because in the whole glory of excellence you were perfected in the vessels of righteousness and rejoiced with the Lord. Wretched, however, because the hearts of such as these have left inheritances to their inhabitants. These, moreover, I have been compelled to say: with the painful suffering that has pressed upon me at the hearing of those things you have done. But I do not suppose that it is possible for this to happen: that the whole grief of your sister should overcome this evil as if it were a weakling, and that you should not be found in you even the nocturnal lovers of error with truth, and the kings of beauties. And alas for all of you.

this evil has prevailed like a serpent over the natures. Hear now what I ask of you: a voice alone, the awakener of your slumber. And so be roused, be roused, O men, O brothers. Be roused zealously, as in the days of old. And put on the strength of the arm of the Lord. And do not lose the boldness of countenance that you have: for a great reward is stored up for it. Remember, then, the former days: those in which you endured great affliction in sufferings for the sake of truth, in envy and in distress. And that you were spectators, and that you also shared in the fire that those who endured it suffered. And you shared in the joy of the triumphs of the powers. For you know that you have a reward in heaven that is better and does not pass away. For this whole foolish disturbance of excellence is being spread to deliver you from the adversary, the inner enemy. That which, when it had greatly exerted the burden of the years, could not, through foreign hands, overturn you as it wished. And behold, it has now come upon many of you at all times—those who were strong in power and were successful in the world. And they ceased as they ceased. And you, as you are, have remained in more excellent glory until now. Nor, moreover, was that measure of the enemies able, through your own hands, to set up a minister who would suit its will, until, far from you, it set up a demon of leprosy, named Isaac, and for him with the crown of his wickedness and his mixture with your grief, he was sent to the destruction of his standing and to your evil. And in this, as in a zealous minister, the fulfillment of his desire was sufficiently found, and he was able to anoint the adversary, the enemy of the flesh. So let not the Lord give his desire to the wicked through your hands, O holy men. And let his thought not ascend to the head.

But the wickedness of his lips, which in the embers of his sin he kindled. For you have been mixed with the dust of the hour, and have been cleansed with the mud of enmity, and have been roused from the sleep of negligence. And like sons of the covenant, then, walk thus, and be confirmed in the truth of God, who is confirmed in you. And guard the tradition of your fathers vigilantly, so that you may be sons of the inheritance of their sanctity, and not be shamed by them on the day of judgment. And go out after your brothers and grieve yourselves. And if it is necessary to suffer for their sake, do not be hindered until you make yourselves into sons of the monastery and partners in love. For an evil time is prepared, which will rise against us from behind shortly, that in which many helpers will be separated from you: if you are lovers of faith and lovers of truth. And if not, you will lose all the virtues at once. Remember, then, O sons, my lowliness, for me to be a partner in your love, and it is fitting that I be well-disposed, just as I am well-disposed toward you. And answer me in writing the true thoughts of your minds concerning all the things I have written to you. Write to me, then, as it seems good to you, whether all of you together or each one individually. For I am the same to you now as I was from the beginning: the same son and brother, and participant in all the communion of your deeds and your words, in all things that are fitting to the will of God and that save from wickedness all who call upon the name of the Lord. May He, by His grace, perfect you in every good work that you do according to His will. Be steadfast in the Lord.