Letter 23: To Ishoʿsabran on the true faith

Letter 23: To Ishoʿsabran on the true faith — Ishoʿyahb III of Adiabene To the faithful and God-fearing Mar Ishoʿsabran: Ishoʿyahb, in the Lord, greetings. I received with joy the letter of your love, O friend of God. And I gave thanks to the Lord for your health. And greatly, with a rich faith, you have also greatly gladdened me. For this is wealth: it shines forth to the righteous in every generation. For concerning the head, indeed, it is weakness and concealment that has come to be; thus the hope of your wisdom supports, not greatly did I labor to rejoice. That same one, indeed, not even the whole. For there is no one who strikes the face of the earth with the guilt of his sins, who has not a praise that is not spoken of evilly according to his evil, or even to this one who is not a Nestorian in thought. And if it were not that it is of Nestorius, that otherwise it is known to God, otherwise indeed it is understood by the heretics. Yet I was somewhat eager to diminish from the measure of the interpretation, in that the scribe who served you in his skill gave the letter to my lowliness, that it is a sublime thought. That which, as concerning one who is of understanding, was placed as excellent in the hope of revelation. And may the Lord, by his mercies, establish your faith upon the foundation of truth. And to the proud who err in your letter, a saving hope may be given. For if the grace of God assists these, also for me, from the affliction of obligation, a deliverance in goodness is fitting. And that together with the completion of the excellences, joy may be found in the time that is right. It is fitting for you in goodness, from the great wealth of the mercy of God, that he, by his grace, is able to strengthen your weakness to do his will all the days of your life. Completed.