Letter 40: To the Catholicos (VI)

Letter 40: To the Holy Father, the pious Lord Catholicos Patriarch: from Bar ʿIshoʿyahb, in the Lord, greetings. To me, O my father, the bitterness. The help of Elijah that precedes the event, sufficiently I have been persuaded to be patient concerning the good news. In all that pertains to the service of the village, in the law of spiritual love, I was engaged. And I was asked, as it were, with the participation of the bishops, I was willing. However, the command of your fatherhood, together with the persuasion of the honored ones, compelled me, so that again I might heal the sick. For I was of the opinion, as also the order was to announce, that it is possible to change from the evil customs for those over whom authority is exercised. Concerning this, I both wrote and commanded and was obeyed. But the hope within did not succeed in the betterments of righteousness. For the matter of the unchangeability of evil customs, with the filling without fear. For they were pleased with the sweetness of gentle authority, and they were content without end to announce. And it is necessary now, in that which is, to fall into afflictions; and upon them, as they are, to trouble the afflictions; and to be pleased, as they are, to harm your sweetness. For this reason, I make known to your fatherhood in brief: that which is difficult in brief demonstrations. For at this time two bishops, not Catholic, Shamishuʿ and Tarsi, have been appointed to my father the humble Lord Metropolitan of Daylam. And when they paid him the debt of the laying on of hands, not Catholic, which had previously been taken from them, they associated with him as he wished. And they found one man, a layman and a boor, as they say, who did not know from which region he was, nor where he now dwells, nor what his name is, nor in what conduct and customs he was raised, nor what his work and profession in the world are, nor with what ecclesiastical ranks he is reckoned.

And not that the whole of the pure Church of the Orthodox is he. And not that from somewhere he came, and not that to somewhere he went. For this reason, then, that like this, they gave him the name of "theophany" and preserved his face of spirit. As they do with the Adurbāgān. For you, that from the truth of mine, no one knows. Thus, then, it happened now, the Elijah that happened: to the order of Elijah that from before happened evilly. But I know that the faith of your fatherhood is not in these. And it does well, since it is not believed. For it is very difficult to believe concerning these particular evils. Old age and not the understanding of deeds like these. However, if the Lord wills and lives, and I am joined together with the encounter of your fatherhood, I am ready to make known to you the whole truth of this affair. From the Elijah that is written to one another, and from the Elijah that is spoken mouth to mouth with one another, from before the time and in the time and after the time. If not even the completion of now, before my diligence in the matter of the Elijah that happened. Before, then, that I am joined with the encounter of your goodness, pray for my weakness that I may find mercy before the Lord. Finished.