Letter 28: To Luliana on the true faith

Letter 28: To Luliana on the true faith — Ishoʿyahb III of Adiabene To the faithful in truth and to the fearer of God, Mar Luliana. Ishoʿyahb, by the Lord, sends greetings. I received through the messenger your letter of love, O lover of God, which came to me by name. But it was sent to another person, not to me. And if I were silent on account of the name, the matter of the gospel would be hindered; and if I were silent on account of the person, the matter of the faith would be hindered. And when, through the abundance of messengers, I was compelled to the door of my insignificance, I confessed to the mercy of God, and with a weak soul I received the love of your affection with joy. Not that I am what I am, but as you believed me to be. For to me, who am without gospel and without error, this is a sickness that strikes every door. But to you, a faithful physician in the art of loving the good, this is yours. For thus also concerning the weak head, which is often far from its door, place your faith clearly in the hope of excellence. And if faith is stripped away, the revealed faith does not remain—that which you are; and if a rotten support cannot help, that which I am—but by the hands of God, even the dead can be raised, He who is rich in His mercies; His hunters, as it were, of force are compelled to be occupied in prayer for two in one person of distress. Not with me: that your pure faith may be praised with abundant fruits of mercy, and that your foot may be freed from the stumbling blocks of sins, which are all pain that oppresses, and that the abundance of His helps may be poured out upon you at all times. And to you, who are obligated to the head, that which was thus announced to you: that from sickness you may be made joyful in the mercies of grace, and from this you may be worthy of salvation in goodness, and that the revelation of the face which is announced may stand.

Thus, if it should happen, it is by the grace of the mercy of our Lord, that even when they do not ask me, and even when they do not see me, I perform with my own hand their pains. Trust therefore in the Lord, O lover of God, and his way is good. And raise yourself to the summit of the earth. And the hope of every human being is turned towards him. And you are alive. And do not seek honors from the mighty through infirmities: if thus they are those who have been thus announced to you. And not even when you cannot, should you stumble. Nor indeed should you be deceived by false hearsay, to announce excellence concerning the distant: as has now happened to you to think. Because all are in houses of wood and in houses of earth. And the living are scattered, and the creation of sensations is limited. And together my deficiencies are with the glory of God. Yet it is fitting to arrive at good things. Yet it is fitting to speak about good things. Yet it is especially fitting to perform good things. Yet blessed is he whose iniquity has been left behind, and whose sins have been covered. Yet blessed is the human being for whom the Lord does not count his sin, and there is no obstacle in his heart. For this blessedness, then, is by grace: in all the remedy that is by grace, it is equal, with the goodness of the good and merciful God to the eternal worlds. May the peace of your love ask for the Church, the receiver of the faithful, this which you received, may it greet you by letter. And especially those who are especially among my houses for my Lord. These, for whom especially the gift of peace may be found. May the answer of peace, in its smallness, greet all the fearers of God who are with you, and pray for me. Peace.